[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/nhheco/2013_009.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: the English Corn Returns as a data source in economic history, 1770-1914

Author

Listed:
  • Brunt, Liam

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Cannon, Edmund

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract
From 1770 to 1914, the British Government collected weekly price and quantity data for all types of grain traded in many market towns; these ‘Corn Returns’ were published in the London Gazette. We computerised the data published 1770-1864, totalling around 6 million data points. Here we describe the nature of these data; discuss why, when and how they were collected; consider their accuracy and biases; describe how we computerised them; and offer caveats in using these – and similar – data. We highlight the problem of drawing valid inferences in the face of price impact from fluctuating grain quality and rising imports.

Suggested Citation

  • Brunt, Liam & Cannon, Edmund, 2013. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: the English Corn Returns as a data source in economic history, 1770-1914," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 9/2013, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2013_009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nhh.no/Files/Filer/institutter/sam/Discussion%20papers/2013/09.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S. Fairlie, 1965. "The Nineteenth-Century Corn Law Reconsidered," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 18(3), pages 562-575, December.
    2. Susan Fairlie, 1969. "The Corn Laws and British Wheat Production, 1829-76," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 22(1), pages 88-110, April.
    3. Jacks, David S., 2011. "Foreign wars, domestic markets: England, 1793–1815," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 277-311, August.
    4. Carol H. Shiue & Wolfgang Keller, 2007. "Markets in China and Europe on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1189-1216, September.
    5. Feinstein, Charles H., 1998. "Pessimism Perpetuated: Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Britain during and after the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 625-658, September.
    6. Gregory Clark, 2001. "Farm Wages and Living Standards in the Industrial Revolution: England,1670–1869[This resea]," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 54(3), pages 477-505, August.
    7. Jorg Baten & Dorothee Crayen & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2014. "Numeracy and the Impact of High Food Prices in Industrializing Britain, 1780–1850," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 418-430, July.
    8. Wray Vamplew, 1981. "Tithes and Agriculture: Some Comments on Commutation," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 34(1), pages 115-119, February.
    9. Robert C. Allen, 1999. "Tracking the agricultural revolution in England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 52(2), pages 209-235, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel M. Bernhofen & Markus Eberhardt & Jianan Li & Stephen Morgan, 2015. "Assessing Market (Dis)Integration in Early Modern China and Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 5580, CESifo.
    2. Cannon, Edmund & Brunt, Liam, 2013. "Integration in the English wheat market 1770-1820," CEPR Discussion Papers 9504, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Lanot, Gauthier & Tribe, Keith, 2024. "Before Political Economy: Debate over Grain Markets, Dearth and Pauperism in England, 1794-96," Umeå Economic Studies 1025, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    4. Brunt, Liam & Cannon, Edmund, 2015. "Variations in the price and quality of English grain, 1750–1914: Quantitative evidence and empirical implications," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 74-92.
    5. Adam Crymble & Adam Dennett & Tim Hitchcock, 2018. "Modelling regional imbalances in English plebeian migration to late eighteenth‐century London†," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(3), pages 747-771, August.
    6. Liam Brunt & Edmund Cannon, 2022. "English farmers’ wheat storage and sales in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 932-959, August.
    7. Daniel Bernhofen & Markus Eberhardt & Jianan Li & Stephen Morgan, 2017. "The evolution of markets in China and Western Europe on the eve of industrialisation," Discussion Papers 2017-12, University of Nottingham, GEP.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brunt, Liam & Cannon, Edmund, 2015. "Variations in the price and quality of English grain, 1750–1914: Quantitative evidence and empirical implications," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 74-92.
    2. Robert Allen & Robert C. Allen, 2007. "Pessimism Preserved: Real Wages in the British Industrial Revolution," Economics Series Working Papers 314, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Ogilvie, Sheilagh & Carus, A.W., 2014. "Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 403-513, Elsevier.
    4. Jaume Ventura & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2015. "Debt into growth: How sovereign debt accelerated the first Industrial Revolution," Economics Working Papers 1483, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    5. Liam Brunt, 2003. "Rehabilitating Arthur Young," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(2), pages 265-299, May.
    6. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel & Herranz-Loncán, Alfonso & Tassinari, Filippo & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2023. "Paving the way to modern growth: The Spanish Bourbon roads," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Gregory Clark, 2010. "The macroeconomic aggregates for England, 1209–2008," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 51-140, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    8. Jörg Baten & Dorothee Crayen & Joachim Voth, 2007. "Poor, hungry and ignorant: Numeracy and the impact of high food prices in industrializing Britain, 1780-1850," Economics Working Papers 1120, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Dec 2011.
    9. Joyce Burnette, 2004. "The wages and employment of female day‐labourers in English agriculture, 1740–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 57(4), pages 664-690, November.
    10. C. Knick Harley, 2013. "British and European Industrialization," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _111, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    11. Jane Humphries, 2013. "The lure of aggregates and the pitfalls of the patriarchal perspective: a critique of the high wage economy interpretation of the British industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 693-714, August.
    12. Douglas A. Irwin & Maksym G. Chepeliev, 2020. "The Economic Consequences of Sir Robert Peel: A Quantitative Assessment of the Repeal of the Corn Laws," NBER Working Papers 28142, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Alfonso Herranz-Loncán & Filippo Tassinari & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2021. "Paving the way to modern growth. Evidence from Bourbon roads in Spain," Working Papers 0209, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    14. Dan Bogart, 2012. "Profiting from Public Works: Financial Returns to Infrastructure and Investment Strategies during Britain's Industrial Revolution," Working Papers 121304, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    15. Blum, Matthias & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2019. "Living standards and inequality in the industrial revolution: Evidence from the height of University of Edinburgh students in the 1830s," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 185-192.
    16. José Joaquín García-Gómez & Antonio Escudero Gutierrez, 2018. "The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages, Nutrition, Life Expentancy and Heigth in Alcoy (1870–1930)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 347-367, November.
    17. Ian Gazeley & Sara Horrell, 2013. "Nutrition in the English agricultural labourer's household over the course of the long nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 757-784, August.
    18. Deborah Oxley, 2003. "‘The seat of death and terror’: urbanization, stunting, and smallpox," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(4), pages 623-656, November.
    19. Frank Geary & Tom Stark, 2004. "Trends in real wages during the industrial revolution: a view from across the Irish Sea," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 57(2), pages 362-395, May.
    20. Robert Allen & Robert C. Allen, 2007. "Engel`s Pause: A Pessimist`s Guide to the British Industrial Revolution," Economics Series Working Papers 315, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Grain prices; market institutions; data collection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2013_009. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Karen Reed-Larsen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sonhhno.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.