摘要
人口统计是现代国家治理的技术基础,统计水平与国家治理能力密切关联。美国是最早推行常规人口统计的西方国家之一,其人口统计制度和实践源于英国殖民时期。美国受英国“政治算术”传统影响,又吸纳政治经济学中的人口治理思想,于1787年联邦宪法中明确制定“统计条款”。然而,建国初期美国人口统计制度设计,与联邦政府低下的执行能力并不相称。“统计条款”将人口问题宪法化,造成1790年首次人口普查困难,反而限制了人口统计在社会治理中的应用。美国人口统计起源史推翻了其“弱国家”的假设,证明其政治制度设计最初就包含增强国家能力的“潜能”。
Demography serves as the technical foundation of modern government, and the growth of statistical capacity is closely related to the development of state capacity. As one of the first nations to conduct a regular national census, the practice of institutional enumeration in American history can date back to the British colonies. The “census clause” of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 combined the tradition of the British political arithmetic with the burgeoning political economy of the eighteenth century. While the Constitution designated population as the basis for political representation and taxation, the demand for accuracy in census enumeration challenged the immature federal statistical agency. Insufficient resources and personnel impeded the broader application of population data in the first census in 1790, but the potential to expand the scope and functions of the federal statistical system was limited. This study of the origins of the U.S. census challenges the traditional theory of an inherently weak federal government and contends that its administrative capacity was fortified by an early-established statistical system.
出处
《历史研究》
CSSCI
北大核心
2023年第6期161-183,M0007,共24页
Historical Research
基金
国家社科基金青年项目“历史上的美国人口统计与国家治理能力研究”(20CSS022)
上海市哲学社会科学规划青年课题“新资本主义史视野下的美国国家构建”(2019ELS004)阶段性成果。
作者简介
焦姣,上海大学历史学系讲师。
