Friedrich (von) Kleinwächter (February 25, 1838 – December 12, 1927) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

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 ...

Social life

Friedrich Kleinwächter was born in the multiethnic

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

of the times of the imperial

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. His family was German, living next to Czechs, Jews and others. Kleinwächter worked and died in

Czernowitz Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivtsi serv ...

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

, which was even more multiethnic (Jews, Germans, Romanians, Ukrainians and Polish) and became Romanian since 1919. In 1909, Kleinwächter had been

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. Th ...

and was authorized to use the prefix "von" before "Kleinwächter".

Professional life

In 1865, Friedrich Kleinwächter habilitated in Prag, whereupon he became an ordinary

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the Technical University Riga in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and since 1875 until his emeritation he was ordinary professor of political economics (Ordinarius für Staatswissenschaften) at the newly established "Franz-Josephs-Universität" at

. There he lectured

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

in combination with

financial law Financial law is the law and regulation of the commercial banking, capital markets, insurance, derivatives and investment management sectors. Understanding financial law is crucial to appreciating the creation and formation of banking and finan ...

and

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

. Later he switched to

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

in general. 1882/83 and 1893/94 Kleinwächter was Rektor of the university of Czernowitz. Kleinwächter published several text books, and furthermore many articles in the periodical ''Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik''. 1882–1902 he was editor of the German-speaking ''Genossenschaftszeitung'' (journal of cooperatives) for the

district in the very Northeast of

. His son was the diplomat Ludwig Kleinwächter, his nephew the lawyer Friedrich F.G. Kleinwächter.

Scientific achievements

In 1883 Kleinwächter presented the first scientific analysis on economic

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

s. His judgement of them was positive similar of that on the

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

s of the premodern times. According to him, the cartels could regulate the anarchism in the economic life ("Anarchismus in der Volkswirtschaft"), which came from the vigorous

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

of the

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

economic system of Kleinwächter's life time. He defined types of cartels, namely production, sales and price cartels. To them, he also put some kinds of agreements between employers. In the dispute with the social movements of

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

, Kleinwächter conceded that the

scientific socialism Scientific socialism in Marxism is the application of historical materialism to the development of socialism, as not just a practical and achievable outcome of historical processes, but the only possible outcome. It contrasts with utopian social ...

had contributed much to the discussion of the

social issue A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

. But that was almost its main achievement, because the further economic theses of the socialists were more or less wrong. In the English speaking world, Kleinwächter is to some extent known because of the so-called Kleinwachter's conundrum on income tax. The conundrum was popularized by Henry Simons, who mentioned it in his tax treatise, ''Personal Income Taxation''. In illustrating this point, Simons referred to this one of several hypotheticals posed by Kleinwächter.For a translation of Kleinwächter's discussion, see Friedrich Kleinwächter, Das Einkommen und seine Verteilung (Leipzig: C.L. Hirschfeld, 1896) trans. by Hannelore McDowell at 6.

Writings

* ''Zur Reform der Handwerks-Verfassung''. Berlin 1875 * ''Die National-Oekonomie als Wissenschaft und ihre Stellung zu den übrigen Disziplinen ; Rede gehalten am 4. Oktober 1882 bei Uebernahme des Rektorates der Franz-Josefs-Universität Czernowitz''. Habel, Berlin 1882 () * ''Die industriellen Cartelle''. Innsbruck 1883 * ''Die Grundlagen und Ziele des sogenannten wissenschaftlichen Sozialismus'', Innsbruck 1885. * ''Die Staatsromane. Ein Beitrag zur Lehre von Communismus und Socialismus''. Wien 1891. Reprint Liberac 1967 * ''Das Einkommen und seine Verteilung''. Leipzig 1896 * ''Zur Frage der Reform des österreichischen Actienrechtes''. Czernowitz 1899 * ''Kartelle'', in: Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, Vol. 5, Jena 1900, 2. ed. or Jena 1910, 3. ed. * ''Lehrbuch der Nationalökonomie''. Leipzig 1902, several editions * ''Lehrbuch der Volkswirtschaftspolitik''. Hirschfeld 1911 * ''Lehrbuch der Finanzwissenschaft''. Hirschfeld 1922 * ''Der Entwicklungsgang der nationalökonomischen Wissenschaft in Deutschland'', Leipzig 1926

Secondary literature

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleinwächter, Friedrich 19th-century Austrian economists Economists from Austria-Hungary Rectors of universities in Austria-Hungary 1838 births 1927 deaths