Richard von Strigl, “Nachfrage” (1923)

This file is a single signed encyclopedia entry, issued as a special offprint from the Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften. Its scope is compact but systematic: Strigl defines demand, distinguishes mere desire from effective purchasing demand, treats exceptional demand configurations, and closes by locating demand within the coordination of a monetary exchange economy.

Strigl begins by showing that “demand” becomes precise only once money mediates exchange. In barter, either party may be described as offering one good and demanding another; with money, the buyer’s side becomes linguistically and analytically distinct.

Dann bedeutet Nachfrage das Verlangen, Ware für Geld zu erhalten oder aber auch die nachgefragte Warenmenge selbst, die Menge der Ware, für welche Geld geboten wird.

English translation: Demand, then, denotes the desire to obtain goods in exchange for money, or else the quantity of goods demanded itself—the quantity of the good for which money is offered.

The central section argues that demand in the abstract is practically unlimited, while goods are scarce. This makes demand not merely a psychological fact but a problem of selection: which wants become market-effective?

Nur ein Teil der Nachfrage kann jeweils mit dem begrenzten Gütervorrate befriedigt werden.

English translation: Only a portion of demand can, in any given case, be satisfied out of the limited stock of goods.

Strigl’s decisive conceptual move is the distinction between demand as desire and kaufkräftige Nachfrage, demand backed by the ability and willingness to pay the prevailing price. Ordinary speech already compresses this distinction, calling demand “low” when only effective demand is low.

Man sagt etwa, daß die Nachfrage eine geringe war, obwohl auch eine große nicht genügend kaufkräftige Nachfrage vorhanden war.

English translation: One says, for instance, that demand was slight, even though a large but insufficiently solvent demand was present.

From here Strigl develops the familiar downward-sloping demand schedule: as price rises, buyers reduce quantities or leave the market entirely. But he adds an important social qualification. The ranking of demand is not determined by the urgency of need alone; it is also determined by wealth and the subjective valuation of money. Thus a rich buyer may satisfy a minor want while a poor buyer, with a more urgent use, is excluded. Price theory therefore explains allocation, not moral desert.

The market price performs this selection by equating saleable supply and effective demand. Strigl presents the supply and demand curves as a concise image of this process, but his emphasis is institutional: price is the device that decides who obtains the scarce stock.

In diesem Sinne kann man sagen, daß auf dem Markte Angebot und Nachfrage einander angeglichen werden (Gesetz von Angebot und Nachfrage).

English translation: In this sense one may say that on the market supply and demand are brought into alignment with one another (the law of supply and demand).

This also explains his discussion of maximum prices. If a legal maximum is fixed below the natural market-clearing price, the price can no longer perform its normal rationing function; demand exceeds supply, and allocation must occur through waiting, force, ration cards, or illicit trade.

Bei Einführung eines Höchstpreises, welcher unter der Höhe des „natürlichen Preises“ erstellt wird, ergibt sich — wenn dieser Preis tatsächlich aufrechterhalten wird — die ungewöhnliche Situation, daß ein Preis besteht, bei dem das Angebot geringer ist als die Nachfrage.

English translation: Upon the introduction of a maximum price set below the level of the “natural price,” the unusual situation arises—if this price is actually maintained—that a price prevails at which supply is smaller than demand.

The third section limits the importance of special cases. Demand may rise with the price of a good when substitutes or complements shift in relative price—for example, bread demand under a sharper rise in meat prices, or a production good made more attractive by cheaper complementary inputs. Strigl treats these not as refutations of price theory but as cases requiring attention to the whole market constellation.

Für den prinzipiellen Aufbau der Preislehre ist das nicht von Bedeutung, da diese zunächst immer von den gegebenen Marktverhältnissen ausgehen muß.

English translation: For the fundamental construction of price theory this is of no significance, since price theory must always, in the first instance, take its point of departure from the given market conditions.

The final section expands the argument from market exchange to the direction of production. Individual demands, stratified by purchasing power, form the social demand confronting available stocks and productive resources. Since producers seek effective demand, demand ultimately guides what is produced and how productive factors are allocated. The marginal buyer—Strigl’s Grenzkäufer—becomes the measure for deciding among alternative uses of production goods.

In diesem Sinne kann man sagen, daß die Nachfrage die Produktion lenkt.

English translation: In this sense one may say that demand directs production.

The entry’s relevance lies in its compressed Austrian formulation of demand theory: demand is not merely want, but want filtered through money, scarcity, price, and purchasing power. Strigl thereby links subjective valuation, market price formation, rationing under intervention, and the production structure in one short conceptual article.