Jurg Niehans

About the author

Jürg Niehans (1921-2007) was a distinguished Swiss economist who significantly contributed to the understanding of monetary theory and the history of economic thought. A professor at Johns Hopkins University and later at the University of Bern, Niehans specialized in international monetary economics and the theoretical foundations of modern economic analysis. His academic career was marked by rigorous scholarship in areas including exchange rate theory, monetary policy, and the epistemological development of economic science. Prior to this comprehensive historical work, Niehans authored numerous influential articles on monetary economics and international finance, establishing himself as a leading authority on both theoretical economics and its intellectual evolution.

Niehans's approach reflects his commitment to understanding economics as a scientific enterprise, privileging analytical rigor and methodological coherence over ideological considerations. His epistemological stance emerges clearly in his treatment of economic theory as a systematic construction of analytical instruments rather than merely a succession of ideas shaped by social and political contexts.