|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
Issue of 2010‒11‒13
23 papers chosen by |
By: | Carlos Santiago Caballero |
Abstract: | The following paper presents original tithe series for the province of Guadalajara in New Castile. The series include the four main grains, wheat, barley, rye and oats and their evolution during the eighteenth century. The series complete previous estimations of grain production for New Castile and suggest that the eighteenth century was a period of growth. However the increase was not a sustained process, but one with intense imbalances with production reaching its peak in the mid 1750s followed by a deep crisis and very weak recovery. Wheat was clearly the most important of the four grains in volume and especially in value. Its predominance was maintained thanks to a demand encouraged by the demographic that took place during the eighteenth century. A comparison with other tithe series from the interior of Spain reveals similarities like the crisis of the late 1750s. |
Keywords: | Tithe, Agricultural output, Spain |
JEL: | N01 N53 N93 |
Date: | 2010–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp10-12&r=his |
By: | David Le Bris (CRM - Centre de Recherche Roland Mousnier Histoire et Civilisation - Université Paris-Sorbonne - Paris IV - CNRS : UMR8596); Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur (EHESS - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique) |
Abstract: | We analyze a new blue chips (large caps) stock index for France from 1854 to 1998. We detail its methodology and show that it differs profoundly from earlier indices, and that it is more consistent with the French financial and economic history. We suggest this result casts some doubt on many historical stock indices such as those gathered in Dimson, Marsh and Staunton' Triumph of the Optimists. We also provide some major results: investment in French stocks provided a positive real return during the 19th century, but a negative one – because of inflation and wars – in the 20th. Despite this century of negative real performance, stocks are still the best financial asset for the very long run but, with an equity premium lower than in the US. |
Keywords: | Paris Stock-Exchange, stock index, survivor bias, sample bias, weighting problems, stock return, long term performances, equity premium, gold, 19th century, 20th century |
Date: | 2010–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00468209_v1&r=his |
By: | Kaivan Munshi (Brown University); Nicholas Wilson (Williams College) |
Abstract: | This paper examines the role played by identity, or a sense of belonging to a home community, in determining occupational choice and mobility. The analysis links competition between migrant networks in the Midwest when it was rst developing, and the in-group identity that emerged endogenously to support these networks, to institutional participation and occupational choice today. Individuals born in counties with greater ethnic fractionalization in 1860, where identity was more likely to have emerged, are (i) significantly more likely to participate in institutions such as churches and parochial schools that transmit identity from one generation to the next, and (ii) significantly less likely to select into mobile skilled occupations 150 years later. The effect of historical fractionalization on participation in these socializing institutions actually grows stronger over the course of the twentieth century, emphasizing the idea that small initial differences in identity can have large long-term effects on institutions and economic choices. |
Keywords: | identity, institutional persistence, networks, occupational choice, mobility |
JEL: | D85 J62 L14 L22 |
Date: | 2010–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2010-22&r=his |
By: | Martin Fiedler (University Bielefeld); Howard Gospel (King's College London) |
Abstract: | The working paper contains data on the Top 100 British and German firms measured by employment in five different years. Our analysis and interpretation of the tables has been published in the journal Jahrbuch f?r Wirtschaftsgeschichte 2/2010, pp. 27-43: ?Big Business im 20. Jahrhundert: Die 100 gr??ten Arbeitgeber in Gro?britannien und Deutschland in vergleichender Perspektive? |
Keywords: | 20th Century, UK, Germany, Employers |
JEL: | N9 N3 |
Date: | 2010–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wso:wpaper:8&r=his |
By: | Strulik, Holger |
Abstract: | This paper proposes a theory for the gradual evolution of knowledge diffusion and growth over the very long run. A feedback mechanism between capital accumulation and the ease of knowledge diffusion explains a long epoch of (quasi-) stasis and an epoch of high growth linked by a gradual economic take-off. It is shown how the feedback mechanism can explain the Great Divergence, the failure of less developed countries to attract capital from abroad, and a productivity slowdown in fully developed countries. An extension towards a two-region world economy shows robustness of the gradual take-off and other interesting interaction between forerunners and followers of the Industrial Revolution. |
Keywords: | Industrial Revolution; Endogenous Growth; Knowledge Diffusion; Productivity Slowdown; Convergence; Divergence |
JEL: | O10 O30 O40 E22 |
Date: | 2010–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-459&r=his |
By: | Degner, Harald; Streb, Jochen |
Abstract: | In this paper, we use both patents' individual life span and foreign patenting activities in Germany to identify the most valuable patents of the 21 most innovative countries (except for Germany) from the European Core, the European periphery and overseas between 1877 and 1932. Our empirical analysis reveals that important characteristics of the international distribution of foreign patents are time-invariant. In particular, the distribution of foreign patents across countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was as highly skewed as it was in the late twentieth century - and even dominated by the same major research economies. Our analysis suggests that firms' technological advantages were influenced both by exogenous local factors, such as the countries' resource endowment, and by endogenous factors, such as the national education and research system or the countries' actual stage of economic development. -- |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:212010&r=his |
By: | Chand, Satish (School of Business, University of New South Wales) |
Abstract: | The many small sovereign states and multiple shades of sovereignty that exist across the present-day Pacific Island region are largely the product of the region‘s colonial history. Yet, the story of regionalism among the Pacific Islands began in pre-colonial times. This history, in turn, has been shaped by the region‘s geography and natural resource endowments. The region was colonized after other parts of the world because of its physical isolation and the difficulties of access from Western Europe. Post-colonization, the region was partitioned through contests for space among powers from inside and outside the region, and in response to competition among Protestant and Catholic churches seeking to expand their respective congregations. The security concerns and strategic interests of the major powers have shaped regionalism and are likely to remain important factors for the foreseeable future. Trade integration, however, is not a significant factor contributing to regionalism today. Thus, Pacific Island countries may want to pursue trade liberalization unilaterally. |
Keywords: | Pacific Islands; Pacific Island region; regionalism; trade liberalization |
JEL: | F13 F15 F59 |
Date: | 2010–10–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbrei:0061&r=his |
By: | Massimo Florio (DEAS, Universit di Milano) |
Abstract: | This note discusses some contributions and ideas on the role of entrepreneurs in Economics, from Adam Smith to the Austrian tradition. The paper observes that there are different forms of entrepreneurship and that realism is needed to understand the social availability of entrepreneurship across types of organisations. |
Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Firms’s Size, History of Economic Ideas |
JEL: | L26 L25 B00 |
Date: | 2010–06–30 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mst:wpaper:201004&r=his |
By: | M. Teresa Sanchis Llopis (Dpto. Análisis Económico); Vicente Esteve Garcia (Universitat de València); Antonio Cubel (Universitat de València) |
Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of domestic and foreign technology in explaining Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth during the second half of the 20th century in some advanced countries (the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K. and Japan). To carry out this objective we use new dataset for the stock of knowledge built on the basis of the Perpetual Inventory Method over patents data for 150 years. To empirically address the aim of this research, we extend Coe and Helpman (1995) empirical specification by including human capital. Our results point out that: first, both domestic and foreign stocks of knowledge are significant in explaining TFP growth; second, the imports of knowledge have a less significant effect than the domestic stock of knowledge for France, Germany and Japan. Further, our results point that human capital plays a superior role in explaining TFP growth in the most advanced countries. En este trabajo se analiza el efecto de la tecnología doméstica y extranjera en la evolución de la Productividad Total de los Factores (PTF) para una muestra de países avanzados (Estados Unidos, Francia, Alemania, Reino Unido y Japón) durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Para ello se construye una base de datos en la que se mide la tecnología, tanto doméstica como importada, a través de las patentes acumuladas desde 1850 siguiendo el método del inventario permanente. Empíricamente, se estima una versión ampliada de la especificación de Coe and Helpman (1995) en la que incluye la variable capital humano. Los principales resultados permiten concluir que: primero, que tanto la tecnología doméstica como la importada son significativas en la explicación del crecimiento de la PTF; segundo, que las importaciones de tecnología tienen un efecto menor sobre la PTF que la generación doméstica de tecnología en países como Francia, Alemania y Japón, mientras que en Estados Unidos sólo es significativa la tecnología doméstica. Y por último, los resultados revelan una elevada contribución del capital humano en la explicación de la PTF de los países más avanzados. |
Keywords: | Europa, segunda mitad del siglo XX, transferencia internacional de tecnología, patentes, productividad, técnicas de cointegración Europe, second half XXth century, international technology transfer, patent, productivity, cointegration techniques |
JEL: | N14 O33 O47 O22 |
Date: | 2010–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2010-10&r=his |
By: | Ralf Banken (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt a. Main) |
Keywords: | Mining, Benelux, Business Integration, Western Europe |
JEL: | N1 N9 |
Date: | 2010–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wso:wpaper:6&r=his |
By: | Fabio Ortiz G |
Abstract: | Se exploran algunos aspectos de una parte de la historia de la matemática actuarial en Colombia relacionadas con la contribución del matemático alemán Peter Thullen a la formación del sistema de seguridad social en Colombia. Trataremos aspectos de su salida al exilio desde Europa al Ecuador y luego a Colombia y su regreso a Europa enfatizando las relaciones con diferentes episodios en la historia del desarrollo de las matem¶aticas modernas en Colombia. |
Date: | 2010–11–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000413:007658&r=his |
By: | Oscar Diego Bautista (CICSyH - Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades - Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) |
Abstract: | En el mal llamado año del bicentenario de la Independencia (mal porque la independencia de México fue hasta 1821) conviene hacer un repaso histórico sobre lo que ha pasado en México en relación al tema de la deuda externa mostrando su origen y evolución. Este trabajo tiene por objetivo presentar un panorama general de lo que ha sido la Deuda Externa en la historia de México. Tal objetivo se vuelve complejo porque este problema acompaña a esta nación desde que se independiza en 1821. Para salvar tal complejidad se establece una clasificación de la deuda en cinco periodos históricos: a) La deuda original o primitiva, b) La deuda ferrocarrilera, c) la deuda posrevolucionaria, d) la deuda petrolera y e) la deuda bancaria. |
Keywords: | México; Desarrollo económico; Deuda externa; Análisis histórico; Siglo XIX, Siglo XX |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00531309_v1&r=his |
By: | Yukari Tsushima (Instituto de Iberoamérica - Universidad de Salamanca) |
Abstract: | La industria de televisores en México es una industria importante para la economía mexicana. En esta industria, destacan numerosas empresas japonesas en el norte de México. Para responder a la demanda de los consumidores, el incremento de su producción, a través del «escalamiento industrial (upgrading), »es muy importante. En mi texto, voy a mostrar las características del aumento de la productividad de las empresas japonesas en la maquiladora y su influencia en la economía mexicana. |
Keywords: | México; Japón; Industria de televisores; Productividad; Empresas extranjeras; Escalamiento industrial; Producción industrial |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00532802_v1&r=his |
By: | Winston, Clifford |
Abstract: | In Last Exit Clifford Winston reminds us that transportation services and infrastructure in the United States were originally introduced by private firms. The case for subsequent public ownership and management of the system was weak, in his view, and here he assesses the case for privatization and deregulation to greatly improve Americans’ satisfaction with their transportation systems. Chapters 1 and 5 are included here as a preview. |
Date: | 2010–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:reg:wpaper:618&r=his |
By: | K. P. Kannan; K. S. Hari |
Abstract: | This paper attempts to construct a time series estimation of remittances from abroad to the Kerala economy for the period 1972 to 2000. It is now widely acknowledged that foreign remittances in the economy of the State of Kerala in India in the form of money sent by its workers in the Gulf countries play a crucial role. The study finds that by the early nineties remittances to the Kerala economy assumed a significant share of state income. [Working Paper No. 328] |
Keywords: | emigration, Gulf countries, Kerala economy, remittances, and consumption |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3132&r=his |
By: | Zangeneh, Hamid |
Abstract: | Iran's unimpressive economic performance came about as a result of the Iran-Iraq War and the inevitable collapse of oil prices, both of which were beyond the government’s control, in combination with economic sanctions and many self-inflicted and self-destructive policies. Foremost among the self-inflicted and self-destructive wounds is the insecurity of individual citizens, human rights violations; the faltering private investment, is lack of uniformity in the application of the laws of the land and uncertainty due to political instability, corruption, and low exports and imports (total trade) relative to the world total trade. |
Keywords: | Iran; economic growth; economy; inflation; international trade; investment |
JEL: | F00 O5 F14 |
Date: | 2010–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26283&r=his |
By: | Alejandra Chávez Ramírez (Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales - Universidad de Colima); Josué N. De La Vega M. (Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales - Universidad de Colima) |
Abstract: | Las reformas económicas ejecutadas desde hace más de quince años en América Latina han modificado sustancialmente las historias de carácter local, regional y nacional, como resultado del comercio mundial, las transnacionales, la circulación de información, el movimiento de personas. Estos procesos traspasan fronteras y modifican el entorno y la historia de las entidades. El propósito del trabajo es presentar la manera en que México se ve afectado, en particular el estado de Colima, por su papel de mediación entre Asia Pacifico y Estados Unidos en el marco del nuevo orden mundial. |
Keywords: | México; Colima; Economía internacional; Globalización; Desarrollo regional; Regionalización |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00531172_v1&r=his |
By: | Juan Pablo Mateo Tomé (Departamento de Economía Aplicada I - Universidad Complutense de Madrid); Eduardo Sánchez Iglesias (Departamento de Economía Aplicada I - Universidad Complutense de Madrid) |
Abstract: | En esta ponencia se analiza el conjunto de objetivos, medidas de política económica y resultados obtenidos a partir de la coherencia entre sus pretendidos propósitos y la práctica, llevando a cabo un ejercicio de contextualización de este período ante la convulsión social y la incidencia sobre el comportamiento económico. A partir de este esquema, el documento se organiza en las tres partes que se mencionan en el título: los objetivos, pero en su contexto histórico, con una cronología de las diferentes etapas de la revolución bolivariana en curso; las herramientas o medidas sectoriales, macroeconómicas, sociales y de política exterior implementadas, y un repaso a los principales resultados obtenidos, para mostrar las carencias y avances. |
Keywords: | Venezuela; Política económica; Socialismo; Política social; Revolución bolivariana; Chávez, Hugo; 1999-2010 |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00532779_v1&r=his |
By: | Alex Bryson; Rafael Gomez; Kerry L. Papps |
Abstract: | A detailed longitudinal dataset is assembled containing annual performance and biographicaldata for every player over the entire history of professional major league baseball. The dataare then aggregated to the team level for the period 1920-2009 in order to test whether teamsbuilt on a more even distribution of observed talent perform better than those teams with amixture of highly able and less able players. The dependent variable used in the regressions isthe percentage of games a team wins each season. We find that conditioning on averageplayer ability, dispersion of both batting and pitching talent displays an optimal degree ofinequality, in that teams with too high or too low a spread in player ability perform worsethan teams with a more balanced distribution of offensive and defensive talent. Thesefindings have potentially important applications both inside and outside of the sporting world. |
Keywords: | skill dispersion, baseball, firm performance |
JEL: | L23 L25 L83 M51 |
Date: | 2010–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1015&r=his |
By: | Ralf Banken (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt a. Main) |
Abstract: | This Article contains different data (sales, market shares etc.) about the quantitative development of the West German department stores from 1948 to 2000 and their detailed description. |
Keywords: | West Germany, Departement Stores, Development |
JEL: | N8 |
Date: | 2010–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wso:wpaper:7&r=his |
By: | Enrique Casais Padilla (Departamento de Economía Aplicada I - Universidad Complutense de Madrid) |
Abstract: | La presente síntesis pretende mostrar cómo la implantación de una serie de políticas neoliberales a partir de la década de 1980, en concreto las referentes a la liberalización financiera y las políticas socio-laborales, puede estar influyendo en la elevada desigualdad e inseguridad económica en Latinoamérica. Por una parte, la liberalización financiera ha modificado la manera en que el mundo se ha globalizado, subordinando la economía productiva a la especulación financiera. Respecto a las políticas socio-laborales, la desregulación del mercado y el fomento de la flexibilización laboral causaron a menudo un aumento de las desigualdades sociales, sin que consiguieran el objetivo declarado de estimular el empleo. |
Keywords: | América Latina; Economía internacional; Política económica; Globalización; Liberalización financiera; Desigualdad económica; Organismos internacionales; FMI; Banco Mundial |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00532653_v1&r=his |
By: | Aubépine Dahan (LATTS - Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés - CNRS : UMR8134 - Université Paris-Est - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech); Charles Dhanaraj (Kelley School of Business - Indiana University); Vincent Mangematin (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble Ecole de Management) |
Abstract: | Whether based on the figure of institutional entrepreneur or the dynamic of social movements, models of institutional change have yet to solve the paradox of embedded agency. Studying institutional change from the angle of practices allows introducing a channel by which seeds of change enter the field without modifying logics at first. Political entrepreneurship or grassroots initiative will play a critical role in institutional change as long as they can rely on existing practices. Evolution of conditions to perform day to day activities introduces new problems; solutions trigger the development of new activities. Routinization of new activities leads the emergence of new practices. Non-adoption of practices hinders institutional change. Practices thus inspire, support and limit institutional change. Basing our observations from a case study of the French Doctorate defined as an institution, shifting from research and study to professionalizing diploma, we build a process model of institutional change integrating the dynamic of practices. |
Date: | 2010 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemwpa:hal-00526721_v1&r=his |
By: | Manzo, Ramos F; y López, Ornelas G |
Abstract: | El presente trabajo versa sobre el desarrollo de la agroindustria del amaranto al sur del Distrito Federal, Ciudad de México. Esta actividad, además de ser de gran importancia económica para la localidad y comunidades vecinas, ya que en ella participan familias enteras, da un elevado sentido de pertenencia y cohesión entre los habitantes. La actividad agroindustrial consta de cuatro procesos: producción primaria, acopio, transformación y comercialización. Las familias amaranteras, que participan en este trabajo, participan en toda la cadena de valor desde hace varias generaciones. El eje de análisis se refiere a los factores que permiten la transformación en estructura y funcionamiento de la unidad de producción campesina hacia unidades agroindustriales. El enfoque que se utilizará para entender los procesos de cambio que se han dado en las unidades de producción rural y que permiten el desarrollo, evolución y consolidación de las estrategias se basa en el modelo de Organizaciones Productivas Familiares Rurales [1]. Dicho modelo separa tres ámbitos presentes e interrelacionados siempre presentes en las unidades: la propiedad, la familia y la actividad productiva agropecuaria. Este modelo nos ofrece argumentos de gran utilidad para entender los procesos de cambio que se gestan en las unidades campesinas, en su transito hacia la nueva cultura empresarial. Para la colección de información se recurrió a la aplicación de entrevistas, estructuradas, semi-estructuradas e historias de vida. Entre los principales hallazgos se puede mencionar: a) el nivel de desarrollo de la unidad de producción está relacionada con el momento en que se encuentre la familia dentro de su ciclo de desarrollo, b) las caracterÃsticas personales del matrimonio propietario son determinantes para el cambio productivo implÃcito en el avance de la unidad y c) el entendimiento de las familias sobre sus necesidades, y la capacidad de gestión y negociación de sus representantes permiten el acceso a recursos que coadyuvan al cambio productivo. La principal conclusión es que el grado de avance de las unidades de producción, está en función del balance logrado por las familias operadoras entre intereses /necesidades y recursos /capacidades. |
Keywords: | Agroindustria, familia rural., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital, |
Date: | 2010–10–27 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa116:95200&r=his |