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Consistent Output Series for the Antebellum and Postbellum Periods: Issues and Preliminary Results

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Charles W. Calomiris
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Finance, University of Illinois, 1206 S. 6th St., Champaign, Illinois 61820, and Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research. Christopher Hanes is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104.
Christopher Hanes
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Finance, University of Illinois, 1206 S. 6th St., Champaign, Illinois 61820, and Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research. Christopher Hanes is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104.

Abstract

Existing output series that cover both the antebellum and postbellum periods are inconsistent and unsuitable for comparing cyclical patterns across the nineteenth century. More consistent data show that output in cyclically sensitive sectors was no less, and probably more, volatile before the War Between the States than after it.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1994

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