Misplaced Pages

#475524

27-489: It builds somewhat on the earlier historical school of economics but stresses that only some forms of competition are good, while others may require oversight. This is considered a lawful and legitimate role of government in a democracy in the Freiburg school. The Freiburg school provided the economic theoretical elements of ordoliberalism and the social market economy in post-war Germany. The Freiburg school of economics

54-426: A continuation of ideas originated by the historical school, especially the work of von Schmoller and Sombart. Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. (1918–2007), had a major impact on approaching business issues through historical studies. Although not nearly as famous as its German counterpart, there was also an English historical school , whose figures included Francis Bacon and Herbert Spencer . This school heavily critiqued

81-536: A significant impact on Britain, 1860s–1930s. Thorold Rogers (1823–1890) was the Tooke Professor of Statistics and Economic Science at King's College London, from 1859 until his death. He is best known for compiling the monumental A History of Agriculture and Prices in England from 1259 to 1793 (7 vol. 1866–1902), which is still useful to scholars. William Ashley (1860–1927) introduced British scholars to

108-524: Is important to note that both Müller and List are considered part of the romantic tradition of economics ). The historical school largely controlled appointments to chairs of economics in German universities, as many of the advisors of Friedrich Althoff , head of the university department in the Prussian Ministry of Education 1882–1907, had studied under members of the school. Moreover, Prussia

135-700: The University of Toronto . At the University of Toronto, he helped establish a new department of Political Science. The inaugural lecture he gave there was dedicated to Gustav Schmoller , one of the German scholars in whose hands economic history was more developed in Germany than it was in England. In 1892 Ashley moved on to Harvard, becoming the first Professor of Economic History in the English-speaking world. In 1901 Ashley left Harvard to take

162-528: The 1878 Brackenbury history scholarship to Balliol College, which was then pursuing social uplift policies under the mastership of the legendary Benjamin Jowett . At Oxford he was influenced by Jowett, Bishop William Stubbs , and especially by the economic historian, Arnold Toynbee . In 1882, he won the Lothian Prize Essay competition. After Oxford, he studied at Heidelberg University, where he

189-657: The Birmingham University chair of Commerce that he had occupied since 1901. Despite being now very elderly and supposedly retired for the benefit of his health, he was once again instrumental in the founding of a major movement; The Economic History Society . When Eileen Power came to organise the economic history session at the second Anglo-American Historical Conference at the Institute of Historical Research in July 1926, two strands fell carefully together. Ashley

216-599: The Chair of Commerce at the University of Birmingham , where he fostered the development of its commercial programme. Robin Emery was a big influence in his life. From 1902 until 1923, he served as first professor of Commerce and Dean of the Faculty at the university, which he was instrumental in founding. At the time it was England's first Faculty of Commerce, and a hundred years later there are over one hundred Business Schools in

243-492: The Faculty, including staff salaries, were £8,200 – there were six students, a lecture room and two classrooms. By 1908, fifteen men had graduated through the School, many with businesses waiting for their skills. Ashley stated: "I quite expect that before I retire I shall be able to gather round me a room full of Managers and Managing Directors who have been students in the Faculty of Commerce." A large room would be needed now: over

270-464: The UK; Birmingham can perhaps claim to be the ancestor of them all. Ashley said in 1902 that the aim of the new Faculty was the education not of the "rank and file, but of the officers of the industrial and commercial army: of those who, as principals, directors, managers, secretaries, heads of department, etc., will ultimately guide the business activity of the country." In its first year, the annual costs of

297-541: The United States. The historical school held that history was the key source of knowledge about human actions and economic matters, since economics was culture-specific, and hence not generalizable over space and time. The school rejected the universal validity of economic theorems . They saw economics as resulting from careful empirical and historical analysis instead of from logic and mathematics. The school also rejected mathematical modelling . Most members of

SECTION 10

#1732765982476

324-788: The Universities of Cambridge, London, Durham, Wales and Ireland. In 1919 he was appointed to the Royal Commission investigating "the economic prospects of the agricultural industry in Great Britain". From 1900 to 1906, Ashley wielded some political influence on the Conservative government's economic policy, notably supporting Joseph Chamberlain 's plans for Tariff Reform . In his 1903 work, The Tariff Problem , Ashley strongly supported Chamberlain's proposals. Chamberlain wrote to Ashley on 26 April 1904 and said his book

351-487: The background to the political and economic policies of other countries. Given Britain's position as a colonial power at the turn of the century, this was a far-sighted approach. During his time at the university, he lived in Edgbaston , Birmingham, and was heavily involved in local affairs, and ultimately knighted for his work in 1917. From 1899 to 1920 Ashley was also an examiner in history, economics and commerce in

378-488: The deductive approach of the classical economists, especially the writings of David Ricardo . This school revered the inductive process and called for the merging of historical fact with those of the present period. Included in this school are: William Whewell , Richard Jones , Walter Bagehot , Thorold Rogers , Arnold Toynbee , and William Cunningham , to name a few. William Ashley (economic historian) Sir William James Ashley (25 February 1860 – 23 July 1927)

405-602: The historical school as developed in Germany. In the United States the school influenced the institutional economists, such as Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) and especially the Wisconsin school of labor history led by John R. Commons (1862–1945). More importantly, numerous aspiring economists undertook graduate studies at German universities, including John Bates Clark , Richard T. Ely , Jeremiah Jenks , Simon Patten , and Frank William Taussig . Canadian scholars influenced by

432-402: The historical school declined or disappeared in most economics departments. It lingered in history departments and business schools. The major influence in the 1930s and 1940s was Joseph Schumpeter with his dynamic, change-oriented, and innovation-based economics. Although his writings could be critical of the school, Schumpeter's work on the role of innovation and entrepreneurship can be seen as

459-408: The past 100 years it is estimated that more than 15,000 students have passed successfully through the School. Ashley was insistent that the course should provide a broad education, with students not only studying commerce but also languages and modern history . Even then he recognised the importance of the international context in which business operated, wanting his graduates to be able to understand

486-572: The school were also Sozialpolitiker (social policy advocates), i.e. concerned with social reform and improved conditions for the common man during a period of heavy industrialization . They were more disparagingly referred to as Kathedersozialisten , rendered in English as "socialists of the chair" (compare armchair revolutionary ), due to their positions as professors. The historical school can be divided into three tendencies: Predecessors included Friedrich List and Adam Müller , (although it

513-453: The school were led by Harold Innis (1894–1952) at Toronto. His staples thesis holds that Canada's culture, political history and economy have been decisively influenced by the exploitation and export of a series of "staples" such as fur , fishing, lumber, wheat, mined metals and coal. The staple thesis dominated economic history in Canada 1930s–1960s, and is still used by some. After 1930

540-621: Was "the best manual we have". Chamberlain's biographer, Peter Marsh, said, "[b]y all accounts the most persuasive book-length rationale for tariff reform, Ashley's work commanded the respect even of John Morley ". In his 1904 book, The Progress of the German Working Class in the Last Quarter of a Century , Ashley argued that tariffs in Germany had ensured employment and that they had also raised revenue for social insurance and old age pensions. In 1925, Ashley retired from

567-554: Was an approach to academic economics and to public administration that emerged in the 19th century in Germany, and held sway there until well into the 20th century. The professors involved compiled massive economic histories of Germany and Europe. Numerous Americans were their students. The school was opposed by theoretical economists. Prominent leaders included Gustav von Schmoller (1838–1917), and Max Weber (1864–1920) in Germany, and Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) in Austria and

SECTION 20

#1732765982476

594-401: Was an English economic historian . His major intellectual influence was in organising economic history in Great Britain and introducing the ideas of the leading German economic historians, especially Gustav von Schmoller and the historical school of economic history . His chief work is The Economic Organisation of England , still a set text on many A-level and University syllabuses. Ashley

621-532: Was born in Bermondsey , South London on 25 February 1860. The marginal life of his early years was shaped by the underemployment of his father, a journeyman hatter; his scepticism of free trade economics may have originated from his observations during his formative years. He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School and then at Balliol College, Oxford . He escaped the near-choiceless world of his youth through academic brilliance and, ultimately, by winning

648-551: Was called " neoliberalism " until Anglo-American scholars reappropriated the term. Wilhelm Röpke (from the Austrian school ), Alfred Müller-Armack and Alexander Rüstow were not members of the Freiburg school but did provide, together with the Freiburg school, the foundations of ordoliberalism. This economic history -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Historical school of economics The German historical school of economics .

675-429: Was influenced by the well-developed studies of economic history is developed by Schmoller and Karl Knies . Ashley was appointed Lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford in 1885. In July 1888 he married Margaret Hill, daughter of George Birkbeck Hill , and in summer of that year he and his bride sailed to Canada to his new academic post. From 1888 to 1892 he was Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional History at

702-599: Was the intellectual powerhouse of Germany, so dominated academia, not only in central Europe, but also in the United States until about 1900, because the American economics profession was led by holders of German PhDs. The historical school was involved in the Methodenstreit ("strife over method") with the Austrian school , whose orientation was more theoretical and aprioristic. The historical school had

729-552: Was to give a paper on "the place of economic history in university studies" and there was to be discussion of, as Eileen Power put it, "the new Economic History Society and the Economic History Review and other methods of promoting the subject". The meeting, on 14 July 1926, brought the Society into existence. Sir William Ashley duly became the first President of the Society, and his paper at the foundation meeting

#475524