Name: Wolf von Laer
School: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Email: WvonLaer@StudentsForLiberty.org
Bio: Born in a small village in Germany next to the Netherlands border, Wolf’s path to become an advocate for liberty was a rugged one. After struggling through high school he switched to Gymnasium so he could study at a German university. In 2007 Wolf enrolled at the University of Erfurt in a Bachelor program called “Staatswissenschaften” (Science of the State). Ironically enough, at the time of his graduation, Wolf had already become a critic of government and crony capitalism. In April 2011 he graduated with a double major in Economics and Social Sciences. In September 2011 he will enter the Austrian Economics Program under Dr. Jesús Huerta de Soto in Madrid, Spain.
As a student Wolf was deeply involved with the Free Democratic Party in Germany and its youth group Julis. He also co-founded the Liberal Youth Group at the University of Erfurt and organized events about topics like Neoliberalism, the Future of the Energy Supply, State Surveillance and more. In 2008 he received a scholarship from the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation for Freedom.
Wolf was puzzled about the reasons for the Financial Crisis of 2008 because the answers provided by the media and politicians were insufficient. This compelled Wolf to write articles and research the topic extensively in order to find a better explanation. Eventually he discovered names like von Mises and Rothbard. After reading Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, a whole new approach to understanding the world was opened to him. Since then he has studied the Austrian School of Economics and has published a book in German titled The Problems of the Established Central Banking System — Free Banking as an Alternative? at the Liberal Institute.
During the summer of 2011, Wolf von Laer studied Spanish and completed an internship at Fundacíón Libertad in Rosario, Argentina, in addition to attending seminars from the Foundation for Economic Education, the Mises Institute and the Institute of Humane Studies.
Favorite Figures in Liberty: Murray N. Rothbard, Stefan Molyneux, Jesús Huerta de Soto
On Students For Liberty: “Students For Liberty? Sounds like an oxymoron if you look at the majority of apolitical or left-leaning students nowadays. No wonder. Most of the students have only experienced state institutions which normally do not encourage independent thinking. Students For Liberty, with their focus on education and training, is the right responsive to apathy and one-sided knowledge. The work the SFL has done in the U.S. is tremendous and I have a strong desire to continue this process in Europe.”
