Among its founders were eminent economists like Gustav von Schmoller, Lujo Brentano and Adolph Wagner, who sought a middle path between socialist and laissez-faire economic policies.
On the contrary, the liberal publicist Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim, critical of their "fanciful positions", dubbed them the Kathedersozialisten (socialists of the chair), meant as pejorative term.
[citation needed] Among its later members were prominent sociologists like Max Weber and Werner Sombart.
It publishes a monograph series, the Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, as well as two journals: the German Economic Review[4] and Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik.
[5] The verein annually awards the Gossen Prize to German-speaking economists under the age of 45.