Konstantin "Kosta" Cukić ( sr-cyr, Константин Коста Цукић; 1826 – 1879) was an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and minister of finance and education in the government of Prince

Mihailo Obrenović Prince Mihailo Obrenović III of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Михаило Обреновић, Mihailo Obrenović; 16 September 1823 – 10 June 1868) was the ruling Principality of Serbia, Prince of Serbia from 1839 to 1842 and again from 1860 to 1868. ...

. At the end of the nineteenth century, he was one of several men who stood out in Serbia in economic thought, alongside Kosta Cukić,

Dimitrije Matić Dimitrije Matić ( sr, Димитрије Матић; 18 August 1821 – 17 October 1884) was a Serbian philosopher, jurist, professor, and politician who served as Minister of Education, Minister of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He ...

Čedomilj Mijatović Čedomilj Mijatović ( sr-Cyrl, Чедомиљ Мијатовић; 17 October 1842 – May 14, 1932) was a Serbian statesman, economist, historian, writer and diplomat. Mijatović served as the Ministry of Finance (Serbia), Minister of Finance s ...

, and

Mihailo V. Vujić Mihailo V. Vujić ( sr-cyr, Михаило В. Вујић; 26 October 1853 — 1 March 1913) was a Serbian politician, ambassador, professor of economics, philosopher, historian and academic. He was one of the most notable Serbian economists durin ...

. In philosophy, Cukić was a

Kantian Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...

in influence.

Biography

Konstantin Lazarević Cukić was born in Karanovac (Kraljevo) on 13 April 1826, according to the old

Julian Calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

. His father, Petar Lazarević, was the son-in-law of the Duke of the First Serbian Uprising, Pavle Cukić, a member of the Assembly, the highest legislative and governing body in Serbia. Mother Ana was the daughter of

Petar Nikolajević Moler Petar Nikolajević Moler (1775 – summer 1816), whose sobriquet "Moler" meant "the painter", was a Serbian revolutionary, participating in both the First and Second phases, serving as the Prime Minister from 1815 to 1816. Biography Moler was ed ...

, the hero of the

First Serbian Uprising The First Serbian Uprising ( sr, Prvi srpski ustanak, italics=yes, sr-Cyrl, Први српски устанак; tr, Birinci Sırp Ayaklanması) was an uprising of Serbs in the Sanjak of Smederevo against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 18 ...

. He completed elementary school in Kraljevo and

Kruševac Kruševac ( sr-cyr, Крушевац, , tr, Alacahisar or Kruşevca) is a city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina river. According to the 2011 census, t ...

and lower grammar school in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...

. He went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1838/39 and initially studied languages and privately graduated from gymnasium. He began his studies in state sciences, the central part of which, according to the

cameralist Cameralism (German: ''Kameralismus'') was a German science of public administration in the 18th and early 19th centuries that aimed at strong management of a centralized economy for the benefit mainly of the state. The discipline in its most na ...

ic concept, was represented by economics. He then moved to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and completed his "philosophical and sociopolitical sciences" with Professor

Karl Heinrich Rau Karl Heinrich Rau (23 November 1792 – 18 March 1870) was a German political economist. Life Early career Rau was born at Erlangen, Bavaria. He studied from 1808 to 1812 at the University of Erlangen, where he afterwards remained as a Privatdoz ...

and earned his Ph.D. He was a member of the first group of Serbian students who went on to study abroad on state bursaries that consisted of Kosta Magazinović,

, Konstantin Nikolajević,

Filip Hristić Filip Hristić ( sr-Cyrl, Филип Христић; 27 March 1819, Belgrade – 29 January 1905, Menton, France) was a Serbian, politician serving as the Prime Minister of Serbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Education, Governo ...

, Djordje Cenić and Dimitrije Crnobarac. In Heidelberg, he became familiar with the theories of most philosophers and economists of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century. He managed to complete his three-volume work entitled "State Economics" where he mentioned the works of the following philosopher-economists:

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

Léon Say Jean-Baptiste-Léon Say (6 June 1826, Paris – 21 April 1896, Paris) was a French statesman and diplomat. One of the 19th-century's noted economists, he served as French Finance Minister from 1872 until 1883. Biography The Say family is a mos ...

John Ramsay McCulloch John Ramsay McCulloch (1 March 1789 – 11 November 1864) was a Scottish economist, author and editor, widely regarded as the leader of the Ricardian school of economists after the death of David Ricardo in 1823. He was appointed the first pr ...

Hermann Lotze Rudolf Hermann Lotze (; ; 21 May 1817 – 1 July 1881) was a German philosopher and logician. He also had a medical degree and was well versed in biology. He argued that if the physical world is governed by mechanical laws and relations, then dev ...

, Antoine Gustave Droz,

Pellegrino Rossi Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an Italian economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the July Monarchy in France, and the minister of justice in the government of the Papal States, unde ...

Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism. Biography Early life, political activity and first imprisonment (1805–1848) Bla ...

, Nicolas François Canard,

Yves Guyot Yves Guyot (6 September 184322 February 1928) was a French politician and economist. Biography He was born at Dinan. Educated at Rennes, he took up the profession of journalism, coming to Paris in 1867. He was for a short period editor-in-chief of ...

, and others. After completing his studies, Cukić returned to Serbia in the spring of 1848 and received the professorship at the Belgrade

Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia The Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia was the first higher education school in Serbia in which education was taught in Serbian. History The Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia ( sr, Лицеј Кнежевине Србије) was founded i ...

, where he taught Political Economy, Finance, Trade Science and Economic Policy. He immediately became involved in the work of the Serbian Society Of Letters and became its secretary. Since there was no economic textbooks or any similar books written by a Serb at that time (most were translations from German, French, Russian, English, Italian and other economists), Cukić went to work and soon published the first part of his textbook, State Economics, entitled ''Narodna ekonomija'' (1851). This was followed by the third part, titled "Finance" (1853), while the second part, "Economic Policy", was published only ten years later (1862) when Cukić was already Minister of Finance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cukic, Konstantin 1826 births 1879 deaths Finance ministers of Serbia Politicians from Kraljevo Serbian expatriates in Germany Heidelberg University alumni Serbian expatriates in Austria Academic staff of the Lyceum of the Principality of Serbia Education ministers of Serbia

Biography

See also

References