|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
|
Issue of 2012‒01‒03
forty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | Bernardo Batiz-Lazo (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK); Masayoshi Noguchi (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how accounting-based regulation modified the operation of one type of participant in British retail finance. Specifically, the House Purchase and Housing Act, 1959 and Building Societies Act, 1960 gave the Registrar of Friendly Societies new powers of intervention and these were used to discipline building societies revealing inadequate use of their funds. Although only a tiny fraction of existing societies were ultimately sanctioned, they all observed important deviations from specified accounting-based criteria that were generally recognized as financially sound within the industry. Intervention, however, was also motivated by two other factors: the successful lobbying by the Building Society Association to discipline non-members; and attempts by the Registrar to stop property developers from abusing moribund London-based societies. Results provide enough evidence to suggest that other studies' assessment that managers of British retail financial intermediaries disregarded accounting information in executive decisions need to be revised in light of the fact that the accounting control of building societies was supplemented by the disciplinary power granted to state regulators (as represented by the Treasury and the Registrar of Friendly Societies). |
| Keywords: | accounting-based regulation; House Purchase and Housing Act, 1959; Building Societies Act, 1960; Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies; HM Treasury; the Building Societies Association; disciplinary power; reserve ratio; property developers. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2011-34&r=his |
| By: | Jan Luiten van Zanden (Department of Economics, Universities of Utrech and Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | The paper discusses some evidence, based on a review of new literature on economic history, about what is referred to as the Sen-hypothesis, that increasing human agency (of both men and women) is a key factor in economic development. It briefly discusses various dimensions of agency (or its absence): slavery (as the absolute suppression of human agency), access to markets, agency concerning marriage, and political participation. This concept perhaps also allows economic historians to move beyond the historical determinism that is central to much recent work in this field. |
| Keywords: | agency, economic development, economic history |
| JEL: | O10 O15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers151&r=his |
| By: | Brian A’Hearn (Pembroke College, Oxford); Anthony J. Venables (University of Oxford & CEPR) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the interactions between external trade and regional disparities in the Italian economy since unification. It argues that the advantage of the North was initially based on natural advantage (in particular the endowment of water, intensive in silk production). From 1880 onwards the share of exports in GDP stagnated and then declined; domestic market access therefore became a key determinant of industrial location, inducing fast growing new sectors (especially engineering) to locate in regions with a large domestic market, i.e. in the North. From 1945 onwards trade growth and European integration meant that foreign market access was the decisive factor; the North had the advantage of proximity to these markets. |
| Keywords: | industrialisation, market integration, new economic geography, geographic concentration, Italian regions |
| JEL: | F14 F15 N63 N64 N93 N94 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:workqs:qse_12&r=his |
| By: | Arimoto, Yutaka; Nakajima, Kentaro; Okazaki, Tetsuji |
| Abstract: | We examine two sources of productivity improvement in the specialized industrial clusters. Agglomeration improves the roductivity of each plant through positive externalities, shifting plant-level productivity distribution to the right. Selection expels less productive plants through competition, truncating distribution on the left. By analyzing the data of the early twentieth century Japanese silk-reeling industry, we find no evidence confirming a right shift in the distribution in clusters or that gglomeration promotes faster productivity growth. These findings imply that the plant-selection effect was the source of higher productivity in the Japanese silk-reeling clusters. |
| Keywords: | Economic geography, Heterogeneous firms, Selection, Productivity |
| JEL: | R12 O18 L10 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2011-10&r=his |
| By: | Pier Angelo Toninelli; Michelangelo Vasta |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to shed light on the Italian entrepreneurship between the beginning of the Second industrial revolution and the end of the XX century. It is based on a new dataset concerning the profiles of 386 entrepreneurs. The results are twofold: first, by proposing an empirical based-taxonomy of Italian entrepreneurs not exclusively based on intuitions and qualitative judgments, we provide valuable interpretative elements; second, we put forward some hypothesis about the relationship between entrepreneurship and Italian economic growth. In particular we perform a Cluster Analysis which singles out five different entrepreneurial typologies characterized by a widespread tendency to searching for new markets, yet a scarce attitude towards innovation. Further we suggest that the evolution of the institutional context slowed down the development of the entrepreneurial abilities and virtues necessary to grow. |
| Keywords: | History of Entrepreneurship; Italian capitalism |
| JEL: | N83 N84 L26 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:628&r=his |
| By: | David Ormrod; James M. Gibson; Owen Lyne |
| Abstract: | Economic historians have traditionally argued that urban growth in England was driven primarily by prior improvements in agricultural supply in the two centuries before the industrial revolution. Recent revisionist scholarship by writers such as Jan Luiten van Zanden and Robert Allen has suggested that 'the city drove the countryside, not the reverse'. This paper assembles new serial data on urban and agricultural rent movements in Kent, Essex and London, from 1580-1914, which enables us to provide a tentative estimate of the strength of the urban variable and the productivity of land across the rural-urban continuum. Our initial findings support the revisionist view, and throw new light on London's position within the wider metropolitan region. Comparative rent movements suggests a greater continuity between town and countryside than has often been assumed, with sharp increases in rental values occurring on the rural-urban fringes of London and the lower Medway valley. |
| Keywords: | Europe; pre-1913; agriculture; land-use; tenure; rural-urban relations; spatial competition; urban history |
| JEL: | N53 N93 Q15 R12 R14 Y1 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1117&r=his |
| By: | Tomoko Hashino (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Keijiro Otsuka (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | This study finds that the process of evolutionary development of the Kiryu weaving district in Japan from 1895 to 1930 can be divided into the two phases, i.e., Smithian growth based on the inter-firm division of labor using hand looms and Schumpeterian development based on factory system using power looms. Weaving manufacturers-cum-contractors led Smithian growth by organizing sub-contracts with out-weavers in rural villages among others, thereby contributing to the steady growth in production. Newly emerged joint stock firms played a role of genuine entrepreneurs by realizing significant scale economies and transforming the traditional weaving district into a cluster of large modern factories. |
| Keywords: | industrial district, Smithian growth, Schumpeterian development, weaving industry, 20th century Japan |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1121&r=his |
| By: | Lambrecht, Thijs A. |
| Abstract: | Service was one of the main characteristics of the European Marriage Pattern in pre-industrial western Europe. During this stage of the life cycle adolescents could acquire the material assets and skills that were required to marry and start an independent household. Whilst in service, servants could save between 40 and 60 per cent of their cash wage. This paper illustrates that servants also used their earnings to assist their families. Parents of servants in particular could rely on both remittances in cash and in kind. As such, placing children in service was also a source of income for peasant household in Flanders. I argue that both patterns of land ownership and the restricted access to welfare ressources explain why servants displayed this altruistic behaviour. |
| Keywords: | adolescents; farm servants; saving; Flanders; family assistance; poor relief; household formation; European Marriage Pattern; |
| JEL: | D13 J43 I39 N33 D64 J12 D60 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35400&r=his |
| By: | Timothy J. Kehoe; Felipe Meza |
| Abstract: | In 1950 Mexico entered an economic takeoff and grew rapidly for more than 30 years. Growth stopped during the crises of 1982–1995, despite major reforms, including liberalization of foreign trade and investment. Since then growth has been modest. We analyze the economic history of Mexico 1877–2010. We conclude that the growth 1950–1981 was driven by urbanization, industrialization, and education and that Mexico would have grown even more rapidly if trade and investment had been liberalized sooner. If Mexico is to resume rapid growth — so that it can approach U.S. levels of income — it needs further reforms. |
| JEL: | N16 O11 O54 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17700&r=his |
| By: | Michel Bellet (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; Université Jean Monnet ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne, Saint-Etienne, F-42000, France) |
| Abstract: | This article reveals and studies the connections between Bentham’s Defence of Usury (1787) and Saint-Amand Bazard (1791-1832), a founder of Saint-Simonianism. We first traces Bazard’s exposure to Bentham through his unknown friendship with Bentham’s publisher Etienne Dumont. After introducing in details the Saint-Simonian views on interest and money, we examines the significance of Bazard’s translation of Defence of Usury and his shared opposition against usure laws. We explain why the puzzling reference to Benthamite utilitarianism is not fortuitous but appears to justify a common ground between Bentham’s utilitarism and Saint-Simonianism. This connection did not survive the July Revolution. |
| Keywords: | utilitarianism, saint-simonism, interest rate, usury |
| JEL: | B1 E4 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1135&r=his |
| By: | Ben Chabot |
| Abstract: | How costly were the banking panics of the National Banking Era (1861-1913)? I combine two hand-collected data sets - the weekly statements of the New York Clearing House banks and the monthly holding period return of every stock listed on the NYSE - to estimate the cost of banking panics in an era before “too big to fail.” The bank statements allow me to construct a hypothetical insurance contract which would have allowed investors to insure against sudden deposit withdrawals and the cross-section of stock returns allow us to draw inferences about the marginal utility during panic states. Panics were costly. The cross-section of gilded-age stock returns imply investors would have willingly paid a 14% annual premium above actuarial fair value to insure $100 against unexpected deposit withdrawals The implied consumption of stock investors suggests that the consumption loss associated with National Banking Era bank runs was far more costly than the consumption loss from stock market crashes. |
| Keywords: | National Bank Act ; Financial crises |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2011-15&r=his |
| By: | Deloof M.; Vermoesen V. |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of bank relationships on the performance of Belgian firms listed on the Brussels stock exchange at the start of the Great Depression, in 1929–1931. Most of these firms were affiliated with one or more banks via interlocking directorships. Taking into account the number of affiliated banks and their size, the proportion of bank directors on the board, and the number of board seats held by bank directors, we find that bank affiliations did not affect stock returns in 1929. On the other hand, firm value was positively related to the number of board seats held by the firm directors before 1929, but not after 1929. This result holds for both bank directors and other directors. Combined, our results suggest that firms did not derive any benefits from bank affiliations at the start of the Great Depression. |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2011021&r=his |
| By: | Halkos, George |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the development of environmental economics from the Industrial Revolution in Europe to today. Specifically, it comments on the general similarities and differences between the representatives of the schools of economic thought concerning the environment. Among others, the issues of scarcity of natural resources, of population growth as well as the limits to growth are discussed and the various views are presented. The paper also comments on the trends of environmental, evolutionary and ecological economics. |
| Keywords: | Naturla resource scarcity; limits to growth; environmental economics |
| JEL: | N54 B12 B14 O13 B13 N53 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35580&r=his |
| By: | Federico Etro (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Laura Pagani (Department of Economics, University Of Milan, Bicocca); ; |
| Abstract: | We study the XVII century market for figurative paintings in Italy, analyzing original contracts between patrons and artists: this is one of the first manufacturing markets for which econometric evidence of the basic laws of economics can be found. Size of paintings, expected quality, type of commissions and aggregate shocks affect prices as expected. We find evidence of contractual solutions to moral hazard problems in the patron-artist relation: since quality was not negotiable, prices were made conditional on correlated variables such as the number of figures depicted. We find evidence of price equalization between high and low demand destinations due to endogenous mobility of the painters (or the paintings). We also provide support for the Galenson hypothesis of a positive relation between age of experimental artists and quality as priced by the market. |
| Keywords: | Art market, Moral hazard, Endogenous market structures, Galenson hypothesis |
| JEL: | Z11 N0 D4 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2011_22&r=his |
| By: | Akresh, Richard (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Bristol); Leone, Marinella (University of Sussex); Osili, Una Okonkwo (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) |
| Abstract: | The Nigerian civil war of 1967-70 was precipitated by secession of the Igbo-dominated south-eastern region to create the state of Biafra. It was the first civil war in Africa, the predecessor of many. We investigate the legacies of this war four decades later. Using variation across ethnicity and cohort, we identify significant long run impacts on human health capital. Individuals exposed to the war at all ages between birth and adolescence exhibit reduced adult stature and these impacts are largest in adolescence. Adult stature is portentous of reduced life expectancy and lower earnings. |
| Keywords: | war, height, early life, human capital investments, Nigeria |
| JEL: | I12 O12 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6194&r=his |
| By: | Peter Murray (National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis/ Department of Sociology, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland); Maria Feeney (REDP Teagasc, Athenry, Co. Galway/ School of Sociology,University College Dublin, Ireland) |
| Abstract: | Muintir na Tire’s role in the emergence of the discipline of Sociology in Ireland is usually acknowledged with reference to the Limerick Rural Survey (1958-64) that it initiated, part-funded and published. In the first half of the 1960s the movement also put proposals to the Irish government and sought US foundation grants for a centre or institute that would operate in the field of rural sociology and form part of Muintir na Tire’s organisational structure. Although Taoiseach Sean Lemass was positively disposed towards these initatives, opposition from the Departments of Agriculture, Education and Finance prevailed against them and Muintir na Tire was ultimately to find itself completely excluded from participation in the state-resourced institutional arrangements for carrying out social/sociological research in Ireland. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tea:wpaper:1104&r=his |
| By: | Mathias Hoffmann; Ulrich Woitek |
| Abstract: | We study international business cycles and capital flows in the UK, the United States and the Emerging Periphery in the period 1885-1939. Based on the same set of parameters, our model explains current account dynamics under both the Classical Gold Standard and during the Interwar period. We interpret this as evidence for Gold Standard mentality: the expectation formation mechanism with respect to major macroeconomic variables driving the current account – output, exchange rates and interest rates – has remained fundamentally stable between the two periods. Nonetheless, the macroeconomic environment changed: Volatility increased generally, but less so for international capital flows than for GDP. This pattern is consistent with shocks in the Interwar period becoming more persistent and more global. |
| Keywords: | Current accounts, capital flows, business cycles, Great Depression, Gold Standard, emerging markets, present-value models |
| JEL: | F32 F36 F40 F41 N1 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:057&r=his |
| By: | Domingues, Patrick (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Using a new database on the Mozambican Civil War, this paper utilises the heterogeneity of the duration of conflict across the Mozambican provinces to assess its impact on school enrolment. The results indicate that only conflict exposure during the first seven years of life reduced the probability of school enrolment; no effect was found for exposure after this age or for in-utero exposure. Furthermore, the results show that this negative effect is specific to girls and that these results are linked with choices made by households during the war period. |
| Keywords: | Civil War; Education; Mozambique; Gender. |
| JEL: | I20 O12 O55 |
| Date: | 2011–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nepswp:2011_001&r=his |
| By: | Federico Etro (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Silvia Marchesi (Department of Economics, University Of Milan, Bicocca); Laura Pagani (Department of Economics, University Of Milan, Bicocca); ; |
| Abstract: | We analyze the labor market for painters in Baroque Rome using unique panel data on primary sales of still lifes, portraits, genre paintings, landscapes and figurative paintings. In line with the traditional hierarchy of genres, average price differentials between them were high. We identify supply and demand factors related to prices of paintings. The panel dimension of the dataset and its matched painter-patron nature allow us to evaluate the extent to which price heterogeneity is related to unmeasured differences among painters or patrons. Most of the inter-genre price differential is explained by the variation in average individual heterogeneity across genres: this suggests that the market was rather competitive and allocated artists between artistic genres to the point of equalizing the marginal return of each genre. We also explain residual price differences in terms of efficiency wage, signalling and incentive mechanisms to induce effort in the production of artistic quality. |
| Keywords: | Art market, Occupational choice, Wage equalization, Signalling |
| JEL: | Z11 N0 D4 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2011_23&r=his |
| By: | Barry Eichengreen |
| Abstract: | This paper places current efforts at international economic policy coordination in historical perspective. It argues that successful cooperation is most likely in four sets of circumstances. First, when it centers on technical issues. Second, when cooperation is institutionalized – when procedures and precedents create presumptions about the appropriate conduct of policy and reduce the transactions costs of reaching an agreement. Third, when it is concerned with preserving an existing set of policies and behaviors (when it is concerned with preserving a policy regime). Fourth, when it occurs in the context of broad comity among nations. These points are elaborated through a review of 150 years of historical experience and then used to assess the scope for cooperative responses to the current economic crisis. |
| JEL: | F0 F3 N0 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17665&r=his |
| By: | Fred Block; Matthew R. Keller |
| Abstract: | This article brings to bear new data on the issue of structuring national innovation systems. Drawing on a unique data set of prize winning innovations between 1971 and 2006, we document three key changes in the U.S. economy. The first is an expanding role of interorganizational collaborations in producing award winning innovations. The second is the diminishing role of the largest corporations as sources of innovation. The third is the expanded role of public institutions and public funding in the innovation process. This leads us to the surprising conclusion that the U.S. increasingly resembles a Developmental Network State in which government initiatives are critical in overcoming network failures and in providing critical funding for the innovation process. The paper concludes by addressing the implications of these finding for debates over the appropriate regime for intellectual property rights. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:35&r=his |
| By: | Santiago García-Verdú |
| Abstract: | This paper, first, reviews briefly the literature on the term structure of interest rates, citing some of the most important studies done on the topic for the Mexican case in the last years. In addition, the development of the government debt market is described. Second, evidence against the expectation hypothesis is shown and the deviations of the term structure from this hypothesis are examined. Third, it is documented that much of the variability of the term structure is due to changes in its level. Fourth, some of the statistics of the term structure are associated with macroeconomic variables, specifically the short-term rate and the output gap as measured with the IGAE index. Regarding this last point, evidence is found that changes in the term structure of interest rates’ slope are associated with the monetary policy stand along the business cycle. The nominal interest rates used in the analysis go from July 2002 to June 2011. |
| Keywords: | Term Structure of Interest Rates, Expectation Hypothesis, Principal Component Analysis, Nominal Interest Rates. |
| JEL: | E43 G12 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2011-18&r=his |
| By: | Jean-Claude Barbier (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | What has been analysed in France mainly under the term "précarité de l'emploi" over the past 30 years was mostly dealt with differently in other countries (atypical, non-standard employment). Research on these issues dates back to the 1970s in sociology and institutional economics. More recently some political scientists have endeavoured to link up the labour market theme with developments in systems of social protection and they are talking about "dualism" and "dualization". Despite the constant intellectual investment put into the topic, it is striking that indicators for comparative measurement of the phenomenon have remained rather unsophisticated, as the basic opposition between what Eurostat names "temporary contracts" and "open-ended contracts". On the other hand, because of the spreading of the effects of work and employment flexibilisation into new countries, new categories are appearing since the early 2000s (Prekariat, vulnerable workers, and even "precarity"). |
| Keywords: | Precariousness, non-standard work, internal labour markets, atypical employment, dualization, Europeanization. |
| JEL: | J2 J80 J82 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11078&r=his |
| By: | Morissette, René<br/> Qiu, Theresa<br/> Chan, Winnie |
| Abstract: | This study examines how the risk of job loss and the short-term earnings losses of laid-off workers evolved between the late 1970s and the mid-2000s. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Employment and unemployment, Wages, salaries and other earnings, Labour mobility, turnover and work absences |
| Date: | 2011–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2011339e&r=his |
| By: | François Facchini (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Mickaël Melki (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of public expenditure on economic growth from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. Given that the economic literature supplies numerous and conflicting views on the topic, the article offers a framework combining both theories of market failures and State failures to account for an inverted U-shapped relation between government size and GDP growth. The empirical contribution is to provide evidence through a long time-series analysis of the existence of such a relation on the period 1871-2008 for France, which offers one of the longest stable democratic periods to analyse. |
| Keywords: | Public spending, public expenditure, government size, BARS curve, Armey Curve, economic growth, market failure, France. |
| JEL: | H11 P44 H50 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11077&r=his |
| By: | Broadberry, Stephen (University of Warwick); Ghosal, Sayantan (University of Warwick); Proto, Eugenio (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | The Industrial Revolution is often characterized as the culmination of a process of commercialisation ; however, the precise nature of such a link remains unclear. This paper models and analyses one such link: the impact of a higher degree of anonymity of market transactions on relative factor prices. Commercialisation raises wages as impersonal labour market transactions replace personalized customary relations. This leads, in equilibrium, to higher real wages to prevent shirking. To the extent that capital and labor are (imperfect) substitutes, the resulting shift in relative factor prices leads to the adoption of a more capital-intensive production technology which, in turn, results in a faster rate of technological progress via enhanced learning by doing. We provide evidence using European historical data that England was among the most urbanized and the highest wage countries at the onset of the industrial revolution. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:974&r=his |
| By: | Thomas J. Miceli (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | This essay offers some observations, from the perspective of an economist, on the usefulness of economics for understanding law. Economic analysis provides a coherent theoretical framework for unifying different areas of law based on the pursuit of efficiency. It does this by recognizing common problems across different areas, which give rise to solutions that, while outwardly different, have the same underlying form. In this way, economics provides a theory of law. But economists can also learn a lot about how the economy functions by thinking more carefully about the role of law in facilitating economic activity. The success of law and economics ultimately resides in the recognition of this fundamental interrelationship between the two disciplines. |
| Keywords: | Law and Economics |
| JEL: | K00 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2011-25&r=his |
| By: | Peter Sinclair |
| Abstract: | In his essay on public credit, Hume advances two arguments in favour of government borrowing and five against. It is interesting to cast his various arguments |
| Keywords: | Government debt, deficits, David Hume |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bir:birmec:11-22&r=his |
| By: | Antonio Ciccone; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | We find that over the period 1950-1990, US states absorbed increases in the supply of schooling due to tighter compulsory schooling and child labor laws mostly through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production. Shifts in the industry composition towards more schooling-intensive industries played a less important role. To try and understand this finding theoretically, we consider a free trade model with two goods/industries, two skill types, and many regions that produce a fixed range of differentiated varieties of the same goods. We find that a calibrated version of the model can account for shifts in schooling supply being mostly absorbed through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production even if the elasticity of substitution between varieties is substantially higher than estimates in the literature. |
| JEL: | F11 F16 J31 R1 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17683&r=his |
| By: | Michael Hudson |
| Abstract: | Ricardian trade theory was based on the cost of labor at a time when grain and other consumer goods accounted for most subsistence spending. But today's budgets are dominated by payments to the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector and to newly privatized monopolies. This has made FIRE the determining factor in trade competitiveness. The major elements in US family budgets are housing (with prices bid up on credit), debt service, and health insurance-and wage withholding for financializing Social Security and Medicare. Industrial firms also have been financialized, using debt leverage to increase their return on equity. The effect is for interest to increase as a proportion of cash flow (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA). Corporate raiders pay their high-interest bondholders, while financial managers also are using EBITDA for stock buybacks to increase share prices (and hence the value of their stock options). Shifting taxes off property and onto employment and retail sales spurs the financialization of family and business budgets as tax cuts on property are capitalized into higher bank loans. Payments to government agencies for taxes and presaving for Social Security and Medicare absorb another 30 percent of family budgets. These transfer payments to the FIRE sector and government agencies have transformed international cost structures, absorbing roughly 75 percent of US family budgets. This helps explain the deteriorating US industrial trade balance as the economy has become financialized. |
| Keywords: | International Trade Theory; Financialization |
| JEL: | F3 F4 F10 F17 F18 F37 G12 G21 H21 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_699&r=his |
| By: | María-Inés Moraes; Natalia Stalla |
| Abstract: | This paper focus on the history of River Plate’s exports of hides from 1760 to 1860, a century that ran from the beginning of the Bourbon reforms in America until the beginning of the “first globalization”. The aim of this paper is to show some basic magnitudes of this crucial commodity in the region’s history of international trade, from the early years as a staple until its maturity. Thus, this work collects from primary and secondary sources data on volume, prices and values of exported hides from Buenos Aires and Montevideo along the period. This evidence is useful to grasp how volumes, prices and values performed before and after the critical year of 1810, when the colonial ties with Spain were broken. The results underline three main facts: first, exports of hides from the Rio de la Plata grew at a high rate before 1810 due to a large increase in volumes and in spite of flat prices. Second, they experienced a much more slowly and fluctuating growth after the independence; in spite of wars and political turmoil, this time volumes exported were even greater than before while prices declined until 1850. Third, export prices of hides notably rise in 1850, and just then they acted as the driving force upon value. |
| Keywords: | international trade, Latin America, River Plate, hides. |
| JEL: | F14 N16 N56 N76 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:seh:wpaper:1110&r=his |
| By: | Jesús Astigarraga (Universidad de Zaragoza) |
| Abstract: | «Reflexiones sobre el estado actual del comercio de España» —Reflections on the current state of commerce in Spain— was anonymously published in 1761. At the time both the treatise and its author, the merchant Simón de Aragorri, were well known. Nevertheless, the work vanished for centuries and there was not known copy available at disposal of historians until now. This article analyzes Reflexiones emphasizing the context within which the treatise was drawn up, the author's environment, his intellectual sources, and the economic significance of the book. Conclusions suggest that the treatise is essentially a translation-adaptation of a work by the French economist Jacques Accarias de Serionne. The objective of the text was reorienting the domestic and overseas economic policy of the Spanish monarchy. In particular, it pretended a restructuration of the Spanish Public Finances and to solve the monetary distress caused by the entrance of precious metals. It also aimed at reorienting the Uztáriz and Ulloa's protectionist, interventionist and industrialist approach towards a new strategy of economic growth based on agriculture and free trade. Its foundations also aroused a substantial change on the transatlantic commercial relationships. |
| Keywords: | Economic policy; international circulation of ideas; Spanish Enlightenment; Atlantic History; François Véron de Forbonnais; Jacques Accarias de Serionne; David Hume |
| JEL: | B11 B31 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1109&r=his |
| By: | Cormac Ó Gráda (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | The human costs of famines outlast the famines themselves. An increasing body of research points to their adverse long-run consequences for those born or in utero during them. This paper offers an introduction to the burgeoning literature on fetal origins and famine through a review of research on one well-known case study and a bibliography of published work in the field generally. |
| Keywords: | health, famine, fetal origins, economic history |
| Date: | 2011–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201128&r=his |
| By: | Arthmar, Rogério; Cinelli, Carlos Leonardo Kulnig |
| Abstract: | This paper goes through the main classical authors’ positions on the virtues and the limitations of both competition and socialism. The first section retrieves the evolution of socialistic ideas in England until the first half of the nineteenth century, highlighting Owen’s thesis. After that, Smith, Bentham, James Mill and Ricardo’s comments on the equality of incomes, the worker’s condition and private property are presented. The third section rescues some elements in Stuart Mill’s early intellectual formation along with his debate with Thompson over the cooperative system in the London based owenite society. The fourth section covers others influences on Stuart Mill’s social thought, as well as his more moderate reflections on the possible points of conflict or convergence between socialism and individual liberty. Then, some final remarks are made. |
| Keywords: | economia clássica; concorrência; socialismo; liberdade |
| JEL: | B10 B12 B15 |
| Date: | 2011–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35528&r=his |
| By: | Mejía Cubillos, Javier |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a methodology to calculate the systemic risk in historical research, understanding that the characteristics of non modern financial systems and the availability of information do not enable the use of recent techniques of measuring financial risk. I propose a method of simple application and scarce information requirements, using the degree of leverage as an approximation of the individual risk, and the network theory to determine the allocation of individual risks throughout the system. The methodology is especially useful for studying the banking systems in early corporatizing periods. After been exposed the methodology, which takes as its central axis the shareholders, and the property as base linkages between institutions, it is mentioned its strengths and weaknesses; being, finally, tested in an application for the free banking experience in Antioquia. |
| Keywords: | systemic risk; social network analysis; financial history; free banking; 19th Century; Antioquia |
| JEL: | N01 G32 N86 N26 G21 |
| Date: | 2012–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35460&r=his |
| By: | Adolfo Meisel Roca; Irene Salazar Mejía |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se estudia, por primera vez en la historiografía económica colombiana, el proceso de desamortización en los estados federales de la Costa Caribe, Magdalena y Bolívar. El proceso de desamortización se realizó en Colombia entre 1861 y 1881. Esa reforma fue muy importante en la Costa, pero tuvo características diferentes a las que se observaron en el interior andino. En primera instancia, hay que señalar que en la Costa Caribe la desamortización fue abrumadoramente un proceso urbano. Además, el grueso de los bienes y censos desamortizados en la Costa Caribe estaban en Bolívar. El Magdalena tuvo una escasa participación en este sentido y en términos per cápita fue el estado federal con los valores más bajos en toda Colombia. Por último, la mayoría de los bienes desamortizados en la Costa Caribe fueron casas ubicadas en el recinto amurallado de Cartagena y construidas durante el periodo colonial. En la medida en que esas casas pudieron ser comerciadas libremente a partir de esa época, la ciudad se benefició de una manera importante con la desamortización y ese fue uno de los factores que contribuyeron a la recuperación económica de la ciudad en las dos últimas décadas del siglo XIX. |
| Date: | 2011–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000101:009179&r=his |
| By: | Edgardo Zablotsky |
| Abstract: | El Barón de Hirsch desaprobaba la caridad tradicional con su énfasis en la distribución de limosnas como un medio de brindar alivio. Estaba convencido que podría asegurar el futuro de los judíos de Rusia proveyéndoles la oportunidad de volverse autosuficientes a través del trabajo productivo. En este paper, a los fines de ejemplificar esta posición frente a la filantropía, hemos centrado nuestra atención en un caso testigo: el mayor contingente de inmigrantes trasladados a nuestro país por la Jewish Colonization Association (J.C.A.), los Pampistas, así denominados por haber arribado a Buenos Aires en el vapor Pampa, el 15 de Diciembre de 1891. El contingente se encontraba aislado en Constantinopla, al no poder ingresar en Palestina, ni retornar a Rusia, y habitaban en la mayor miseria. Las penurias de su viaje, las dificultades que enfrentaron al llegar a la Argentina, las sublevaciones y disputas con la Administración de la J.C.A. y entre distintos grupos de inmigrantes, su insólita estadía en Mar del Sur, y su difícil adaptación a la vida rural en Entre Ríos, nos han provisto de material de sumo interés a los fines de estudiar el carácter no asistencialista del proyecto, las altas exigencias impuestas a los beneficiarios del mismo, y su éxito final, al lograr muchos de ellos convertirse en miembros útiles para la sociedad, recuperándose no tan sólo económicamente, sino también como seres humanos. Dicho éxito no arribó de un día para el otro, tampoco en meses, fueron años de duro trabajo e infinidad de contratiempos, por ello la historia de los Pampistas marca un hito en la inmigración judía agraria a la República Argentina y constituye un claro ejemplo de la potencialidad de un proyecto de filantropía no asistencialista. |
| Keywords: | Barón Maurice de Hirsch, filantropía, asistencialismo, Pampistas |
| JEL: | D64 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cem:doctra:472&r=his |
| By: | Pierre-Charles Pradier (SAMM - Statistique, Analyse et Modélisation Multidisciplinaire (SAmos-Marin Mersenne) - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | On considère généralement qu'il n'existe pas d'évaluation correcte des rentes viagères au dix-septième siècle. Les institutions qui ont vendu de tels actifs financiers l'auraient donc fait déraisonnablement. On attribue communément à ces désordres la faillite des institutions de charité parisiennes en 1689. En recoupant les sources, on montre que les prix des rentes sont compatibles avec la table de mortalité de Deparcieux actualisée au denier légal. Cela conduit à penser que les rentes sont correctement évaluées. En revanche, la gestion des réserves paraît problématique, même si l'absence d'actifs patrimoniaux fiables et les contraintes conjoncturelles ont facilité la sous-capitalisation des rentes et ont entraîné les hôpitaux parisiens vers des difficultés. Loin d'exercer une tutelle détachée, la monarchie a certainement contribué à l'illiquidité de l'Hôtel-Dieu en manipulant les rentes sur l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris. Le plus étonnant est certainement de voir l'État émettre immédiatement des emprunts à des conditions plus défavorables encore que celles qu'il a interdites, sans s'accorder ensuite les moyens de rembourser qu'il a consentis à l'Hôtel-Dieu (c'est-à-dire une augmentation des impôts). |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00652523&r=his |
| By: | Fatiha Talahite (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - CNRS : UMR7115 - Université Paris XIII - Paris Nord); Rafik Bouklia-Hassane (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - CNRS : UMR7115 - Université Paris XIII - Paris Nord) |
| Abstract: | En esta investigación mostramos, en una primera parte, cómo la industria ha desempeñado un papel central en el modelo argelino de desarrollo, tanto en el ámbito doctrinal como mediante el balance de la política industrial durante el periodo 1967-1986. En la segunda parte, analizamos la crisis de 1985 sus efectos en la industria, asi como las diferentes estrategias de salida de la crisis puestas en practica. La tercera parte estudia la evolución de la industria desde 1989, primero en su conjunto y después en las dinámicas de las diversas ramas y sectores jurídicos. Finalmente, la última parte presenta las grandes líneas de la estrategia industrial puesta en marcha en 2007, así como los resultados de las simulaciones realizadas para proyectar, en base a ciertas hipótesis, la evolución industrial y de creación de empleo durante el periodo 2008-2015. |
| Keywords: | Industria-Argelia- desindustrialización -desarrollo-empleo |
| Date: | 2011–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00651598&r=his |
| By: | Clément Bosquet (Sciences-Po - Sciences-Po); Pierre-Philippe Combes (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR6579) |
| Abstract: | Nous utilisons les citations Google Scholar 2010 des économistes exerçants en France en 2008 afin de dessiner un panorama de la recherche en économie en France et de tester l'utilisation d'un support plus large qu'Econlit pour l'évaluation de la production de recherche. Nous comparons les indicateurs de citations tels que le nombre de citations divisés par le nombre d'auteurs, l'indice H ou l'indice G calculés aux niveaux individuels mais aussi des centres de recherche et universités avec des indices de publications calculés avec la base de données EconLit prenant plus ou moins en compte la qualité des journaux. Ces comparaisons sont menées sur différentes périodes de temps. La hiérarchie des institutions calculée avec l'approche Google Scholar est relativement proche de celle observée lorsque l'on utilise des scores de publications. Néanmoins, on observe également quelques variations spectaculaires pour quelques institutions, positives principalement lorsque l'économie n'est pas le coeur de métier de ces institutions. |
| Keywords: | économie et géographie de la science; productivité de la recherche; citations, publications |
| Date: | 2011–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00652730&r=his |
| By: | Morissette, René<br/> Qiu, Theresa<br/> Chan, Winnie |
| Abstract: | La présente étude porte sur la manière dont le risque de perte d'emploi et les pertes de revenu à court terme des travailleurs mis à pied ont évolué entre la fin des années 1970 et le milieu des années 2000. |
| Keywords: | Travail, Emploi et chômage, Salaires, traitements et autres gains, Mobilité de la main-d'oeuvre, roulement du personnel et absences du travail |
| Date: | 2011–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3f:2011339f&r=his |
| By: | Théret, Bruno |
| Keywords: | Keynésianisme; Libertarianisme; Monnaie; |
| JEL: | B5 E4 B2 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/7629&r=his |