Famous Austrian Economists

A winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Friedrich von Hayek, was an advocate of classical liberalism. The Austrian-British economist, who was also a political philosopher, co-founded the Mont Pelerin Society. He worked at the London School of Economics, the University of Chicago and the University of Freiburg and authored the popular book, The Road to Serfdom.

Carl Menger made significant contributions to the marginal utility theory and the subjective theory of value. Born to a lawyer father, he too studied law and also worked as a journalist for a while. He later taught at the University of Vienna and also established the Austrian School of economics.

A major advocate of the Austrian school of economics, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk made major reforms as part of the Austrian ministry of finance, such as imposition of the gold standard. He was also one of the first to oppose Karl Marx’s theory of exploitation of workers.

Otto Neurath was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, political economist, and sociologist. He is known for inventing the ISOTYPE method of pictorial statistics. A native of Vienna, he was one of the leading figures of the Vienna Circle. As an economist, he advocated for ideas like "in-kind" economic accounting in place of monetary accounting. 

One of the principal members of the Austrian school of economics, Friedrich von Wieser is known for coining the term marginal utility and developing number of theories including the alternative cost theory, proclaiming that cost of a commodity depends mainly on its subjective, or psychological, value. Among his many publications more significant are Natural Value and Foundations of Social Economy.

Austrian-born Marxist politician, socialist-theorist, and economist Rudolf Hilferding was the main theoretician for the German social democratic political party called Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the Weimar Republic. A prominent representative of the Viennese development of Marxism, Hilferding assumed office as Minister of Finance in two SPD led governments and is noted for his work Das Finanzkapital.

Austrian philosopher and sociologist Othmar Spann initially taught in Brünn and then fought during World War I. He later taught at the University of Vienna for almost 2 decades. His ideas were radically anti-liberal. A Nazi Party member, he believed in the superiority of a corporate state.

Gottfried von Haberler was an Austrian-American economist, writer and educator, famous for his works on international trade. Beginning his career as professor of economics and statistics at the University of Vienna, he later taught at Harvard University before joining American Enterprise Institute. Author of several celebrated works; he is most famous for his 1937 book, The Theory of International Trade.

Carl Grünberg was a German Marxist philosopher of law and history. He studied law in Strasbourg and practiced as an advocate. He then proceeded to study political economy in Vienna and eventually became an academic reader. He was one of the founders of Austromarxism. He became the director of the Institute for Social Research in 1924. 

Stefan Thomas Possony was an Austrian-born US economist and military strategist. He is known for conceiving the US Strategic Defense Initiative. He was a senior fellow and director of International Studies at the Hoover Institution. He was also a co-founder of the International Strategic Studies Association. He was married to a woman named Regina Golbinder.