Georg Friedrich Knapp

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State theory of money , 1923

Georg Friedrich Knapp (born March 7, 1842 in Gießen ; † February 20, 1926 in Darmstadt ) was professor of economics and rector at the University of Strasbourg . Through his book State Theory of Money, he is considered the founder of Chartalism .

family

His parents were Friedrich Ludwig Knapp (1814–1904) from Michelstadt in the Odenwald and Katharina Elisabeth Liebig (1819–1890) from Darmstadt, a sister of the later ennobled chemist Justus von Liebig . His paternal grandfather was the former President of the 2nd Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Johann Friedrich Knapp . Georg Friedrich Knapp was married to Lidia Korganow from Georgia and had two daughters: Marianne and Elly , who later became the wife of the first German President Theodor Heuss . Due to the mental illness of his wife, who from then on was treated in sanatoriums, he raised the children alone.

Life

Knapp grew up in Munich around his uncle Justus von Liebig and was influenced early on in his intellectual development by the philosopher Moritz Carrière and the philologist Friedrich Thiersch . In addition to the ancient languages, however, he soon felt drawn to the natural sciences and especially to mathematics. After attending school, Georg Friedrich Knapp studied physics, chemistry, Roman law and economics in Munich, Berlin and Göttingen from 1853. He finished his studies in 1865 with his doctorate on Thünen's wage theory as a Dr. phil. at the University of Göttingen, he had chosen mathematics as his second major. Scientifically, he first turned to statistics with fundamental work on mortality and moral statistics. From 1869 to 1874, Knapp was the head of the statistical office of the city of Leipzig and, at the age of 27, became professor of statistics at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leipzig. In 1874 he accepted a full professorship for economics at the University of Strasbourg, where he worked alongside Gustav Schmoller as a pioneer for the younger historical school of economics . In terms of content, he initially turned to questions of agricultural and social policy and was one of the founders of the Verein für Socialpolitik . His most important achievement was the "State Theory of Money" published in 1905, in which he justified the value of money not economically, but positively and legally. “Money is a creature of the legal order” is the first dogmatic sentence. Knapp refused multiple appointments (e.g. to Vienna), held his chair until 1918 and stayed in Strasbourg during the First World War. In 1918 he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts . In 1919 he had to leave his adopted home Alsace under the most difficult conditions and spent the last few years living with relatives in Darmstadt.

As a university teacher, Knapp felt obliged to contribute to the training of civil servants. In his presidential address on May 1, 1891, as rector of the university, he characterized this task as follows: “There must be scholars who demonstrate to the heads of the state the historical connection between things so that they, the officials, are not overwhelmed by popular opinions . "" Our officials [...] will no longer allow themselves to be taken out of their hands, not even by parliamentary majorities, which we know how to handle masterfully. No rule is so easily endured, yes, felt so grateful, as the rule of high-minded and highly educated officials. The German state is an official state - let's hope that in this sense it remains an official state. "

He was a member of the Prussian , Bavarian and Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

Georg Friedrich Knapp was buried in the Darmstadt forest cemetery (grave site: L 8b 125).

Aftermath

The “state theory of money” was translated into English at the instigation of John Maynard Keynes in 1924, and in 1922 it was translated into Japanese. Max Weber called the work "formally and in terms of content one of the greatest masterpieces of German literary art and scientific acumen."

Recently, Knapp's chart position has again been the subject of the Modern Monetary Theory discussed in America . This also resulted in a mention in a study by David Graeber : Debt: The First 5000 Years or in “Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises” (2016) by Anwar Shaikh .

In Germany, Knapp's Chartalist monetary theory is represented by the Pufendorf Society for Political Economy eV, founded in 2014 and based in Berlin.

The Georg-Friedrich-Knapp-Gesellschaft für Politische Ökonomie eV (GFKG) was founded in February 2017 , largely by economists Heiner Flassbeck and Paul Steinhardt, editors of the political and economic internet magazine Makoskop . According to its own information, the Georg-Friedrich-Knapp-Gesellschaft would like to “make a contribution to educating about the phenomenon of money in the context of macroeconomic processes”. The aim of the GFKG is to provide a broader audience with educational offers on economic policy and also to offer doctoral candidates who are trying to “emancipate themselves from the neoclassical dogmatism of the German business faculties” the “necessary logistical, content-related and conceptual support” for their research work.

Fonts

  • About determining mortality. JC Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1868.
  • Mortality in Saxony. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1869.
  • Population change theory. Treatises on applied mathematics. Friedrich Vieweg & Son, Braunschweig 1887.
  • The Liberation of the Peasants and the Origin of the Peasants in the Older Parts of Prussia. 2 volumes, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887. (2nd, unchanged edition, Munich 1927) Part 1 of the 1887 edition as PDF files
  • Manor and manor. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897.
  • State theory of money. Duncker & Humblot, Munich / Leipzig 1905, 1918, 1921, 1923. (Attempt to establish a positive legal justification for money). (Digitized 2nd edition. 1918 under: urn : nbn: de: s2w-6471 ). English edition from 1924 as PDF
  • Introduction to some main areas of economics. Duncker & Humblot, Munich / Leipzig 1925. (Digitized edition at: urn : nbn: de: s2w-8230 )
  • From the youth of a German scholar. Edited with a foreword by Elly Heuss-Knapp . German publishing company, Stuttgart / Berlin / Leipzig 1927.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Georg Friedrich Knapp, Elly Heuss-Knapp: Eine Jugend. 2., ext. Edition. 1947.
  2. ↑ Cf. on this source collection on the history of German social policy 1867 to 1914 , Section I: From the time when the Empire was founded to the Imperial Social Message (1867–1881). 8th volume: Basic questions of social policy in public discussion: churches, parties, clubs and associations. edited by Ralf Stremmel, Florian Tennstedt and Gisela Fleckenstein. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 246, 249, 296, 302, 304-308, 312-317, 320 f., 326-329, 343, 361, 374, 377, 396, 405, 411-413, 417-422, 428 , 430 f., 433 f., 445-448, 451, 454, 457-462, 464, 472.
  3. ↑ Gerald Braunberger: What's new about the Modern Monetary Theory? A reminder of Knapp's "State Theory of Money" (1). In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 18, 2012, accessed July 15, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Samuel Pufendorf Society for Political Economy eV Accessed on March 24, 2018 (English).
  5. ↑ Georg Friedrich Knapp Society for Political Economy eV In: Macroscope. Retrieved July 15, 2017 .
  6. ^ The editors: Founding of the Georg Friedrich Knapp Society for Political Economy eV In: Macroscope. March 28, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Knapp, Georg Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH to water
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1926
Place of death Darmstadt