Johann Heinrich von Thünen

Johann Heinrich von Thünen (* June 24, 1783 in Canarienhausen, Wanger country; † September 22, 1850 in Tellow ) was a German agricultural scientists and economists, social reformers and patterns farmer. He combined theoretical knowledge of mathematics with practical experience from his model farm. He can be counted on classical economics, but is also an early author of the economic geography.

Life

Was Johann Heinrich von Thünen, the son of the landowner Edo Christian von Thünen (1760-1786) and his wife Anna Margaretha Catharina Trendtel (* 1765 ), bookseller daughter from Jever born. Raised in Hooksiel and Jever, Thünen graduated from 1799 to 1803 an agricultural training and Others at Lucas Andreas Staudinger in the United Flottbeck in Hamburg and Albrecht Daniel Thaer in Celle. He then studied for two semesters at the University of Göttingen.

1806 married Thünen the mayor and landowner daughter Sophia Helena ( Johanna ) Berlin ( born March 21, 1785 Friedland in Mecklenburg -Strelitz; † January 19, 1845 in Tellow ) and leased the Good Rubkow near Anklam, Western Pomerania. In 1809 he acquired the 465 -acre estate in Tellow Teterow, Mecklenburg. In addition to the management of his farm to Thünen dealt with issues of soil fertility ( " bottom -static " ) and the emergence of grain prices. 1818 Thünen was admitted as a full member of the Mecklenburg Patriotic Association and was director from 1818 to 1820 from its Teterower district.

His findings, he published in 1826 in the book " The isolirte State in relation to agriculture and economics, or studies on the impact that the price of grain, the richness of the soil and the charges exert on agriculture " at Friedrich Perthes in Hamburg. 1830 was awarded to him due to his scientific merits an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Rostock. 1836-38 he was second Principal Director of the Mecklenburg Patriotic Association. 1842 appeared the second, increased and improved edition of the " Isolated State " at Leopold in Rostock. In 1844 he became a member of the Mecklenburg Natural History Society to Rostock, 1848 he was made ​​an honorary member of the Mecklenburg Patriotic Association. In the wake of the events of the spring of 1848 occurred in April Thünen's long-planned profit sharing model for Tellow workers into force. It took a few points the subsequent social anticipated. In June, he was made an honorary citizen of the city Teterow. Also in 1848 Thünen was chosen as the replacement for the deputies of the National Assembly in Frankfurt Johann Pogge. However, he could not make the trip.

1850 published Thünen the second part of " Isolated State " in which he pursues the question of the " natural wage ". For this work comes from him for the found formula ( = wage = minimum subsistence of the workers = value of work products), has long been controversial and is now considered outdated. The definition of the natural wages adorns his grave stone in Prebberede - Belitz at Teterow, Mecklenburg.

Pioneering achievements

View Johann Heinrich von Thünen's pioneering achievements in various fields of science include the development of agricultural and forestry production, location and spatial structure theories with appropriate stimuli for economic geography and regional science and reasoning of Agricultural Systems in Germany, as well as groundbreaking research and practical suggestions for agricultural credit ( Taxation and financial Intermediation meditation). He also designed a systematic explanation of the amount of wages, interest and ground rents and distribution of this income in an economy ( marginal productivity theory) and a derivation of basic principles for optimal forestry, which he anticipated general capital theory approaches. He built from the method of isolating abstraction ( model of " Isolated State " cf. ceteris paribus) and applied the differential calculus in the solution of economic optimization problems ( marginal principle ) to. He also led through practical and empirically - static sound agricultural and economic studies ( Econometrics ).

The Thünen rings

See main article: Thünensche rings

In his theory of the " Isolated State " came from Thünen of Adam Smith's homo economicus: the farmer strives to earn the maximum profit from his work. From his experience as Gutswirt he knew that its revenue depended on the optimum use of land and transportation costs. To exclusively focus his thoughts on these two variables, reduced von Thünen the remaining influences on a homogeneous - isolated - State: A circular, completely flat land without External Relations and an all- dominant city in the middle. There are only cereal as the sole agricultural product and its price is set. The economy in the surrounding area would have economic behavior in order so that every industry enters an optimal profit:

Transport costs are directly proportional to the distance from town and the weight of the goods dependent. The price per ha ( location pension ) decreases with distance from the city. The minimum price of a commodity is therefore calculated from the position of pension, the transportation costs and the fixed costs of production - the profit is therefore the difference between the minimum price and the fixed market price.

The location pension as a key term in the argument of Thiinen is to be understood as equivalent to the base value. It corresponds to the maximum possible amount that could pay an agricultural producer for the use of an area without making loss. They can be determined for a given good with the following equation:

With

• L: locally achievable / affordable location pension ( in € / km ²)
• Y: crop yield (t / km ²)
• P: market price of the crop ( in € / t)
• C: production costs of the crop ( in € / t)
• D: Distance to market (km )
• Q: transport cost rate ( in € / t * km )

Thus, for example, would the situation retirement of a product with a yield of 1.000 t / km ², which brings on the central Market 100 € / ton, whereas its production € 50 / t and its transport € 1 per tonne per km cost, in the center the town of € 50,000 / km ² (5 cents / m² ) amount, 10 km away, only 40.000 € / km ² and at a distance of 30 km only € 20,000 / km ². According to the falling with increasing distance to the market town location pension thus the willingness to pay of each farmer will fall for agricultural land and eventually be reflected in land prices.

From Thünen concluded that, for example, the cultivation of grain was worth only in a certain distance to city: Either were near the city, the cost of the floor too high or with increasing distance transport costs, namely when there is another product that is either to produce cheaper or less expensive to transport. From a maximum distance to the market town (city) the production of a particular commodity is then unprofitable, either because the profit to '0 ' decreases or the profits of any other product is higher, because the calculations took Thünen for different space-intensive agricultural products (meat cattle, wood, cereals, but also eggs, milk, etc. ) before: for each product, there is a certain distance from the city, in which the production is worth. Since Thünen transport costs to the market town of related (airline ) directly, resulting circular boundaries between the different land use zones, the so-called Thünen rings. If that is the producer of several agricultural products in competition with each other " sort ", their locations concentrically relative to the marketplace according to the slope / the course of their location pension curves: A product whose yield per unit area are low but whose market price per unit of weight, however, is high and transport costs per weight and distance units are also high ( eg wood), so, for example, close to the central market position generate higher pensions as a product with lower transport costs. The location pension as a way to pay higher pensions for the use of a given amount of production area, is the indicator of the " competitiveness " of the products relative to the central market town.

Scientific and cultural heritage

The Thüne company incorporated in Tellow in September 1990 eV was established specifically for the purpose of preserving the scientific legacy Johann Heinrich von Thünen, work up and make known to posterity. Among the most prestigious Thüne researchers and founding members of this society belonged Yasuo Kondo (1899-2005) in Japan. The Rostock University professor and politician Fritz Tack is currently acting chairman of the Thüne society.

Other well-known Thüne researchers have included the economist and Nobel laureate Paul A. Samuelson (1915-2009) in the United States, in Germany Asmus Petersen (1900-1962) and Walter Braeuer (1906-1992), as well as in Russia Alexander Chayanov (1888 - 1937).

Application and review

Like many other models in geography and the Thünensche model has been criticized due to the restrictive model assumptions. However, it was overlooked that the context of the model could be approximated by minor modifications of the respective reality. The ring-shaped structure that can be traced back to a single point-like market and the only centrally - circumferentially extending Transportkostengradienten, for example, is only one of many conceivable geometric initial situations. In the presence of other bio-physical foundations or special transport routes, land use zones can also run in strip form, for example. If multiple markets were present, several zonation would train around the respective market places and overlap.

Thünen's merit is the attempt - to explain Nutzungszonierungen solely by economically rational action - ignoring a whole range of spatial characteristics. The positional relationship plays to potential consumers ultimately the decisive role in the choice of location. At the same time an assessment of all potential sites is triggered by location this relationship that leads to a zonation of possible offers. However, this simply designed space - economy model is sensitive to changes of overcoming space costs. But it has a high priority within geographical issues and methodology due to its universality. Many authors have used elements of his theory for location theories of secondary and tertiary sectors.

Works and Letters

• The isoli [e ] rte State in relation to agriculture and economics, or studies of the influence exerted by the grain prices, the wealth of the land and the taxes on agriculture. - Hamburg: Perthes, 1826 ( digitized and full text in German Text Archive )
• The isoli [e ] rte State in relation to agriculture and economics.

• The contemporary nature of wages and its relation to the rate of interest and land rent.

• The isoli [e ] rte State in relation to agriculture and economics. 3rd edition ed. Hermann Schumacher- Zarchlin. - Berlin: Wiegand, Hempel & Parey, 1875

• Letters. Compiled and edited by Gunther quadrangle. Edited by Thüne Society in conjunction with Ilona Buchsteiner and Wolf D. Gruner. Introduced by Heinz Rieter. - Marburg. Metropolis Verl, 2011 ISBN 978-3-89518-767-4. .