Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP9515
Authors: Liam Brunt; Edmund Cannon
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.
Keywords: data collection; markets
JEL Codes: C81; N53
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| corn returns (Q02) | cost of living indices (C43) |
| corn returns (Q02) | market integration (F02) |
| fluctuations in grain quality (L15) | overestimation of demand elasticity (D12) |
| underreporting of trade (F14) | price accuracy (D41) |
| exclusion of imported grains (Q17) | understanding of actual market prices (D41) |
| averaging prices methodology (C82) | reliability of price representation (E30) |