C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N The Austrian Marginalists: Menger, Böhm-Bawerk, and Wieser This chapter delineates the nature of the Austrian contribution to the marginalist revolution in the works of Carl Menger, Eugen Böhm-Bawerk, and Friederich Wieser. Although it will be unavoidably comparative | CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Austrian Marginalists Menger Bohm-Bawerk and Wieser Steven Horwitz Introduction This chapter delineates the nature of the Austrian contribution to the marginalist revolution in the works of Carl Menger Eugen Bohm-Bawerk and Friederich Wieser. Although it will be unavoidably comparative the focus will be on the origins and development of a distinct line of Austrian marginalism particularly in the work of Menger. That is the goal is not just to show that the Austrians marginalists were saying something different rather it is also to trace how those differences which begin with Menger were to play themselves out in the work of the next generation of Austrians. In particular as the classic contributions of Erich Streissler 1972 and William Jaffé 1976 have noted it was the subjectivism of the Austrians that distinguished them from the other marginalist revolutionaries. Subjectivism constitutes the thread that united the Austrian marginalists although it is a thread that began to weaken with the work of Wieser and Bohm-Bawerk and was almost totally lost by the 1920s. It was to be rediscovered during the late 1930s and 1940s when developments elsewhere in economics forced the Austrians of the time to reassess what both they and others were talking about with respect to neoclassical economics. The Austrian Marginalists Menger Böhm-Bawerk and Wieser 263 Carl Menger s Subjectivist Marginalism The distinctly Austrian strand of the marginalist revolution begins with Carl Menger s path-breaking Grundsätze or Principles published in 1871. Like others of his time Menger was steeped in the tradition of the older German historicists and it is fairly clear that the Principles was Menger s attempt to bring that tradition forward. It is of note that the book is dedicated with respectful esteem to Wilhelm Roscher then perhaps the leading thinker of the historical school. The final two paragraphs of the preface are a tribute to his German predecessors .
