What is "cameralism"

n. the theories and practices of the cameralists

Cameralism was a German science of administration. According to Lindenfeld, it was divided into three: public finance, Oeconomie and Polizei. Here Oeconomie did not mean exactly ' economics', nor Polizei ' public policy' in the modern senses. Cameralism was the German counterpart of the French mercantilism of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and developed also in the 18th century.

In its origins, it was an educational path for the civil servants of the royal chamber, hence its name. The administrator of the royal finances was called camerarius. Cameralism is a predecessor of the modern science of public administration.