Carl Menger

Quotes From

Wherever we turn among civilized peoples we find a system of large-scale advance provision for the satisfaction of human needs.#Quoted in Erwin Dekker, The Viennese Students of Civilization (2016)

it is an error in economics, as prevalent as it is patent, that all commodities, at a definite point of time and in a given market, may be assumed to stand to each other in a definite relation of exchange, in other words, may be mutually exchanged in definite quantities at will. . . . The most cursory observation of market phenomena teaches us that it does not lie within our power, when we have bought an article for a certain price, to sell it again forthwith at the same price.#

Review: The Representational Theory of Capital
The Representational Theory of Capital summarizes itself in its final sentence as “a call for the return of the old fiscal religion.” More than that, though, it is a return to the old-time Classical religion of early Austrian capital theory. While more recent capital theorists in the Austrian tradition—Friedrich Hayek, . . .
Bubbles and Broad Monetary Aggregates: Toward a Consensus Approach to Business Cycles
A challenge for quantity-theoretic explanations of business cycles is that recessions manifest despite central banks’ scrupulousness to avoid falls in monetary aggregates, a fact which would seem to indicate a structural explanation. This paper argues that a broader and theoretically richer Divisia aggregate – which reflects changes in financial market . . .
Money and its Institutional Substitutes: The Role of Exchange Institutions in Human Cooperation
This paper offers an increasing returns model of the evolution of exchange institutions building on Smith’s dictum that “the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market”. Exchange institutions are characterized by a tradeoff between fixed and marginal costs: the effort necessary to execute an exchange may . . .