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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2006‒12‒01
thirty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | Nico Voigtländer; Hans-Joachim Voth |
| Abstract: | Why did England industrialize first? And why was Europe ahead of the rest of the world? Unified growth theory in the tradition of Galor-Weil (2000) and Galor-Moav (2002) captures the key features of the transition from stagnation to growth over time. Yet we know remarkably little about why industrialization occurred so much earlier in some parts of the world than in others. To answer this question, we present a probabilistic two-sector model where the initial escape from Malthusian constraints depends on capital deepening and the use of more differentiated capital inputs. Weather-induced shocks to agricultural productivity cause changes in prices and quantities, and affect wages. In a standard model with capital externalities, these fluctuations interact with the demographic regime and affect the speed of growth. Our model is calibrated to match the main characteristics of the English economy in 1700 and the observed transition until 1850. We capture one of the key features of the British Industrial Revolution emphasized by economic historians – slow growth of output and productivity. The paper explores one additional aspect of inequality in the transition to the Post-Malthusian economy – the availability of nutrition for poorer segments of society. We examine the influence of redistributive institutions such as the Old Poor Law, and find they were not decisive in fostering industrialization. Simulations using parameter values for other countries show that Britain’s early escape was only partly due to chance. France could have attained a greater workforce in manufacturing than Britain, but the probability was less than 30 percent. Contrary to recent claims in the literature, 18th century China had only a minimal chance to escape from Malthusian constraints. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Revolution, Unified Growth Theory, Endogenous Growth, Transition, Calibration, British Economic Growth before 1850 |
| JEL: | E27 N13 N33 O14 O41 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_003&r=his |
| By: | Bertrand BLANCHETON (CMHE-IFReDE-GRES); Hubert BONIN (CMHE-IFReDE-GRES) |
| Abstract: | For three years under Pompidou’s presidency, Chaban Delmas had to restart the process of modernising and industrialising French economy whilst altogether trying to put a ceiling to the inflationary trends spurred by the “May 68” events and the large easiness in wages increases and in budgetary expenses which were intended to appease the social unrest. But this policy of balance had to be forged and completed by the Chaban team at the Prime Minister’s offices in face of the influence of the President Pompidou’s cabinet, much more in touch with economic affairs than under de Gaulle, and of the power of upcoming ministry of Finance Giscard d’Estaing. The achievements are scrutinised topic by topic. |
| Keywords: | Expansion, industrialisation, budgetary policy, modernisation, economic policy, territorial reallocation of resources, circles of political influence, state executive power, Chaban-Delmas |
| JEL: | N94 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grs:wpegrs:2006-27&r=his |
| By: | Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo; Blanco Mendialdua, Ana; Urionabarrenetxea Zabalandikoetxea, Sara |
| Abstract: | During the 1990s, Spain changed from a net recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) to one of the most important investors in Latin America. Fieldwork in this article identifies trends and directions of Spanish acquisitions, with an emphasis on the 1990 to 2001 period. An overview of the emergence of the Spanish MNC is followed by statistical analysis of their competitive (i.e. ownership) advantage as measured by the relative strength of market size, wage differentials and cultural affinity. This analysis helped in explaining the link between strategic decisions of the Spanish MNCs and their choice of geography and industrial sector. Empirical analysis finds Spanish MNCs responded to privatisation opportunities and to gain access to specific foreign markets rather than to an attempt to create global export platforms. |
| Keywords: | Latin America; FDI; Spanish MNC; Dunning |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2001–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:929&r=his |
| By: | Gustavo A. Del Ángel Mobarak |
| Abstract: | Between 1945 and 1982 a network of interlocking directorates formed at the interior of the Mexican banking system. However, little work has been done to explore its implications. This paper proves that the network among bankers served to transfer information within the financial system and hence to reduce idiosyncratic risks. Using social network analysis with a database of the banks' boards, this paper presents computations of the centrality of the network. Degree and Eigenvalue centrality, used as measures for interconnection among banks, are then contrasted with indicators of financial performance for individual banks using a panel regression technique. |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c010_041&r=his |
| By: | Waldenström, Daniel (Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Frey, Bruno S. (University of Zürich) |
| Abstract: | Nordic historians have asserted for a long time that in the Nordic countries only few people, if any, perceived increased threats of war prior to the World War II outbreak. This would explain, and possibly excuse, why their governments did not mobilize their armies until it was too late. This paper questions this established notion by deriving new estimates of widely held war threat assessments from the fluctuations of sovereign market yields collected from all Nordic bond markets at this period. Our results show that the Nordic contemporaries indeed perceived significant war risk increases around the time of major war-related geopolitical events. While these findings hence question some, but not all, of the standard Nordic World War II historiography, they also demonstrate the value of analyzing historical market prices to reassess the often tacit views and opinions of large groups of people in the past. |
| Keywords: | Structural breaks; Sovereign debt; Capital Markets; Historiography; Cliometrics; World War II |
| JEL: | C22 G14 N01 N44 |
| Date: | 2006–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0676&r=his |
| By: | Matthias Doepke; Moshe Hazan; Yishay D. Maoz |
| Abstract: | The past century has witnessed major changes in the economic choices of American women. Over the long term, there has been a marked trend towards lower fertility and higher female labor force participation. However, change did not occur in a uniform fashion: during the post-war Baby Boom, fertility rates increased substantially, until the long-term downward trend reestablished itself in the 1960s. Similarly, the labor market participation of younger women declined for a while during the same period. What can explain these reversals? In this paper, we propose a joint explanation for these changes through a single shock: the demand for female labor during World War II. Many of the women of the war generation continued to work after the war. We argue that this crowded out younger women from the labor market, who chose to have more children instead. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_026&r=his |
| By: | Jérôme Bourdieu; Gilles Postel-Vinay |
| Abstract: | Two opposing views of industrialization are commonly expressed. The first emphasizes capitalism’s coercion of workers into furnishing more effort than they had long been accustomed to when they themselves decided the rhythm and timing of work. In this optic, factory discipline is an essential part of capitalist development. The second point of view notes that the need for factory discipline emerged only slowly during the Nineteenth Century, as increasingly productive technologies rendered the closer coordination of workers essential. Both views agree that largescale production, the division of labour, and the breakdown of tasks into individual standardized operations were essential to the industrial firm of the XIXth century. They also agree that achieving such an organization implied reshaping labour relations within the firm, and the development of a hierarchical structure of decision and control, which was implemented on the shop floor by a new character: the foreman. However, advocates of the first view argue that foremen were a necessary condition of capitalist development, as the generalisation of supervisory tasks in labour relations was a distinctive feature of the organization of new industrial plants. In the second view, foremen only progressively became more important, and were simply a corollary of the development of large firms. To distinguish between these two views it would thus seem important to determine if, and at which pace, firms recruited more foremen over time. Answering these questions is fraught with difficulty, if only because, over time, foremen were not always explicitly identified, either because they may have played a number of different roles in the firm or because their position was not defined as such. These type of questions are usually addressed via case studies and research monographs as the best way of capturing precisely the evolution of hierachical organization over a protracted period of time. Here we will argue, paradoxically, that cross-sectional analysis is perhaps better suited to the systematic observation of the long run evolution of work organization inside firms, insofar as it allows reliable comparisons between a large number of firms with a clear definition of who exactly the foremen were. |
| Keywords: | French industry; 19th century; industrialization; factory discipline; worker; foreman; division of labour; time work; capitalism; France |
| JEL: | L2 N33 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lea:leawpi:0607&r=his |
| By: | Gonçalo Monteiro; Alvaro S. Pereira |
| Abstract: | The recent literature on unified growth theory has shed new light on the transition to sustained economic growth. Nevertheless, unified growth theory has not devoted a lot of attention to the nature of economic growth and its impact in the transition from Malthus to Solow. This research presents new evidence on the existence of pre-industrial growth spurts and provides new foundations concerning the nature of economic growth during the Malthus to Solow transition. Following previous research in unified growth theory, sustained economic growth arises due to complementarities between the triple engines of growth of technological development, human capital and the organization of the workplace. In this research, growth spurts are an intrinsic feature of the economy, but throughout history their effect on standards of living is mostly temporary. The rise in living standards only becomes sustained when the complementarity of the triple engines of growth emerges. In Malthusian economies, most technologies were basic and only require straightforward knowledge or human capital, and thus the skill-technology complementarity did not play a role in their development. As a consequence, most technological developments in Malthusian economies generated growth spurts that did not become sustained, although there was a temporary increase in standards of living. However, the increasing complexity of the epistemic knowledge base reported by the historical literature meant that investments in applied technology were progressively more significant, enhancing the role of human capital. After a certain threshold of the knowledge base was surpassed, more and more complex applied technologies were developed, and growth spurts became permanent features of the economy. This research thus captures some of the most important historical features concerning the nature of growth in the transition to sustained economic growth. |
| Keywords: | growth spurts, unified growth theory, sustained economic growth |
| JEL: | O10 O33 O40 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_004&r=his |
| By: | Joseph Harrison |
| Abstract: | This Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy after the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975 has been viewed in many ways. Political historians and political scientists generally deem it an outstanding success. Yet many economists and economic historians have been remarkably critical of the process. This article analyses how the long-drawn-out process of democratic consolidation caused policy-makers to neglect other unresolved issues, not least the country’s enduring economic crisis which dragged on from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s. Lack of political legitimacy, weak governments and, to a certain extent, the perceived requirement for consensus held back the Madrid authorities from tackling head on many of Spain’s fundamental problems, especially in the field of economic policy. From the beginnings of the crisis in 1973 until the summer of 1977, when voters went to the polls for the first time in more than four decades, Spain was governed by a series of weak and unstable administrations. In addition, the political authorities were seriously challenged by a resurgent opposition. After June 1977, against a disturbing background of low growth, rising inflation and incipient inflation, the minority centrist government of Adolfo Suárez finally resolved to take firm action. |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp06-10&r=his |
| By: | Oded Galor; Omar Moav; Dietrich Vollrath |
| Abstract: | This research suggests that favorable geographical conditions, that were inherently associated with inequality in the distribution of land ownership, adversely affected the implementation of human capital promoting institutions (e.g., public schooling and child labor regulations), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the Great Divergence in income per capita across countries. The basic premise of this research, regarding the negative effect of land inequality on public expenditure on education is established empirically based on cross-state data from the beginning of the 20th century in the United States. |
| Keywords: | Land Inequality, Institutions, Geography, Human capital accumulation, Growth |
| JEL: | O10 O40 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_001&r=his |
| By: | Nathan Sussman |
| Abstract: | Rising inequality in recent decades in the U.S. and other developed economies has again focused attention on the relationship between inequality and growth, and the relationship between inequality and heterogeneity in abilities. This paper is a preliminary report based on the analysis of data extracted from the tax returns (the taille) imposed by Philip the Fair from 1292 to 1313 on the Parisian middle class. The major finding reported in this paper is that inequality in Paris in the heyday of the Commercial Revolution was very high – a Gini coefficient of 0.7. The medieval Gini coefficient is larger than values recorded for Latin American. Inequality was general and was not confined to one sector or the other. As theory would predict, this inequality was reflected also in large skill and ability premiums and was higher in the high return occupations. Inequality was also very high in skilled occupations controlled by craft guilds such as weaving or construction. I also focus on the very wealthy and show that the elite were very socially mobile. Studying death rates of tax payers accounted for in the tax rolls, I find the death rate to be comparable with that 19th century Europe. The overall picture that emerges is that the Parisian economy of the late middle ages provided ample incentives for the acquisition of human capital and rewarded ability and skill, and in that respect was closer into the information age economy of today. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_043&r=his |
| By: | Pedro Lains |
| Abstract: | In 1891 a financial crisis led Portugal to abandon the gold standard and to partially default by cutting interest payments on domestic and foreign debt. As a consequence, the country was banned from borrowing in international financial markets, until an agreement with foreign bondholders was reached in 1902. That financial crisis was the result of large current account and government deficits. Yet the abandonment of the gold standard and default were not imposed by financial difficulties only. This paper shows that such options were taken because of the growing domestic consensus regarding the need for a change in monetary policies. The concern about the domestic economy was more important to the Portuguese governments than the fear of a negative reaction of foreign bondholders. Insufficient information about the sustainability of government debt and lack of cooperation between borrowers left the Portuguese governments with space to manoeuvre according to their domestic political interests. |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp06-11&r=his |
| By: | John Armour; David A. Skeel, Jr. |
| Abstract: | Hostile takeovers are commonly thought to play a key role in rendering managers accountable to dispersed shareholders in the "Anglo-American" system of corporate governance. Yet surprisingly little attention has been paid to the very significant differences in takeover regulation between the two most prominent jurisdictions. In the UK, defensive tactics by target managers are prohibited, whereas Delaware law gives US managers a good deal of room to maneuver. Existing accounts of this difference focus on alleged pathologies in competitive federalism in the US. In contrast, we focus on the "supply-side" of rule production, by examining the evolution of the two regimes from a public choice perspective. We suggest that the content of the rules has been crucially influenced by differences in the mode of regulation. In the UK, self-regulation of takeovers has led to a regime largely driven by the interests of institutional investors, whereas the dynamics of judicial law-making in the US have benefited managers by making it relatively difficult for shareholders to influence the rules. Moreover, it was never possible for Wall Street to "privatize" takeovers in the same way as the City of London, because US federal regulation in the 1930s both pre-empted self-regulation and restricted the ability of institutional investors to coordinate. |
| Keywords: | Hostile takeovers; History of corporate law; Comparative corporate law; Self-regulation; Institutional investors; Evolution of law; Anglo-American corporate governance |
| JEL: | G23 G34 G38 K22 N20 N40 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp331&r=his |
| By: | Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - [CNRS : UMR8174] - [Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I]) |
| Abstract: | This article is the introduction of an issue (to be published) of the U.S. review International Journal of Political Economy on the Cuban economy, and coordinated by Rémy Herrera. It deals with the progresses, but also with the deficiencies, of the Cuban revolution in the economic field, until the recent de-dollarization. It underlines its economic challenges at the beginning of the XXIst century, as well as its internal forces and its external opportunities facing these challenges. |
| Keywords: | Development, socialism, revolution, growth, de-dollarization, social expenditure. |
| Date: | 2006–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00113546_v1&r=his |
| By: | Héctor Ochoa; Angela Martínez |
| Abstract: | Este artículo corresponde a la investigación que se ha desarrollado para establecer el comportamiento de la inflación en Colombia durante el período 1955-2004, analizar los elementos que han incidido en su desempeño y establecer la teoría que soporta su análisis. El análisis se ha dividido en tres períodos que cubren los años 1955-2004, el primero, de 1955 a 1970 se relaciona con los años durante los cuales aún se tenía una tasa de cambio fija, tal como se había convenido en el tratado de Bretton Woods, y coincide con sucesivas crisis cambiarias que se reflejan en el comportamiento de la inflación. El segundo, de 1970 a 1990, corresponde a los años durante los cuales se hizo énfasis en la aplicación de mecanismos keynesianos de aumento del gasto público, lo cual originó, a su vez, continuas emisiones de efectivo para financiar los sucesivos déficit fiscales, y al mismo tiempo, al período durante el cual se aplicó el sistema de crowling-peg, o sea el ajuste diario de la tasa de cambio de acuerdo con la inflación para lograr mantener una tasa de cambio fija, en términos reales, para la compra por el Banco de la República de la totalidad de las divisas ingresadas al país, mediante el mecanismo de la emisión, todo lo cual se reflejó en un incremento de la inflación por encima de 20% anual. El tercer período, de 1990 a 2004, corresponde a los años de la apertura de la economía, y al inicio del funcionamiento de la autonomía del Banco de la RRepública, responsable por el control de la inflación, lo cual le ha exigido tener que operar con el esquema de una tasa objetivo de inflación. Como consecuencia, la inflación ha descendido de los altos niveles que tenía a comienzos de los años 90 a índices por debajo del 10%. |
| Date: | 2005–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001013:002690&r=his |
| By: | Jaime Andrés Collazos Rodríguez; Arley Barandica Villegas |
| Abstract: | Dada la escasez de literatura sobre historia de las primeras entidades financieras que se establecieron en Cali a finales del siglo XIX e inicios del XX, este trabajo tuvo como fin, revelar, además de la historia, el papel que desempeñaron dichas instituciones como medio crediticio para financiar obras transcendentales para el desarrollo comercial, industrial y social de Cali, como lo fueron la construcción del muelle de Buenaventura, el acueducto y el alcantarillado; así como la pavimentación de las principales vías de la ciudad y la expansión del Ferrocarril del Pacífico; infraestructura clave que aceleró notablemente el progreso de Cali y la región a comienzos del siglo pasado. Este desarrollo, sin lugar a dudas, no se hubiera alcanzado sin la organización y confianza que generó en la economía la creación del Banco de la República en 1923, a partir de las asesorías de la misión Kemmerer. Asimismo, para analizar con mayor precisión el desarrollo bancario que tuvo la región en la primera mitad del siglo XX, se utilizó en este documento, una serie histórica1 de las captaciones y colocaciones de los principales departamentos del país. |
| Date: | 2006–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001039:002726&r=his |
| By: | Adolfo Meisel R.; Margarita Vega A. |
| Abstract: | En este ensayo estudiamos los orígenes académicos de una de las ramas más dinámicas de la historia económica en las últimas décadas. Aunque hubo unos antecedentes en la década de 1960 entre algunos historiadores de la escuela de los Annales, principalmente Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, fue realmente con los trabajos de Robert Fogel y sus asociados que esta disciplina tuvo un gran auge. Tal vez la ventaja que tuvieron estos últimos historiadores fue que incorporaron los aspectos biológicos y utilizaron el instrumental estadístico que manejan los cliometristas. A continuación, se presenta una revisión del estado de la investigación en antropometría histórica en las diferentes regiones del mundo. |
| Date: | 2006–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001037:002738&r=his |
| By: | Catherine Locatelli (LEPII - Laboratoire d'Economie de la Production et de l'Intégration Internationale - [CNRS : FRE2664] - [Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II]) |
| Abstract: | La stratégie de la principale compagnie gazière russe, Gazprom, se caractérise ces dernières années par une volonté marquée d'internationalisation. Deux principaux facteurs en témoignent : d'une part sa tentative de développer une stratégie globale d'exportation (vers l'Europe mais aussi l'Asie et les Etats Unis) et d'autre part sa politique d'acquisition d'actifs au travers d'investissements directs à l'étranger. Cette stratégie s'inscrit plus généralement dans le vaste mouvement de réorganisation de l'ensemble du secteur des hydrocarbures impulsé par l'Etat qui entend doter la Russie de grandes compagnies d'hydrocarbures capables de rivaliser avec les principales majors. |
| Keywords: | RESTRUCTURATION ; INDUSTRIE GAZIERE ; GAZPROM ; RUSSIE |
| Date: | 2006–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00115377_v1&r=his |
| By: | Joel Mokyr; Hans-Joachim Voth |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_002&r=his |
| By: | Mirta N. S. Bugarin; Roberto Ellery Jr.; Victor Gomes; Arilton Teixeira |
| Abstract: | In this paper we ask if the Cass-Koopmans model can account for the behavior of the Brazilian economy from 1970 to 1998. We divide this period in two subperiods. In the first one, the 70s, the GNP per working age person grew at 5.05% a year. In contrast with GNP per working age person, Total Factor Productivity (TFP) grows only until 1974, declining in the rest of the decade. After 1974 the growth rate of GNP per Working age person was sustained through an increasing investment share of GNP due to the increment in the public (government plus state owned enterprize) and in the private investment. To increase private investment with a declining TFP, government subsidies to the private sector goes from 1% of GNP to 4% in the second half of the 70s. In the second subperiod, the 80s and 90s, TFP as well as GNP per working age person decrease until 1993, increasing since. Here we also find in the second half of the 80s that investment share is increasing while TFP is decreasing. In this second case it goes up mainly as a result of the increment of price of capital relative to consumption. Once the investment series is adjust for this government behavior as well as the relative price changes, the neoclassical theory is able to fairly describe the investment behavior, hence the dynamics of the Brazilian economy during the period under study. |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c010_009&r=his |
| By: | Betty Agnani; Amaia Iza |
| Abstract: | Venezuela growth experience in the last fifty years is characterized by a high economic growth rate during the period (1950-70), and a low economic growth rate in the last thirty years. In spite Venezuela is an oil abundant economy, this growth experience is mainly accounted by the evolution of the real GDP in the non-oil sector of the economy. Further- more, we make a growth accounting to quantify for how much the growth experience in the non-oil sector is due to physical capital accumulation and we find that most of its growth experience is accounted by the evolution of its TFP. On the other hand, the evolution of the oil rents have a high correlation with the TFP in the non-oil sector in the period (1950-80). During the high growth rate period, Venezuela experienced an impressive modernization. In consequence, the use of these oil rents, by the Government, may help to understand, at least partly, the growth experience of the non-oil sector of the venezuelan economy. We have constructed a model to check the importance of the venezuelan public policies. |
| Keywords: | non-renewable resources, growt accounting, TFP, oil rents |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c010_053&r=his |
| By: | Ken Binmore |
| Abstract: | This paper gives a brief overview of an evolutionary theory of fairness. The ideas are fleshed out in Binmore's book 'Natural Justice' (Oxford University Press, New York, 2005.), which is itself a condensed version of his earlier two-volume book 'Game Theory and the Social Contract' (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994 and 1998). Length 29 pages |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2006-14&r=his |
| By: | Jorge García García |
| Abstract: | Una mirada al sector ganadero colombiano (producción de carne y leche) de los 25 años entre 1950 y 1975 plantea muchos interrogantes, algunos de carácter económico, otros de naturaleza social y política. En lo económico se preguntaría ¿por qué un sector que en esa época aportaba el 10% de la economía exportaba tan poco, y por qué existía un conflicto permanente en torno al precio y la política comercial lecheros? ¿Por qué los ganaderos practicaban la ganadería extensiva cuando podían copiar de otros países el uso más intensivo de capital, que significaba mayor rendimiento por animal? ¿Por qué los ganaderos se manifestaban tan “retrógrados” y poco progresistas, mientras que los algodoneros registraban rápida expansión y los arroceros adoptaban las nuevas variedades tan pronto éstas se inventaban? ¿Por qué los ganaderos empleaban tan pocos trabajadores? ¿Por qué criaban ganado en grandes extensiones de tierra? ¿Por qué los ganaderos hacen uso de mano de obra en vez de maquinaria? Son incontables las preguntas, pero las respuestas a la mayoría de las aquí planteadas, y a otras más, giran alrededor de incentivos económicos para los ganaderos. Los incentivos económicos, la tecnología y la dotación en factores productivos explican muchas de las actuaciones de los ganaderos. En el presente estudio, me centro en los incentivos económicos, examinando tres temas que contribuyen a responder a algunas de esas preguntas, y a explicar tanto el comportamiento de los ganaderos como el desempeño del sector. En primer lugar, miro cómo las políticas económicas relativas a la ganadería y la lechería, en particular, y las relativas al tipo de cambio y el régimen comercial, en general, incidieron en los incentivos económicos para el sector. En adelante llamo intervenciones directas a las políticas relativas al sector ganadero en particular (precios, crédito, restricciones a la exportación e importación de carne vacuna y de leche), e intervenciones indirectas a las políticas relativas al tipo de cambio y a la política comercial general de Colombia. En segundo lugar, miro cómo los incentivos económicos afectaron los ingresos de productores, consumidores y gobierno, identifico a los ganadores y perdedores de las intervenciones y calculo la magnitud de sus ganancias y pérdidas. Por último, miro cómo los incentivos económicos influyeron en las decisiones de los ganaderos de aumentar o reducir sus hatos, y cuán rápido y en qué medida los ganaderos reaccionaron a variaciones en los incentivos. El estudio de este tema se complica por la insuficiencia y poca confiabilidad de la información sobre el sector ganadero. Antes de entrar en el análisis, algunas cifras del sector, indicando con hechos su importancia en la economía nacional así como los problemas informativos que encara quien lo estudie. En la Sección 2 se exponen los hechos fundamentales del sector. En la Sección 3 se describen las políticas que en materia de comercio, precios y crédito afectan al sector ganadero. En la Sección 4 se examina la capacidad de competencia internacional del sector. En la Sección 5 se miden las transferencias de ingresos ocasionadas por las intervenciones directas en el sector y de las indirectas en la economía. En la Sección 6 se calcula la reacción de la oferta del sector. La Sección 7 trae las conclusiones. |
| Date: | 2006–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001037:002740&r=his |
| By: | Singh Ramendra; Sinha Piyush Kumar |
| Abstract: | Case based pedagogy has become popular in most business schools today, since the pioneering efforts made by Harvard Business School, several decades ago. Although the case method approach stands firmly on grounds its effectiveness in ‘simulating reality of the business world’ in the classroom, yet it has its own limitations and cannot be used in all learning situations This article delves into both sides of the debate on the efficacy of case method for learning and through an exploratory study, models the attitude of MBA students towards the perceived learning aspects of the pedagogy. The premise of our beliefs-only attitude model rests on the conceptual analogy between a case study and an advertisement message as two similar forms of communication technology. Drawing heavily from the insights available in the advertising literature, the article suggests several hypotheses for future empirical validation. |
| Date: | 2006–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-11-05&r=his |
| By: | Waldenström, Daniel (Research Institute of Industrial Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recent theoretical models suggest that the costs governments face when defaulting on their domestic and external debt may differ considerably. This paper examines if this proposed cost difference is reflected in sovereign risk spreads across domestic and foreign markets. Specifically, I analyze market yields on Danish government debt in both Denmark and Sweden during 1938–1948, i.e., a period full of political shocks as well as a wartime segmentation of Scandinavian capital markets. By linking the exogenous wartime shocks to changes in the costs of defaulting on domestic and external sovereign debt, it is found that these costs explain a significant part of the variation in the sovereign risk spread across markets. The result is robust to a multitude of tests and the inclusion of additional yield spread influences such as differences in macroeconomic fluctuations, portfolio allocation opportunities, local risk aversion and microstructure institutions. |
| Keywords: | Sovereign Risk; Investor Heterogeneity; Domestic Debt; External Debt; Market Segmentation; Political Economy; Cliometrics |
| JEL: | F34 G15 G18 N20 N24 N44 |
| Date: | 2006–11–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0677&r=his |
| By: | Douhan, Robin (Uppsala University); Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Eliasson, Gunnar (Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Israel M. Kirzner is the 2006 winner of The International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. In this essay, we present and evaluate his main contributions to the economics of entrepreneurship. The focus is on how Kirzner defines the entrepreneurial function. In order to better understand his theory, we posit Kirzner’s notion of an entrepreneur in the Austrian tradition. In so doing we emphasize that this concept opens up different perspectives as compared to the neoclassical theoretical framework. The three areas of economic policy, justice and freedom and economic growth are discussed. We also show why the Kirznerian entrepreneur makes these issues relevant. Perhaps most importantly, Kirzner has made the Austrian School intelligible for non-Austrians. By bridging the chasm between Austrian and mainstream thinking, the crucial role of entrepreneurship and the individual entrepreneur has become visible to a much broader audience. |
| Keywords: | Austrian economics; Economic development; Entrepreneurship; Small business economics |
| JEL: | B49 B52 B53 O31 |
| Date: | 2006–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0678&r=his |
| By: | Isabelle Liotard (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - [CNRS : UMR7115] - [Université Paris-Nord - Paris XIII]) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore the evolution of the software industry and the increasing importance of patent protection. Through a set of case law, we show that the various American Courts of Justice for the one hand and the European Patent Office (EPO) one the other hand have the same point of view by granting software patents. We put in light the crucial decisions that conduct to this situation. The same cannot be said, however, for another specific object: business methods. These systems, deeply involved in e-business, are perceived, on a legal point of view, in different way sin Europe and in the US and accorded different levels of protection on either side of the Atlantic. We give also some figures of this phenomenon. They show the possible business methods protection in Europe in spite of the common argument of non-patentability of these systems in Europe. Furthermore, we also focus our attention on the effects of the intense use of industrial property on software and business methods, in terms of innovation, competition and the sharp rise in litigation. |
| Keywords: | LOGICIEL, PROPRIETE INTELLECTUELLE, BUSINESS METHODS, CAS DE JURISPRUDENCE |
| Date: | 2006–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00113449_v1&r=his |
| By: | Manoel F. Meyer Bittencourt |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact that financial development had on earnings inequality in Brazil in the 1980’s and 90’s. The empirical evidence, based on panel time series and time series data, shows that more broad access to financial and credit markets had a significant and robust effect in reducing inequality during the period investigated. We suggest that this is not only because the poor can invest the acquired credit in all sorts of productive activities, but also because those with access to financial markets can insulate themselves against recurrent poor macroeconomic performance, which is exemplified by extreme inflation rates. The main implication of the results is that a seemingly non-distortionary policy, such as more credit aimed at the poor, alleviates the high inequality present in Brazil and consequently improves welfare without distorting economic efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Financial development and markets, credit, inequality and welfare, inflation |
| JEL: | D31 E44 O11 O54 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c011_055&r=his |
| By: | Antonio Noriega; Matias Fontenla |
| Abstract: | We develop a model where investment in infrastructure complements private investment. We then provide time series evidence for Mexico on both the impact of public infrastructure on output, and on the optimality with which levels of infrastructure have been set. In particular, we look at the long-run effects of shocks to infrastructure on real output. We compute Long-Run Derivatives for kilowatts of electricity, roads and phone lines, and find that shocks to infrastructure have positive and significant effects on real output for all three measures of infrastructure. For electricity and roads, the effect becomes significant after 7 and 8 years, respectively, whereas for phones, the effect on growth is significant only after 13 years. These effects of infrastructure on output are in agreement with growth models where long-run growth is driven by endogenous factors of production. However, our results indicate that none of these variables seem to be set at growth maximizing levels. |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:deg:conpap:c010_058&r=his |
| By: | Luis Berggrun |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the dynamics ofthe American Depositary Receipt (ADR) of a Colombian bank (Bancolombia) in relation to its pricing factors (underlying (preferred) shares price, exchange rate and the US market index). The aim is to test if there is a long-term relation among these variables that would imply predictability. One cointegrating relation is found allowing the use of a vector error correction model to examine the transmission of shocks to the underlying prices, the exchange rate, and the US market index. The main finding of this paper is that in the short run, the underlying share price seems to adjust after changes in the ADR price, pointing to the fact that the NYSE (trading market for the ADR) leads the Colombian market. However, in the long run, both, the underlying share price and the ADR price, adjust to changes in one another. |
| Date: | 2006–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001013:002705&r=his |
| By: | MEROLA ROSSANA |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades Turkey has has been plagued by high inflation and persistent fiscal imbalances that have prevented the economy from reaching its potential growth levels. Facing a large fiscal deficit Turkish government has relied on a mix of borrowing and money creation, rather than making structural economic changes. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, we analyse the factors that led the Turkish economy to its currency crises in 1994 and 2001. Second, we test if the financial mechanism is such that the deficit has not entailed ever-increasing shares of debt and money to income, that is if public position is sustainable or not. To analyze sustainability of fiscal policy, we test the precence of a cointegration relationship between primary surplus and debt or alternatively between public revenues (including seigniorage) and expenditures. |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceiswp:231&r=his |
| By: | Cinzia COLAPINTO |
| Abstract: | The present paper focuses on the innovation process in the computer science industry in Italy during the eighties. We choose a representative case study, the Olivetti Group. During the eighties, Olivetti stepped up its growth with international acquisitions, agreements and alliances, as well as a number of venture capital operations. Olivetti was the only Italian company involved in corporate venture capital (CVC), which is an instrument used to foster research and development, especially in the Information and Technology sector. Olivetti's corporate venture program, initiated in 1980, was developed to provide Olivetti a window on emerging technologies and companies, as well as provide potential new sources of business in the US and Europe |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Corporate venture capital, Information and Technology |
| JEL: | G24 O3 L63 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2006-36&r=his |