RODBERTUS, JOHANN KARL

born Aug. 12, 1805, Greifswald, Swedish Pomerania [now in Germany] died Dec. 6, 1875, Jagetzow, Prussia [now in Germany] economist who, because of his conservative interpretation of social reform, was instrumental in the passage of social legislation in Prussia. Rodbertus was educated in law at Prussian universities. In 1836 he acquired the landed estate of Jagetzow in Pomerania. He advocated governmental regulation of wages so that they might rise in proportion to increases in national productivity. Unlike Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, who argued that wages rise naturally with a rise in the standard of living, Rodbertus maintained that wage earners, when left to their own devices, cannot earn enough for more than a bare minimum of physical existence. All increases of national productivity, he believed, accrue to the owners of property. Since property owners constitute a minority of the population, crises of underconsumption and retarded production occur. Although this doctrine was similar to notions posited by some socialists, Rodbertus did not call into question the fundamental institutions of capitalism itself. On the contrary, in entrusting the government with the task of legislating the conditions of wage payments, he furnished a conservative basis for state intervention, thus winning support for social legislation from groups who ordinarily opposed socialist agitation and precepts.