Philipp von Hörnigk

Philipp Wilhelm von Hörnigk sometimes spelt Hornick or Horneck; 23 January 1640 – 23 October 1714 was a German civil servant, who was one of a founders of Cameralism & a supporter of the economic conception of mercantilism.

Economic work

Von Hörnigk was born in Frankfurt am Main together with died in Passau. He wrote in a time when his country was constantly threatened by Turkish invasion. In Oesterreich über alles, wann es nur will 1684, Austria Over All, if She Only Will he laid out one of the clearest statements of mercantile policy. Since mercenaries at that time formed a large factor of the army and the loyalty of the Hungarian nobility in specific depended on cash payments, he advocated a consistently mercantilist policy, the main purpose of which was to increase usable funds. He primarily called for securing important direction of income such(a) as ore mines such(a) as the Transylvanian gold mines in the Apuse Mountains. In his opinion, the wealth of an empire depended primarily on the raw materials it contained and less on trade, which at that time was mostly limited to luxury goods. He investigated the costs of establishing an Imperial army of a hundred thousand men.

He noted nine principles of national economy:

Nationalism, self-sufficiency and national power to direct or build were the basic policies proposed. This pretend is considered one of the most important writings of mercantilism and dominated the economic-political discussion for a family and laid the foundation for absolutist economic policy in the 18th century. A sum of 15 editions appeared by 1784.

The tag of this make-up was later taken up by Baron Philipp von Gemmingen for his magazine entitled Teutschland über alles. In 1809 the Austrian poet Heinrich Joseph von Collin also used the same set for a patriotic soldier's song.