German economist, one of the founders of non-market economics, and the founder of journalism as an academic discipline.
In 1893, he published Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft (The Rise of the National Economy), his most important book, and the foundational study of non-market (exchange and gift) economics. The 17th and last edition of the original run appeared in 1926?1930; it was translated into French and English and went through six editions in America. In 1896, Arbeit und Rhythmus (Labor and Rhythm) appeared; there are six editions until 1924. It was translated into Russian in 1899 and reprinted in 1923.
In 1916, based on his bad experience with press and propaganda during World War I, Bcher founded the Institut fr Zeitungswissenschaften (Institute for Newspaper Science) at the University of Leipzig (after having established a departmental division already in 1915), the first such institution in Europe. Until 1926, Bcher headed the Institute and promoted the field, establishing it as a scholarly discipline in Germany with lasting results. In 1919, during the abortive German revolution, Bcher published a booklet about the socialization of factories as well as his highly successful autobiography, Lebenserinnerungen (Life Memories).
Bcher was, for some time a member of the Leipzig City Council.
He died on 12 November 1930, Leipzig, aged 83.
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