After graduation he pursued further studies in Paris and Strasbourg before returning to Slovakia to combine the role of academic economist with working for major financial institutions.

In September 1944, during the aftermath of the Slovak National Uprising, Karvaš was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Flossenburg concentration camp.

In 1947 Karvaš published his major work, Základy hospodárskej vedy (The Basics of the Economic Science), and went on to serve as dean and pro-dean of the Faculty of Law.

In 1958 he was sentenced to a further 17 years, on charges of espionage and treason, but after 1960 he was rehabilitated, living the rest of his life in relative obscurity.

[1] The granddaughter of Imrich Karvaš, Ľubica Karvašová was elected to the European Parliament in 2024.