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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2007‒01‒14
24 papers chosen by |
| By: | Catherine Grandclement (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Ecole des Mines de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Analyzes the invention and early development of the shopping cart (supermarket trolley) in the US using original archival sources. |
| Keywords: | Business history, innovation, mass consumption, material culture, shopping cart, Sylvan N. Goldman, Orla E. Watson, United States of America |
| JEL: | L81 O31 O33 O34 N82 N72 Z13 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emn:wpaper:006&r=his |
| By: | Jurica Šimurina (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb); Josip Tica (Faculty of Economics and Business, Unviersity of Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | The focus of this paper is to investigate technology changes and influence on economies since the First Industrial Revolution. The First Industrial Revolution was the first point in time when both increase of GDP per capita and population occurred at the same time (avoiding the Malthusian trap). Thus the selected point in time. Furthermore, developments of the late 18th and 19th centuries have some common properties with development of new technologies today. Even though the process of technological change changed during this time, there are still some lessons to be learned from distant and near history on how to gauge policies for fostering successful technological advances. Changes that occurred are relevant for respective economies, industries, companies and individuals. On all these levels changes occurred that were unprecedented in history before the First Industrial Revolution. It is not suggested that technological progress of centuries before the First Industrial Revolution was insignificant, but it certainly did not have such a profound impact in all areas of human life and existence. |
| Keywords: | development, economic history, technology |
| JEL: | N70 |
| Date: | 2006–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zag:wpaper:0610&r=his |
| By: | Stefan Szymanski (Tanaka Business School, Imperial College) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that modern sport developed out of new forms of associativity created during the European enlightenment. It argues that the fundamental unit of modern sport is the club, and that these associations developed autonomously in Britain during the eighteenth century following the retreat of the state from the control of associative activities. The evolution of modern sports thus formed part of the expansion of private associative activity that occurred in the Anglo-Saxon world. By contrast, in countries such as France and Germany where associativity continued to require the explicit or implicit license of the state, modern sports developed in ways consistent with or even in the service of the objectives of the state, most notably the need to maintain military preparedness. |
| JEL: | L83 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0630&r=his |
| By: | Alam, M. Shahid |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the growing body of evidence on the relative economic standing of different regions of the world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In general, it does not find support for Eurocentric claims regarding Western Europe’s early economic lead. The Eurocentric claims are based primarily on estimates of a per capita income, which are plagued by conceptual problems, make demands on historical data that are generally unavailable, and they use questionable assumptions to reconstruct early per capita income. A careful examination of these conjectural estimates of per capita income, however, does not support claims that Western Europe had a substantial lead over the rest of the world at the beginning of the nineteenth century. An examination of several alternative indices of living standards in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries – such as real wages, labor productivity in agriculture, and urbanization – also fails to confirm claims of European superiority. In addition, this paper examines the progress of global disparities – including the presence of regional patterns – using estimates of per capita income. |
| Keywords: | Global economy; Disparities; Regional patterns; Per capita income; Real wages; Labor productivity; Agriculture; Eurocentric |
| JEL: | O11 N17 N0 F54 O40 N14 N16 N15 N13 N10 |
| Date: | 2006–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1289&r=his |
| By: | Martin Forster; Martin Walsh; Sue Bowden |
| Abstract: | We present a version of Chern et al.'s (1995) Bayesian model of `health risk belief' to track the evolution of the `weight' of epidemiological evidence concerning tobacco harm that was in the possession of the U.S. Tobacco Industry Research Committee (T.I.R.C.) and the U.S. Public Health Service and related groups during the 1950s and early 1960s. We compare our results with public statements assessing the evidence that were made by the organisations during the same period. The results from the models for the U.S. Public Health Service and related groups are not in disagreement with the public statements of these organisations; the results from the lung cancer model for the T.I.R.C. are in disagreement with the assessments of the evidence made by the T.I.R.C.'s Scientific Director in his annual reports. We discuss possible reasons for this, relating our findings to present-day academic and legal debates about the `controversy' surrounding tobacco harm during the mid-twentieth century. |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:06/23&r=his |
| By: | Ian Keay (Queen's University); Marina Adshade (Dalhousie University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use data from more than 2,500 industry-years, reported by the Ohio Division of Labor Statistics, to track changes in employment and weekly wages among male and female production workers and clerical workers between 1914-1937. We find that among Ohio's manufacturing establishments female employment and real wages were rising throughout this period, particularly within clerical occupations. Increases in women's share of the total manufacturing workforce were nearly monotonic between 1914-1937, while after having been, at best, stagnant until the mid- 1920s, women's relative wages increased through the last half of the 1920s and into the 1930s. After matching our employment and wage data with information from the Census of Manufactures for the state of Ohio, we estimate translog production functions which indicate that Ohio manufacturers were adopting new organizational structures and technologies that were biased in favor of female clerical labor. This non-neutrality in technological and organizational change (like the employment and wage patterns) was driven primarily by larger firms that had relatively complex production processes. A simple counterfactual exercise indicates that the adoption of non-neutral technological and organizational change over this period can explain much of the observed increase in demand and remuneration for educated female manufacturing workers. This conclusion emphasizes the role women played channeling early twentieth century organizational and technological change, in effect enabling Chandler's "visible hand". |
| Keywords: | US manufacturing, Female labor force participation, Technological change |
| JEL: | N12 N32 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1103&r=his |
| By: | Miguel A. López-Morell (Universidad de Murcia); José M. O’Kean (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | In the period between 1835 and 1931 the Rothschild House established one of the most complex and influential business networks in Spanish economic history. This network controlled a wide range of activities, including financial services for the Spanish Government and the Bank of Spain, as well as the management of industrial, mining and railway firms. Instances of these firms are Rio Tinto Co., Société Minière et Metallurgique Peñarroya, MZA railway company and Deutsch & Cie, which was the main oil refining firm in Spain at the end of the 19th century. |
| Keywords: | Spain 1835-1931, Rothschild, networks, Weisweiller, Bauer, foreign investments in Spain, railways, mining and refining companies, international raw material market, Public Finances, entrepreneurial function, agency problems, rent-seeking. |
| JEL: | N00 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:06.32&r=his |
| By: | Sennur Akansel; Berk Minez |
| Abstract: | Over a long history, the city of Edirne has been developing as an important settlement centre due to its geopolitical location. The importance of Edirne increased especially after it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire for a long period of time. It is city of a peculiar character and identy with its many monuments and samples of civil architecture. Kaleiçi, as the first settlement nucleus of Edirne, has still many historic houses which could manage to survive, reflecting the social and cultural life of the city around the end of 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The dwellings those reached up to the present in Kaleiçi neigborhood, which can be considered as the center of settlement in Edirne, are very few in number. The conditions that expedited the deformed look of present Edirne are as follows: the regulations which led way to the new reconstruction after the earthquakes and fires, the illegal practises in the area, the dense commerce in Saraçlar Avenue, in turn, the deterioration of the characteristics of the plan and facade of the area and problems resuled from changes in the dwelling owners. Following a brief history of Edirne Kaleiçi, the objectives of this study are to determine and classify the characteristic of the plansand facades of traditional dwellings and to develop suggestions for the preservation of these houses and the spatial qualities of whole fabric of the area. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p665&r=his |
| By: | Alam, M. Shahid |
| Abstract: | This paper works out some of the basic properties of an economy with energy as a factor of production. The economy now consists of streams of energy conversions that direct energy to the production of goods and services. The focus on energy generates a variety of insights. It yields a new taxonomy of economies and economic activities; allows a better grasp of the tasks performed by labor and capital; raises the prospect of examining growth as the speeding up of machines; and identifies greater use of energy as an important source of growth. In addition, we use these results to explain the near stagnation in living standards in agrarian economies in the millennia before 1800, and the dramatic acceleration in growth since that date. |
| Keywords: | Economy; energy; capital; labor; growth; sources of growth; Adam Smith; John Stuart Mill; industrial revolution |
| JEL: | Q40 B0 O40 O47 Q01 D2 |
| Date: | 2006–12–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1260&r=his |
| By: | Kostas Rontos; Christos Mavroudis; Theodore Georgiadis |
| Abstract: | This article studies the phases of urban development in Athens, the biggest metropolitan center of the country, in combination with the development of the Greek economy during the post world war II era, by applying techniques suggested by the theory of spatial cycle. Before application, an extended reference to the theoretical background will be presented, so that a comprehensive view of the spatial cycle hypothesis is established. Ã short historical analysis of the Greek economy will also be provided, so that the impact of several historical factors on the recent evolution of Athens Metropolitan Area be better understood. Since the beginning of the post-war period, the Athens Metropolitan Area has been going through a certain phase, i.e. the phase of suburbanization. Recently (1981-2001) the afore-mentioned area has shifted from the first stage of this phase to the second, i.e. from relative to absolute decentralization, facing not only a complete loss of core city population but also memorisation, unemployment and other depressive phenomena. As differences among western, southern or northern suburbs appear, an intra-suburb analysis will be carried out in order to identify the direction of urban evolution through time. The recent decline in the development of suburbs, in juxtaposition with the rapid emergence of some independent urban areas outside the Athens Metropolitan Area, provides some evidence of potential movement towards the next phase of disurbanization in the near future. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p939&r=his |
| By: | Angeliki Pardali; Constantine Stathopoulou |
| Abstract: | The economic development of the port industry that followed the Second World War was based upon two economic theories trends. Until the late 70’s the model based on Keynesianism forms the basic idea for ownership, infrastructure, investment, pricing policy and role of ports. Since the early 80’s neoliberalism is adopted as a new model of development oversetting what was taken for granted until now and employing a new basis for the port production. Within this framework container ports are the spearhead. The reformed container port industry focuses on container terminals as links in the logistics’ chain with effectiveness in port production and in the integrated logistics’ chain being their main aim. For this purpose private investment and private port operators come forth. This paper tries to examine whether and in what ways the modern port affects the economic development of its local (port city) or broader (region) hinterland. How is this accomplished in the age of globalized economy? |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p459&r=his |
| By: | Maria Luisa Decuir-Viruez |
| Abstract: | Different factors have been included in order to explain the causes of growth and the disparities observed in the last century. This paper examines the role of institutional factors in the growth rates observed among the 32 states in Mexico in the period 1970-2000. The institutional elements considered are the “strategies†of local governments, in order to assess if the active strategies (those that are participative, open to global economies and less dependent upon central authorities) have better results in terms of growth than the passive type (those that are dependent on central authorities and have restricted external links). Following on from the documents presented at the ERSA Annual Conferences of 2003/4/5, this paper presents the final assessment of the relationship between institutional elements and growth. This includes identification and measurement of the institutional elements (strategies) through Principal Components Analysis (PCA); and its evaluation with growth using Ordinary Least Square Regressions (OLS). The PCA results identified components related to hard and soft institutional elements (strategies and social networks). Meanwhile, the OLS results suggest that institutions matter; in the case of Mexico, the strategies taken by regional governments in the period 1970-2000 have had some influence in their paths of growth and levels of investment. Furthermore, after 1985 there is evidence that the active strategies (which have substituted the national regional policy) are related to a positive performance, in contrast to the passive type. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p344&r=his |
| By: | Carles Manera (Universitat de les Illes Balears) |
| Abstract: | The economy of the Balearic Islands has undergone strong growth in recent decades, although not without big contradictions generated by the maturing of what was a pioneering mass tourism economy. This paper reviews the most recent tourist booms in the Balearics, highlighting the crossroads that the islands’ economy has reached in economic and bio-physical terms. It emphasizes the model’s loss of productivity, the reduction in the earning capacity of businesses (in a process that might be qualified as one of falling profits) and the problems that strong negative environmental externalities and a workforce with a low level of training represent in the maintenance of this growth trend. Lastly, it proposes six basic plans of action in the field of economic policy, based on empirical studies. |
| Keywords: | Balearic Islands, tourism economy, mass tourism, tertiary economy, economic history of tourism. |
| JEL: | O18 N34 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubi:deawps:23&r=his |
| By: | Antonio Vazquez-Barquero |
| Abstract: | A renewed interest in the location of the productive activity has appeared during the last two decades. The literature analyzes a great number of cases of local productive systems in which all types of activities are produced and which locate in regions and countries with different levels of development (Altenburg and Meyer-Stamer, 1999; Rosenfeld, 1997; Staber, 1997; Porter, 1998). Electronics in Silicon Valley, U.S.A. and Silicon Glen in Scotland, but also in Guadalajara, Mexico and in Penang, Malaysia; the car industry in Detroit, U.S. and in Vigo, Spain, but also in the Gran ABC in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, Brazil; ceramic tiles in Sassuolo, Italy and in Castellón, Spain, as well as in Criciuma, Brazil; the shoe industry in Brenta, Italy and in Elche, Spain, as well as in León, Guanajuato, Mexico; textiles and the garment industry in Reutlingen, Germany and in La Coruña, España, but also in Itaji Valley, Brazil. Financial services in New York City, in London and in Frankfurt, Germany, but also in Hong Kong and Shanghai, in China. This diversity has been dealt with from different points of view; no doubt due to the fact that sociologists, geographers and economists believe that at the present time the organization of production is going through a profound transformation process. Mass production, integrated in the fordist model of large firm reduces its hegemony and gives way to more flexible forms of organization, as are industrial districts and milieus. This has produced multiple interpretations such as the industrial districts (Becattini, 1979), flexible specialization (Piore and Sabel, 1984), the new industrial spaces (Scott, 1988), industrial clusters (Porter, 1990), the knowledge economy (Cook, 2002), the new economic geography (Krugman, 1991; Fujita et al., 2000), the theory of the innovative milieu (Aydalot, 1986; Maillat, 1995), or economic sociology (Granovetter, 1985). Thus, a single unique interpretation or theory as to how production is organized within the territory does not exist for explaining the factors that make the agglomerations and industrial production centres appear, the mechanisms through which they develop, as well as the reasons for its change and transformation. Gordon and McCann (2000) conclude that the diversity of the analytical approaches led to some degree of confusion in the analyses and interpretations. The paper discusses the question of spatial organization of production from the perspective of economic development. It maintains that the spatial organization of production takes shape, as the markets and relations between cities and regions developed, the transportation and communication system consolidated itself, firms developed their form of organization, innovation and knowledge was introduced in firms and the transportation and communications system, and the economic system integrated itself as a result of globalization. In fact, given that development takes on different forms in each historical period, spatial organization of production also changes and these changes are affected by the territorial strategies of firms and the economic strategies of cities and regions, and they are responsible for the emergence and reconstruction of clusters and milieus. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p648&r=his |
| By: | Bitros, George; Karayiannis, Anastassios |
| Abstract: | We show that the character and the morality of citizens are important ingredients of economic growth because they go hand in hand with the great institutions of private property, democ-racy, and free markets. Our approach enables us to establish this result by reference to the structure and performance of the ancient economies of Athens and Sparta during the period 490-338 BC. Athens grew vastly wealthier than Sparta essentially because its institutions were optimally adjusted to confront the basic scarcity of grains, whereas the institutions of Sparta were optimally adjusted to sustain its military supremacy. However, in both cases there emerged systems of morality, which secured the operating efficiency of their institutions. Therefore, poor countries in search of potent strategies for rapid economic growth should not just try to emulate the institutions of economically advanced countries. At the same time, they should put the emphasis of their efforts to setting up agoge systems, so as to infuse into the character of their citizens compatible “ethos”. For, without the latter, no matter how success-fully they adapt the institutions of democracy and free markets, rapid economic growth will be inhibited from the lack of an environment of generalized morality. In this regard, the ideal type model of agoge is the one that prevailed in ancient Athens 25 centuries ago. |
| Keywords: | ancient Greece; morality; institutions; economic growth |
| JEL: | N30 B11 O10 |
| Date: | 2006–11–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:994&r=his |
| By: | Kakia Sofianopoulou |
| Abstract: | The disintegration of Popular Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in 1990, did not only mean the end of a state-country, but also the end of a rather particular political and economically system, which originated and developed in its interior. In the present paper, the regional inequalities in Former Yugoslavia are examined, as well as adopted policies for achievement of regional convergence and their results. The main factors that led the country to unequal economic growth were historical, economical, political, and demographical. The regional policies that were applied in order to eradicate, existing inequalities-divergences in the first post-war decade, consisted of government-aided investments in the less developed regions by transferring of funds and resources (donations from state-budget, interest-free loans, etc.) By presenting and examining the economic growth of the regions at the beginning and at the end of period of application of regional policies (1966 and 1990), based on the indicators used by Yugoslav government (GDP, employment and fixed capital equipment), we concluded that even though a increase in the growth rates was accomplished, the provinces of Yugoslavia did not alter their initial hierarchy in terms of regional divergence. Subsequently, the regional policies that were adopted in the period of 1966-1990, failed to achieve their objectives. The reasons that led to this failure were not only of economic nature but also a result of not taking under consideration the demographic behaviours of the less developed regions. In order to examine this, particular accent will be given in the province of Kosovo, and the issue of demographic increase (absence of measures for control of births) which resulted in the failure of regional policies to the extend that “demographic investments†absorbed the total capital directed to this region. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p604&r=his |
| By: | Tomaz Dentinho; Vanda Serpa; Paulo Silveira; Joana Goncalves |
| Abstract: | The agenda explain the historical evolution of land uses in São Jorge Island (Azores- Portugal) between 15th-20th century.The economic exploitation of the island space prosecuted itself in simultaneous with his colony, one form to guarantee the auto supplying of the populations. First we assess the capacity of the island territory for different uses based on agronomic analysis and transform these capacities in attractiveness coefficients.Then we design a spatial interaction model with five different sectors which employment can be closely related with surface area, first to five zones in the island and within those zones to small plots of 1 hectare each.Finally we use historical data on population and main export crops in order to calibrate the model for each century. Therefore, based on data on the export crop and on the population it is possible to estimate the different land use of the island for all the sectors and to assess the carrying capacity of the island. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p91&r=his |
| By: | Ilias Plaskovitis |
| Abstract: | The Integrated Mediterranean Programmes of 1986-92 and the Regional Development Programmes implemented via the three Community Support Frameworks (CSFs) of the period 1989-2006, consist the best evidence of real, on-the-ground objectives and strategies followed by Greek regional policy-makers over the last twenty years. The proposed paper shall focus on the evolution of priorities, goals and modes of intervention exhibited by the above programmes during a period of great changes inside and outside the Greek economy. It will analyse the change in the relative weight of sectors, regions and social groups that occurs through successive planning exercises. It will compare such change with developments in the E.U., the Balkans, and Community policy priorities. Given that all 13 NUTS II Greek regions have been eligible under Objective 1 of E.U. structural funding throughout the above period, a total of 39 regional programmes have been designed and implemented under the 1st, 2nd and 3rd CSF for Greece. All of them have undergone different types of external evaluation (ex-ante, mid-term and ex-post) but nobody, to my knowledge, has attempted to compose their findings and outline overall trends with respect to their strategic objectives. Moreover to compare expressed objectives, derived from programme documents, with actual priorities, emerging from the phase of implementation through the concentration of resources and the relative weight of interventions. To examine potential conflicts both between programmes and within programmes, such as the degree of internal programme consistency as far as the different levels of objectives are concerned. It is finally worth examining the relationship between regional programme objectives and national policy priorities as the latter are expressed in the sectoral programmes also included in the CSFs of the above period. To what extent the former support national policy priorities and to what extent the latter serve the overriding goal of a more balanced regional development? In a last brief section the paper will attempt to draw conclusions that can be considered a useful contribution to the new programming framework for the 2007-13 period currently under preparation. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p209&r=his |
| By: | Mishra, Garima; Goyal, Rashi |
| Abstract: | The Indian banking industry is presently in a situation of great flux. There are various developments, changes within the Indian economy and deregulations occurring that have the potential to drastically change the way this industry functions in the future. As per the changes envisaged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a roadmap has been laid down to gradually deregulate this sector to the foreign banks. This paper discusses related issues that Indian banks might face in the future and tries to draw uopn the experiences of other developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Indian; Banking; RBI; risk; savings; deregulation |
| JEL: | F01 |
| Date: | 2006–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1266&r=his |
| By: | Delfiner, Miguel; Perón, Silvana; Pailhé, Cristina |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a comprehensive review on the activity of credit cooperatives in those countries where this sector has a long tradition and reached an important development. It describes the historical evolution in each country with special focus on the regulatory issues. The main differences between the cooperative financial sector and the traditional banking system are their corporative structure and the geographical area where these entities operate, which are a result of the market where they operate. We found an important development of a banking cooperative structure in those countries where the activity is significant, which is usually organized in federations and central entities operating with different products and services. This pyramidal structure is mainly related with the need of reaching economies of scale and synergies that local entities could not obtain. The federations provide services to local entities and represent them before the authorities. Central units work close to federations, providing a broad range of services too. This kind of structure, called cooperative net, allows local entities to exploit their relative advantages in contrast to big banks, related to the knowledge and geographical proximity to clients, but without having to suffer disadvantages in the variety of services they can provide. |
| Keywords: | Credit Unions; Cooperative Nets; Regulatory Issues |
| JEL: | G21 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1167&r=his |
| By: | Ruta Aidis (School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College Londony) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the key issues surrounding entrepreneurship development in transition countries focusing on six main themes. Though it can be argued that the transition countries started from more or less the same point when they embarked on their transitional path, in this paper, we indicate a number of the differences in initial conditions which further influenced SME development. By surveying the existing literature on SME development, this paper illustrates that as the transition process progresses, entrepreneurship development in transition countries is a story of increasing divergence. The transitional context provides unique opportunities for entrepreneurship activities to develop. However, at the same time this environment presents unique challenges for entrepreneurial development especially knowledge-based entrepreneurship as the free-market system matures within a context with low levels of SMEs and inherited negative views towards entrepreneurship. |
| Date: | 2005–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:see:wpaper:61&r=his |
| By: | Anton Tchipev (Istituto di Ricerche Economiche (IRE), Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, Università della Svizzera Italiana) |
| Abstract: | This paper combines two of the popular approaches used in the trade versus technology debate: the factor content approach and the cost-share regression across manufacturing industries. The resulting method allows to decompose skill upgrading at the industry level into a component attributed to outsourcing and a residual. Surprisingly, computer investment explains the component attributed to outsourcing better than the residual suggesting that technological change may have contributed to higher disintegration of production already during the 1980s. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, technological change, intermediate products, outsourcing, factor content |
| JEL: | F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2006–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpaper:0609&r=his |
| By: | Metin Ozaslan |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyse the changing macro-economic policies and their spatial impacts on the economic geography of Turkey after 1980’s. The first section of the chapter is focused on the two main macro-economic policies namely inward-oriented development strategy prior to the year of 1980 and the outward-oriented development strategy after 1980. In the second section of the article regional disparities and the regional development policies in Turkey are briefly discussed. In the next section spatial effects of the outward oriented policies are analysed focusing on the spatial distribution of industry. Industrial shifts indicate that there are mainly four spatial development tendencies in Turkey namely, the rise of metropolitan cities as service centres, the industrial growth of hinterland provinces that are neighbouring cities around metropolitan cities on the basis of decentralising industry, the decline of economic activities in the provinces in which state economic enterprises are common, and the emergence of the new industrial districts/ cities on the basis of SMEs’ networks and sectoral specialisation. The last section of the paper analyses the emergence of new industrial districts in Turkey focusing on the main features of five territorial cities namely Denizli, Gaziantep, Çorum, Kayseri and Kahramanmaraþ. It is concluded that the new industrial districts developed on the basis of SME clusters have crushed the spatial development trends in Turkey based on metropolitan cities and they have conveyed the development dynamics to small and medium sized Anatolian cities. The districts that have followed a development path within the framework of their own endogenous potentials have succeeded in becoming a centre of attraction and have started to serve a significant function in the transfer of development to the less developed Anatolia. By disrupting the unbalanced development tendencies on the national level, emerging around a few growth poles, they have yielded an alternative development tendency against the polarised development tendencies. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p834&r=his |
| By: | Andrew Narwold |
| Abstract: | The State of California enacted the Mills Act in 1976. This act allowed local municipalities the option of setting up a historical designation program. The main feature of the program was to allow the owners of historical buildings a reduction in their property taxes in return for an agreement to not alter the exterior facade of the designated building. The extent of the property tax deduction runs anywhere from 40 – 80 percent. This means that for a $1,000,000 house, the tax benefits may run to $8,000 per year. Theory suggests that the value of this tax benefit should be fully capitalized into the price of the home. The degree to which it is not may suggest the cost to the homeowner for agreeing not to alter the building. This paper uses hedonic regression analysis to estimate the value of historical designation to single family residences in the City of San Diego. |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa06p245&r=his |