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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2018‒01‒29
27 papers chosen by |
| By: | Stan du Plessis (Stellenbosch University); Sophia du Plessis (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | Two neighbouring republics, with a common history and culture, followed very different paths of development in the second half of the nineteenth century. Extraordinary mineral wealth was discovered during this period in the South African Republic (ZAR), the neighbour where political and economic stability was fragile compared with the Republic of the Orange Free State (OFS). We connect these divergent development paths to the literature on the resource curse, especially the recent literature on the conditional resource curse where the quality of the institutional structure plays a crucial role in the outcomes of a large resource discovery. By introducing a new objective measure for the quality of institutions, namely the accuracy of boundaries on maps, we provide evidence of the institutional quality in the ZAR prior to the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. The statistical technique that we use, Procrustes analysis, is an innovation in economic analysis. The evidence supports Acemoglu and Robinson's account of the development path in the ZAR, and the later Union of South Africa, as compromised by the conditional resource curse. |
| Keywords: | Resources curse, Institutional Economics, South Africa |
| JEL: | N17 B15 O43 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers295&r=his |
| By: | Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:jseres:2017cj292&r=his |
| By: | Michael Wyrwich (FSU Jena) |
| Abstract: | Migration restrictions are a hotly debated topic in the current refugee crisis in Europe. This paper investigates the long-term effect of a restrictive migration policy on regional development. The analysis is based on the large-scale expulsion of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe after World War II (WWII). Expellees were not allowed to resettle in the French occupation zone in the first years after the War while there was no such legislation in the other occupation zones (U.S.; U.K; Soviet Union). The temporary migration barrier had long-lasting consequences. In a nutshell, results of a Difference-in-Difference (DiD) analysis show that growth of population has been significantly lower in the long run, if a region was part of the French occupation zone. Even 60 years after the removal of the barrier the degree of agglomeration is still significantly lower in these areas. The paper discusses implications for the current refugee crisis. |
| Keywords: | Migration barrier, population shock, refugee migration, long-term regional development |
| JEL: | J11 J61 N34 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2018-002&r=his |
| By: | Rolf Aaberge (Statistics Norway); François Bourguignon; Andrea Brandolini; Francisco H. G. Ferreira; Janet C. Gornick; John Hills; Markus Jäntti; Stephen P. Jenkins; Eric Marlier; John Micklewright; Brian Nolan; Thomas Piketty; Walter J. Radermacher; Timothy M. Smeeding; Nicholas H. Stern; Joseph Stiglitz; Holly Sutherland |
| Abstract: | Tony Atkinson is universally celebrated for his outstanding contributions to the measurement and analysis of inequality, but he never saw the study of inequality as a separate branch of economics. He was an economist in the classical sense, rejecting any sub-field labelling of his interests and expertise, and he made contributions right across economics. His death on 1 January 2017 deprived the world of both an intellectual giant and a deeply committed public servant in the broadest sense of the term. This collective tribute highlights the range, depth and importance of Tony’s enormous legacy, the product of over fifty years’ work. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:863&r=his |
| By: | Deodhar, Satish Y. |
| Abstract: | The history of economic thought begins with salutations to Greek writings of Aristotle and Plato. While the fourth century BCE Greek writings may have been the fount of modern economic thought that emerged in Europe starting 18th century CE, there has been a general unawareness of the economic thinking that emanated from the Indian subcontinent. Pre-classical thoughts that had appeared in Vedas dating a millennium prior to the Greek writings had culminated in their comprehensive coverage in the treatise Arthashastra by Kautilya in the fourth century BCE. In this context, the paper outlines various ancient Indian texts and the economic thoughts expressed therein, delves on the reasons why they have gone unnoticed, brings to the fore the economic policies laid down by Kautilya, shows how these policies exemplify pragmatic application of the modern economic principles, and brings out in bold relief, the contribution of this Pre-Classical literature in the history of economic thought. |
| Date: | 2018–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:14583&r=his |
| By: | Karaman, Kivanc; Pamuk, Sevket; Yildirim, Secil |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of monetary stability in Europe from the late medieval era until World War I. Through this period, the nominal anchor for monetary policy was the silver/gold equivalent of the monetary unit. States, however, frequently abandoned this anchor, some depreciating their monetary units against silver/gold less than 10 times and others more than 10,000 times between 1500 and 1914. To document patterns of monetary stability and put alternative theories of stability to test, we compile a new data set of silver/gold equivalents of monetary units for all major European states. We find strong support for political and fiscal theories arguing that states with weak executive constraints and intermediate levels of fiscal capacity had less stable monetary units. In contrast, the empirical support for monetary theories emphasizing the mechanics of the monetary system is weak. These findings support the primacy of political and fiscal factors over mechanical factors for monetary stability. |
| Keywords: | depreciation; fiat standard; fiscal capacity; gold standard; money; price stability; silver standard |
| JEL: | E31 E42 E52 N13 N43 O23 O43 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12583&r=his |
| By: | N. Gregory Mankiw; Ricardo Reis |
| Abstract: | This essay discusses the role of Milton Friedman’s presidential address to the American Economic Association, which was given a half century ago and helped set the stage for modern macroeconomics. We discuss where macroeconomics was before the address, what insights Friedman offered, where researchers and central bankers stand today on these issues, and (most speculatively) where we may be heading in the future. |
| JEL: | E5 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24043&r=his |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (FSU Jena); Michael Wyrwich (FSU Jena) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of entrepreneurship culture and the historical knowledge base of a region on current levels of new business formation in innovative industries. The analysis is for German regions and covers the time period 1907-2014. We find a pronounced positive relationship between high levels of historical self-employment in science-based industries and new business formation in innovative industries today. This long-term legacy effect of entrepreneurial tradition indicates the prevalence of a regional culture of entrepreneurship. Moreover, local presence and geographic proximity to a technical university founded before the year 1900 is positively related to the level of innovative start-ups more than a century later. The results show that a considerable part of the knowledge that constitutes an important source of entrepreneurial opportunities is deeply rooted in history. We draw conclusions for policy and for further research. |
| Keywords: | Innovative start-ups, universities, regional knowledge, regional cultures of entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 L60 L80 O18 R12 R30 |
| Date: | 2018–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2018-001&r=his |
| By: | Hisayuki Oshima (Faculty of Business Management, Department of Business Manegement, Takachiho University); Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:jseres:2017cj293&r=his |
| By: | Hervé Dumez (i3-CRG - Centre de recherche en gestion i3 - Polytechnique - X - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Henri Fayol formulated one of the first theories of management and allows us to see how one of the first scientific approaches of management could or could not perform management practices. Therefore, Fayol is particularly interesting from the point of view of performativity (Callon, 1998, 2007, MacKenzie et al., 2007, Muniesa, 2014). The case is all the richer because it presents the rare characteristic of a direct confrontation between two rival theories, his and Taylor's, at the level of this process of performativity. In the1920s, a battle was going on in France and in Europe between the Fayol's ideas and Taylor's ones, especially at the level of public management. In the short term, Taylor won this battle of performativity and Fayol lost it. In the long term, Fayol's ideas have shaped modern management practices. |
| Abstract: | Henri Fayol a formulé l’une des premières théories en management, ce qui peut nous permettre d’étudier la manière dont le management peut ou non « performer » les pratiques. De ce point de vue, Fayol fournit un cas d’étude de la performativité particulièrement intéressant. Ce cas est d’autant plus riche qu’il présente la caractéristique extrêmement rare d’une confrontation directe entre deux théories rivales qui, l’une et l’autre, cherchent à modifier les pratiques managériales. En effet, dans les années 1920, une bataille s’est déroulée en France et en Europe entre la théorie de Fayol et celle de Taylor, essentiellement sur le terrain du management public. À court terme, c’est Taylor qui a emporté la lutte de performativité. À long terme, les idées de Fayol ont marqué sans doute plus profondément les pratiques managériales. |
| Keywords: | Taylor,management theories,performativity,felicity conditions.,Fayol , Taylor , théories managériales , performativité , conditions de félicité. |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01676825&r=his |
| By: | Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:jseres:2017cj291&r=his |
| By: | Livio Di Matteo (Department of Economics, Lakehead University, Canada); Fraser Summerfield (Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis; Department of Economics, St Francis Xavier University, Canada) |
| Abstract: | Scully curve predictions for growth-maximizing public sector size are estimated using panel data covering 17 industrialized nations from 1870-2013. Fixed-effects regression models find that government expenditure to GDP ratios between 27-32% are growth maximizing. The economic growth maximizing size shifted over time ranging from 9% pre-WWI to 25% Post WWII with less precise estimates suggesting 30% during inter-war years. A flattening out of the Scully curve occurs after the mid 1970s with the exception of the Nordic countries, which drive up government size considerably. As well, IV estimates of the Scully relationship suggest that the Scully curve may be subject to some reverse causality. |
| Keywords: | Scully Curve, Public Sector Size, Economic Growth |
| JEL: | E62 H50 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:18-01&r=his |
| By: | Jacopo Timini (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | The Latin Monetary Union (LMU) agreement signed in December 1865 by France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland standardised gold and silver coinage in member countries and allowed free circulation of national coins in the Union. In his seminal study, Flandreau (2000) found no evidence of an overall positive effect of the LMU on trade. In this paper, I estimate the effects of this currency agreement on trade. In my gravity model I explicitly take into account the changing conditions in the international environment that affected the LMU’s underlying economic foundations (i.e. the limits on silver coinage agreed upon in 1874) and its rules (i.e. the “liquidation clause” of 1885). I also test the existence of heterogeneous effects on bilateral trade within the LMU. In line with Flandreau, I find no significant LMU trade effects. However, I find support for the hypothesis that the LMU had significant trade effects for the period 1865-1874. These effects were nonetheless concentrated in trade flows between France and the rest of the LMU members, following a hub-and-spokes structure. Moreover, I find evidence for the existence of an 1874 “LMU-wide” structural break, which affected the course of trade flows within the Union. |
| Keywords: | international trade, currency unions, Latin Monetary Union, gravity model, bimetallism |
| JEL: | N73 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1739&r=his |
| By: | Piotr Koryś (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Maciej Tymiński (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the estimates of the GDP of Congress Kingdom of Poland for period 1870−1912. Authors used bottom-up methodology and calculated sectoral added values using historical economic, social and demographic data. Presented results offer first ever insight into the structure of sectoral added values in the Congress Kingdom of Poland during the period of first globalization (1870−1913) and first reliable estimates of GDP of Congress Kingdom of Poland. All results are presented in Geary-Khamis dollars PPP1990 and are compatible with Maddison dataset. |
| Keywords: | Congress Kingdom of Poland, Poland, 19th century economic history, economic history of Poland, little divergence, estimates of historical GDP |
| JEL: | N10 N13 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2018-02&r=his |
| By: | Michalopoulos, Stelios; Papaioannou, Elias |
| Abstract: | Over the last two decades, the literature on comparative development has moved from country-level to within-country analyses. The questions asked have expanded, as economists have used satellite images of light density at night and other big spatial data to proxy for development at the desired level. The focus has also shifted from uncovering correlations to identifying causal relations, using elaborate econometric techniques including spatial regression discontinuity designs. In this survey we show how the combination of geographic information systems with insights from disciplines ranging from the earth sciences to linguistics and history has transformed the research landscape on the roots of the spatial patterns of development. We discuss the limitations of the luminosity data and associated econometric techniques and conclude by offering some thoughts on future research. |
| JEL: | N00 N9 O10 O43 O55 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12574&r=his |
| By: | Olivier J. Blanchard |
| Abstract: | 50 years ago, Milton Friedman articulated the natural rate hypothesis. It was composed of two sub-hypotheses: First, the natural rate of unemployment is independent of monetary policy. Second, there is no long-run trade-off between the deviation of unemployment from the natural rate and inflation. Both propositions have been challenged. The paper reviews the arguments and the macro and micro evidence against each. It concludes that, in each case, the evidence is suggestive, but not conclusive. Policy makers should keep the natural rate hypothesis as their null hypothesis, but keep an open mind and put some weight on the alternatives. |
| JEL: | E30 E31 E32 E52 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24057&r=his |
| By: | Giovanni Scarano |
| Abstract: | Economic crises are a recurrent topic in Marx’s works, but nowhere does he deal with this subject in a systematic way. Nevertheless, we do find many considerations that are consistent with a systematic and complete view of crises as dialectical moments in the movement of capitalist economies. According to Marx, the ultimate cause of all actual crises is always the contradiction between subjective and objective goals in the capitalist mode of production. But in the real world there are several direct causes of economic crises, each of which can randomly prevail over the others to trigger the phenomenon. However, the different causes are random only in prevailing as prime mover, not in terms of their presence or absence. The paper deals with the reconstruction of Marx’s dialectical view of economic and financial crises, analysing many passages in Capital and Theories of Surplus-Value, but especially in Economic Manuscripts of 1857-58 (Grundrisse). |
| Keywords: | economic crisis, financial crisis, business cycles, dialectics, Marxian economics. |
| JEL: | B14 E32 E44 B51 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0233&r=his |
| By: | Franck Aggeri (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - PSL Research University - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | C' est un grand plaisir que de participer à une table ronde autour de ce livre de Jacques Girin qui rend hommage à une oeuvre fulgurante. Ce livre mérite tous les éloges pour sa qualité d'édition et le choix des textes qui le composent. Je remercie vivement les organisateurs de cette table ronde, Jean-François Chanlat et Hervé Dumez, pour la confiance qu'ils m'accordent en me proposant d'y participer. J'ai eu la chance d'avoir Jacques Girin comme professeur en DEA à Dauphine où il nous faisait un cours sur la théorie des organisations. Je me rappelle des lectures qu'il nous faisait de Goffman que j'ai découvert à cette occasion. Je l'ai ensuite connu comme chercheur et me rappelle très bien notamment de ses interventions dans le cadre du GDR Frog ou lors de la séance Condor où il a présenté son texte sur les agencements organisationnels que je commenterai tout à l'heure. Je considère Jacques Girin comme un des grands auteurs de gestion en langue française. On reconnaît un auteur original à trois critères : ses travaux résistent à l'épreuve du temps ; il a développé une pensée propre indépendamment des modes du moment ; il est avant-gardiste et visionnaire. Jacques Girin répond à ces trois critères. Il a développé une pensée originale sur le langage dans les organisations, les situations de gestion, les agencements organisationnels et l'épistémologie en sciences de gestion. Dès les années 1980, il s'intéresse à la question du langage en acte dans les organisations à une époque où le langage est d'abord vu comme un instrument au service d'une finalité, selon le modèle du code. L'omniprésence des recherches actuelles sur la performativité ou le sensemaking souligne le caractère précurseur de ses travaux. On pourrait dire la même chose de ses réflexions sur l'espace de travail à l'heure où l'on ne parle plus que de socio-matérialité. Une pensée cohérente On m'a demandé de discuter ses deux articles les plus cités et les plus connus, qui portent sur les situations de gestion et les agencements organisationnels. Mais avant cela, je voudrais souligner deux points qui permettent de mettre en perspective ses réflexions. |
| Keywords: | Girin,Langage,agencement organisationnel,Situation de gestion,Pragmatisme |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01615045&r=his |
| By: | Martin Shubik (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Money is a mystery and financial institutions are often regarded as guardians and promoters of the mystery. These sketches are designed to help an individual interested in, but not technically trained in economics, understand markets, money, credit and the evolution of a mass market system embedded in the rich context of its political environment and society. The efficient functioning of a dynamic economy requires the presence of money and financial institutions. The great variety of financial institutions in any advanced economy requires that a synthetic approach is used to understand what the whole looks like. Verbal description provides an overarching view of the mixture of history, law, philosophy, social mores, and political structure that supplies the context for the functioning of the economy. This has been vividly illustrated by Adam Smith, his teacher the Reverend Francis Hutcheson and his close friend David Hume. There are two different but highly allied themes in this single slim volume. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 supply the rich context of history, society, polity and law in which every economy is embedded. Chapters 12 and 13 sketch what might lie ahead given the current state of the world. These chapters require no symbols or technical depth. In contrast Chapters 4 to 11 offers a reasonably nontechnical exposition of some of the considerable development in formal economic theory pertaining to money and financial institutions as economics struggles towards emerging as a science, balancing quantitative measures with qualifications that help to explain what the numbers mean. |
| Keywords: | Evolution of money, Coordination, Division of labor |
| JEL: | C70 D21 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:3018&r=his |
| By: | Inklaar, Robert; de Jong, Harmen; Bolt, Jutta; van Zanden, Jan (Groningen University) |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gro:rugggd:gd-174&r=his |
| By: | Francesca Di Iorio (University of Naples Federico II); Stefano Fachin ("Sapienza" University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | We test the Prebish-Singer hypothesis that commodity prices tend to decline relatively to manufactured goods prices using a panel cointegration bootstrap test, for the period 1950-2011. We find partial support for the hypothesis, which appears to hold for Food and Non Food agricultural products but not for Metal goods. |
| Keywords: | Prebish-Singer hypothesis, commodity prices, panel cointegration, bootstrap. |
| JEL: | C22 C33 O13 Q11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sas:wpaper:20181&r=his |
| By: | Kim Oosterlinck; Anne-Sophie Radermecker |
| Abstract: | The value of a painting is influenced above all by the artist who created it and his reputation. Painters nowadays are easy to identify and are used to signing their artworks. But what about those whose names have not survived the test of time? This paper focuses on a particular subset of anonymous artists labelled with socalled provisional names (“Master of …”). After considering the origins and reception of the practice of creating names for unrecorded artists, we empirically investigate the market behavior of this niche segment. Based on comparative price indexes and hedonic regressions, we show that masters with provisional names have not only become autonomous brand names that are highly valued by the art market; they also outperformed named artists between 1955 and 2015. In the second phase, we analyze the provisional-name linked elements valued by the market. We find that art market participants pay attention to the creator of the provisional name, its long-term recognition and market visibility, and the typology of the names. |
| Keywords: | Market for Old Master Paintings; Masters with Provisional Names; Market Value; Brand Names; Price Indexes; Hedonic Pricing Model |
| JEL: | Z11 |
| Date: | 2018–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/264567&r=his |
| By: | Cragun, Randy; Tamura, Robert; Jerzmanowski, Michal |
| Abstract: | We propose a new macroeconomic mechanism for generating patterns in age-earnings profiles based on directed technical change. The mechanism does not depend on changes in the human capital of the individual; rather differences in the human capital shares of age groups affect the profitability of developing age-specific technologies, biasing innovation toward improving the productivity of workers whose cohorts provide large shares of the labor force's human capital. The theory should be taken as supplemental to (rather than replacing) human-capital-based theories of age-earnings profiles. Using recently developed data and human capital estimates, we simulate reductions in wages due to age-biased directed technical change over workers' lives for most of the world's nations over two centuries. Our simulations indicate that age-specific directed technical change contributes to wage concavity for the average country by cohort group. Because younger workers make up a larger share of human capital in most years and countries, most cohorts in most countries experienced wage gains early in life and losses later in life from age-specific directed technology, making life-cycle earnings profiles flatter. The late-life losses are larger than the early-life gains, increasing concavity in life-cycle earnings profiles. We also calculate the present value of lifetime wage gains from age-specific endogenous technology, and find particularly large and economically-significant gains for baby boomers and losses for cohorts born during low population growth periods. |
| Keywords: | Directed technical change, directed technology, human capital, experience, wage profile, wage differential, age-earnings profile, endogenous technology |
| JEL: | J11 J24 J31 O31 O33 O4 |
| Date: | 2017–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:81830&r=his |
| By: | Waights, Sevrin |
| Abstract: | Hedonic prices of locational attributes in urban land markets are determined by a process of spatial arbitrage that is similar to that which underpins the law of one price. If hedonic prices deviate from their spatial equilibrium values then individuals can benefit from changing locations. I examine whether the law holds for the hedonic price of rail access using a unique historical dataset for Berlin over the period 1890-1914, characterised by massive investment in the transport infrastructure. I estimate the hedonic price of rail access across multiple urban neighbourhoods and time periods to generate a panel dataset of hedonic price differences that I test for stationarity using a panel unit root test. Across multiple specifications I consistently fail to reject the null hypothesis of no unit root and accept the alternative hypothesis that the law holds. My estimates indicate a half-life for convergence to the law of one price that lies between 0.28 and 1.14 years. This result is consistent with spatial equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Spatial equilibrium; law of one price; hedonic prices; transport; unit root tests; panel data |
| JEL: | N93 R00 R12 R13 R31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:86418&r=his |
| By: | José Menudo (Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Nicolas Rieucau (LED - Laboratoire d'Economie Dionysien - UP8 - Université Paris 8, Vincennes-Saint-Denis) |
| Date: | 2017–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01615077&r=his |
| By: | Faridah Djellal (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Faïz Gallouj (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01672459&r=his |
| By: | Hope Corman; Dhaval M. Dave; Nancy E. Reichman |
| Abstract: | Michael Grossman’s seminal publication on the demand for health and health production (Grossman 1972) has spawned a substantial body of research focusing on the production of infant health. This article provides a systematic review of the published literature to date on infant health production and how it has evolved over the past 3-4 decades as data have become more available, computing has improved, and econometric methods have become more sophisticated. While empirical research in most fields has expanded in corresponding ways, the infant health production research has become an important part of the broader and inherently multidisciplinary literature on intergenerational health. The strongest and most robust findings are that policies matter for infant health, particularly those affecting access to health care, and that prenatal smoking and other chemical exposures substantially compromise infant health. Promising directions for future research include elucidating relevant pathways, reconciling the largely inconsistent estimated effects of nutrition and education, and exploring the roles of pre-conceptional and lifetime health care, paternal factors, social support, housing, complementarity and substitutability of inputs, factors that modify effects of inputs, and evolving medical technologies. |
| JEL: | I1 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24131&r=his |