Bernhard Harms

Bernhard Harms (1876-1939) was a German economist and one of the first professors to undertake research in the field of international economics. He founded the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany's leading economic research institute, in 1914.[1][2] Harms was Chair of Economics at the University of Kiel and head of the Institute until he was dismissed from office in 1933 by Nazi Party officials.

Bernhard Harms
Born
Christoph Bernhard Cornelius Harms

(1876-03-30)March 30, 1876
DiedSeptember 21, 1939(1939-09-21) (aged 63)
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Leipzig (Diplom), University of Tübingen (PhD)
OccupationFounder of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Chair of Economics

Education

Christoph Bernhard Cornelius Harms was born in Detern, Ostfriesland, on June 30, 1876 to Menno F. Harms (1845-?) and Anna M. Ries (1844-1921). In 1887, he attended the Städtische Volksschule in Aurich, and later Gymnasium in Norden. From 1890 to 1893 he completed an apprenticeship (Ausbildung) as a bookbinder in Celle.[3] Harms began a degree in political science at the University of Leipzig (1897), then began a PhD in Economics at University of Tübingen (1900). He completed his doctoral dissertation under Gustav von Schönberg, a founder of the theory of world economy. Two years later, he completed his habilitation.[3]

Harms married in 1902 and had three children.

Harms began teaching as a professor at the University of Jena in 1906, then transferred to the University of Kiel in 1908 where he was Chair of Economics. There, he founded the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Construction of Bernhard-Harms-Weg, named in honor of the Institute's founder (1971)

Founded on February 18, 1914, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has been one of the leading economic research institutes in Germany. It began as the Königliches Institut für Seeverkehr and Weltwirtschaft an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Royal Institute for Maritime Transport and World Economics at the University of Kiel). Over the years, Harms worked to build the university's name, attracting well established economists such as Jacob Marschak, Wassily Leontief, Adolph Löwe, Gerhard Colm, and Hans Philipp Neisser.[4] The original mission of the Institute was to challenge the traditional scholar of nationally oriented political economy, and instead opting for a more international view on economic and political affairs.

Expulsion and death

After the electoral victory of the National Socialist German Workers Party in the March 1933 elections, Harms attempted to protect his Jewish colleagues from persecution. But on April 25, 1933, the Ministry of Culture enacted a new law, the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. Harms was subsequently removed from the university and later from the Institute. In 1933, Harms worked as an honorary professor in Berlin, then moved to the University of Marburg in 1934.[5] He died in Berlin in 1939. His grave was placed in front of the original building of the Instituteon Düsternbrooker Weg in Kiel.[4]

Legacy

Bernhard Harms Prize

The 1968 award ceremony of the Bernard Harms Prize

Every two years since 1964, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has awarded the Bernhard Harms Prize of €25,000 to individuals "with a distinguished record in the field of international economics."[6] Award winners give presentations on their research at the Bernhard Harms Lectures at the Institute, which are then published in the Institute's journal, Review of World Economics / Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv.[6]

YearWinnerInstitution
2018 Carmen Reinhart Harvard University
2016 Marc Melitz Harvard University
2014 Abhijit Banerjee Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2012 Gene Grossman Princeton University
2010 Raghuram Rajan University of Chicago
2008 Kenneth Rogoff Harvard University
2006 Robert Feenstra University of California
2004 Maurice Obstfeld University of California
2002 Stanley Fischer Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2000 Jeffrey D. Sachs Harvard University
1998 Elhanan Helpman Harvard University
1996 Assar Lindbeck Institute for International Economic Studies
1994 Martin Feldstein Harvard University
1992 Rudiger Dornbusch Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1990 Anne O. Krueger Duke University
1988 Jagdish Bhagwati Columbia University
1986 W. Max Corden Australian National University
1984 Bela Balassa Johns Hopkins University
1982 William Fellner Yale University
1980 Erik Lundberg Stockholm School of Economics
1978 Charles P. Kindleberger Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1976 Harry G. Johnson University of Chicago
1974 Fritz Machlup Princeton University
1972 Gottfried Haberler Harvard University
1970 Wassily Leontief Harvard University
1968 Hermann Josef Abs Deutsche Bank
1966 Roy Harrod Christ Church, Oxford
1964 Gerhard Colm Washington, D.C.

Bernhard Harms Medal

Since 1980, the Bernhard Harms Medal is awarded to individuals "who have contributed to the Kiel Institute's research on the world economy in the tradition of Bernhard Harms."[7]

YearWinnerInstitution
2004 Otmar Issing European Central Bank
2004 Helmut Hesse University of Göttingen
2000 Reinhard Mohn Bertelsmann AG
2000 Marcus Bierich Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Instituts für Weltwirtschaft
1999 Václav Klaus Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
1995 Herbert Grubel Simon Fraser University
1994 Birgit Breuel Treuhandanstalt
1992 Ingo Walter New York University
1992 Helmut Schlesinger Deutsche Bundesbank
1991 Juergen B. Donges University of Cologne
1989 Tyll Necker Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
1989 Karl Schiller Jesteburg-Osterberg
1988 Rudolf Scheid Frankfurt am Main
1986 Gerhard Fels Kiel Institute for the World Economy
1986 Hans D. Barbier Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
1984 Karl Gustaf Ratjen Kiel Institute for the World Economy
1984 Wolfgang F. Stolper University of Michigan
1983 George Frank Ray University of Greenwich
1983 Tadeusz M. Rybczynski Lazard
1981 David Grove IBM, University of Washington
1980 Kurt Pentzlin Bahlsen
1980 Otto Ernst Pfleiderer Heidelberg University

Selected publications

  • Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Deutschen Buchbinderei in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, Tübingen und Leipzig 1902
  • Die Münz- und Geldpolitik der Stadt Basel im Mittelalter. Tübingen 1907 (= Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft, Ergänzungsheft 23)
  • Der Stadthaushalt Basels im ausgehenden Mittelalter: Quellen und Studien zur Basler Finanzgeschichte. Tübingen 1909–1913
  • Volkswirtschaft und Weltwirtschaft, Versuch der Begründung einer Weltwirtschaftslehre, Jena 1912
  • Der auswärtige Handel in: Philipp Zorn, Herbert von Berger (Schriftleitung): Deutschland unter Kaiser Wilhelm II. Hrsg. von Siegfried Körte, Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell u. a. 3 Bände. R. Hobbing, Berlin 1914.
  • Ferdinand Lassalle und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Sozialdemokratie [Kopie von 1919], Jena 1919
  • Vom Wirtschaftskrieg zur Weltwirtschaftskonferenz, Jena 1927
  • Strukturwandlungen der Deutschen Volkswirtschaft, Vorlesungen gehalten in der Deutschen Vereinigung für Staatswissenschaftliche Fortbildung. Berlin 1928

References

  1. "Time to shake up Germany's economic institutes". Handelsblatt.
  2. Kaiser, Tobias. "Die besten Volkswirte der Welt sitzen in Kiel". Die Welt.
  3. "Christoph Bernhard Cornelius Harms". Kiel Directory of Scholars.
  4. "Bernhard Harms". Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
  5. Omland, Frank. "Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte". Institut für Weltwirtschaft.
  6. "Bernhard Harms Prize". Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
  7. "Bernhard Harms Medal". Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Archived from the original on 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
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