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Tom Stapleford is looking for literature on the history 
of statistics in economics.  I good place to start is with 
Mary Morgan's 1990 book _The History of Econometric Ideas_ 
(Cambridge).  For some of the issues involved, I might 
also recommend Hamouda & Rowley's _Probability in Economics_. 
Take a look also at McCloskey's work on the misuse of statistics 
in economics.  Finally, for a very basic start on the logic 
of the use of statistics in economics, I might recommend 
Ludwig von Mises' discussion on the fundamentals of applying 
statistics to economic phenomena (yes, this is the brother 
of Richard). 
 
Some of the early fundamental theoretical work on  
price indexes was done by folks in Europe (Haberler, 
Morgenstern).  It would be interesting to see what 
interplay there might have been between such serious 
economic theory and the social-political construction 
of the Consumer Price Index.  Also interesting -- 
a bit of comparison between countries on how theory  
became practice & politics. 
 
 
Greg Ransom 
 
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