Christoph Bernhard Cornelius Harms (30 March 1876 – 21 September 1939) was a German economist and one of the first professors to undertake research in the field of international economics. He founded the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany's leading economic research institute, in 1914. Harms was Chair of Economics at the University of Kiel and head of the Institute until he was dismissed from office in 1933 by Nazi Party officials.
Education Christoph Bernhard Cornelius Harms was born in Detern, Ostfriesland, on June 30, 1876 to Menno F. Harms (1845–?) and Anna M. Ries (1844–1921). In 1887, he attended the Städtische Volksschule in Aurich, and later Gymnasium in Norden. From 1890 to 1893 he completed an apprenticeship (Ausbildung) as a bookbinder in Celle. Harms began a degree in political science at the University of Leipzig (1897), then began a PhD in Economics at University of Tübingen (1900). He completed his doctoral dissertation under Gustav von Schönberg, a founder of the theory of world economy. Two years later, he completed his habilitation.
Harms married in 1902 and had three children.
Harms began teaching as a professor at the University of Jena in 1906, then transferred to the University of Kiel in 1908 where he was Chair of Economics. There, he founded the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Founded on February 18, 1914, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has been one of the leading economic research institutes in Germany. It began as the Königliches Institut für Seeverkehr and Weltwirtschaft an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Royal Institute for Maritime Transport and World Economics at the University of Kiel). Over the years, Harms worked to build the university's name, attracting well established economists such as Jacob Marschak, Wassily Leontief, Adolph Löwe, Gerhard Colm, and Hans Philipp Neisser. The original mission of the Institute was to challenge the traditional scholar of nationally oriented political economy, and instead opting for a more international view on economic and political affairs.
Expulsion and death After the electoral victory of the Nazi Party in the March 1933 elections, Harms attempted to protect his Jewish colleagues from persecution. But on April 25, 1933, the Ministry of Culture enacted a new law, the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. Harms was subsequently removed from the university and later from the Institute. In 1933, Harms worked as an honorary professor in Berlin, then moved to the University of Marburg in 1934. He died in Berlin in 1939. His grave was placed in front of the original building of the Instituteon Düsternbrooker Weg in Kiel.
Legacy Bernhard Harms Prize
Every two years since 1964, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has awarded the Bernhard Harms Prize of €25,000 to individuals "with a distinguished record in the field of international economics." Award winners give presentations on their research at the Bernhard Harms Lectures at the Institute, which are then published in the Institute's journal, Review of World Economics / Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv. Year Winner Institution2018Carmen ReinhartHarvard University2016Marc MelitzHarvard University2014Abhijit BanerjeeMassachusetts Institute of Technology2012Gene GrossmanPrinceton University2010Raghuram RajanUniversity of Chicago2008Kenneth RogoffHarvard University2006Robert FeenstraUniversity of California2004Maurice ObstfeldUniversity of California2002Stanley FischerMassachusetts Institute of Technology2000Jeffrey D. SachsHarvard University1998Elhanan HelpmanHarvard University1996Assar LindbeckInstitute for International Economic Studies1994Martin FeldsteinHarvard University1992Rudiger DornbuschMassachusetts Institute of Technology1990Anne O. KruegerDuke University1988Jagdish BhagwatiColumbia University1986W. Max CordenAustralian National University1984Bela BalassaJohns Hopkins University1982William FellnerYale University1980Erik LundbergStockholm School of Economics1978Charles P. KindlebergerMassachusetts Institute of Technology1976Harry G. JohnsonUniversity of Chicago1974Fritz MachlupPrinceton University1972Gottfried HaberlerHarvard University1970Wassily LeontiefHarvard University1968Hermann Josef AbsDeutsche Bank1966Roy HarrodChrist Church, Oxford1964Gerhard ColmWashington, D.C.
Bernhard Harms Medal Since 1980, the Bernhard Harms Medal is awarded to individuals "who have contributed to the Kiel Institute's research on the world economy in the tradition of Bernhard Harms."
Year Winner Institution2004Otmar IssingEuropean Central Bank2004Helmut HesseUniversity of Göttingen2000Reinhard MohnBertelsmann AG2000Marcus BierichGesellschaft zur Förderung des Instituts für Weltwirtschaft1999Václav KlausChamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic1995Herbert GrubelSimon Fraser University1994Birgit BreuelTreuhandanstalt1992Ingo WalterNew York University1992Helmut SchlesingerDeutsche Bundesbank1991Juergen B. DongesUniversity of Cologne1989Tyll NeckerBundesverband der Deutschen Industrie1989Karl SchillerJesteburg-Osterberg1988Rudolf ScheidFrankfurt am Main1986Gerhard FelsKiel Institute for the World Economy1986Hans D. BarbierFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung1984Karl Gustaf RatjenKiel Institute for the World Economy1984Wolfgang F. StolperUniversity of Michigan1983George Frank RayUniversity of Greenwich1983Tadeusz M. RybczynskiLazard1981David GroveIBM, University of Washington1980Kurt PentzlinBahlsen1980Otto Ernst PfleidererHeidelberg University
Selected publications Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Deutschen Buchbinderei in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, Tübingen und Leipzig 1902 Die Münz- und Geldpolitik der Stadt Basel im Mittelalter. Tübingen 1907 (= Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft, Ergänzungsheft 23) Der Stadthaushalt Basels im ausgehenden Mittelalter: Quellen und Studien zur Basler Finanzgeschichte. Tübingen 1909–1913 Volkswirtschaft und Weltwirtschaft, Versuch der Begründung einer Weltwirtschaftslehre, Jena 1912 Der auswärtige Handel in: Philipp Zorn, Herbert von Berger (Schriftleitung): Deutschland unter Kaiser Wilhelm II. Hrsg. von Siegfried Körte, Friedrich Wilhelm von Loebell u. a. 3 Bände. R. Hobbing, Berlin 1914. Ferdinand Lassalle und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Sozialdemokratie [Kopie von 1919], Jena 1919 Vom Wirtschaftskrieg zur Weltwirtschaftskonferenz, Jena 1927 Strukturwandlungen der Deutschen Volkswirtschaft, Vorlesungen gehalten in der Deutschen Vereinigung für Staatswissenschaftliche Fortbildung. Berlin 1928
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