Knut Borchardt (2 June 1929 – 5 February 2023) was a German researcher, historian and former professor for history and economics at both the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Mannheim from 1962 to 1991. Moreover, he served as rector at the University of Mannheim between 1967 and 1969.[2]
Borchardt was born in Berlin, Germany. He studied from 1949 to 1954 economics, business administration, history and German studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich where he obtained his Diplom (former German master's equivalent) in 1954. Afterwards, he obtained his doctorate in economics and his habilitation in 1961 at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
Borchardt worked from 1961 to 1962 as assistant professor at the University of Tübingen. After a proposal in 1962, he became professor for economics and history at the University of Mannheim. In 1967, Gaugler became rector (president) of the university and remained in this position until 1969. He was succeeded by Hans-Martin Pawlowski in his role as rector of the UMA. He left the university in 1969 and remained until his retirement in 1991 at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Borchardt was author of the well-known "Borchardt-Hypothesis", which claims that stabilisation policy in Germany during the Great Depression was credit constrained and that lack of budgetary discipline during the preceding years was instrumental in creating this constraint. In 1987 he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and in 1999 the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.[3] Between 1968 and 1982 Borchardt was editor of the influential Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik.
Borchardt died on 5 February 2023, at the age of 93.[4]