  In economics comparative analysis plays the same role as experimental
research in physics. In this paper we closely examine several methodological
problems related to comparative analysis by investigating the specific example
of grain markets in China and France respectively. This enables us to answer a
question in economic history which has so far remained pending, namely whether
or not market integration progressed in the 18th century. In economics as in
physics, before being accepted any new result has to be checked and re-checked
by different researchers. This is what we call the replication and comparison
procedures. We show how these procedures should (and can) be implemented.
