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Journal Article

The Rise of Big Business in the World Copper Industry 1870-1930

Christopher Schmitz
The Economic History Review
New Series, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Aug., 1986), pp. 392-410
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Economic History Society
DOI: 10.2307/2596347
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2596347
Page Count: 19
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The Rise of Big Business in the World Copper Industry 1870-1930
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Abstract

Despite a pronounced trend towards business concentration in the copper industry since the 1870s, there is limited evidence that these large-scale firms have had any sustained success in controlling a market which displays a long-term trend of increasing price instability. Big business in this industry seems best explained as a response to the necessary move to mining very large scale, low grade ore deposits, with consequent higher capital costs. The instability of metal markets also impelled firms to minimize transactions cost through a process of vertical integration.