The study of the evolution of administrative structures dealing with subsistance highlights the reaction of the State to economic fl uctuations. The fi rst period of the Bureau entailed the outlining its economic responsiblities, completed in the Year VIII, after a period of experimentation dating back to the end of the Old Regime. The second period involved the training of personnel, those with a keen memory of subsistance crisises, who grew receptive to liberal ideas. A study of the work of the employes in the Bureaux of Subsistance, beginning in Year VIII shows that these ideas had already exercised a palpable infl uence: the bureau of subsistance defended the internal liberty of grain trade and high prices as opposed to the more controlled policy perspectives of Napoloen and many prefets, involving stricter policing and reglementation.