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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2011‒08‒09
thirteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Paul R. Sharp; Jacob L. Weisdorf |
| Abstract: | At the end of the eighteenth century, England and France both underwent revolutions: France the French Revolution, England the industrial revolution. This note sheds new light on these contrasting experiences in the histories of England and France by looking at the evolution of real consumer prices in London and Paris in the centuries leading up to 1800. While in London building workers were facing low and stable consumer prices over the period, leaving plenty of scope for a demand-driven consumer revolution (in particular after 1650), their Parisian counterparts had to engage in a year-long grind to maintain a decent living, and often had to cut consumption to make ends meet. The exercise conducted in the present paper gives a quantitative and economic underpinning to the notion that the French revolution did not arise out of nowhere, but rather had its roots in centuries of hardship amongst working class people as they struggled to make a living. |
| Keywords: | Consumer revolution, French revolution, great divergence, industrious revolution, industrial revolution, labour input |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0012&r=his |
| By: | Hernando Ortego, Javier (Departamento de Análisis Económico: Teoría e Historia Económica (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the outline of the evolution of woodlands in Early Modern Age in the Tierra de Madrid. There were two different areas: the south and east, with an advanced process of deforestation at the late Middle Ages, and the north and west, where the main forest thickness was concentrated. In both of them, the spatial transformation processes (ploughing, deforestation), regulation (forest bylaws) and forms of exploitation are analyzed. Most of the woodlands were at first commons, but they experienced a gradual change in property and access rights, leading to their conversion to property of the municipality of Madrid (bienes de propios) or its integration into the Royal Forest of El Pardo. The resulting restriction of access to forest resources to neighbors caused the practice of poaching, a reflection of increasing social unrest. |
| Keywords: | forest history, forest bylaws, commons, landscape history |
| JEL: | N53 Q23 R14 R52 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpapeh:201104&r=his |
| By: | Thomas Bauer; Sebastian Braun; Michael Kvasnicka |
| Abstract: | The flight and expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe during and after World War II constitutes one of the largest forced population movements in history. We analyze the economic integration of these forced migrants and their offspring in West Germany. The empirical results suggest that even a quarter of a century after displacement, first generation migrants and native West Germans that were comparable before the war perform strikingly different. Migrants have substantially lower incomes and are less likely to own a house or to be self-employed. Displaced agricultural workers, however, have significantly higher incomes. This income gain can be explained by faster transitions out of low-paid agricultural work. Differences in the labor market performance of second generation migrants resemble those of the first generation. We also find that displacement considerably weakens the intergenerational transmission of human capital between fathers and children, especially at the lower tail of the skill distribution |
| Keywords: | Forced Migration, Economic Integration, World War II, West Germany |
| JEL: | J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1719&r=his |
| By: | Gani Aldashev (Center for Research in the Economics of Development, University of Namur); Catherine Guirkinger (Center for Research in the Economics of Development, University of Namur) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of a large-scale economic crisis on gender equality, using historical data from Kazakhstan in the late 19th – early 20th century. We focus on sex ratios (number of women per man) in Kazakh nomadic population between 1898 and 1908, in the midst of large-scale Russian in-migration into Kazakhstan that caused a sharp exogenous increase in land pressure. The resulting severe economic crisis made the nomadic organization of the Kazakh economy unsustainable and forced most Kazakh households into sedentary agriculture. Using a large novel dataset constructed from Russian colonial expedition materials, we document a low and worsening sex ratio (in particular, among poor households) between 1898 and 1908. The theoretical hypothesis that garners most support is that of excess female mortality in poorer households (especially among adults), driven by gender discrimination within households under the increasing pressure for scarce food resources. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:wpaper:1111&r=his |
| By: | Madrazo Madrazo, Santos (Departamento de Historia Moderna (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)); Hernando Ortego, Javier (Departamento de Análisis Económico: Teoría e Historia Económica (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)); Madrazo García de Lomana, Gonzalo (Departamento de Análisis Geográfico Regional y Geografía Física (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Madrid’s fuel demand on the near surrounding territory in the early modern period, both from an economic and an ecological viewpoint. Fuel supply (charcoal and timber) to Madrid required the raising of resources from a vast territory of inland Spain, and caused a process of specialization of forests in fuel extraction and commercialization. The economic structures of the villages of Castile adapted to the rising needs, and rural populations could take an active part in transportation of fuel and charcoal production. This paper also aims to define the area affected by the city’s charcoal production in order to analyze the ecological footprint in an organic economy. |
| Keywords: | energy history, ecological footprint, forest history, urban supply, preindustrial transport. |
| JEL: | N53 N73 Q41 R41 L73 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpapeh:201103&r=his |
| By: | Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas; Maurice Obstfeld |
| Abstract: | A key precursor of twentieth-century financial crises in emerging and advanced economies alike was the rapid buildup of leverage. Those emerging economies that avoided leverage booms during the 2000s also were most likely to avoid the worst effects of the twenty-first century's first global crisis. A discrete-choice panel analysis using 1973-2010 data suggests that domestic credit expansion and real currency appreciation have been the most robust and significant predictors of financial crises, regardless of whether a country is emerging or advanced. For emerging economies, however, higher foreign exchange reserves predict a sharply reduced probability of a subsequent crisis. |
| JEL: | E32 E51 F32 F34 G15 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17252&r=his |
| By: | Juan Carmona Pidal; Markus Lampe; Joan R. Roses |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses how Spain’s housing markets reacted to the far-reaching changes that affected the demand for dwellings during the first phase of the rural-urban transition process. To this end, we construct a new hedonic index of real housing prices and assemble a cross-regional panel dataset of price fundamentals. The results of our econometric analysis suggest that housing markets did not face supply constraints, responded swiftly to the growing demand for accommodation and were efficient. In light of this new evidence, we conclude that housing markets were not a burden for Spanish economic development and that Spain’s institutional and regulatory frameworks were suitable for the housing needs at the time. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic prices, Demand and supply of housing, Regulation in housing markets |
| JEL: | N93 N94 R30 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp11-08&r=his |
| By: | Kalinowski, Thomas |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I put the ongoing G20 process of improving the regulation of international finance into a historically informed perspective. To understand the driving forces behind and obstacles to international cooperation in governing finance I combine concepts from international political economy and comparative political economy (IPE and CPE) that have previously been only loosely connected. Building on the IPE literature that highlights the historical and political embeddedness of financial regulation I depart from the IPE focus on the globalization of US-UK financial market capitalism. CPE studies show that, since the 1970s, different variations of capitalism have reacted in distinct ways to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, lower growth rates and saturated domestic markets. Most notably, there has been a divergence between the approaches of financializing countries (US, UK) and export-oriented countries (Germany, East Asian nations). The interdependence between financialized and export-oriented variations of capitalism has contributed to the dynamics and crises of international finance for the past four decades. This 'imbalance of capitalisms' also became an obstacle to international cooperation in regulating finance. Faced with the 'trilemma of economic policies,' the financialized and export-oriented variants of capitalism have chosen different combinations of macroeconomic policies, currency policies, and the regulation of financial flows and financial firms. This divergence has led to conflicting preferences with regard to international cooperation to regulate finance. -- Dieses Papier betrachtet die historischen Hintergründe der Schwierigkeiten und Konflikte bei der (Re-)regulierung der internationalen Finanzbeziehungen in der G20. Diese Konflikte lassen sich besonders gut bei dem Versuch der Koordinierung von Fiskal- und Geldpolitik, der Regulierung von Banken und Finanzströmen sowie der Reduzierung globaler wirtschaftlicher Ungleichgewichte beobachten. Hierzu werden bisher nur unzureichend verbundene Ansätze aus der Internationalen und der Vergleichenden Politischen Ökonomie (IPÖ/VPÖ) kombiniert. Die IPÖ-inspirierte Betrachtung internationaler Kooperation verbunden mit dem VPÖ-inspirierten Fokus auf die pfadabhängig unterschiedlichen Spielarten des Kapitalismus ermöglicht ein besseres Verständnis der Hintergründe von Konflikten bei der Regulierung internationaler Finanzbeziehungen. Besonders berücksichtigt werden hierbei die unterschiedlichen Entwicklungen verschiedener Spielarten des Kapitalismus seit dem Zusammenbruch des Bretton-Woods-Systems Anfang der 1970er-Jahre. Die Interdependenz von finanzmarktorientiertem Kapitalismus in den Vereinigten Staaten und Großbritannien sowie exportorientierter Kapitalismusvarianten in Europa und Ostasien haben die internationalen Finanzbeziehungen in den letzten vier Jahrzehnten entscheidend geprägt. Beide Modelle unterscheiden sich ganz erheblich bezüglich der institutionellen Arrangements bei der Regulierung von Finanzbeziehungen und der Fiskal-, Geld- und Währungspolitik. Diese Unterschiede wiederum führen zu divergierenden Präferenzen und Konflikten bei der internationalen Koordinierung der Regulierung von Finanzbeziehungen. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:1110&r=his |
| By: | Cláudio Gontijo (FACE/UFMG) |
| Abstract: | This article discusses the theoretical foundations of the concept of production of ONU’s National Accounting System, demonstrating that it is constructed upon ad hoc formulations. To start with, the distinction between intermediate consumption and workers’ consumption at the working site seems arbitrary. Second, because public goods are not marketable, their inclusion in the productive sphere seems inconsistent. Third, considering commerce as a productive activity implies difficulties, such as identifying its product and its utility to consumers. In addition, it seems problematic to explain the origins of the gains of exchange, which requires the pre classical theory of profits of alienation, considered unacceptable even by neoclassical authors. Finally, neither the definition of financial intermediaries and real estate “services”, nor their revenues seem to be acceptable, since from a neoclassical perspective interests and ground rent are derived from joint production of labor, capital and land. |
| Keywords: | National Accounting; productive and unproductive labor; production boundaries |
| JEL: | E01 B4 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td434&r=his |
| By: | Stefania Vitali; James B. Glattfelder; Stefano Battiston |
| Abstract: | The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition and financial stability. So far, only small national samples were studied and there was no appropriate methodology to assess control globally. We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the computation of the control held by each global player. We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic "super-entity" that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1107.5728&r=his |
| By: | Peter Sinclair (University of Birmingham) |
| Abstract: | In his essay on public credit, Hume advances two arguments in favour of government borrowing and five against. It is interesting to cast his various arguments and claims in terms of modern models, or their variants, to see how they might be formalized - and thus potentially supported, or qualified, or contradicted. Some of Hume's observations seem somewhat mistaken in the light of later and recent experience, while others appear uncannily prescient. |
| Date: | 2011–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edn:esedps:208&r=his |
| By: | Osiris Jorge Parcero; Emiliano Villanueva |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the evolution of the world wine industry in the period 1961-2005. A particular stylized fact is the appearance of non-traditional producing and exporting countries of wine from the beginning of the nineties. We show that the success of these new producing and exporting countries can be explained by the importance of the demand from non-producing countries with little or no tradition of wine consumption, relative to the world demand. This stylized fact is consistent with a testable implication of the switching cost literature and to the best of our knowledge this is the first time that this implication is tested. |
| Keywords: | exports, wine, industry dynamics, switching costs, new entrant. |
| JEL: | Q13 Q17 N50 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:san:crieff:1103&r=his |
| By: | Klein, Michael; Mayer, Colin |
| Abstract: | Mobile banking is growing at a remarkable speed around the world. In the process it is creating considerable uncertainty about the appropriate regulatory response to this newly emerging service. This paper sets out a framework for considering the design of regulation of mobile banking. Since it lies at the interface between financial services and telecoms, mobile banking also raises competition policy and interoperability issues that are discussed in the paper. Finally, by unbundling payments services into its component parts, mobile banking provides important lessons for the design of financial regulation more generally in developed as well as developing economies. -- |
| Keywords: | Banking,Regulation,Microfinance,Payments System,Mobile Money |
| JEL: | G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fsfmwp:166&r=his |