Climate, conflicts and variations in prices on pre-colonial West African markets for staple crops

• Very little is known about the dynamics of pre-colonial markets in Africa. In this paper, a new set of data-series on the pre-colonial price of staple crops on the Gold Coast is presented. Six hypotheses on the behavior of market prices, found in the previous literature, are tested in the paper. The results show conclusively that the market prices did respond to shifts in demand and supply, for example from climate-induced scarcity, or to external shocks such as war. It is argued that the markets studied seem to have been remarkably well-functioning, given the socio-economic and political context they were operating in.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Ekonomisk historia (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economic History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Africa

markets

climate

conflicts

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)