Jörg Guido Hülsmann (; born 18 May 1966) is a German-born

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who studies issues related to money, banking, monetary policy, macroeconomics, and financial markets. Hülsmann is professor of

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the University of Angers’ School of Law, Economics, and Management. He is a member of the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, ) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 38 Nobel Prize laureates. The European Academy of Sciences and ...

, a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and a Senior Fellow at the

Mises Institute The Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, that is a center for Austrian economics, right-wing libertarian thought and the paleolibertarian and ana ...

. He is a vice-president of the international

Property and Freedom Society Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

, a board member of the ''Association des économistes catholiques'' in France, and a scientific board member of the Hayek-Gesellschaft in Germany, of the Austrian Institute of Economics and Social Philosophy, and of the International Academy for Philosophy in

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. Hülsmann has been the inaugural laureate of the international Franz Čuhel Prize for Excellence in Economic Education and the 2023 laureate of the Hayek-Medaille. Economists such as Eugen-Maria Schulak and Herbert Unterköfler consider him to be one of the most important contemporary Austrian economists in Europe, next to

Hans-Hermann Hoppe Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German-American academic associated with Austrian School economics, anarcho-capitalism, right-wing libertarianism, and opposition to democracy. He is professor emeritus of economics at th ...

and Jesús Huerta de Soto. In the wider heterodox-economics community striving for pluralism in economics he is regarded as a leading expert and speaker. He has been interviewed in various media outlets all throughout Europe.

Life

Hülsmann went to high school in a town with "the highest communist voter percentage in all of Western Germany" and started public speaking at the age of 15. After mandatory military service, he went on to study industrial engineering (Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen) at

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

, from 1986 to 1992. In the 1991–92 academic year, he participated in an exchange program with Toulouse Business School in France. There he wrote a thesis comparing the

neo-marxist Neo-Marxism is a collection of Marxist schools of thought originating from 20th-century approaches to amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, ps ...

regulation school The regulation school () is a group of writers in political economy and economics whose origins can be traced to France in the early 1970s, where economic instability and stagflation were rampant in the French economy. The term ''régulation'' wa ...

to the ordo-liberal Freiburg School. He also started studying the writings of the

Austrian School The Austrian school is a Heterodox economics, heterodox Schools of economic thought, school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result primarily from the motivat ...

. After the year in Toulouse, he returned to Berlin for doctoral studies under Hans-Hermann Lechner and obtained his PhD in economics in 1996. In January 1997, Lew Rockwell commissioned Hülsmann to write a Mises biography, a project that he would eventually complete in 2007. In 2004, he was appointed to a full professorship at the University of Angers.

Academic authorship

Hülsmann is the author of eight books, has edited or co-edited six other books, and published numerous journal articles and book chapters. His writings have been translated into twenty languages. His 2008 book ''The Ethics of Money Production'' has been translated into German, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, Romanian, Polish, Chinese, Persian, Spanish, and Turkish. His 2007 book ''Mises – The Last Knight of Liberalism'' has been translated into Russian, Chinese, and Polish. Both books received numerous reviews and made it into ''

Barron's ''Barron's'' (stylized in all caps) is an American weekly magazine and newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, since 1921. Founded as ''Barron's National Financial Weekly'' in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–19 ...

'' recommended reading lists. ''The Last Knight of Liberalism'' is the only full-blown biography of

Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...

and Hülsmann’s most-cited publication. It received a slating from Bruce Caldwell, while the other reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Economic historian Robert Higgs praised it as "a magnificent scholarly achievement." In a lengthy review, the German national newspaper, ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'', called it "a literary event" and considered the work to "set standards" of biographical work. In September 2016, the

Renmin University of China The Renmin University of China (RUC) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The ...

organized a full-day conference around the Chinese edition of the book. In his 2024 book ''Abundance, Generosity, and the State'', he studies the different ways through which economic goods are gratuitously provided and received . Philosopher David Gordon praised the book with these words: "It is rare to encounter a book that has the potential to reshape the way we look at economics, but Guido Hülsmann has done exactly that in ''Abundance, Generosity, and the State''. Hülsmann is one of the leading theorists of the Austrian School, but he has always looked at issues in an original way, and that quality is manifested 'abundantly' in this outstanding book." He has also become known as an economist who correctly anticipated the financial crisis of 2001; as a staunch critic of

fractional-reserve banking Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking in all countries worldwide, under which banks that take deposits from the public keep only part of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, typically lending the remainder to ...

; as a critic of the time-preference theory of interest; for his "reconsideration" of Austrian Capital Theory, opening new perspectives on the venerable Cambridge capital controversy; and as a proponent of the idea that economic laws are counterfactual ''a priori'' laws, rather than empirical regularities.

Teaching

Hülsmann directs an English-language master’s program in Law and Finance, and co-directs a double-major bachelor program in Law and Economics (in French) at the University of Angers. He has directed doctoral theses at the University of Angers and been involved in doctoral research at other universities. He is also a frequent guest professor at Grove City College, the college at which the great economics professor Jeffery Herbener oversees the economics department, where in 2025 Jorg Guido Hulsman gave talks about the economics of inheritance and intervention, and he has taught at

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...

of Iași, (Romania), at

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the nam ...

, at CEVRO Institute in Prague (Czech Republic), at the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid (Spain), at ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius (Lithuania), and various other academic institutions.

Journalism

Hülsmann has written for various press outlets in Europe, for example, for national magazines such as '' Schweizer Monat'', ''La Tribune'', ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'', and ''

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' () is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first editio ...

'', and for business magazines such as ''

Wirtschaftswoche ''Wirtschaftswoche'' is a German weekly business news magazine published in Germany. ''Wirtschaft'' means “economy” (including business), and ''Woche'' is “week”. History and profile For many years, ''Wirtschaftswoche'' was published ...

''. For several years, he has authored a monthly column for the German libertarian magazine, ''eigentümlich frei''.

Translations

Hülsmann has translated or co-translated Murray N. Rothbard’s books '' The Ethics of Liberty'' and '' What Has Government Done to Our Money?'',

Ralph Raico Ralph Raico (; October 23, 1936 – December 13, 2016) was an American libertarian historian of European liberalism, and a professor of history at Buffalo State College.Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...

’ ''

Bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

'', as well as Gustave de Molinari's ''De la production de la sécurité'' G. de Molinari
''Produktion von Sicherheit''
(2015) into German.

References

External links

Jörg Guido Hülsmann at the Ludwig von Mises Institute
(essays, lectures, audiobooks, etc.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hulsmann, Jorg Guido 1966 births Living people 21st-century German writers 21st-century Roman Catholics Austrian School economists Christian libertarians German economists German libertarians German Roman Catholics Libertarian theorists Mises Institute people Academic staff of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University People from Oberbergischer Kreis Technische Universität Berlin alumni Toulouse Business School alumni University at Buffalo faculty Academic staff of the University of Angers