Introduction
In Germany, political economy was ‘most assiduously and most fruitfully cultivated during the last fifty years’ of the 19th century (Seager 1893, 239). However, the origins ofits development can actually be traced back to the 18th century, when many universities in Germany started to offer the systematic study of political economy.
In fact, the first two known chairs of political economy in the world were established in Halle and Frankfurt in 1727 (Stre- issler 2001, 313). Looking ahead to the middle of the 19th century, German universities succeeded in ‘maintaining the first place’ in the world when it came to teaching, learning, and conducting advanced research in political economy due to the work and effort of adherents of the German Historical School of Economics (GHSE) (Dunbar 1891, 399). As a result, political economy students and scholars from around the globe went to Germany to study and obtain a higher education under the theorists of the GHSE. The international reputation garnered by the GHSE also led to journals from many countries that were published in a number of different languages, frequently referencing them as reliable sources (St. Marc 1892, 2).Compared to Germany, the development of political economy as an academic discipline was delayed in the US. German-trained American political economists were not satisfied with the quality of education and teaching being offered in the area of political economy at American universities. They were convinced that the American way of teaching political economy did not promote the development of critical thinking and creativity, which, in turn, inhibited the production of original work within the discipline. In response, they introduced the ideas, methods, and goals of their ‘instructors and associates’ from the GHSE, ‘not in a formulated exact system, but in the form in which they had been impressed’ upon them (Devine 1894, 87).
They essentially integrated many of the features they witnessed and experienced in the political economy departments of German universities into the curriculums of their own universities in the US. This chapter begins by explaining how German-trained American political economists facilitated the establishment of successful economics departments at a variety of colleges and universities across the US during the 1880s and 1890s. In doing so, it identifies a number of American political economists who played important roles in the development of these newly established economics departments, and outlines some of their key contributions. It also describes how the number of courses offered at these newly established economics departments increased rapidly, as did the number of teachers working at them and the number of enrolled students. Furthermore, this chapter highlights a number of key features of these newly established economics departments at American institutions of higher learning, including some of the specific classes being offered, the importance of the German language, the adoption of the seminary method, the teaching of statistics, the creation of PhD programs, and the provision of adequate university library resources.