Professor Herberner,
On your last slide in lecture #8, International and Interegional Trade you state that the volume of trade was the same amongst the colonies and between the colonies and England but of less monetary value. What do you mean by volume? Is it that the # of shiploads was the same but it was less valuable goods being traded?
Yes, the cargo volume was roughly the same, but the monetary value of the cargo shipped was lower among the colonies than between the colonies and England.
Do you know whether it was different cargo than what was being shipped to England or was it the same cargo but had less monetary value in the colonies?
The case is somewhat mixed, but mainly it’s different cargo. Luxury goods were imported from England into the colonies, which commanded higher prices with lower physical volume than raw materials.
You can find discussion of this issue in the book: E.R. Johnson et al., History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States(Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915).
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