Measuring the General Level of Prices in the UK in the Long Nineteenth Century: from Individual Innovation to State Production

We examine the trajectory of price measurement in the UK in the nineteenth century. The initial steps were taken by interested individuals, and were largely concerned with documenting changes in the value of money driven by increases in the availability of gold and silver. We focus on (a) the conceptual approaches to price measurement, particularly the move from producer (wholesale) prices towards consumer prices; (b) the practical problems of obtaining the information needed and calculating an index; and (c) the social and political pressures which eventually led to the introduction of an official index.