Adolph Wagner
Encyclopedia
Adolph Wagner 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 named after him.
as the son of a university professor, the physiologist Rudolf Wagner
, Adolph studied economics
at the University of Göttingen, receiving a doctorate in 1857. Wagner’s academic career took him first to the Merchants’ Superior School, Vienna
(1858–1863), then – after failing to secure a chair at the University of Vienna
because of disagreements over fiscal policy
with Lorenz von Stein
– to the Hamburg
Higher Merchants’ School (1863–1865), both institutions comparable to business schools today. In 1865, he took the chair of Ethnography
, Geography
, and Statistics
(in reality an economics professorship) at the University of Dorpat
in Livonia.
In Dorpat
(Tartu), Wagner "became a follower of Bismarck
’s policy for unifying Germany
under Prussia
n guidance. (Rubner, 435) Thus when German unification
became realistic, Wagner wanted to go back to Germany proper – a general attitude of Baltic Germans. Beginning Fall Term 1868/69, Wagner therefore took over the Chair of the Cameralistic subjects (roughly, state management) at the Badensian
University of Freiburg
im Breisgau, and very soon afterwards, in 1870, the Chair of Staatswissenschaften at the University of Berlin, by that time not only the premier university in Germany but probably in the world. It was in Berlin that Wagner unfolded his tenure as one of the intellectually and politically most influential economists of his time. A former student of his, Werner Sombart
, was his successor at the economics chair of the University of Berlin.
Wagner was an early member of the anti-semitic
Christian Social Party
, founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker
as the Christlichsoziale Arbeiterpartei (Christian Social Workers' Party).
Wagner died in Berlin
in 1917.
(1831–1903) and Karl Rodbertus
(-Jagetzow) (1805–1875) were important protagonists of that thought as well.) He was emphatically not a member of the Historical School, however, which so many of his colleagues – such as Gustav von Schmoller
and Lujo Brentano
– were.
, likewise with a defense of the Kathedersozialist influence within the University, that that deputy challenged him to a duel. Wagner did not categorically refuse, but it was never fought.) An even more famous case was Wagner’s altercation with Eugen Dühring
(against whom Friedrich Engels
' Anti-Dühring
is directed), and which in the very end resulted in Dühring's remotion and dismissal from the University of Berlin.
, Adolph Wagner belongs to the most important economists of the Bismarck
period. He was a member of the Verein für Socialpolitik
(Society for Social Policy).
Wagner formulated the Law of Increasing State Spending.
His works have prepared the development of the monetary and credit system in Germany and substantially influenced the central bank policy and financial practice before World War I
.
In English:
Letters etc.:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
economist and politician, a leading Kathedersozialist (academic socialist) and public finance
Public finance
Public finance is the revenue and expenditure of public authoritiesThe purview of public finance is considered to be threefold: governmental effects on efficient allocation of resources, distribution of income, and macroeconomic stabilization.-Overview:The proper role of government provides a...
scholar and advocate of Agrarianism
Agrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
. Wagner's Law
Wagner's Law
Wagner's law, also known as the law of increasing state spending, is a principle named after the German economist Adolph Wagner . The law predicts that the development of an industrial economy will be accompanied by an increased share of public expenditure in gross national product:Wagner's law...
of increasing state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
activity is named after him.
Biography
Born in ErlangenErlangen
Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....
as the son of a university professor, the physiologist Rudolf Wagner
Rudolf Wagner
Rudolf Wagner was a German anatomist and physiologist and the co-discoverer of the germinal vesicle. He made important investigations on ganglia, nerve-endings, and the sympathetic nerves.-Life:...
, Adolph studied economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at the University of Göttingen, receiving a doctorate in 1857. Wagner’s academic career took him first to the Merchants’ Superior School, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(1858–1863), then – after failing to secure a chair at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
because of disagreements over fiscal policy
Fiscal policy
In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection to influence the economy....
with Lorenz von Stein
Lorenz von Stein
Lorenz von Stein was a German economist, sociologist, and public administration scholar from Eckernförde. As an advisor to Meiji period Japan, his conservative political views influenced the wording of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan.- Biography :Stein was born in the seaside town of Borby...
– to the Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
Higher Merchants’ School (1863–1865), both institutions comparable to business schools today. In 1865, he took the chair of Ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, and Statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
(in reality an economics professorship) at the University of Dorpat
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
in Livonia.
In Dorpat
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
(Tartu), Wagner "became a follower of Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
’s policy for unifying Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
under Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n guidance. (Rubner, 435) Thus when German unification
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
became realistic, Wagner wanted to go back to Germany proper – a general attitude of Baltic Germans. Beginning Fall Term 1868/69, Wagner therefore took over the Chair of the Cameralistic subjects (roughly, state management) at the Badensian
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
im Breisgau, and very soon afterwards, in 1870, the Chair of Staatswissenschaften at the University of Berlin, by that time not only the premier university in Germany but probably in the world. It was in Berlin that Wagner unfolded his tenure as one of the intellectually and politically most influential economists of his time. A former student of his, Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart 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....
, was his successor at the economics chair of the University of Berlin.
Wagner was an early member of the anti-semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
Christian Social Party
Christian Social Party (Germany)
The Christian Social Party was a right-wing political party in the German Empire, founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker as the Christlichsoziale Arbeiterpartei . The party combined a strong Christian and conservative programme with progressive ideas on labour, and tried to provide an alternative for...
, founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker
Adolf Stoecker
Adolf Stoecker was the court chaplain to Kaiser Wilhelm II, a politician, and a German Lutheran theologian who founded one of the first Christian Social Gospel political parties in Germany, the Christian Social Party.-Life:Stoecker was born in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony.A staunch Protestant,...
as the Christlichsoziale Arbeiterpartei (Christian Social Workers' Party).
Wagner died in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in 1917.
Work
Wagner is the main protagonist of a specific school of economics and social policy, called "State Socialism" ("Staatssozialismus"), which is a specific form of Kathedersozialismus. (Albert SchäffleAlbert Schäffle
Albert Eberhard Friedrich Schäffle , German statesman and political economist, was born at Nürtingen in Württemberg, and in 1848 became a student at the University of Tübingen....
(1831–1903) and Karl Rodbertus
Johann Karl Rodbertus
Johann Karl Rodbertus , also known as Karl Rodbertus-Jagetzow, was a German economist and socialist from Greifswald...
(-Jagetzow) (1805–1875) were important protagonists of that thought as well.) He was emphatically not a member of the Historical School, however, which so many of his colleagues – such as Gustav von Schmoller
Gustav von Schmoller
Gustav von Schmoller was the leader of the "younger" German historical school of economics.-Life:Schmoller was born in Heilbronn. His father was a Württemberg civil servant. Young Schmoller studied Staatswissenschaften at the University of Tübingen...
and Lujo Brentano
Lujo Brentano
Lujo Brentano was an eminent German economist and social reformer.Lujo Brentano, born in Aschaffenburg into one of the most distinguished German-Catholic intellectual families , attended school in Augsburg and Aschaffenburg...
– were.
Character
Wagner had a very combative and harsh personality. He did not take insults lightly and never phrased things diplomatically. As was mentioned, he had difficulties with Schmoller and was an enemy of Lujo Brentano – and these two were about his closest colleagues. By all contemporary accounts, it is probably fair to say that Wagner must have been vain, easily hurt, and extremely choleric. In the 1890s, Wagner would so enrage an industrial-conservative member of the ReichstagReichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
, likewise with a defense of the Kathedersozialist influence within the University, that that deputy challenged him to a duel. Wagner did not categorically refuse, but it was never fought.) An even more famous case was Wagner’s altercation with Eugen Dühring
Eugen Dühring
Eugen Karl Dühring was a German philosopher and economist, a socialist who was a strong critic of Marxism.-Life and works:...
(against whom Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
' Anti-Dühring
Anti-Dühring
Herrn Eugen Dührings Umwälzung der Wissenschaft, commonly known as Anti-Dühring, is a book written in German by Friedrich Engels, published in 1878. It had previously been serialised in a periodical. There were two further editions in German in the lifetime of Engels...
is directed), and which in the very end resulted in Dühring's remotion and dismissal from the University of Berlin.
Life
Together with Gustav von SchmollerGustav von Schmoller
Gustav von Schmoller was the leader of the "younger" German historical school of economics.-Life:Schmoller was born in Heilbronn. His father was a Württemberg civil servant. Young Schmoller studied Staatswissenschaften at the University of Tübingen...
, Adolph Wagner belongs to the most important economists of the Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
period. He was a member of the Verein für Socialpolitik
Verein für Socialpolitik
The Verein für Socialpolitik is an important society of economists in the German-speaking area. The Society, which covers all branches of economics was founded in 1873. Among its members were eminent economists like Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner.It annually awards the Gossen Prize to...
(Society for Social Policy).
Wagner formulated the Law of Increasing State Spending.
His works have prepared the development of the monetary and credit system in Germany and substantially influenced the central bank policy and financial practice before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
By Wagner
- Wagner, Adolph (1864). Die Gesetzmässigkeit in den scheinbar willkührlichen menschlichen Handlungen vom Standpunkte der Statistik. Hamburg: Boyes & Geisler.
- Wagner, Adolph (1866). Beiträge zur Finanzstatistik des Schulwesens in den Städten des Ostseegouvernements Livland, Kurland und Esthland. Dorpat: Als Manuscript gedruckt. / Druck von C. Matthiesen.
- Wagner, Adolph (1866). "Die auswärtige Politik Rußlands und ihre Bedeutung für Preußen." Preußische Jahrbücher, vol. 18, no. 6 (December), pp. 657–692.
- Wagner, Adolph (1867). "Statistik." In Deutsches Staats-Wörterbuch, vol. 10. Leipzig: Expedition des Staats-Wörterbuchs, pp. 400–481.
- Wagner, Adolph (1868). Die russische Papierwährung. Riga: Kymmel.
- Wagner, Adolph (1870). Die Abschaffung des privaten Grundeigenthums. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.
- Wagner, Adolph (1892). Grundlegung der politischen Ökonomie. Part 1, vol. 1. 3rd edn. Leipzig: Winter.
- Wagner, Adolph (1895). Die akademische Nationalökonomie und der Socialismus. Berlin: Julius Becker.
- Wagner, Adolph (1900). Allgemeine und theoretische Volkswirtschaftslehre oder Sozialökonomik. (Theoretische National-Oekonomie.). Berlin: Als Manuskript gedruckt.
- Wagner, Adolph (1902). Agrar- und Industriestaat. Die Kehrseite des Industriestaats und die Rechtfertigung agrarischen Zollschutzes mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Bevölkerungsfrage. 2nd edn. Jena: Fischer.
- Wagner, Adolph (1904). Die finanzielle Mitbeteiligung der Gemeinden an kulturellen Staatseinrichtungen und die Entwickelung der Gemeindeeinnahmen.Jena: Fischer.
- Wagner, Adolph (1916). Staatsbürgerliche Bildung. Berlin: Verlag "Bodenreform".
- Wagner, Adolph (1948). Finanzwissenschaft und Staatssozialismus. August Skalweit, ed. Frankfurt/Main: Klostermann.
In English:
- Wagner, Adolph (1939). "Speech on the Social Question" (abridged), in Donald O. Wagner, ed. Social Reformers. Adam Smith to John Dewey. New York: Macmillan, pp. 489–506.
Letters etc.:
- Wagner, Adolph (1978). Briefe - Dokumente - Augenzeugenberichte, 1851-1917. Heinrich Rubner, ed. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
About Wagner in English
- Backhaus, Jürgen G. (1997), ed. Essays in Social Security and Taxation. Gustav von Schmoller and Adolph Wagner Reconsidered. Marburg: Metropolis. (Contains much of the best recent research on Wagner in English)
- Wright, H.R.C. (1993). "Adolph Wagner and the Plural Society." The South African Journal of Economics, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 59–66.