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

Author

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  • 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.
    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.
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    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. Alan L. Olmstead & Paul W. Rhode, 2002. "The Red Queen and the Hard Reds: Productivity Growth in American Wheat, 1800-1940," NBER Working Papers 8863, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. 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.
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    15. Olmstead, Alan L. & Rhode, Paul W., 2003. "Hog-Round Marketing, Seed Quality, and Government Policy: Institutional Change in U.S. Cotton Production, 1920–1960," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 447-488, June.
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    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.
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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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