Principles of Economics by Carl Menger

Carl Menger (1840-1921) was the founder of the Austrian School of economics. Principles, first published in 1871, is the book that provided a new basis for the understanding value, utility, money, and the market process.
Menger Biography
Works by Menger
Austrian Study Guide
Carl Menger and the Methodology of the Austrian School Economists
The Monetary Writings of Carl Menger
Hardcopy available for purchase online

This online version of Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics containscorrections to the 1976 New York University edition; the manuscript is otherwise the same. First printing in German, 1871. The first English translation was copyright 1950 by the The Free Press, with an introduction by Frank H. Knight; 1976 and 1981 by the Institute for Human Studies, published by New York University Press with an introduction by F.A. Hayek; 1994 by Libertarian Press (reprint of the 1976 edition). Online version is copyright 2004 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Dedication

Editor’s Note

Introduction. By F.A. Hayek (p. 11)

Translators’ Preface (p. 37)

Author’s Preface (p. 45)

I. THE GENERAL THEORY OF THE GOOD (p. 51)
1. The Nature of Goods (p.51)
2. The Causal Connections Between Goods (p.55)
3. The Laws Governing Goods-character (p.58)
    A. The Goods-Character of Goods of Higher Order is
        Dependent on Command of Corresponding Complementary Goods (p. 58)
    B. The Goods-Character of Goods of Higher Order is Derived From
        that of the Corresponding Goods of Lower Order (p. 63)
4. Time and Error (p. 67)
5. The Causes of Progress in Human Welfare (p. 71)
6. Property (p. 74)

II. ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC GOODS (p. 77)
1. Human Requirements (p. 80)
    A. Requirements for Goods of First Order (Consumption Goods) (p. 80)
    B. Requirements for Goods of Higher Order (Means of Production) (p. 84)
    C. The Time Limits Within Which Human Needs are Felt  (p. 87)
2. The Available Quantities  (p. 89)
3. The Origin of Human Economy and Economic Goods (p. 94)
    A. Economic Goods  (p. 94)
    B. Non-Economic Goods (p. 98)
    C. The Relationship Between Economic and Non-Economic Goods (p. 101)
    D. The Laws Governing the Economic Character of Goods (p. 106)
4. Wealth (p. 109)

III. THE THEORY OF VALUE (p. 114)
1. The Nature and Origin of Value (p. 114)
2. The Original Measure of Value (p. 121)
    A. Differences in the Magnitude of Importance of
    Different Satisfactions (Subjective Factor) (p. 122)
    B. The Dependence of Separate Satisfactions on
       Particular Goods (Objective Factor) (p. 128)
    C. The Influence of Differences in the Quality of Goods on Their Value (p. 141)
    D. The Subjective Character of the Measure of Value. Labor and Value. Error (p. 145)
3. The Laws Governing the Value of Goods of Higher Order (p. 149)
    A. The Principle Determining the Value of Goods of Higher Order (p. 149)
    B. The Productivity of Capital (p. 152)
    C. The Value of Complementary Quantities of Goods of Higher Order (p. 157)
    D. The Value of Individual Goods of Higher Order (p. 162)
    E. The Value of the Services of Land, Capital, and Labor in Particular (p. 165)

IV. THE THEORY OF EXCHANGE (p. 175)
1. The Foundations of Economic Exchange (p. 175)
2. The Limits of Economic Exchange (p. 181)

V. THE THEORY OF PRICE (p. 191)
1. Price Formation in an Isolated Exchange (p. 191)
2. Price Formation under Monopoly (p. 197)
    A. Price Formation and the Distribution of Goods When There is Competition
        between Several Persons for a Single Indivisible Monopolized Good (p. 199)
    B. Price Formation and the Distribution of Goods When There is
       Competition for Several Units of a Monopolized Good (p. 203)
   C. The Influence of the Price Fixed by a Monopolist on the Quantity of a
        Monopolized Good that Can Be Sold and on the Distribution of the Good
        Among the Competitors for It (p. 207)
   D. The Principles of Monopoly Trading (The Policy of a Monopolist)  (p. 211)
3. Price Formation and the Distribution of Goods under Bilateral Competition  (p. 216)
    A. The Origin of Competition (p. 216)
    B. The Effect of the Quantities of a Commodity Supplied by Competitors
       on Price Formation; The Effect of Given Prices Set by Them on Sales;
       And in Both Cases the Effect on the Distribution of the Commodity
       Among the Competing Buyers  (p. 218)
    C. The Effect of Competition in the Supply of a Good on the Quantity
       Sold and on the Price at Which it is Offered (The Policies of Competitors) (p. 220)

VI. USE VALUE AND EXCHANGE VALUE (p. 226)
A. The Nature of Use Value and Exchange Value (p. 226)
B. The Relationship Between the Use Value and the Exchange Value of Goods (p. 228)
C. Changes in the Economic Center of Gravity of the Value of Goods (p. 231)

VII. THE THEORY OF THE COMMODITY  (p. 236)
1. The Concept of the Commodity in its Popular and Scientific Meanings (p. 236)
2. The Marketability of Commodities (p. 241)
    A. The Outer Limits of the Marketability of Commodities (p. 241)
    B. The Different Degrees of Marketability of Commodities (p. 248)
    C. The Facility with Which Commodities Circulate (p. 254)

VIII. THE THEORY OF MONEY (p. 257)
1. The Nature and Origin of Money (p. 257)
2. The Kinds of Money Appropriate to Particular Peoples and to
   Particular Historical Periods (p. 262)
3. Money as a “Measure of Price” and as the most Economic Form for
    Storing Exchangeable Wealth  (p. 272)
4. Coinage  (p. 280)

APPENDICES (p. 286)
A. Goods and “Relationships” (p. 286)
B. Wealth (p. 288)
C. The Nature of Value (p. 292)
D. The Measure of Value (p. 295)
E. The Concept of Capital (p. 303)
F. Equivalence in Exchange (p. 305)
G. Use Value and Exchange Value (p. 306)
H. The Commodity Concept (p. 308)
I. Designations for Money (p. 312)
J. History of Theories of the Origin of Money (p. 315)