Louise Sommer (1889-1964)

Abstract

The essay discusses life and work of Louise Sommer (1889-1964) who was one of the first women economists from Vienna, where Carl Grünberg and Karl Pribram were her major teachers. Sommer’s most outstanding contribution was her comprehensive and innovative study on Austrian cameralism which has recently attracted new interest by leading specialists in the field (Magnusson, 2021). Emphasis is therefore on a more detailed analysis of her most lasting publication but also on other fields to which she contributed, such as trade policy and economic methodology, and on her role as an international mediator in economics due to her enormous language skills.

Keywords

• cameralism
• economic methodology
• mercantilism
• St. Petersburg paradox
• trade policy