Resumen

UHTHOFF LOPEZ, Luz María. The Ministry of Finance and the Modernization of Statistics, 1876-1910. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2019, vol.40, n.158, pp.27-55.  Epub 31-Dic-2019. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v40i158.312.

This paper sets out to examine how statistics gradually emerged as a fundamental element of public finances for the modern State, and how they became configured into a specific kind of language through which official numbers were made to represent the behavior of public finances. These statistics were developed to measure national wealth and its growth process so as to permit comparisons with other countries and make its future behavior predictable. It is important to note that the evolution of public finances in the 19th century also entailed creating new institutions to perform its functions, and that formalizing statistical methods was a priority for all those agencies, not only as a technical issue but also a political one.

Palabras llave : statistics; public finances; administrative modernization; bureaucrats; specialized knowledge.