# Principles of Economics (Menger) Carl Menger's 1871 foundational text of the Austrian School of economics, which introduced the subjective theory of value and the concept of marginal utility — arguing that economic value is determined by individual preferences rather than by labor inputs or production costs. The book launched the Austrian School tradition (Menger → Böhm-Bawerk → Mises → Hayek → Rothbard) that became the intellectual foundation for libertarian economics and free-market ideology. The vault tracks this lineage because Austrian economics provided the theoretical framework that Koch-network organizations, libertarian think tanks, and figures like Ron Paul used to argue for [[Deregulation]], the abolition of the Federal Reserve, the gold standard, and minimal government intervention. The Mises Institute and the Cato Institute are institutional descendants of the tradition Menger founded, and their influence on Republican economic policy — particularly through the Tea Party and later MAGA movements — traces back through this intellectual genealogy. ## See Also - [[Deregulation]] — the policy project Austrian economics supports