Knut Borchardt (2 June 1929 – 5 February 2023) was a German researcher,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and former professor for history and economics at both the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

and the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Academy of Sciences'', ...

from 1962 to 1991. Moreover, he served as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

at the

between 1967 and 1969.

Education

Borchardt was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. He studied from 1949 to 1954

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

at the

where he obtained his ''Diplom'' (former German master's equivalent) in 1954. Afterwards, he obtained his doctorate in economics and his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1961 at the

Academics

Borchardt worked from 1961 to 1962 as assistant professor at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

. After a proposal in 1962, he became professor for economics and history at the

. In 1967, Gaugler became rector (president) of the university and remained in this position until 1969. He was succeeded by

Hans-Martin Pawlowski Hans-Martin Pawlowski (30 October 1931 – 14 March 2016) was a German researcher, lawyer and former professor for civil law at the University of Mannheim from 1966 to 1994. Moreover, he served as president at the University of Mannheim between 19 ...

in his role as rector of the UMA. He left the university in 1969 and remained until his retirement in 1991 at the

. Borchardt was author of the well-known "Borchardt-Hypothesis", which claims that stabilisation policy in Germany during the Great Depression was credit constrained and that lack of budgetary discipline during the preceding years was instrumental in creating this constraint. In 1987 he received the

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...

and in 1999 the

Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art The Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (german: Bayerischer Maximiliansorden für Wissenschaft und Kunst, links=no) was first established on 28 November 1853 by King Maximilian II von Bayern. It is awarded to acknowledge and reward exc ...

. Between 1968 and 1982 Borchardt was editor of the influentia
Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik

Death

Borchardt died on 5 February 2023, at the age of 93.

Publications

* ''Die Industrielle Revolution in Deutschland.'' London 1969. * ''Wachstum, Krisen, Handlungsspielräume der Wirtschaftspolitik''. Göttingen 1982. (engl. 1991) * ''Grundriss der deutschen Wirtschaftsgeschichte.'' Göttingen 1985. * ''Wirtschaftspolitik in der Krise. Die (Geheim-)Konferenz der Friedrich List-Gesellschaft im September 1931 über Möglichkeiten und Folgen einer Kreditausweitung''. (together with Hans Otto Schötz) Baden-Baden 1991. * ''Max Webers Börsenschriften. Rätsel um ein übersehenes Werk''. Munich 2000. * ''Globalisierung in historischer Perspektive''. Munich 2001.

References

External links