Karel Engliš (17 August 1880 – 15 June 1961)[1] was a Czech economist, political scientist, and founder of teleological economic theory.

Together with Alois Rašín, he was significantly involved in the Czechoslovakian currency reform after World War I as Minister of Finance.

[4] One of his teachers was economist Albín Bráf, who recognized his talent and recommended him for work at the Provincial Statistical Office.

He was responsible for stabilizing the currency, streamlining the state budget, building a modern tax system, overcoming post-war economic upheaval, and mitigating the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The aim was to create a solid financial institution that could compete with the most substantial bank in Czechoslovakia, the Živnostenská Banka.

After the Munich Agreement on 1 October 1938, he succeeded in initiating the transport of the remains of Karel Hynek Mácha from Litoměřice, which was annexed by Germany.

In August 1952, he had to move out of Prague due to administrative persecution, but he managed to obtain the authorities' consent to return to his hometown Hrabyně.

[15] He faced persistent scrutiny by the communist government consisting mainly of house searches, and his originally high pension was drastically reduced several times to the absolute minimum.

[15] On 5 June 1906, Engliš married Maria Grögrová (1880–1953), the daughter of a tax inspector from Uherský Brod, in Prague.

The concept is based on marginal utility theory, counter to the then-prevailing causal interpretation of economic issues.

[24] Engliš held that in any economic system, all subjects always try to improve their existence, so he rejected simple causality in the economy.

Engliš criticized his deflationary policy, persistent efforts to strengthen the Czech koruna, and insistence on the gold standard.

Although the deflationary policy was revoked by parliament in 1925, the leadership of the National Bank continued to insist on it, even though during the economic crisis, the price of gold rose sharply, and with it, the koruna exchange rate.

[2] In 1991, President Václav Havel awarded him the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Class III in memoriam for "outstanding services to democracy and human rights".

[citation needed] In 2022, the Czech National Bank issued a commemorative banknote featuring a portrait of Engliš, with a nominal value of CZK 100.