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Variations in the price and quality of English grain, 1750-1914:quantitative evidence and empirical implications

Author

Listed:
  • Brunt, Liam

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

  • Cannon, Edmund

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract
Interpretation of historic grain price data may be hazardous owing to systematic grain quality variation – both cross sectionally and over varying time horizons (intra-year, inter-year, long run). We use the English wheat market, 1750-1914, as an example to quantify this issue. First, we show that bushel weight approximates grain quality. Then we show that cross sectional and intra-year variation are substantial and problematic, generating erroneous inference regarding market integration. Long run variation is significant, due to sharply declining international quality differentials, and this impacts estimated cost of living changes. By contrast, inter-year variation is smaller and controlled for more easily.

Suggested Citation

  • Brunt, Liam & Cannon, Edmund, 2015. "Variations in the price and quality of English grain, 1750-1914:quantitative evidence and empirical implications," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 6/2015, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2015_006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Velkar,Aashish, 2012. "Markets and Measurements in Nineteenth-Century Britain," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107023338, September.
    2. Liam Brunt & Edmund Cannon, 2004. "The Irish grain trade from the Famine to the First World War," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 57(1), pages 33-79, February.
    3. 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.
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    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. William Hynes & David S. Jacks & Kevin H. O'rourke, 2012. "Commodity market disintegration in the interwar period," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 16(2), pages 119-143, May.
    9. Liam Brunt & Edmund Cannon, 2013. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: the English Corn Returns as a data source in economic history, 1770-1914," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(3), pages 318-339, August.
    10. 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.
    11. Persson, Karl Gunnar, 2004. "Mind the gap! Transport costs and price convergence in the nineteenth century Atlantic economy," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 125-147, August.
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    13. Keller, Wolfgang & Shiue, Carol H., 2014. "Endogenous Formation of Free Trade Agreements: Evidence from the Zollverein's Impact on Market Integration," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 1168-1204, December.
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    Cited by:

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    4. Wurm, Laura, 2021. "Strangling speculation: The effect of the 1903 Viennese futures trading ban," QUCEH Working Paper Series 21-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    5. 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.
    6. Basberg, Bjørn L., 2015. "Commercial and Economic Aspects of Antarctic Exploration From the Earliest Discoveries into the 19th Century," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 13/2015, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    7. Sandmo, Agnar, 2015. "The Public Economics of Climate Change," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 27/2015, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Grain quality; markets; cost of living.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

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