Free Market Economics

Episode Synopsis

In lecture three, we study the Austrian School of Economics through the work of Carl Menger and Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, key figures in the marginal revolution of 1871 that challenged the labor theory of value. We examine how they introduced the idea that value is subjective and that each additional unit of a good becomes less valuable, resolving puzzles like Adam Smith’s diamond-water paradox and showing that labor does not determine value. The lecture also covers Menger’s insights on money and price formation, along with Böhm-Bawerk’s theories of capital and interest rates, laying the foundation for modern subjective value theory and market dynamics.