Born in Vienna in 1914, Kurt Wilhelm Rothschild was - and remains - one of Austria's most important economists during the second half of the 20th century. After emigrating to Switzerland and Scotland in 1938, he studied and worked at the University of Glasgow. He considered himself an eclectic and critical scholar, publishing works in major, international journals that focused on the labor market, foreign trade, macroeconomics, income distribution, and European integration.