Joseph A. Schumpeter: Georg Mollat: Volkswirtschaftliches Quellenbuch [Rezension] (1913)

Schumpeter’s short review assesses the third, revised edition (1910) of Georg Mollat’s economic sourcebook as an introduction for business practitioners. Its organizing distinction is between transmitting economic knowledge through selected readings and teaching readers how to think economically. Schumpeter welcomes the growing use of anthologies for beginners and broader audiences, but proposes a more demanding pedagogical ideal:

Noch besser freilich wären Uebungsbücher, die den Leser in das ökonomische Denken und die Behandlung ökonomischer Fragen einführen, also eine Art von Lehrbüchern, die nicht Resultate und einen positiven »Stoff«, sondern eine Anleitung zur Erfassung und Interpretation ökonomischer Tatsachen bieten würden.

English translation: Better still, to be sure, would be books of exercises which introduce the reader to economic thinking and to the treatment of economic questions - that is, a kind of textbook which would offer not results and a positive "subject matter", but a guide to the apprehension and interpretation of economic facts.

The contrast shifts attention from acquired results to the interpretation of economic facts. It does not prevent Schumpeter from judging Mollat’s book highly successful on its own terms. After introductory essays on German economists, merchants, and industrialists, the sourcebook covers trade, industry, the world economy and trade policy, transport, and economic conditions in the United States. Schumpeter praises the selection and occasional adaptation of extracts from German economists across historical, political, commercial-technical, and theoretical subjects.

Alle diese Ausführungen sind mit größter Sorgfalt zu einem einheitlichen Mosaikbild zusammengefügt, oft so, wie wenn sie eben dafür geschrieben worden wären.

English translation: All these disquisitions are fitted together with the greatest care into a unified mosaic picture, often as though they had been written precisely for that purpose.

Editorial coherence is thus a substantive achievement: disparate excerpts become an accessible whole. Indexes, an author list, and guidance dividing readings by difficulty further support practical use. The review closes by emphasizing instructive yet undemanding reading for the tired practitioner. Its significance lies in this dual judgment: popular economic instruction deserves recognition for meeting its audience’s needs, while training in economic reasoning remains the stronger educational aspiration.