I was first introduced to Austrian Economics by Peter Schiff and Ron Paul![:D]
Same here. I was also introduced to Austrian Economics by Ron Paul and Peter Schiff. Almost forget to mention Jim Rogers as well.
My introduction was through Ayn Rand’s praise of Mises, back when I was a quasi-Objectivist. I googled “Ludwig von Mises” and, lo and behold, LvMI was one of the first results.
Hans Hoppe’s DTGTF introduced me to it.
Ron Paul introduced me to Austrian Economics, and I ran with it… like Jessie Owens.
Bounced around from Classical economics like Friedman and Sowell until I LUCKILY stumbled across the LvMI. From then on, I have been absorbing information like a sponge. Thank’s Lew!!
I followed this obvious trend as well…
YouTube → Ron Paul → Peter Schiff → mises.org
oh yeah, and I read Ayn Rand as well.
When I was in college I grew increasngly skeptical of what I was being taught in history classes as it related to economics. I had always been pretty simplistic in my interpretations of cause and effect. To me, the bad times were too much credit and the stabilization was liquidating all that bad investment. Of course, in public schools I may as well have been talking Chinese because no one could comprehend such a complex notion. After nearly being numbed to the point of utter stupidity, I decided there was no way I was the only one on this planet who saw things so realistically and simple. About 3 years ago I heard a guy named Ron Paul speak…Holy SH*T! There was at least one other person…wait and there were cheers so that meant there was like 10 or 20! It wasn’t long before the biggest “Boom” in my life occured and I found von Mises, Menger, Rothbard, and the Austrian School.
I couldn’t have explained it better myself Kevin. I myself have such a difficult time with what is being taught in school that felt I was the only one who saw what a diservice it was doing to the world. Then I heard Ron Paul speak and found, just as you, that there are leaders out there that share my views. It was such a relief and now I am studying as much as possible on my own in the hopes that I can influence those around me who are missing the message.
After starting my undergrad economics degree i was amazed by the amount of Mathematics involved and simply couldn’t fathom how these formulae could accurately predict such complex phenomena, nonetheless, i was somewhat impressed, although also found myself slightly bewildered. I was then introduced to Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb (he may not even be too familiar with The Austrian School but certainly shares many similar views and thought processes) which appealed to me due to its brilliant but simple exposition of many results orientated decisions based on faulty logic which have become especially apparent in the economic world. It also highlighted the complete failure of economics in the field of prediction which until then i was completely unaware of. These were probably the books that motivated me to actually take study etc seriously for the first time in my life. From there i took an interest in Popper, most notably, the Poverty of Historicism which although a sociological work, helped me pinpoint some of the problems i had with neoclassical methodology. Taleb also introduced me to the field of Behavioural Economics, which for a time i believed was going to be a discipline that could solve some of my problems with neoclassical economics and was easily sold on Thaler’s “libertarian paternalist” approach. Luckily, after reading in a “most influential book in your life” thread there was much discussion about Atlas Shrugged which i then decided to read and was not disappointed. After finishing the book, a few Google searches sufficed in bringing me to mises.org and I’m just happy to have discovered The Austrian School before my degree was over.
I have been on an extremely steep learning curve ever since,constantly reforming my opinions and gaining new insights into all manner of topics. The last 4 or so months have truly been an enlightening experience and i am extremely grateful for the resources that are on offer at mises.org.
Through Ron Paul & Petter Schiff somehow. I must found them through YouTube. I linked to mises.org through some other site. I forget the site now but the first article I read was on Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
I was introduced to Austrian Economics when I was following Ron Paul’s campaign.
I as well, Thankfully , stubled across Austrian Economics whil following Ron Paul and his historic campaign![:D]
In the Economists book Economics, it spoke if the recession to come. To put in a nut shell the fed cut rates after the stock market bubble burs in 2001 created a new bubble in the housing market, which lead to a worse recession. And that the austrian school says let these recessions happen they are the cycle and necessary for change. After that I had to find more on this school.
I’m probably one of the few British Austrians 
I was introduced to it by the current recession… the methods of old didn’t seem to be working, and I was unsure of my economic beliefs, so I looked into the different schools of economics, and (as a gold standard supporter) found Austrian economics to my liking.
Watched the Zeitgeist movie in January → found Ron Paul → Read Peter Schiff’s “Crashproof” → found Mises Institute online → recognized it was in my same town (I go to Auburn Univ.) → Made my first visit of many more to come yesterday.
I read Ayn Rand and searching for her online I stumbled upon Austian Economics.
RP.
Though I’d like to think I’ve always been an Austrian, I just hadn’t realized others shared my condition and that our condition had a label.
Oh, and I remembered an old email I had sent Lew Rockwell a while ago, and through the magic of gmail’s archives I have found it.
Dated 11/3/06
Me: "Do you know of, or have you ever considered starting on your site, a libertarian discussion forum? I have noticed that there are plenty of interesting libertarian articles and blogs throughout the web, but I haven’t seemed to stumble across a discussion board where non-professional/academic libertarians can have fruitful discussion (using the common vbulletin or phpbb bulletin board software.)
Thanks,"
His reply:
“Sir, I have, and am glad to know you would join it if I did.”
Seems I have finally found it.
I read Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged), got interested in libertarianism. From there I listened to Stefan Molyneux for awhile, until I found the LvMI. He was interesting, but once I found Austrian Economics, I never listened to him again.