On the efficiency of markets for agricultural products: Rice prices and capital markets in Java, 1823-1853

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Utrecht University; Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences; International Institute of Social History (IISH-KNAW)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050704043074
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 1028-1055
• 关键词: england; cost

摘要

I use rice prices in three cities to analyze the efficiency of the marketing system and the institutional framework of Javanese agriculture, 1823-1853. 1 show that imperfections in rural capital markets caused the extreme fluctuations in rice prices and that the segmentation of the capital market modifies the McCloskey and Nash interpretation of the relationship between seasonal fluctuations of grain (or rice) prices and interest rates. I argue that these fluctuations proxy peasants' stress. Finally, I hypothesize that institutional and market failures explain the noneconomic behavior of Javanese peasants in Boeke's theory of dualistic economic development.