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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2007‒07‒13
eighteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Samad Sarferaz; Martin Uebele |
| Abstract: | We use a Bayesian dynamic factor model to measure Germany’s pre World War I economic activity. The procedure makes better use of existing time series data than historical national accounting. To investigate industrialization we propose to look at comovement between sectors. We find that Germany’s industrial sector developed earlier than stated in the literature, since after the 1860s agricultural time series do not comove with the business cycle anymore. Also, the bulk of comovement between 1820 and 1913 can be traced back to five out of 18 series representing industrial production, investment and demand for industrial inputs. Our factor is impressingly confirmed by a stock price index, leading the factor by 1-2 years. We also find evidence for early market integration in the 1820s and 1830s. Our business cycle dating aims to resolve the debate on German business cycle history. Given the often unsatisfactory quality of national accounting data for the 19th century we show the advantage of dynamic factor models in making efficient use of rare historical time series. |
| Keywords: | Business Cycle Chronology; Imperial Germany; Dynamic Factor Models; Industrialization. |
| JEL: | E32 C11 C32 N13 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2007-039&r=his |
| By: | Hubert BONIN (GREThA) |
| Abstract: | French banking expansion in China and South-East Asia had to respect the powerful influence of British banks there. From the 1860s French merchant and banking interests had been involved in Hong Kong business because of the colonial developments in Indochina and the links between this area and the Hong Kong centre. The growth of commercial links between the colony and China favoured further integration of banking and currency exchanges with Hong Kong, through the Banque de l’Indochine corporation, competing with Hsbc. It was itself committed to finance Asian-French commercial flows (silk, etc.) directly (Lyon, Bordeaux, Paris) or indirectly (London branch) took part to banking links with France. But Hong Kong also became a bridgehead for Banque de l’Indochine into southern China (Canton, etc.) from the1890s up to the 1930s and, in parallel with the Shanghai branch, its branch there asserted itself as a part of French expansion in the Far-East. |
| Keywords: | Imperialism, First Globalization; Bank; Overseas; China; Hong-Kong; Guangzhou |
| JEL: | G20 N25 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2007-09&r=his |
| By: | Zoltan J. Acs (George Mason University); David Audretsch (Indiana University and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena); Ronnie J. Phillips (Kauffman Foundation and Colorado State University); Sameeksha Desai (George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | What differentiates American capitalism from all other forms of industrial capitalism is a historical focus on both the creation of wealth (entrepreneurship) and the reconstitution of wealth (philanthropy). Philanthropy has been part of the implicit American social contract that continuously nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created historically has been given back to the community to build many of the great social institutions that have paved the way for future economic growth. This entrepreneurship-philanthropy nexus has not been fully explored by either economists or the general public. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that American philanthropists-particularly those who have made their own fortunes-create foundations that, in turn, contribute to greater and more widespread economic prosperity through knowledge creation. Analyzing philanthropy sheds light on our current understanding of how economic development has occurred, as well as the roots of American economic domi- nance. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, philanthropy, capitalism, knowledge |
| JEL: | D64 M13 M14 |
| Date: | 2007–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-025&r=his |
| By: | Sue Bowden; Martin Forster; Martin Walsh |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the response of the American tobacco companies to the health scare surrounding tobacco harm between 1953 and 1964, through an analysis of the operations of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC). We consider the reasons for the TIRC's establishment and subsequent conduct in the context of a series of external pressures which built up on the tobacco industry prior to, and during, the period in question. These include the increase in deaths from cancer which had occurred during the first half of the twentieth century, accumulating epidemiological evidence suggesting that tobacco use was harmful to health, progressively more grave statements that were being made by public health bodies and scientists to the same effect, falling sales of cigarettes and faltering stockholder confidence. We consider the TIRC's contribution to restoring confidence in tobacco products, what motivated scientific advisors to sit on, and resign from, its Scientific Advisory Board and the legitimacy of the argument that the controversy surrounding tobacco harm continued until the mid-1960s |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:cherry:07/02&r=his |
| By: | Gomez-Sorzano, Gustavo |
| Abstract: | Abstract: I apply the Beveridge-Nelson business cycle decomposition method to the time series of murder in the United States (1900-2004). Separating out “permanent” from “cyclical” murder, I hypothesize that the cyclical part coincides with documented waves of organized crime, internal tensions, breakdowns in social order, crime legislation, alternation in power, social, and political unrest overseas as wars, and recently with the periodic terrorist attacks in the country. The cyclical component estimated shows that, 9/11 2001 terrorist attacks occurred, two years after the end of the last declining cycle of 1994-1999. The estimated cyclical terrorist murder component warns, that terrorist attacks in U.S., soil from 1923 to 2004, historically occur in, and around the vicinity of the turning points, of whether a declining, or ascending cycle, and so, it must be used in future research to construct a model for explaining the causal reasons for its movement across time, and for forecasting cyclical terrorist murder, and terrorist attacks. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: United States; Colombia; murder; Beveridge-Nelson; business cycle; decomposition; time-series; domestic terrorism; cyclical terrorist murder; cyclical terrorist attacks; cyclical terrorist murder and attacks indicator. |
| JEL: | K42 O51 N41 K14 C13 C22 |
| Date: | 2006–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:1145&r=his |
| By: | Jérôme Blanc (LEFI - Laboratoire d'économie de la firme et des institutions - [Université Lumière - Lyon II]); Ludovic Desmedt (LEG - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion - [CNRS : UMR5118] - [Université de Bourgogne]) |
| Abstract: | False money appeared as the general common issue in monetary debates that occured in European countries in the 16th and 17th centuries. It first refered to sovereignty, in a time of state-building, as well as to a serious economic problem. Beyond sovereignty and economy, justice and, then, the public faith, were endangered by those who devoted themselves to produce false coins. The thesis of this communication is that one cannot understand clearly the general topic of false money by reading texts of the time with today's general definition of false money. We propose, then, to identify the multiple dimensions of false money : counterfeiting (by individuals), degradations of coins (by individuals and officers of the Mint) and debasement and enhancement (by princes). These dimensions appeared in monetary discourses like Bodin's, Mariana's and Locke's ones, with sometimes a lack of clarity. Then, a general claim to counteract counterfeiting may conceal a claim to suppress any possibility of debasing currency. Making clearer monetary discourses on that topic and establishing a hierarchy between the three dimensions of false money helps to understand why the false money issue was firstly a matter of monetary justice by the prince himself. In order to do so, we pay special attention to Bodin, Mariana and Locke. |
| Keywords: | History of monetary thought; monetary history; modern times; counterfeiting; debasement |
| Date: | 2007–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00160880_v1&r=his |
| By: | Vincent FRIGANT (GREThA) |
| Abstract: | NAIn this paper, we examine the hypothesis of the increasing role of regional level for designing and driving industrial politics in France. We consider the case of aerospace industry and Aquitaine region. We adopt a historical approach, and consider three key periods. The first corresponds to the initial localizations of aerospace plants in Aquitaine: between WWI and sixties. Then we consider the nineties when the Aquitaine industry –essentially defence oriented- enters into crisis. The third period concerns the current years. This historical approach shows that the region is now a key actor for the local aerospace plants. It’s a new phenomenon. In the two first periods, the State oriented closely the development of this strategic industry; now the Aquitaine institutions are major sources for supporting the local enterprises. In conclusion, we stress some limits of the regionalisation process. |
| Keywords: | Aerospace industry ; Aquitaine ; Industrial policy ; Regional development |
| JEL: | L62 L64 L52 R38 R58 N64 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2007-03&r=his |
| By: | Fabio Fossati |
| Abstract: | The last wave of democratization occurred in the 80s, after the big economic failure (except Pinochet in Chile) of military regimes. The 80s, after the debt crisis, were still characterized by uncertainty and seemed to mark just another episode (in favor of democracy) of the “pendulum practice”. There were still both populist (Peru, Venezuela, Brazil) and bureaucratic (Mexico) governments. In Argentina, there was a conflict between a populist president and his técnicos. Chile’s transition to democracy occurred at the end of the decade. In synthesis, during the “pendulum phase”, both populist and bureaucratic decision making processes were highly illiberal, and below the minimum conditions of democracy. In fact, controls (by parties or groups) on the governments’ decisions were very limited. |
| Keywords: | political change, pendulum practice, democracy |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cis:teoria:031&r=his |
| By: | John K. Ashton (Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia); Andrew Pressey (Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores and quantifies the link between marketing and rulings on competition or antitrust law made by UK competition or antitrust authorities. This examination is timely due to both the changing form and increasing severity of competition law in the UK and the strong associations identified between marketing and antitrust law in the US literature. Through a comprehensive examination of past UK competition rulings from 1950-2005, the frequency and content of the principal forms of uncompetitive behaviour during the last half century are recorded. A high proportion of competition law violations are associated with the marketing function. UK competition authorities have viewed specific marketing practices and, more generally, the direction, scope and scale of marketing activity to be causes for concern. We conclude that marketers need to develop a greater awareness of competition law and contribute more to the ongoing discussion as to the present and future form of competition policy. |
| Keywords: | Marketing, marketing practices, competition law, antitrust law, anticompetitive behaviour |
| JEL: | M31 K21 L42 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ccp:wpaper:wp07-01&r=his |
| By: | Pietro ALESSANDRINI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Alberto NICCOLI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia) |
| Abstract: | Our purpose is to reconsider Vicarelli's main contributions on the international financial crisis and its impact on the international distribution of income in the period from Fifties to Seventies of the last century. Vicarelli used a unifying approach that integrates four levels of analysis. First of all, a rigorous theoretical scheme supported by empirical evidence. Second, the integration between real e monetary analysis of the international exchange. Third, the short run view extended to the long run. Finally, the interrelations between flows and stocks. The main focus is concentrated on the disequilibria in the current accounts of the balance of payments, that determine a redistribution of financial wealth among surplus and deficit countries. The lack of adjustment of the international disequilibria increases in the long run the accumulation of financial assets (for surplus countries) and liabilities (for deficit countries). This is the main source on the potential instability of the international monetary and financial systems. Expectations of changes in the exchange rates, in the interest rates, in the rates of inflation bring about sudden reallocations of the stock of financial assets. The undesired result is the destabilizing impact on the exchange markets and on the real markets, as it was experienced in the multiple crisis of the Bretton Woods system during the Sixties and also in the oil crises of the Seventies. The integrated approach adopted by Fausto Vicarelli is still alive. With the due differences, we are again in presence of structural imbalances in the international payments, with the consequent accumulation of financial stocks. The potential instability of the international system is in part under control of better equipped and more independent central banks. This is a reassuring item. On the other hand we cannot forget the overwhelming role of the size of financial stocks on the size of flow disequilibria. Causes and implications of this structural change are analyzed in the second part of the paper. From this point of view the conclusions are less reassuring. |
| Keywords: | current account adjustment, international financial system, stock-flows interrelations |
| JEL: | F3 F4 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:292&r=his |
| By: | Pinar Akman (Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the travaux preparatoires (prepatory documents) of Article 82EC which have so far been disregarded in the literature in order to find out the legislative intent of the provision. The legislative intent is important for understanding what Article 82EC currently is and aims at since its objectives have never been set out clearly by Community institutions. By using the travaux preparatoires the paper seeks to defy the common position that Article 82EC is based on 'ordoliberal' foundations. It shows that the drafters of Article 82EC were mainly concerned with increasing 'efficiency' and were not against accumulation of power per se. They did not intend to protect the competitors of dominant undertakings, but merely their customers. Thus, the provision was intended to apply to only 'exploitative' abuses and not 'exclusionary' abuses. Their main worry being 'increasing the size of the pie', their position on the objective of Article 82EC was closer to what one might today call 'total welfare' than 'consumer welfare'. |
| Keywords: | Abuse of a dominant position, legislative intent, travaux preparatoires, welfare, abuse, efficiency |
| JEL: | K21 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ccp:wpaper:wp07-05&r=his |
| By: | Sällström, Susanna |
| Abstract: | Two of the earliest inventions of a human capital-intensive technology were for the production of personal internal goods that enabled humans to derive more pleasure out of leisure, namely dance and music. I model the incentives to invent hobbies and to acquire hobby skills, and its implications for the incentives to work and to acquire professional skills. This model explains the economic origins of culture. It was no accident that the intricate steps of tango emerged in the shabby quarters of Buenos Aires, and that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews was the initiative of 22 noble and gentlemen of Fife. |
| Keywords: | culture; education; hobbies; human capital; leisure; welfare |
| JEL: | D13 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6376&r=his |
| By: | Michaels, Guy; Zhi, Xiaojia |
| Abstract: | Do firms choose inputs that minimize their cost of production, ignoring the attitudes of their owners and employees? We examine this question using an episode of worsening relations between the US and France: from February 2002 to March 2003, France's favourability rating in US public opinion polls fell from 83 percent to 35 percent. Very negative attitudes towards France became common even among college educated Americans with high levels of income, so they were likely prevalent among managers. Using data from 1999-2005, we find that the worsening relations reduced US imports from France by about 15 percent and US exports to France by about 8 percent, compared to other Eurozone or OECD countries. This decline was due in large part to a fall in France's share of the quantity of inputs traded between the Eurozone and the US; this decline is significant even after we control for changes in the product composition of trade flows. We also find that the decline in trade was accompanied by a similar drop in both business trips and tourist visitations of US residents to France compared to Western Europe. Taken together, our findings suggest that competition cannot eliminate the effect of attitudes on firms' choice of inputs. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination; Trade |
| JEL: | F14 J15 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6380&r=his |
| By: | Simon Marginson; Marijk van der Wende |
| Abstract: | Economic and cultural globalisation has ushered in a new era in higher education. Higher education was always more internationally open than most sectors because of its immersion in knowledge, which never showed much respect for juridical boundaries. In global knowledge economies, higher education institutions are more important than ever as mediums for a wide range of cross-border relationships and continuous global flows of people, information, knowledge, technologies, products and financial capital.<p> Even as they share in the reinvention of the world around them, higher education institutions, and the policies that produce and support them, are also being reinvented. For the first time in history every research university is part of a single world-wide network and the world leaders in the field have an unprecedented global visibility and power. Research is more internationalised than before and the mobility of doctoral students and faculty has increased. The specifically global element in academic labour markets has gained weight, especially since the advent of global university rankings.<p> This working paper explores the issues for national policy and for individual institutions. Part I provides an overview of globalisation and higher education and the global responses of national systems and individual institutions of higher education. Part II is focused on certain areas of policy with a strong multilateral dimension: Europeanisation, institutional rankings and typologies and cross-border mobility. <BR>Avec la mondialisation économique et culturelle, l'enseignement supérieur entre dans une nouvelle ère. Jusqu'ici, l'enseignement supérieur a toujours été un secteur plus international que les autres, car plongé dans la connaissance, sans égard aux frontières juridiques. Dans les économies mondiales de la connaissance, les établissements d'enseignement supérieur sont plus importants que jamais en tant qu'intermédiaires dans une multiplicité de relations internationales et de flux continus d'individus, d'informations, de connaissances, de technologies, de produits et de capital financier.<p> Même si ils participent à la réinvention du monde autour d'eux, les établissements d'enseignement supérieur, et les actions politiques qui les engendrent et les soutiennent, sont aussi en train d'être repensés. Pour la première fois dans l?histoire, chaque université de recherche fait partie d'un unique réseau mondial, et les chefs de file internationaux dans le domaine sont dotés d'une visibilité et d'un pouvoir au niveau mondial sans pareil. La recherche est désormais plus internationalisée, et la mobilité des doctorants et du corps enseignant se développe. L'élément international a pris de la valeur sur les marchés du travail de la filière académique, et plus particulièrement depuis l'avènement des classements universitaires à l'échelle mondiale.<p> Ce document de travail étudie les problématiques pour les politiques nationales et les établissements eux-mêmes. La première partie analyse dans son ensemble la mondialisation et l'enseignement supérieur, et les actions internationales qu'entreprennent les systèmes nationaux et les établissements d'enseignement supérieur. La seconde partie observe plus spécialement certains domaines politiques à caractère très international : l'européanisation, les classements et les typologies des établissements, et la mobilité internationale. |
| Date: | 2007–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:8-en&r=his |
| By: | Ricardo Carciofi (INTAL); Uziel Nogueira (INTAL) |
| Abstract: | The Central American Common Market (CACM) which includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua was set up by these five countries in 1960, through the General Treaty for Central American Economic Integration. With the overall purpose of promoting and consolidating the Latin American and Caribbean integration process at the sub-regional, regional, inter-regional, hemispheric and international levels, INTAL publishes this report in Spanish and English = El Mercado Común Centroamericano (MCCA), formado por Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua se constituye con la firma del Tratado General de Integración Económica Centroamericana por parte de estos 5 países en 1960. El INTAL, con el objetivo general de promover y consolidar el proceso de integración en América Latina y el Caribe en los niveles subregional, regional, interregional, hemisférico e internacional, publica este informe en idioma español e inglés = O Mercado Comum Centro-Americano (MCCA), formado pela Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras e Nicarágua foi constituído com a assinatura do Tratado Geral de Integraçao Econômica Centro-Americana, por parte desses cinco países, em 1960. O INTAL, com o objetivo geral de promover e consolidar o processo de integraçao na América Latina e Caribe, nos níveis sub-regional, regional, inter-regional, hemisférico e internacional, publica este informe nos idiomas espanhol e inglês |
| Keywords: | INTEGRACION CENTROAMERICANA, SIECA, SICA, MACROECONOMIA, INTEGRACION REGIONAL, MCCA, PUBLICACION INTAL 2007, COMERCIO, INVERSIONES, CAFTA-DR, TRATADO DE LIBRE COMERCIO CAFTA-REPUBLICA DOMINICANA, INFORME SUBREGIONAL, CENTRAL AMERICAN INTEGRATION, SIECA, SICA, MACROECONOMICS, INTAL PUBLICATION 2007, TRADE, INVESTEMENTS, CAFTA-DR, FREE TRADE AGREEMENT CAFTA-DR |
| JEL: | F15 F4 F5 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:intalp:110&r=his |
| By: | Peter Arbo; Paul Benneworth |
| Abstract: | The contribution of higher education institutions to regional development is a theme that has attracted growing attention in recent years. Knowledge institutions are increasingly expected not only to conduct education and research, but also to play an active role in the economic, social and cultural development of their regions. The extent to which higher education institutions are able to play this role depends on a number of circumstances: the characteristics of the institutions, the regions in which they are located and the policy frameworks are all significant. At the same time, there are signs of more fundamental conceptual and strategic confusion. The discussions in this domain are frequently characterised by slogans and popular metaphors. This literature review was prepared to support the OECD project entitled 'Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Regional Development', which was conducted by the OECD Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) in collaboration with the Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development. Drawing mainly from a selection of European and North American publications, the report takes an overall view on the development of higher education institutions in the regional context. It focuses on the evolution and discourses of higher education and research, the regional aspects of higher education policies, the various functions and roles that the institutions play, measures taken to link the universities with their regional partners, and the conditions which favour or hamper stronger regional engagement. <BR>La contribution de l'enseignement supérieur au développement régional suscite depuis plusieurs années un intérêt toujours croissant. De plus en plus, on attend des institutions en charge du savoir non seulement qu'elles mènent les activités liées à l'enseignement et à la recherche, mais aussi qu'elles prennent une part active au développement économique, social et culturel de leur région. La marge de manoeuvre dont disposent les établissements d'enseignement supérieur pour remplir ce rôle varie selon certains facteurs : les caractéristiques de l'établissement, la région et le cadre politique dans lesquels il s'inscrit sont autant de critères significatifs. Par ailleurs, on identifie également les signes d'une confusion conceptuelle et stratégique plus profonde, les débats sur ce sujet étant souvent caractérisés par les slogans et les métaphores populaires. Cette analyse bibliographique a été préparée en soutien au projet de l'OCDE intitulé « Appuyer la contribution des institutions d'enseignement supérieur au développement régional », mené par le Programme de l'OCDE sur la gestion des établissements d'enseignement supérieur (IMHE) en coopération avec la Direction de la gouvernance publique et du développement territorial. À partir d'une sélection de publications principalement européennes et nord-américaines, ce rapport adopte une vue d'ensemble sur le développement des établissements d'enseignement supérieur dans le contexte régional. Il cible notamment l'évolution et les débats dans l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche, le volet régional des politiques d'enseignement supérieur, les divers fonctions et rôles que remplissent les établissements, les mesures prises pour relier les universités à leurs partenaires régionaux, ainsi que les conditions qui favorisent ou freinent un engagement régional plus marqué. |
| Date: | 2007–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:9-en&r=his |
| By: | Rao T.V. |
| Abstract: | A review of the literature on the qualities of effective managers, leaders and world class or global manager indicates a good degree of consistency in the qualities required to be called a global manager. In these days when mergers and acquisition have become common and national boundaries are crossed with ease in acquiring new businesses and setting up new businesses it is necessary to understand and acquire the competencies needed to be globally successful leader. This paper identifies 25 such qualities from a 360 feedback survey of 762 senior and top level managers from manufacturing, services and pharma sectors combined with those from a mix of organizations belonging to two leading business houses of India. An analysis of the open ended assessments given by nearly 7600 managers indicated the most frequently perceived strengths and weaknesses of Indian management. Job knowledge comes out as the most frequently observed strong point of Indian managers and this cuts across various sectors and business houses. Communication, team work, and hard work come out as other strong points of more than 20 per cent of Indian managers. Short temper, open-mindedness, and inability to build juniors are the most frequently mentioned areas needing improvement. Vision, values, strategic thinking, decision making skills, risk taking, innovativeness, ability to learn from mistakes, learning orientation and self renewal efforts, and cross cultural sensitivity are other qualities lacking in Indian managers to be called as global managers. These qualities are either not exhibited dominantly or are not received bye fellow managers. Future management education and management development programmes should focus on these qualities to prepare Indian managers to be world class managers. |
| Date: | 2007–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-06-05&r=his |
| By: | Zoltan J. Acs (George Mason University; Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany); Monika I. Megyesi (University of Baltimore) |
| Abstract: | Creativity is changing the way cities approach economic development and formulate policy. Creative metropolises base their economic development strategies, at least partly, on building communities attractive to the creative class worker. While there are countless examples of high-tech regions transforming into creative economies, traditionally industrial cities have received much less attention in this regard. This research draws on Baltimore to assess the potential of transforming a traditionally industrial region into a creative economy. It analyses Baltimore's performance on dimensions of talent, tolerance, technology, and territory both as a stand-alone metropolitan area and in comparison to similar industrial metropolises. Using data from the US Census Bureau and research on creativity measures, this case study concludes that Baltimore has the opportunity to capitalize on the creative economy because of its openness to diversity, established technology base, and appealing territorial amenities. An important consideration in the transformation towards a creative economy is Baltimore's geographic proximity and access to the largest reservoir of creative talent in the US: Washington, DC. |
| Keywords: | creativity, creative class, creativity index, creative cities, talent, technology, tolerance, territory, bohemian index, gay index, old industrial cities, Baltimore, economic development, economic growth, entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | D64 M13 M14 |
| Date: | 2007–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-024&r=his |