E11: Introduction to the Price Spreads Report, pt 1

Monopolies Killed My Hometown

In today's episode, I reach back to 1934 to revisit the Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads. At the height of the Great Depression the price of bread rose significantly, and the price paid to wheat framers did not increase - The Royal Commission on Price Spreads was tasked to find out why. They did a major market study of the Canadian economy focused on wager-earners and producers, and then made a large number of suggestions. This report spoke to me since the price of lumber tripled in 2020, but retail stores and woodlot owners weren't making any more money. It seemed to me that history was repeating.

I love the language that's used in this report. The author's of the report value individual Canadians, and the ability for wage-earners and small producers to flourish. Their language reflects this, especially compared to today's reports which are written with efficiency being the guiding value.

The Commission started their investigations, and were inundated with more and more complaints from other industries and sectors. The Commission was concerned they'd have to write multiple, in-depth reports to capture the all the complaints and this was not possible to do. Finally they realized consolidated corporate power was the root cause of all of the complaints.

Links from the episode:

• Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
• The Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
• Episode 4
• Great Depression in Canada
• Mullet Championships
• Record Lumber prices adding thousands of dollars to new home building costs