Eugen Boehm von Bawerk (12 February 1851-27 August 1914) was an Austrian economist, a major contributor to the Austrian School, and Finance Minister of Austria intermittently from 1895 to 1904.
Biography[]
Eugen Boehm von Bawerk was born in Bruenn, Austrian Empire (now Brno, Czech Republic) on 12 February 1851. He became an adherent of Carl Menger's theories, and he entered the Finance Ministry in 1872 after completing his studies. From 1884 to 1889, he worked as a professor at the University of Innsbruck, and he became a councillor in the Ministry of Finance in Vienna in 1889. Boehm critiqued Marxist economics during the 1880s and 1890s, attacking him for downplaying the influence of supply and demand in determining the permanent price. From 1895 to 1904, Boehm intermittently served as Finance Minister, supporting strict maintenance of the gold standard and a balanced budget. In 1902, he eliminated the two-century-old sugar subsidy, and the increased fiscal demands of the army forced Boehm to resign in 1904 rather than break the balanced budget. He was responsible for Austria's backwardness, as he refused to spend money on public works.