Schmoller, Gustav Von (1838–1917)

Gustav Friedrich von Schmoller, an economist and social reformer, was the leader of the so-called younger German Historical School of Economics. Born in Heilbronn, Schmoller studied political economy at Tübingen and then trained at the Württemberg Statistical Bureau, making an early name for himself through his outspoken defense of the Franco-Prussian free trade treaty (1862). After travel and further study in Switzerland and France, Schmoller became a professor at Halle University in 1864.

From Halle, Schmoller established close contacts with the Berlin statistician Ernst Engel (1821–1896) and several young economists then training with him, among them Lujo Brentano (1844–1931), G. F. Knapp (1842–1926), and Adolph Wagner (1835–1917). Together, they devoted themselves to studying the problems attending rapid industrial development and urbanization, which led to an awareness ...