Serra, Gerardo (2014) An uneven statistical topography: the political economy of household budget surveys in late colonial Ghana, 1951–1957. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 35 (1). pp. 9-27. ISSN 0225-5189

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Abstract

This paper reconstructs the history of household budget surveys in late colonial Ghana. It is argued that the household budgets institutionalised an “uneven statistical topography”. This unevenness comprises a spatial and a conceptual dimension. The former refers to the choice of the sampling locations, closely mirroring the uneven will of the state to exercise control over different parts of the country. The latter refers to the fact that household budget surveys incorporated different cognitive tools and served different aims depending on what the government envisaged as its political and economic agenda in the surveyed areas.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Ghana, statistics, political economy, household budget surveys
Schools and Departments:	School of History, Art History and Philosophy > History
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DT History of Africa > DT0470 West Africa. West Coast > DT0491 British West Africa > DT0509.97 Ghana (Gold Coast)
Depositing User:	Gerardo Serra
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2015 12:07
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 22:19
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/52969

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