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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2006‒07‒02
eleven papers chosen by |
| By: | Gilles Postel-Vinay; David Sahn |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the share of the French men who exhibit stunted growth during the course of the 19th century. We use data collected on all men who were called up for possible conscription into the French army with the unit of analysis being the shares of 20 year old men in the country’s 82 administrative departments whose stature is below 1.62 meters. Our descriptive data on changes in the share of stunted men point to a dramatic decline in the percent of the population that is stunted across the century, especially in the southern part of France. Our models of the determinants of stunting are limited to two periods, one for the early and one for the later part of the century. We focus on the role of expenditures on education, the availability of health care personnel, local wages, the distribution of assets, as well as a dummy variable for Paris, and decompose changes in the share of stunted men into the effects of levels and returns to covariates. All covariates are strongly significant, although, the effect of education spending is particularly important. Living in highly urbanized and congested Paris contributed to poor health status. |
| Keywords: | French army;19th century; conscription; recruitment; height; education; health; France |
| JEL: | I2 I3 |
| Date: | 2006–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lea:leawpi:0606&r=his |
| By: | Barbara E. Baldwin; Charles Enoch; Olivier Frécaut; Arto Kovanen |
| Abstract: | This study looks at the first two years of the banking crisis that erupted in Indonesia in late 1997. It finds that the banking sector was weak at the outset, and that governance problems intensified the crisis and seriously delayed its resolution. Although a strategy was put in place over the initial months, protracted delays in implementation led to an explosion in the costs of resolution. By end-1999, the critical elements to reconstruct the banking system were in place, and the political transition seemed completed; but, in a continuing unsettled environment, the new authorities still faced daunting challenges. This study looks at the first two years of the banking crisis that erupted in Indonesia in late 1997. It finds that the banking sector was weak at the outset, and that governance problems intensified the crisis and seriously delayed its resolution. Although a strategy was put in place over the initial months, protracted delays in implementation led to an explosion in the costs of resolution. By end-1999, the critical elements to reconstruct the banking system were in place, and the political transition seemed completed; but, in a continuing unsettled environment, the new authorities still faced daunting challenges. This study looks at the first two years of the banking crisis that erupted in Indonesia in late 1997. It finds that the banking sector was weak at the outset, and that governance problems intensified the crisis and seriously delayed its resolution. Although a strategy was put in place over the initial months, protracted delays in implementation led to an explosion in the costs of resolution. By end-1999, the critical elements to reconstruct the banking system were in place, and the political transition seemed completed; but, in a continuing unsettled environment, the new authorities still faced daunting challenges. |
| Keywords: | Banking , Indonesia , Financial sector , Financial crisis , Bank supervision , |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:01/52&r=his |
| By: | M. del Mar Rubio Varas |
| Abstract: | While it is true that Latin American republics had no rival on maximising revenues from custom collection during the belle époque, this paper shows that Latin American countries were also generous importers, only behind the larger commercial countries of Western Europe in terms of imports per capita. Latin American citizens were much more linked to international trade than citizens of most regions of the world. Their relation to the world economy was tighter both via their imports and their exports relative to their population and income levels. This paper comes to show that there is no contradiction between the high custom collection by the Latin American republics and their high level of interaction with the global economy in the pre-1914 belle époque, although large country differences can be observed when descending from the regional to the national level. |
| Keywords: | First globalisation, Imports, Exports, Custom duties, Protectionism, Latin America |
| JEL: | F1 N77 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:967&r=his |
| By: | Graziella Bertocchi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, CEPR, CHILD and IZA); Chiara Strozzi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the origin and evolution of the legal institution of citizenship. We compile a new data set on citizenship laws across countries of the world which documents how these institutions have evolved from the legal tradition of common and civil law established in the course of the 19th century. We show that in the postwar period citizenship laws have responded endogenously and systematically to economic and institutional determinants. Original citizenship laws tend to affect the current legislation persistently, with a particularly strong tendency for jus sanguinis to be preserved despite discontinuities in the transplanting process for former colonies. The presence of a large stock of migrants tends to limit the application of jus soli elements, although there is also evidence of a contrasting tendency for those jus sanguinis countries exposed to large immigration. The results hold after controlling for additional factors such as the degree of democracy, border stability, the welfare burden, demographics, and cultural characteristics. |
| Keywords: | citizenship laws, international migration, legal origins, democracy, borders |
| JEL: | P16 K40 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:211&r=his |
| By: | Albrecht Ritschl |
| Abstract: | Recent research on international productivity comparisons with historical data has encountered large discrepancies between benchmark comparisons and time series extrapolations from other benchmarks. Broadberry and Burhop (2005) have recently argued that for Hoffmann’s (1965) widely accepted time series for German industrial output, there is no such productivity paradox, while for a revision of that series recently suggested by Ritschl (2004), the discrepancy between the Anglo-German benchmark and the time series projection is considerable. Attempting to reconcile the time series evidence and the productivity benchmarks, they discard the revised series in favor of the original, disregarding mounting evidence on its lacking reliability. The present paper restates this productivity paradox and proposes a possible resolution. We draw on recent archival discoveries by Fremdling and Staeglin (2003) and Fremdling (2005) that confirm the revisions to the Hoffmann series. We also draw on recent advances in the reconstruction of a German industry census of 1936, and argue that the productivity paradox is largely the consequence of mismeasurement in all versions of the German series. Correcting for the omissions, much of the Anglo-German productivity paradox disappears. |
| Keywords: | productivity, benchmark comparisons, Britain, Germany |
| JEL: | N10 N60 |
| Date: | 2006–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2006-048&r=his |
| By: | Aiyer Ghosh, Rishab (UNU-MERIT); Soete, Luc (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the contribution of 'golden papers' - seminal works whose ideas remain as fresh and relevant today as when they were first published decades ago - and which continue to dominate academic discourse among successive generations of scholars. The authors analyse why two works written within an industrial development context: The simple economics of basic scientific research, by Richard Nelson (1959) and Kenneth Arrows Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention (1962), are so relevant in today’s knowledge-driven economic paradigm. Focusing on the papers’ application to current global policy debates on information/knowledge and intellectual property, they argue that while the context has changed the essential nature of innovation - driven by widespread access to the ability to replicate and improve - remains the same. Hence a focus on endogenous innovation policy is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. |
| Keywords: | knowledge economy, science and technology, innovation, intellectual property rights, institutional change |
| JEL: | O31 O34 O32 O17 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2006029&r=his |
| By: | Peter J. Sloane (University of Wales Swansea and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Simon Rottenberg’s seminal 1956 article in the Journal of Political Economy, 1956, is generally accepted as the starting point for the development of the economics of sport. While he recognised that certain features of professional sports leagues were unusual he saw little reason to treat this industry any differently from a conventional industry. He discusses the importance of uncertainty of outcome, the monopsonistic nature of the labour market, the nature of the product and demand (attendances). He considers alternatives to the reserve clause, such as equal revenue sharing, maximum salary limits, equal market franchise distribution and roster limits. Each of these is rejected in favour of a free market solution which, on the basis of the invariance principle, he suggests will perform just as well as the reserve clause in allocating talent to where it is most productive. The ensuing literature has focused on all these issues, many of which have created considerable debate amongst sports economists. In particular the assumption of profit maximisation has been challenged and a divergence of views, reflected in the so-called North American and European models of sports leagues has emerged. Over the last 50 years sports leagues have expanded, TV markets have opened up and legal challenges to existing practices have multiplied. This paper seeks to evaluate Rottenberg’s contribution to a rapidly expanding field and to judge its relevance today. |
| Keywords: | sport, monopsony, monopoly power |
| JEL: | J0 L0 L8 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2175&r=his |
| By: | Oliver Volckart |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the influence of information costs on the integration of Northern European financial markets between ca. 1350 and 1560 is explored. The approach is based on splitting information costs into their constitutive components and on measuring one of these, i.e. the costs of transmitting information, which have particular importance for market integration. The analysis has two main results: First, under pre-industrial conditions, when transmitting information was extremely labour intensive and very little capital intensive, transmission costs can be largely identified with labour costs, and were subject to the same influences. Next, the integration of financial markets depended crucially on the level of transmission costs, high costs being strongly and significantly correlated with weak integration, while lower costs favoured convergence. |
| Keywords: | Financial markets, integration, information costs, economic history |
| JEL: | E44 F31 F36 N24 |
| Date: | 2006–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2006-049&r=his |
| By: | Jeffrey Miller; ; |
| Abstract: | The mass privatization program in Bulgaria was implemented in 1996-97. Following programs in countries like the Czech Republic, more sophisticated regulatory bodies were put into place to prevent the kind of abuses observed elsewhere. This study finds that Bulgaria avoided some of the extreme problems that manifested themselves in these other countries, but there were still serious problems of dilution. Dilution is similar in both mass privatization firms and nonmass privatization firms. Dilution is associated with positive performance, suggesting that more concentrated ownership has had some benefits. Even after a number of years have passed, mass privatization firms have performed less well than firms privatized by other means. |
| Keywords: | Bulgaria, mass privatization, dilution |
| JEL: | P5 P3 G3 |
| Date: | 2006–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2006-814&r=his |
| By: | U. Witt |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the way of thinking about economic problems and the research agenda associated with the evolutionary approach to economics. The general focus of this approach is on the processes that transform the economy from within and on their consequences for firms and industries, production, trade, employment and growth. The entry highlights the major contributions to evolutionary economics and explains its key concepts together with some of their implications. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2006-05&r=his |
| By: | Alexander Pivovarsky |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between ownership concentration and enterprise performance in Ukraine. Using data on 376 medium and large enterprises, it finds that ownership concentration is positively associated with enterprise performance in Ukraine. The paper also finds that concentration of ownership by foreign companies and banks is associated with better performance than ownership concentrated by the domestic owners. Ownership by Ukrainian investment funds and holding companies does not have a positive effect on performance. In contrast to predictions by many observers of early transition, privatization methods had a lasting effect on ownership structure in Ukraine. |
| Keywords: | Privatization , Ukraine , Governance , Transition economies , |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:01/42&r=his |