Joseph A. Schumpeter · 1910
Schumpeter’s brief review evaluates the third, expanded edition of Conrad’s introduction to the history and theory of statistics and population statistics. Although the revisions exceed those between the earlier editions, its principles remain unchanged. His praise centers on its sharply defined educational purpose: securing demographic knowledge a place in the economist’s training.
Und es eignet sich wie kein anderes dazu, den Tatsachen der Bevölkerungsstatistik ihren Platz im Studiengange zu erkämpfen.
English translation: And it is suited like no other to win for the facts of population statistics their place in the course of study.
The book’s structure serves this aim. Demographic results receive the main emphasis, while history, theory, and statistical technique occupy an introductory 56 of 208 pages. Schumpeter distinguishes the knowledge economics students require from the specialized training of statisticians: methodological detail would obscure the book’s principal task.
Es ist gerade ein besonderer Vorzug des Buches, daß es sich auf ein festumschriebenes Lehrziel beschränkt.
English translation: It is precisely a particular merit of the book that it restricts itself to a firmly circumscribed didactic aim.
This restriction is a pedagogical strength, not a deficiency. Questions relevant only to insurance specialists likewise recede so that essential demographic material can be presented more fully. The review’s governing judgment is that disciplined selection enables effective instruction: positive knowledge of population is indispensable to a genuine understanding of economic life.
This work was divided into 1 sections when it entered the library's research corpus—an apparatus for search and citation, not necessarily the author's own table of contents. Each title opens its summary.
Put a question to this work; the Librarian answers from its 1 sections and cites the passage.
Ask the Librarian