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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2008‒05‒31
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Kevin H. O’Rourke (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin); Leandro Prados de la Escosura (Departamento de Historia Económica e Instituciones, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Guillaume Daudin (Département “Économie de la Mondialisation”, OFCE and Université Lille-I) |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys the rise and fall of the European mercantilist system, and the transition to the modern, well-integrated international economy of the 19th century. It also surveys the literature on the links between trade and economic growth during the period, and on the economic effects of empire. |
| Keywords: | trade, empire, history |
| JEL: | N43 N73 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0208&r=his |
| By: | Bosker, Maarten; Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten |
| Abstract: | On the basis of a large (new) dataset of cities in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in the millennium between 800 and 1800, we try to provide an answer to the question why, during this millennium, the urban center of gravity moved from Iraq (or more generally the Arab world) to Western Europe and to the shores of the Atlantic (during the 17th and 18th century) in particular. We study the characteristics of the European and Arab urban systems involved, amongst others focusing on the interaction between cities, and explain why one system was much more dynamic in the long run than the other. Also we assess the importance of various geographical, religious and institutional factors as the driving forces of urban expansion. Overall, we provide a better understanding of the dynamics of urban growth in the centuries leading up to the Industrial Revolution and an answer to the question why London, an economic backwater in 800, was able to overtake Baghdad, in 800 the thriving capital of the Abbasid caliphate, as the largest city in this part of the world. |
| Keywords: | long term urban development; Arab world; economic history; Europe |
| JEL: | N10 N90 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6833&r=his |
| By: | van der Eng, Pierre |
| Abstract: | It is readily assumed that the average level of living in Indonesia deteriorated during the hectic period 1940-1950. Much of the evidence on economic change during this period is anecdotal. It is difficult to distil a general impression from it. Per capita food consumption is an important indicator of the average standard of living. For that reason this paper monitors the changes in food production, distribution and supply in the densely populated core island of Java in Indonesia. Food supply was adequate in Indonesia when the Japanese attack on the country started in 1941. During 1944-1948 per capita food supply was at a very low level in Java. In the years 1943-1945 the low level was caused by the restrictions imposed by the Japanese authorities on the domestic trade of food products, and by the coercive system of purchasing rice for distribution. Both created disincentives for farmers to produce a food surplus. Similar reasons explain the situation during the years 1946-1948. Moreover, the controversy between the returning colonial government and the government of the nationalist Republic of Indonesia impeded free shipments of food between the food deficient urban areas and the food producing rural areas. Food supply recovered during 1948-1950, with the economic re-integration of most of Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | Food supply; Java; Indonesia; war; decolonisation |
| JEL: | N55 N35 Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8852&r=his |
| By: | Michael D. Bordo; Michael J. Dueker; David C. Wheelock |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the association between inflation, monetary policy and U.S. stock market conditions during the second half of the 20th century. We estimate a latent variable VAR to examine how macroeconomic and policy shocks affect the condition of the stock market. Further, we examine the contribution of various shocks to market conditions during particular episodes and find evidence that inflation and interest rate shocks had particularly strong impacts on market conditions in the postwar era. Disinflation shocks promoted market booms and inflation shocks contributed to busts. We conclude that central banks can contribute to financial market stability by minimizing unanticipated changes in inflation. |
| JEL: | E31 E52 G12 N12 N22 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14019&r=his |
| By: | Pierre van der Eng |
| Abstract: | Australia’s relationship with Indonesia became strained after Indonesia’s declaration in 1963 of confrontation’ (konfrontasi) with Malaysia. During 1964-65, Australia was engaged in a covert war against Indonesia, but it continued to give aid to the country. This ambiguity in Australian foreign policy was consistent with the overnment’s principle of maintaining a firm but friendly attitude towards Indonesia. A second reason was that government was keen not to abandon an important aid project in Indonesia, the Aeronautical Fixed elecommunication Network. The project remedied deficiencies in Indonesia’s civil aviation communications system and would benefit Qantas flights through Indonesian airspace. Continuation of aid would keep lines of communication with Indonesian officials open that would otherwise be closed. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2008-493&r=his |
| By: | Dorren McMahon (Geary Institute, University College Dublin) |
| Date: | 2008–01–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:200801&r=his |
| By: | Laurence E. Lynn, Jr. |
| Abstract: | The United States has had an ambiguous relationship to the New Public Management (NPM) as a global public sector reform movement. Many of the themes, concepts, and tools of governance associated with NPM's managerial ideology-"business-like management," competitive tendering, incentives, agencification, devolution, performance measurement and management, subsidiarity- have long been staples of U.S. federal, state and local public management. Most of the elements of NPM have been road-tested in America. Yet public management reform in the U.S. in the NPM era that was underway in the 1980s has been decidedly heterodox, a manifestation of what Paul Light (1997) has termed the variously-themed "tides of reform" that ebb and flow through American public administration. Beginning in 2001, with the administration of George W. Bush, a new tide of reform has surged in, displacing the Clinton administration's emphasis on "reinventing government." The Bush reforms have attracted surprisingly little attention compared to the swarms of public management experts who examined the Clinton initiatives from their outset. Whereas Lyndon Johnson sought to use systematic analysis to strengthen executive control over policy and budget priorities, Richard Nixon sought to create a centralized "administrative presidency," Jimmy Carter attempted to enhance executive control over the assignment and remuneration of senior civil servants, Ronald Reagan proclaimed a "war on waste" and inefficiency and Bill Clinton promised to "let managers manage" toward a government that "works better and costs less," George W. Bush has undertaken virtually all of these things to at least some degree-and more. Despite their apparent breadth, however, Bush reforms have reflected more of the essential spirit of New Public Management than those of any other recent American president. |
| Keywords: | public management, Bush Administration reform, governance |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:har:wpaper:0804&r=his |
| By: | Lyttkens, Carl Hampus (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the mutual influence between the institutional development in Athens in the archaic and classical periods and the contemporary changes in economic life. This enhances our understanding of the causes and consequences of institutional change. It is also worth exploring in view of the suggested connections between economic development, markets and democracy. Between 600 and 322 B.C., Athenian society underwent significant institutional change. Rule by a birth aristocracy gave way to (changing) democratic institutions. Political pay was introduced for magistrates, jurors, and assemblymen. Legislation and execution was transferred to the Assembly and to the courts. The nature and extent of taxation changed. In the same period, economic life changed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Trade and specialisation increased, coinage was introduced and self-sufficient farming gradually gave way to reliance on imports and on the market for necessary goods. These changes not only influenced institutional change, they also affected people’s perception of the world. The influence of institutions on the presence and nature of economic transactions is obvious. The influence on institutional change from changes in economic behaviours and outlook seems however potentially equally important. |
| Keywords: | institutional change; democracy; market; Athens; antiquity |
| JEL: | D72 H30 N43 O17 P16 |
| Date: | 2008–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2008_009&r=his |
| By: | Dew-Becker, Ian; Gordon, Robert J |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a comprehensive survey of seven aspects of rising inequality that are usually discussed separately: changes in labor’s share of income; inequality at the bottom of the income distribution, including labor mobility; skill-biased technical change; inequality among high incomes; consumption inequality; geographical inequality; and international differences in the income distribution, particularly at the top. We conclude that changes in labor’s share play no role in rising inequality of labor income; by one measure labor’s income share was almost the same in 2007 as in 1950. Within the bottom 90 percent as documented by CPS data, movements in the 50-10 ratio are consistent with a role of decreased union density for men and of a decrease in the real minimum wage for women, particularly in 1980-86. There is little evidence on the effects of imports, and an ambiguous literature on immigration which implies a small overall impact on the wages of the average native American, a significant downward effect on high-school dropouts, and potentially a large impact on previous immigrants working in occupations in which immigrants specialize.The literature on skill-biased technical change (SBTC) has been valuably enriched by a finer grid of skills, switching from a two-dimension to a three- or five-dimensional breakdown of skills. We endorse the three-way “polarization” hypothesis that seems a plausible way of explaining differentials in wage changes and also in outsourcing. To explain increased skewness at the top, we introduce a three-way distinction between market-driven superstars where audience magnification allows a performance to reach one or ten million people, a second market-driven segment consisting of occupations like lawyers and investment bankers, and a third segment consisting of top corporate officers. Our review of the CEO debate places equal emphasis on the market in showering capital gains through stock options and an arbitrary management power hypothesis based on numerous non-market aspects of executive pay. Data on consumption inequality are too fragile to reach firm conclusions. We introduce two new issues, disparities in the growth of price indexes and also of life expectancy between the rich and the poor. We conclude with a perspective on international differences that blends institutional and market-driven explanations. |
| Keywords: | CEO Pay; Globalization; Immigration; Inequality; Labour Unions; Minimum Wage; Progressive Taxation; Skill-biased Technical Change; Super Stars |
| JEL: | D10 D31 D63 I12 I3 J10 J24 J51 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6817&r=his |
| By: | Ciccarelli, Carlo; Fenoaltea, Stefano; Proietti, Tommaso |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the comovements of construction in Italy's regions from 1861 to 1913. The dynamic correlations of the series' deviation cycles decline in the case of buildings, remain very low in that of railways, and tend to decline in that of other infrastructure; the total-construction correlations instead peak in the 1870s, and again after 1900. Long-term comovements are examined by tracking the dispersion of the first differences of the measured trends. Increasing dispersion is obtained in the construction of buildings and of non-rail infrastructure; railway construction displayed a dramatic decline in dispersion, which dominates the aggregate. |
| Keywords: | construction; regions ; post-Unification Italy; trends; cycles; comovements |
| JEL: | H54 N63 E32 C14 N13 |
| Date: | 2008–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8870&r=his |