Macht oder ökonomisches Gesetz?

In this penetrating essay, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk confronts one of the most consequential questions in political economy: can the state escape economic law? Writing at the height of debates over state intervention and socialist planning, the Austrian economist argues that political power, however absolute it may appear, remains ultimately subject to the same economic forces that govern all human action. Drawing on the marginalist revolution and the Austrian school of thought he helped found, Böhm-Bawerk demonstrates how price mechanisms, capital theory, and the logic of exchange constrain even the most powerful sovereigns. The essay strikes at the heart of perennial debates about sovereignty, economic calculation, and the limits of political will. For anyone seeking to understand why states cannot simply command prosperity into existence, and how economic law humbles even the mightiest powers, this compact masterpiece remains required reading.