Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
1851–1914 · Austrian economist and finance minister of the Austrian School, known for his theory of capital and interest and his critique of Marx.
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk was born in 1851 in Brünn, Moravia, now Brno in the Czech Republic, the son of a senior Austrian official. He studied law at the University of Vienna and, after reading Carl Menger's Principles of Economics, became with Friedrich von Wieser one of Menger's leading followers. As a professor at Innsbruck he wrote Capital and Interest (1884–89), a history and critique of theories of interest followed by his own positive theory, which explained interest by the different values people place on present and future goods. He served three times as Austrian minister of finance, in 1895, 1897–98 and 1900–1904, defending a balanced budget and a stable currency. In 1896 he published Karl Marx and the Close of His System, a critique of the labour theory of value in Capital. From 1904 he taught at the University of Vienna, where his seminar included Ludwig von Mises and Joseph Schumpeter. He died in Kramsach, in the Tyrol, in 1914.
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk is also an author in the library: author page and works.
Faith: Faith not well documented. Source: Wikipedia
See also: Carl Menger · Ludwig von Mises · Karl Marx
Key dates
- 1851 Born in Brünn, Moravia
- 1884 First volume of Capital and Interest published
- 1889 The Positive Theory of Capital published
- 1895 First term as Austrian minister of finance
- 1896 Karl Marx and the Close of His System published in German
- 1900–1904 Third and longest term as minister of finance
- 1904 Returns to teaching at the University of Vienna
- 1914 Dies in Kramsach, Tyrol
Major works
- Capital and Interest (Kapital und Kapitalzins), vol. 1: History and Critique of Interest Theories (1884) · English translation by William Smart, 1890
- The Positive Theory of Capital (vol. 2 of Capital and Interest) (1889) · His own theory of interest from the time preference for present goods; English translation by Smart, 1891
- Karl Marx and the Close of His System (1896) · In the library
- Control or Economic Law? (Macht oder ökonomisches Gesetz?) (1914) · His last essay, on whether power can override the laws of the market
In their words
“The Marxian system has a past and a present, but no abiding future.”
“He acts as one who urgently desiring to bring a white ball out of an urn takes care to secure this result by putting in white balls only.”
Read about them
Grades 9–12
- Karl Marx and the Close of His System · In the library
- Principles of Economics · In the library
- Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth · In the library
- Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis · In the library
More lives
Frédéric Bastiat · Thomas Carlyle · Carl von Clausewitz · Samuel Taylor Coleridge · John Dewey · Pierre Duhem