Der Wirtschaftshistorische Ausschuss des Vereins für Socialpolitik

Abstract

Abstract The Economic History Committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik was founded 70 years ago as the first interest group for economic and social history in Germany. As did its five counterparts of other subfields in economics, the committee aimed at intensifying academic exchange in this field. Furthermore, it served as a lobby organisation for the discipline in the fast changing politics of higher education in Germany. It therefore can be considered as an important step in the discipline’s professionalization. The article gives a brief overview of the development of economic history in Germany starting with the Historical School at the end of the 19th century. The second part is dedicated to the institutional and academic history of the committee using archival documentation.