One of Murray Rothbard’s priorities for the Mises Institute was to create a program that would serve as an academic refuge and incubator for young scholars in Austrian School economics and related fields. That vision led to the creation of our interdisciplinary Research Fellows in Residence program.
For more than 20 years now, our summer-long fellowship program has offered liberty- minded scholars a place to write, study, publish, and develop their contributions to the fields of economics, history, philosophy, and more. Fellows who complete the program return to their colleges and universities with a fuller understanding of the Austrian School and with enhanced prospects for publishing new research and completing their degree programs.
Below you will find brief profiles of this year’s cohort of fellows, who come from a variety of backgrounds and programs. Special thanks to the generous donors who sponsored these student Fellows.
David Brady Jr., Florida Southern College, undergraduate, economics
Research Project: “Bankrolling the Old Right”
What’s your research about?
My research focuses on industrial elites’ battles to cartelize their industries during the New Deal and the Roosevelt administration. I am trying to expand Rothbard’s Progressive Era analysis of how big business influenced government into the New Deal era, and also outline the opposition forces against the New Deal itself.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Fellowship is a great opportunity to surround yourself with those just as passionate as yourself about Austrian economics, revisionist history, and alternative political philosophies. I have been able to really sharpen my research ideas and theories in discussion with the other Fellows.
Sponsored by Jerry T. Dowell.
Jared Friesen, Université d’Angers, PhD student, economics
Research Project: “Marginal Returns and the Length of Production”
What’s your research about?
Employed capital goods are subject to the law of diminishing returns: Employing an additional unit of a factor will increase output by a smaller and smaller amount. The same thing is not true of increasing the length of production because this takes advantage of different types of capital goods— complementary factors—facilitating specialization as well as the deepening of the division of labor.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Fellowship provides students with an excellent environment to study and to work on cutting-edge research in the tradition of the Austrian School with the guidance of some of the foremost Austrian scholars working today.
Sponsored by Frank and Sharon Woodul.
Manuel García Gojon, George Mason University, PhD student, economics
Research Project: “Exchange Rate Dynamics: Monetary Calculation, Price Parity Forecasting, and Currency Regime Resilience”
What’s your research about?
My research explores the differences between the Austrian and mainstream theories of exchange rates, analyzes the predictive power of expected price parities, and considers the implications of inflation sterilization for different currency regimes.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Fellowship provides us with the opportunity to develop our research and improve our academic skills in an environment where we can bounce ideas around and receive relevant recommendations, all while enjoying the friendship of the best minds in the liberty movement.
Sponsored by Jerry T. Dowell.
Sergio Daniel Lopez, George Mason University, PhD student, economics
Research Project: “Informal Markets as Adaptive Systems: Institutional Constraints and Economic Coordination in Bolivia”
What’s your research about?
Informal markets are universal, and contrary to popular belief, they are not crime hubs or symptoms of poverty. In Bolivia, informal markets aren’t chaos—they’re how people choose to interact when the economy is distorted by state intervention. Informal markets emerge as ordinary people escape red tape and corruption, and reject dysfunctional formal institutions. My research shows how these markets operate as bottom-up systems of order that often outperform the formal sector.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Mises Fellowship gives me a rare chance to think deeply, surrounded by the legacy of scholars who challenged the status quo and reshaped how we understand markets and liberty. More than just academic support, the fellowship is a challenge to rise to the level of those who came before and contribute something meaningful of my own. And perhaps most importantly, it’s the people: genuine friendships and peers who share a commitment to intellectual honesty and principled ideas. The Fellowship offers a true academic home.
Sponsored by Jerry T. Dowell.
Jason Priddle, Florida State University, PhD student, economics
Research Project: “Money Making Squared—Stablecoins as Private, Denationalized Money”
What’s your research about?Stablecoins, such as Tether and Circle, represent private competition for the US dollar and a key technological innovation that can impact traditional central banking and financial markets.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Fellowship gives me the chance to grow as an Austrian scholar under the guidance of exceptional faculty and with the encouragement of fellow scholars who share my vision of economic and individual freedom.
Sponsored by Frank and Sharon Woodul.
Benjamin Seevers, West Virginia University, PhD student, economics
Research Project: “Property and Health”
What’s your research about?
The field of health economics has an interventionist bent. This project is an attempt to use Austrian and free market insights to understand and evaluate people’s health decisions.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Fellowship grants are an invaluable opportunity for a young scholar to conduct research alongside and interact with some of the best contemporary Austrian scholars teaching today.
Sponsored by Frank and Sharon Woodul.
Ryan Turnipseed, Oklahoma State University, PhD student, entrepreneurship
Research Project: “The Differences Between Frank Knight and Ludwig von Mises on Uncertainty”
What’s your research about?
I am trying to differentiate Mises and Rothbard’s view of entrepreneurship as speculative from Knight’s idea that entrepreneurship results from imperfect information. While both sides accept that uncertainty exists because man does not know the future, Knight and his descendants contend that business ventures can be more or less entrepreneurial due to entrepreneurs’ having more or less knowledge. However, Austrians know that uncertainty is unquantifiable, which explains why many entrepreneurs who have excellent information and other advantages still fail in their ventures.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The academic environment at the Institute is unparalleled, and the quality of the other Fellows and faculty is unmatched.
Sponsored by the Dean and Cam Williams Foundation.
Stanisław Wójtowicz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, PhD student, philosophy
Research Project: “The Feasibility of Anarcho-Capitalism”
What’s your research about?
Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian project for a stateless society where private companies would be responsible for providing security, law, and dispute resolution. Radical libertarians support this social order for ethical and economic reasons. They believe it would be more moral than the existing order because it would not infringe upon individual rights and would also be more efficient in economic terms.
But could such a stateless order even exist? How could social order, security, and law be produced without the state?
Although libertarians have given detailed accounts of how anarcho-capitalism could work, a number of economists and philosophers have expressed doubts about the feasibility of such a social order.
The aim of my research project is to analyze these objections and determine the prospects for the success of anarcho-capitalism.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
There are three reasons why the Fellowship program is so exceptional. First, it gives you the chance to discuss your research with leading Austrian economists. Second, it enables you to network with brilliant young researchers who will undoubtedly become leading Austrian scholars in the near future. Third, it offers an immersive economic experience. For over two months, you can focus entirely on developing your economic skills through individual research and participation in seminars and lectures, free from everyday distractions.
Sponsored by Jerry Dowell.
Jonathan Yen, Montana State University, undergraduate, finance and economics
Research Project: “Agency and Entrepreneurship in Capital Markets”
What’s your research about?
How do Austrian economists understand asset managers, people who invest other people’s money? How is investing in the stock market related to entrepreneurship? What happens in a world where investors can’t make contracts that restrict business owners’ behavior? Austrian theory has answers to all of these questions.
What does the Mises Fellowship mean to you?
The Mises Fellowship is the opportunity of a lifetime. There is no greater opportunity to engage with the cutting edge of Austrian theory. The more I learn this summer, the more I realize how much I don’t know.
Sponsored by the Dean and Cam Williams Foundation.
