[ExI] Sources of info on historical commodity prices

[Max More]

Both the chart on Wikipedia (which is helpful) and this...
http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/#data

... give data only up to around 2002. I'll have a closer look at the
sources for the minerals.usgs report.

Kelly, what I'm looking to establish is the change in real (not nominal)
costs of those and other commodities from 1980 to the present (and for
longer time frames).

--Max


On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 2:59 PM, Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com>wrote:

> 2012/4/6 Max More <max at maxmore.com>:
> > I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to find a good source of historical
> > prices for a few commodities. I'm particularly interested in figuring out
> > the real price changes in the five metals involved in the Julian
> Simon-Paul
> > Ehlich bet since 1980. Those are copper, tin, nickel, tungsten, and
> > chromium.
> >
> > General price inflation since 1980 has been 176.3%. So it's important
> that
> > historical price sources state whether the prices are nominal or
> > inflation-adjusted.
>
> Why does inflation of the US dollar relate to the bet? Was the bet
> about how these metals would perform in dollars?
>
> > None of the sources I've come across are adequate for this task. Among
> those
> > I've tried:
> > http://www.basemetals.com/
> >
> >
> http://metals.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/metal_prices/
> >
> >
> http://www.itri.co.uk/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=att_download&link_id=49605&cf_id=24
> >
> > http://www.aisgroup.com/Reports/CalyonSpeechSlides041207.pdf  (page 7)
> >
> >
> > I'm also interested in price changes over longer periods and for other
> > commodities.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
>
> Good data is hard to come by. However, I think you might be able to
> normalize it all to gold. Get the spot price for gold and copper on a
> given day, and you should have a "value" that is real in some sense.
>
> The problem is what is the best measure of value, the US dollar? Gold?
> The Euro? What question is it that you're actually trying to answer?
>
> I'm sure you have looked at the chart here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon%E2%80%93Ehrlich_wager
>
> -Kelly
>
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-- 
Max More, PhD
Strategic Philosopher
Co-editor, *The Transhumanist Reader*
CEO, Alcor Life Extension Foundation
7895 E. Acoma Dr # 110
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480/905-1906 ext 113
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