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Drechsler, Wolfgang --- "Etienne Laspeyres (1834–1913)" [2005] ELECD 169; in Backhaus, G. Jürgen (ed), "The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics, Second Edition" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: The Elgar Companion to Law and Economics, Second Edition

Editor(s): Backhaus, G. Jürgen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420321

Section: Chapter 45

Section Title: Etienne Laspeyres (1834–1913)

Author(s): Drechsler, Wolfgang

Number of pages: 5

Extract:

45 Etienne Laspeyres (1834­1913)
Wolfgang Drechsler


Introduction
(Ernst Louis) Etienne Laspeyres was Professor ordinarius of Economics and
Statistics or `State Sciences' and cameralistics in Basle, Riga, Dorpat, Karlsruhe
and, finally, for 26 years in Gießen. Laspeyres, who held doctorates both in
law and in economics, was the scion of a Huguenot family of originally
Portuguese descent, which had settled in Berlin in the seventeenth century,
which has confused pronunciation of his name to this day (see Rinne 1981,
p. 196). He himself (probably) pronounced it as if it were German, which
comes close to the Portuguese sound `Lass-pay-ress' (see Meyers 1905,
p. 209).

Statistics
Laspeyres is mainly known today for the index number formula for determin-
ing the price increase, which he developed in 1871 and which, usually
combined with Paasche's, is still in use all over the world (Laspeyres, 1871;
the best short summary in Rinne 1983, p. 661; more extensively 1981, pp. 206­
209; especially accessible, 1984, pp. 56­61). Other than that, he may count
as a father of business administration as an academic-professional discipline
in Germany (see Rinne 1983, p. 660; 1981, p. 200), and as one of the main
unifiers of economics and statistics by `developing ideas which are today by
and large nationally and internationally reality: quantification and
operationalization of economics; expansion of official statistics; cooperation
of official statistics and economic research; and integration of the economist
and the statistician in one person' (Rinne 1983, p. 660; see ...