The New International Encyclopædia/Rau, Karl Heinrich

RAU, rou, Karl Heinrich (1792-1870). A German economist, born at Erlangen. He studied at the University of Erlangen, where he became privat-docent in 1812, professor extraordinary in 1816, and in 1818 full professor of political economy. In 1822 he was called to the chair of political economy at Heidelberg University. His principal works are: Ueber das Zunftwesen und die Folgen seiner Aufhebung (1816); Grundriss der Kameralwissenschaft oder Wirtschaftslehre (1823); and Lehrbuch der politischen Oekonomie (1826-37). Rau was at first an adherent of the views of the earlier German economic writers, and defended the policy of the guild regulations and of mercantilism. In his Lehrbuch, which was long considered the classical German work on economies, he adopts the general position of Adam Smith and Say, but retains a tendency to advocate the extension of the economic functions of the State. He founded in 1835 the Archiv der politischen Oekonomie und Polizeiwissenschaft.