IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/canjec/v36y2003i1p224-253.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A history of prices in Canada, 1840–1871: a new wholesale price index

Author

Listed:
  • Donald G. Paterson
  • Ronald A. Shearer

Abstract

We present a new monthly wholesale price index for Canada, 1840–71, comparing fluctuations in the Canadian macroeconomy with fluctuations in similar U.S. and British indexes. Canadian prices move through distinct phases: the 1840s rise in prices and the decline in the depression of 1848–49; the mid‐century economic boom and the 1857 depression; U.S. Civil War inflation and apparent Canadian price insulation through a flexible exchange rate created by U.S. withdrawal from gold; and the non‐inflationary boom following Confederation. After adjustment for the U.S. greenback issue, a broad coherence of Canadian, U.S., and British indexes suggests highly integrated commodity markets. JEL Classification: N20, N21, E31 Une histoire des prix au Canada 1840–1871: un nouvel indice de prix de gros Ce mémoire présente un nouvel indice de prix de gros pour le Canada dans la période de 1840 à 1871. C’est un indice mensuel. A l’aide de cet indicateur, on décrit les fluctuations de la macroéconomie canadienne et on les compare avec les fluctuations d’indices similaires aux Etats‐Unis et en Grande Bretagne. Les prix canadiens passent à travers plusieurs phases au cours de cette période. Les prix s’accroissent dans les années 1840 et chutent avec la dépression de 1848/1849; et puis il y a le grand boom victorien du milieu du siècle qui culmine en 1857; il y a de plus les périodes de l’inflation de la guerre civile américaine et l’immunisation apparente des prix canadiens par la création d’un régime de change flexible parce que les Etats‐Unis se retirent de la monnaie étalonnée sur l’or; et enfin la période sans inflation du boom qui suit la Confédération. Si l’on ajuste pour tenir compte de l’affaire des « greenbacks », il y a cohérence des divers indices canadiens, américains et britanniques. Voilà qui suggère des marchés de biens fortement intégrés.

Suggested Citation

  • Donald G. Paterson & Ronald A. Shearer, 2003. "A history of prices in Canada, 1840–1871: a new wholesale price index," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 224-253, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:36:y:2003:i:1:p:224-253
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-5982.00011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-5982.00011
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1540-5982.00011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Unknown, 1967. "Index," 1967 Conference, August 21-30, 1967, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 209796, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Robert E. Ankli, 1971. "The Reciprocity Treaty of 1854," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Officer, Lawrence H. & Smith, Lawrence B., 1968. "The Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty of 1855 to 1866," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 598-623, December.
    4. E. W. Cooney, 1960. "Long Waves In Building In The British Economy Of The Nineteenth Century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 13(2), pages 257-269, December.
    5. Klovland Jan Tore, 1993. "Zooming in on Sauerbeck: Monthly Wholesale Prices in Britain 1845-1890," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 195-228, April.
    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. Vincent J. Geloso, 2019. "Distinct within North America: living standards in French Canada, 1688–1775," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(2), pages 277-321, May.

    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. Wim B.G. Liebrand & Henk A.M. Wilke & Rob Vogel & Fred J.M. Wolters, 1986. "Value Orientation and Conformity," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(1), pages 77-97, March.
    2. Shan, Wei & Qiao, Tong & Zhang, Mingli, 2020. "Getting more resources for better performance: The effect of user-owned resources on the value of user-generated content," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    3. Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2017. "Contained crisis and socialized risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 231-241.
    4. David Matesanz Gomez & Guillermo J. Ortega & Benno Torgler, 2011. "Measuring globalization: A hierarchical network approach," CREMA Working Paper Series 2011-11, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Victor Barros & Joao Tovar Jalles & Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, 2023. "Drivers of the Tax Effort: Evidence from a Large Panel," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 96-136, March.
    6. Adrian Furnham & Shaheen Shiekh, 1993. "Gender, Generational and Social Support Correlates of Mental Health in Asian Immigrants," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 39(1), pages 22-33, March.
    7. Krafft Jackie & Quatraro Francesco & Colombelli Alessandra, 2011. "High Growth Firms and Technological Knowledge: Do gazelles follow exploration or exploitation strategies?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201114, University of Turin.
    8. Helen Bollaert & Gaël Leboeuf & Armin Schwienbacher, 2020. "The narcissism of crowdfunding entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 57-76, June.
    9. Carlo De Gregorio, 2012. "Sample size for the estimate of consumer price subindices with alternative statistical designs," Rivista di statistica ufficiale, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY), vol. 14(1), pages 19-47, October.
    10. B Nutt & D Sears, 1972. "Functional Obsolescence in the Planned Environment," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 4(1), pages 13-29, March.
    11. Carlos Huertas C. & Munir A. Jalil. B., 2000. "Relación Entre El Índice De Precios Del Productor (Ipp) Y El Índice De Precios Al Consumidor (Ipc)," Borradores de Economia 3449, Banco de la Republica.
    12. Bosman, Ronald & Kräussl, Roman & Mirgorodskaya, Elizaveta, 2015. "The "tone effect" of news on investor beliefs: An experimental approach," CFS Working Paper Series 522, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    13. Bartha, Zoltán & Sáfrányné Gubik, Andrea & Tóthné Szita, Klára, 2013. "Intézményi megoldások, fejlődési modellek [Institutional solutions, development models]," MPRA Paper 50901, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Quaranta Giovanni & Salvia Rosanna, 2014. "An Index to Measure Rural Diversity in the Light of Rural Resilience and Rural Development Debate," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 6(2), pages 1-18, June.
    15. Perkinson, Leon, 1982. "Local Government Employment Trends In Nonmetropolitan Areas- 1957-1977," Department of Economics and Business - Archive 259555, North Carolina State University, Department of Economics.
    16. Yonatan Berman, 2022. "The Long-Run Evolution of Absolute Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 61-83, July.
    17. Romain Houssa & Lasse Bork & Hans Dewachter, 2008. "Identification of Macroeconomic Factors in Large Panels," Working Papers 1010, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    18. Molana , Hassan & Rahimi , Abolfazl, 2014. "Should all Iranian Citizens Receive the Same Subsidy Rebate?," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 9(3), pages 1-31, April.
    19. Karl Demers-Bélanger & Van Son Lai, 2019. "Diversification Benefits of Cat Bonds: An In-Depth Examination," Working Papers 2019-008, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    20. Yokoya, Daisuke & Duin, Cees W. & Yamada, Takeo, 2011. "A reduction approach to the repeated assignment problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 185-193, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N21 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation

    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:wly:canjec:v:36:y:2003:i:1:p:224-253. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5982 .

    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.