Schmoller, Founder of the “Younger” Historical School

Gustav Schmoller, later von Schmoller, was born in Heilbronn in the German state of Wurtemberg, in 1838. He studied Staatswissenschaften, “public administration”, in Tübingen. In the Germany of that time, this branch of studies still bore the stamp of Camera-list thought. As a professor he lectured on this subject at the Universities of Halle, Strasbourg and, finally, Berlin. He was the main initiator and, for a long time, chairman of the Verein für Socialpolitik, founded in 1872, in which he was a propulsive force behind studies in socio-economics and German economic history. For Schmoller, economic history and history of economic thought were strongly linked. He was the dominant figure in what was called the Younger Historical School, in which he had many disciples. He also became influential at the Emperor’s court in Berlin. In this position he promoted the study of economics in Prussia and the newly established Empire according to his own ideas, which were in part also those of Bismarck.