Cotton's Renaissance: A Study in Market Innovation. By Timothy Curtis Jacobson and George David Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xvi, 346. $29.95.

Extract

Cotton holds much meaning for economic historians; it brings to mind the industrial revolutions of Europe and Japan, as well as the economic and social fabric of the American South both before and after the Civil War. Yet nothing so weighty as social transformation is entertained in this book; instead the authors chronicle the transformation of cotton from crop to “brand”—with its own logo—as cotton's share of the raw-fiber market recovered from a long decline. Timothy Curtis Jacobson and George David Smith's work is a study of how organizations moved the U.S. cotton industry from supply to demand management and coordinated the stages of production in a setting in which incentives did not favor vertical integration. That story in itself has interest as a case study in marketing and industrial organization. Its hero is “Cotton Incorporated,” formed in 1971 to promote marketing, support research and development, provide technical support for fiber users worldwide, and organize elements in a coherent fashion.