Land, People, and the Unused Economic Potential of Hungary

Abstract

This article offers a case study about the importance of Staatenkunde (descriptive statistics) for Cameralism and the development of economic thought in Hungary, a country that has been rarely included into political economic studies about Cameralism. It aims at showing how the Hungarian statistical works and debates integrate and feed back into the broader European discourse of Cameralism and the role of “useful knowledge” in making the modern (industrial) economies. It points out the role of statistics in the assessment of the real production value and productivity of agriculture in the Kingdom of Hungary 1773–1848, at that time part of the Habsburg Monarchy. It displays the role of statistical knowledge production in the assessment of the position of Hungary in the monarchy and its importance for the national reform movement.