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Talk:Comparative advantage

The comparative advantage example is flawed.
The comparative advantage example at the start of this article is flawed. It states the less productive country is making more shirts per hour 4 instead of 2), which allows the flawed reasoning that this less productive country can benefit by making more shirts and selling them to the more productive country.

It is possible this example can be replaced with a different example which is sound.

-Todd Bezenek (talk) 20:59, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

 * Thanks! I just modified the numbers. You can edit the article yourself, of course, if it's still wrong or you see another way of improving it. —Ben Kovitz (talk) 01:52, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Moralesmeoqui (talk) 11:06, 1 April 2017 (UTC) Hi! The numerical example does not correspond to the correct interpretation of Ricardo's four numbers. The numbers should be interpreted as "the quantity of men working for a year required to produce some unspecified amounts of cloth and wine traded between England and Portugal."

John Stuart Mill’s contributions to the theory?
Nice summary. (Torrrens — now there’s a name that doesn’t crop up often!)

I was surprised not to see any mention of John Stuart Mill’s extensions and refinements of Ricardo’s theory. Mark Blaug’s (classic) Economic Theory in Retrospect (4th ed.) devotes 4 pages to Mill’s development of “reciprocal demand” and “terms of trade” (pp. 204–208; the 1st is an important new theoretical tool, the 2nd a key result), complete with 2 offer curve diagrams! (Unfortunately, as is often the case in Blaug, it’s not clear whether Mill actually used the graphical device of an offer curve himself, or whether Mill only described the concept and Blaug incorporated the graphical device. I doubt that Mill did draw anything like an offer curve himself — graphical analysis hadn’t yet become a significant part of those early pioneers’ tool kit.)

Blaug also credits Mill with explicitly introducing transportation costs and how they affect the “ratios of exchange”.

According to Blaug, Mill used “German linen” and “English cloth” as his 2 illustrative commodities. That seems like an odd choice: 2 very similar commodities, vs. Ricardo’s classic English cloth vs. Portuguese wine. But Blaug doesn’t explain why Mill did this; maybe Mill didn’t explain it, either. (Pure speculation on my part: Mill may have wanted to illustrate that comparative advantage could even apply to specific commodities within broader categories of such commodities, and not just to significantly different products like cloth and wine.)

--Jackftwist (talk) 20:03, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

What about the marginal cost?
Dear Wikipedia contributors,

I respectfully greet you. I noticed that the definition of comparative advantage includes a relationship with both opportunity and marginal cost. The example clearly links it with opportunity cost. On the other hand, the link with marginal cost is not so evident. Could you add more information about the latter relationship? Thanks in advance.

George Rodney Maruri Game (talk) 16:47, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

 * George,
 * What you are pointing to is just one of the many ways in which this article is mumble, missing the point.
 * As somebody else has pointed out above, this whole thing needs to be scrapped and rewritten from scratch.
 * David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 21:23, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

Possible flaw in the Trade Costs article
Great article, thanks to all involved. I am confused by the follow, and thought it might be incorrect:

" it then costs Britain 115 units of labor to obtain wine by trade – 100 units for producing the cloth, 15 units for importing the wine, which is more expensive than producing the wine locally,"

Doesn't the little chart preceding indicate Britain's wine Cost at 120? It seems that even the higher trade costs of 15 still allow for some advantage to Britain in trade, although I agree that trade stops, because Portugal now has no advantage (cloth by trade for wine now costs 80+15 which is greater than the 90 to produce locally). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.56.125.68 (talk) 13:20, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Comparative Advantage is not a law
I have removed the statement suggesting, actually stating that "comparative advantage" is a law, which it is not nor has ever been. It has apparently been widely replaced by several sources (all it appears identified by anonymous IP addresses) in various articles and comment referrals throughout Wikipedia with the phrase, "law of comparative advantage", which makes it both original research and quite wrong... I have changed it accordingly. Stevenmitchell (talk) 08:36, 11 March 2013 (UTC) This is silly. It's a law in exactly the same sense that 2+2=4 is a law. The fact that some people, including the author of the article, don't understand it does not mean that there's any doubt about it. David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 00:50, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Given that competitive advantage has been part of the justification of free trade and given that there is a broad concensus in favor of free trade despite the fact that there has never been a country in history larger than about Delaware that became first world on the basis of free trade though plenty have tried, I would say that removing "Law" is probably a healthy response, to say the least.70.90.204.42 (talk) 00:27, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

No country on this planet has become a first world nation without trade. Trade has always been, and always will be, a fundamental path to prosperity. Comparative advantage -at its core- is nothing but an extrapolation of math and logic. So yes, it is indeed a law.Twozerooz (talk) 20:38, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

Criticism?
The article needs to feature more criticism. There has been much criticism of the concept by scholars over the years and it is a shame that the article fails to mention any of it. One excellent treatment of the topic is featured in "Trade, Development and Foreign Debt" by Michael Hudson Vilhelmo (talk) 06:37, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

The criticism should be based in top scholarly research, and I feel that the mentioning of Ha-Joon Chang does not satisfy this criterion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.118.139.246 (talk) 13:36, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

 * Ha-Joon Chang has published several books that are reliable sources. Your feelings are not wikipedia policy. Furthermore, the first statement of the article today is wrong. Comparative advantage is both a descriptive theory - for explaining the patterns of trade - and a normative theory. The article might mention the Leontief paradox - I have not read it closely - and more recent work validating it. Leontief showed that a naive theory of comparative advantage is empirically wrong. Alternative theories for explaining the patterns international trade include the Keynesian theories of Joan Robinson and Harry Johnson - they would have been irritated to be grouped together like that, maybe - and Krugman's work on increasing returns. As for normative claims, Ian Steedman and others showed decades ago that economies have negative gains - that is, losses - from trade when specializing under the theory of comparative advantage, given constant returns, etc.; produced capital goods, and a positive interest research. Others have built on this work in reliable sources since then too. 209.217.213.202 (talk) 22:55, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

NotYetAnotherEconomist (talk) 11:57, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The concept of comparative advantage is completely descriptive, but confusion is inevitable. The conclusions of descriptive economics are, immediately relevant to important normative problems, to questions of what ought to be done and how any given goal can be attained.
 * The Leontief Paradox is a paradox concerning the Heckscher–Ohlin theorem and should be incorporated there.
 * Ha-Joon Chang actually agrees with the concept of comparative advantage. He says: Comparative advantage does offer a useful guideline in telling us how much the country is sacrificing by protecting its infant industries. The more you deviate from your comparative advantage, the more you pay in order to acquire capabilities in new industries.. His book is about trade policy and makes normative claims. He could make a fine addition to articles like Protectionism, Import substitution or Dependency theory.
 * Krugman never criticizes the concept of comparative advantage. He is one it's strongest supporters. See for example here: http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm

"Furthermore, the first statement of the article today is wrong. Comparative advantage is both a descriptive theory - for explaining the patterns of trade - and a normative theory." I do not wish to be rude here, but this is nonsense. Most everything you state in these two sentences is patently false. Firstly, comparative advantage is not a descriptive theory explaining the patterns of trade. It is a principle explaining the consequences of non-equivalent opportunity costs. With non-equivalent opportunity costs, cooperation can reduce the costs of production or, equivalently, produce more at an equivalent cost. That's it. This principle is true in autarchical Iceland in 742 and in Singapore in 2014. It will be true on Mars in 2050, even if there is nobody there; i.e. it is true regardless of the trade policies adopted by countries. Now it just so happens that countries do, sometimes — particularly Western countries in the past two centuries or so — adopt policies that replicate the predictions of comparative advantage, and some of this evidence is now outlined in the article. Please let me repeat: the principle of comparative advantage would still be true if all countries shut down borders today. It is not a theory to explain the patterns of trade.

Secondly, comparative advantage is not normative. There is no welfare function. There is no mention of Paretian weights. There is as much normative content in the Triangle Inequality as there is in comparative advantage. If you want the shortest distance, go in a straight line. If you want to maximize output at lowest total cost, cooperate and trade. That does not imply you should take the shortest distance, or wish to maximize output.

There are many valid reasons why countries would not want to maximize output. For example, I would not like the United States to focus on comparative advantages with ISIS and trade weapons for textiles. For geopolitical reasons, I would support increased trade restrictions on Russia. For reasons of financial decoupling, I can see reasons why countries may want trade at arms' length. (Conversely, for reasons of financial integration, I can see reasons why e.g. the EU may want to maximize trade, regardless of cost.)

There are numerous contrasting normative viewpoints on international trade. None of them have any bearing on comparative advantage. Regards Econ cleanup prof (talk) 13:40, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

Historical criticism???

First of all, there are two separate proposals put forth under the heading comparative advantage. 1) That you can achieve a better short term result by buying from a producer who's selling price is cheaper than your labor cost, and 2) That you can build up your economy faster by always going with the instantaneous lowest cost for your needs. 1) is almost a tautology, but a lot of people seem to use the Law of comparative advantage to imply that 2) is true, which requires both theoretical and historic support. Who cares if current theory says the optimal level of tariffs is zero if every single first world country in history has had non-zero tariffs while becoming first world and lots of countries have tried zero tariffs and remained third world?

At some point you have to say that theoretical hypothesis are useless if they prove that the sky is red. "Several arguments have been advanced against using comparative advantage as a justification for advocating free trade, and they have gained an audience among economists." is appropriately written in that it accepts the truth of comparative advantage while cautioning that it can't be extended to principles of free trade as industrial policy. Whether I am better off going across the street to buy a sandwich or making my own is irrelevant to the question of whether I should build and open a sandwich shop, as South Korea and Japan understood so well in the middle of the 1900s when they turned their backs on the principles of free trade to start building Kias, Samsung products, Toyotas, Hondas, and Sony products. For plenty of excellent criticism of using comparative advantage to support free trade from a historical support, see Free Trade doesn't work by Ian Fletcher.70.90.204.42 (talk) 23:16, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

This article definitely needs more criticism. It seems a little biased to highlight all of the positives of comparative advantage or all of the opinions on it that aren't necessarily negative. In this heading, it might be important to highlight some of the stipulations that accompany influential factors on comparative advantage (such as wealth being a determinant of comparative advantage, for example) Franrichburg (talk) 16:43, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

"Who cares if current theory says the optimal level of tariffs is zero if every single first world country in history has had non-zero tariffs while becoming first world and lots of countries have tried zero tariffs and remained third world?" This is not a rational argument. This is like saying "My uncle smoked every day in his life and never got cancer, therefore the idea that cigarettes are causative of cancer isn't practical and needs more criticism added". The rest of the comments become somewhat inane when this premise is debunked.Twozerooz (talk) 20:44, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

Scrap This Article. It is Wrong, Mumble Failing to Correct the Popular Misconception.
The first sentence of this article, "In economics, comparative advantage refers to the ability of a party to produce a particular good or service at a lower marginal and opportunity cost over another" is incorrect. That is exactly what comparative advantage does not refer to. This is advantage, not comparative advantage, and of course all products have different marginal or opportunity costs.

The confusion of the two, advantage and comparative advantage, is the reason why the doctrine of comparative advantage is said to be the only thing in classical economics which is not intuitively obvious. The writer is perhaps confused by thinking about two goods, but the minimal model involves two producers of those goods, two payment regimes with different currencies, and the terms of trade between those producers. For a moment the second sentence staggers in the right direction. The author does not seem to realize that the second sentence does not amplify the first, it propounds a different idea.

The second paragraph, explicating the second sentence, is hand-waving more or less in the right direction. It is meaningless without the point that the "two nations" sensibly referred to must have different currencies with which to equilibrate their own payments of their own shirt and shoe makers. Here's what's important: the word "comparative" is not in there just for fun; the essence is not being better at something, but being more better or less worse at making A than B. You sell A, even to somebody who can make easier than you, and you buy B, because they are more better or less worse at B.

Michael Jordan plays better basketball than pretty much anybody, but he would also be better than almost anybody else at mowing lawns; nevertheless he pays other people to mow his lawn. Comparative advantage: basketball. I have a comparative advantage over Michael Jordan in mowing his lawn over playing basketball anywhere any time. Two actors, me and Jordan; two products, lawn mowing and professional basketball.

Then the next section, "Origins of the Theory," veers back into error. It confuses an accurate statement by Smith, about advantage, with the actual doctrine of comparative advantage, formulated by, and generally credited to, David Ricardo. The first is not an instance of the second. They are different things. This article should be scrapped. The whole thing should be started over from scratch. As it stands the article is just wrong. It propagates a commonly held misconception, and thus increases the sum of human ignorance. David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 00:46, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Agreed, the opening of this article is extremely misleading about the nature of comparative advantage, and then goes on to contradict it's own opening definition. Comparative advantage is first and foremost an internal comparison by an agent about what they can produce most efficiently, not a comparison between between agents other than in the sense of measuring the overall market value of a commodity. Also, the offending line in the definition noted above cites a BLS definition that has no similarity to the definition in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.187.8.241 (talk) 15:15, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

"Ricardo-Viner" wikilink
I've undone which changed the piped link for "Ricardo-Viner" per WP:SPECIFICLINK. "Ricardo-Viner" is red linked which indicates to other editors that no Wikipedia article currently exist for this topic. It is possible that another editor will see this and decide to create such an article. In that case, all they have to do is click on the red link and it will take them to a where they can start working on the article. However, if the piped link is changed to "Specific Factors Model", clicking on the red link will take you to a page to create that article instead. Such a change is not an improvement and not a very intuitive use of pipe links as explained in WP:EASTEREGG. If the purpose of this edit was to create a red link for "specific factors", then this should have been done by "specific factors" instead which would give "specific factors". - Marchjuly (talk) 13:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

didn't mentioned the work by Arnaud Costinot
Arnaud Costinot gave the proof(An Elementary Theory of Comparative Advantage) in situation of infinite countries and goods, but not mentioned in the article page. --27.16.130.233 (talk) 07:49, 20 November 2015 (UTC)

Please stop trying to remove criticisms of the theory
The theory of comparative advantage is a legitimately controversial concept in economics. It is not appropriate to delete these criticisms from this article. If your problem is with the form these criticisms have been given, or with the source that has been cited for them, please change their form or cite another source, rather than deleting them outright.Ianfletcher (talk) 02:44, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

 * Ian, It's a problem. Most of what you call criticisms of the theory are merely yobbo assertions that the Earth is flat.  Asking for academic sources from us of the Spheroid Earth Faction(tm) is inappropriate.  Seems to me.
 * Flat Earthers have enough places they can, and do, publish. They are not critics.  They are pests, if not savages.

David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 13:35, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

I've had to delete a set of criticisms because they were completely nonsensical. It seems a lot of people with zero education in economics are attempting to parrot what they may have read in a blog. I did leave a good chunk of the section, but it needs some serious clean-up work. Hopefully someone else has time for it. Twozerooz (talk) 20:46, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

 * Doesn't the criticism section violate the rules of the encyclopedia? CA is one of the most established and tested theories in mainstream economics and enjoys widespread support in the discipline. As one would predict, every single one of the economists cited in that section are involved with some sort of political activism.
 * A case needs to be made for a criticism section and that hasn't been made here. Jonathan f1 (talk) 02:23, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

Yoshinori Shiozawa material
Y. Shiozawa is a valid and useful reliable source for information on this topic. While a recent addition of his work to the article was reverted, the rationale ("plugging a single researcher with no proper references") for reverting was weak – mainly because the references can be improved. So, I recommend improvement via links and a WP:SUMMARY STYLE re-write. Here is a link for help. – S. Rich (talk) 12:10, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion. I revised and improved the material. Anthro-apology (talk) 15:37, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

 * , I have no problems with Shiozawa, but I do have problems with material sourced to unpublished primary sources ("A paper read on a conference on March 23, 2016."). WP:V clearly states that all material should be both sourced and verifiable, and that it's up to the editor who adds it to make sure that it is, and WP:RS specifies what kind of sources can be used, and any material that isn't sourced to reliable sources, per WP's standards, and verifiable, can be removed. Thomas.W talk 15:54, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

I have found a Shiozawa's published article that can be used as a source to the last reference. I can remove the "paper March 23, 2016" but it explains more clearly than the new source. So, I prefer left it. Anthro-apology (talk) 01:44, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Wildly Inappropriate Wikipedia Entry
The confusion between advantage and comparative advantage is widespread and dangerous. This article wanders aimlessly around in the general area of both topics. It fails to identify them both, and it fails to make the difference clear. Since this difference is important to public policy, this article should be scrapped and replaced. Altogether. The whole thing. In the short term a simple stub pointing people to the original Ricardo would seem to me the best way to go. Is there a Wiki-competent person who could do that? There is a good statement of the issues and of Ricardo's findings at http://internationalecon.com/Trade/Tch40/T40-0.php Ricardo is like Einstein and Darwin in that he is a clear thinker, and hence is able to be a good writer. I haven't found his text online yet. Does anybody know where there's a copy? The Wiki entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ricardo is perfectly competent -- and I have the impression that it took a good deal of fighting to get it that way. Well-intentioned half-wits seem to be pretty thick on the ground on this issue. This is important: President Trump has appointed two senior advisors who are every bit as dangerous as Alex Jones or Pat Robertson. When it comes to economics, trade, and Ricardo this is a matter of science -- of both rational thinking and empirical observation -- not of opinion. To repeat: this article is not helping. It needs to be taken down and replaced. A blank stub, pointing people to the Wiki on Ricardo and to his actual work would be a huge improvement on this ver-ree mediocre piece of work. David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 21:44, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

Connection to production-possibility frontier
Would it be correct to say that through immigration, comparative advantage is leveraged to expand the production-possibility frontier? 2600:1003:B10E:ACD6:F5F6:15CD:676:54A2 (talk) 01:10, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

 * I don't know. What does "leveraged to expand" mean?  Where is the fulcrum?  Where the lever?  Who is holding the lever and what is his Aristotelian "place to stand" in the original version of this much malappropriated metaphor?

 * Don't you think that immigration, like aspirin, might simply be an exogenous factor affecting the efficiency of a factor of production?

 * It's obviously important. Think Australia. Hell, think America.  But "leveraged to expand"?  Um, what if we'd never left Africa in the first place?

Cheers, David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 13:46, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Comparative Advantage
The penultimate sentence of this section is somewhat confusing. I wonder if it has been vandalised. I have gone back to Ricardo's original text, but cannot quickly find what the correct wording might be. (His formulation is just a little different). It may be that the section would be clearer if this sentence were to be removed completely. The rest of the section seems quite clear and revealing of Ricardo's analysis. I will continue to ponder over what it is trying to say for the moment rather than being bold and deleting it. Quartic (talk) 12:14, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

Economic populism
There's a high probability that a populist has been meddling in the lead of the article, albeit subtly. I'm referring to the parenthetical note in this statement:

''"He demonstrated that if two countries capable of producing two commodities engage in the free market (albeit with the assumption that the capital and labour do not move internationally), then each country will increase its overall consumption by exporting the good for which it has a comparative advantage while importing the other good, provided that there exist differences in labor productivity between both countries." ''

I've taken several economics courses on this subject and I've never been taught this particular caveat. I don't even quite understand what it's supposed to mean, other than an attempt to argue that trade liberalization (which involves the free movement of not just goods and services, but labour and capital) undermines comparative advantage. It is sourced to an obscure researcher in Potsdam named Reinhard Schumacher, who publishes anti-trade polemics in fringe journals associated with unorthodox economics groups.. Jonathan f1 (talk) 01:52, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

 * This passage is about Ricardo's famous examples of comparative advantage and the Ricardian model. Do you disagree with this statement - in other words do you believe that they do take into account the movement of labour between countries? I don't think that's the case. In the section Ricardian model the model is presented per Krugman and Maurice's International Economics Theory and Policy and there the Home and Foreign labour force are also assumed to be constant. Alaexis¿question? 08:19, 31 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I don't disagree that the Ricardian model assumes labour is immobile between countries (and mobile between industries), but that fact alone doesn't undermine Ricardo's logic. The issue here is not the statement itself but that it's inappropriately sourced to an anti-trade polemicist who uses this assumption to attack trade liberalisation. Maybe find a more reliable source and present the information in context? Jonathan f1 (talk) 21:50, 31 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Even if Schumacher is an "anti-trade polemicist", there are no attacks on liberalisation in this quote. We are just mentioning one of the assumptions, whose importance was recognised and discussed by Ricardo himself ("it would undoubtedly be advantageous to the capitalists [and consumers] of England… [that] the wine and cloth should both be made in Portugal [and that] the capital and labour of England employed in making cloth should be removed to Portugal for that purpose"). Alaexis¿question? 06:40, 2 November 2022 (UTC)
 * There were no attacks in the quote, but the paper it is sourced to is an anti-trade polemic and hardly a mainstream source. Why can't you find a mainstream source that references the information you want in the article? This is suspicious.
 * It's been a while so I'm going to open up a new talk section. Jonathan f1 (talk) 00:18, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

neutrality and criticism
It is generally understood on here that the inclusion of criticism sections in articles should be done sparingly, if at all. That means that there is an exceptionally high bar to clear when you want to include a critique of a concept that attracts near-universal mainstream support (in this case, among economists). And I'm afraid citing a few fringe trade models doesn't warrant inclusion in this article, let alone an entire criticism section that uses language like "gained an audience among economists" -this is nonsense, and misleading to readers.

There is also another issue in the lead that might be worth clearing up (see previous talk section):

"(albeit with the assumption that the capital and labour do not move internationally)"

It's true that Ricardo assumed this, but Ricardo assumed a lot of things that have since been revised, extended or even discarded by modern economists. The same could be said of Newton, Darwin and most (if not all) scientific thinkers of the past.

But economists haven't rejected the Ricardian model altogether; far from it, they've actually expanded this concept to cover a wider range of phenomena, and adjusted it in the face of new empirical realities, as scientists tend to do. Ricardo had no idea that his theory would be used so extensively and in so many different applications, or that it would have predictive ability..

Economists no longer think of CA in two-dimensional terms, as part of a simplistic model of trade between individual countries and products (eg -the two-countries, two-commodities theory). CA now operates within the same product on global supply chains. In this sense we would say that the US has a 'comparative advantage' in inventing i-phone technology, while China has a comparative advantage in i-phone assembly -same product, different ends of the supply chain. It is no longer true that countries credited with exporting a product have produced these goods themselves -intra-product comparative advantage now explains about 2/3rds of global trade.

This can and should be mentioned in the article, in place of the criticism section. The statement quoted above can then be removed from the lead and used to introduce this new section (start by mentioning the limitations in the classical Ricardian model, and then describe how the model has developed over time -sources are available). Jonathan f1 (talk) 01:43, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Comparative advantage


text:
Emerson College

Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and in Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," the college offers more than three dozen degree and professional training programs specializing in the fields of arts and communication with a foundation in liberal arts studies. The college is one of the founding members of the ProArts Consortium, an association of six neighboring institutions in Boston dedicated to arts education at the collegiate level. Emerson is also notable for the college's namesake public opinion poll, Emerson College Polling.

Originally based in Boston's Pemberton Square, the college moved neighborhoods several times, and is now located in the Theater District along the south side of the Boston Common. Emerson owns and operates the historic Colonial, Paramount, and Cutler Majestic theaters, as well as several smaller performance venues.

Origins

Charles Wesley Emerson founded the Boston Conservatory of Elocution, Oratory, and Dramatic Art in 1880, a year after Boston University closed its School of Oratory. Classes were held at Pemberton Square in Boston, where ten students enrolled in the conservatory's first class. The following year, the institution changed its name to the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, in honor of Charles Emerson's teacher at Boston University's School of Oratory, Professor Lewis B. Monroe. In 1890, the name changed again to Emerson College of Oratory and was later shortened to Emerson College in 1939.

Early expansion and growth
The college expanded and rented space at 36 Bromfield Street, and moved to Odd Fellows Hall on Berkeley and Tremont Streets in the South End of Boston. With the new location, the college's first library was established in 1892. Henry Lawrence Southwick, a faculty member and alumnus, became a financial partner for the college with Emerson. This financial partnership led to the acquisition of the Boston School of Oratory from Moses T. Brown in 1894.

At the turn of the century, faculty members Henry and Jessie Eldridge Southwick and William H. Kenney purchased the college from Dr. Emerson. Soon after, the college rented a new location in Chickering Hall.

Dr. Emerson retired in 1903 and William J. Rolfe, a Shakespearean scholar and actor, was named the second President of Emerson College of Oratory. His service as president lasted until his retirement in 1908.

As the Student Government Association of the college held its first meeting in 1908, the third president of the college, Henry Lawrence Southwick, was inaugurated. He introduced the study of acting and stagecraft into the college curriculum. During his tenure, the college rented a new building at 30 Huntington Avenue in Copley Square. The college was also granted the right to award Bachelor of Literary Interpretation (B.L.I.) degrees. In addition, Emerson became the first school with a collegiate-level program in children's theater in 1919. The school offered its first course in Journalism in 1924.

The college purchased its first piece of real estate with a new women's dormitory building at 373 Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, and started intramural sports in 1931 with the organization of volleyball games.

Administrative restructuring
In 1930, full charge and control of the college was transferred to the Board of Trustees by William H. Kenney, Henry Lawrence Southwick, and Jessie Eldridge Southwick.

When Harry Seymour Ross was appointed the fourth president of Emerson College in 1931, the first course in Radio Broadcasting was taught by the program director of WEEI, a Boston AM radio station. The purchase of buildings at 130 Beacon Street and 128 Beacon Street a year later began the presence of Emerson College in Boston's Back Bay. Emerson kept ownership of these buildings until summer 2003.

In the following years, a professional training program in Speech Pathology (1935) and the first undergraduate program in Broadcast Journalism (1937) were offered for the first time in the United States. Construction of a theater behind 128–130 Beacon began, and the institution was granted the right to award Master of Arts degrees.

Post-war era
In the post-war era, the G.I. Bill of Rights and the Broadcasting curriculum contributed to the rebalancing of the student body from a primarily-female population to an equally-balanced population of men and women. Boylston Green, the first president to have no prior association with the college, used his background as a dean of students to enhance extracurricular activities, including the establishment of a student activities fee. These efforts led to the first publication of Emerson's student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, in 1947, which is still in production today.

Emerson also saw major development in its broadcasting program. A one-year Certificate of Broadcasting was offered via evening classes. The FCC awarded the college a 10-watt license in 1949, and WERS, the first educational FM radio station in New England, was born. The station's power was increased to 300 watts three years later, and 18,000 watts by 1953.

At the start of the decade, in 1950, Emerson College became a member of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, an accreditation association for schools and colleges in New England.

President Green left the college in 1949 after being selected as president of the University of the South, and Godfrey Dewey served as Acting President until 1951. At that time, Jonathon French was appointed as Acting President, and he became president in December of that year, despite never being formally inaugurated.

Financial crisis of 1952 and recovery
The college suffered from a severe financial crisis in 1952, and sought $50,000 in emergency funding. At the time, the Chairman of the Corporation stated that without these funds, the college had three alternatives: go broke, sell out, or merge with another institution. Led by the National Alumni Council, a grassroots campaign was launched to improve the financial situation of the college. The efforts led to the resignation of the Council of Trustees, which was then replaced mostly by alumni. The new board elected a former Emerson history professor, S. Justus McKinley, as the fifth President of Emerson College.

Pulling out of its financial crisis, the college started to develop its programs with new facilities. In 1953, Emerson opened The Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at 145 Beacon Street, furthering the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program. A television studio was dedicated at 130 Beacon in 1954, with its first closed-circuit TV program the following year as WERS-TV. The first annual spring musical, Lady in the Dark by Moss Hart, was presented. Later, the school was authorized to grant honorary degrees, Bachelors and Masters of Science in speech, and a Bachelors of Music in conjunction with the Longy School of Music.

Back Bay as Emerson's campus
As the 1960s started, 373 Commonwealth Avenue was sold to purchase a dormitory at 100 Beacon Street for 609 undergraduate and 29 graduate students. A year later, a building at 150 Beacon Street was obtained for dorms, a dining hall, and administrative offices. With major gifts from Elisabeth Abbot Smith and J.F. Buzzard, the college library moved from the fourth floor of 130 Beacon Street into its own building at 303 Berkeley Street. In 1964, two buildings were purchased: 96 Beacon Street, which became the student union building, and 132–134 Beacon Street, which became a dormitory. The campus remained primarily in Back Bay until the late 1990s.

In 1967, Richard Chapin, former Dean of the Harvard Business School was inaugurated as the seventh president of Emerson College.

Shortly afterwards, an academic planning committee approved a new course of study for general education requirements. The first level of this program replaced the college-wide requirements with a two-year interdisciplinary course of study and electives. In order to accommodate this new program, the building at 67–69 Brimmer Street was purchased. The Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies was born. A year later in 1972, the college gained authorization} to grant BFA and MFA degrees.

Attempted relocation
Though Emerson College has moved to various locations within the city of Boston, the appointment of Allen E. Koenig (the ninth President of Emerson College) almost took the college completely outside of Boston. As soon as he was inaugurated in 1979, Koenig initiated talks with Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to relocate Emerson and merge the two schools. However, an agreement was never reached and the plan was dropped entirely.

At the start of the 1980s, Koenig made a proposal to the board of trustees for a major renovation of the college's facilities. The plan allowed for new performance spaces, classrooms, and faculty offices at Brimmer Street; remodeling the Library and Learning Resources Center at 150 Beacon; remodeling the 303 Berkeley building for the Humanities and Social Sciences Division; a new radio/audio complex at 126 Beacon; and construction of two new television studios behind 130 Beacon. In 1984, 335 Commonwealth Avenue was purchased for Administration and the Communication Studies department. The college also received the authorization to grant MFA degrees in Creative Writing.

Despite the newly purchased Commonwealth Avenue buildings, Lawrence, Massachusetts, was soon being discussed as a new location for Emerson College, about 44.5 km away from Boston. The Mayor of Lawrence announced that the necessary land would be taken by eminent domain and sold to Emerson for a token payment of $100. However, the five affected private landowners disagreed with this arrangement and fought the city in court. Three years later in 1988, Judge John Forte ruled in favor of the City of Lawrence. The river-front site in Lawrence was proposed as the new campus for the college. However, as real estate values in Boston dropped and the costs of constructing a new campus increased, the plans were put on hold and eventually abandoned when Koenig resigned as president in 1989. In 1988, the college bought a building at Zero Marlborough Street (also known as 6 Arlington Street) for dormitories and a dining hall.

Rebirth in the Historic Theater District

John Zacharis became the tenth President of Emerson College and faced a college fractured by the failed move to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Over the course of two years, he worked to restore unity to the campus by purchasing a building at 180 Tremont Street, now called the Ansin Building. This purchase started a transition from Back Bay to the Boston Theater District. Zacharis went on medical leave in 1992 and died of leukemia shortly after.

During Zacharis's leave, speech pathologist Jacqueline Weis Liebergott was appointed as Acting President and, a year later, inaugurated to become the first female president of the college. Shortly after, she submitted a 10-year master plan to the Boston Redevelopment Authority which involved moving the college to the Washington Street Theatre District.

In the mid-1990s, a planning document of the college's future plans was drafted and public hearings were held. The college also extended health care benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian faculty, administration and staff. Under the plan, dental coverage and tuition waivers were also available. That same year, the college debuted online with a $100,000 gift from Mrs. Mary E. Tufte. Financed by the contribution, The Tufte Lab was placed on the fourth floor of the Ansin Building and dedicated in Mrs. Tufte's honor. The lab was the catalyst for a telecommunications/fiber optic network installation, which was completed in October 1995.

In addition, the college announced the purchase and restoration of The Little Building (1994) across the street from the Ansin Building and next to Emerson's Majestic Theatre. Restoration was completed on the facades of the college's buildings at 126, 128, 130, 132–134, 168 Beacon Street, and 21 Commonwealth Avenue.

In 1998, Emerson purchased the Walker Building (Boston) at 120 Boylston. The building currently hosts the school's Department of Television, Radio, Film Production, the Institutional Advancement (Alumni and Development) department, and the Government and Community Relations department. It also contains the school's library and many of its classrooms.

21st century

The Tufte Performance Production Center (PPC) at 10 Boylston Place opened in 2003. The 11-story steel-and-glass building houses the Department of Performing Arts and includes two theaters (The Semel Theatre and The Greene Theatre), two television studios, makeup and costume labs, faculty offices, and an exhibition area. Also that year, the Cutler Majestic Theatre finished renovations and re-opened as one of the main stages of Emerson Stage productions.

Circa 2001 Emerson adjuncts voted to establish a union and in 2004 ratified its first contract with the college. The Affiliated Faculty of Emerson College, American Association of University Professors (AFEC-AAUP) represents 240 adjunct faculty members at Emerson College as of 2022.

In 2004, it was announced that the buildings at 96, 100, and 132 Beacon had been sold and would be vacated by the Fall 2006 semester. Construction of a new 14-story residence hall at 150 Boylston Street began in March 2004, and was completed in September 2006. It is the first entirely-new residence hall in Emerson's history. The facility includes residential suites, athletic facilities, offices and meeting rooms for student organizations, informal gathering places for off-campus students, spaces for small-group rehearsals and performances, and dining facilities.

The school purchased Boston's historic Paramount Theatre on Washington Street in 2005, with plans to build a new complex at the site including a 565-seat main stage theater inside the existing Paramount Theater and a 125-seat black box theater in an adjacent new building. Plans also included a 200-seat film screening room, eight rehearsal studios ranging from 700 to 1900 sqft, six smaller rehearsal spaces, a sound stage for film students, a new scene shop, and a dormitory.

In May 2006, the Campus Center in the Piano Row building was named the Max Mutchnick Campus Center after a major gift from the 1987 graduate and co-creator of the television sitcom Will & Grace. In the same year, the school exercised its purchase option on the Colonial Theatre, adjacent to the Little Building, and then converted the upper floors of the building to a 372-bed dormitory. With the addition of dorm space here and at the Paramount Theatre, the school hoped to accommodate up to 75% of its students in on-campus housing by 2010.

In September 2006, a long-running labor dispute between the administrators and faculty union was resolved. The administration limited the union's role in promotion and tenure, and brought department chairs into administrative roles, where they were not covered by the union. In response, the college agreed not to dismantle the union.

In September 2007, students in Emerson Alliance for Gays, Lesbians, and Everyone (E.A.G.L.E.) as well as the Student Government Association (S.G.A.) received the gender neutral bathrooms they had pitched to the administration in the spring. In September 2016, every bathroom on Emerson's campus was converted into a gender inclusive restroom.

On December 2, 2009, President Liebergott announced she would step down in June 2011. On September 8, 2010, the college announced she would be succeeded by M. Lee Pelton of Willamette University.

On March 18, 2010, the newly renovated Paramount Center officially opened, with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino illuminating the Paramount's original art deco marquee, which Emerson had restored. In addition to the 590-seat Paramount Theatre, the Paramount Center also houses an experimental black box theater, the Bright Family Screening Room, a sound stage, a scene/prop production shop, nine rehearsal studios, six practice rooms, four classrooms, 20 faculty offices, and a student commons area.

, two students are suing the college for mishandling their rape cases and failing to provide their Title IX rights.

In late 2019, Marlboro College announced that it would merge with Emerson at the end of the 2019–20 academic year. Under the agreement, finalized on July 23, 2020, Marlboro gave its endowment to Emerson, which created the Marlboro Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies. Marlboro students were guaranteed admission and tenure-track faculty were guaranteed teaching positions at Emerson. At that time, Marlboro had approximately 150 students.

In December 2020, President Lee Pelton announced his planned departure from Emerson College in June 2021 to assume a new role as CEO and President of the Boston Foundation. Jay M. Bernhardt became the 13th president of Emerson College on June 1, 2023, after serving as dean of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. On the day of his investiture ceremony, a protest for Palestinian liberation led to the arrest of 13 individuals, 12 of which were Emerson students. Additionally, 11 of those arrested were people of color. On April 25, 2024, 118 Emerson students were arrested (and several injured) after Boston Police cleared an encampment that was part of the nationwide college protests against the Israel-Hamas War.

Campus

Emerson College's permanent move from the Back Bay to its current location revitalized and preserved the distinct character and profiles of the surrounding neighborhoods, which comprise many significant historic landmarks and structures - the most notable being Boston Public Garden and Boston Common. Presently, the majority of the college's acquired properties were reclaimed, renovated and/or restored without having to introduce new developments into the Downtown core. Abutting the southeast corner of the Boston Common, the 8-acre urban campus at the intersection of Boylston Street and Tremont Street is served by Boylston station on the MBTA Green Line and Chinatown station on the Orange Line. In addition, Emerson College extends its campus outside Massachusetts state, operating in a fourteenth-century castle in the Netherlands and a major academic center on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood for its long-established Los Angeles program.

Ansin Building (180 Tremont Street)
Once owned by the Boston Edison Company, the Ansin Building was purchased by Emerson in 1992. The building stands 14 stories high and contains all Visual & Media Arts (VMA) labs and facilities, offices for all VMA and Writing, Literature & Publishing (WLP) departments, and is the home of WERS, WECB, and ETIN (Emerson's Talk and Information Network, an online radio service). It also contains the registrar's office, Tufte and 3D computer labs, Digital Production labs, and the Media Services center.

216 Tremont Street
The former Union Bank building at 216 Tremont Street houses the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the in-house clinic, The Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Center. Also located here are the offices of Student Financial Services, Health Services, Career Services, the Counseling Center and the International Student Center. The Bill Bordy Theater and Auditorium on the ground floor is used for lectures, performances, performance classes and special events.

Computer labs: Communication Sciences and Disorders Lab (CSD)

Walker Building (120 Boylston Street)

Provides classrooms, study rooms, offices to various non-academic and academic departments, five computer labs, and the Iwasaki Library. The fifth and sixth floors connect to the Tufte building.

Computer labs: Advanced Projects Lab (APL), Advanced Teaching Lab (ATL), Communication & Marketing Labs (CML) 1, 2, and Journalism Lab (JRL)

Production facilities: Newsroom TV Studio, Newsroom Editing Labs

Academic facilities: Iwasaki Library, Emerson College Archives and Special Collections

One of the sets of popular NBC sitcom Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020), donated by Emerson alumnus Max Mutchnick, was displayed in the Iwasaki Library. The set, Will and Grace's living room and kitchen, remained in the library until 2013, when it was moved to Emerson's Los Angeles campus.

Tufte Performance Production Center (10 Boylston Place)
The 11-story building is home to two television studios, two performing art theaters, the Huret and Spector Gallery, set and costume studios, classrooms, and the offices of the Department of Performing Arts. The fifth and sixth floors of the building are connected to the Walker Building.

Computer labs: CAD Lab

Performance theaters and facilities: Semel Theatre, The Kermit and Elinore Greene Theater, The Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Design Technology and Makeup Studio

Television studio and facilities: Di Bona Television Studio & Control Room, Studio B & Control Room

Cutler Majestic Theatre (219 Tremont Street)
The Cutler Majestic Theatre is home to Emerson Stage productions each year, various speaking events, Open House, and the EVVY Awards, Emerson's own award show and the largest student-run live television production in the country.

Paramount Center (555 Washington Street)
Opening in 1932 as a movie theatre seating 1,700, the Paramount Center was one of the first movie houses in Boston to play talking motion pictures. In 2005, Emerson College announced plans to renovate the Paramount Theatre, building an entire performing arts facility in and around the theatre. The renovated Paramount Center was designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects of Boston and built by Bond Brothers, and completed in 2010.

The project included not only renovating the Paramount Theatre into a 550-seat theater, but building both a new Performance Development Center and a new residence hall for the school on the 6th through 9th floors of the building. The complex features the 120-seat Liebergott Black Box Theatre, the 174-seat Bright Family Screening Room, nine rehearsal studios ranging from 700 to 1900 sqft, five practice rooms for individuals and small groups, a sound stage for film production classes, a scene shop, several classrooms, a restaurant, and Emerson faculty and staff offices.

Little Building (80 Boylston Street)
Emerson College purchased the building in 1994 and converted it into a 750-bed dormitory, which opened in September 1995. In 2016, the college unveiled plans to do a complete renovation of the Little Building, which would replace and restore the building's façade and add an additional floor behind the parapet on the top of the building, adding approximately 300 beds. The renovated dorm opened for the Fall 2019 semester and now houses up to 1,035 residents.

2 Boylston Place
2 Boylston Place is the most recent addition to the campus, It opened in 2017, and contains an 18-story residence hall that houses approximately 375 students.

ELA—Hollywood Center (Los Angeles)

Situated on Sunset Boulevard (at Gordon St) in Hollywood, the Emerson Los Angeles (ELA) building is a permanent home to Emerson's decades-old Los Angeles program. The international design firm Morphosis, headed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne, designed a signature building incorporating residential, teaching and administrative spaces. The 10-story building was opened for the college's winter semester in 2014. The new facility accommodates 217 students, approximately twice the number of students that were supported by Emerson's older facility in Burbank. The center allows undergraduate students to spend a full fall, spring or summer semester taking classes in Hollywood and participating in a semester-long internship at enterprises related to their field of study. In addition, ELA also offers professional training and workplace education for Los Angeles-area professionals who are not enrolled in the college degree programs.

Kasteel Well in the Netherlands
Emerson College owns and operates Kasteel Well in the rural province of Limburg, Netherlands, a national historical monument that provides living accommodations, classrooms, a resource center, and related facilities. Approximately 85 matriculated Emerson students attend the program each semester, and are chosen through a lottery-style system. Classes are taught by Dutch teachers, with several Belgian and other teachers from Europe on staff.

The Max Mutchnick Campus Center and the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium are important campus buildings. The former features several conference, meeting, and rehearsal spaces open to all students, offices for Student Life and the Student Government Association, and storage for any student organization. Also housing new offices for the Athletics Department, it is Emerson College's first-ever indoor athletic facility. The construction of the gym was controversial at the time of its announcement, considering the lack of performing space on campus and the lack of enthusiasm around athletics at Emerson.

Academics
Emerson College is divided into two schools (School of Communication and School of the Arts) and eight departments (Marketing Communication; Communication Studies; Journalism; Communication Sciences & Disorders; Performing Arts; Writing, Literature & Publishing; Visual & Media Arts; Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies) offering 31 undergraduate majors and 19 minors (Bachelor of Arts/Fine Arts, or Science), and 12 graduate degree programs (Master of Arts/Fine Arts, or Science). Though the college's programs are primarily focused on communications and the arts, the curriculum is delivered through a liberal arts and sciences education model, where students are required to take courses from other academic disciplines and also have the opportunity to declare a minor outside their major.

Emerson College is ranked by U.S. News & World Report in the Regional Universities North category. In 2021, it is ranked tied for 8th best overall, tied for 3rd in the Most Innovative Schools category, tied for 11th in Best Undergraduate Teaching, and 50th in the Best Value Schools category.

In 2018, Emerson admitted 36% of applicants, and is ranked 6th in the Universities-Master's (North) category according to U.S. News & World Report. There are 3,871 undergraduate and 1,048 graduate students as of 2019. Tuition for the 2018–2019 academic year is $46,016 for a full-time student; approximately 76% of students receive financial assistance in scholarships and grants, low-interest loans and part-time employment.

Film
Emerson College has an extensive film program that is one of the largest in the United States. In 2008/2009, it awarded 368 degrees in film, Radio, and Television. In August 2022, Emerson's Visual and Media Arts program was rated #6 in the nation by The Hollywood Reporter. Along with its VMA program, Emerson also operates a joint degree program with Paris College of Art in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France called the Global BFA in Film Art. This program opened in 2019.

Marketing
The college offers undergraduate programs in Marketing Communications (BS) and Business of Creative Enterprises (BA). Emerson's Department of Marketing Communication has on-campus graduate degrees in Integrated Marketing Communication and Global Marketing Communication & Advertising, as well as online degree in Digital Marketing and Data Analytics. Starting in the 2018–19 academic year, the GMCA and IMC programs were merged into a single MA program in Strategic Marketing Communication.

In 2014 Emerson was named #5 on the list of top 10 U.S. colleges to get a marketing degree published by USA Today. It was ranked #14 of 47 in 2018 Best Master's of Marketing Programs ranking by TFE Times, and #15 of 416 in 2019 Best Marketing Colleges in the U.S. ranking by College Factual.

Engagement Game Lab
The Engagement Game Lab is an applied research lab at Emerson College devoted to getting people involved with civic engagement in innovative ways and studying citizenship in a digital era. It is facilitated by professionals, but also has student assistants and offers its resources to students.

Athletics
The college is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Division III), the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), and the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). Emerson previously competed as a charter member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) from 1995 to 2013. The college was also a charter member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), which it competed in from 1984 to 1989. The athletics department has men's and women's lacrosse, tennis, basketball, cross country running, golf, volleyball and soccer teams, in addition to a women's softball team and a men's baseball team.

The women's softball team defeated Western New England College in 2007 to clinch the GNAC championship and earn the department's first appearance in the NCAA tournament. In 2012, Emerson's women's volleyball team defeated Rivier to become the 2012 GNAC Champions. In 2019, the men's basketball team won its first NEWMAC title in program history. In 2022 the women's soccer team defeated Clark University to clinch the NEWMAC title.

Student organizations
Emerson College offers a large number of organizations, most of which are highly active and diverse ranging from curriculum-based activities to social action organizations. Organizations are either maintained by the Student Government Association (if the organizations are student-led) or by campus departments (if the organizations are managed by faculty or staff).

The EVVY Awards
The largest student run, multi-camera, production in the nation, the EVVY Awards are Emerson College's annual award show. Judged by industry professionals, The EVVYs recognize Emerson students' achievements in their chosen discipline. Each May the show is broadcast live from the Cutler Majestic Theatre. More than 500 students are annually involved with the EVVY Awards. The organization is run entirely by Emerson students, and advised by staff members.

The 31st and 33rd Annual EVVY Awards won the College Television Award for Alternative/Variety programming.

Emerson Channel
The Emerson Channel is Emerson College's award-winning television station. The channel was created in 1999 under the Television, Radio, and Film Department. The organization is managed by a full-time staff member, and is run by Emerson College Students. Student works regularly receive collegiate EVVY awards.

Emerson Independent Video
EIV was founded in 1975 and is Emerson's largest entirely student run organization. EIV funds and assists in the production of live news, teleplays, single camera narratives, and other shows selected by the student management board from proposals made by fellow students at the end of each semester. EIV is known for their Emmy and AP Award-winning show, EIV News at 9p, as well as their pre-taped Evening News broadcast.

Emertainment Monthly
Emertainment Monthly is Emerson College's official entertainment magazine. Modeled after professional entertainment journalism outlets like Entertainment Weekly, Emertainment Monthly has been nominated for several EVVY Awards and participates in major entertainment events as official members of the press. Emertainment Monthly received the title of Best in Show in the "Website Small School" Category by the Associated Collegiate Press in 2015.

The Berkeley Beacon
The Berkeley Beacon is Emerson's student-run, weekly print newspaper. In 2012, it became the first collegiate newspaper website with a responsive design. It received the titles of Best in Show in the "Four-Year Weekly" and "Website Small School" categories by the Associated Collegiate Press in 2015.

Emerson Dance Company
Dance plays a large role in the student culture at Emerson College. In the fall of 2007 Emerson student, Michael Lupacchino ('10), re-founded the Emerson Dance Company—an SGA recognized, inclusive organization focused on bringing an open outlet for dance to students of all levels, years, and majors at the college. The company holds bi-annual showcases at the end of every semester highlighting student dancers and choreographers, all of whom have auditioned at the start of every semester and applied to choreograph through a selection process run by the company's executive board.

Emerson Dance Company (commonly referred to as EDC) also offers master classes, workshops, and events which are open to the entire Emerson community. In addition to participating in internal college activities, the group also engages in community service around the Boston area. The organization is actively involved with its alumni (inviting one back each semester to choreograph an alumni piece), as well as fellow college and professional level dance organizations around the Boston area (i.e. The Boston Ballet, Suffolk Dance, Northeastern Dance Company {NUDANCO}, and Urbanity Dance). The company has been advised by Senior Dancer-In-Residence in the college's Performing Arts Department, Marlena Yannetti, since its inception. Emerson Dance Company uses Emerson's theatres, including the newly renovated Paramount Center Mainstage.

Student radio
WECB is the campus student run radio station, overseen by a faculty advisor. WECB broadcasts online at its website and on closed-circuit campus television (channel 56).

In 1983–84, WECB was scheduled for demolition without reconstruction, as part of the Mass Communications $1.6M renovation project. Carol Kamerschen, Greg Weremey, Barry Scott and Russ Weisenbacher were instrumental in fighting the board of trustees, and convincing them to allow Weremey and Weisenbacher to design and build new studios at 126 Beacon Street, replacing the former facilities at 130 Beacon Street, 4th floor.

ETIN (Emerson's Talk and Information Network), an online talk radio service run by students, is also housed in the same space as WERS and WECB.

Comedy
The college has a long tradition in the comedy community, including student groups specializing in various combinations of sketch comedy, improvisation, and short films. There are twelve recognized comedy organizations: Emerson Comedy Workshop, Chocolate Cake City, Inside Joke, Jimmy's Traveling All-Stars, Derbyn Comedy, This is Pathetic, Stroopwafel, SwoMo Comedy, The Girlie Project, A Goose Troupe, Stand-Up in the Park, and Flawed Comedy. Several comedy classes, including "Comedy Writing for Television," "Intermediate Creative Writing: Comedy," and "Comedy Writers' Room" are a regular part of the curriculum. In September 2016, the college began offering a B.F.A. in Comedic Arts, claiming it to be "the first degree of its kind in the country."

The Emerson College Comedy Scholarship is offered each year to one rising senior who has "demonstrated leadership and talent in the writing, performance, or direction of comedy." The college is also home to the American Comedy Archives, established in 2005 to "acquire, preserve and make available primary source material that documents the professional activities of the ground breaking individuals who have written, produced or performed comedy for radio, television, motion pictures or live performance".

Presidents of Emerson

 * Charles Wesley Emerson (1880–1903)
 * William James Rolphe (1903–08)
 * Henry Lawrence Southwick (1908–32)
 * Harry S. Ross (1932–45)
 * Boylston Green (1945–49)
 * Samuel Justus McKinley (1949–67)
 * Richard Chapin (1967–75)
 * Gus Turbeville (1975–77)
 * Oliver Woodruff (1977–79)
 * Allen E. Koenig (1979–89)
 * John Zacharis (1989–92)
 * Jacqueline Liebergott (1992–2011)
 * M. Lee Pelton (2011–2021)
 * William Gilligan (Interim president, 2021–2023)
 * Jay Bernhardt (2023–present)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Emerson College


text:
Talk:Roald Amundsen

Reaching the North Pole / Spitsbergen vs. Spitzbergen
I corrected "Spitzbergen" (the German name) to Spitsbergen (the international as well locally official name). Someone reverted it twice with the pretext "not an improvement". This is wrong: in the article this name is written once as "Spitsbergen" and once as "Spitzbergen". As a general rule any name should not be written in two or more different ways in the same article, so it is certainly an improvement to standardize the spelling. Explain please, why should it be better for this article to maintain this year-old flaw. Beside that, "rewieving" means to revert changes that worsen an article, not to forbid any content that doesn't come from you. And second "beside": as long as an article is in Class C ("Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and solve cleanup problems") I find difficult to imagine any change that is not in some way an improvement. 194.174.73.80 (talk) 16:16, 31 August 2017 (UTC) Marco Pagliero Berlin
 * Both instances now read Spitsbergen, as per the name of that article? Martinevans123 (talk) 16:23, 31 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, thank you, and no harm meant: I realise now that the revert was the work of some bot. With all the respect, but this bot could possibly benefit from a bit of revision: I don't think "not an improvement" is an acceptable criterion, especially when the judge is some piece of software. 194.174.73.80 (talk) 16:49, 31 August 2017 (UTC) Marco Pagliero Berlin
 * Well spotted. Please feel free to continue with "considerable editing ... to close gaps in content and solve cleanup problems". Many thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:06, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

North pole
The lede states " He led the first expedition proven to have reached the North Pole in 1926" but the section "North Pole" does not actually ever state that he reached the north pole. Skepticalgiraffe (talk) 16:51, 21 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Hi! You wrote that “the section ‘North Pole’ does not actually ever state that he reached the north pole”.

 * But the revision of 11 November said “If these other claims are false, the crew of the Norge would be the first explorers verified to have reached the North Pole.” So the section “Reaching the North Pole” did say ”the crew of the Norge … reached the North Pole. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 07:06, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

 * That sentence is written in the subjunctive tense. It implies that he reached the pole, but does not actually state this.
 * However, I have rewritten the text and now, I hope, it is clearer. I also added a citation that explicitly states that they flew over the north pole. Skepticalgiraffe (talk) 22:35, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

 * Subjunctive is a mood, not a tense. That’s a minor point.

 * The main point is that the section says that Amundsen reached the North Pole (your edits have made that clearer), and is the first man proven to have done so.

 * The lead should mention this important fact: Amundsen led the first expedition proven to have reached the North Pole. Jan Arvid Götesson (talk) 05:05, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Roald Amundsen


text:
ADABAS

Adabas, a contraction of “adaptable database system," is a database package that was developed by Software AG to run on IBM mainframes. It was launched in 1971 as a non-relational database. As of 2019, Adabas is marketed for use on a wider range of platforms, including Linux, Unix, and Windows.

Adabas can store multiple data relationships in the same table.

History
Initially released by Software AG in 1971 on IBM mainframe systems using DOS/360, OS/MFT, or OS/MVT, Adabas is currently available on a range of enterprise systems, including BS2000, z/VSE, z/OS, Unix, Linux, and Microsoft Windows. Adabas is frequently used in conjunction with Software AG's programming language Natural; many applications that use Adabas as a database on the back end are developed with Natural. In 2016, Software AG announced that Adabas and Natural would be supported through the year 2050 and beyond.

Adabas is one of the three major inverted list DBMS packages, the other two being Computer Corporation of America’s Model 204 and ADR’s Datacom/DB.

4GL support
Since the 1979 introduction of Natural the popularity of Adabas databases has grown. By 1990, SAS was supporting Adabas.

Non-relational
In a 2015 white paper, IBM said, "applications that are written in a pre-relational database, such as Adabas, are no longer mainstream and do not follow accepted IT industry standards." However, an Adabas database can be designed in accordance with the relational model. While there are tools and services to facilitate converting Adabas to various relational databases, such migrations are usually costly.

Hardware zIIP boost
IBM's zIIP (System z Integrated Information Processor) special purpose processors permit "direct, real-time SQL access to Adabas" (even though the data may still stored in a non-relational form).

Adabas Data Model
Adabas is an acronym for A daptable Da ta Ba se S ystem (originally written in all caps; today only the initial cap is used for the product name.)

Adabas is an inverted list data base, with the following characteristics or terminology:
 * Works with tables (referred to as files) and rows (referred to as records) as the major organizational units
 * Columns (referred to as fields) are components of rows
 * No embedded SQL engine. SQL access via the Adabas SQL Gateway was introduced through an acquired company, CONNX, in 2004. It provides ODBC, JDBC, and OLE DB access to Adabas and enables SQL access to Adabas using COBOL programs.
 * Search facilities may use indexed fields or non-indexed fields or both.
 * Does not natively enforce referential integrity constraints, and parent-child relations must be maintained by application code.
 * Supports two methods of denormalization: repeating groups in a record ("periodic groups") and multiple value fields in a record ("multi-value fields").

Adabas is typically used in applications that require high volumes of data processing or in high transaction online analytical processing environments.

Adabas access is normally through Natural modules using one of several Natural statements including READ, FIND, and HISTOGRAM. These statements generate additional commands, under the covers, like open and close file. Adabas data can also be retrieved via direct calls.

Example of Natural program running against Adabas
In the above program, the search criteria specified in the WITH clause is processed by Adabas, whereas the additional filtering indicated by the WHERE clause is performed by Natural.

Output of Program:

Natural (4GL)
Natural is a proprietary fourth-generation programming language. It was not part of the initial (1971) Adabas release.

Natural programs can be "run" interpretively or "executed" as compiled objects. Compiled programs can more directly use operating system services, and run faster.

Proponents say that Natural has evolved from a competitor of COBOL to "being in competition with Java as language of choice for writing services (SOA)."

About Natural
Natural, which includes a built-in screen-oriented editor, has two main components: the system and the language.

The system is the central vehicle of communication between the user and all other components of the processing environment.

The language is structured and less procedural than conventional languages.

Natural objects (programs, maps, data areas, etc.) are stored in libraries, similar in structure to a DOS directory, and can be named with identifiers up to 8 characters.

Objects, even if they are of different types, cannot have the same name (within the same library).

Natural provides both online and batch execution. Batch programs can read/write up to 32 work files and print up to 32 reports. Natural also supports an interactive debugger that allows developers to step through the code and display the contents of variables.

Versions exist for z/OS, z/VSE, BS2000/OS, Linux, Unix and Windows.

Language features
Natural works not only with Adabas files, but also supports Oracle, DB2, and others.

Sample code: Output: Page     1                                                  18-08-22  16:42:22 ANNUAL     ANNUAL      ANNUAL SALARY     SALARY      SALARY --- --- ---                                                     0     240,976   6,380,000                                            The language is strongly-typed, using explicit typing of variables, which may be one of:
 * Alphanumeric
 * Numeric Zoned decimal up to 27 total digits, of which a total of 7 may be to the right of decimal point
 * Packed Decimal, same limits as "Numeric")
 * Integer (1, 2 or 4 bytes, ranging from -128 to 127 / -32,768 to 32,767 and -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647)
 * Date
 * Time (which includes the date)
 * Logical (True or False)
 * Binary
 * Control variable paralleling CICS map attribute
 * Floating Point (4 or 8 bytes)

The system file
The system file is an Adabas file reserved for use by Natural, which contains, but is not limited to, the following:
 * All Natural programs, both in source format (programs) and in object format (compiled), grouped in libraries;
 * File Definition Modules, or Data Definition Modules (DDM), which describe the fields defined within Adabas or other databases supported by Natural as well as userviews, which are fields groupings/subsets;
 * Natural error messages;
 * The texts of the Help function.

The system file is not limited to Adabas. Natural can also store programs in VSAM on mainframe operating systems. Natural uses the file system on Windows and various Unix implementations.

Programs
Natural objects are identified by names up to 8 characters, the first of which must be alphabetical.

The Natural program editor allows source in rows of up to 72 positions. Lines are numbered by 4 digits. This numbering is generated by Natural during program creation. Line numbers used by the compiler and editors, and can have important logical functions in the programs.

Comments can be included in two ways:

 * Full-line comments are identified by a "*" or "**" prefix.
 * Annotated code lines have a "/*" - everything to its right is a comment.

Examples: 0010 * These two lines (0010 and 0020) 0020 ** are comments. 0030 FORMAT LS = 80 /* As well as this part of the line (0030) 0040 * NOTE: The "/*" form has no space between the SLASH and ASTERISK. . . 0200 END "END" or "." indicates the end of a program.

A Hello World code example:

* Hello World in NATURAL WRITE 'Hello World!' END

Related products
Most Natural installations include add-on products such as:
 * Natural Security - used to administer security related to Users, Libraries and Files (tables).
 * Predict - A dictionary used to define and document Files, Relationships, Programs, etc.
 * Natural Construct - A code generator used to generate Natural applications.

title: ADABAS


text:
Deathtrap (plot device)

A deathtrap is a literary and dramatic plot device in which a villain who has captured the hero or another sympathetic character attempts to use an elaborate, improbable, and usually sadistic method of murdering them.

It is often used as a means to create dramatic tension in the story and to have the villain reveal important information to the hero, confident that the hero will shortly not be able to use it. It may also be a means to show the hero's resourcefulness in escaping, or the writer's ingenuity at devising a last-minute rescue or deus ex machina.

History
This plot device is generally believed to have been popularized by movie serials and 19th-century theatrical melodramas. A well-known example is the cliché of the moustache-twirling villain leaving the heroine tied to railroad tracks. Its use in the James Bond film series and superhero stories is well known.

Famous examples

 * The Engineer's Thumb (Sherlock Holmes story): the engineer Victor Hatherley is trapped inside a hydraulic press which would crush him to a pulp
 * Escape method: a woman working for the villains but not sharing their criminal ruthlessness opens a side panel at the last moment, allowing Hatherley to escape
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark: Sealing Indiana Jones and Marion in the Well of Souls
 * Escape method: Seeing a possible tunnel entrance, Jones climbed a statue and toppled it towards the wall to create an entrance to a passageway that led to the outside.
 * Live and Let Die: Doctor Kananga and a minion tie James Bond and Solitaire to a platform to be lowered into a shark-infested pool to be eaten alive.
 * Escape method: Without the villains seeing, Bond activates his watch's rotary saw function to cut through his restraints to free himself and attack Kananga.
 * Goldfinger: James Bond is shackled spreadeagled to a table and a circular saw (a laser in the film) is approaching to cut him in half. Unlike many deathtrap scenarios, Bond remains under constant supervision, and he does not use (or have) a device or outside help to escape.
 * Escape method: In the original novel, Bond loses consciousness, thwarting Goldfinger's plan to make him suffer, leading to the villain cancelling the imminent demise. In the film, Bond bluffs Goldfinger, and persuades him that his replacement "008" also knows about Goldfinger's plans and that Bond's death will immediately summon him to investigate, so Goldfinger elects to not take the chance of another spy coming on the scene to interfere, which he can avoid by holding Bond captive.
 * Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum": The unnamed character finds himself bound to a large slab, beneath a bladed pendulum that slowly lowers toward him as it swings, with the intention of slicing through his chest.
 * Escape method: The character lures rats to the ropes with a piece of meat. They chew through the ropes, allowing him to escape before the pendulum can slice him open.
 * In the Dudley Do-Right cartoon, villain Snidely Whiplash (a parody of the stereotypical "movie-serial" villain) tied up Nell Fenwick on a table-saw conveyor belt. The narrator (Paul Frees) noted that, "Fortunately, the belt was in need of oiling, so the trip was a slow one."  In elapsed time, through the course of the story, this actually took several hours.
 * The 1960s live action television series Batman usually had two-part episodes use a bizarre deathtrap as a cliffhanger.
 * Example: The Joker traps the Dynamic Duo without the use of their utility belts in the bottom of an industrial smokestack and begins to gradually fill it with a deadly heavier-than-air gas.
 * Escape method: The pair lock elbows and brace their backs against each other to walk up the smokestack to the top opening and slide down a support cable safely to the ground.
 * Final Destination: The plot of the series revolves around several people surviving a catastrophe because one of them had a premonition of it. In doing this the survivors have cheated Death, a malevolent and unseen force that sets up deathtraps to kill off the survivors in the order in which they had originally died.
 * The Venture Brothers: Doctor Venture in Escape to the House of Mummies Part 2. He described the trap he was in as "Slower than haunted house spiked walls, but not quite as slow as evil scientist spiked walls."
 * Escape Method: Magic forcing the walls to stop. A secondary, previously unknown Boiling Oil trap failed when a henchman confused it for "Hot Voile", which was being warmed in a clothes dryer.
 * The Perils of Penelope Pitstop always involved improbable deathtraps, usually set by the Hooded Claw.
 * Disney's The Great Mouse Detective: Ratigan ties up Basil and Dawson in an intricate mousetrap and tells them about his plot to kill the queen. He then leaves to see his scheme unfold, assuming that they will soon be dead.
 * Escape method: Basil activates the mousetrap he and Dawson are trapped in early, catching the ball that was meant to crush them, and setting off a chain reaction that interferes with every other aspect of the trap.
 * Saw: The plot of the series revolves around the Jigsaw Killer, a terminally ill vigilante who kidnaps his victims and places them in complex traps, both to test their resolve and force them to appreciate the value of life.
 * The Snowman: Rakel, Harry Hole's beloved, is forced to sit on a fast-melting snowman; when it had melted she would fall down and the razor-sharp wire around her neck would decapitate her.
 * Escape Method: Harry arrives on the scene and extricates Rakel in nick of time, at the acceptable price of the wire cutting off one of his fingers.
 * You're Next: One of the methods used by the killers includes the use of a garotte-based death trap. The heroine also sets up a death trap to defend herself from the killers but it accidentally kills a police officer that arrives to save her in the finale.

A simpler variation on the deathtrap is the villain speech, also known as monologuing. The villain, after having captured the hero or another victim, gives a long speech taunting and sneering at his victim, pontificating on how said victim will soon die, and reminiscing over how he tried for so long to get his kill and is now about to reap the reward. Villains may also give away details of their evil plots, on the rationale that the victim will die immediately and the villain often believes their victim deserves to know. This speech, given when the villain could have just killed the victim in a matter of seconds, is invariably used to give another character time to come in and save the victim, or for the victim to escape. In The Incredibles (which used the term "monologuing"), Mr. Incredible and Frozone attacked villains in the middle of their speeches (Mr. Incredible is seen attacking Syndrome and Frozone is mentioned to have attacked Baron von Ruthless off-camera). In a literary sense, the villain speech is also used as a form of exposition.

Even in relatively realistic stories, villains will often take a moment to say something pithy before finishing off the victim. The antagonist would often leave the victim to die whilst they commit their evil scheme. This is echoed in the film 2001 - A Space Odyssey when Hal the supercomputer, confident that Dave will soon perish outside the ship, tells him that he is about to take control of the expedition and then sees Dave off with the flat remark: "This conversation can have no meaningful purpose anymore - goodbye!". Dave manages to make his way inside and kill Hal.

Spoofs
The concept of the deathtrap/monologue is featured in many satires.

 * Deathtraps were heavily spoofed in the Austin Powers movies, including a replication of James Bond's Shark Infested Water deathtrap. It is first introduced as "an easily escapeable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death" with Austin placed on a platform over a pool (which Dr. Evil calls "the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism"). The trap is escaped by swinging on a grapple of dental floss. As the intended sharks with laserbeams were unavailable due to the complexities of international law regarding endangered species (much to Dr. Evil's disappointment), ill-tempered mutant seabass are used instead. As part of the spoof, Scott Evil, Dr. Evil's son, insists that the deathtrap is pointless and that they could simply shoot them with a pistol, which is nearby, and yells at his father for the further incompetence of leaving them alone. Dr Evil responds that not watching the killing but assuming it went well makes perfect sense.
 * In the sitcom Blackadder, Prince Edmund is captured by his nemesis, the Hawk, who straps him into a chair which, in sixty seconds, will mutilate him in a variety of ways. Edmund's friends, Baldrick and Percy, manage to poison the Hawk and his followers, but while celebrating this unlikely victory, the time runs out, and Edmund suffers terribly by the chair's mechanisms, although not fatally (he dies when he drinks the same poisoned wine that killed the Hawk, and later, the royal family). In another episode, Lord Flashheart is confronted by a villain who begins an evil villain speech. However, rather than waiting for him to finish, Flashheart merely shoots him without warning.
 * Curse of Monkey Island makes fun of this cliché. The villain LeChuck, after capturing Guybrush Threepwood, insists on telling him his plans before executing him. By this dialogue, interesting background story that connect the games together are given to the player. Guybrush does him the favour to listen, but after a while he is so bored that he refuses to listen any more, even if LeChuck pleads to continue.
 * The famous line from Watchmen wherein the character Ozymandias takes his time and explains in detail how he will set his plan irrevocably in motion and then, in a deliberate skewering of the monologuing tendencies of supervillains, explains that "Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain. I did it thirty-five minutes ago."
 * In The Simpsons episode "You Only Move Twice", which generally spoofs Bond villain clichés, supervillain/great boss Hank Scorpio has "Mr. Bont" strapped to a table with a laser à la Goldfinger. Bont manages to escape, only to be tackled by Homer. Scorpio's henchmen promptly shoot Bont.
 * Some incarnations of the Evil Overlord List point out the impracticality of deathtraps. Some examples include making sure the deathtrap has a very small estimated time of death or such lines as "Shooting is NOT too good for my enemies."
 * Season 5 Episode 8 of the animated classic series The Flintstones entitled "Dr. Sinister" spoofed the James Bond series ("James Bondrock") and featured, among other deathtraps, Fred and Barney being tied to a slab with a slowly descending pendulum with blade, a la Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum". The duo escape when Barney holds his tied hands up and the blade slices through his bonds. He then unties himself and frees Fred before the final swing slices the slab in half.

title: Deathtrap (plot device)


text:
Deathtrap

Deathtrap may refer to:

Characters

 * Deathtrap, a hypothetical organism from Extraterrestrial
 * Deathtrap, a character from Stormwatch, leader of a team of mercenaries
 * Deathtrap, a robot constructed by a character called Gaige to serve as her personal bodyguard in the fictional Borderlands series of games programmed by Gearbox

Music

 * "Death Trap", a song by Hawkwind from their 1979 album PXR5
 * "Death Trap", a song by Pantera from their 1988 album Power Metal
 * "Death Trap", a song by Gravediggaz from their 1997 album 6 Feet Deep

Video games

 * The Death Trap, a 1984 video game developed and published by Square for the NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, and Fujitsu FM-7
 * Will: The Death Trap II, sequel to the previous game
 * Deathtrap (video game), a 2015 video game developed and published by NeocoreGames
 * Death Trap, kind of a stage fatality which occurs in Mortal Kombat during the fight

Plays, film and television

 * Deathtrap (play), a 1978 play by Ira Levin which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play
 * Deathtrap (film), a 1982 film based on the Levin play
 * Death Trap, a 1977 film better known as Eaten Alive
 * Deathtrap (plot device), a plot device in fiction and drama
 * "Death Trap" (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), a second-season episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Other

 * A political neologism used to condemn the budget proposal The Path to Prosperity
 * A slang term for a consumer product that does not meet safety regulations and may pose a risk of injury or death

title: Deathtrap


text:
Software AG

Software AG is a German multinational software corporation that develops enterprise software for business process management, integration, and big data analytics. Founded in 1969, the company is headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and has offices worldwide.

With over 10,000 enterprise customers in over 70 countries, it is the second largest software vendor in Germany, and the seventh largest in Europe. Software AG is traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol “SOW” and part of the technology index TecDAX.

In 2023, Silver Lake and Bain Capital made separate offers to buy the German company. In June, Software AG had most of its controlling interest acquired by Silver Lake, in a deal valued at 2.4 billion euros.

History
The company was founded in 1969 by six young employees at the consulting firm AIV (Institut für Angewandte Informationsverarbeitung). One of the founders was the mathematician Peter Schnell, who later became chairman of the board for many years.

ADABAS was launched in 1971 as a high-performance transactional database management system. In 1979, Natural, a 4GL application development English-like language, that was mainly developed by Peter Pagé, was launched. The company continued to open offices and subsidiaries in North America (1971), Japan (1974), UK (1977), France (1983), Spain (1984), Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia (1985).

By 1987, Software AG had around 500 employees, 12 subsidiaries in Europe and offices in more than 50 countries. In 1999, Software AG was listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange and soon after the company released Tamino Information Server and Tamino XML Server.

In January 2005, Software AG acquired Sabratec Ltd, a privately held legacy integration vendor headquartered in Israel. This was followed by the acquisition of its Israeli distributor SPL Software in March 2007 and the application modernization business of another Israeli company, Jacada in December 2007, which formed the basis for its research and development center in Israel.

The company launched Centrasite SOA Governance platform in 2006 and with the $546M acquisition of U.S. rival webMethods in 2007 Software AG became active in the enterprise service bus, business process management and service-oriented architecture (SOA) product space.

In July 2009, it announced a takeover offer for the Germany-based company IDS Scheer AG. Since February 2010, IDS Scheer is part of the Software AG Group. In October 2010, the company acquired New Jersey based Data Foundations, a leading master data management provider.

In May 2011, Software AG acquired Terracotta, Inc. and Metismo Ltd. Terracotta Inc is in the field of in-memory technology for high-performance applications and cloud services - especially the middleware platform WebMethods should benefit from this acquisition.

In April 2012, Software AG (SAG) announced buying the British technology provider my-Channels. With it, Software AG gained in-house access to universal messaging technology that allowed the company to transfer their data streams quickly and safely to the cloud and mobile applications.

In March 2013, SAG invested in Berlin-based company metaquark, which is specialized in mobile software - the aim is to jointly develop the webMethods Mobile Suite. In April, Software AG bought the US cloud platform provider LongJump, which offers modules and templates for building and running business applications in the public or private cloud settings.

On June 13, 2013, it acquired alfabet AG, a software provider of enterprise architecture and IT portfolio management. Then SAG announced purchased the Apama Complex Event Processing platform of Progress Software; the platform provides an environment for the design and operation of CEP applications providing tools and graphical analysis and test capabilities for analysts, developers and administrators.

In August 2013, Software AG acquired JackBe to serve as the foundation for its Intelligent Business Operations Platform, which provides analytics and decision management for real-time applications. In December, Software AG invested in big data analytics company Datameer, which offers self-service Big Data Analytics and "to follow cutting edge technology trends".

On March 27, 2017 SAG announced the acquisition of Cumulocity GmbH, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. On June 12, 2018 Software AG acquired the Belgian self-service analytics company, TrendMiner NV., a specialist in virtual data analysis for the manufacturing and process industry.

In April 2023, private equity firm Silver Lake agreed to buy the company for €2.2 billion (US$2.4billion). Silver Lake was outbid by Bain Capital in a non-binding counteroffer through its portfolio company Rocket Software, but Software AG's board and management supported the original offer citing its higher likelihood to go through and since it would remain an independent company. In June 2023, Silver Lake secured 63% of Software AG.

Corruption allegations
In July 2017 allegations emerged in South Africa that Software AG made "kickback" payments by entering into questionable commission agreements with a Gupta-controlled company in the hope of securing lucrative state contracts. "Software AG [launched] an internal investigation after a media report alleged it had paid kickbacks as part of a wide-ranging South African scandal..."

Products
Software AG markets software products in technologies like DBMS, application modernization, SOA, BPMS and ESB. Below are a few of their products on the market.
 * ADABAS – a high performance transactional database management system
 * Alfabet – IT Planning, Portfolio Management, and Enterprise Architecture Software
 * Apama – Platform for streaming analytics and intelligent automated action on fast-moving big data. Combines event processing, messaging, in-memory data management and visualization.
 * ARIS – acquired business process analysis platform. A free version is available as ARIS Express.
 * Centrasite – a flagship SOA governance application which provides UDDI as well as governance
 * CONNX - Data Access, Data Movement (ETL), Streaming Analytics
 * Cumulocity – an Internet of Things (IoT) platform that provides services for connectivity for networked digital devices and sensors
 * Natural – an English-like fourth-generation programming language for application development
 * NaturalONE - Eclipse-based integrated development environment natural applications
 * Presto – Self-service, real-time data visualization and exploration tool combines data from different applications to create mashups, which can be displayed on any device.
 * Tamino Information Server – Information server based on XML for the storage, management and transfer of structured and unstructured data, now called webMethods Tamino
 * Terracotta, Inc. – Company behind opensource Ehcache. Big memory, Quartz scheduler are their primary products. My-Channel's Nirvana messaging is now offered as Terracotta Universal Messaging.
 * webMethods – an ESB, API Management, BPMS, SOA enablement, MDM and B2B integration
 * Cumulocity IoT - an IoT product, providing hardware, Cloud and Edge Services as well as platforms adaptable to the Software AG Cloud

Gartner Rankings
Software AG has been consistently ranked as a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant reports for enterprise integration platform as a service (iPaaS), enterprise architecture tools, and application integration middleware. In the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, it was ranked as a leader for the fifth consecutive time.

In the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools, SAG was also ranked as a leader for the fifth consecutive time. Additionally, in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Application Integration Middleware, the company was ranked as a leader for the 15th consecutive time.

Communities
Software AG uses two main customer communities: the ARIS Community, for the user group around ARIS, and the TECHcommunity, for collaboration around Cumulocity IoT, Adabas & Natural, webMethods, Apama, Alfabet, TrendMiner. In August 2021 Software AG introduced its virtual platform Software AG Groups where developers and customers can connect, collaborate, learn and share ideas.

The Software AG University Relations Program organizes events and features free education packages that are self-explanatory, easy to use and made for remote learning. In an effort to build an academic user group, students gain free access to software, video tutorials and online training with the option to get certified upon completion.

In 2022, Software AG partnered with the all electric ERA Championship as a title sponsor, bringing their technological expertise to the series, implementing solutions regarding data and utilizing the series as a platform for the company's ESG initiatives.

title: Software AG