CARL MENGER (1840-1921) was an Austrian economist, scholar, and author. He founded and taught at the Austrian School of Economics, where he authored several publications, mostly about the theory of marginal utility, which was directly in opposition to the then-favored cost-production theory of value, and which sparked controversy with his German colleagues. Before he retired from teaching to focus on research and study, Menger was appointed as the head of a commission to reform the Austrian monetary system. It was during this time that he wrote several well-known pieces about the purpose and origin of money and capital.