Gustav von Schönberg (21 July 1839, in Stettin – 3 January 1908) was a German economist.
Schönberg studied law and politics at the universities of Bonn and Berlin. After successfully completing these studies in 1860, he transferred to the civil service and was promoted to Gerichtsassessor within five years.
Subsequently, Schönberg worked at the Seminar of the Prussian Statistical Bureaux. In 1867, he took up the role of Lecturer in Political Economy at the Prussian Agricultural Institute in Proskau, where, among other things, he was heavily involved in the establishment of several agricultural cooperatives in Schlesien.
In autumn 1868, Schönberg was appointed Professor ordinarius of Economics at the University of Basel. In 1870, he moved to the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg as an economist. Three years later, he moved again to the University of Tübingen, where, in addition to his role as Professor ordinarius in Political Science, he was also Chancellor for some years. Starting in 1887, Schönberg edited the journal Tübinger Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft (Tübingen Magazine for the Entire Political Sciences) together with Albert Schäffle and Karl Viktor Fricker.
Schönberg was an engaged member of the Association for Social Politics and campaigned vehemently for social issues of the "labour question".
He died in 1908 at the age of 68.
Arbeitsämter. Eine Aufgabe des Deutschen Reichs. Berlin 1871
Basels Bevölkerungszahl im 15. Jahrhundert. Jena 1883
Die deutsche Freihandelsschule und die Partei der Eisenacher Versammlung vom Oktober 1872. Tübingen 1873
Finanzverhältnisse der Stadt Basel im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert. Heidelberg 1879
Die Frauenfrage. Basel 1872
Handbuch der politischen Ökonomie. Tübingen 1885-86 (3 volumes, together with Benecke, Conrad, and others)
Zur Handwerkerfrage. Heidelberg 1876
Die Landwirtschaft der Gegenwart und das Genossenschaftsprinzip. Berlin 1869
Die sittlich religiöse Bedeutung der sozialen Frage. 2. Aufl., Stuttgart 1876
Die Sozialpolitik des Deutschen Reichs.