This year marks the 150
th anniversary of a radical change in the way economists came to understand the logic of human decision-making and the formation of prices in society. There occurred what is often referred to as the “marginalist revolution” in place of the classical economists’ notion of a “labor theory of value,” which was generally accepted from the time of Adam Smith.
In 1871, there appeared two books, Carl Menger’s (1840-1921)
Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftsliche, (or,
Theory of Political Economy. This was followed shortly after by Leon Walras’ (1834-1910)
Elements of Pure Economics in 1874. Menger, Jevons, and Walras each made their contribution independent of even knowing about the others’ existence. Yet, the focus, very often, has been on the common elements to be found in their respective expositions.