Martin Uebele rounds off the collection of analytical designs and methodological
approaches to analyzing market integration in this volume.
Uebele’s analysis deviates from the other articles along two key dimensions.
First, he focuses on prices, implicitly assuming that price differentials
(or changes in differentials) reflect market frictions. Second, he
performs an outright historical analysis, analyzing the period from 1806
to 1907 (i.e. the first wave of globalization). Applying dynamic factor
analysis on a panel of annual wheat prices for up to 67 cities, Uebele
Measuring Economic Integration
finds a particularly strong push towards market integration in the first half
of the 19th century. This finding seems remarkable, as major innovations
in transportation technology were only realized later