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Caveat Emptor: Abolishing Public Measurements, Standardizing Quantities and Enhancing Market Transparency in the London Coal Trade c1830

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 05:07 authored by Aashish Velkar
This article evaluates efforts to standardize quantities in the London coal trade c1830, and traces the end of the public measurement system first introduced in the fourteenth century. Increasing traffic in coal, reduction of taxes on the commodity, inefficient public meters, etc., contributed to the demise of public measurements. This outcome was the result of extensive negotiations between merchants, the various levels of state bureaucracy, and the parliament. Switching measurement standards was difficult, if not costly, to coordinate. Abolishing public measurements and switching from volume to weight measurements was part of the efforts to strengthen governance along the commodity chain, secure property rights by making quantities predictable and alter a mechanism that powerful merchants considered had become inappropriate.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Enterprise and Society

ISSN

14672235

Publisher

Oxford Journals

Issue

2

Volume

9

Page range

281-313

Pages

33.0

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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