Professor of Political Sciences [Staatswissenschaften] Adolph Wagner (1835-1917) of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin served as its Rector in 1895-1896. This post presents a nugget from that year which he shared about the value-added of German training in economics and statistics to Italians educated in Germany, but particularly in Berlin. Wagner was a leading German economist in his day and his name lives on in “Wagner’s Law” – a trend towards an absolute and relative expansion of the public sector.
Peacock, Alan, and Alex Scott. “The Curious Attraction of Wagner’s Law.” Public Choice, vol. 102, no. 1/2, 2000, pp. 1–17.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30026133.s
Adolph Wagner was held in high esteem at Harvard as can be seen in invitations to write for the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Both articles contain his insider views on the state of late 19th century German economics.
“Wagner on the Present State of Political Economy.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 1, no. 1, 1886, pp. 113–33.
JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1883115.
Wagner, Adolf. “Marshall’s Principles of Economics.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 5, no. 3, 1891, pp. 319–38.
JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1879612.
Previously posted at
Economics in the Rear-view Mirror
A wonderful comparison of Berlin and Vienna as centers of economic teaching written by Henry R. Seager (later an economics professor at Columbia University) published in the Journal of Political Economy in 1893.
Berlin University between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900 from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
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Bononia Docet
Source: From Wikimedia Commons: Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Felsina pittrice: vite de pittori bolognesi, vol II, 1678. Illustrazioni di Giovanni Francesco Cassioni, Carlo Cesare Malvasia o altri. Attached to the Italian Wikipedia article.
Adolph Wagner’s Words
Ich besuchte vor einigen Jahren auf den Wunsch eines italienischen Fachgenossen einmal in Rom den damaligen greisen Ministerpräsidenten Depretis. Wir kamen auf die deutschen Universitäten, auf Berlin zu sprechen. Mein Begleiter hob hervor, wie viele italienische Universitätslehrer der Nationalökonomie und Statistik in Deutschland, besonders in Berlin, ihre Studien gemacht „Ja, ja“, bemerkte mit der Ruhe des Alters, aber auch mit einer gewissen Wehmuth der greise Staatsmann: „hiess einst es Bononia docet [Bologna teaches], jetzt heisst es Germania docet [Germany teaches],.“ Ein schönes, ein erhebendes Wort aus dem Munde eines urtheilsfähigen Ausländers, ein Wort, das stolz machen kann, aber auch — Pflichten auferlegt, nicht nur gegen unsere Heimath, unsere Nation, nein, gegen die Welt, die Menschheit —.
Source: Adolph Wagner, Die Entwicklung der Universität Berlin, 1810-1896. (Rektoratsrede vom 3. August 1896), pp. 18-19.
Adolph Wagner’s Words
à la Google translate + human tweak
A few years ago, at the request of an Italian colleague, I visited the then elderly Prime Minister Depretis in Rome. We came to talk about the German universities, about Berlin. My companion pointed out how many Italian university professors of economics and statistics had studied in Germany, especially in Berlin: “Yes, yes,” remarked the aged statesman with the calmness of age, but also with a certain melancholy: “One used to say Bononia docet [Bologna teaches], but now we say Germania docet [Germany teaches].” Beautiful, uplifting words spoken by a foreigner capable of judgement, words that can make one proud, but also — words that impose duties, not only on our homeland, our nation, but also, on the world, on humanity —
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Image Source: 1899 image included in the “Adolph Wagner” entry at Wikipedia. Colorized by Economics in the Rear-view Mirror.