History

The intellectual pedigree of the Carl Menger Institute stems from the pioneering contributions of Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün—an esteemed 19th-century economist—and the re-envisioning and expansion of his teachings by Prof. Daron O. Djerdjian around 150 years later.

The Institute situates itself in the direct intellectual lineage descending from Carl Menger's theories of marginal utility and subjective value. Our Institute is the product of his intellectual revolution, as well as the subsequent insights of others: In particular, we complement the economic praxeology of Ludwig von Mises by contextualizing human action within a broader philosophical anthropology. The Institute illuminates markets and voluntary exchange as the pinnacle of human cooperation, without recourse to moral codes, ethical frameworks, or inherent righthood. Our perspective underscores the self-sufficiency of market phenomena, affirming their intrinsic worth and normative independence from external moral scaffolding or predetermined ethical constructs. In other words, we act and gain; not because we are bound by artificial imperatives—but because we are human. Furthermore, we transcend Murray N. Rothbard's simplistic natural-rights centrism to capture the fullest complexity in spontaneous markets’ formation and functioning.

Overall, the Carl Menger Institute adopts a more intellectually-fertile exploration of the fuller juridical, ethical, and social parameters, for they enable the marketplace as the epitome of the human condition: or, what we call, “anthropoethics.”

Inspired by this paradigm, alongside the potential to revive and expand upon Menger's contributions in a 21st-century milieu, Prof. Djerdjian embarked on groundbreaking research and professorship at the American University of Sharjah (UAE) and Occidental College (California/USA). Thereby, he has advanced countless students’ understanding of market economics. In 2024, Prof. Djerdjian sought to transcend the status quo in both academia and economic thought: namely, by establishing the Carl Menger Institute with his protegés and former students, Peter H. Vartanian and Ethan Akimoto. The Institute aims to advance a truly many-sided "science of markets" capable of analytically grappling with the full dynamism, complexity, and ingenuity inherent in all economic processes. Rooted in this anthropoethical world-view, the Institute pioneers the exploration of the socio-cultural-institutional nexus in which economic activities emerge organically and exist perpetually.