B15 - History of Economic Thought through 1925: Historical; Institutional; EvolutionaryNávrat zpět

For millennia, there have been two credit theories in the Western tradition and two types of credit institutions derived from them. One focused on raising capital for investment purposes, the other dealing with lending of money to private individuals for consumption. This distinction, which is the key to understanding ancient and medieval economic thought, not only allows us to better understand the question of usury in the past, but is also the key to a proper understanding of the development of European credit markets, which have evolved in two ways - investment banking and retail banking. Particular attention is paid to benevolent credit institutions, which laid the foundations for European retail banking.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the methodology of Max Weber and outline its relation to the economic science. The fi rst part analyses Weber's article "Objectivity in Social Science and Social Policy" (1904). The second part examines the paper titled "Meaning of Ethical Neutrality in Sociology and Economics" (1917). The third part discusses the Weber's lecture "Science as a Vocation" (1918/19). The fourth part deals with the question in what respects Max Weber can be close to modern economists.

The paper aims to show a comprehensive insight into the history of business economics science in the Czech Republic, marginally also on the European continent and worldwide. It depicts business economics in its beginning as a doctrine that was largely underestimated. This science was, for a very long time, a part of economics (national/public); only slowly has it gradually become an autonomous branch of science. This article shows historical attitudes to the theory of business in Bohemia as well as abroad since the end of the nineteenth century up to this day. It describes the period of statism in Bohemia within the context of business economics, it focuses on fundamentals of this science and depicts consecutively aspects from which the theory of business economics as a science arises in the transition period to free market economy. The paper discusses the future of business economics as a science that, considering current economic conditions worldwide, has a huge potential to grow. The article contributes to the worldwide discussion about its further development.

The paper is concerned with the famous study "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (1904/1905) by Max Weber. It analyzes both main content and context of this work. It is shown that the main idea of the "Protestant Ethic" is not originally one of Weber, but it was taken over from Sombart and Troeltsch. Weber was significantly influenced - similarly as in his other works - by his environment and contemporaries. The article describes critical reactions of German historians towards "Protestant Ethic" and reserved attitudes of the Catholics.

The article presents Max Weber as an economist. Weber's relation to economics is discussed. His inaugural speech in Freiburg "National State and Economic Policy" (1895), "Lectures on General (Theoretical) Economics" (1898), writings about stock exchange (1893-1898) as well as his article "Marginal Utility Theory and Psycho-physic Law" (1908) show that economics had been always especially close to him. The methodological paper "Roscher and Knies. The logical problems of historical economics" is mentioned as well.