Principles of Economics by Karl Menger - HTML preview

CONTENTS

Introduction. By F.A. Hayek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Translator’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Author’s Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
I. THE GENERAL THEORY OF THE GOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
1. The Nature of Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2. The Causal Connections Between Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3. The Laws Governing Goods-character. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
A. The Goods-character of Goods of Higher Order
is Dependent on Command of Corresponding
Complementary Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
B. The Goods-character of Goods of Higher Order
is Derived From that of the Corresponding Goods
of Lower Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4. Time and Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5. The Causes of Progress in Human Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6. Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
II. ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC GOODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
1. Human Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
A. Requirements for Goods of First Order
(Consumption Goods) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
B. Requirements for Goods of Higher Order
(Means of Production) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
C. The Time Limits Within Which Human
Needs are Felt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2. The Available Quantities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3. The Origin of Human Economy and Economic Goods 94 A. Economic Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
B. Non-Economic Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

C. The Relationship Between Economic and
Non-Economic Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
D. The Laws Governing the Economic Character of Goods. . . . . . . . 106
4. Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
IlI. THE THEORY OF VALUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
1. The Nature and Origin of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
2. The Original Measure of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A. Differences in the Magnitude of Importance of Different Satisfactions (Subjective Factor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
B. The Dependence of Separate Satisfactions on Particular Goods (Objective Factor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
C. The Influence of Differences in the Quality of Goods on Their Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
D. The Subjective Character of the Measure of Value.
Labor and Value. Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
3. The Laws Governing the Value of Goods of Higher Order . . . . . . . . 149
A. The Principle Determining the Value of Goods of
Higher Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
B. The Productivity of Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
C. The Value of Complementary Quantities of Goods of
Higher Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
D. The Value of Individual Goods of Higher Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
E. The Value of the Services of Land, Capital, and Labor in Particular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
IV. THE THEORY OF EXCHANGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
1. The Foundations of Economic Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
2. The Limits of Economic Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
V. THE THEORY OF PRICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
1. Price Formation in an Isolated Exchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
2. Price Formation under Monopoly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
A. Price Formation and the Distribution of Goods When There is Competition between Several Persons for a Single Indivisible Monopolized Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
B. Price Formation and the Distribution of Goods When There is Competition for Several Units of a Monopolized Good . . . . . . 203
C. The Influence Of The Price Fixed By A Monopolist on the Quantity Of A Monopolized Good that Can Be Sold

3. Price Formation and the Distribution of Goods under
Bilateral Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
A. The Origin of Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
VI. USE VALUE AND EXCHANGE VALUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A. The Nature of Use Value and Exchange Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
B. The Relationship Between the Use Value and the Exchange Value of Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
C. Changes in the Economic Center of Gravity of the Value of Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
VII. THE THEORY OF THE COMMODITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
1. The Concept of the Commodity in its Popular and Scientific Meanings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
2. The Marketability of Commodities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
A. The Outer Limits of the Marketability of Commodities . . . . . . . . 241
B. The Different Degrees of Marketability of Commodities . . . . . . . . 248
C. The Facility with Which Commodities Circulate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
VIII. THE THEORY OF MONEY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
1. The Nature and Origin of Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
2. The Kinds of Money Appropriate to Particular Peoples and to Particular Historical Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
3. Money as a “Measure of Price” and as the most Economic Form for Storing Exchangeable Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
4. Coinage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
A. Goods and “Relationships”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
B. Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
C. The Nature of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
D. The Measure of Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
E. The Concept of Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
F. Equivalence in Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
G. Use Value and Exchange Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
H. The Commodity Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
1. Designations for Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
J. History of Theories of the Origin of Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321