Information costs and trade: evidence from international electric telegraphy during the 'golden age' of globalisation.
The role of improved information flows in facilitating international trade has been relatively neglected; this paper examines the issue in the context of international electric telegraphy during the 19th-century 'golden age' of globalisation. Having compiled the most comprehensive dataset of new int...
| Publicado en: | Oxford Economic Papers Vol. 78; no. 3; pp. 642 - 665 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=196419359&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 196419359 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00307653 OXE jtl: Oxford Economic Papers issn: 00307653 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 78 iid: 3 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 196419359 10.1093/oep/gpag017 ppf: 642 ppct: 23 formats: tig: atl: Information costs and trade: evidence from international electric telegraphy during the 'golden age' of globalisation. aug: au: Bottomley, Sean Varian, Brian D affil: Department of Economics, Cardiff University, Aberconway Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU, United Kingdom Department of Economics, Newcastle University, 5 Barrack Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SE, United Kingdom su: United Kingdom Telegraph & telegraphy International trade Globalization Telecommunication Transaction costs Nineteenth century British colonies sug: subj: Telegraph & telegraphy International trade Globalization Telecommunication United Kingdom International Trade Financing All Other Telecommunications Telecommunications Resellers Other telecommunications Communication Equipment Repair and Maintenance Wired Telecommunications Carriers Transaction costs Nineteenth century British colonies keyword: 19th century copyrightHolder:Oxford University Press copyrightYear:2026 F15 globalisation information costs inLanguage:en N70 publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpag017 technology telegraph trade 19th century copyrightHolder:Oxford University Press copyrightYear:2026 F15 globalisation information costs inLanguage:en N70 publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpag017 technology telegraph trade ab: The role of improved information flows in facilitating international trade has been relatively neglected; this paper examines the issue in the context of international electric telegraphy during the 19th-century 'golden age' of globalisation. Having compiled the most comprehensive dataset of new international telegraphic connections for the period, we analyse the effect of new connections on polity-specific British trade from 1849 to 1903. We find no statistically significant effect of the telegraph on British trade overall. Our upper-bound estimate of the potential effect of the telegraph suggests that previous estimates of the effect of the telegraph network on trade are implausibly high. However, we do establish that trade between Britain and polities within the British Empire increased by an estimated 39% (48% for exports specifically), indicating that the trade-enhancing effects of the telegraph were contingent on the institutional context within which communication and trade were occurring. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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