As Forrest Gump Might Say: “Austrian Economics Is a Lot Like a Box of Chocolates”

The meetings of the Mises Kreis [Mises Circle] always started punctually at seven on a Friday evening. Mises would be sitting at his desk and usually he had a large box of chocolates that he passed around. The meeting would last until half past nine or ten, after which the participants would have dinner at the Italian restaurant ‘Anchora Verde’. Those who wanted to continue the discussion would then head to Café Künstler (Kurrild-Klitgaard, 2003). But undoubtedly the most striking ritual of the Mises Kreis has to be the songs that Felix Kaufmann wrote in honor of the seminars. The songs deal with the critical spirit of the circle (‘Geschliffener Geist in Mises-Kreis’), particular debates within the circle, the Austrian tradition (‘Der letzte Grenadier der Grenznutzenschule’). Other songs were written for special occasions; there is a song of celebration for the opening of the statistical institute, a goodbye song to Mises when he departed for his position in Geneva in 1933 and a song lamenting this departure. One of the most striking of these songs is called ‘Der Nationalökonom im Paradies’ (The economist in Paradise). So no, that is not a typo in the subtitle of this chapter in case you were wondering.

Now it is easy to think of these songs as a kind of curiosity, but that would be too easy. Many years later, Haberler was still able to sing these songs word for word, and he emphasizes that all regular participants could recite these songs (Haberler in Kaufmann, 1992). The songs were written to well-known melodies and Haberler stresses that these songs were meant to be sung, not to be read (although even reading them is a delight). Such rituals established a certain rhythm to the meetings of the Mises Kreis, and provided a sense of belonging where the university could not do so. The songs legitimized the discussion taking place in the Mises Kreis. Take for example, the following fragment: “An economist moved to Germany / A learned position to pursue / This should have been a certainty / For in Wien he’d learned a thing or two / But the good man learned the tragic tale / Marginal Utility was deceased” (Kaufmann, 1992). In the official Mises-Kreis song, all the rituals discussed, including the delicious chocolates, are celebrated. In the final verse of the song — the epigraph to this chapter — Kaufmann wonders whether all these intellectual discussions lead anywhere, while life outside goes on as usual. Was it not easier to follow the stream, instead of attempting to change its course? Only to conclude affirmatively: “And yet there’s no tradeoff at hand / Somehow we must take a stand” (Kaufmann, 1992).

Such rituals established internal coherence and legitimacy, the overlap between the circles meant that a strong internal identity would also become known in other circles. In fact, there was a curious interdependence between all these Kreise. The identity of such circles was often defined in opposition to other circles. The Mises Kreis was opposed to the positivism of the Wiener Kreis and the romantic universalism of the Spann Kreis.

—Erwin Dekker, The Viennese Students of Civilization: The Meaning and Context of Austrian Economics Reconsidered, Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016), e-book.