predecessors included friedrich list. the historical school largely controlled appointments to chairs of economics in german universities, as many of the advisors of friedrich althoff, head of the university department in the prussian ministry of education 1882-1907, had studied under members of the school. moreover, prussia was the intellectual powerhouse of germany and so dominated academia, not only in central europe, but also in the united states until about 1900, because the american economics profession was led by holders of german ph.ds. the historical school was involved in the "methodenstreit" ("strife over method") with the austrian school, whose orientation was more theoretical and a prioristic. in english speaking countries, the historical school is perhaps the least known and least understood approach to the study of economics, because it differs radically from the now-dominant anglo-american analytical point of view. yet the historical school forms the basis—both in theory and in practice—of the social market economy, for many decades the dominant economic paradigm in most countries of continental europe. the historical school is also a source of joseph schumpeter's dynamic, change-oriented, and innovation-based economics. although his writings could be critical of the school, schumpeter's work on the role of innovation and entrepreneurship can be seen as a continuation of ideas originated by the historical school, especially the work of von schmoller and sombart.