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Public Debt in Post-1850 German Economic Thought vis-à-vis the Pre-1850 British Classical School
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Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich
Published/Copyright:
November 30, 2019
Abstract
The positions of British and German economists on public debt in the long nineteenth century differed substantially from each other. Whereas British classical economists regarded any public debt as ruinous for the country, German economists promoted debt accumulation for productivity-enhancing public investment and current outlays with benefits for future fiscal years. This article summarizes the positions of the most prominent British economists before 1850, David Hume, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas R. Malthus and John Stuart Mill, and deals more extensively with those of their German colleagues Carl Dietzel, Lorenz von Stein and Adolph Wagner after 1855.
Keywords: Public finance theory nineteenth century; public debt; British- German comparison; Carl Dietzel; Lorenz von Stein; Adolph Wagner; German public finance theory pre-1900; British classical economists
Published Online: 2019-11-30
Published in Print: 2014-02-01
© 2019 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Fiscal Stability of High-Debt Nations under Volatile Economic Conditions
- Sovereign Default Risk and Banks in a Monetary Union
- Public Debt and Price Stability
- Public Debt in Post-1850 German Economic Thought vis-à-vis the Pre-1850 British Classical School
- Budget Rules and Fiscal Policy: Ten Lessons from Theory and Evidence
- Balanced Budget Requirements and Debt Brakes Feasibility and Enforcement
- On the Political Economy of Public Deficits and Debt
- Democracy, Elections and Government Budget Deficits
- The Politics of Public Debt: Neoliberalism, Capitalist Development and the Restructuring of the State
- It Is Private, Not Public Finances that Are Out of Whack
- Public and Private Debt: The Historical Record (1870–2010)
- What Is the Value of Sovereign Ratings?
