Trade statistics of the Zollverein, 1834-1871

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the fact that the lack of useable German trade statistics for the period preceding the German political unification is not a fatality. The documents published during the Zollverein period by the Central Bureau of the Zollverein, the Statistische Uebersichten über Waaren-Verkehr und Zoll-Ertrag im Deutschen Zoll-Vereine für das Jahr..., do not provide prices nor trade flows in value nor any indication of countries of ultimate origin and destination. To overcome these imperfections, a great number of estimates of Zollverein trade statistics have been published since 1842 but they are questionable as well. Nevertheless, the good quality of Statistische Übersichten's quantity data should make possible the reconstruction of consistent series of German trade, total, by product and in value, over the period 1834-1871.