|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
|
Issue of 2013‒01‒07
thirty-one papers chosen by |
| By: | Apostolides, Alexander |
| Abstract: | During the interwar period Cyprus faced a small deficit, yet the inflexibility of the colonial finance structure created a political impasse. As a result the disagreements between the Colonial government and the Cypriot elected members of the islands legislative assembly sparked violence against the regime. Such violence would not have been possible if the already aggrieved political and economic situation allowed those with nationalistic agenda to undermine the legitimacy of the colonial regime. Although the traditional argument indicates that the 1931 riots were a purely nationalistic act, the disagreements of the colonial government and the actions of the leaders of the largest communities have to be understood within the sense of increasing crisis caused by the continual fall GDP. At the same time, the political situation was paralysed to react in a severe economic depression in part due to the disagreements between the Governor and the colonial office in London on one hand and the internal struggles for control within the Turkish and Greek communities. As a result the tinder for the violence in 1931 may have been nationalistic, but the fuel was provided by the prolonged economic crisis in Cyprus. The economic crisis influenced the political stagnation, reduced the ability of government to react and created a sense of imminent crisis that could only be averted through drastic action. Some commonalities may be seen with current events in Cyprus, especially in how government resists a structural reduction of government revenue just when public opinion and economic orthodoxy (of the time) seemed to suggest it. |
| Keywords: | Debt Crises; Economic History of Cyprus; Current Crisis of Cyprus; Cyprus; Colonial History |
| JEL: | N44 N14 |
| Date: | 2012–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43210&r=his |
| By: | Stefaano Ugolini (Sciences Po Toulouse and LEREPS – University of Toulouse 1 Capitole.) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the microfoundations of the so-called “gold device” policy by analysing a new dataset on the Bank of England’s operations in the gold market at the heyday of the classical gold standard. It explains that “gold devices” must be understood in connection to the Bank’s role as gold market-maker in London and to the position of London as world gold market. Contrary to the literature, the paper shows that “gold devices” were sophisticated monetary policy tools intended to complement – not to substitute – interest rate policy and aimed at smoothing – not at hampering – international adjustment. These findings demonstrate the potential of adopting a microstructural approach to the study of monetary policy, and call for a reassessment of efficiency measurement for the gold standard. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy, Gold standard, Gold market, Market |
| JEL: | E58 G24 L11 L14 N23 |
| Date: | 2012–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bno:worpap:2012_15&r=his |
| By: | Björn Erikssoon; Tobias Karlsson; Tim Leunig; Maria Stanfors |
| Abstract: | Women have, on average, been less well-paid than men throughout history. Prior to 1900, most economic historians see the gender wage gap as a reflection of men's greater strength and correspondingly higher productivity. This paper investigates the gender wage gap in cigar making around 1900. Strength was rarely an issue, but the gender wage gap was large. Two findings suggest that employers were not sexist. First, differences in earnings by gender for workers paid piece rates can be fully explained by differences in experience and other productivity-related characteristics. Second, conditioning on those characteristics, women were just as likely to be promoted to the better paying piece rate section. Neither finding is compatible with a simple model of sex-based discrimination. Instead, the gender wage gap can be decomposed into two components. First, women were typically less experienced, in an industry in which experience mattered. Second there were some jobs that required strength, for which men were better suited. Because strength was so valuable in the other jobs at this time, men commanded a wage premium in the general labour market, raising their reservation wage. Hiring a man required the firm to pay a 'man's wage'. This implies that firms that were slow to feminise their time rate workforce ended up with a higher cost structure than those that made the transition more quickly. We show that firms with a higher proportion of women in their workforce in 1863 were indeed more likely to survive 35 years later. |
| Keywords: | gender, productivity, discrimination, piece-rates, time-rates, labour markets, firm survival |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J71 J33 J40 L25 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:385&r=his |
| By: | Michael D. Bordo; Owen F. Humpage; Anna J. Schwartz |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the United States’ first line of defense against shortcomings in the Bretton Woods system, which threatened the system’s continuation as early as 1960. The exposition describes the Federal Reserve’s use of swap lines both to provide cover for central banks’ unwanted dollar exposures, thereby forestalling claims on the U.S. gold stock, and to supply dollar liquidity to countries facing temporary balance-of-payments deficits, thereby bolstering confidence in their parities. As suggested by the expansion and growing use of the swap lines, the operations failed to distinguish between temporary and fundamental disequilibrium forces. In substituting temporary for fundamental adjustments, the lines ultimately proved inadequate. |
| Keywords: | Bretton Woods Agreements Act ; Financial markets ; Monetary policy ; International finance |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1232&r=his |
| By: | Becker, Sascha (University of Warwick); Cinnirella, Francesco (Ifo Institute); Hornung, Eric (Ifo Institute); Woessmann, Ludger (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a documentation of the ifo Prussian Economic History Database (iPEHD), a county-level database covering a rich collection of variables for 19th-century Prussia. The Royal Prussian Statistical Office collected these data in several censuses over the years 1816-1901, with much county-level information surviving in archives. These data provide a unique source for microregional empirical research in economic history, enabling analyses of the importance of such factors as education, religion, fertility, and many others for Prussian economic development in the 19th century. The service of iPEHD is to provide the data in a digitized and structured way. |
| Keywords: | economic history, Prussia, 19th century, database, county |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:warwcg:95&r=his |
| By: | Susan Black (Reserve Bank of Australia); Joshua Kirkwood (Reserve Bank of Australia); Alan Rai (Reserve Bank of Australia); Thomas Williams (Reserve Bank of Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the development of Australian corporate bond issuance since the early 20th century, based on a new unit-record dataset that we have compiled. Issuance trends have changed significantly over the past century as bond markets have become more diverse, sophisticated and globally integrated. A number of changes over the past century are discussed: (i) today, issuance is largely by private entities whereas it was dominated by government-owned corporations historically; (ii) the issuer base has shifted from being mostly non-financial corporations towards banks; (iii) a wide range of entities are now able to tap the bond market; (iv) Australian corporations now raise a large share of funds offshore; and (v) the investor base has shifted away from direct holdings by households towards indirect holdings through superannuation/managed funds and holdings by non-residents. These developments have largely been due to: the evolution of the structure of the Australian economy; privatisations; and changes in the regulatory landscape, particularly the deregulation of the banking system in the 1980s, and the floating of the exchange rate and abolition of capital controls in 1983. |
| Keywords: | Australia; bond market; history; regulation |
| JEL: | N27 N47 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2012-09&r=his |
| By: | Saleh, Mohamed (TSE,IAST) |
| Abstract: | I examine the impact of the transformation of elementary religious schools (kuttabs) into modern primary schools in 1953-56 on the educational and occupational differentials between religious groups in Egypt. Before the reform, non-Muslims enjoyed better educational and occupational outcomes than the Muslim majority and, unlike Muslims, were almost all enrolled in modern schools. Using several new data sources, the individual-level census sample from 1996, the official schooling reports from 1907 to 1969, and the village/urban quarter-level census data from 1897 to 1986, I find that the inter-religious educational and occupational gaps both declined in the second half of the twentieth century. The educational reform seems to explain the reduction in the occupational gap, but cannot explain the decline of the educational gap. |
| Keywords: | educational modernization; religious schools; Middle Eastern economic history; human capital; modern schools |
| JEL: | I N35 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:26115&r=his |
| By: | Richard Akresh (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and IZA); Sonia Bhalotra (University of Bristol and IZA); Marinella Leone (University of Sussex); Una Osili (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) |
| Abstract: | The Nigerian civil war of 1967-70 was precipitated by secession of the Igbodominated 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 conditions, human capital investments, Nigeria |
| JEL: | I12 O12 J13 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:113&r=his |
| By: | Emanuele Felice (Departament d'Economia i d'Història Econòmica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Michelangelo Vasta (Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena) |
| Abstract: | The article presents and discusses estimates of social and economic indicators for Italy’s regions in benchmark years roughly from Unification to the present day: life expectancy, education, Gdp per capita at purchasing power parity, and the new Human Development Index (HDI). A broad interpretative hypothesis, based on the distinction between passive and active modernization, is proposed to account for the evolution of regional imbalances over the long-run. In the lack of active modernization, Southern Italy converged thanks to passive modernization, i.e., State intervention: however, this was more effective in life expectancy, less successful in education, expensive and as a whole ineffective in Gdp. As a consequence, convergence in the HDI occurred from the late XIX century to the 1970s, but came to a sudden halt in the last decades of the XX century. |
| Keywords: | Italy, regional growth, human development, Gdp, education, life expectancy |
| JEL: | N30 N33 N34 N90 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:uhewps:2012_10&r=his |
| By: | Ron Alquist; Ben Chabot |
| Abstract: | Late 19th century investors demanded compensation to invest in countries with poor institutional protection of property rights. Using the monthly stock returns of 1,808 firms located in 43 countries but traded in London between 1866 and 1907, we estimate the country-specific cost of capital. We find a negative relationship between institutions that protect property rights and capital costs. Firms located in countries with weak institutions were charged a premium compared to similarly risky firms located in countries with strong institutions, and this penalty appeared to be costly in terms of future growth. Countries that paid a premium for borrowing in London during this period grew more slowly after 1913 and are poorer today. We thus identify the capital market as a channel through which strong institutions promote growth. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2012-17&r=his |
| By: | Goldschmidt, Nils; Hesse, Jan-Otmar |
| Abstract: | [Introduction] Walter Eucken (17 January 1891 - 20 March 1950) was the leading and most prominent figure of German liberal economics from the 1920s until well after his death. He represented the convergence between the liberalism of the Austrian school of economics' 'third generation' and the liberal tradition in German economics that gained momentum during the 1930s in opposition to the very strong socialist, national-socialist and romanticist movements in German economics (Goldschmidt and Wohlgemuth 2008; Janssen 2009). Only after the war, when the 'ordoliberal' school of economic thought was erected at the University of Freiburg, did this strand of German economic reasoning become influential, especially in German economic policy pertaining to the reorganization of the West-German economy. Though it was influential after the war, the influence of 'ordoliberalism' in academia faded out after Eucken's death in the 1950s, for many reasons (Hesse 2010). Therefore, the similarities as well as the differences between the German and the Austrian schools of liberal thought have remained neglected in the literature. The differences often appear marginal. They seem to result from the particular historic situation in which they were articulated. But as circumstances evolve over time and fundamental global economic crises return, it is, in our opinion, worthwhile to take a closer look at the differences between these two strands of liberalism, one having been developed within the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany and the other one 'in exile'. We think the correspondence between two of the most outstanding figures of the two 'schools' of thought might be a fitting starting point for this approach. In the following we first want to shortly describe the evolution and the nature of the contact between Eucken and the last Viennese generation of the Austrian school of economics. In a second step, we will analyze the differences between the schools following a close reading of a detailed comment by Eucken on Friedrich A. Hayek's (1944) 'Road to Serfdom', written in March 1946, a few months after a German translation of the book was published. Our examination begins first with a remark by Eucken criticizing Hayek's neglect of the German liberal tradition. Finally, the third chapter of the article deals with Eucken's observations that highlight the minute yet significant differences between the two approaches of (Neo)Liberalism. -- |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:aluord:124&r=his |
| By: | Claire Giordano (Bank of Italy); Ferdinando Giugliano |
| Abstract: | This paper offers the first quantitative assessment of labour productivity dynamics within Italy's industrial sector over the period 1911-1951 and of their links with competition policy. By relying on a newly compiled dataset and on fresh labour productivity estimates, we find that the earlier period of the Fascist era was characterised by a productivity boom, which ended and was reversed following the switch to a more interventionist industrial policy. In the overall period 1911-1951, new industries did not perform any better than the old ones and labour productivity growth was explained largely by internal productivity growth within industrial sectors rather than from the contribution of structural change from old to new industries. Finally, we find that reductions in the level of competition, induced by specific policies, were associated with lower productivity growth. This paper thus casts a shadow on the optimist accounts of Fascist industrial policy and confirms the findings of a revisionist literature minimising the positive role played by the State in the earlier stages of Italian industrialization. |
| Keywords: | Labour productivity, competition, Great Depression |
| JEL: | L16 L52 N14 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:workqs:qse_28&r=his |
| By: | LIM Chong Yah (Division of Economics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637332, Singapore) |
| Abstract: | A presentation of the Trinity Growth Theory, decomposed into its three parts, is made: the EGOIN Theory, the Triple C Theory and the S Curve Theory. Professor Lim Chong Yah uses the Trinity Growth Theory to explain why growth levels and why growth rates differ among nations, why these two important world economic phenomena also exist among different provinces and cities within a nation, and why the world economy, viewed against world economic history, has grown so unprecedentedly in the last 60 years after World War II. |
| Keywords: | Growth theory |
| JEL: | O40 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nan:wpaper:1203&r=his |
| By: | Assaf Razin (Tel Aviv University); Itay Goldstein (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | The last few years have been characterized by great turmoil in the world’s financial markets; starting from the collapse of housing prices in the US, followed by the meltdown of leading financial institutions in the US and Europe, and then the ongoing challenge to the European monetary union. These events exhibit ingredients from all types of financial crises in recent history: banking crises, currency crises, credit frictions, market freezes, and the bursting of asset bubbles. In this survey, we provide a review of the analytical underpinnings of these types of crises and the directions in which they influenced future literature and the way they explain recent events. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed012:214&r=his |
| By: | Benjamin Bridgman; Michael Maio; James A. Schmitz, Jr. |
| Abstract: | Beginning in the early 1900s, Puerto Rican sugar has entered the U.S. mainland tariff free. Given this new status, the Puerto Rican sugar industry grew dramatically, soon far outstripping Louisiana’s production. Then, in the middle 1960s, something amazing happened. Production collapsed. Manufacturing sugar in Puerto Rico was no longer profitable. Louisiana, in contrast, continued to produce and grow sugar. We argue that local economic policy was responsible for the industry’s demise. In the 1930s and 1940s, the local Puerto Rican government enacted policies to stifle the growth of large cane-farms. As a result, starting in the late 1930s, farm size fell, mechanization of farms essentially ceased, and the Puerto Rican sugar industry’s productivity (relative to Louisiana) rapidly declined until the industry collapsed. The overall Puerto Rican economy also began to perform poorly in the late 1930s. In particular, Puerto Rico’s per capita income was converging to that of the poorest U.S. states until the late 1930s, but since then it has lost ground to these states. One naturally wonders: was the poor overall performance of the Puerto Rican economy also the result of policy? We show that Puerto Rico embarked on other economic policies in the early 1940s that proved to be major setbacks to its economic development. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:477&r=his |
| By: | Herr, Richard; Costa Pinto, António |
| Abstract: | In October 1910 a revolution drove out the king of Portugal and established the Portuguese Republic. In 1926 a military coup overthrew the parliamentary system and led to the authoritarian regime of Salazar, but in April 1974 a revolution led by the military restored the parliamentary republic. In this book edited by Richard Herr (Berkeley) and António Costa Pinto (Lisbon), eighteen Portuguese and American authors present essays in celebration of the centennial of the Portuguese Republic. With a review of its course and needs for the future, they offer an assessment of accomplishments of the two periods of the republic, the nature of republican institutions, the role of women in politics and letters, and the republic’s social, economic, religious, and environmental policies. Much thought has gone into analyzing the two revolutions, the challenge of an authoritarian tradition, and the difficulties posed for establishing a workable parliamentary government with a democratic suffrage. |
| Keywords: | Political Science and Government, Women's Studies, Spanish and Iberian Studies, Public Policy Analysis, Natural Resources and Conservation, Portugal, Portuguese, revolution, republic, government, democracy, Azorean Church, authoritarianism, welfare state, entrepreneurship, environment |
| Date: | 2012–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:bineur:qt1vp517x1&r=his |
| By: | Leonor Freire Costa,; Maria Manuela Rocha & Tanya Araujo,; Tanya Araujo, |
| Abstract: | This article discusses agency problems in a period of market boom. It takes Portuguese trade with Brazil as a case study to discuss the impact of colonial market expansion on social capital. The hypothesis is that social capital depletion prompted an uneven distribution of information and a limited access to honest individuals, who might afford a premium to certain forms of agency. Given the states inability to provide legal sanctioning in colonial regions, this article focuses on private-order mechanisms which were effective for selecting reputable individuals. The exploration of network analysis identifies the mechanism that responds to such an adverse environment and supports the argument that business organizations which counted on the geographical mobility of agents had comparative advantages. The approach followed in this article brings new insights on informal institutional arrangements and on itinerancy in contexts of low levels of social capital. |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp272012&r=his |
| By: | Honkapohja, Seppo (Bank of Finland) |
| Abstract: | The financial liberalization in the four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) that took place mostly in the 1980s led to a major financial crisis in three of those countries. The crises in Finland, Norway, and Sweden are among the deepest financial crises in advanced market economies since World War II. Denmark experienced some banking problems but managed to avoid a systemic crisis. This paper reviews the process of liberalization and discusses the reasons why Finland, Norway, and Sweden drifted into financial and economic crises. |
| Keywords: | financial repression; credit rationing; capital account controls; financial deregulation |
| JEL: | E42 F36 G28 |
| Date: | 2012–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofrdp:2012_036&r=his |
| By: | Gerardo della Paolera; Alan M. Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper examines sovereign lending to Latin America and the Caribbean from 1820 to 1913. We examine four waves of capital flows where defaults were followed by a return to market access. In spite of extended default, countries kept promising high returns that attracted international investors again and again: financial autarky thus gave way to eras of high integration to global markets as measured by sovereign risk pricing. We discuss imperfections of the sovereign debt institutional context in the region and discuss a menu of options that some countries used to seek funds in the global financial markets after defaults. The parallel with the modern Latin American and Caribbean sovereign bond market experience is striking. |
| Date: | 2012–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ceu:econwp:2012_18&r=his |
| By: | Eric Monnet (Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Central banking in France from 1948 to 1973 was a paradigmatic example of an unconventional policy relying on quantities rather than on interest rates. Usual SVAR find no effect of policy shocks and support the common view that monetary policy was ineffective over this period. I argue that only a narrative approach is able to account for the peculiarity and complexity of quantitative controls on money and credit. Using archival evidence, I measure monetary policy stance with a dummy variable denoting restrictive episodes. Impulse response functions then show standard patterns; monetary policy shocks have a strong and long lasting effect. These results offer a revisionist account of postwar monetary policy under Bretton Woods and before the Great Inflation. They also suggest that quantities of money and credit can play a greater role than their prices in the adjustment process of the economy. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy, credit controls, VAR, narrative approach, liquidity puzzle, Banque de France, Bretton Woods |
| JEL: | N14 E31 E32 E51 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0032&r=his |
| By: | Petra Moser |
| Abstract: | What is the optimal system of intellectual property rights to encourage innovation? Empirical evidence from economic history can help to inform important policy questions that have been difficult to answer with modern data: 1) Does the existence of strong patent laws encourage innovation? And 2) May patent laws influence the direction – as opposed to the rate – of technical change? Economic history can also help to shed light on the effectiveness of policy tools that are intended to address problems with the current patent system: 3) How do patent pools, as a mechanism to mitigate litigation risks, influence the creation of new technologies? 4) Will compulsory licensing, as a mechanism to improve access to essential innovations in developing countries, discourage innovation in the developing countries? This essay summarizes results of existing research and highlights promising areas for future research. |
| JEL: | K0 L24 L4 N0 O3 O31 O33 O34 Q16 Q55 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18631&r=his |
| By: | Ross Levine; Alexey Levkov; Yona Rubinstein |
| Abstract: | We use the cross-state, cross-time variation in bank deregulation across the U.S. states to assess how improvements in banking systems affected the labor market opportunities of black workers. Bank deregulation from the 1970s through the 1990s improved bank efficiency, lowered entry barriers facing nonfinancial firms, and intensified competition for labor throughout the economy. Consistent with Becker’s (1957) seminal theory of racial discrimination, we find that deregulation-induced improvements in the banking system boosted blacks’relative wages by facilitating the entry of new firms and reducing the manifestation of racial prejudices in labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Banks and banking ; Labor market ; Wages ; Bank competition |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbqu:rpa12-5&r=his |
| By: | Fernando Alexandre (University of Minho - NIPE); Pedro Bação (University of Coimbra - GEMF) |
| Abstract: | The rise of nontradable sectors has been mentioned as one of the causes of low economic growth and external imbalances in the Portuguese economy. In this paper we describe the main trends and jumps in the evolution of nontradable sectors, since the mid-1950s, using four different databases to shed light on different dimensions of this issue. We show that, despite the pattern of the growth of the share of services being similar to that observed in other developed countries, since the early 1990s it has been significantly larger than in most countries. We find that the shift to nontradables in Portugal has been fast and that it occurred essentially at the expense of agriculture in the period 1953-95, and essentially at the expense of industry in the period 1995-2009. In 2009, the share of nontradables in total GVA reached 61%, if we exclude open service sectors, and 74.4%, if we treat all service sectors as nontradable. We also find that more than half of the change towards nontradables since joining the European Union took place in the period 1988-1993. Finally, we show that construction and services facing a strong Government demand were the main drivers of the increasing weight of nontradables in the Portuguese economy since 1986. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:15/2012&r=his |
| By: | Ignacio Zubizarreta |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cem:doctra:504&r=his |
| By: | Tomás Undurraga |
| Abstract: | El empresariado local goza de un capital económico, influencia política y prestigio social impensados en Chile tres décadas atrás. A comienzos del régimen de Pinochet (1973-1990), los empresarios eran un sector desarticulado, debilitado por el embate del Estado y de los actores sindicales, y traumatizado por las expropiaciones y el alzamiento de la Unidad Popular de Allende (1970 – 1973). Tras la revolución neoliberal del régimen militar, los empresarios se consolidaron como un grupo cohesionado, organizado tras poderosas asociaciones gremiales, y con un proyecto ideológico común. Su actual riqueza y visibilidad responden no sólo a la bonanza económica de las últimas décadas, sino también a la forma que tomó el capitalismo chileno, en que empresas y empresarios gozan de un lugar protagónico. La reafirmación del modelo neoliberal durante los gobiernos de la Concertación (1990-2010) facilitó el florecimiento de este sector, reafirmando su posición dominante. La elección del empresario Sebastián Piñera como Presidente de la República en 2010 verificó esta tendencia. Este artículo revisa las transformaciones experimentadas por el empresariado chileno en los últimos treinta años, destacando algunos hitos en la expansión del capitalismo chileno. Tomando como marco analítico las cuatro fuentes de poder social que distingue Michael Mann (1986), revisa rasgos del poder económico, político, coercitivo y simbólico que sustentan la posición privilegiada del empresariado en Chile. |
| Date: | 2012–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:010327&r=his |
| By: | Clément Bosquet (London School of Economics and Political Science (Spatial Economic Research Center), and Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS, & EHESS.); Pierre-Philippe Combes (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS.); |
| Abstract: | Thanks to a unique individual dataset of French academics in economics, we explain individual publication and citation records by gender and age, coauthorship patterns (average number of authors per article and size of the co-author network) and specialisation choices (percentage of output in each JEL code). The analysis is performed on both EconLit publication scores (adjusted for journal quality) and Google Scholar citation indexes, which allows us to present a broad picture of knowledge diffusion in economics. Citations are largely driven by publication records but also substantially increased by larger research team size and co-author networks. |
| Keywords: | economics of science, productivity determinants, knowledge diffusion, publication scores, citation indexes |
| JEL: | J24 O31 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1236&r=his |
| By: | Mark Leeds |
| Abstract: | The goal of this study is to make connections between Bollinger Bands and time series models in order to gain a better understanding of the statistical underpinnings of Bollinger Bands. In the first part of the study, we review a popular econometric model called the rolling regression time series model and illustrate an equivalence between the latter and the Bollinger Band methodology. In the second part of the study, we illustrate the use of Bollinger Bands in pairs trading \cite{INV2007}. First we prove an interesting result regarding the return duration relationship in Bollinger Bands pairs trading. Then, by viewing Bollinger Bands as an approximation to the random walk plus noise (RWPN) time series model, we are able to modify the Bollinger Band algorithm used in pairs trading and develop a pairs trading variant that we call "Fixed Forecast Maximum Duration Bands" (FFMDPT). Finally, we conduct historical simulations using SAP-Nikkei data in order to compare the performance of the variant with Bollinger Bands in order to analyze its advantages and disadvantages. |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1212.4890&r=his |
| By: | Henri Regnault (CATT EA 753 - Centre d'analyse théorique et de traitement des données économiques - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour : EA753); Xavier Arnauld De Sartre (SET - Société, environnement, territoire - CNRS : UMR5603 - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour); Catherine Regnault-Roger (IPREM - Institut Pluridisciplinaire de Recherche sur l'Environnement et les Matériaux - CNRS : UMR5254 - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour) |
| Abstract: | Depuis le XVIIIe siècle, trois révolutions agricoles ont bouleversé la façon dont une humanité de plus en plus nombreuse satisfait ses besoins alimentaires. La première révolution est marquée par l'abandon de la jachère et la mise en œuvre d'assolements faisant se succéder cultures céréalières et cultures fourragères : elle se systématise en Angleterre au XVIIIe siècle, à travers la mise en œuvre de l'assolement dit du Norfolk puis s'étend à l'ensemble de l'Europe du Nord-Ouest. La deuxième révolution est celle du XXe siècle, associée à la généralisation de la mécanisation et de la motorisation, à l'utilisation des engrais chimiques et des produits phytosanitaires ainsi qu'à un saut qualitatif en matière de semences avec la mise au point des semences hybrides ; sa généralisation dans les pays en développement dans les années 1960 et 1970 sera associée à sa dénomination sous le vocable de " révolution verte ". Une nouvelle révolution agricole se profile aujourd'hui, associée aux biotechnologies mais sans y être réductible dans la mesure où elle va de pair avec de nouvelles techniques culturales connues sous le nom de techniques culturales simplifiées. Ces révolutions ne se limitent pas à des innovations agronomiques. Elles modifient l'articulation de la production agricole avec les écosystèmes tout comme les relations diverses que les hommes nouent entre eux à l'occasion de cette production. Toutes ces révolutions ne sont pas allées et ne vont toujours pas sans incompréhensions et sans oppositions, tant elles viennent troubler l'ordre établi des routines productives des agriculteurs, dans leurs techniques et leur environnement juridique, et suscitent éventuellement de grandes peurs alimentaires et/ou environnementales, spontanées ou manipulées. Aucune approche mono disciplinaire n'est susceptible de rendre compte de l'extrême complexité des révolutions agricoles : en effet celles-ci constituent un magnifique exemple de la complexité de l'interaction entre les innovations technologiques, leur perception par les acteurs sociaux qui les mettent en œuvre activement ou les subissent passivement, ainsi que des transformations juridiques, sociales, environnementales ou paysagères qu'elles nécessitent ou induisent. |
| Keywords: | Biotechnologie; OGM; Révolutions agricoles |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00768291&r=his |
| By: | Farjaudon, Anne-Laure; Morales, Jérémy |
| Abstract: | This article examines the role of accounting in the manufacture of consensus. Consensus building is often considered a central value for rational decision-making and management. However, more than a democratic confrontation of vantage points, the quest for consensus is a way to discourage conflict and resistance. Our main argument is that accounting and consensus play central roles in processes of definition and the social reproduction of dominant interests. Accounting acts to promote some stakes and strategies (and silence others), as if they were collective and disinterested, which makes them more powerful in debates that deny struggles and asymmetries in positions of power, as well as increases legitimacy by creating an illusion of participation. We illustrate these processes through a case study in which we document the intersection between two fields of knowledge, marketing and accounting, that compete for a monopoly on the definition of value and the ability to speak for the organisation. This analysis draws on Bourdieu's conceptualisation of symbolic domination to highlight how powerful actors secure influence while avoiding contestation. Accounting produces symbolic violence that consolidates asymmetries in positions of power by shaping what is consensual and what is not so that dominant interests are reproduced with the consent of those who have most to lose in the process. |
| Keywords: | Consensus; Symbolic domination; Brand valuation; Intellectual capital; Management control; |
| JEL: | M31 M41 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/10730&r=his |
| By: | Pavlyuk, Dmitry |
| Abstract: | During the last two decades the European airport industry is liberalised and turned to competitive market environment. This fact attracts an increasing scientific and practical interest to analysis of airport efficiency and its determinants, as well as different aspects of airport competition. This paper contains a critical review of existing researches in these two areas – airport efficiency and spatial competition among airports. We analysed modern approaches to airport benchmarking, their advantages and shortcomings, and systematised a wide range of related academic studies. We paid special attention to empirical researches of spatial competition as a factor affecting airport efficiency. Despite the fact of a well-developed theory of spatial competition and signs of its growing effects in the airport industry, we discovered a lack of studies devoted to the relationship between airport efficiency and spatial competition. |
| Keywords: | airport efficiency; benchmarking; spatial competition |
| JEL: | L93 D24 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43391&r=his |
| By: | Rainer Masera |
| Abstract: | None |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fmg:fmgsps:sp215&r=his |