Trust and Antitrust: Standard Oil and the Creation of the Global Economy

Oil was the most important commodity of the twentieth century. It fundamentally changed societies, markets, and the relationship between states and companies. No company was more influential in the early history of the oil industry than Standard Oil. From the late 1880s and onwards, this US enterprise dominated not only its domestic sphere, but also the international oil markets. The papers in this session analyze how the company was able to achieve this dominance, and the effect that it had on different parts of the world. How did different national contexts shape the company’s strategy and how did states respond to the market power of this global company?