Le bureau de la statistique générale de France et l’institutionnalisation des statistiques agricoles : l’Enquête agricole de 1836

• Main Author: Alp Yücel Kaya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association Œconomia 2013-10-01
• Series: Œconomia
• Subjects: history of statistics; agriculture; agricultural survey; Statistique générale de la France; July Monarchy; Moreau de Jonnès (Alexandre)
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/101
• ISSN: 2113-5207; 2269-8450

This article is in line with works on the construction of social and economic statistics in France. We discuss in great detail the development and the implementation of the 1836 agricultural survey by the Bureau de la Statistique générale de la France (Board of Statistics of France). We confront on the one side the theoretical foundations of the survey—notably the works by Moreau de Jonnès, head of the Bureau—and on the other side the constraints and obstacles of political, social, administrative or technical kind that were to affect its implementation. In replacing the 1836 agricultural survey within the context of the Monarchie de Juillet (July Monarchy) and of the debates within statistical economists, we show that it is a turning point in the history of economic statistics in France, leading to the first precise estimation of the territorial wealth of the country.