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China inside out: explaining silver flows in the triangular trade, c.1820s-1870s

Author

Listed:
  • Irigoin, Alejandra
  • Kobayashi, Atsushi
  • Chilosi, David
Abstract
This paper analyses a new, large dataset of silver prices, as well as silver and merchandise trade flows in and out of China in the crucial decades of the mid-19th century when the Empire was opened to world trade. Silver flows were associated with the interaction between heterogenous monetary preferences and availability of specific coins. Before the 1850s, money markets became increasingly efficient, as reliance on bills of exchange allowed exports to grow in times when sound money was in short supply. When a new standard for silver eventually emerged, there was a new peak in China’s silver imports.

Suggested Citation

  • Irigoin, Alejandra & Kobayashi, Atsushi & Chilosi, David, 2023. "China inside out: explaining silver flows in the triangular trade, c.1820s-1870s," Economic History Working Papers 119759, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:119759
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119759/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    China silver flows; triangular trade settlement mechanism; exchange operations; arbitrage; ‘opening of China’;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

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