Paper - Commodity Chains: what can we learn from a business history of the rubber chain? (1870-1910)
Description
The literature on the rubber boom applied a Marxist/Dependendist view of rubber production in the Brazilian Amazon. Even though a sizeable surplus was generated in the rubber chain, it was mostly appropriated by foreigners. This view is in tune with the Global Commodity Chain approach that argues that manufacturing/core economies absorb the bulk of surplus generated in the commodity chain. This paper challenges both frameworks and asks for a more careful analysis of the business history of commodity chains. The business analysis at the micro level may falsify or verify assertions made at the macro level, which had been the usual level of analysis of commodity chains so far. By rejecting the Global Commodity Chain approach, it is necessary to examine more carefully the historical evolution of the commodity chain. This paper is a first step in this direction through a business history of the relationship between two nodes of the rubber chain.
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