|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
|
Issue of 2015‒08‒25
23 papers chosen by |
| By: | David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | The United States spent almost the entire twentieth century climbing Mount Auto. From the 1920s onward, the automobile was the dominant mode of travel for Americans, accumulating more miles per capita than other modes. While the Great Depression slowed the auto’s growth, it did not result in decline. There was a brief downturn during World War II, and a few hiccups in the steady rise of mileage. But the later 2000s and 2010s have seen a sharp downturn in motor vehicle use per capita. This drop is greater than the drop during World War II in absolute terms (though the War saw a drop of twenty-three percent off the pre-war peak, and the 2012 drop is seven percent below 2005). It is complemented by an apparent plateauing in total miles of paved roads since 2008. Within the transportation sector there have been small shifts over the past fifteen years, which cannot explain much of the decline of travel. There are active transportation modes, like walking and biking, which work well for short trips, and certainly have niches they can grow into if land development intensifies and people reorganize their lives to enable them. For instance, I am one of the seven percent of Minneapolitans who walk to work. The numbers are much lower outside core cities, and nationally, at three percent. Transit ridership per capita is up ever so slightly. There are a slew of “new mobility options†which use information technologies to allow travel without owning an automobile, but are not yet visible in the transportation statistics. These include peer-to-peer taxi and ridesharing services and dynamic real-time rental cars. While these are useful in their niches, they likely are not cost-effective enough to be the main transportation mode for the vast majority of the population with the given technology. Today these new mobility options are supplements when the main mode does not solve the job to be done. In the future, that might change. Technologies allow people to do more of the same, and they allow people to do new things. It is easier to predict more of the same than new things. |
| Keywords: | GPS data, non-work trips, land use, axis of travel, destination choice |
| JEL: | L91 O31 O33 R14 R41 R42 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:mountnext&r=all |
| By: | Fregert, Klas (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Eli F. Heckscher found that in 16'th century Sweden: 1) indirect barter was the most common exchange method and 2) monetary exchange was carried out with different coins, none a generally accepted medium of exchange. These findings refute models of the emergence of money, which builds on Jevons and Menger. Heckscher and later Wesley C. Mitchell thought the historical evolution of the exchange system would be a central theme and organizing principle for economic history, which has not happened. I discuss how the ideas of Heckscher may be combined with modern monetary theory to explain gradual monetization. |
| Keywords: | monetization; Sweden; microfoundations of money; indirect barter; monetary exchange; double coincidence of wants |
| JEL: | B22 E40 N13 |
| Date: | 2015–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2015_023&r=all |
| By: | Hansjörg Klausinger (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | This contribution examines the teaching of economics at the Hochschule für Welthandel as a case study in the evolution of Austrian academic economics in the 20th century. The period considered is divided into three periods – before, under and after the NS-regime. The main focus is on the multiparadigmatic character of the discipline before WWII, on economics under the NS rule, and on the restoration and delayed integration of economics into the international mainstream after 1945. On the personal level, the teaching of economics at the Welthandel was dominated for more than three decades by Walter Heinrich and Richard Kerschagl, whose influence is explored with regard to their academic, scientific and political activities. |
| Keywords: | History of economic thought, Teaching of economics, Austrian economics, Hochschule für Welthandel (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| JEL: | A20 B25 B29 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp202&r=all |
| By: | Maria Pia Paganelli |
| Abstract: | Recent literature on Adam Smith and other 18th-century Scottish thinkers shows an engaged conversation between the Scots and today’s scholars in the sciences that deal with humans—social sciences, humanities, as well as neuroscience and evolutionary psychology. We share with the 18th-century Scots preoccupations about understanding human beings, human nature, sociability, moral development, our ability to understand nature and its possible creator, and about the possibilities to use our knowledge to improve our surrounding and standards of living. As our disciplines evolve, the studies of Smith and Scottish Enlightenment evolve with them. Smith and the Scots remain our interlocutors. |
| Keywords: | adam smith, david hume, scottish enlightenment, recent literature |
| JEL: | A1 A12 A13 A14 B1 B3 B30 B31 B4 B40 B41 C9 C90 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2015-6&r=all |
| By: | Julia Cage (ECON - Département d'économie - Sciences Po); Valeria Rueda (ECON - Département d'économie - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | This article delves into the relationship between newspaper readership and civic attitudes, and its effect on economic development. To this end, we investigate the long-term consequences of the introduction of the printing press in the 19th century. In sub-Saharan Africa, Protestant missionaries were the first both to import the printing press technology and to allow the indigenous population to use it. We build a new geocoded dataset locating Protestant missions in 1903. This dataset includes, for each mission station, the geographic location and its characteristics, as well as the educational and health-related investments undertaken by the mission. We show that, within regions located close to missions, proximity to a printing press significantly increases newspaper readership today. We also document a strong association between proximity to a printing press and contemporary economic development. Our results are robust to a variety of identification strategies. |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01071879&r=all |
| By: | Carole Donada (Management Department - Essec Business School); Gwenaëlle Nogatchewsky (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine); Anne Pezet (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | Our analysis explores how a key managerial competence, the supplier relations dynamic capability, was progressively developed and implemented by Renault over a quarter of a century. As our historical approach will demonstrate, this construction process followed three main periods, each of which was characterized by specific external and internal circumstances that constitute turning points and triggers in the organization's transformation decision process. Most importantly, we will argue that this case brings to light that three phases are necessary for the supplier relations dynamic capability to fully develop: hybridization, combination and saturation, which open new perspectives on the construction process of dynamic capabilities in general. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01070044&r=all |
| By: | Goulven Rubin (EQUIPPE - Economie Quantitative, Intégration, Politiques Publiques et Econométrie - PRES Université Lille Nord de France - Université Charles-de-Gaulle Lille 3 - Sciences humaines et sociales - Université Lille 1 - Sciences et technologies - Université Lille II - Droit et santé) |
| Abstract: | In 2013, Roger Backhouse and Mauro Boianovsky published Transforming Modern Macroeconomics Exploring Disequilibrium Microfoundations, 1956-2003. This book is the first comprehensive history of the “search for disequilibrium microfoundations” or disequilibrium theories. While being sympathetic to this general undertaking, this essay points two weaknesses of the book. Firstly, the presentation of the origins of the search for disequilibrium microfoundations downplays the interactions between key players like Patinkin, Clower, Arrow or Hahn. As a consequence, Backhouse and Boianovsky tend to overemphasize the heterogeneity of their approaches. Secondly, they argue that disequilibrium theories left a deep mark on contemporary macroeconomics. But this claim is not supported by a step by step analysis. Reading the book is also be the occasion to take stock and identify the issues that remain unanswered and need to be clarified in order to complete the history of disequilibrium macroeconomics. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01091765&r=all |
| By: | Rossella Calvi (Boston College); Federico G. Mantovanelli (The Analysis Group) |
| Abstract: | We study the long-term effect of access to health care on individuals' health status by investigating the relationship between the proximity to a Protestant medical mission in colonial India and current health outcomes. We use individuals' anthropometric indicators to measure health status and geocoding tools to calculate the distance between the location of individuals today and Protestant health facilities founded in the nineteenth century. We exploit variation in activities of missionary societies and use an instrumental variable approach to show that proximity to a Protestant medical mission has a causal effect on individuals' health status. We find that a 50 percent reduction in the distance from a historical medical facility increases current individuals' body mass index by 0.4. We investigate some potential transmission channels and we find that the long-run effect of access to health care is not driven by persistence of infrastructure, but by improvements in individuals' health potential and changes in hygiene and health habits. |
| Keywords: | India, health, body mass index, historical persistence, Protestant missions. |
| JEL: | I15 N35 O12 O15 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:883&r=all |
| By: | Rohlfs, Chris (Morgan Stanley); Sullivan, Ryan (Naval Postgraduate School); Kniesner, Thomas J. (Claremont Graduate University) |
| Abstract: | Our research uses data from multiple archival sources to examine substitution among armored (tank-intensive), infantry (troop-intensive), and airborne (also troop-intensive) military units, as well as mid-war reorganizations of each type, to estimate the marginal cost of reducing U.S. fatalities in World War II, holding constant mission effectiveness, usage intensity, and task difficulty. If the government acted as though it equated marginal benefits and costs, the marginal cost figure measures the implicit value placed on soldiers' lives. Our preferred estimates indicate that infantrymen's lives were valued in 2009 dollars between $0 and $0.5 million and armored troops' lives were valued between $2 million and $6 million, relative to the efficient $1 million to $2 million 1940s-era private value of life. We find that the reorganizations of the armored and airborne divisions both increased efficiency, one by reducing costs with little increase in fatalities and the other by reducing fatalities with little increase in costs. |
| Keywords: | cost of saving lives, World War II, military cost functions, military capital-labor substitution, European theater of operation |
| JEL: | H56 J17 N42 D24 J24 L11 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9260&r=all |
| By: | Scott Scheall |
| Abstract: | The present paper considers the implications of the postulate that the activities of scientists constitute complex phenomena in the sense associated with the methodological writings of the Nobel Prize-winning Austrian economist, methodologist, and political philosopher, F.A. Hayek. Although Hayek wrote extensively on the methodology of sciences that investigate systems of complex phenomena, he never addressed the possibility that science itself is such a system. The application of Hayek’s method ology of sciences of complex phenomena to science itself implies some minimal criteria for explanations of scientific rationality. If science is complex in Hayek’s sense, then scientific belief may be rational in more than one way. It is argued that a failure to recognize the possibility of multiple kinds of scientific rationality contributes to an error theory of certain unsuccessful accounts of scientific belief in the history of philosophy of science. It is further argued that, where ecological rationality is operative, rational belief requires an element of methodological liberty. It is shown that acceptance of the possibility of ecologically-rational scientific outcomes–a view here dubbed methodological liberalism–is closely related to Hayek's denial of the possibility of a successful scientism, a denial crucial to his arguments against socialism and Keynesian macroeconomics. |
| Keywords: | F.A. Hayek, philosophy of science, complex phenomena, ecological rationality, methodological liberalism |
| JEL: | B29 B31 B41 P11 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2015-5&r=all |
| By: | Karl Pichelmann |
| Abstract: | Growth and investment in Europe have been stuck in low gear since the crisis while inequality has continued to rise. In light of these facts, this paper examines growth and inequality trends in Europe in the context of secular stagnation theories and Piketty’s theory on growth and inequality. |
| JEL: | O40 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0551&r=all |
| By: | Ben Jann |
| Abstract: | At least since Thomas Piketty's best-selling "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" (2014, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press), percentile shares have become a popular approach for analyzing distributional inequalities. In their work on the development of top incomes, Piketty and collaborators typically report top-percentage shares, using varying percentages as thresholds (top 10\%, top 1\%, top 0.1\%, etc.). However, analysis of percentile shares at other positions in the distribution may also be of interest. In this paper I present a new Stata command called -pshare- that estimates percentile shares from individual-level data and displays the results using histograms or stacked bar charts. |
| Keywords: | Stata, pshare, percentile shares, inequality, income distribution, wealth distribution, graphics |
| JEL: | C87 D31 D63 |
| Date: | 2015–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bss:wpaper:13&r=all |
| By: | Christian Walter (Le Collège d'études mondiales/FMSH - Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, PHICO - Philosophies contemporaines - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | I describe the changes of the financial theory over the long run by using the sociological notion of quantification and by coining a new terminology and framework: the first and second quantifications of this theory. I present an overview of the two quantifications by mirroring them with a stylized elementary market moving towards equilibrium. Then I illustrate the shift resulting from this transformation by describing the way the two quantifications impacted a well-known technique of the traditional finance, the calculation of the present value by discounting future cash flows. |
| Abstract: | Nous proposons d'analyser les changements de la théorie financière sur longue durée à partir de la notion de première puis de seconde quantification de cette théorie. Nous introduisons la notion de quantification puis nous présentons les deux quantifications en les situant l'une par rapport à l'autre au moyen d'un cadre stylisé d'un marché élémentaire à l' équilibre. Nous donnons ensuite un exemple de ces transformations en analysant la manière dont les deux quantifications ont modifié une technique rudimentaire de la finance traditionnelle, le calcul de la valeur actuelle. |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01118147&r=all |
| By: | Amélie Charles (Audencia Recherche - Audencia); Olivier Darné (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - UN - Université de Nantes); Claude Diebolt (BETA - Bureau d'économie théorique et appliquée - CNRS - Université Nancy II - Université de Strasbourg); Laurent Ferrara (BANQUE DE FRANCE - EconomiX - CNRS - UP10 - Université Paris 10, Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense - Centre de recherche de la Banque de France - Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | This article extends earlier efforts at redating the US industrial cycles for the prewar period (1890-1938) using the methodologies proposed by Bry and Boschan (1971) and Hamilton (1989) and based on the monthly industrial production index constructed by Miron and Romer (1990) and modified by Romer (1994). The alternative chronology detects 90% of the peaks and troughs identified by the NBER and Romer (1994), but the new dates are consistently dated earlier for more than 50% of them, especially as regards the NBER troughs. The new dates affect the comparison of the average duration of recessions and expansions in both pre-WWI and interwar eras. Whereas the NBER reference dates show an increase in average duration of the expansions between the pre-WWI and interwar periods, the new dates show evidence of shortened length of expansions. However, the new dates confirm the traditional finding that contractions lasted longer in the postwar period than during the prewar period. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01146800&r=all |
| By: | Santos-Cabalgante, Beatriz; Fidalgo-Cerviño, Esther; Santos-Cebrian, Mónica |
| Abstract: | The lack of external regulation about the form and substance of the financial statements that railroad companies had to report during the implementation phase of the Spanish railway, meant that each company developed its own accounting model. In this study we have described, analysed and interpreted the more relevant changes in the accounting information in relation to the business result. Using the analysis of an historical case, we developed an ad-hoc research tool, for recording all the changes of the operating account. The results of the study prove that MZA’s operating account reflected the particularities of the railway business although subject to limitations, and the reported information improved during the study period in terms of relevance and reliability. |
| Keywords: | Railway Accounting, MZA Railway, Operating Account, Railway Productive Process |
| JEL: | M10 M41 N73 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66109&r=all |
| By: | Jacques Le Cacheux (OFCE - OFCE - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | Entre 1871 et 1914, la dette publique française a constamment été supérieure à 60% du PIB; elle a même dépassé 115% du PIB au milieu des années 1880, mais avait été ramenée à un peu plus de 60% du PIB à la veille de la Première guerre mondiale.La période n’est pas sans similitudes avec les conditions économiques présentes. Notamment, pendant les deux premières décennies de cette période, l’économie française a connu une «Longuestagnation». L’endettement public élevé a-t-il pesé sur les performances économiques françaises ? Quel a été l’effet du grand programme d’investissement public dans lesinfrastructures de transport conçu par le ministre Freycinet? Et de la hausse des dépensespubliques d’éducation? Ces questions ont été très débattues à l’époque, et le sont encore;mais il est indéniable qu’à partir des années 1890la France, portée par une importantevague d’innovations, connaît une prospérité économique sans précédent : avec la Belle époque, le ratio d’endettement public se résorbe sans effort |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01136325&r=all |
| By: | Guillaume Allegre (OFCE - OFCE - Sciences Po); Xavier Timbeau (OFCE - OFCE - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | Dans son ouvrage Le capital au XXIe siècle, Thomas Piketty propose une analyse critique de la dynamique de l’accumulation du capital. L’auteur montre que si le rendement du capital (r) est plus élevé que la croissance économique (g), ce qui a pratiquement toujours été le cas dans l’histoire, alors il est presque inévitable que les patrimoines hérités dominent les patrimoines constitués et que la concentration du capital atteigne des niveaux extrêmement élevés. Le livre cherche ainsi des fondements macroéconomiques (r>g) aux inégalités alors que les explications habituelles sont d’ordre micro-économique. Nous soulignons que l’on peut interpréter les faits décrits selon une causalité différente où les inégalités découlent du fonctionnement (imparfait) des marchés, des rentes de rareté et de l’établissement des droits de propriété. Selon cette interprétation, ce n’est pas r>g qui a transformé les entrepreneurs en rentiers, mais la mise en place de mécanismes permettant l’extraction d’une rente perpétuelle qui explique la constance historique r>g. Cette interprétation différente des mêmes phénomènes a des conséquences en termes de politique publique. L’imposition ex post du capital, si nécessaire, ne peut être qu’un choix de second rang : il faut d’abord lever les contraintes de rareté et se préoccuper de la définition des droits de propriété ainsi que des droits des propriétaires et des non-propriétaires |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01140572&r=all |
| By: | Maurizio Franzini; Mario Pianta |
| Abstract: | After much empirical documentation of patterns of inequality, we address in this paper the need for a convincing interpretation of the causes of inequality in advanced countries. We set the current debate in the context of the evolution of ideas on inequality, including the debate on Thomas Piketty' book. We argue that four "engines of inequality" can be identified - the power of capital over labour, the rise of "oligarchs capitalis", the individualisation of economic conditions, the retreat of politics - as key sources of today's inequalities. Each of these mechanisms is examined on the basis on concepts and data, with a detailed consideration of the results from the current literature and of the empirical evidence available. A full analysis of the dynamics of inequality, an interpretation of its mechanisms and a set of policy proposals to reverse it are developed in our book "Explaining inequality" (Franzini and Pianta, 2015). |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Income distribution, Capital, Labour |
| Date: | 2015–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2015/20&r=all |
| By: | Ryoko Ueda |
| Abstract: | This research analyses the improvements to corporate governance within Japanese listed companies and the influence of institutional shareholders. Firstly, in order to analyse the external factors that have promoted the recent corporate governance reform, the report starts with an overview of the changes in the Japanese market post 1970s. The main players before the 1990s were the banks, who provided credit to companies as well as being shareholders. Corporate governance in Japan was characterised by the “main bank” system. However, after the “bubble economy” burst in the early 1990s, institutional investors, including domestic pension funds and foreign asset managers, started to have a greater presence. Secondly, the report analyses the recent developments in corporate governance within listed companies. Developments were influenced considerably by institutional shareholders through proxy voting. Further, the report reviews the legislation and relevant rules on corporate governance including the reform of the Companies Act and the Cabinet Office Ordinance on Disclosure of Corporate Information. Thirdly, the report examines the influence of institutional shareholders and their activities towards good corporate governance. In 2009, the “Report by the Financial System Council’s Study Group on the Internationalization of Japanese Financial and Capital Markets” was published and asset managers, such as investment trusts and investment advisory companies, started to disclose policy and results of proxy voting. In February 2014, pursuant to the recommendation of the “Japan Revitalization Strategy 2013”, Japan’s Stewardship Code was published and it is now expected that institutional shareholders play a significant role to engage with investee companies and improve corporate governance within them. The report also analyses the historical changes to practices within shareholder meetings along with examination of the role that institutional shareholders have played in the improvement of corporate governance within Japanese listed companies. |
| Keywords: | shareholders, corporate governance, institutional investors |
| JEL: | G30 G32 G34 G38 |
| Date: | 2015–08–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dafaae:17-en&r=all |
| By: | Patrick Gilormini (ESDES Recherche - ESDES - École de management de Lyon - Université Catholique de Lyon, CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - Grenoble 2 UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France) |
| Abstract: | La pensée de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) montre à quel point au début du XIXème siècle, la nature et les frontières de l'entreprise ainsi que les modalités de sa gouvernance, ont été des questions recouvrant celles sur la nature du régime politique permettant d'achever la Révolution et de mettre un terme aux guerres européennes. A partir d'une apologie du travail et de l'utilité opposés à la force guerrière, Saint-Simon développe une physiologie sociale dans laquelle la société constitue un être unique. Alors que le christianisme se préoccupe du futur dans l'au-delà, Saint-Simon annonce le bonheur ici-bas dans l'association des producteurs visant l'intérêt général et la paix. Les Idéologues, notamment Jean-Baptiste Say, faisaient dériver les principes d'économie politique d'une analyse de la volonté individuelle distincte de la politique d'une part et de la statistique (collection des faits) d'autre part. Saint-Simon dépasse cette épistémè classique logeant le savoir dans l'espace de la représentation, pour développer une visée sociologique positiviste obéissant à la loi supérieure du progrès de l'esprit humain. A partir de cette pensée sociologique, il conçoit une première ébauche des pratiques et des institutions qui régulent le pouvoir des chefs d'industrie et des producteurs. Il annonce le développement des procédures et des techniques de gouvernement qui supplantent la souveraineté des princes et la discipline religieuse. |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01178421&r=all |
| By: | Claude Roche (LIP - Laboratoire d'innovation pédagogique - Université Catholique de Lille) |
| Abstract: | Cet article propose une interprétation nouvelle de la théorie de la propriété de Locke fondée sur la problématique financière. Il soutient que le Traité de Gouvernement de Locke a lié le droit à l’extension de la propriété à la légitimation de l’épargne par le biais d’une redéfinition financière de la monnaie; et cette démonstration doit être lue en fonction des positions que Locke a prises lors du processus d’institutionnalisation du système financier auquel il a participé (1694-97). Pour ce faire, et contre l’autocensure des commentateurs, il rappelle que Locke était un partisan de la régulation du système financier. Mais face à la faiblesse des conceptions de son époque, il lui fallait expliciter l’ensemble des dimensions de cette position : théorique et l’on peut voir que Locke a décrit in extenso le rôle de l’épargne dans le financement des entreprises, financière au travers de l’analyse critique des pratiques bancaires de son époque, mais aussi méthodologique car il s’agissait d’asseoir ces positions sur une vision moderne – id est macroéconomique - aussi bien du système financier que de la monnaie. Aussi est-ce cette question de la monnaie, indissociable de celle du droit de la propriété, qui cristallise les conceptions de Locke, et on entend par là autant celle de sa nature économique (l’origine de sa valeur) qu’épistémologique ( le statut du concept de monnaie) ; et c’est l’enjeu de son Traité que d’en avoir donné les fondements. On notera enfin que de facto ces positions de Locke ont servi de base théorique aux mesures institutionnelles prises à cette époque : que ce soit la refonte des monnaies ou celle moins connue relative à la Banque d’Angleterre. Et on en conclura que la théorie de la propriété du Traité peut être lue comme la base philosophique de ce système institutionnel en gestation. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01143970&r=all |
| By: | Emilie Caldeira (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS); Grégoire Rota-Graziosi (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Cet article propose une revue de la littérature consacrée à la décentralisation dans les pays en voie de développement. Reprenant la distinction des fonctions de l’État établie par Musgrave (allocation redistribution et stabilisation) ainsi que deux principes généraux - le principe de proximité politique et celui de compétition – nous établissons une grille de lecture de la littérature étudiée. Un bilan des études empiriques est également établi. La conclusion souligne certaines questions relatives aux travaux empiriques, qui appellent de plus amples investigations. This article offers a literature review on decentralization in developing countries. Considering the three economic functions of the State pointed out by Musgrave (stabilization, distribution and allocation) and two general principles - the proximity and the competition principles- we establish a reading grid of the literature studied. A review of empirical studies is also established. The conclusion underlines certain issues relating to empirical studies that call for further investigations. |
| Date: | 2015–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01005204&r=all |
| By: | Ali Bennasr (SYFACTE - University of Sfax, Tunisia - faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de Sfax); Éric Verdeil (EVS - UMR 5600 Environnement Ville Société - ENSAL - Ecole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Lyon - Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne - CNRS - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon III - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État [ENTPE] - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | STEG, the Tunisian public company for electricity and gas, has been created in 1962 and has since operated as a major state tool for national integration and social and economic development. Rural and urban electrification is among its main achievements. Since the 1990's, the company has followed a more commercial-oriented approach, with the aim that tariff reflect the full production cost and to prevent the growth of the manpower. Such a contractualization policy with the state can be regarded as a corporatization policy. With the Tunisian revolution in 2011, this policy is being challenged. On the one hand, STEG has hired numerous new employees ; on the other hand, it is under financial pressure due to non-payment and agressions. The energy transition toward renewable energy, and pressures from international money funders, push for a liberalization of the electricity sector at a time where increasing energy demand makes strong investments necessary. STEG is a turning of its history. |
| Abstract: | La Société tunisienne d'électricité et de gaz (STEG), créée en 1962, opère depuis lors comme un outil majeur d'intégration nationale et de développement économique et social au service de l'Etat tunisien. Parmi ses principales réalisations figurent l'électrification urbaine et rurale. Depuis les années 1990, la STEG a adopté une orientation plus commerciale, avec l'objectif que son tarif corresponde à son coût de production intégral, et de limiter la croissance de son effectif. Cette politique, connue sous le nom de contractualisation, peut être décrite comme une forme de corporatisation. Avec la révolution de 2011, cette politique est soumise à plusieurs défis. D'une part, la STEG a recruté ou régularisé un nombre important d'employés. D'autre part, elle se trouve sous pression financière à cause du non-paiement et d'agressions contre son personnel. La transition énergétique vers les énergies renouvelables et les pressions de la part des bailleurs de fonds internationaux poussent à une libéralisation du secteur électrique à un moment où la croissance de la demande énergétique impose de forts investissements. La STEG est à un tournant de son histoire. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01075947&r=all |