Historical movements in rice prices

Abstract

Insufficient is known about what caused movements in rice prices, especially before the twentieth century. As noted previously, and as will show up again, the price statistics themselves leave a lot to be desired before the last few decades of the nineteenth century. Other data for variables possibly of significance have been insufficiently examined. For this reason no analytical treatment is to be expected in this chapter. The description of the course of rice prices over time is therefore confined to the movements themselves and the principal known agricultural developments accompanying them. If other developments of the time are referred to, it is only as a possible signpost for further research.