Turn-of-the-century Vienna was a site of incredible intellectual activity, producing an array of memorable figures whose work defined our current view of the world. Great advances in the fields of psychology (Sigmund Freud), art (Gustav Klimt), music (Arnold Schoenberg, Gustav Mahler), medicine (Theodor Billroth) and philosophy (Ludwig Wittgenstein) were all made in this one place. But did you know that Vienna was also the site of our modern view of economics?

While Freud was revolutionizing psychology, a group of vanguard economists, led by Carl Menger, Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk and Friedrich von Wieser, were using similar principles to reinvent economics. Eventually called "The Austrian School," these men rejected the mechanical and deterministic approach of their colleagues, advocating instead a "pure" economics that accounted for the role of individuals and their desires.

The Austrian School reflected the recognition of risk and uncertainty in their models... and have done more for global wealth creation than possibly any other group.