Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Timber, science and statecraft: the emergence of modern forest resource economic thought in Germany

  • Original paper
  • Published:
European Journal of Forest Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

German foresters in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century were in many respects pioneers of modern renewable natural resource economic thought. This article examines how modern resource-based thinking emerged in German forestry and how it was shaped by prevailing political ideologies and intellectual movements. It is shown that the idea of the capital nature and value of forests was introduced in the mid-eighteenth century by Georg Heinrich Zincke, one of the earliest major German economists. His compatriots in mining and forestry took these economic principles further, presenting a few years later explicit comparisons on the profitability of different forest management regimes. These pioneering insights and calculations, published almost exactly 250 years ago, prompted further development of modern forest economic thinking. This intellectual process culminated in the discovery of the celebrated Faustmann model, perhaps the oldest formal description of natural resource use that is still theoretically valid.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. A fully regulated forest consists of a series of even-aged forest stands, each of the same surface area but of different ages. In an idealized case, the number of stands equals the rotation age. Each year, the oldest stand is harvested and immediately regenerated. The next year, the second oldest stand reaches maturity and is harvested, etc. Thus the capital structure allows constant levels of production and investment.

  2. The term cameralism (Kameralismus) derives from the chamber (Kammer) in which the prince’s advisors traditionally deliberated (e.g. Tribe 1984, 1988). The subject matter ranged typically from household management (Oeconomie), finance, and public administration and regulation (Polizei, Policey) to more specific themes such as mining, agriculture, forestry and trade.

  3. In its early years, the Forest Society had about 300 members, but the hard core was made up of a group of dozen members (e.g. Burgsdorf, Cotta, Hartig, Hennert, Hossfeld, Laurop, Pfeil) who contributed over 40 % of all the articles published in the Society’s journal Diana (see Lowood 1991, pp. 330–333).

  4. On the reception and diffusion of physiocratic ideas in Germany, see, e.g. Tribe (1988, pp. 119–131, 2007). For a similar account on Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, see Tribe (1984, 1988, pp. 133–148, 2007, pp. 24–31) and Hagemann (1996).

  5. Principles of sustainability had been known and, to some extent, applied within European forestry long before Carlowitz. However, a more elaborate definition and systematic use of the concept only emerged much later, at the time of classical forest science. For discussion, see, e.g. Schuster (2001) and Deegen and Seegers (2011).

  6. From the mid-seventeenth century, the term oeconomics was extended to mean the functioning and classification of natural world, the most famous example being Linnaeus’ Oeconomia Naturae (1749). For discussion, see, e.g. Worster (1985) and Schabas (2005).

  7. Zanthier founded the first school devoted to forestry (Forstmeisterschule) in 1763 at Wernigerode, on the northern boundary of the Harz Forest. During the first years he offered private tuition at his home but a few years later the teaching became more organized and the school moved to Ilsenburg, a small town also in the Harz. During the next decades, similar forestry schools began to operate also in other German principalities (Hasel 1985, pp. 241–247).

  8. A common perception is that Moser’s book marked the beginning of forest science, although the first book with the corresponding word Forstwissenschaft in its title was published a few years later by Johann Gottlieb Beckmann (1763) (e.g. Hess 1885, p. 245; Fernow 1913, p. 87; Mantel 1957). Even earlier Zincke (1755, p. 821) wrote that forestry (Forstwesen) is a science (Wissenschaft) that utilizes oeconomie, natural history and mathematics. Zincke (1755, part II, p. 630) may also have been the first to use the term “Forst-Oeconomie”.

  9. Zincke’s Anfangsgründe der Cameralwissenschaft (1755) is nominally in two parts, but each part consists of considerable volumes. The four volumes contain, respectively, 806, 1 218, 998 and 724 pages. Roman numerals in our text refer to the parts of the book.

  10. The question of the most advantageous (vorteihaftesten) forest rotation ages and tree species had been put forward six years earlier by an anonymous writer (1758, p. 229) in a Stuttgart periodical (Intelligenzblatt), published by a local society dedicated to the promotion of “physical-oeconomic” sciences.

  11. With compound interest, the conclusion holds but the difference in capitalized income increases to 30 %.

  12. Smith (1776, pp. 208–209) wrote: “The scarcity of wood then raises its price. It affords a good rent, and the landlord sometimes finds that he can scarce employ his best lands more advantageously that in growing barren timber, of which the greatness of the profit often compensates the lateness of the returns. This seems in present times to be nearly the state of things in several parts of Great Britain, where the profit of planting is found to be equal to that of either corn or pasture. The advantage which the landlord derives from planting, can no where exceed, at least for any considerable time, the rent which these could afford him; and in an inland country which is highly cultivated, it will frequently not fall short of this rent”.

References

  • Amacher G, Ollikainen M, Koskela E (2009) Economics of forest resources. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen P (1983) “On rent of fishing grounds”. A Translation of Jens Warming’s 1911 article with an introduction. Hist Polit Econ 15:391–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anonymous (1758) Kürzer Entwurf der wesentlichen Theile eines ordentlichen Forsthaushalts. Phisikalisch-Oekonomische Auszüge aus den neuesten und besten Schriften. Ersten Bandes Zweites Stück. Mezler, Stuttgart, pp 225–250

  • Anonymous (1765) Abhandlung von Holztaxen oder Vorschlag zu Holzanschlägen. Allgemeines oeconomisches Forst-Magazin VII, 211–214

  • Anonymous (1807) Bemerkungen zu dem Aufsatze in Nro. 35 dieses Journals: über die Abschätzung kleiner Stücke Hochwaldungen, die zu verkaufen sind. J für das Forst Jagd- und Fischereiwesen Nro 44:689–695

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashworth WJ (2003) Customs and excise: trade, production, and consumption in England 1640–1845. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Backhaus J, Wagner RE (1987) The cameralists: a public choice perspective. Public Choice 53:3–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baranov FI (1918) On the question of the biological basis of fisheries. Nauchnge Issledovaniya Ikhtiologicheskii Instituta Izvestiya 1:81–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechstein L (1855) Dr. Johann Mätthaus Bechstein und die Forstacademie Dreissigacker. Brückner & Renner, Meiningen

  • Beckmann JG (1763) Beiträge zur Verbesserung der Forstwissenschaft. Chemnitz

  • Bein and Eyber (1801) Verschiedene, die Bestimmung des Werthes eines zu veräussernden Waldes betreffende Bedenklichkeiten. Diana 2:127–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergius CJ (1865) Grundsätze der Finanzwissenschaft: Mit besonderer Beziehung auf den preussischen Staat. Guttentag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernhardt A (1872) Geschichte des Waldeigenthums, der Waldwirthschaft und Forstwissenschaft in Deutschland. Erster Band. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernhardt A (1874) Geschichte des Waldeigenthums, der Waldwirthschaft und Forstwissenschaft in Deutschland. Zweiter Band. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernhardt A (1875) Geschichte des Waldeigenthums, der Waldwirthschaft und Forstwissenschaft in Deutschland. Dritter Band. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Biskup T (2007) The university of Göttingen and the Personal Union, 1737–1837. In: Simms B, Riotte T (eds) The Hannoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 128–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaug M (1985) The economics of Johann von Thünen. In: Samuels WJ (ed) Research in the history of economic thought and methodology, vol. 3. Duke University Press, Duke, pp 1–27

  • Brown JC (1887) Schools of forestry in Germany. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Buffon C de (Georges-Louis Leclerc) (1739) Sur la Conservation & le Rétablissement des Forêts. Histoire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, Mémoires, pp 140–156

  • Clark CW, Munro GR (1975) The economics of fishing and modern capital theory: a simplified approach. J Environ Econ Manag 2:92–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crocker TD (1999) A short history of environmental and resource economics. In: van den Bergh JCJM (ed) Handbook of environmental and resource economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp 32–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Deegen P, Seegers C (2011) Establishing sustainability theory within classical forest science: the role of Cameralism and Classical Political Economy. In: Backhaus JG (ed) Physiocracy, Antiphysiocracy and Pfeiffer. The European Heritage in Economics and Social Sciences, vol 10. Springer, New York, pp 155–168

  • di Paprica C (1789) Gedanken über verschiedene Gegenstände der Forst-Cameral-Wissenschaft. Nürnberg

  • Döbel HW (1746) Jäger-Practica oder Der wohlgeübte und erfahrene Jäger. Heinsius, Leipzig

  • Endres M (1911) Lehrbuch der Waldwertrechnung und Forststatik. Zweite, vollständig neu bearbeitete Auflag. Springer, Berlin

  • Endres M (1923) Lehrbuch der Waldwertrechnung und Forststatik. Vierte, verbesserte Auflage. Springer, Berlin

  • Evelyn J (1670) Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees. Second edition. Martyn & Allestry, London

  • Faustmann M (1849a) Anlösung einer Aufgabe der Waldwerthrechnung [A solution to an exercise on forest valuation]. Allg Forst Jagdztg 15:285–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Faustmann M (1849b) Berechnung des Wertes welchen Waldboden, sowie noch nicht haubare Holzbestände für die Waldwirtschaft besitzen. Allg Forst Jagdztg 15: 441–455. Reprint of the English translation in 1995: calculation of the value which forest land and immature stands possess for forestry. J Forest Econ 1:7–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernow BE (1913) A brief history of forestry in Europe, the United States and Other Countries. Revised and enlarged edition. University Press Toronto and Forestry Quarterly, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraas C (1865) Geschichte der Landbau und Forstwissenschaft. Seit dem sechzehnten Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart, München

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaffney MM (2008) Keeping land in capital theory. Ricardo, Faustmann, Wicksell, and George. Am J Econ Sociol 67:119–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Getz WM, Haight RG (1989) Population harvesting: demographic models of fish, forest, and animal resources. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon JC (1996) Trends and developments in modern forestry. In: McDonald P, Lassoie J (eds) The literature of forestry and agriculture. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp 1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagemann H (1996) German economic journals and economic debates in the nineteenth century. Hist Econ Ideas 4:77–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall P (1966) Introduction. In: Hall P (ed) Von Thünen’s Isolated State. An English edition of Der Isolierte Staat, Parts I and II. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp xi–xlvii

  • Hamberger J (2013) Vorbemerkung und Einführung. In: Hamberger J (ed) Sylvicultura oeconomica by Hans Carl von Carlowitz. 300-year anniversary edition with a preface and an introduction. München, pp 9–46

  • Hartman R (1976) Harvesting decisions when a standing forest has value. Econ Inq 14:52–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasel K (1985) Forstgeschichte. Ein Grundriß für Studium und Praxis. Paul Parey, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasel K, Schwartz E (2002) Forstgeschichte: Ein Grundriss für Studium und Praxis. Remagen, Kessel

    Google Scholar 

  • Hennert CW (1791) Anweisung zur Taxation der Forsten. Theil 1. Nicolai, Berlin und Stettin

  • Heske F (1938) German forestry. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess R (1885) Lebensbilder hervorragender Forstmänner und um das Forstwesen verdienter Mathematiker. Naturforscher und Nationalökonomen. Paul Parey, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Heyer G (1871) Handbuch der forstlischen Statik. Erste Abteilung. Die Methoden der forstlichen Rentabilitätsrechnung. Teubner, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Heyer G (1883) Anleitung zur Waldwerthrechnung. Dritte verbesserte Auflage. Teubner, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossfeld JW (1805a) Vollständiges System zur Taxation der Hölzer und Regulirung der Forste. Diana 3:91–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossfeld JW (1805b) Einige Bemerkungen zur Nördlingerischen Abhandlung über die Werthsbestimmung eines Waldes. Diana 3:420–448

    Google Scholar 

  • Houghton J [1683] (1727–28) A collection of letters for improvement of husbandry and trade. Reprint of the original edition. Woodman, London, Num. III, pp 258–282

  • Houghton J [1701] (1727–28) A collection for improvement of husbandry and trade. Reprint of the original edition. Woodman, London, Num. 484 and 485, pp 176–182

  • Hufeland G (1807) Neue Grundlegung der Staatswirthschaftskunst. Band 1. Vorrede. Tasche und Müller, Gieβen

    Google Scholar 

  • James NDG (1981) A history of english forestry. Basil Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • James NDG (1996) A history of forestry and monographic forestry literature in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. In: McDonald P, Lassoie J (eds) The literature of forestry and agriculture. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, pp 15–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Justi JHG (1755) Staatswirthschaft. Erster Band. Breitkopf, Leipzig

  • Justi JHG (1761) Kurzer systematischer Grundriss aller Oeconomischen und Cameralwissenschaften. Rothen, Copenhagen

  • Kästner AG (1786) Fortsetzung der Rechenkunst in Anwendungen auf mancherlei Geschäfte. Der Mathematischen Anfangsgründe, ersten Theils, zweite Abtheilung. Vandenhoeck, Göttingen

  • Khan MA, Piazza A (2012) On the Mitra-Wan forestry model: a unified analysis. J Econ Theory 147:230–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klemme HF, Kuehn M (2010) Georg Heinrich Zincke. In: Klemme HF, Kuehn M (eds) The dictionary of eighteenth-century German philosophers. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Knap I (2010) Die Anfänge wissenschaftlicher Forstlehre am Beispiel des Allgemeinen oeconomischen Forst-Magazins (1763–1769). In: Popplow M (ed) Landschaften agrarisch-ökonomischen Wissens. Cottbuser Studien zur Geschichte von Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt, Band 30. Münster, Waxman, pp 61–78

  • König G (1813) Anleitung zur Holztaxazion, ein Handbuch für jeden Forstmann und Holzhändler. Becker, Gotha

    Google Scholar 

  • König G (1835) Die Forstmathematik. Becker, Gotha (2nd ed. in 1842, 3rd ed. 1846)

  • Laurence E (1751) Pflichten eines Verwalters und Regeln für einen Landpachter. Jacobi, Leipzig. Original English edition in 1727 (revised editions in 1731 and 1736): The Duty of a Steward to his Lord. John Shuckburgh, London

  • Linnaeus C (1749) Oeconomia Naturae. Uppsala

  • Loughlin M (2010) Foundations of public law. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lowood HE (1990) The calculating forester: quantification, cameral science, and the emergence of scientific forestry management in Germany. In: Frängsmyr T, Heilbron JL, Rider RE (eds) The quantifying spirit in the 18th century. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 315–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowood HE (1991) Patriotism, profit, and the promotion of science in the German Enlightment. The Economic and Scientific Societies 1760–1815. Garland Publishing, New York

  • Mantel K (1957) Mosers Forstökonomie 1757. Forstwiss Centralbl 76:360–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantel K (1964) History of the international science of forestry with special consideration of Central Europe. In: Romberger JA, Mikola P (eds) International review of forestry research, vol 1. Academic Press, New York, pp 1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantel K (1980) Forstgeschichte des 16. Jahrhunderts unter dem Einfluss der Forstordnungen und Noe Meurers. Paul Parey, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall W (1808) A review of the reports to the board of agriculture: from the Northern Department of England, etc. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin H (1918) Die Forstliche Statik, Zweite edn. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer T, Popplow M (2004) “To employ each of Nature’s products in the most favorable way possible”—Nature as a Commodity in Eighteenth-Century German Economic Discourse. Hist Soc Res 29:4–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitra T, Wan HY (1986) On the Faustmann solution to the forest management problem. J Econ Theory 40:229–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montanus C (1807) Über die Abschätzung kleiner Stücke Hochwaldungen, die zu verkaufen sind. J das Forst-, Jagd- und Fischereiwesen 35:545–553

    Google Scholar 

  • Moog M, Bösch M (2013) Interest rates in the German forest valuation literature of the early nineteenth century. Forest Policy Econ 30:1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy AL (2009) The origins of english financial markets. Investment and Speculation before the South Sea Bubble. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Nördlinger JS (1805) Versuch den Werth der Waldungen zu bestimmen. Diana 3:363–419

    Google Scholar 

  • Oettelt KC (1765) Practischer Beweis, daß die Mathesis bei dem Forstwesen unentbehrliche Dienste thue. Arnstadt

  • Pearce D (2002) An intellectual history of environmental economics. Annu Rev Energ Env 27:57–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peyron J-L, Maheut J (1999) Les fondements de l’économie forestière moderne: le rôle capital de Faustmann, il y a 150 ans, et celui de quelques-uns de ses précurseurs et successeurs. Revue forestière française LI:679–698

  • Pfeil WFL (1823) Von der Ermittelung des Verkaufspreises veräussernder Waldungen. Kritische Blätter für Forst- und Jagdwissenschaft. Band I, Heft 2, pp 300–363

  • Pfeil WFL (1824) Grundsätze der Forstwirthschaft in Bezug auf die Nationalökonomie und die Staats-Finanzwissenschaft. Zweiter Band. Forstfinanzwissenschaft. Darnmann, Züllichau

    Google Scholar 

  • Popplow M (2010) Die Ökonomische Aufklärung als Innovationskultur des 18. Jahrhunderts zur optimierten Nutzung natürlicher Ressourcen. In: Popplow M (ed) Landschaften agrarisch-ökonomischen Wissens: Strategien innovativer Ressourcennutzung in Zeitschriften und Sozietäten des 18. Jahrhunderts. Cottbuser Studien zur Geschichte von Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt, Band 30. Münster, Waxman, pp 2–48

  • Pressler MR (1859) Der Rationelle Waldwirth und sein Waldbau des Höchsten Ertrags. Zweites Buch. Die forstlichen Finanzrechnung. Türk, Dresden

    Google Scholar 

  • Pressler MR (1860) Aus der Holzzuwachslehre. Allgemeine Forst- und Jagd-Zeitung 36:173–191. Reprint of the English translation in 1995: for the comprehension of net revenue silviculture and the management objectives derived thereof. J Forest Econ 1:45–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn TJ II (2003) Ruminations on the development and future of population dynamics models in fisheries. Nat Resour Model 16:341–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radkau J (1996) Wood and forestry in German history: in quest of an environmental approach. Environ Hist 2:63–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rämö J, Tahvonen O (2014) Economics of harvesting uneven-aged forest stands in Fennoscandia. Scand J Forest Res 29:777–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricardo D [1817] (1951) On the principles of political economy and taxation. London. In: Sraffa P, Dobbs HM (eds) The works and correspondence of David Ricardo. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Richards J [1730] (1971) The Gentleman’s Steward and Tenants of Manors Instructed. Reprint of the original edition. Gregg International, Farnborough

  • Rozsnyay Z (1979) Hans Dietrich von Zanthier—ein vorkämfer fur die Nachhaltigkeit der Forstwirtschaft. Forstarchiv 50:45–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson PA (1976) Economics of forestry in an evolving society. Economic Inquiry 14:466–492. Reprint in 1995. J Forest Econ 1:115–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandmo A (2015) The early history of environmental economics. Rev Environ Econ Policy 9:43–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schabas M (2005) The Natural Origins of Economics. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schuster E (2001) Einige Bemerkungen zur Geschichte der forstlichen Nachhaltigkeit. Forst und Holz 23(24):754–757

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwappach AF (1888) Handbuch der Forst- und Jagdgeschichte Deutschlands. 2 Bands. Springer, Berlin

  • Schwappach AF (1904) Forestry. JM Dent, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scorgie ME (1996) Evolution of the application of present value to valuation of non-monetary resources. Account Bus Res 26:237–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scorgie M, Kennedy J (1996) Who discovered the Faustmann condition? Hist Polit Econ 28:77–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott AD (1955) The fishery: the objectives of sole ownership. J Polit Econ 63:116–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simms B, Riotte T (eds) (2007) The Hannoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Small AW (1909) The cameralists. The pioneers of German social polity. Batoche Books, Kitchener

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith A (1776) An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Book I. Strahan and Cadell, London

  • Sonnenfels J (1765) Grundsätze der Polizei, Handlung und Finanzwissenschaft. Wien

  • Späth JL (1797) Anleitung, die Mathematik und physikalische Chemie auf das Forstwesen und forstliche Camerale nützlich anzuwenden. Stein, Nürnberg

  • Späth JL (1798) Abhandlung über den forstlichen Zuwachs und Gehaubestimmung. Ulm

  • Stisser FU (1735) Einleitung zur Land-Wirthschaft der Teutschen, nach dem Oeconomie-, Policen- und Cammer-Wesen eingerichten. Ritter, Jena

  • Stisser FU (1737) Forst- und Jagd-Historie der Teutschen. Ritter, Jena

  • Stisser FU (1746) Einleitung zur Land-Wirthschaft und Policey der Teutschen: zum Unterricht in Oeconomie-, Policey- und Cammerwesen eingerichtet. Jena und Leipzig

  • Tahvonen O (2004) Optimal harvesting of forest age classes: a survey of some recent results. Math Popul Stud 11:205–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tahvonen O (2011) Optimal structure and development of uneven-aged Norway spruce forests. Can J Forest Res 41:2389–2402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tahvonen O, Salo S (1999) Optimal forest rotation with in situ preferences. J Environ Econ Manag 37:106–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tahvonen O, Viitala E-J (2006) Does Faustmann rotation apply to fully regulated forests? Forest Sci 52:23–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Topp N (2008) The impact of open access to fishing grounds: the history of Jens Warming’s model. Hist Polit Econ 40:671–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tribe K (1984) Cameralism and the science of government. J Mod Hist 56:263–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tribe K (1988) Governing economy. The reformation of german economic discourse 1750–1840. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Tribe K (2007) Strategies of economic order: German economic discourse 1750–1950. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vierenklee JE (1767) Mathematische Anfangsgründe der Arithmetik und Geometrie in so fern solche denjenigen, die sich dem höchsnöthigen Forstwesen auf eine vernüftige und gründliche Weise widmen sollen, zu wissen nöthig sind. Leipzig, Weidmanns

  • Viitala E-J (2013) The discovery of the Faustmann formula in natural resource economics. Hist Polit Econ 45:523–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viitala E-J (2016a) Faustmann formula before Faustmann in German territorial states. Forest Policy Econ 65:47–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viitala E-J (2016b) The emergence and early development of forest resource economic thought: from land and forest valuation to marginal analysis and vintage capital models. Dissertation, University of Helsinki

  • von Burgsdorf FAL (1796) Forsthandbuch—Allgemeiner theoretich-practischer Lehrbegriff der höheren Forstwissenschaften. Zweiter Theil, Berlin

  • von Carlowitz HC (1713) Sylvicultura oeconomica, oder Hauβwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäβige Anweisung zur wilden Baum-Zucht. Braun, Leipzig

  • von Gehren EF (1849) Über Geldwerthbestimmung des Holzleeren Waldbodens. Allg Forst Jagdztg 25:361–366

    Google Scholar 

  • von Jordan JR (1800) Grundsätze über die Abschätzung der Landgüter zur Prüfung der Oekonomen, Forstverständigen, und Rechtsgelehrten. Widtmann, Prag

    Google Scholar 

  • von Moser WG (1757) Grundsätze der Forst-Oeconomie. Brönner, Frankfurt und Leipzig

  • von Oppel FW (1760) Die Abtheilung der Gehölze in jährliche Gehaue: eine Rechnungsaufgabe. Wather, Dresden (Revised edition in 1791)

  • von Seckendorff VL (1656) Teutscher Fürstenstaat. Hanau

  • von Thünen JH [1826, 1850] (1966) Der isolierte Staat in Beziehung auf Landwirtschaft und Nationalökonomie. An English edition with an introduction by Peter Hall in 1966: Von Thünen’s Isolated State, Parts I and II. Pergamon Press, Oxford

  • von Zanthier HD (1764) Kurzer systematischer Grundriß der practischen Forstwissenschaft. Allgemeines oeconomisches Forst-Magazin 4:3–248

  • Wagner RE (2012) The Cameralists: Fertile Sources for a New Science of Public Finance. In: Backhaus J (ed) Handbook of the history of economic thought: insights on the founders of modern economics. The European Heritage in Economics and Social Sciences. Springer, New York, pp 123–135

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wakefield A (2005) Books, bureaus, and the historiography of cameralism. Eur J Law Econ 19:311–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wakefield A (2009) The disordered police state. German Cameralism as science and practice. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Warming J (1911) Om grundrente af fiskegrunde. Nationaløkonomisk tidsskrift 49:499–505. English translation with an introduction in 1983: on Rent of Fishing Grounds. Hist Polit Econ 15:391–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Warming J (1931) Aalegaardsretten. Nationaløkonomisk tidsskrift 69: 151–162. English translation in 2010: the Danish Right to Eel Weir. Hist Polit Econ 42:483–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson R (1794) Preliminary observations. General view of the agriculture of the County of Westmoreland, with Observations on the Means of Its Improvement. Chapman, Edinburgh

  • Worster D (1985) Nature’s economy: A history of ecological ideas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Zincke GH (1746) Neue Vorrede. In: Stisser FU, Einleitung zur Land-Wirthschaft und Policey der Teutschen: zum Unterricht in Oeconomie-, Policey- und Cammerwesen eingerichtet. Jena und Leipzig, pp 1–26

  • Zincke GH (1751) Cameralisten-Bibliothek. Erste Theil. Jacobi, Leipzig

  • Zincke GH (1755) Anfangsgründe der Cameralwissenschaft. Worinne dessen Grundriß weiter ausgeführet und verbessert wird. Zwei Theile. Jacobi, Leipzig

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Resources Institute Finland, P.O. BOX 18, 01301, Vantaa, Finland

    Esa-Jussi Viitala

Authors
  1. Esa-Jussi Viitala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Esa-Jussi Viitala.

Additional information

Communicated by Martin Moog.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 1.

Table 1 Zanthier’s (1764, pp. 155–169) calculations on the lucrativeness of various forest management regimes (time horizon 200 years)
Full size table

Appendix 2

See Table 2.

Table 2 Landmarks in the early development of modern forest economic thought
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Viitala, EJ. Timber, science and statecraft: the emergence of modern forest resource economic thought in Germany. Eur J Forest Res 135, 1037–1054 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-016-0992-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-016-0992-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation