Milko Brezigar (6 October 1886 – 22 April 1958) was a Slovene and Yugoslav liberal economist.

Biography

Born to a Slovene family the village of

Doberdò del Lago Doberdò del Lago ( sl, Doberdob; Bisiacco: ; fur, Dobardò) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southwest of Gorizia, and borders the following municipalit ...

( sl, Doberdob) in the Austrian Littoral (now part of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

), he attended the

State gymnasium State Gymnasium is an arena on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. It was opened in 1913, and once was the school's primary indoor athletic facility, before the opening of Hilton Coliseum. It is located at the corner of Union Dr ...

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

. He studied law at the universities of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

and

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

, graduating in 1910. In 1911, he started publishing articles on economic policies and economic theory. In 1914, he became the editor of the economic section of the

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

newspaper ''

Reichspost ''Reichspost'' (; "Imperial Mail") was the name of the postal service of Germany from 1866 to 1945. ''Deutsche Reichspost'' Upon the out break of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the break-up of the German Confederation in the Peace of ...

''. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Brezigar maintained close contacts with the

Yugoslav Committee Yugoslav Committee ( sh-Latn, Jugoslavenski odbor, sr-Cyrl, Југословенски одбор) was a political interest group formed by South Slavs from Austria-Hungary during World War I aimed at joining the existing south Slavic nations in ...

through his friend, the Slovene émigré

Bogomil Vošnjak Bogomilism ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Pet ...

; together with Janko Hacin, Brezigar was among the organizers of a secret network which made

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

on behalf of the Entente against the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

After the establishment of the

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...

in October 1918, he moved to

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. In 1919, he was member of the Yugoslav delegation at the

Versailles conference The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed ...

. In the same period, he joined the

Yugoslav Democratic Party The Yugoslav Democratic Party, ''State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats'' and Democratic Party, also known as the Democratic Union was the name of a series of liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of S ...

, and was elected member of the Temporary Representative Assembly. As a close collaborator of the Slovenian liberal leader

Gregor Žerjav Gregor Žerjav, sometimes spelled Žerjal (14 November 1882 – 27 June 1929), was a Slovene and Yugoslav lawyer and liberal politician. Together with Albert Kramer, he was the leader of the Slovenian liberals in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croat ...

, Brezigar was influential in composing the Democratic Party's economic program, which was based on

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

, but favoured state

economic protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

against foreign capital. In this period, he published his most important work, ''An Outline of the Slovenian National Economy'' (1918). In 1920, he was named professor at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

, where he was among the founders of the Slovenian economic science. During this period, he did not engage in active politics, although he remained a member of the Democratic and later Independent Democratic Party After the establishment of the Communist system in 1945, he left Yugoslavia and settled in Austria, dying in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

in 1958.

Major works

*''Vorboten einer Wirtschaftskrise Deutschlands. Anwendung an die jetztige Wirtschaftslage'' (Berlin, 1913); *''Die Konjunktur- und Depressionswellen in Oesterreich seit 1896'' (Vienna, 1913); *''Osnutek slovenskega narodnega gospodarstva'' (Celje, 1918).

References

Sources

Primorski slovenski bibliografski leksikon: 'Milko Brezigar'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brezigar, Milko 1886 births 1958 deaths People from Doberdò del Lago People from Austrian Littoral Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians Independent Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians Yugoslav economists University of Graz alumni University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana Economists from the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Biography

Major works

See also

References

Sources