3,801 works, 471 books, 3,267 articles, 60 other works, 3 awaiting classification, 150 years of economic thought. Each one summarized and searchable, with cited passages inside.
Wartime scarcity gives Eugen von Philippovich a concrete test for economic method in this 1917 review of the introductory volume of Karl Diehl’s Theoretische Nationalökonomie. Does the dependence of individuals on a legally organized economy make individual needs and incentives an inadequate starting point for theory? Philippovich accepts the importance of institutions but argues that wartime provisioning and price movements also reveal the force of scarcity and private interest. His defense of abstraction is selective, not a blanket endorsement of theoretical schools. Alongside this methodological dispute runs a teaching problem: a textbook rich in scholarly controversy may reward experienced economists while leaving beginners without a clear orientation. The review shows precisely where Philippovich’s appreciation of Diehl’s scholarship parts company with his assessment of its explanatory and instructional value.