IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kud/kuiedp/0502.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Nature and Costs of Dis-Equilibrium Trade: The Case of Transatlantic Grain Exports in the 19th Century

Author

Listed:
  • Mette Ejrnæs

    (Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen)

  • Karl Gunnar Persson

    (Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen)

Abstract

The essential issue addressed in this paper is whether inefficient spatial arbitrage has significant welfare effects. The paper looks at the gains from improved market efficiency in transatlantic grain trade in the period 1855-1895. It shows that there is a law of one price equilibrium but that markets display spells of demand- or supply- constrained trade. Over time adjustments back to equilibrium as measured by the half-life of a shock become faster, and adjustment parameters are much larger than routinely reported in the PPP-literature. There are also significant gains from improved market efficiency but most of that improvement takes place in one step after the information ‘regime’ shifts from pre-telegraphic communication to a regime with swift transmission of information in an era with a sophisticated commercial press and telegraphic communication. Improved market efficiency probably stimulated trade more than falling transport costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Mette Ejrnæs & Karl Gunnar Persson, 2005. "The Nature and Costs of Dis-Equilibrium Trade: The Case of Transatlantic Grain Exports in the 19th Century," Discussion Papers 05-02, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:kud:kuiedp:0502
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.ku.dk/english/research/publications/wp/2005/0502.pdf/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth A. Froot & Michael Kim & Kenneth Rogoff, 2019. "The Law of One Price Over 700 Years," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 20(1), pages 1-35, May.
    2. Kevin H. O'Rourke & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2001. "Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262650592, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yusuf, Shahid & Nabeshima, Kaoru, 2005. "Japan's changing industrial landscape," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3758, The World Bank.
    2. Gabriel J Felbermayr & Wilhelm Kohler, 2014. "Immigration and Native Welfare," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: European Economic Integration, WTO Membership, Immigration and Offshoring, chapter 10, pages 335-372, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Macours, Karen & Vakis, Renos, 2010. "Seasonal Migration and Early Childhood Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 857-869, June.
    4. Etro, Federico & Pagani, Laura, 2012. "The Market for Paintings in Italy During the Seventeenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 423-447, May.
    5. Mihir A. Desai & James R. Hines, Jr., 1999. "Excess Capital Flows and the Burden of Inflation in Open Economies," NBER Chapters, in: The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability, pages 235-272, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Mario J. Crucini & Gregor W. Smith, 2016. "Distance and Time Effects in Swedish Commodity Prices, 1732–1914," NBER Working Papers 22175, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Kevin H. O'Rourke, 2003. "The Era of Free Migration: Lessons for Today," Trinity Economics Papers 200315, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    8. Börner, Lars & Severgnini, Battista, 2011. "Epidemic trade," Discussion Papers 2011/12, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    9. Apte, Prakash & Sercu, Piet & Uppal, Raman, 2004. "The exchange rate and purchasing power parity: extending the theory and tests," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 553-571, June.
    10. Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2006. "Growth and structural change in Spain, 1850-2000," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp06-05, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    11. Carsten-Patrick Meier, 1997. "Assessing convergence to purchasing power parity: A panel study for ten OECD countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 133(2), pages 297-312, June.
    12. Gary B. Magee, 2004. "The Importance of Being British? Imperial Factors and the Growth of British Exports, 1870-1960," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 923, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Fajgelbaum, Pablo & Redding, Stephen, 2014. "External integration, structural transformation and economic development: evidence from Argentina," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60285, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Branko Milanovic, 2003. "Income Convergence During The Disintegration Of The World Economy 1919-39," Economic History 0303002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Richard B. Freeman, 2006. "People Flows in Globalization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 145-170, Spring.
    16. Arnaud Costinot & Jonathan Vogel, 2010. "Matching and Inequality in the World Economy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(4), pages 747-786, August.
    17. Patrizio Pagano & Massimo Sbracia, 2014. "The secular stagnation hypothesis: a review of the debate and some insights," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 231, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    18. Efraim Benmelech & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2010. "The Political Economy of Financial Regulation: Evidence from U.S. State Usury Laws in the 19th Century," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1029-1073, June.
    19. Roses, Joan R. & Sanchez-Alonso, Blanca, 2004. "Regional wage convergence in Spain 1850-1930," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 404-425, October.
    20. Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten & Libman, Alexander & Yu, Xiaofan, 2014. "Economic integration in China: Politics and culture," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 470-492.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    market integration; error correction; law of one price;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling
    • N7 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services

    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:kud:kuiedp:0502. 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: Thomas Hoffmann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/okokudk.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.