Luther – Ein tüchtiger Ökonom? Über die monetären Ursprünge der Deutschen Reformation

Summary Luther – A Competent Economist? The Monetary Origins of the German Reformation The following article studies Martin Luther’s contribution to modern economic thought as well as – by the same token – the monetary origins of the German Reformation. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Luther made a valuable contribution to economic theory, particularly with regard to the monetary situation of his age, mainly silver scarcity and related problems. Luther and other theologians and pamphleteers during the early Reformation never ceased to stress the problems that related to the scarcity of silver and the practice of hoarding of money – a concern found in older discourses as well as later economic theory of the modern age, up to twentieth-century ‘Keynesian’ economics. The first section discusses those cornerstones of Luther’s biography that are relevant in the present context (I.). The second section briefly discusses how modern economics has evolved into a very peculiar science and how Luther may be placed ...