Ludwig Elster

Ludwig Elster (26 March 1856 – 30 December 1935) was a Prussian economist and university lecturer. He also worked, between 1897 and 1916, as a senior officer in the Prussian Ministry for Religion, Education and Medical affairs.

Biography Ludwig Hermann Alexander Elster was born in Frankfurt am Main. Carl Elster (1826-1902), his father, came from a Braunschweig family and was the son of a master baker: he had worked as a Hanoverian diplomat, and represented Hanover at the Frankfurt Bundesversammlung (literally, "... Federal Convention"). After his sons were born Carl Elster moved into the private sector in 1866, when he became chairman of the Leipzig-based "Teutonia" Insurance business. While still at Königsberg he founded the "Staatswissenschaftliche Studien" series of academic studies. Some of the contributions came from his own students. In 1887 Elster accepted an invitation to move to Breslau. He took a full professorship and a teaching chair in Nationalökonomie (very loosely, "applied political micro-economics"), which he would occupy for the next ten years. There are nevertheless instances where he was able to place his own stamp on universities administration. He promoted further major expansion of the Münster Academy, to the point at which it could be relaunched as the "Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität" / WWU. He encouraged an increase in the study of economics and political sciences through creation of research institutes and new teaching chairs.

Ludwig Elster won various marks of public recognition for his work at the ministry. He was appointed a Geheimrat (loosely, "privy councillor") of the Royal Order 1st class and of the Order of the Red Eagle 2nd class. He was also awarded honorary doctorates from at least three universities such as Münster, Breslau and Kiel. As politics became ever more polarised he was also listed as a supporting member ("Förderndes Mitglied") of the SS (National Socialist paramilitaries).

Work The focus of Elster's early academic output was on the insurance and banking sectors. During his time as a lecturer he published several essays and books on those subjects. His later publications were more expressly intended to support university-level teaching requirements. With Johannes Conrad, Wilhelm Lexis and Edgar Loening he produced the series of teaching texts. Between 1890 and 1921 these extended to four editions. Elster himself supplemented the series with his own Dictionary of Applied Economics , intended for use by students and professionals. This also ran to four editions during his lifetime.

For most of his working life Elster was engaged with the annually published Jahrbüchern für Nationalökonomie und Statistik (statistical and economics year books). While still a student he was recruited by its then producer, Bruno Hildebrand, for editorial work. From the 1880s he regularly published essays and academic book reviews in it, Johannes Conrad having taken over the publication, following the death of his father-in-law. Elster himself joined Conrad as co-publisher between 1891 and 1897. When Conrad died, in 1915, Elster returned to the Jahrbüchern, now as sole publisher.