Markets and Measurements in Nineteenth-Century BritainMeasurements are a central institutional component of markets and economic exchange. By the nineteenth century, the measurement system in Britain was desperately in need of revision: a multiplicity of measurement standards, proliferation of local or regional weights and measures, and a confusing array of measurement practices made everyday measurements unreliable. Aashish Velkar uncovers how metrology and economic logic alone failed to make 'measurements' reliable, and discusses the importance of localised practices in shaping trust in them. Markets and Measurements in Nineteenth-Century Britain steers away from the traditional explanations of measurement reliability based on the standardisation and centralisation of metrology; the focus is on changing measurement practices in local economic contexts. Detailed case studies from the industrial revolution suggest that such practices were path-dependent and 'anthropocentric'. Therefore, whilst standardised metrology may have improved precision, it was localised practices that determined the reliability and trustworthiness of measurements in economic contexts. |
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Contents
What made measurements reliable? | 8 |
Implications | 28 |
Reforming European metrology | 54 |
Mensuration and local measurement practices | 68 |
Standard setting and standardisation | 84 |
Structure of the London coal trade | 100 |
Reforming the coal trade 18001830 | 114 |
Conclusions | 132 |
a solution for transactional problems | 151 |
Gauges after 1883 | 167 |
a supplyside perspective | 183 |
The case of natural weight measurements | 201 |
Conclusions | 216 |
Milestones in the international | 229 |
| 243 | |
| 259 | |
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Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Markets and Measurements in Nineteenth-Century Britain Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series |
| Author | Aashish Velkar |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 2012 |
| ISBN | 1107023335, 9781107023338 |
| Length | 274 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Business & Economics / Economic History History / Europe / Great Britain / General History / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |