Study title

The systematic expansion of local public enterprises started in the mid of the 19th century. The focus of these enterprises was the utility industry (the population’s supply with water, gas, and electricity), the transportation (passanger transport), the lending business (banks supported publicly by the commune or district), the health care system and the housing industry. The local enterprises worked as the municipalities’ instruments, fulfilling during the 19th century mainly social, distributional, and fiscal responsibilities. The investigator deals in his study with the following topics: 1. How can the development of the local public enterprises, i.e. the development of scope and structure of their services, be characterized empirically? 2. What conditions have shaped this development? This question relates to the analysis of the development of municipalities and the motives of the municipalization. The investigation is limited to the years 1871/72 to 1913/14, because most of the municipalization-process occurred in the industrialization phase at that period. First, the attempt is made to provide an overview of the general development of the local public enterprises or the so called “German municipal socialism”. The municipalization-process and the extent of the local public companies’ economic activities are shown by the investigator by means of the development of individual local public companies as overview for the German Empire (gasworks, water works, electric power stations, street railways). Then, the companies’ efficiency in 54 cities with over 50,000 inhabitants is examined. Starting point of this analysis are the results of the statistical yearbooks of German cities from 1890 to 1912 and surveys on wages and working hours for 1902 and 1907 of the Imperial Statistical Office. Based on these data, the extent of the financial and social conditions of the local public companies and their development in a given period can be described (extent of...