Draft:Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics

• Comment: The overnight amendments are helpful, good work. I also note, and appreciate, that this is a translation from the [original page on German Wikipedia]. However I am still not seeing how the draft meets WP:NORG? Again, it would be helpful if you could please identify with specificity, exactly which criteria you believe the page meets (eg "I think the page now meets WP:NORG criteria #3, because XXXXX"). Thanks Cabrils (talk) 01:19, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

• Comment: Well done on creating the draft, and it may potentially meet the relevant requirements (including WP:GNG, WP:NORG) but presently it is not clear that it does.
  As you may know, Wikipedia's basic requirement for entry is that the subject is notable. Essentially subjects are presumed notable if they have received significant coverage in multiple published secondary sources that are reliable, intellectually independent of each other, and independent of the subject. To properly create such a draft page, please see the articles ‘Your First Article’, ‘Referencing for Beginners’ and ‘Easier Referencing for Beginners’.
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  Also, if you have any connection to the subject, including being paid, you have a conflict of interest that you must declare on your Talk page (to see instructions on how to do this please click the link).
  Please familiarise yourself with these pages before amending the draft. If you feel you can meet these requirements, then please make the necessary amendments before resubmitting the page. It would help our volunteer reviewers by identifying, on the draft's talk page, the WP:THREE best sources that establish notability of the subject.
  It would also be helpful if you could please identify with specificity, exactly which criteria you believe the page meets (eg "I think the page now meets WP:NORG criteria #3, because XXXXX").
  You may also wish to leave a note for me on my talk page and I would be happy to reassess. Cabrils (talk) 04:42, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

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The Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES) (German: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik (SGVS); French: Société suisse d'économie et de statistique (SSES); Italian: Società svizzera di economia e di statistica (SSES)) is an association comprising all Swiss universities with Faculties of Economics. The association, which is governed by Swiss law, is based in Zürich, and its secretariat has been significantly supported by the Swiss National Bank since 2001.

The primary goal of the SSES is to facilitate the advancement of economic research within Switzerland and to foster collaboration among researchers, both domestically and internationally. The society is particularly focused on supporting and promoting the success of early-career economists by providing them with opportunities to showcase their research findings to a scholarly audience.

The current president is Kurt Schmidheiny from the University of Basel. The society is a member of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The SSES publishes the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (German: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik), an open-access peer-reviewed academic journal.

In addition, the society organizes congresses and conferences.

History

The society was founded in 1864 under the name Swiss Statistical Society (German: Schweizerische Statistische Gesellschaft, SSG). In 1938, it changed its name to Swiss Society of Statistics and Economics (German: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Statistik und Volkswirtschaft). In 2001, the name was slightly altered to Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (German: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik).

The introduction of social insurance—initially health and accident insurance—began in Switzerland in the 1880s. The new insurance model faced competition from the established mutual aid funds. Advocates of the welfare state had to overcome numerous hurdles to convince the public of the benefits of social insurance. Authorities and experts often pointed to the unscientific practices of private mutual aid funds as a reason for the need for state-run insurance. Statisticians, demographers, and insurance mathematicians highlighted the lack of proper actuarial foundations in these funds. One key figure in this debate was the Swiss Statistical Society, which had been involved with insurance issues since its founding in 1864. In the mid-1860s, the Swiss Statistical Society conducted a national survey of mutual aid funds to both encourage greater government involvement in the insurance sector and assess the technical reliability of these funds. Hermann Kinkelin, a mathematics professor at the University of Basel and later a prominent advocate of the welfare state, authored a critical report that pointed out inadequate bookkeeping and made several technical recommendations for improvement.

Johann Jakob Kummer, another member of the Swiss Statistical Society and Director of the Federal Statistical Office from 1873 to 1886, also criticized mutual aid funds and believed it was the role of statisticians to guide these associations. Another critic was Christian Moser, the first federal insurance mathematician and later a professor of insurance mathematics at the University of Bern.

The controversy between statisticians and mutual aid funds intensified in the 1870s and 1880s. Kinkelin's second report, commissioned by the Swiss Statistical Society, was highly critical, noting that only five percent of health funds operated according to correct actuarial principles. The Frankenvereine, a common type of burial fund, was particularly criticized for its simple system where members paid into a collective pool upon the death of a member. This system became less attractive as members aged, often leading to financial ruin for the fund.

Despite the criticism, mutual aid funds had their defenders. In 1899, a debate over a mutual aid fund in the canton of Vaud pitted Johann Jakob Kummer against Vilfredo Pareto, a co-founder of sociology and professor at the University of Lausanne. Pareto argued that the technical aspects of the fund were secondary to its philanthropic nature and praised the members' initiative. However, Kummer and other federal representatives deemed such funds irrational and destined to fail without proper actuarial foundations.

In the long term, the criticism of mutual aid funds had some impact. Larger funds began to rely more on mathematical-statistical models in their administration. Nevertheless, the mutual aid fund system remained resilient, either as part of social state obligations or as supplementary insurance alongside state insurance institutions. Private carriers, particularly in health and old-age insurance, continued to play significant roles in the Swiss welfare state.

Members

The list of members and their significance for the society can be found in the Swiss Elite Database.

• Johannes Stössel - president 1864-1913
• Hermann Kinkelin - co-founder, president 1877-1886
• Johann Jakob Kummer
• Louis Guillaume
• Edmund Wilhelm Milliet
• Georges Lambelet
• Christian Mühlemann
• Heinrich Tomann
• Adalbert Wirz
• Fritz Mangold
• Hans Schorer
• Carl Brüschweiler
• William Emmanuel Rappard-Gautier
• Max Weber
• Hugo Sieber
• Wilhelm Martin Bickel
• Pierre Goetschin
• Luigi Solari
• Silvio Borner
• René Leo Frey
• Claude Jeanrenaud
• Ernst Baltensperger
• Georg Rich
• Philippe Bacchetta
• Alexandre Swoboda
• Peter Kugler
• Gebhard Kirchgässner
• Monika Bütler
• Yvan Michel Lengwiler
• Martina Viarengo

Weblinks

• Homepage of the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics
• Homepage of the Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics
• Records of the Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics in Swiss Economic Archives