Carl Menger

Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün
Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün, founder of the Austrian school
Born	(1840-02-28)28 February 1840 Neu Sandez, Galicia, Austrian Empire (now Nowy Sącz, Poland)
Died	26 February 1921(1921-02-26) (aged 80) Vienna, Austria
Resting place	Vienna Central Cemetery[1]
Nationality	Austrian
Field	Economics
School or tradition	Austrian school
Alma mater	Charles University, Prague University of Vienna Jagiellonian University
Influences	Aristotle Condillac Smith Kant Brentano[2] Spencer
Contributions	Marginal utility, subjective theory of value

Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün^[3] (28 February 1840 – 26 February 1921) was an Austrian economist who is considered to be one of leaders of the 1870s "Marginalist Revolution".^[4] He formulated the subjective theory of value and further developed the theory of marginal utility.^[5]

His works on the analysis of entrepreneurship were not very famous than his works on individualism, money, and how institutions work.^[6] Unlike his contemporaries such as Stanley Jevons and Léon Walras, he founded a "school of thought" which is the Austrian school of economics.^[4]

Economics

He analyzed economics in a non-mathematical and non-graphical way. Unlike neoclassical economics, he analyze the order of the market in terms of dynamic processes, processes that always change, and not in terms of equilibria.^[7]

Intrinsic value means there is an objective value for that good or service. In his subjective theory of value, Menger believed that all goods and services has no intrinsic value. For example, although water is needed by all humans, the value we give to it such as price for a bottle of water is very subjective.^[8]

He also viewed money of having no intrinsic value. According to Menger, money was not invented because of its objective worth but because people need a way of exchanging things (Tauschmittel) so that goods can be moved (Güterverkehr). Additionally, Menger viewed gold and silver as a way of exchange because of how rare these things are.^[9]

References

1. "Ehrengräber Gruppe 0", viennatouristguide.at
2. Barry Smith, "Aristotle, Menger, Mises: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Economics" Archived 2020-11-13 at the Wayback Machine, History of Political Economy, Annual Supplement to vol. 22 (1990), 263–288.
3. "Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün, o. Univ.-Prof. Dr". 650 Plus. 28 June 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
4. "Carl Menger". www.hetwebsite.net. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
5. "Britannica Money". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
6. Campagnolo, Gilles (2022-09-03). "Carl Menger on time and entrepreneurship". The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought. 29 (5): 817–835. doi:10.1080/09672567.2022.2111451. ISSN 0967-2567.
7. Braun, Eduard (2020-08). "Carl Menger: Contribution to the Theory of Capital (1888), Section V". Journal of Institutional Economics. 16 (4): 557–568. doi:10.1017/S1744137420000132. ISSN 1744-1374. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. "All Value Is Subjective, and That's a Good Thing – AIER". 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2024-10-15.
9. Adair-Toteff, Christopher (2024-03). "Hayek and Menger on Money". Histories. 4 (1): 38–50. doi:10.3390/histories4010003. ISSN 2409-9252. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)