The Verein für Socialpolitik (), or the German Economic Association,The Verein für Socialpolitik's English name is "German Economic Association". Retrieved March 16th, 2018.
/ref> is an important society of

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

s in the German-speaking area.

History

The Verein was founded in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

in 1872 as a response to the "social question". Among its founders were eminent economists like

Gustav von Schmoller Gustav Friedrich (after 1908: von) Schmoller (; 24 June 1838 – 27 June 1917) was the leader of the "younger" German historical school of economics. He was a leading '' Sozialpolitiker'' (more derisively, '' Kathedersozialist'', "Socialist of t ...

, Lujo Brentano and

Adolph Wagner Adolph Wagner (25 March 1835 – 8 November 1917) was a German economist and politician, a leading ''Kathedersozialist'' (academic socialist) and public finance scholar and advocate of agrarianism. Wagner's law of increasing state activity is ...

, who sought a middle path between

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...

economic policies. On the contrary, the liberal publicist

Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim __NOTOC__ Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim (July 20, 1819 in Frankfurt – March 29, 1880 in Berlin) was a German publicist and philosopher concerned with the ideas of liberalism, free trade and international law. Oppenheim was son of a Jewish fam ...

, critical of their "fanciful positions", dubbed them the Kathedersozialisten (socialists of the chair), meant as pejorative term.

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Ac ...

. Among its later members were prominent sociologists like

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas p ...

and

Werner Sombart Werner Sombart (; ; 19 January 1863 – 18 May 1941) was a German economist and sociologist, the head of the "Youngest Historical School" and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century. ...

. They took part in the famous Werturteilsstreit with the older generation of the Verein just before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The Verein was dissolved in 1936 under the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

, but was re-created in 1948 at a conference in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...

. Today, the Verein is headquartered in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. It currently has around 3,800 individual members and 48 corporate members. It publishes a monograph series, the ''Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik'' (Neu Folge), as well as two journals: the German Economic Review and Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik. The verein annually awards the

Gossen Prize The Gossen Prize is an annual award given by the Verein für Socialpolitik to German-speaking economists under the age of 45 whose work gained international recognition. The jury—the extended committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik—especiall ...

to German-speaking economists under the age of 45. Another award given by the association is the Gustav Stolper Prize; it is named after economist Gustav Stolper, and is not subject to any age restrictions.

Important members

* Lujo Brentano (1844–1931), German economist and social reformer, co-founder of the Verein * Karl Bücher (1847–1930), German economist *

Gustav Cohn Gustav Cohn (12 December 1840 in Marienwerder, West Prussia – 17 September 1919) was a German economist, noted for his pioneering contributions to the theory and policy of transportation and public finance. He was educated at Berlin and Jena un ...

(1840–1919), German economist *

Constantin von Dietze Friedrich Carl Nicolaus Constantin von Dietze (9 August 1891 – 18 March 1973) was an agronomist, lawyer, economist, and theologian. He was a member of both the Confessing Church and the " Freiburg Circle" during the Nazi era. Early life and Wo ...

(1891–1973), agronomist, lawyer, economist, and theologian * Ernst Engel (1821–1896), German statistician and economist * Walter Eucken (1891–1950), German economist * Carl Geibel (1842–1910), founding member, German book dealer and publisher * Martin Hellwig (born 1949), German economist *

Ignaz Jastrow Ignaz Jastrow (13 September 1856, Nakel - 2 May 1937, Berlin) was a German economist and historian. Biography He was educated at the universities of Breslau, Berlin, and Göttingen. He became a university docent at Berlin in 1885 and was L ...

(1856–1937), German economist and historian *

Georg Friedrich Knapp Georg Friedrich Knapp (; March 7, 1842 – February 20, 1926) was a German economist who in 1905 published ''The State Theory of Money'', which founded the chartalist school of monetary theory, which argues that money's value derives from i ...

(1842–1926), German economist *

Roland Kirstein Roland Kirstein (born ) is a German economist and professor of Business Administration at the Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg, Germany. Biography Roland Kirstein was born Schröder in Bremen, Germany. He studied economics and law at ...

(born 1965), German economist and professor *

Emil Lederer Emil Lederer (22 July 1882 – 29 May 1939) was a Bohemian-born German economist and sociologist. Purged from his position at Humboldt University of Berlin in 1933 for being Jewish, Lederer fled into exile. He helped establish the "University ...

(1882–1939), Bohemian-German economist and sociologist *

Wilhelm Lexis Wilhelm Lexis (17 July 1837, Eschweiler, Germany – 24 August 1914, Göttingen, Germany), full name Wilhelm Hector Richard Albrecht Lexis,Obituary by Felix Klein(in German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lexis, Wilhelm 1837 births 1914 deaths People from ...

(1837–1914), German statistician, economist, and social scientist * Friedrich Naumann (1860–1919), German liberal politician and Protestant parish pastor *

Karl Rathgen Karl Rathgen (December 6, 1856, Weimar - November 4, 1921, Hamburg) was a German economist. He was the first Chancellor of the University of Hamburg. After studying in Strasbourg, Halle, Leipzig and Berlin, he passed the first state examination ...

(1856–1921), German Economist *

Alexander Rüstow Alexander Rüstow (8 April 1885 – 30 June 1963) was a German sociologist and economist. In 1938 he originated the term neoliberalism at the Colloque Walter Lippmann. He was one of the fathers of the " Social Market Economy" that shaped the eco ...

(1885–1963), German sociologist and economist *

Gerhart von Schulze-Gaevernitz Gerhart may refer to: As a given name * Gerhart Baum (born 1932), German politician and former Federal Minister of the Interior * Gerhart Eisler (1897-1968), German communist politician * Gerhart Friedlander (1916–2009), nuclear chemist who work ...

(1864–1943), German economist and politician *

(1838–1917), German economist * Gustav von Schönberg (1839–1908), German economist *

Max Sering Max Sering (18 January 1857 – 12 November 1939) was a German economist. Sering was considered the most famous German agricultural economist of his time; his students briefly included Otto von Habsburg. Sering studied in both Strasbourg and ...

(1857–1939), German economist * Hans-Werner Sinn (born 1948), German economist *

(1863–1941), German sociologist and economist * Arthur Spiethoff (1873–1957), German economist *

Ferdinand Tönnies Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 9 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social g ...

(1855–1936), German sociologist and philosopher *

(1835–1917), German economist * Adolf Weber (1876–1963), German economist *

Alfred Weber Alfred Weber (; 30 July 1868 – 2 May 1958) was a German economist, geographer, sociologist and theoretician of culture whose work was influential in the development of modern economic geography. Life Alfred Weber, younger brother of the ...

(1868–1958), German economist and sociologist *

(1864–1920), German sociologist and economist

References

Sources

* Franz Boese: ''Geschichte des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, 1872–1932''. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1939. * Dieter Lindenlaub: ''Richtungskämpfe im Verein für Sozialpolitik: Wissenschaft und Socialpolitik im Kaiserreich vornehmlich vom Beginn des 'Neuen Kurses' bis zum Ausbruch des 1. Weltkrieges (1890–1914)''. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1967.

External links

Official Homepage of the Verein für Socialpolitik
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verein fur Socialpolitik Organizations established in 1873 Economics societies

History

Important members

See also

References

Sources

External links