MENGER, CARL

born Feb. 23, 1840, Neu-Sandec, Galicia, Austrian Empire [now in Poland] died Feb. 26, 1921, Vienna, Austria Austrian economist who contributed to the development of the marginal utility theory and to the formulation of a subjective theory of value. Menger's value theory proceeded from an analysis of the behaviour of the individual to an explanation of economic phenomena; e.g., the demonstration that exchange value can be explained in terms of use value, the concept that goods contribute to consumers' satisfactions. In his most important work, Grundstze der Volkswirtschaftslehre (1871; Principles of Economics), Menger tried to show the relationships among utility, value, and price. Menger received his Ph.D. degree from the Jagiellonian University in Krakw in 1867 and then accepted a position in the Austrian civil service. In 1873 he became a professor of political economy at the University of Vienna, where he remained, with brief interruptions, until 1903. He thereafter devoted himself to the completion of his studies in economics. Menger is widely known as the founder of the Austrian school of economists.