Menger, Carl, 1840-1921

Born in 1840; studied economics at the Universities of Prague and Vienna, 1859-1863; became a prominent economic journalist, as well as writing a number of novels and comedies; gained a doctorate in law, 1866, and worked as an apprentice lawyer until granted a law degree from the University of Krakow, 1867; returned to work as a journalist, and developed Mengarian economics, which reconstructed price theory; published The principles of economics , 1871; joined the civil service, in the Press Department of the Austrian Cabinet, 1870-1873; appointed Lecturer, 1872, and Associate Professor, 1873-1876, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Vienna; tutor of Crown Prince Rudolph von Hapsburg, 1876-1878; Professor of Political Economy, Faculty of Law, University of Vienna, 1879-1903; published Investigation into the method of social sciences with special reference to economics , 1883; publication of The errors of historicism in German economics , 1884, began a lengthy debate between the Austrian School and the German Historical School; Member of a Commission charged with the reformation of the Austrian monetary system, 1888-1892; died 1921.

Economic theorist and professor.

Carl Menger (1840-1921), was the founder of the Austrian school of economics.

He was born in Neu Sandec Austro-Hungary in 1840. Menger received the Dr Law from Cracow University in 1867 and was a full professor at the University of Vienna 1879-1903. Among his important works is "The Principles of Economics" (1871) which is a detailed account of the relation between utility, value, and price. Carl Menger died in 1921.

Carl Menger was born in 1840 in Neu Sandec, Galicia, of well-to-do titled parents. His life followed a path typical for someone in a family of similar social and intellectual standing. His work as journalist, tutor to the crown prince, and professor marked his role as part of a flowering European intellectual elite.

After attending Gymnasium, he matriculated at the universities of Vienna and Prague, leaving school in 1863 for a position on the staff of the Lemberger Zeitung. He continued to hold a number of other reporting and editorial posts over the course of the next dozen years, ending with the Wiener Zeitung. The list of Menger's contributions to the press in later years attests to the ties he retained in this area.

In the meantime, Menger received his doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of Cracow and began his work on political economy. By 1871 he had begun the process of publication and simultaneously applied for full instatement on the law faculty at the University of Vienna. In his diary, Menger noted it was not without some difficulty that he achieved this goal in July of 1872. For the next several years he taught finance and political economy to an increasing number of students, both in seminars and lectures, while also contributing to the Wiener Zeitung.

In the fall of 1876, Menger was approached with a request to become tutor in political economy and statistics to the Crown Prince of Austria. The ensuing association lasted until the death of the prince in 1889 and brought the talented young economist in contact with politically and socially influential people throughout Europe and England. He made two tours with Crown Prince Rudolf, one throughout Europe, and a second to the British Isles. Menger's contact with the prince lessened after their travels and after the prince had successfully completed his examinations, but from Menger's diary entries it is clear he continued to benefit from this royal association, particularly in the area of university appointments.

With the exception of the short hiatus of a few semesters with the crown prince, Menger taught until 1903, when he retired early in order to devote himself entirely to research. He spent the majority of his professional academic career in Vienna, a city acknowledged as one of the premier cultural centers on the continent. His writings, like his background, are a window upon the mind and concerns of the late-nineteenth-century intellectual. Far from having a focused and narrow concern with a particular aspect of economics, Menger sought to define the discipline and science of (non-mathematical) economics and to place it within the broader context of intellectual inquiry. Although the last several decades of Menger's life may be quickly described as involved in teaching and research, comprehending the quality and quantity of his life's work presents a great challenge to contemporary researchers.