DATAREV, “Leading the first data revolution in European agriculture: farm accountancy data and their impact 1870-1945” is funded by ERC Starting Grant 949722 and investigates the diffusion of farm accountancy offices of continental Europe since the 1870s and the use of farm accountancy data by state and non-state actors in the first half of the 20th century. With its five subprojects, DATAREV thoroughly explores different aspect of the first data revolution, its actors and its consequences. It examines how economic and socially change was conceptualised and direct through accountancy data and statistics and how the peculiar structure of the agricultural business in Europe imposed constraints on bookkeeping unlike those at work in industry. It questions the agency in the datafication process and explores the conflicting claims to the data. Finally, it clarifies how farm accountancy data played a crucial role in the reorganisation of the governance of European agriculture after the Long Depression. The project is led by Federico D’Onofrio, assistant professor at the Institute of Economic and Social History. More information on the project and its sub-project will soon be available here: http://datarev.univie.ac.at/

Currently, there are 3 open positions in this project:

One post-doc to work on sub-project 2 (farm accountancy data of the interwar period): Candidates are ideally quantitative economic historians soon to obtain their Ph.D. or having recently obtained it, who are willing to work on farm accountancy data of the interwar period. APPLY

One Ph.D. student to work on sub-project 1 (farm accountancy data in Austria, Germany and Switzerland): The ideal candidate has a master’s degree in economic, social or business history and is willing to work on the collection of farm accountancy data in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. APPLY

One Ph.D. student to work on sub-project 3 (farm accounting as innovation): The ideal candidate has a master’s degree in economic, social or business history and is willing to work on the spread of farm accounting to small and medium peasant as innovation. APPLY