TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hynes,William
AU  - Jacks,David S.
AU  - O'Rourke,Kevin H.
TI  - Commodity Market Disintegration in the Interwar Period
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14767
PY  - 2009
Y2  - March 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14767
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14767.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
William M. Hynes
Jesus College
Turl Street
Oxford
OX1 3DW
United Kingdom
E-Mail: william.hynes@jesus.ox.ac.uk

David S. Jacks
Department of Economics
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6
CANADA
Tel: 778/782-5392
Fax: 778/782-5944
E-Mail: dsjacks@gmail.com

Kevin H. O'Rourke
All Souls College
Oxford University
Oxford OX1 4AL, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)1865 279 348
Fax: 353-1-6772503
E-Mail: kevin.orourke@all-souls.ox.ac.uk
AB  - Using data collected by the International Institute of Agriculture, we document the disintegration of international commodity markets between 1913 and 1938. There was dramatic disintegration during World War I, gradual reintegration during the 1920s, and then a very substantial disintegration after 1929. The period saw the unravelling of a great many of the integration gains of the 1870-1913 period. While increased transport costs certainly help to explain the wartime disintegration, they cannot explain the post-1929 increase in trade costs. Protectionism seems the most likely alternative candidate.
ER  -