(17 September 1854 – 1 April 1926) was a German Roman Catholic ethicist and economist of the Solidarist school.

[1][2][3][4] His major work, Lehrbuch der Nationalökonomie,[5] is generally regarded as a source for Pope Pius XI's social encyclical Quadragesimo anno.

From 1892 until 1900 Pesch was spiritual director at the Mainz seminary, where he wrote his first book Liberalism, Socialism and Christian Order.

Through lectures of the publicist Rudolf Meyer Pesch became acquainted with the teachings of Marx and Rodbertus.

After a renewed study of economics with Schmoller and Wagner in Berlin (1900–1902), Pesch moved to Luxembourg and worked on his major opus Lehrbuch der Nationalökonomie.