Johannes Fallati

Who was Johannes Fallati?

Johannes Baptista Fallati was a German statistician and economist. He was born at Hamburg, where his father, originally of Rovigo, was a merchant.

Fallati was educated at Tübingen and Heidelberg, and in 1838 became professor of political history and statistics at the former university. In 1839 he travelled to England, inquiring into English statistical societies and other institutions. In 1848 he became a member of the Württemberg parliament, and imder-secretary for commerce in the short-lived Frankfurt imperial assembly, 1848, 1849. On its dissolution he returned to an academic career, becoming in 1850 university librarian at Tübingen.

From 1844 till his death, Fallati was joint-editor of the quarterly Zeitschrift "fur die gesammte Staatswissenschaft. During his brief political career he planned and embodied legislative organisation in four directions, viz. the imperial consulate, inland navigation, marine measurement, and his most cherished idea an imperial statistical bureau. He also prosecuted inquiry in the question of emigration. To a winning personality and many-sided culture he united clear and practical method.