Who was Lujo Brentano?  

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Lujo Brentano was born on December 18th, 1844 in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, into one of the most important German-Catholic intellectual families, originally of Italian descent.

During his career Brentano became one of the most distinguished, most influential

and sociopolitically most committed economists and social reformer of his time.

Brentano attended schools in Aschaffenburg and Augsburg. After graduation, he went to Ireland where he became student at the world famous "Trinity College" in Dublin from 1861 till 1862.

Back in Germany, he attended the universities of Muenster, Munich, Heidelberg, Wuerzburg, Goettingen and Berlin. In Heidelberg he earned his doctorate in law (Dr. iur.) and in Goettingen his doctorate in economics (Dr. rer. pol.). Having finished his studies, he started to work for the "Königliches Statistisches Seminar zu Berlin", the royal statistical office, in Berlin. In 1868, Lujo Brentano accompanied the head of this statistical office, Dr. Ernst Engel (Statistician and creator of the famous "Engel's Law" and the "Engel Curve"), on one of his trips to England.

During this journey, he studied the conditions of the english working classes and, especially,  trade-unions. The fruit of this work is one of his most popular books and became an authoritative source on trade unions and associations: "Die Arbeitergilden der Gegenwart", Leipzig, 1871-1872.

In 1872 Lujo Brentano became professor of political economics at the University of Breslau. During the following years he worked at different universities, such as the Universities of Strasbourg, Vienna and Leipzig. Finally, from 1891 till 1914 he worked as professor at the Ludwig-Maximilans-University in Munich and was holder of this chair. 

Lujo Brentano was one of the most important representatives of the Younger German Historical School. Alongside Gustav Schmollner and Adolph Wagner,he was founder of the "Verein für Socialpolitik" (1873). This Verein earned Brentano and his colleagues the label of "socialists of the chair" (Kathedersozialist).

While Schmollner and Wagner were supporters of the conservative wing, Brentano was head of the liberal movement in which he was supported by the younger generation economists. Because of this insuperable misunderstandings Brentano chose to quit his participation in the Verein, which he originally had founded.

Because of his position as a teacher and social reformer, Brentano had big influence on the social market economy as well as on German politicans such as the former federal president of Germany and economist Theodor Heuss, who used to be one of Brentanos students.  

At the ripe old age of 87 Lujo Brentano died on September 9th, 1931 in Munich.