Gustav von Schmoller (June 24, 1838–June 27, 1917) was the leader of the "younger" German historical school of economics.
Life
Schmoller was born in Heilbronn. His father was a Württemberg civil servant. Young Schmoller studied Staatswissenschaften (a combination of economics, law, history and civil administration) in Tübingen. During his academic career he held appointments as a professor in Halle (1864-72), Strasbourg (1872-82), and Berlin (1882-1913)[1]. After 1899 he represented the University of Berlin in the Prussian House of Lords. He was a leading member of the Kathedersozialisten (socialists of the chair), and a founder and long-time chairman of the Verein für Socialpolitik, the German Economics Association, which today still exists[2]. Schmoller's influence on academic policy, economic, social and fiscal reform, and economics as an academic discipline for the time between 1875 and 1910 [3]can hardly be overrated. He was also an outspoken proponent of the assertion of German naval power and the expansion of German overseas empire.
His works, the majority of which deal with economic history and policy, include:
- Zur geschichte der deutschen Kleingewerbe (1870)
- Strassburg zur Zeit der Zunftkämpfe (1875)
- Zur Litteraturgeschichte der Staats- und Sozialwissenschaften (1888)
- Umrisse und Untersuchungen zur Verfassungs-, Verwaltungs-, und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (1898)
- Grundriss der allgemeinen Volkswirthschaftslehre (1900-1904)
- Ueber einige Grundfragen der Sozialpolitik (1904)
After 1881 Schmoller was editor of the Jahrbuch für Gesetzebung, Verwaltung, und Volkswirthschaft im deutschen Reich. From 1878 to 1903 he edited a series of monographs entitled Staats- und sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungen. To Acta Borussia, the publication of which was undertaken by the Berlin Academy of Science upon Schmoller's and Sybel's instigation, Schmoller contributed many essays.New International Encyclopedia
Work
As an outspoken leader of the "younger" historical school, Schmoller opposed what he saw as the axiomatic-deductive approach of classical economics and, later, the Austrian school. This led to the controversy known as the Methodenstreit, which today often appears as a waste of energies and one of the main reasons for the later demise of the whole historical school, although - as Joseph Schumpeter once pointed out - this was really a quarrel within that school. Schmoller's primarily inductive approach, requesting careful study, comparative in time and space[4], of economic performance and phenomena generally, his focus on the evolution of economic processes and institutions, and his insistence on the cultural specificity of economics and the centrality of values in shaping economic exchanges stand in stark contrast to some classical and most neoclassical economists, so that he and his school fell out of the mainstream of economics by the 1930s. However, it is often overlooked that Schmoller's primary preoccupation in his lifetime was not with economic method but with economic and social policy to address the challenges posed by rapid industrializtion and urbanization. That is, Schmoller was first and foremost a social reformer.[5] As such, Schmoller's influence extended throughout Europe, to the Progressive movement in the United States, and to social reformers in Meiji Japan. His most prominent non-German students and followers included William J. Ashley, W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard T. Ely, Noburu Kanai, Albion W. Small, and E.R.A. Seligman.
Since the 1980s Schmoller's work has been reevaluated and found relevant to some branches of heterodox economics, especially development economics, behavioral economics, evolutionary economics and neo-institutional economics. He has long had an influence within the subfield of economic history and the discipline of sociology.
Works by Schmoller
One of the reasons why Schmoller is not more widely known today is that most of his books and articles were not translated[6]. During his time, Anglo-American economists generally read German. Two exceptions are:
- The Mercantile System and Its Historical Significance, New York: Macmillan, 2nd ed. 1910. This is a chapter from Schmoller's much larger work Studien über die wirtschaftliche Politik Friedrichs des Grossen which was published in 1884. The chapter was translated by William J. Ashley and published in 1897 under the English title above.
- "The Idea of Justice in Political Economy." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 4 (1894): 697-737.
His magnum opus is
- Grundriss der allgemeinen Volkswirtschaftslehre[7], Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1900-1904.
Important recent books on Schmoller in English
- Backhaus, Jürgen G. (1994), ed. Gustav Schmoller and the Problems of Today. History of Economic Ideas, vol.s I/1993/3, II/1994/1.
- Backhaus, Jürgen G. (1997), ed. Essays in Social Security and Taxation. Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner Reconsidered. Marburg: Metropolis.
- Balabkins, Nicholas W. (1988). Not by theory alone...: The Economics of Gustav von Schmoller and Its Legacy to America. Berlin: Duncker u. Humblot.
- Grimmer-Solem, Erik (2003). The Rise of Historical Economics and Social Reform in Germany, 1864-1894. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Koslowski, Peter, ed. The Theory of Ethical Economy in the Historical School. Wilhelm Roscher, Lorenz v. Stein, Gustav Schmoller, Wilhelm Dilthey and Contemporary Thought. Berlin etc.: Springer.
- Shionoya, Yuichi (2001), ed. The German Historical School: The Historical and Ethical Approach to Economics. London etc.: Routledge.
Notes
1. Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives, 3rd ed., “Schmoller, Gustav von.”
2. Charles Powers "Review: Untitled" American Journal of Economics and Sociology 54 no. 3 (Jul. 1995): 287-288. Academic Search Premier, JSTOR.
3. M.J. Bonn "Review: Untitled" The Economic Journal. vol 48 no. 192 (Dec. 1938): 713-714. Academic Search Premier, JSTOR.
4. Thornstein Veblen "The Quarterly Journal of Economics" vol. 16 no. 1 (Nov. 1901): 69-93. Academic Search Premier, JSTOR.
5. Erik Grimmer-Solem, The Rise of Historical Econonics and Social Reform in Germany, 1864-1894 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
6. Charles Powers "Review: Untitled" American Journal of Economics and Sociology. vol 54 no. 3 (Jul. 1995): 287-288. Academic Search Premier, JSTOR.
7. Encyclopadeia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives, 3rd ed., “Schmoller, Gustav von.”
Bibliography
Bonn, M.J. “Review: Untitled” The Economic Journal, vol. 48, no. 192 (December 1938): 713-714. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/stable/2225060 (accessed May 1, 2009).
Clark, David S. Encyclopedia of Law and Society American and Global Perspectives. Minneapolis: Sage Publications, Inc, 2007.
Iggers, Georg G. "Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge". Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1997.
Powers, Charles H. "Review: Untitled" American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 54, no. 3 (Jul. 1995): 287-288. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/stable/3487093 (accessed May 1, 2009).
Shionoya, Yuichi. "The Soul of The German Historical School: Methodological Essays on Schmoller, Weber and Schumpeter". New York: Springer, 2005.
Veblen, Thornstein. "The Quarterly Journal of Economics", vol. 16 no. 1 (Nov. 1901): 69-93. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/stable/1882903 (accessed May 1, 2009).
References
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