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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2005‒06‒19
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Edvinsson, Rodney (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | For the period 1800 onwards, annual figures over GDP and GDP per capita for Sweden have been presented in different studies. For the 18th century no such annual series exist. The aim of this paper is to present annual data on GDP and GDP per capita in volume values for Sweden for the whole period 1720-1800. Only very rough estimates are provided, which are not based on any disaggregation of the different components of GDP. To estimate annual fluctuations, four different indicators are used: changes in the official accounts of harvests, marriage rates, the price of rye and import of un-milled grains. When investigating the long-term trends, the conclusion is that there was only a very modest increase in GDP per capita over the studied period. The growth of the GDP per capita became substantial not until the mid 19th century. However, GDP grew significantly during the studied period, but this growth mainly took the form of population growth. This in itself constituted a kind of technological progress, allowing a larger population per unit of land without a significant decrease in per capita production. |
| Keywords: | GDP; 18th century; Sweden; economic growth; national accounts; economic history |
| JEL: | E23 E32 J10 N13 N53 O10 O13 O47 O52 Q13 |
| Date: | 2005–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0070&r=his |
| By: | Guido Tabellini |
| Abstract: | Does culture have a causal effect on economic development? The data on European regions suggest that it does. Culture is measured by indicators of individual values and beliefs, such as trust and respect for others, and confidence in individual selfdetermination. To isolate the exogenous variation in culture, I rely on two historical variables used as instruments: the literacy rate at the end of the XIXth century, and the political institutions in place over the past several centuries. The political and social history of Europe provides a rich source of variation in these two variables at a regional level. The exogenous component of culture due to history is strongly correlated with current regional economic development, after controlling for contemporaneous education, urbanization rates around 1850 and national effects. Moreover, the data do not reject the over-identifying assumption that the two historical variables used as instruments only influence regional development through culture. The indicators of culture used in this paper are also strongly correlated with economic development and with available measures of institutions in a cross-country setting. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:292&r=his |
| By: | Simon C Parker |
| Abstract: | This introductory, non-technical, article offers a reflective overview of what Economics adds to our understanding of entrepreneurship. It is designed primarily to showcase to young entrepreneurship scholars several interesting research questions and a toolbox of methods to answer them. First, I will illustrate the kinds of questions that can be posed and answered using Economics. Then I will present and discuss a selective list of "canonical" theoretical and empirical models that form the intellectual bedrock of the Economics of Entrepreneurship. After that, I present and discuss some well-established theoretical contributions and empirical findings that have been generated by the approach. I conclude by discussing aspects of "What we don't know" and should. This part of the article identifies several ideal future trends in research that build on and complement the foundations of entrepreneurship that are delineated in the main body of the article. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:egpdis:2005-18&r=his |
| By: | Sharon A. Alvarez |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:egpdis:2005-19&r=his |
| By: | Scott Shane |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:egpdis:2005-20&r=his |