Karl Knies
Encyclopedia
Karl Gustav Adolf Knies (1821–1898) was a German
economist
.
He is known as the author of Political Economy from the Standpoint of the Historical Method, one of the 19th century methodological treatises on German historical school of economics
. He taught at the University of Heidelberg for over 30 years and was maybe the most theoretically oriented economist of the older historical school.
Like others in the German Historical School, Knies disliked the attitudes of the 'classical school' (Adam Smith, David Ricardo and their followers), particularly their belief that the pursuit of individual self-interest redounded to the good of the community. In his 'Political Economy' (Braunschweig, 1853) he comments on page 157 that self-interest is 'in the public interest, so to speak, in its weakness and dangerous in its strength' (gemeinnützig, so zu sagen, in seine Schwäche und gefährlich in seine Stärke).
Some of his works are:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
.
He is known as the author of Political Economy from the Standpoint of the Historical Method, one of the 19th century methodological treatises on German historical school of economics
Historical school of economics
The Historical school of economics was an approach to academic economics and to public administration that emerged in 19th century in Germany, and held sway there until well into the 20th century....
. He taught at the University of Heidelberg for over 30 years and was maybe the most theoretically oriented economist of the older historical school.
Like others in the German Historical School, Knies disliked the attitudes of the 'classical school' (Adam Smith, David Ricardo and their followers), particularly their belief that the pursuit of individual self-interest redounded to the good of the community. In his 'Political Economy' (Braunschweig, 1853) he comments on page 157 that self-interest is 'in the public interest, so to speak, in its weakness and dangerous in its strength' (gemeinnützig, so zu sagen, in seine Schwäche und gefährlich in seine Stärke).
Some of his works are:
- Statistics (1850)
- Political Economy from the Standpoint of the Historical Method, (1. ed., 1853, 2. ed., 1883)
- Money and Credit (1873-6, 2. ed., 1885)