<p><a href="http://www.ourworldindata.org/data/global-interconnections/international-trade/">Max Roser (2014) – ‘International Trade’. Our World in Data</a> provides data on overall international trade growth during the requested time period, citing  as their sources:</p>

<ul>
<li>International Historical Statistics (by Brian Mitchell)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.correlatesofwar.org/COW2%20Data/Trade/Trade.html">Correlates of War Bilateral Trade</a> (as mentioned in the comments)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/maddison-project/home.htm">The Maddison Project</a> (which I love)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w9318">The Rise and Fall of World Trade, 1870-1939 (2003)</a></li>
<li>The contribution of intercontinental trade to Europe’s expansion (O'Brien 1982) (<a href="http://premodeconhist.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/obrien-p-1982-the-contribution-of-intercontinental-trade-to-europes-expansion/">Which I could only find a discussion of</a>)</li>
</ul>

<p>and many other sources...</p>

<p>I also enjoyed <a href="http://dev3.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/1/1679/papers/O&#39;Rourke-Prados-Chapter.pdf">Trade and Empire, 1700-1870</a> and <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/workingPapers/2014/WP210.pdf">Sailing Away from Malthus: Intercontinental Trade and European Economic Growth, 1500-1800</a></p>

<p>Hope those help!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:21:30.897Z
+1: Lots of great resources. The Max Roser link itself cites a lot a what look like very useful resources.
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-24T07:52:54.100Z
@Jamzy. Are you aware of this paper by Findlay and O'Rourke "Commodity market integration, 1500-2000" (http://www.nber.org/chapters/c9585.pdf)? Not sure they provide data, but a least they study what is known about trends in international commodity market integration during the second half of the second millennium.
emeryville
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:11:46.773Z
2014-12-04T19:11:46.773Z
Jason Nichols
<p>Can anyone recommend a resource for very long term trade data? (1500-2014). I have looked and found bits and pieces here and there but haven't come across any single data-set covering all of it. I am thinking of mashing my own together but I really do expect it to have been done already.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T02:24:17.030Z
What have you looked at so far?
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T02:26:55.927Z
Also, you should maybe give more specifics about what you're looking for. It's hard to tell, especially given the time period that you list. Data from centuries ago will certainly be different from data from decades ago. What kind of data do you have in mind?
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T02:27:19.700Z
Relatively easy to find modern trade data, relatively easy to find old (>100 years trade data). I've yet to find them combined.
Jamzy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T02:27:59.523Z
Anything to do with trade volume and patterns. Origin-destination anything else is gravy.
Jamzy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T09:49:37.873Z
Modern trade data is available in the International Monetary Fund Direction of Trade Statistics (2005). Trade for 1500 or about that seems to be only derived with proxies, as in Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson, “The Rise of Europe.” In particular, "two different measures of potential for Atlantic trade: a dummy for whether a country was an Atlantic trader ... and the ratio of Atlantic coastline to area for the Atlantic trader countries ... ."
Anton Tarasenko
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T09:57:35.780Z
Yes, just noticed that googling "the sources of bilateral trade data" returns quite good sources. Like [CoW's data on trade](http://www.correlatesofwar.org/COW2%20Data/Trade/Trade.html) since after 1870.
Anton Tarasenko
<international-trade><data-request>
Long term trade data request
Jamzy
# Long term trade data request

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-04)

Can anyone recommend a resource for very long term trade data? (1500-2014). I have looked and found bits and pieces here and there but haven't come across any single data-set covering all of it. I am thinking of mashing my own together but I really do expect it to have been done already.

**Tags:** international-trade, data-request
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What have you looked at so far?  
> **username_1**: Also, you should maybe give more specifics about what you're looking for. It's hard to tell, especially given the time period that you list. Data from centuries ago will certainly be different from data from decades ago. What kind of data do you have in mind?  
> **username_0**: Relatively easy to find modern trade data, relatively easy to find old (>100 years trade data). I've yet to find them combined.  
> **username_0**: Anything to do with trade volume and patterns. Origin-destination anything else is gravy.  
> **username_2**: Modern trade data is available in the International Monetary Fund Direction of Trade Statistics (2005). Trade for 1500 or about that seems to be only derived with proxies, as in Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson, “The Rise of Europe.” In particular, "two different measures of potential for Atlantic trade: a dummy for whether a country was an Atlantic trader ... and the ratio of Atlantic coastline to area for the Atlantic trader countries ... ."  
> **username_2**: Yes, just noticed that googling "the sources of bilateral trade data" returns quite good sources. Like [CoW's data on trade](http://www.correlatesofwar.org/COW2%20Data/Trade/Trade.html) since after 1870.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-12-04. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

[Max Roser (2014) – ‘International Trade’. Our World in Data](http://www.ourworldindata.org/data/global-interconnections/international-trade/) provides data on overall international trade growth during the requested time period, citing as their sources:

* International Historical Statistics (by Brian Mitchell)
* [Correlates of War Bilateral Trade](http://www.correlatesofwar.org/COW2%20Data/Trade/Trade.html) (as mentioned in the comments)
* [The Maddison Project](http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/maddison-project/home.htm) (which I love)
* [The Rise and Fall of World Trade, 1870-1939 (2003)](http://www.nber.org/papers/w9318)
* The contribution of intercontinental trade to Europe’s expansion (O'Brien 1982) ([Which I could only find a discussion of](http://premodeconhist.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/obrien-p-1982-the-contribution-of-intercontinental-trade-to-europes-expansion/))

and many other sources...

I also enjoyed [Trade and Empire, 1700-1870](http://dev3.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/1/1679/papers/O'Rourke-Prados-Chapter.pdf) and [Sailing Away from Malthus: Intercontinental Trade and European Economic Growth, 1500-1800](http://www.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/workingPapers/2014/WP210.pdf)

Hope those help!

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: +1: Lots of great resources. The Max Roser link itself cites a lot a what look like very useful resources.  
> **username_4**: @Jamzy. Are you aware of this paper by Findlay and O'Rourke "Commodity market integration, 1500-2000" (http://www.nber.org/chapters/c9585.pdf)? Not sure they provide data, but a least they study what is known about trends in international commodity market integration during the second half of the second millennium.  

---

