Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Maria Letizia D’Autilia
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, Roma
Title: La funzione pubblica della statistica nel pensiero di Rodolfo Benini 
(The public function of statistics in Rodolfo Benini's thought)
Abstract: The paper examines one of the aspects of Rodolfo Benini’s biography, his profile of engagé ‘public’
statistician. Benini, since the foundation of the Direzione generale di statistica [Statistical Head Office]
of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade, committed himself in the institutional and scientific
legitimisation of the statistical method. His activity in various organisations and offices of the
civil service was intense especially in the period preceding the rise of Fascism. In this period he 
contributed to building an independent and influential ‘professional bureaucracy’, deeply rooted in the
institutional system created by the Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti. The spread of the statistical
method fostered the public role of the ruling classes in the 20th century, by making them aware, albeit
imperfectly, of the informational power of data
Classification-JEL: N00
Keywords: storia della statistica; Italia; Rodolfo Benini
(history of statistics; Italy; Rodolfo Benini)
Journal: Il Pensiero Economico Italiano
Pages: 51-66
Volume: 16
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
File-URL: https://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200806301&rivista=63
Handle: RePEc:pei:journl:v:16:y:2008:1:4:p:51-66