|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
|
Issue of 2005‒04‒03
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | FIOL, Michel |
| Abstract: | Information on the activity of Mary P. Follet, her theory on business management and her contribution to the understanding of control concept. |
| Keywords: | management; control |
| JEL: | B31 M40 |
| Date: | 2004–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:0796&r=his |
| By: | Lundberg, Urban (Institute for Futures Studies) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the latter-day Swedish pension reform of the 1990s is studied from a power-political perspective focusing on the involvement of the Social Democratic Party. <p> Few episodes in the history of Swedish social democracy have been as widely celebrated as the struggles of the 1950s over the development of the pension system. The debates strengthened the collective affiliations of those involved and eased the task of explaining to voters how the political parties differed from one another at a time when social welfare was beginning to be viewed as political public property. <p> In perspective, and as much research indicates, the institutional design of the Swedish pension system in terms of the so-called "income security principle" was to have far-reaching power-strategic consequences. By limiting the scope for insurance alternatives offered by the financial markets, and by guaranteeing the living standard of a broader stratum of wage earners, it contributed to the middle class's integration into the emerging welfare state. In addition, it strengthened the Social Democratic Party's standing with its electoral base, thereby helping to ensure the party's its long-term incumbency. <p> Despite the heritage, a broad consensus of the social democrat submitted to the Swedish Parliament in 1994 guidelines for a pension system reformed in a different direction. |
| Keywords: | pension reform; Social Democratic Party |
| JEL: | J26 |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2005_001&r=his |
| By: | Chulhee Lee |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how injuries, sickness, and geographical mobility of Union Army veterans while in service affected their post-service migrations. Wartime wounds and illnesses significantly diminished the geographical mobility of veterans after the war. Geographic moves while carrying out military missions had strong positive effects on their post-service geographic mobility. Geographic moves while in service also influenced the choice of destination among the migrants. The farther into the South a veteran had traveled while in service, the higher the probability that he would migrate to the South. Furthermore, these migrants to the South were more likely to settle in a state they had entered while in service. Increased general knowledge about geographical transfer itself, greater information on distant lands and labor markets, and reduced psychological cost of moving were probably important mechanisms by which prior mobility affected subsequent migration. I discuss some implications of the results for the elements of self-selection in migration, the roles of different types of information in migration decisions, and the overall impact of the Civil War on geographic mobility. |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11207&r=his |
| By: | Lee J. Alston; Joseph P. Ferrie |
| Abstract: | We explore the dynamics of the agricultural ladder (the progression from laborer to cropper to renter) in the U.S. before 1940 using individual-level data from a survey of farmers conducted in 1938 in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Using information on each individual%u2019s complete career history (their tenure status at each date, in some cases as far back as 1890), their location, and a variety of their personal and farm characteristics, we develop and test hypotheses to explain the time spent as a tenant, sharecropper, and wage laborer. The pessimistic view of commentators who saw sharecropping and tenancy as a trap has some merit, but individual characteristics played an important role in mobility. In all periods, some farmers moved up the agricultural ladder quite rapidly while others remained stuck on a rung. Ascending the ladder was an important route to upward mobility, particularly for blacks, before large-scale migration from rural to urban places. |
| JEL: | N3 N5 J6 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11231&r=his |
| By: | Francisco J. Ledesma-Rodríguez; Manuel Navarro-Ibáñez; Jorge V. Pérez-Rodríguez; Simón Sosvilla-Rivero |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdadef:05-03&r=his |
| By: | Robert W. Fogel |
| Abstract: | One way to demonstrate how remarkable changes in the process of aging have been is to compare health over the life cycles of 3 cohorts. For the first cohort, born between 1835 and 1845 (the Civil War cohort), life was short and disabilities were common even at young ages. Other factors contributing to lifelong poor health were widespread exposure to severely debilitating diseases and chronic malnutrition. Fewer of the World War II cohort, born between 1920 and 1930, died in infancy and most of the survivors have lived past age 60 without developing severe chronic diseases. Members of this cohort have experienced better health throughout their lives largely due to their lower exposure to environmental hazards before birth and throughout their infancy and early childhood. Members of the cohort born between 1980 and 1990 have a 50-50 chance of living to age 100. The average age at onset of disabilities has continued to rise, so members of this cohort can expect to remain healthy at later ages. Adopting a healthy life style early can help to prevent or postpone disability at older ages. |
| JEL: | I11 I12 J11 J14 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11233&r=his |
| By: | Kozo Kiyota (International Graduate School of Social Sciences, Yokohama National University and RIETI); Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | We examine the determinants and effects of technology acquisition licensing, using firm-level data between 1957 and 1970. Our results indicate that in technology acquisition licensing, the government screened a firm's application based on (i) the industry that the firm belonged to and (ii) its past experience of technology acquisition. As a result, inefficient firms with considerable experience tended to acquire more technologies before deregulation. Despite this screening process, the technology acquisition policy contributes to improve a firm performance: The firms with acquired technology succeeded in capital accumulation, which results in much faster growth of labor productivity. |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2005cf329&r=his |