Richard M. Ebeling

Richard M. Ebeling is Professor of Economics at Northwood University. He was fomerly President of The Foundation for Economic Education (2003-2008), was the Ludwig von Mises Professor of Economics at Hillsdale College (1988-2003) in Hillsdale, Michigan, and served as vice president of academic affairs for The Future of Freedom Foundation (1989–2003).

Born in New York City in 1950, he received his B.A. in economics from California State University, Sacramento, and his M.A. in economics from Rutgers University. Professor Ebeling has been a lecturer in economics at the National University of Ireland at Cork (1981–1983), assistant professor of economics at the University of Dallas (1984–1988), and Ludwig von Mises professor of economics at Hillsdale (1988–2003). He has been at FEE since 2003.

Professor Ebeling publishes a monthly article and book review in The Future of Freedom of Foundation's publication, His articles have appeared in Freedom Daily, The Freeman, Reason, Libertarian Review, Critical Review, Political Studies, Advances in Austrian Economics, The Austrian Economics Newsletter, International Journal of World Peace, American Journal of Economics and Sociology,and numerous other publications. His articles have also been published in Brazil, England, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, and Russia.

Among his recent writings are: "A Rational Economist in an Irrational Age: Ludwig von Mises" (The Age of Economists: From Adam Smith to Milton Friedman,Hillsdale College Press, 1999); "Wilhelm Ropeke: A Centenary Appreciation," (The Freeman,October 1999); Friedrich A. Hayek: A Centenary Appreciation" (The Freeman,May 1999); "The Free Market and the Interventionist State," (Between Power and Liberty: Economics and the Law,Hillsdale College Press, 1997); "Mission to Moscow: Ludwig von Mises's 'Lost Papers' and Their Signficance," (Liberty magazine, April 1997); "The Global Economy and Classical Liberalism: Past, Present and Future," (The Future of American Business,Hillsdale College Press, 1996); "World Peace, International Order and Classical Liberalism," (International Journal of World Peace,December 1995); "The Political Myths and Economic Realities of the Welfare State," (American Perestroika: The Demise of the Welfare State,Hillsdale College Press, 1995) and "Liberalism and Collectivism in the 20th Century," (The End of 'Isms'? Reflections on the Fate of Ideological Politics after Communism's Collapse,Blackwell, Publishers, 1994).

He has edited and contributed to all eight books published by The Future of Freedom Foundation. He has also edited and contributed to Money, Method and the Market Process, Essays by Ludwig von Mises (1990); Austrian Economics: A Reader (1991); Austrian Economics: Retrospects on the Past and Prospects for the Future (1991); The Global Collapse of Socialism (1992); Global Free Trade: Rhetoric and Reality (1993); Can Capitalism Cope? Free Market Reform in the Post-Communist World (1994); Economic Education: What Should We Learn About the Free Market?(1994); and Disaster in Red: The Failure and Collapse of Socialism(1995). He is presently working an intellectual biography of the Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises and A Primer on Austrian Economics.

In 1991, Professor Ebeling made six trips to the former Soviet Union consulting with the government of Lithuania and with members of the Russian Parliament in Moscow on free market reform and privatization of the socialist economy. He was in Vilnius, Lithuania, in January 1991, and witnessed the Soviet military crackdown in which 13 Lithuanians were killed. He was in Moscow in August 1991 during the failed coup-attempt and was at the barricades with the defenders of freedom at the Russian Parliament. He traveled, again, to Lithuania in August 1993 for consultation on market reforms and privatization.

In October 1996, Richard Ebeling was once more in Moscow, Russia, this time uncovering the "lost papers" of the famous Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises. Looted by the Nazis from his Vienna apartment in 1938, Mises' papers were captured by the Soviet Army at the end of the Second World War. Professor Ebeling and his wife, Anna, were able to obtain photocopies of virtually the entire collection of documents numbering about 10,000 items, which had been kept in a secret archive in Moscow for 50 years. A selection of these photocopies and some originals on loan from the Russian government were placed on exhibition at Hillsdale College during the annual Ludwig von Mises Lecture Series in March 1997. Professor Ebeling is now in the process of supervising the translation of Mises' "lost papers" and editing them for publication. They will appear in three volumes, published by Liberty Fund of Indianapolis, Indiana. Volumes 1 and 2 have not yet been published; volume 3 was published under the title, Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises: The Political Economy of International Reform and Reconstruction.

Professor Ebeling also lectures widely on the problems of economic reform and change in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe, as well as lecturing on economic policy in the United States, particularly on the topics of monetary policy, government regulation and the welfare state, and the economics of growth, stability and international trade.

He lives in Hillsdale, Michigan with his wife, whom he met in Russia and who has a PhD in American Studies from Moscow State University. Their daughter, also named Anna, graduated from Hillsdale College in 1995 and is now a graduate student working on her PhD in physics at Caltech in Pasadena, California.