Introduction

The contributions to this volume of The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences series are dedicated to Gustav Schmoller and Adolph Wagner, perhaps the most eminent representatives of German economic thought in the second half of the nineteenth century. There are important parallels in their lives and works. Both came from Southern German states – Schmoller from Württemberg, Wagner from Bavaria; both spent the major part of their academic career at the University of Berlin, the academic centre of the Prussian dominated German Reich; as founders of the Verein für Socialpolitik they were united in their efforts to promote the establishment of encompassing social policy schemes, what earned them the name of Kathedersozialisten (“socialists of the chair”). In some points, Wagner’s concept of state socialism went beyond what Schmoller had aimed at with his welfare state model, but both economists held that in principle private ownership of the means of production was essential for the performance of the economy and for raising standards of living of the working class.