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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2007‒06‒11
twenty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | Yasuo Takatsuki (Graduate School of Economics, Tokyo University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the rice price co-movement in Tokugawa Japan, especially between the the Dojima Rice Market established in 1730 and the rice market in Otsu established in 1735. Both markets were representative rice markets in Tokugawa period Japan. Before applying the empirical analyses, this paper first introduces the daily price index constructed from the original historical document, gYorozu Souba Nikki (Daily memorandum of commodity price indices),h written by the contemporary rice merchant who dealt in the rice trades. From this memorandum, we can construct the daily price index both in the futures and the spot market during the period from 1798 to 1856. Based on this price index, the Grager causality tests were conducted, and it is shown that, during the period from 1798 to 1818, the prices in the Dojima were reflected in the prices in Otsu by the next day, and during the period from 1840 to 1864, the prices in Dojima were reflected in the prices in Otsu on the same day. |
| JEL: | G14 L11 N25 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0721&r=his |
| By: | Ahmed S. Rahman (United States Naval Academy) |
| Abstract: | Do conflicts among naval powers hurt international trade? In theory the commercially relevant aspects of aggressive naval power can either thwart trade (through blockades, embargoes, commerce raiding, and guerre de course strategies) or facilitate trade (through control of trade routes and protection of shipping). Thus the question must be empirically addressed. Using a panel gravity model, we investigate the interactions of war, naval power and merchant trade from the 18th to mid-20th centuries . Whether looking at English trade during the 18th century, or at a wide range of trading partners during the 19th and 20th centuries, wars involving naval powers considerably limit inter-state commerce. Further, we split this effect on trade between an extensive effect (the effect on a country’s trade when fighting a naval power) and an intensive effect (the effect of that power gaining more naval strength). We conclude that the intensive effect is a powerful one - that is, naval strength has historically been a destroyer of trade when mobilized to combat. |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usn:usnawp:17&r=his |
| By: | Yasuo Takatsuki (Graduate School of Economics, Tokyo University) |
| Abstract: | The first modern futures market is said to date back to the Chicago Board of Trade established in 1848. However, there existed an older precedent; the Dojima Rice Market established in 1730 in Osaka. The past literature on Dojima has made it clear that Dojima had well-established trading systems. However, a important question remains unanswered: whether the first well-established futures market efficient or not? This paper first constructs the daily price index from the original historical document, and applies the test of unbiasedness hypothesis and the classic measure of market efficiency; "weak-form efficiency" to Dojima Rice Market, and shows that there existed these types of efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Tokugawa Period Japan, Futures Market, Informational Efficiency |
| JEL: | G14 L11 N25 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0628r2&r=his |
| By: | Yasuo Takatsuki (Graduate School of Economics, Tokyo University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the efficiency of the Dojima Rice Market established in 1730 in Osaka, and closed in 1869 due to the collapse of Tokugawa Shogunate. It had already been shown that there existed the price mechanism in Dojima. However, the most significant question: Whether the world first commodity futures market was efficient or not, remains to be unanswered. Before applying the empirical analyses, this paper first introduces the daily price index constructed from the original historical document, "Yorozu Souba Nikki (Daily memorandum of commodity price indices)," written by the contemporary rice merchant who dealt in the rice. From this memorandum, we can construct the daily price index both in the futures and the spot market during the period from 1798 to 1856. Based on this price index, the test of unbiasedness hypothesis and the classic measure of market efficiency; "weak-form efficiency" were applied to Dojima Rice Market, and it is shown that there existed these types of efficiency. |
| JEL: | G14 L11 N25 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0719&r=his |
| By: | Yen Le Espiritu (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | In the United States, the writing on the Vietnam War involves the highly organized and strategic forgetting of the Vietnamese people. In a highly original work that investigates the production of American cultural memory, Marita Sturken shows that in the United States, the narrative of the Vietnam War foregrounds the painful experience of the Vietnam veterans in such a way that the Vietnamese people are forgotten: “They are conspicuously absent in their roles as collaborators, victims, enemies, or simply the people whose hand and over whom (supposedly) this war was fought” (Sturken 1997, 62). Likewise, US scholars have refused to treat Vietnamese refugees as genuine subjects, with their own history, culture, heritage, and political agendas. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0604b&r=his |
| By: | Paul Hallwood (University of Connecticut); Ronald MacDonald (University of Glasgow); Ian Marsh (City University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the gold bloc operated between France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium, especially over the period after the USA left the gold standard in March 1933 to its end in September 1936. It enquires into the effect of military-political developments in Germany and Italy on the sustainability of the gold bloc between its members. Juxtaposed is the view of leading political scientists, such as Henry Kissinger, who see impending war in Europe as deeply and adversely affecting psychology in Europe, and what may be called the standard ÆeconomistsÇ viewÇ that sees the demise of the gold bloc as being caused almost exclusively by economic factors. Developing concepts of external and internal inconsistency of the gold bloc, this investigation concludes that both economic and military-political developments played important roles in destroying the last vestiges of the gold standard. |
| Keywords: | French devaluation, German remilitarization, gold bloc, international monetary system |
| JEL: | F33 N24 N44 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2007-23&r=his |
| By: | Amaney Jamal (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Arab American identity is strongly rooted in the political realities and social identity constructions of the homeland. For decades, homeland attachments have shaped Arab American identity; thus, it is not surprising that Arab American arts have traditionally relied on the cultural and folkloric elements of social ties and other relationships to the homeland. As with other ethnic groups, however, an additional dimension also shapes Arab—and Arab American—identity. The long history of political conflicts in the Arab world has played an equally significant role in structuring Arab American identity. The politically contentious realities of the Middle East from multiple US involvements in the region, the Arab-Israeli conflict, to the newly constructed War on Terror are all at the heart of Arab and Arab American identity. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0604a&r=his |
| By: | Patricia Fernández-Kelly (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | More than 20 years ago, as part of my dissertation research, I sat behind a sewing machine at a Mexican maquiladora in Ciudad Juarez. That border city was the cradle of outsourcing in the region for American companies aiming to reduce production costs and improve their competitive edge in the world market. For approximately two months I sewed biases around the cuff openings of men’s shirts for such well known American companies as Billy the Kid, Devon, and Sears Roebuck. My wage was nine times smaller than the minimum wage of $1.90 paid to workers in the neighboring city of El Paso, Texas, one of the most depressed in the United States, but still more expensive from the point of view of employers than its Mexican counterpart, just 15 minutes across the international line. The year was 1978 and Ciudad Juarez was experiencing a boom resulting from a new trend in globalization. Women were becoming the new face of the international proletariat. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0605&r=his |
| By: | Kaya, Ugur; Yayla, Hilmi Erdogan |
| Abstract: | The purposes of this paper are to briefly review the past thirty-five years of social accounting literature and to examine social accounting practices within the choosen time period. Further, this paper contributes to the limited literature of researchs exploring social accounting literature and literature’s effect on social disclosures and corporate reporting. We use three time periods of Mathews (1997) as 1970-1980,1981-1990, 1991-1995 and adds one more period as 1995-2006 to undertake a general review of the literature within social and enviromental accounting. As concluded, we find that, in spite of growing interest for social accounting practices and literature, there are still major problems related social accounting practices that researchers may undertake. |
| Keywords: | Social accounting; social reporting; environmental accounting |
| JEL: | M41 |
| Date: | 2007–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3454&r=his |
| By: | Pierre van der Eng |
| Abstract: | Did colonial rule in Indonesia have a de-industrialising impact? Using the case of the cotton textile industry, this paper finds little evidence. Value added in the industry increased in Java during 1820-71, increased more than three-fold during 1874-1914 and doubled during 1934-41. Most activity involved finishing of imported cotton cloth. Spinning and weaving increased marginally, as high labour intensity of small-scale production, marginal local raw cotton production, and competitive international markets for yarn and cloth precluded domestic production. Unfavourable real exchange rates discouraged investment in modern spinning and weaving ventures. From 1934, production increased rapidly due to trade protection and technological change in small-scale weaving. |
| Keywords: | Cotton textiles, manufacturing, Indonesia, trade policy, technological change |
| JEL: | F13 L67 N65 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2007-04&r=his |
| By: | Margherita Velucchi (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica) |
| Abstract: | The frequency of crashes and the magnitude of crises in international financial markets are growing more severe over time. Recent financial crises are not singular events portrayed in recent accounts, rather, they erupt in circumstances that are very similar to the economic and financial environments of the earlier eras. This paper analyzes the Italian stock market in two very peculiar periods (1901-1911 and 1993-2004): the “Second” and the “Third Industrial Revolution”. We use Markov Switching Models to test whether the Italian stock market volatility has increased in the long run and if it can be represented by different volatility regimes. We find that volatility regimes exist; that Banking sector has a central role and “New Economy” sectors perform quite well while traditional sectors do not, in both periods. |
| Keywords: | Markov Switching Models, Volatility Regimes, Second and Third Industrial Revolutions |
| JEL: | C22 C51 C53 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2007_03&r=his |
| By: | Julio Martinez Galarraga (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a new regional database on GDP in Spain for the years 1860, 1900, 1914 and 1930. Following Geary and Stark (2002), country level GDP estimates are allocated across Spanish provinces. The results are then compared with previous estimates. Further, this new evidence is used to analyze the evolution of regional inequality and convergence in the long run. According to the distribution dynamics approach suggested by Quah (1993, 1996) persistence appears as a main feature in the regional distribution of output. Therefore, in the long run no evidence of regional convergence in the Spanish economy is found. |
| Keywords: | convergence, economic growth, regional gdp, distribution dynamics, economic history |
| JEL: | N93 O47 E1 N94 O18 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2007177&r=his |
| By: | Nadeem Ul Haque (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.); M. Ali Kemal (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.) |
| Abstract: | Throughout Pakistan’s history, policy has sought to promote exports through government support and incentives. The government machinery is geared to export promotion especially through direct and indirect subsidies. Surprisingly, these policies have been continued without serious examination. This paper makes a first attempt to evaluate these policies by estimating the impact of two such schemes—export financing and rebate/refund schemes—on export performance. Our analysis shows that, over the long run, the export financing scheme had a negative effect on exports while the rebate/refund scheme affected exports insignificantly. Subsidy schemes clearly do not seem to work, yet they have been retained for many years. |
| Keywords: | Rebate, Duty Drawback, Export Financing, Exports, Trade, Exchange Rate, Co-integration, Vector Error Correction, Pakistan |
| JEL: | C32 F13 F14 F31 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2007:26&r=his |
| By: | Deborah Wong (University of California, Riverside) |
| Abstract: | Why is Jin telling us that we should learn Chinese? Is there an Asian American youth culture? How does immigration and relative generation define it? This essay addresses Americans of Asian descent1 who are roughly 18 to 25 years old: I focus on the mass-mediated popular cultures that they consume and create. My central question is how young Americans of Asian descent are in some ways moving away from the ‘Asian American’ cultural and political project created in the 1960s-70s that has driven Asian American Studies to date. This youth generation is no more homogeneous than any other, and my purpose here is to think about its identifications because I believe minoritarian politics are still essential to American democratic potential. Further, the relationship between immigration, transnational movement, and class-defined democracy is the challenge of this historical moment. My interest in two contrasting Asian American youth cultures is thus embedded in these broader questions, and for me have a certain urgency. I argue that this youth generation responds to the conditions of their moment in ways that |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0604d&r=his |
| By: | William Milberg (New School for Social Research, New York, NY) |
| Keywords: | imperialism; contemporary economics; knowledge |
| Date: | 2007–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epa:cepawp:2006-2&r=his |
| By: | Jérôme Maucourant (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - [CNRS : UMR5206][IEP LYON] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines]) |
| Abstract: | Les travaux de Polanyi et Veblen permettent de comprendre quelques mécanismes du Capital comme imago. Ils s'inscrivent ainsi contre les théories économiques libérales les plus modernes appliquées à l'histoire, complexes théoriques qui participent de la projection d'un Capital idéal dans les sociétés passées. |
| Keywords: | Polanyi ; Veblen ; capital ; histoire de la pensée ; |
| Date: | 2007–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00138331_v1&r=his |
| By: | Rosanas, Josep M. (IESE Business School) |
| Abstract: | Epistemology, methodology or philosophy of science, i.e., the foundations and validity of knowledge, have never been very popular subjects as applied to management research. Lately, though, the need for better theories and the methodological discussion underlying the creation of such theories appears to be receiving more attention. In this paper, I will review some basic underlying issues in the area by taking a look at to some of the classical authors. I will first analyze Hayek's view of methodological problems in economics and then apply his analysis to the development of management theory. Then, I'll elaborate on Elster's distinction between causal, functional and intentional explanations. Naïve methodological attitudes will be discussed in this context. I will use agency theory as an example of what should and should not be done. Finally, I'll examine the falsification criterion in management theory and discuss the role of mathematics in the development of theory. |
| Keywords: | epistemology; philosophy of science; methodology; management theory; foundations of management; |
| Date: | 2007–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0692&r=his |
| By: | Mourao, Paulo; Rodrigues, Carlos |
| Abstract: | This paper synthesises some of the (New) Public Expenditures Theories. It also focuses on the Fiscal Adjustments theme. We analysed public expenditures evolution in a sample composed by seventeen OCDE countries observed between 1870 and 1990. Our conclusion recognizes the heterogeneity of the most recent Public Expenditure Theories and the different growth rates assumed by the evaluated outlays. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Policy; Public Expenditures; Outlays elasticities; Budget rules |
| JEL: | H50 H11 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3416&r=his |
| By: | Bannier, Christina E.; Fecht, Falko; Tyrell, Marcel |
| Abstract: | Open-end real estate funds are of particular importance in the German bank- dominated financial system. However, recently the German open-end fund industry came under severe distress which triggered a broad discussion of required regulatory interventions. This paper gives a detailed description of the institutional structure of these funds and of the events that led to the crisis. Furthermore, it applies recent banking theory to openend real estate funds in order to understand why the open-end fund structure was so prevalent in Germany. Based on these theoretical insights we evaluate the various policy recommendations that have been raised. |
| Keywords: | Open-End Funds, Liquidity Transformation, Liquidity Crisis, Risk Sharing |
| JEL: | G23 G28 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp2:5575&r=his |
| By: | Bruno S. Frey |
| Abstract: | In the course of history a large number of politicians has been assassinated. A rational choice analysis is used to distinguish the expected marginal benefits of killing, and the marginal cost of attacking a politician. The comparative analysis of various equilibria helps us to gain insights into specific historical events. The analysis suggests that – in addition to well-known security measures – an extension of democracy, a rule by a committee of several politicians, more decentralization via the division of power and federalism, and a strengthening of civil society significantly reduce politicians’ probability of being attacked and killed. |
| Keywords: | Rational choice; democracy; dictatorship; assassination; deterrence |
| JEL: | D01 D70 K14 K42 Z10 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2007-08&r=his |
| By: | Caroline Gerschlager (Free University of Brussels, DULBEA, av. F. D. Roosevelt, 50, B-1050 Brussels,) |
| Abstract: | According to Adam Smith, self-deceit is essential to the economy. In this light the paper draws on the Theory of Moral Sentiments and revisits Adam Smith’s view of the self. The originality of Smith’s account of self-deceit is seen in his insights into self-regulating social forces. The paper illustrates how, in this view, informal institutions are important because they countervail self-deceit in markets. It suggests that Smith overestimated these countervailing forces for the reason that informal norms are also able to amplify selfdeceiving agents. |
| Keywords: | self-deception, self-love, sympathy, informal norms, self-regulation, positive and negative feedback. |
| JEL: | B B |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:07-10rs&r=his |
| By: | van Pottelsberghe, Bruno; van Zeebroeck, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | The renewal of patents and their geographical scope for protection constitute two essential dimensions in a patent’s life, and probably the most frequently used patent value indicators. The intertwining of these dimensions (the geographical scope of protection may vary over time) makes their analysis complex, as any measure along one dimension requires an arbitrary choice on the second. This paper proposes a new indicator of patent value, the Scope-Year index, combining the two dimensions. The index is computed for patents filed at the EPO from 1980 to 1996 and validated in its member states. It shows that the average value of patent filings has increased in the early eighties but has constantly decreased from the mid-eighties until the mid nineties, despite the institutional expansion of the EPO. This result sheds a new and worrying light on the worldwide boom in patent filings. |
| Keywords: | geographical scope; patent families; patent statistics; Patent value; renewals |
| JEL: | K1 L1 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6321&r=his |