Abstract

Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff is widely regarded as the ‘founder’ of early economics in Germany, of Cameralism. Having survived the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War and the resulting economic, political, and moral break-down of society, Seckendorff conceived of a holistic science of public administration fit to reconstruct the more than 300 independent German principalities recognized by the Peace of Westphalia. The science he envisioned was both theoretical and practical, covering all the needs of a small principality. The same union of active and contemplative characterizes Seckendorff's own life, as he devoted himself both to administrating the Court of Gotha and the University of Halle, both to write an “owner's handbook” to small principalities and one of the most celebrated defenses of Lutheranism. This introduction will explore how these many facets came together in the figure of Seckendorff, what his main influences were, and how the historical context helped shape his writings.

Keywords: Seckendorff, Veit Ludwig von (1626– 1692), Germany, history of economic thought

JEL Classification: B11, N00

Introduction

Germany has often been referred to as ‘eine verspätete Nation’— a delayed nation— in the historiography of the country. This ‘lateness’, usually thought of in social and political terms, is also reflected in the development of economics and the neighbouring social sciences. The first uniquely German economic tradition, known as cameralism after the Kammer or provincial treasury of German principalities, only emerged after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia with the writings of Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff. Economic and related social sciences developed early in Italy with Giovanni Botero (1588) and Antonio Serra (1613), in France with Barthélemy Laffemas (1598) and Antoine de Montchretien (1615) and in England with writers such as John Hales (1549) and particularly Francis Bacon (1561– 1626). Bacon was the first scientist to create a strong focus on learning and innovation (e.g. his ‘Essay on Innovation’ and ‘Essay on Human Learning’). A similar emphasis on innovation and learning also appears later in the German context, principally in the works of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646– 1716) and Christian Wolff (1679– 1754) (Reinert and Daastøl, 1997).

It has been argued that economics did not develop in the rich states and nations as a way to get richer, but rather as a science of imitating the productive structure of the successful nations in laggard areas.