A Price Index for Canada, 1688 to 1850

Abstract

I construct the first price index for any region of Canada that spans from the colonial era to the mid-nineteenth century. I use prices collected from the account books of religious congregations with estates throughout the modern-day province of Quebec. The consistency of the type of price quotations in the source material, the high frequency of observations for many goods, the vast number of goods and the inclusion of numerous non-agricultural and non-food goods represent a substantial improvement over previous indexes. Price trends are mildly different from those of existing, but less comprehensive, price indexes. This new index is used to link up with indexes post-1850 in order to create a 328 years-long price index for Canada.

Keywords: Canadian economic history, price history, price index

JEL Classification: N11, O51, E31