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Franz Oppenheimer's (1864–1943) Social Economic Approach to Health
Author(s) -
Backhaus Ursula
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00730.x
Subject(s) - mainstream , mainstream economics , sociology , field (mathematics) , social science , positive economics , neoclassical economics , economics , political science , law , applied economics , mathematics , pure mathematics
A bstract The idea of scholarly synthesis was central to the founders of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology . Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943) in fact impersonated the idea of scholarly synthesis. Being the son of a Reformist rabbi—these religious roots provided the impulse for his work—he started out as a physician in the industrial suburbs of Berlin; his diagnosis was that he faced social and not medical disease, which consequently brought him to the study of economics. But unlike many mainstream economists today, he insisted on the necessary cooperation between economists and sociologists, ideally in one person. His chair in Frankfurt, showing his own handwriting, was denominated for economic theory and sociology. In this article, I show his contributions with respect to economic aspects of health. These are not well known. Part of the reason is that the field of health economics as it is taught now is very narrow. Therefore, Oppenheimer's health economic contributions tend to be overlooked.