New Insights into the Political History of Economic Liberalism in the Interwar Period

The Austrian School of Economics in the critical interwar period

In recent years, the interwar period has emerged as a critical time in the history of different strands of liberalism. In the aftermath of World War I and the manifold upheavals at its end, most followers of liberalism experienced the early 1920s as a moment of crisis and challenge. In that context, the Austrian School of Economics (ASE) emerged as one of the most important eff orts at re-constructing liberal positions, both in terms of economic thinking and as a broader intellectual-political current. This themed issue takes up the recent wave of interest in the ASE’s history in Austria and beyond, particularly for the interwar period, and assesses and enhances it with unpublished findings covering such topics as the foundation of the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research, the socialist calculation debate, the implementation of austerity policies in Iceland, and the status and research potential of Ludwig Mises’ private archives.