Gustav Cohn

Who was Gustav Cohn?

Gustav Cohn was a German economist, noted for his pioneering contributions to the theory and policy of transportation and public finance. He was educated at Berlin and Jena universities. During 1867 and 1868 he was the holder of a fellowship at the Royal Statistical Bureau of Berlin, and in 1869 became privat-docent at the University of Heidelberg, but in the same year accepted an invitation from the Polytechnikum at Riga. Cohn paid a visit to England in 1873, and the fruits of his observation and research were embodied in the masterly production "Untersuchungen über die Englische Eisenbahnpolitik," 2 vols., Leipzig, 1874-75. In 1875 he was invited to fill the chair of economics at ETH Zurich, which he held until 1884, when he became professor in the University of Göttingen.

While at Zurich he prepared for publication his "Volkswirtschaftliche Aufsätze", and contributed to the "Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen" an exhaustive critical review of the first volume of Wagner's "Allgemeine Volkswirtschaftlehre." The names of Wagner and Cohn have often been coupled, not only because both were classed among the Katheder-Socialisten, but also because they have much in common in their attitude toward the various so-called schools of economic science. In continuation of his study of the English railroad policy, and as the third volume of his earlier work on that subject, appeared his "Die Englische Eisenbahnpolitik der Letzten Zehn Jahre," Leipzig, 1883.