Karl Heinrich Rau

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Karl Heinrich Rau, 1862.

Karl Heinrich Daniel Rau (born November 23, 1792 in Erlangen , † March 18, 1870 in Heidelberg ) was a German economist , freemason and agricultural scientist .

Life

Rau studied political science at the University of Erlangen , received his doctorate there in 1812 and, after completing his habilitation, worked as a private lecturer, high school teacher and temporarily as a librarian. From 1822 until his death he taught as full professor for economics at the University of Heidelberg . He was the author of a multi-volume, repeatedly published textbook on political economy. In addition to his political science lectures, he also gave lectures on agriculture and published several agricultural writings. In the years 1831 and 1832 as well as 1847 and 1848 he was Vice Rector of Heidelberg University.

Rau personally trained the majority of the Baden civil service in the state economic disciplines and thus shaped the liberal, economic principles of this country for decades. Rau was also the tutor of the later Grand Duke of Friedrich von Baden .

One of the most important publications for agriculture is his influential monograph on "Agriculture in the Rhine Palatinate" (1830), which he later presented in revised form as a commemorative publication to the 21st " Assembly of German Farmers and Foresters " in Heidelberg in 1860. In a much-noticed “History of the Plow” (1845) he believed he could prove that the plow had developed from a simple crooked wood , the hook, into an increasingly perfect device. In 1851 Rau traveled to the world exhibition in London on behalf of the state and published a detailed report on the agricultural implements exhibited there.

Rau was a member of numerous scientific academies, multiple honorary doctorates, an honorary citizen of the city of Heidelberg and had held the title of Privy Councilor since 1832. He was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Baden Zähringer Order of the Lions with a Star, the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle and the Russian Order of Saint Anne . From 1833 to 1840 he was a liberal member of the first chamber of the Baden Parliament, where he represented Heidelberg University. In 1841 he refused a new nomination. In 1848 he was a member of the Frankfurt pre-parliament .

Rau was together with his in-law relative, the natural scientist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, a member of the Erlangen Masonic Lodge Lebanon to the three cedars . He exchanged numerous letters with his bride and later wife Amalie Fischer, in which he included her in all his considerations on politics, economics, Freemasonry, etc. In this way he sought intellectual exchange with her during his parliamentary absence in Karlsruhe, as well as on his research trips to England, Switzerland and through the states of the German Confederation .

Rau was a political companion of the liberal Baden State Minister Karl Friedrich Nebenius , with whom he worked closely on a political and Masonic level. His son and Freemason brother Ludwig married Nebenius' daughter Albertine. In addition, in 1833 he was commissioned by the First Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly to draw up an expert opinion on the establishment of the Grand Ducal Baden State Railways , which was considered at the time .

Rau is considered to be the main organizer of the construction of the Astor House by the Johann Jakob Astor Foundation in Walldorf / Baden, of which he was elected chairman on July 14, 1850. He was associated with this foundation until his death. Rau was recommended for this project by the initiator of the "Rauhen Haus", Johann Heinrich Wichern . In December 1999, the Board of Trustees of the Astor Foundation Rau dedicated a meeting room in the newly constructed wing of the building and placed a memorial plaque for him at the entrance to the room.

Rau was a liberal democrat who, however, did not support revolutionary upheavals to overthrow German princes. His son Adolph took part in the unrest in Baden in 1849 on the side of the rebels and had to flee to the USA after the victory of the intervening Prussian troops. Rau himself wrote - for himself - the memorandum The forty days in Heidelberg - memories of the Baden uprising in the summer of 1849 , in which he critically examined the behavior of the revolutionary movement in Heidelberg and Baden. The memorandum itself was only published in an annotated version 150 years after it was written down a. by his great-great-great-granddaughter Dr. Gabriele Haupt published. In 1863 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Voices on Karl Heinrich Rau

“This mediating position, the careful and ideology-free weighing of factual arguments, the consideration of social, legal and political aspects beyond the narrower, economic problem, finally the turn against all ill-considered experiments - all of this made him a moderate and reasonable balance of conflicting interests diligent advocate of the teaching of Adam Smith . Especially in a free society, as Rau saw more clearly than the extreme free traders and economic liberals, the difficult task arose of finding a sensible balance between particular interests and the common good. "

In the “General German Biography” (1888) Rau is referred to as “one of the most outstanding German economists”.

Joseph Alois Schumpeter attests to Rau in his "History of Economic Analysis" (Göttingen 1965): "As a teacher, he deserves a place of honor in the history of economics."

In its obituary of April 30, 1870, the "Illustrirte Zeitung" praised Rau as " Nestor of Heidelberg University and of all German economists."

Wolfgang Borgstede already points out in his work “Economics” (Düsseldorf 1977) that Rau “gave the impetus for the reception of the Smith-Ricardinian system in Germany”. In his textbook on political economy “he brought up very original and didactically brilliant presentation methods. He worked decades before Alfred Marshall with the geometric form of representation of supply and demand curves that is still common today. However, it was not well received in Germany. He is therefore generally not considered to be their inventor. This is common. Not the person who first developed an idea is usually considered to be the discoverer, but rather the person who penetrated with the idea. "

Library

His private working library with more than 4,000 books and 2,000 brochures in several languages ​​was bought after his death by the American banker Philo Parsons (1817-1892) and donated in 1871 to the University Library of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The Parsons Library, initially named after the patron, with a focus on political economy, was added later. Today it forms part of the Special Collections Library under the name “Parsons-Rau Collection on 19th-Century Economics” .

Fonts (selection)

  • About the guild system and the consequences of its abolition , Leipzig 1816 ( digitized version )
  • Textbook of political economy , 3 volumes, Heidelberg 1826–1837
    • Vol. 1: Principles of Economics , 1826 - 8th edition 1869 ( digitized 7th edition 1863 in the Google book search)
    • Vol. 2: Principles of economics , later principles of economics , 1828 - 5th edition 1862 ( digitized 5th edition 1862 in the Google book search)
    • Vol. 3: Principles of Public Finance , 1837 - 6th ed. 1871
  • The agriculture of the Rheinpfalz and especially in the Heidelberg area , Heidelberg 1830
  • History of the plow , Heidelberg 1845 ( digitized in the Google book search)
  • Principles of Economics , Heidelberg 1847 ( digitized version )
  • Principles of Public Finance , 3. verm. And verb. Edition 1850 ( digitized version )
  • The agricultural implements of the London exhibition in 1851 , Berlin 1853
  • The forty days in Heidelberg - memories of the Baden uprising in summer 1849 , edited by Gerd Wippermann, Gabriele Haupt, Werner Moritz and Bernhard Stier, Heidelberg 1999

literature

  • DH Meier: Karl Heinrich Rau . In: Badische Biographien Tl. 2, 1875, pp. 147-160.
  • Emanuel readers :  Rau, Karl Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 380-385.
  • Klaus Sinewe: Karl Heinrich Rau. Personality and scientific achievement in a modern perspective . Diss. So.-wi. Erlangen-Nuremberg 1965 (with bibliography).
  • Richard Carl Bowler: Education, bureaucracy, and political economy. Karl Heinrich Rau and the development of German economics . Ann Arbor, MI: UMI, 1988. - Zugl .: Los Angeles, Univ. of Southern California, Diss., 1996
  • Volker Hentschel :  Rau, Carl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 193 ( digitized version ).
  • Gabriele Haupt: Karl Heinrich Rau. A contribution to the social history of professorships in the 19th century . Diss. Behavioral and empirical cultural studies Heidelberg 2004 (with bibliography).

Web links

Wikisource: Karl Heinrich Rau  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emanuel readers:  Rau, Carl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 380-385.
  2. ^ Gabriele Haupt: Karl Heinrich Rau. A contribution to the social history of professorships in the 19th century . Diss. Behavioral and empirical cultural studies Heidelberg 2004 (with bibliography)
  3. ↑ Edwin Kech: The founding of the Grand Ducal Baden State Railways Inaugural dissertation, G. Braunsche Hofbuchdruckerei, Karlsruhe 1904, p. 23 f.
  4. ^ Gabriele Haupt: Karl Heinrich Rau. A contribution to the social history of professorships in the 19th century , p. 224
  5. ^ The forty days in Heidelberg - memories of the Baden uprising in the summer of 1849 . Edited by Gerd Wippermann, Gabriele Haupt, Werner Moritz and Bernhard Stier, Heidelberg 1999
  6. ↑ Bernhard Stier: The "Experiment of the German Republic" in the eyewitness report . In: Karl Heinrich Rau: The forty days in Heidelberg . Ubstadt-Weiher 1999
  7. ↑ More detailed later: Thomas M. Humphrey: Marshallian Cross Diagrams and Their Uses before Alfred Marshall . The Origins of Supply and Demand Geometry . In: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond: Economic Review March / April 1992, p. 3–21 ( PDF ) using Klaus H. Hennings : Karl Heinrich Rau and the graphic representation of supply and demand . Discussion paper Series C, No. 35, Department of Economics, University of Hanover, 1979.
  8. ^ Z. Clark Dickinson: The library and works of Karl Heinrich Rau . In: Journal for the entire political science 114 (1958) 4, pp. 577-593
  9. ↑ lib.umich.edu
personal data
SURNAME Rau, Karl Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rau, Karl Heinrich Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist, agricultural scientist
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH gain
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1870
Place of death Heidelberg