Trade Talks Episode 37: Cottoning on to Trade

Soumaya Keynes of The Economist and PIIE Senior Fellow Chad P. Bown talk with Professor Claudia Steinwender (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) about her research on the impact of the trans-Atlantic telegraph on trade. New information through the telegraph affected 1860s cotton price differences between New York and Liverpool, export volumes, and volatility. Claudia then describes how the telegraph affected trade differently at distinct points of the cotton textile supply chain, providing lessons and insight into today’s information and communications technology (ICT) revolution and use of big data.