Max Wirth ( Breslau, 27 January 1822 —

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, 18 July 1900) was a German

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

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 ...

Life

Max Wirth is the son of Johann Georg August Wirth, a

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

and organizer of the Hambach Festival in 1832. Max studied law and political economy at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, where he joined the Corps Rhenania. Later he became a journalist in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where he founded the weekly magazine ''Der Arbeitgeber'', a publication about the labour market, but also used to progress Wirth's personal views. He was part of various economic congresses and industrial associations. Between 1865 and 1873, he was director of the Swiss Statistical Bureau. Afterwards, he worked as a journalist again, first for the '' Neuen Freien Presse'', later as

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

Work

Max Wirth is mostly known his work ''Geschichte der Handelskrisen'', a history of economic crises. The book went through four editions, the last editions appearing in 1890. He also wrote a book on the banking history of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. His name is cited disparagingly by Marx in Capital vol. I as 'Herr M. Wirth' to exemplify to the reader the 'run-of-the-mill vulgar economist and propagandist', being a name known to many German readers at the time.

References

German economists Journalists from Wrocław German male journalists Frankfurter Zeitung people German expatriates in Austria People from the Province of Silesia 1822 births 1900 deaths 19th-century German journalists 19th-century German male writers {{Germany-journalist-stub