Ingo Pellengahr

Ingo Pellengahr was born in Germany in 1952. He studied economics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and received a doctorate in economics from the University of Frankfurt in 1993. He continued his postgraduate studies as an "Austrian Fellow" at the University of New York (USA). He then held teaching positions in economics at the University of Heidelberg and at University of Mannheim both in Germany.

His works focused on a reappraisal of the subjectivist theory of interest rate based on the theories of the Austrian school and on the definition of time preference. This theory has been developed especially in United States on the basis of Eugen Böhm-Bawerk's theory of interest. In the seventies and the eighties, the revival of the Austrian school contributed to a renewal of a "purely subjective" and temporal preference theory of interest rate. We find, therefore, in Ingo Pellengahr's analysis, authors who are at the heart of the Austrian analysis: Eugen Böhm-Bawerk's theory of interest, Frank Fetter's theory of capitalization, Ludwig von Mises's pure theory of time preference and its development by Murray Rothbard not to mention a neo-classical contribution of Irving Fisher's theory of impatience.

Ingo Pellengahr made a critical study of the historical sequence of all known versions of the subjectivist theory of interest rate and he provides a reformulation of the essentialist theory of interest rate based on Carl Menger's', the founder of 'Austrian school of economics'. Furthermore, bringing together almost all of the Austrian school at full strength, Ingo Pellengahr's analysis can highlight the social and economic problems caused by interest rates.

Publications

• 1986, "Austrians Versus Austrians II, Functionalist Versus Essentialist Theories of Interest", In: Malte Faber, dir., Studies in Austrian Capital Theory, Investment and Time. Berlin: Springer-Verlag

• 1996, The Austrian Subjectivist Theory of Interest: An Investigation into the History of Thought, Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, New York, Paris, Wien

Second hand readings

• 1999, Anthony M. Endres, comments on Ingo Pellengahr's book, "The Austrian Subjectivist Theory of Interest: An Investigation into the History of Thought", History of Political Economy, 31(4), pp774-775

• 2001, Robert Murphy, comments on Ingo Pellengahr's book, "The Austrian Subjectivist Theory of Interest: An Investigation into the History of Thought", The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol 4, n°1, Spring, pp85-89