ABSTRACT

Along with the institutionalisation of economics at universities, the foundation of learned journals and the increasing publication of economic books, establishing associations of economists was an important stepping stone in the professionalisation process in Europe, North America and Japan in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Verein für Sozialpolitik (henceforth: Verein) was officially founded at a conference in Eisenach on 13th October 1873. However, after a preparatory meeting in Halle on 8th July, the first major conference on the ‘soziale Frage’ (‘Social Question’) had already taken place on 6th-7th October 1872 (in Eisenach where the Social Democratic Party had also been founded in 1869 on the initiative of August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht), which explains why the foundation of the Verein is often dated to 1872. Thus the 1972 centennial conference, which took place in Bonn, had the title ‘Macht oder ökonomisches Gesetz’ (Power or Economic Law)—issues that were already at the forefront in the early years.