Pure Economics, published in 1874. In addition to all of Walras’s
other accomplishments in economics (and despite his early
poor performance in mathematics!), we today regard him as the
founder of mathematical economics.
Leon Walras and Alfred Marshall are regarded by many
economists as the two most important economic theorists who
ever lived. Much of the framework of economic theory studied
today is either Walrasian or Marshallian in character.
Carl Menger (1840–1921)
Carl Menger was born in Galicia (then part of Austria), and he
came from a family of Austrian civil servants and army officers.
After studying law in Prague and Vienna, he turned to
economics and in 1871 published Grundsatze der
Volkswirtschaftslehre (translated as Principles of Economics),
for which he became famous. He held a professorship at the
University of Vienna until 1903. Menger was the founder of a
school of thought known as the “Austrian School,” which