Gustav Stolper

{{short description|Austrian-German economist, journalist, and politician (1888–1947)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Gustav Stolper

| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2006-0113, Gustav Stolper.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Stolper in 1920

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date |1888|7|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = Vienna, Austria-Hungary

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|12|27|1888|7|25|df=y}}

| death_place = New York City, United States

| nationality = Austrian

| other_names =

| occupation = Economic writer

| years_active =

| spouse = {{Marriage|Toni Stolper|1921}}

| children = Wolfgang Stolper

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Gustav Stolper (25 July 1888 – 27 December 1947) was an Austrian-German economist, economics journalist and politician.{{cite book |first=Toni |last=Stolper |title=Ein Leben in den Brennpunkten unserer Zeit |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Klett Cotta |year=1979 |isbn=3-12-911990-6 }}{{Cite journal |last=Baade |first=Fritz |date=1949 |title=Gustav Stolper |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40432296 |journal=Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv |volume=62 |pages=3–10 |jstor=40432296 |issn=0043-2636}}

Life and work

Stolper was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. He was born into a Jewish family that had immigrated from Poland to Austria.{{cite news|url=http://www.wiwo.de/politik/konjunktur/gustav-stolper-liberaler-kaempfer-und-brillanter-schreiber/6527656.html|title=Gustav Stolper - Liberaler Kämpfer und brillanter Schreiber|last=Handschuch|first=Konrad|date=29 April 2012|work=Wirtschaftswoche|accessdate=2 August 2014|archive-date=8 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808042906/http://www.wiwo.de/politik/konjunktur/gustav-stolper-liberaler-kaempfer-und-brillanter-schreiber/6527656.html|url-status=dead}}

In 1913 he established Der Österreichischer Volkswirt.{{cite web|url=https://www.socialpolitik.de/En/gustav-stolper-prize|title=Gustav Stolper Prize|publisher=Verein für Socialpolitik|accessdate=2 August 2014}} Stolper and Joseph Schumpeter reportedly knew each other when they lived in Vienna in the 1910s.{{Cite journal |last1=Cantner |first1=Uwe |last2=Dopfer |first2=Kurt |date=2015 |title=Schumpeter and his contemporaries—précis and road marks |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-015-0404-x |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Economics |language=en |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1007/s00191-015-0404-x |issn=1432-1386}} In 1925, Stolper moved to Berlin. In 1926 he established the Deutscher Volkswirt, the forerunner of Wirtschaftswoche weekly business magazine.{{Cite journal |last=Klausinger |first=Hansjorg |date=2001 |title=Gustav Stolper, Der deutsche Volkswirt, and the Controversy on Economic Policy at the End of the Weimar Republic |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/13292 |journal=History of Political Economy |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=241–267 |doi=10.1215/00182702-33-2-241 |issn=1527-1919|url-access=subscription }} In 1929 he drafted a platform for the German Democratic Party geared towards the interests of the middle class; it was well-received but came too late to prevent the party's disintegration.{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Larry Eugene |date=1972 |title="The Dying Middle": Weimar Germany and the Fragmentation of Bourgeois Politics |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4545621 |journal=Central European History |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=23–54 |doi=10.1017/S0008938900000510 |jstor=4545621 |issn=0008-9389|url-access=subscription }}

Stolper was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930 as a member of the German State Party.{{cite news|url=http://www.wiwo.de/politik/konjunktur/gustav-stolper-flucht-vor-den-nazis/6527656-2.html|title=Gustav Stolper - Liberaler Kämpfer und brillanter Schreiber - Flucht vor den Nazis|last=Handschuch|first=Konrad|date=29 April 2012|work=Wirtschaftswoche|accessdate=2 August 2014}}

Stolper migrated to the United States after Hitler's rise to power.{{Cite journal |last=Kohn |first=Hans |date=1948 |title=German Realities; A Guide to the Future Peace of Europe. By Gustav Stolper. (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock. 1948. Pp. 338. $3.75.) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/german-realities-a-guide-to-the-future-peace-of-europe-by-gustav-stolper-new-york-reynal-and-hitchcock-1948-pp-338-375/67CA6522977979107D4ED19B022F2360 |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=806–807 |doi=10.2307/1950943 |jstor=1950943 |issn=1537-5943|url-access=subscription }}

In 1940, he published German Economy, 1870-1940, an economic history of modern Germany.{{Cite journal |last=Henderson |first=W. O. |date=1941 |title=Review of German Economy, 1870-1940. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2590726 |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=113 |doi=10.2307/2590726 |jstor=2590726 |issn=0013-0117|url-access=subscription }} In 1948, he published German Realities; A Guide to the Future Peace of Europe.{{Cite journal |last=Mason |first=Edward S. |date=1948 |title=Review of German Realities: A Guide to the Future Peace of Europe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1811710 |journal=The American Economic Review |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=922–924 |jstor=1811710 |issn=0002-8282}}

Gustav Stolper Prize

The Gustav Stolper Prize is awarded by the Verein für Socialpolitik for "outstanding scientists who have employed the findings of economic research to influence the public debate on economic issues and problems, and have made important contributions to understanding and solving contemporary economic problems."

Winners: