Using information to regulate markets: The history of an idea, from the Mercantilists to the latest generation Market Information Systems

摘要

In order to function properly, markets must be fed with information, and it is the role of public authorities to produce and disseminate the information required. This idea seems so obvious today that no one was surprised when one of the main measures decided in 2011 at the meeting of G20 country ministers of agriculture in response to grain price instability was to create a global Market Information System. But this was not always the case. In Europe, no trace of any market information policies can be found before the 16th century. Such a policy was set up at that time to prevent famines, but it was so different from policies currently implemented that it seems quite odd to us today. This article aims to explain how public authorities first became involved in the production and dissemination of market information and how this involvement changed over time. Based on Michel Foucault's work, on radical changes in the general organization of knowledge and the technologies of government in Europe since the 16th century, the article shows why: i) it was impossible, before the 16th century, to imagine an information policy aimed at preventing famines; ii) an information policy based on the coupling of a disciplinary system (“the grain police”) with the staging of abundance emerged in the mid-16th century and disappeared in the mid-18th century; iii) public information systems were then set up to meet the needs of policy-makers; iv) it was finally recognized in the 19th century that market players need to be provided with information in order to guarantee market transparency; and v) this idea subsequently gave rise to several variants, each leading to different recommendations for market information systems and other actions.