Paul Haensel was Russian and American financier, economist and scholar.

Early life

Paul Haensel was born in Moscow in 1878 in the family of merchant. In 1902 he graduated Moscow Practical Commercial Academy. He became a professor of Moscow University in financial law department and in 1918-1920 he worked as a dean of the law school.

In 1921-1928 he was a consultant for the Soviet finance ministry (комиссариат финансов) and a chief of financial department of the Institute of Economical Studies (Институт экономических исследований) in Moscow.

In 1914 his son Vladimir

Vladimir Haensel

Vladimir Haensel was an American chemical engineer who invented the platforming process - a platinum catalytic process for reforming petroleum hydrocarbons into gasoline...

 was born who later became a chemical engineer

Chemical engineer

In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work...

. Paul Haensel had three sons.

Life in the West

Paul Haensel fled Russia in 1928 to become a visiting professor at the University of Graz

University of Graz

The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....

 in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and at the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

. He decided not to return back to Soviet Russia.

From 1929 to 1943 he served as a professor of economics in Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

In 1943 he left his position in Northwestern University and moved to Mary Washington College of University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

where he continued to teach until 1948.

In 1943 he spoke before the US Congressional committee on tax reform.

Publications

• Taxation of craftsmen in Russia. Critical investigation. (1900, in Russian) (Промысловое обложение в России. Опыт критического исследования.) This is Paul Haensel's first publication.
• History of the budget in England. (1903, published in "Научное Слово") (История английского бюджета)
• Inheritance tax in England. (1907, in Russian) (Налог с наследства в Англии: Исследование по истории английских финансов) This is Paul Haensel's Master's Degree dissertation.
• Bibliography of the financial sciences. (1908, in Russian) (Библиография финансовой науки)
• New trends in communal taxation in the west. (1909, in Russian) (Новые течения в коммунальном обложении на Западе) This is Paul Haensel's Doctor dissertation.
• Essays on the history of finances. (1913, in Russian) (Очерки по истории финансов)
• The Economic Policy of Soviet Russia. (London: P. S. King & Son, Limited, 1930. vii, 190 p. 1st ed.)
• The sales tax in Soviet Russia. (The tax magazine, Jan 1936)
• The public finance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. ("The tax magazine", 1938)
• Recent changes in the Soviet tax system. (The tax magazine, Nov 1941)