Statistics and the German State, 1900-1945: The Making of Modern Economic Knowledge (Cambridge Studies in Modern Economic History)
Language: English
Pages: 336
ISBN: 0521039126
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Tooze provides an interpretation of the period of dramatic statistical innovation between 1900 and 1945. The Weimar Republic and the Third Reich were in the forefront of statistical innovation in the interwar decades. New ways of measuring the economy were inspired both by contemporary developments in macroeconomic theory and the needs of government. Under the Nazi regime, these statistical tools provided the basis for a radical experiment in economic planning. Based on the German example, Tooze argues for a more wide-ranging reconsideration of the history of modern economic knowledge.
appointed to monitor the flow." Meanwhile, Leisse tightened his grip within the Office. From February 1937 all information supplied to Goering's expanding organization was channelled through his Department. 12 And Leisse was even authorized to issue instructions to other Departments of the Office on Goering's behalf. After the establishment of the Four-Year Plan in the autumn of 1936, the link became closer still. Goering's personal staff insisted on remaining in direct touch with Leisse. They
peacetime bonanza? It was the military crisis of the winter of 1941 that gave real urgency to the drive for mechanization. The rise of Todt and Speer spelled the end of any military ambition to control the economic war effort. Passow's Hollerith Department was subordinated to Rudolf Schmeer as Speer's Maschinelles Berichtswesen (Mechanical Reporting System, MB). But within Speer's Ministry the Hollerith technicians discovered a wide new field of activity. They were to provide the technical fix
return to genuine industrial 'selfgovernment'. By contrast, Rathenau and Moellendorff, the original architects of wartime self-government, advocated the continuation of planning into the peace. They envisioned a new system of `German socialism', emerging from the wartime symbiosis of state and industry. To suspicious businessmen, the new Auskunftspflicht, with its wideranging administrative powers, was a sign of things to come. The centralization of economic knowledge was the first step towards
of German economics, in fact provides the key to a proper understanding of German economic statistics after 1924.26 Notes: Figures include civil servants, clerical and temporary personnel. Sources: 1923: GStA 1. HA Rep. 77 3884 no. 188, `Konferenz', p. 15. 1924-7: Verhandlungen des Reichstags III. Wahlperiode 1924 Anlagen vol. 398 Nr. 343, vol. 403 Nr. 1147, vol. 409 Nr. 2562, vol. 416 Nr. 3503. 1928 and 1929: Verhandlungen des Reichstags IV. Wahlperiode 1928 Anlagen vol. 433 Nr. 724, vol. 439
by a particular industry in recording units of production, materials and labour. In this sense, the census was no longer a single survey. It was pieced together from hundreds of separate enquiries. The census thus demanded a new level of knowledge on the part of the statisticians. It was no longer enough simply to specify the general objective of the survey and to frame a clear set of questions. The censuses of production started from a detailed map of the technical organization of German