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Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz: Statistician, economist, and a European intellectual

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  • Härdle, Wolfgang Karl
  • Vogt, Annette B.

Abstract

Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz (1868 - 1931) was a European statistician. His scientific work covered theoretical economics, stochastics, mathematical statistics and radiology, today we would call him a cross disciplinary scientist. With his clear views on mathematical principles with their applications in these fields he stood in conflict with the mainstream economic schools in Germany at the dawn of the 20th century. He had many prominent students (Gumbel, Leontief, Freudenberg among them) and he carved out the path of modern statistical thinking. He was a true European intellectual with a career path from St. Petersburg via Gottingen to Straßburg and finally the Berliner Universität, now Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He is known for the precise calibration of insurance claims applying the - at that time hardly known - Poisson distribution to Prussian horse kick and child suicide data. He proposed a simple solution to the Marxian transformation problem and wrote numerous articles and books on the mathematical treatment of statistical (including radiological physical) data. In this article we sketch his life and work and point out the prominent role that he has in today's statistical thinking.

Suggested Citation

  • Härdle, Wolfgang Karl & Vogt, Annette B., 2014. "Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz: Statistician, economist, and a European intellectual," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2014-015, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:sfb649:sfb649dp2014-015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Quaas, Friedrun, 1991. "Wolfgang Mühlpfordt - ein Vorgänger von Bortkiewicz? Zu den theoretischen Quellen des sogenannten Transformationsproblems [Wolfgang Mühlpfordt as an predecessor of Bortkiewicz. Concerning the theor," MPRA Paper 20348, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ulrich Rendtel & Ulrike C. Wasmuht & Peter-Theodor Wilrich, 2021. "Emil Julius Gumbel," AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv, Springer;Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft - German Statistical Society, vol. 15(3), pages 273-291, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    History of science; Statistics; Horse kicks; Bortkiewicz;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • B16 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Quantitative and Mathematical

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