Events

The State Civilian Granary System and Price Stability, 1741-1856

Over the past several decades governments across the world have begun targeting price stability in financial markets. This is a stark contrast to the laissez-faire approach of the twentieth century and has few precedents in Western financial history. In China, however, the notion that state intervention is necessary to stabilize market prices dates to the fifth century BC, and grain storage, as a tool of intervention, has remained an important political concern for over two millennia. During this Quantitative History Webinar, Andrew J. Sinclair of HKU Business School will explain how he studies the effect of the state civilian granary system on price stability between 1741 and 1856. During this period, granaries held a value of grain equal to nearly 40% of annual fiscal revenues and were required to turnover their entire stock every three years. While the literature has focused on the role of granaries in reducing famine, Andrew uses this unique historical setting to quantify the long-term behavior of market prices under the presence of an interventionist government.

Discussant: Ziang Liu (HKU)

Live on Zoom on Thursday, February 29, 2024
10:00 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore
11:00 Tokyo | 13:00 Sydney
Previous Day 18:00 Los Angeles | 21:00 New York on Wednesday, February 28 | Click here to view your local time

The Quantitative History (QH) Webinar Series aims to provide researchers, teachers, and students with an online intellectual platform to keep up to date with the latest research in the field, promoting the dissemination of research findings and interdisciplinary use of quantitative methods in historical research. The QH Webinar Series, now entering its fourth year, is co-organized by Centre for Quantitative History at the HKU Business School and International Society for Quantitative History in partnership with Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Series is now substantially supported by the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. [AoE/B-704/22-R]). 量化歷史網上講座系列由香港大學陳志武和馬馳騁教授聯合發起，旨在介紹前沿量化歷史研究成果、促進同仁交流，推廣量化方法在歷史研究中的應用。本系列講座由香港大學經管學院量化歷史研究中心和國際量化歷史學會承辦，及香港人文社會研究所全力支持。從2023年開始，系列得到中國香港特別行政區研究資助局卓越學科領域計劃的重要資助 (項目編號[AoE/B-704/22-R])。

Conveners:
Zhiwu Chen
Chicheng Ma