Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Introduction

   • Ursula Backhaus, Günther Chaloupek, Hans A. Frambach

   Pages 1-5

3. Gustav Schmoller’s Program and Its Valuation Today and Tomorrow

   • Karl-Heinz Schmidt

   Pages 7-20

4. Gustav von Schmoller in the Netherlands 1870–1940. A Forgotten Economist?

   • Robert W. J. Jansen

   Pages 21-40

5. Schmoller Research in China and Its Potential

   • Gang Li

   Pages 41-47

6. Gustav Schmoller and Adolph Wagner: The Idea of Social Justice in Health Care

   • Ursula Backhaus

   Pages 49-63

7. Timely Lessons for the Post-9/11 World from Schmoller and Wagner

   • Nicholas Wolfgang Balabkins

   Pages 65-75

8. Wagner’s Law, Money and the Theory of Financial Crisis: Adolph Wagner’s Early Viennese Publications

   • Günther Chaloupek

   Pages 77-92

9. Similarities and Differences in Central Concepts of Social Economy: Adolph Wagner’s State Socialism and Heinrich Pesch’s Solidarism

   • Hans A. Frambach

   Pages 93-106

10. Adolph Wagner Revisited: Is Redistribution of Income and Wealth a Public Good?

    • Andries Nentjes

    Pages 107-127

11. Wagner’s Law, Government Size and Economic Growth: An Empirical Test and Theoretical Explanations for Italy 1861–2008

    • Francesco Forte, Cosimo Magazzino

    Pages 129-151

12. Empirical Evidence for “Wagner’s Law of Increasing Government Activity” for Austria

    • Reinhard Neck, Johannes Jaenicke

    Pages 153-173

13. Meinecke’s Sonderweg

    • F. L. van Holthoon

    Pages 175-191

This book discusses the work of German economists Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner, its influence on the tradition of German and Austrian economic and social thought, and its implications for the discipline today. Schmoller and Wagner integrated philosophical, historical, sociological and political approaches into the science of economics, focusing specifically on economic development. Schmoller, who is considered the head of the second generation of the German Historical School, argued that general propositions of economic theory had to be based on historical-empirical studies. In contrast, Wagner was a systematologist who preferred to start his investigations into economic problems from abstract principles. Schmoller and Wagner share, however, a common focus on institutions and the role of the state; Wagner favored state policy initiatives, while Schmoller was concerned with the risks of state policy failure. One hundred years after their deaths, the contributions to this booklook into their approach, trace the influence of their ideas, and explore the relevance of their thought in a global economy.  This book will be useful for students and scholars interested in socio-economics, the history of economic thought, economic policy, and political science.  

• Gustav von Schmoller
• Adolph Wagner
• economic theory
• economic policy
• institutionalism
• systemology

• Universität Erfurt, Staatswiss. Fakultät, Erfurt, Germany

  Jürgen Backhaus

• Austrian Chamber of Labour, Vienna, Austria

  Günther Chaloupek

• Department of Economics, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

  Hans A. Frambach

Juergen Backhaus acquired his diploma in Economics, Management Sciences and Political Sciences in Konstanz in 1973, where he also achieved his licentiate degree in Law in 1976 and did his doctorate under Gerard Gäfgen in 1985. From 1986, Juergen Backhaus was a professor of Public Finance at the University of Maastricht. Since March 1994, he publishes the European Journal of Law and Economics. Since 2001 he holds the Krupp Foundation Chair in Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology at the University of Erfurt. Juergen Backhaus was announced honorary doctor of the University of Thessaly in 2004.

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