Abstract (EN)

Trade statistics provide unique sets of data on early modern economies. They can help explore their economic geography. They are of interest for economists interested in economic development and early globalization. They are crucial to understand the Industrial Revolution. Still, they have been underutilized by economists and economic historians alike. This volume gives a detailed overview on the existing quantitative sources on European trade data, focusing on the eighteenth century. In the introduction we discuss the historiography of the use of early trade statistics in economic history and we present two recent projects conducted in France in this area: TOFLIT18 and RICardo. The volume includes twenty-three short essays that present the sources of European early trade statistics. Seven additional papers discuss the methodological issues of using early trade statistics and illustrate how these statistics can be mobilized to produce new insights on European economic history.