Carl Menger

money state authority commodity relationship

“Money is not an invention of the state. It is not the product of a legislative act. Even the sanction of political authority is not necessary for its existence. Certain commodities came to be money quite naturally, as the result of economic relationships that were independent of the power of the state.”

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

value property subjective relationship

“When I discussed the nature of value, I observed that value is nothing inherent in goods and that it is not a property of goods. But neither is value an independent thing. There is no reason why a good may not have value to one economizing individual but no value to another individual under different circumstances. The measure of value is entirely subjective in nature, and for this reason a good can have great value to one economizing individual, little value to another, and no value at all to a third, depending upon the differences in their requirements and available amounts. What one person disdains or values lightly is appreciated by another, and what one person abandons is often picked up by another.”

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

man begin end economy

"Man himself is the beginning and the end of every economy."

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

social institution created welfare planning

"We are confronted by the appearance of social institutions unintentionally created, vital for the welfare of society, which are not the result of reasoned planning."

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

money invention state legislative act

"Money is not an invention of the state. It is not the product of a legislative act."

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

time period command higher goods possession lower eliminate

"The time period lying between command of goods of a higher order and possession of the corresponding goods of lower order can never be eliminated"

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

solution problem social sciences organic structures

"The solution of the most important problems of the theoretical social sciences in general and of theoretical economics in particular is thus, closely connected with the question of theoretically understanding the origin and change of 'organically' created social structures."

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

law cause effect principle

"All things are subject to the law of cause and effect. This great principle knows no exception."

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)

causality time process goods human needs

"The idea of causality . . . is inseparable from the idea of time. A process of change involves a beginning and a becoming, and these are only conceivable as processes in time. . . . Thus in the process of change by which goods of a higher order are gradually transformed into goods of the first order, until the latter finally bring about the state called the satisfaction of human needs, time is an essential feature of our observations."

― Carl Menger (1840-1921)