Abstract

A good starting point for understanding the historical contours of German economic thought is the fact that Germany as a modern nation-state only came into being in 1871, so that much of the history of the German lands was defined by disunity and particularism. This created a variety of universities and encouraged a plurality of approaches to the discipline of economics. Until 1866 Austria, along with Prussia, was one of the most important influences upon the other German states and so must be considered in any survey of the cultural, administrative, and business traditions that shaped German economics.