Every two years at its annual meetings, the Verein für Socialpolitik awards the Carl Menger Award for innovative, international research in the fields of monetary macroeconomics and monetary policy.

Namend after the Austrian economist and co-founder of the Austrian School, the Carl Menger Award is sponsored jointly by the German, Austrian and Swiss central banks (Deutsche Bundesbank, Österreichische Nationalbank, Schweizerische Nationalbank) and represents an award of EUR 20.000.

Most important criteria for the prize are publications in prestigious international journals as well as the frequency of international citations.

At the time of award, the recipient of the Carl MengerAward must hold a teaching position in Europe and may not have turned 46 in the year the award is given.

The heads of the research departments of the participating central banks, the chairmen of the standing field committees on monetary theory and policy, macroeconomics, international economics and policy, and the lead editors of the Verein's journals (presently the German Economic Review and the Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik) may propose candidates for the award. These proposals must be put forth in writing.

The prize winner is selected on the basis of at least two candidates on the basis of a vote of a committee consisting of the Verein's chairman (Vorsitzender), its previous chairman (Altvorsitzender), as well as one individual for each of the participating central banks.

The Carl Menger Award was awarded for the first time at the Annual Meeting 2014 of the Verein für Socialpolitik, at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, September 7-10, 2014.