Study title

This study aims at capturing the growth and structural changes of municipal expenses in Germany from the middle of the 19th century until World War I, and at interpreting them on the basis of theoretical findings. For this purpose, the entire statistical material on municipal finances before 1913 has been sifted for the first time and analysed methodically. Moreover, the literature on municipal finances in this epoch has also been taken into account accordingly. On the basis of these results, Adolph Wagner´s thesis on a growing public activity should be verified in detail. In this context, special attention was given to two of his statements, which have faced scepticism on the part of other researchers until today: 1. the growing share of public expenses in the national product which, according to him, was related to growing material wealth and 2. the secular reasons quoted by Wagner with regard to the ´Law of Growing Public Spending´. For that reason, the whole purpose of this paper is, on the one hand, to bridge the existing gap between the statistical information in a special section of the public budget and, on the other hand, to contribute to the municipal historiography. Factual classification of the tables in HISTAT: – the Prussian municipal expenses according to their main functions and community sizes – the expenses of the Prussian municipalities according to the most important administrative branches (1869-1911) – the expenses for elementary schools in Prussia (1861-1911) – municipal expenditure in the German Reich (1881-1913) – municipal expenses and social income in the German Reich (1849-1913) – municipal expenses in Prussia (1849-1913)