Joseph A. Schumpeter: Review of Adler and Quaritsch (1913)

Schumpeter’s joint review of A. Adler’s Leitfaden der Volkswirtschaftslehre and A. Quaritsch’s Kompendium der Nationalökonomie evaluates two successful elementary economics manuals against a demanding conception of introductory teaching. He acknowledges their relative merits but distinguishes commercial and examination usefulness from genuine intellectual education. His central objection is that neither develops economic reasoning or a principled understanding of how the economy works:

Einige lose Definitionen, einige elementare Selbstverständlichkeiten, Mitteilungen über bestehende Richtungen und »Schulen« — das ist alles »Prinzipielle«, gerade genug, um dem Anfänger eine herzliche Verachtung für die Nationalökonomie beizubringen.

English translation: A few loose definitions, a few elementary truisms, communications about existing tendencies and "schools" - that is all there is of "matters of principle", just enough to instil in the beginner a hearty contempt for political economy.

The complaint concerns the substitution of definitions and classifications for explanation, not the brevity or accessibility of elementary instruction. A comparison with Chapman’s Political Economy, likewise intended for a broad readership, establishes that accessible economics can offer substantially greater intellectual benefit.

The review then assesses each manual separately. Quaritsch receives qualified approval as an examination aid: Schumpeter praises its care, balanced formulations, historical account of economic systems, and treatment of insurance, money, banking, and public finance. Yet its uneven allocation of attention reveals deeper weaknesses. Three explanations of entrepreneurial profit appear, while interest receives only one cursory explanation, despite the importance of interest theory for understanding capitalism.

Das Krisenphänomen scheint dem Autor kein Problem zu bieten, die Preisbildung ganz uninteressant zu sein.

English translation: The phenomenon of crises appears to the author to present no problem, and price formation to be quite uninteresting.

This pointed sentence identifies what the manual’s orderly presentation leaves out: economic phenomena as problems requiring analysis. Schumpeter nevertheless concludes that, within Quaritsch’s limited purpose, recognition should outweigh criticism.

His assessment of Adler is sharper because the intended students of higher vocational schools deserve more than antiquated doctrine. The treatment of protection and free trade supplies too little argument to support an intelligent judgment. Nor can the weakness of the theory be excused by substantial historical material: the book largely consists of theoretical topics arranged under basic concepts, production, circulation, distribution, and consumption. Its concluding history of economic thought is its strongest section.

Die Theorie wird also nicht etwa durch anderen Stoff verdrängt, und dennoch kann das Gebotene unmöglich befriedigen. Eine Darstellung der wichtigsten Tatsachen des modernen Wirtschaftslebens wäre viel fruchtbarer.

English translation: Theory is thus not displaced by other material, and yet what is offered cannot possibly satisfy. An account of the most important facts of modern economic life would be far more fruitful.

Schumpeter thus distinguishes genuine theory from merely “dogmatic” subject matter and suggests that concrete knowledge of modern economic life would be preferable to empty theoretical coverage. The review closes on a constructive premise: the audience possesses both an appetite and a capacity for economics. A short, elementary account could provide intellectual satisfaction, widen horizons, dispel prejudices, and improve practical judgment among citizens and businesspeople. The review’s broader significance lies in this educational standard: simplification should preserve explanatory substance rather than reduce economics to material for memorization.