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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2009‒05‒09
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Fetzer, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Abstract For a long time scholars of industrial relations tended to associate notions of internationalization with the debate about the cross-border convergence of industrial relations systems. Convergence versus path dependence was thus a key controversy in industrial relations studies for decades. This debate was mirrored in multinational companies when their attempts to "export" industrial relations practices to foreign subsidiaries encountered host country influences that constrained such attempts. In recent years many scholars shown the need for a wider and more complex analysis of internationalization processes that goes beyond the convergence/path dependence dichotomy. Building on this development, the paper presents a historical case study of the impact of cross-border subsidiary integration on industrial relations at Ford Germany and Ford UK between 1967 and 1985. I argue that convergence and path dependence need to be combined with a third "differential internationalization" approach that reflects the country-specific gradual change that emerges from subsidiary integration. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of the case study for contemporary internationalization debates. Zusammenfassung In der vergleichenden Forschung zu industriellen Beziehungen sind Internationalisierungsprozesse lange vor allem im Hinblick auf eine mögliche Konvergenz nationaler Modelle diskutiert worden. Konvergenz versus Pfadabhängigkeit entwickelte sich zu einer der zentralen Debatten. In der Forschung über multinationale Firmen fand diese Debatte ihr Äquivalent in der Gegenüberstellung von „Exportversuchen" durch Firmenzentralen und deren Beschränkung durch Regulierung im Empfängerland. In jüngster Zeit haben jedoch viele Autoren darauf hingewiesen, dass eine komplexere Analyse von Internationaliserungsprozessen notwendig ist, welche über die Dichotomie zwischen Konvergenz und Pfadabhängigkeit hinausgeht. Der Artikel schließt an diese Ansätze an und präsentiert eine historische Fallstudie über den Einfluss grenzüberschreitender Integration von Tochtergesellschaften auf die industriellen Beziehungen bei Ford in Deutschland und Großbritannien zwischen 1967 und 1985. Ich argumentiere, dass „Konvergenz" und „Pfadabhängigkeit" mit einem dritten Ansatz verbunden werden sollten, den man als „differentielle Internationalisierung" bezeichnen kann, da er jeweils landesspezifischen graduellen Wandlungsprozessen nachgeht, die aus der Integration von Tochtergesellschaften erwachsen. Im Schlussteil wird versucht, einige Implikationen der Fallstudie für die gegenwärtige Internationaliserungsdebatte herauszuarbeiten. |
| Keywords: | industrial relations; internationalisation; nationality; path dependence; trade unions; economic integration; foreign direct investment; Germany; U.K.; history |
| Date: | 2009–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:mpifgx:p0085&r=his |
| By: | Desmet, Klaus; Parente, Stephen |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that an economy's transition from Malthusian stagnation to modern growth requires markets to reach a critical size, and competition to reach a critical level of intensity. By allowing an economy to produce a greater variety of goods, a larger market makes goods more substitutable, raising the price elasticity of demand, and lowering mark-ups. Firms must then become larger to break even, which facilitates amortizing the fixed costs of innovation. We demonstrate our theory in a dynamic general equilibrium model calibrated to England's long-run development and explore how various factors affect the timing of takeoff. |
| Keywords: | Competition; Industrial Revolution; Innovation; Market Revolution; Unified Growth Theory |
| JEL: | N33 O14 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7290&r=his |
| By: | Kitov, Ivan |
| Abstract: | The transition of former socialist countries to capitalist economic system is modelled for the period between 1989 and 2007. The transition is entirely defined by three empirical parameters and the model describes only the evolution of real GDP per capita since the start of the disintegration of socialism. It is found that the transition has practically finished in many Central and Eastern European countries and their economic evolution is driven by forces associated with capitalist system. In the long run, the future evolution of the former socialist countries has to follow the same path as observed in other developed countries in the past. Even in the case of perfect economic performance, the studied countries will never catch up the most advanced countries. In Russia and some countries of the Former Soviet Union, the transition process has not been completed. |
| Keywords: | socialism; capitalism; transition; economic modelling; GDP per capita |
| JEL: | P20 P10 O12 |
| Date: | 2009–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14914&r=his |
| By: | Bjørnskov, Christian (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter (Dept. of Political Science) |
| Abstract: | Standard theoretical arguments suggest that republics ought to grow faster than monarchies and experience lower transitional costs following reforms. We employ a panel of 27 countries observed from 18202000 to explore whether regime types and institutional reforms have differential growth effects in monarchies and republics. A set of Barrotype regressions show that there are no significant growth differences between the two regime types and that the effects of incremental reforms do not differ between them, but that those of largescale reforms do. Specifically, we find a strong “valleyoftears” effect of large reforms in republics while monarchies benefit from such reforms in the tenyear perspective adopted here. We offer some tentative thoughts on the underlying mechanisms responsible for the results. |
| Keywords: | Growth; Institution; Reform; Monarchy |
| JEL: | D72 N00 O10 P14 P16 P17 P48 P51 |
| Date: | 2008–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_015&r=his |
| By: | Pierre-André Mangolte (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - CNRS : UMR7115 - Université Paris-Nord - Paris XIII, CREI - Centre de Recherche en Economie Industrielle - Université Paris-Nord - Paris XIII) |
| Abstract: | Le but de cet article est de dresser une typologie des principaux modèles économiques mis en place dans l'industrie du cinéma entre 1895 et 1914. Passé une période initiale assez courte, où dominent les modèles économiques exclusifs construits sur la détention du système technique, l'industrie s'organise autour de deux grands marchés, le marché des appareils et le marché des films (vente de copies positives). Les modèles économiques mis en place en France, aux Etats-Unis et en Grande-Bretagne, sont alors diversifiés et spécialisés : production des appareils seuls, production des films seuls, ou production des appareils et des films. L'exploitation est alors itinérante et temporaire (modèle forain). C'est seulement en effet à partir de 1905 que les projections deviennent permanentes (nickelodeons, etc.), conduisant à l'apparition d'activités de distribution et location de films. Ensuite, le passage général à la location transforme complètement l'organisation de l'industrie, en conduisant à une redéfinition générale des modèles économiques existants. Aux Etats-Unis cependant, les conflits prolongés autour des patent Edison ont donné naissance à d'autres modèles économiques, directement liés à la détention des titres, au prélèvement des "droits", et à la tentative de monopoliser l'ensemble de l'industrie (avec la Motion Picture Patents Company), une situation inconnue en Europe. |
| Keywords: | motion picture industry; business models; patents war; MPPC |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00379308_v1&r=his |