Friedrich von Wieser on Institutions and Social Economics

In a former essay dedicated to a part of Wieser s contribution to economics and economic sociology (Arena, 2003), we noted that, within the triumvirate of the founders of the Austrian School, Friedrich von Wieser is certainly not the one who is the most esteemed by modern historians of economic thought. On the one hand, he is frequently considered as a mere and faithful follower of Carl Menger; and his theoretical originality is supposed to be much weaker than that of Böhm-Bawerk. On the other hand, his observations on human races and his inclination in favour of authoritarian political regimes did not contribute to making him very likeable. These circumstances led certainly to an undervaluation of his economic works. Wieser s economic theory, however, offers a very interesting mixture of economic analysis and economic sociology and its insights strongly contributed to the development of the intellectual achievements of the second generation of the Austrian School (see Streissler, 1986: 85, 91–3, 1988: 195). Moreover, if a part of Wieser s work contributed to the formation of what was later called the ‘Marginal Revolution’ (see for instance Wieser, 1889/1893), another part certainly participated in the process of transition which favoured the emergence of an original Austrian approach. In this contribution we would like to focus mainly on this second part of Wieser s social and economic theory, also because it is too often ignored.