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Eugen Philippovich von Philippsberg, 1858-1917.
Austrian School economist of the first generation.
Eugen Philippovich, Freiherr von Philippsberg (normally shortened simply to Eugen von Philippovich) was born in Vienna, to a notably military family of Croatian heritage. He studied law at Graz and Vienna, learning his economics from Carl Menger. After graduating in 1880, Philippovich joined the civil service in the Austrian treasury, while preparing for his law degree. Philippovich, took study trips to London and Berlin, and receiving his habilitation doctorate at Vienna in 1884, submitting his famous thesis on the history of the Bank of England. He became a professor of economics and public finance at the University of Freiburg in 1885, promoted to full professor in 1888.
In 1893, Philippovich returned to become professor of economics at the University of Vienna, to take the second chair in economics (the first chair was still held by Menger).. (Philippovich's chair at Freiburg would succeeded by Max Weber). Philippovich's successful 1893 textbook help channel much of the Austrian marginal utility theory doctrine throughout German-speaking countries. Alongside Wieser and Böhm-Bawerk. Philippovich taught the next generation of Austrian students (notably Joseph Schumpeter and Emil Lederer)
In several ways, Philippovich was quite distinct from his other Austrian colleagues, and some have questioned whether he should be regarded as a proper member of the Austrian School. Politically, Philippovich was left-center, having founded the Sozialpolitische Partei in 1896, served in the upper chamber of the Austrian parliament. He was interested in social welfare, and served as something of a spiritual father of the Austrian "Fabians" seeking to introduce reforms. His own research had overtones of the German Historical School and he organized conferences for the Verein fur socialpolitik in Viena in 1895 and 1909. But unlike the polemical Historicists, Philippovich firmly believed in the central importance of economic theory, and marginalism in particular. The first volume of his 1893 textbook was uncompromising in its embrace of marginalism. And it was very successful at spreading Menger's ideas. It served as the principal economics textbook in German universities for the next three decades.
Philippsberg retired in 1917 shortly before his death. He was succeeded in his Vienna chair by Othmar Spann.
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