The Great War: Bachi's statistic and economic comparative approach

ABSTRACT Multifaceted intellectual and expert in economics and statistics, Riccardo Bachi was able to understand, in real-time, the long-term implications arising in Italy as a result of involvement in the war. A essential objective of this paper meant to explore some methodological aspects of Bachi’s analysis, i.e. his economic indexes, barometers, thermometers and generally his predictive economic statistics. The comparative statistical method together with the historical-economic approach, make the study of this economist very interesting for the scientific community interested in this historical period, even considering that he developed his research when the statistical sources were not yet available. The last but not the least, the post-war activities of Bachi in commenting on the economic and political consequences of the conflict, would have anticipated, surprisingly, the thought of J. M. Keynes.