January 13, 2005

On the Price of Wheat in Smith's Wealth of Nations

By Kevin

I don't remember writing this paragraph, or even thinking about it:

Let's examine the price of wheat in Smith’s Wealth of Nations--an extensive historical series compiled from one major source and many minor sources. We ask a simple question, "what are these prices supposed to represent?" The median exchange price, the mean exchange price, the first or last price of the year, the average price on a certain day? What is the error in this data? What does this imply about markets, people, processes, end states (equilbria), welfare, statistical procedure?

That's an entire dissertation in itself.

Posted at January 13, 2005 12:41 PM

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