In the nineteenth century, the Liverpool Cotton Brokers' Association (CBA) coordinated the dramatic growth of Liverpool's raw cotton market. This article shows how the CBA achieved this through the development of a private-order institutional framework that improved information flows, introduced standardization and contracting regimes, and regulated market exchange platforms. These developments corresponded with significantly improved market coordination, which facilitated the growth of the largest raw cotton market in the world. The article's findings demonstrate and quantify the importance of nonstate actors in creating institutions of global exchange central to the first wave of globalization.

在 19 世纪，利物浦棉花经纪人协会 (CBA) 协调了利物浦原棉市场的急剧增长。本文展示了 CBA 如何通过开发改善信息流动、引入标准化和合同制度以及规范市场交易平台的私人订单制度框架来实现这一目标。这些发展与显着改善的市场协调相一致，促进了世界上最大的原棉市场的增长。这篇文章的研究结果表明并量化了非国家行为者在创建全球交流机构方面的重要性，这些机构对第一波全球化至关重要。