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ABSTRACT
Struggles over the degree of the scientific autonomy of statistics led to the demise of one of the first international scientific congresses in European history. But in the 1880s, only a decade after the collapse of that congress, the International Statistical Institute (ISI) was founded as its immediate successor to overcome the nationalist disputes that hindered the idealistic visions of a universal science breakthrough. The connection between universal scientific concepts and state reform processes is examined by the case study of the implementation of national income statistics according to internationally comparable standards in the German Reich. Thereby, the organizational history of the ISI, the role models of the participants and national realities are set in relation. The article argues that the semi-official character of international statistics implies a tension between scientific autonomy and dependence on national administrations. Equally, it offers the possibility of promoting national reform processes with reference to international integration, as the institutional responsibility for the German national income calculation in the 1930s demonstrates.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Porter, “Rise.”
2. Schneider, “Internationalisierung,” 104.
3. Mazower, “Welt,” 112–13 ff.
4. The term semi-official science refers to the organizational form of international statistical congresses since the mid-nineteenth century and considers this to be characteristic for the context in which the concepts of international statistics were negotiated: Horstmann, “Halbamtliche Wissenschaft.”
5. Hacking, “Taming,” 35.
6. Ehling, “Historische Statistik,” 414; and Lee, “Official Statistics,” 174 ff.
7. For example, unlike civil servant university professors, the heads of Prussian official statistics were appointed by the Ministry of the Interior: Schaer, “Mitwirkung,” 234 ff.
8. Lee and Schneider, “Amtliche Statistik,” 60.
9. Bourdieu, “Selbstversuch,” 84 ff.
10. Royal Statistical Society, “Foreign Press Notices,” 343.
11. Lexis, Das internationale statistische Institut (1899), Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany (GStA PK), I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 85.
12. Blenck, Die IX. Tagung des internationalen statistischen Instituts in Berlin, Statistische Korrespondenz, Jahrgang XXIX. Nr. 35 (19 September 1903), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 222.
13. Contrary to the theory of historical institutionalism, content overload does not lead to a deeper statistical integration and autonomization of Congress as well as a concomitant loss of nation-state control over statistics, but to the dissolution of the institution; Pierson, Path, 131 ff.
14. Campion, “International Statistics” and Nixon, “History,” 10 ff.
15. Westergaard, “Contributions,” 182 ff.
16. Menges, “Geschichte,” 43.
17. Brian, “Bibliographie.”
18. Vom Brocke, “Bevölkerungswissenschaft,” 307.
19. The celebrations were postponed out of respect for the late Duke of Albany: Nixon, “History,” 11.
20. Neumann-Spallart, “Übersichten”; Franz von Jurascheck continued this work after Neumann-Spallart’s death as vice-president of the Austrian Central Commission.
21. Neumann-Spallart, Resumé.
22. Zahn, “L’Institut,” 8 ff.
23. Nixon, “History,” 13 ff.
24. Lexis, Das internationale statistische Institut (1899), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 84.
25. Zimmermann, “Internationale Statistische Institut.”
26. Lexis, Das internationale statistische Institut (1899), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 86.
27. Ibid., B. 87.
28. ISI-Web, “History.”
29. Nixon, “History,” 13.
30. Ibid., 16.
31. Ibid., 17; and Randeraad, “States,” 187.
32. In Vienna in 1913, for example, it was decided to have a simple majority in the second ballot for the election of members; Nixon, “History,” 19.
33. Bulletin de l’Institut international de statistique, 31.
34. Nixon, “History,” 21.
35. Royal Statistical Society, “Foreign Press Notices,” Appendix I, Article I (2).
36. Nixon, “History,” 17.
37. International Statistical Institute 1886 cit. after Campion, “International Statistics,” 125.
38. Lexis, Das internationale statistische Institut (1899), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 87.
39. Nixon, “History,” 14.
40. Ibid., 8 ff.
41. Lexis, Das internationale statistische Institut (1899), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 91.
42. Ibid.
43. Nixon, “History,” 18.
44. Ibid., 20.
45. Ibid., 22 ff.
46. Ibid., 25.
47. Lexis, Die Nützlichkeit der internationalen statistischen Vereinigung (1899), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 95.
48. Ministerium für auswärtige Angelegenheiten an Ministerium des Innern 30. August 1899, GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 103.
49. GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 149–154 and 166.
50. ISI-Web, “World Statistics.”
51. Reichskanzlei an Ministerium des Innern am 1. August 1902, GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 152 and 168.
52. GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 188.
53. Präsident des KSA an Ministerium des Innern, GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 154.
54. GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 214–7.
55. Ibid., B. 210.
56. Allerhöchster Erlaß am 15. August 1903, GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 230.
57. Ibid., B. 230–3.
58. Der preußische Minister des Innern an den Präsidenten des statistischen Landesamtes Saenger (25. November 1927), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 3844, B. 124.
59. Desrosières, “Politik,” 173.
60. Lexis, Das internationale statistische Institut (1899), GStA PK, I HA, Rep. 77, Tit. 94 Nr. 099 Bd. 05, B. 89.
61. Bateman, “Comparibility” and Nixon, “History,” 84.
62. Fellner, “Schätzung.” In Austro-Hungary official national income estimates had been firmly established since 1883: Studenski, “Income,” 134.
63. Wagner, “Statistik.”
64. For example, in the Russian Tsarist Empire from 1810 to 1855; Studenski, “Income,” 350.
65. Clark, “Conditions,” 374.
66. For a historical overview, Vanoli, “History.”
67. Studenski, “Income,” 134 ff.; and Lepenies, “Macht,” 123.
68. Storch, “Kritik” and Schmoller, “Lehre.”
69. Studenski, “Income,” 134.
70. Fellner, “Volkseinkommen,” 78; Hermann tried to mediate between the English and French theoretical traditions and calculation methods at the same time; Hermann, Staatswirtschaftliche Berechnungen.
71. Ibid., 77. This fundamental distinction between private income and social income can already be found in Marx’s work: Studenski, “Income,” 23–4.
72. Fellner, “Volkseinkommen,” 77–8.
73. Ibid.
74. Zimmermann, “Statistische Institut,” 129.
75. Bulletin de l’Institut international de statistique 1903, 184–8; and Fellner himself was a follower of the Smithian concept, Studenski; “Income,” 21.
76. Ibid., 127.
77. Speich Chassé, “Erfindung,” 74.
78. Diehl et al., “Diskussionsprotokoll,” 143–56.
79. Speich Chassé, “Erfindung,” 67.
80. These resurface in the course of debates on development economics and a critique of GDP, ibid.
81. Wagner, “Methodik,” 41 ff.; and Jastrow, “People’s Property,” 27.
82. Lorenz, “Forschungslehre,” 18.
83. Studenski, “Income,” 134.
84. Both discussed their presented conceptions of national income in Italy and Hungary in the section for economic statistics; Bulletin de l’Institut international de statistique 1930, 127 ff.
85. Studenski, “Income,” 114, 142–3.
86. Verrijn-Stuart et al., “Discussion,” 458. On the various methods of national income in different countries, Stamp, “Methods.” After the Second World War, the comprehensive production concept became the universal standard within the framework of the UN: Studenski, “Income,” 24.
87. Ibid., 151.
88. Ibid., 144.
89. Studenski cites further reasons, such as the technological change in the economy or intensified class conflicts, which forced an examination of the concept of national income; ibid., 158 ff.
90. Lepenies, “Macht,” 125.
91. Tooze, “Wirtschaftsstatistik,” 361 ff.
92. Lepenies, “Macht,” 133.
93. Tooze, “Statistical Economics,” 527. Simon Kuznets also took a prominent role at the National Bureau in research on the calculation and standardization of national income, and his approach to GDP later influenced the European debate; Lepenies, “Macht,” 81 ff.
94. Speich Chassé, “Erfindung,” 82 ff.
95. Lepenies, “Macht,” 129 ff.
96. Parts of these economic statistics were also presented by Wagemann at the 1938 ISI meeting in Prague; Bulletin de l’Institut international de statistique 1938, 192–202.
97. Lepenies, “Macht,” 130 ff.
98. Tooze, “Statistics,” 111.
99. Hauf and Voy, “Produktions- und Einkommensbegriffe,” 150.
100. The honorary president of the ISI, Georg von Mayr, already recognized a dilemma due to the national character of statistical surveys; Mayr, “Statistik,” 2.
101. Randeraad, “States,” 187.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jan-Philipp Horstmann
Jan-Philipp Horstmann is an academic associate at the German Federal Archives in Berlin. Previously, he was academic assistant and lecturer at the University of St. Gallen’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He studied at Leopold-Franzens-University of Innsbruck (B.A. Political Science), Humboldt-University of Berlin (M.A. Social Sciences with a focus on European Integration and Internationalisation) and University of St. Gallen (Ph.D. Organisation and Culture). His doctoral thesis explored the scientific history of international statistics.