Mises’s inability to engage opponents made him a liability to the movement.

Evidence

Mises, Fritz Machlup wrote privately to Hayek in November 1940, was a “problem child.” “You know how diffi cult it is to make him listen to an opponent’s argument and discuss it in a friendly spirit,” he added in another letter months later. “Now you can imagine that discussions in these times require more patience and less dogmatism— and that people do not stand for Mises’ lack of the former and excess of the latter. This is why I have little hope for him.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 191

Categorization

• SHARE: Machlup’s private verdict on Mises — “problem child” — is exactly the kind of vivid insider detail a colleague working on Austrian economics would savor.