Paper #1323

Title:

The impact of "early" nineteenth-century globalization on foreign trade in the Southern Cone: A study of British trade statistics

Author:

Manuel Llorca-Jaña

Date:

May 2012 (Revised: June 2012)

Abstract:

This paper deals with the impact of "early" nineteenth-century globalization (c.1815-1860) on foreign trade in the Southern Cone (SC). Most of the evidence is drawn from bilateral trades between Britain and the SC, at a time when Britain was the main commercial partner of the new republics. The main conclusion drawn is that early globalization had a positive impact on foreign trade in the SC, and this was due to: improvements in the SC's terms of trade during this period; the SC's per capita consumption of textiles (the main manufacture traded on world markets at that time) increased substantially during this period, at a time when clothing was one of the main items of SC household budgets; British merchants brought with them capital, shipping, insurance, and also facilitated the formation of vast global networks, which further promoted the SC's exports to a wider range of outlets.

Keywords:

Lost decades; Anglo-Latin American trade; Early globalization.

JEL codes:

N70, N76, O19, R11.

Area of Research:

Economic and Business History

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