18 Century data trade : a comparative analysis on Austria and Northern Italy

The aim of this paper is to compare administrative functions and data trade structure between three regions at the end of the 18th Century: Austria, the State of Milan and the Republic of Venice. They make an interesting case study because they were either neighboring (Austria/Venice; Venice/Milan) or under the same political power (Austria/Milan). The analysis is based on the sources from their administrative bureaus. While in the Republic of Venice two magistracies were generally responsible of registering the transit through Venice getaway (Senato and Cinque Savi alla Mercanzia), the Milanese bureaucracy specifically collected import-export data to reform the state’s customs duties by three councils: the Supremo Consiglio di Economia, the Magistrato Camerale, the Camera dei Conti. In the Austrian case instead the evolution of trade statistics in the course of the 18th century started with regional statistics, like the commercial office (Kommerzkolleg) in Bohemia, and led to the establishment of centralized institutions like the Bureau of Trade (Universal-Kommerzien-Direktorium) subordinated to the Court Chamber (Hofkammer). The way trade statistics were compiled was a function of the state's economic policy fostering the emergence of an internal market. For most of the western regions this was reached with the establishment of the customs' union in 1775. Trade flows between the Austrian and Czech regions with their trading partners through the port of Triest, but also by other trade routes are analyzed. First we shall show and then compare which products were classified and how data were registered. Secondly we will compare the general evolution of trade in Milan, Vienna and Venice, showing continuity and change in manufacturing specialization and division of labour at the end of the 18th century.