{"title":"Shipping in Dire Straits: New Evidence on Trends and Cycles in Coal Freights from Britain, 1919-1939","authors":"J. T. Klovland","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2766870","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2766870","url":null,"abstract":"New monthly freight rate indices for 13 coal trade routes from Britain 1919-1939 are presented. The new indices form the basis of a review of the interwar freight markets and their relationship to the timing and severity of general business cycles. New time series of laid-up tonnage provide the background for this discussion. The Great Depression starting in the autumn of 1929 created a shipping cycle of unusual length and severity. Real freight rate indices used as a cross-check on productivity gains in shipping raise some doubt on previous estimates of productivity growth in British shipping in the interwar years.","PeriodicalId":384229,"journal":{"name":"TransportRN: Other Transportation & Geography (Topic)","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125714883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}