La lecture des penseurs libéraux français par Carl Menger
Authors: Campagnolo Gilles 
Published: September 2011

Origins of Menger’s Thought in French Liberal Economists.

Carl Menger, who became regarded as the founder of the Austrian School, neither only confronted German members of the Historical School, nor only criticized British Classical Political Economy. He also read the French Liberal economists. The link between Say and Menger has already been commented upon at times, but always on a mostly intuitive basis. And it still seems necessary to give substantial proof of its true extent, as well as to document it with proper archival work - that is done in the present article, that brings to light first-hand material and information, mainly from the Menger Collection located in Japan. Besides the case of Say, Menger’s reading of French authors in favor of freetrade (Count Pellegrino Rossi, Michel Chevalier, Frédéric Bastiat) is less known, even from most historians of Austrian economic thought. For instance, Rossi (who succeeded Say at the chair of Political economy at the Collège de France) had written a handbook of economics that Menger used much for the revision of his own Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre of 1871 (the role of Karl Heinrich Rau’s handbook before publishing his masterwork is better known, as it was demonstrated by historian of utility Emil Kauder - we shall demonstrate here that Rossi’s book was as much significant). About Chevalier and Bastiat, the present essay also intends to present reasonably balanced judgments about Menger’s reading, always based on first-hand material - besides the Menger Collection at Hitotsubashi in Japan, the Perkins Library at Duke University is also used, as it is a treasure in Mengerian studies too. Such developments in historical studies of economic thought are of interest, not only to Mengerian and Austrian scholars, but to all those interested in the history of economic thought and of 19th century European scholarship. Besides the case of Say, Menger’s reading of French authors in favor of freetrade (Count Pellegrino Rossi, Michel Chevalier, Frédéric Bastiat) is less known, even from most historians of Austrian economic thought. For instance, Rossi (who succeeded Say at the chair of Political economy at the Collège de France) had written a handbook of economics that Menger used much for the revision of his own Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre of 1871 (the role of Karl Heinrich Rau’s handbook before publishing his masterwork is better known, as it was demonstrated by historian of utility Emil Kauder -we shall demonstrate here that Rossi’s book was as much significant). About Chevalier and Bastiat, the present essay also intends to present reasonably balanced judgments about Menger’s reading, always based on first-hand material -besides the Menger Collection at Hitotsubashi in Japan, the Perkins Library at Duke University is also used, as it is a treasure in Mengerian studies too. Such developments in historical studies of economic thought are of interest, not only to Mengerian and Austrian scholars, but to all those interested in the history of economic thought and of 19th century European scholarship.