The Universe of Germany’s Foreign Trade Prior to World War I

Abstract

We present a new disaggregated dataset on Germany’s exports and imports from 1880 to 1913. The data covers trade in both quantity and value at the product level. It thus comprises the universe of the data in terms of products and trade partners, at annual frequency. To ensure comparability over time and to data from other countries, the historical product categories are re-classified according to the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC, Rev. 2 and Rev. 4). Moreover, we integrate Hamburg and Bremen into the German trade statistics – two important port cities, which were not covered by the major German trade records until 1888. We describe the new data in terms of five stylized facts and make suggestions for its use in research.