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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2011‒09‒16
23 papers chosen by |
| By: | David Chilosi; Tommy E. Murphy; Roman Studer |
| Abstract: | This article documents and examines the integration of grain markets in Europe across the early modern/late modern divide and across distances and regions. It relies on principal component analysis to identify market structures. The analysis finds that a European market emerged only in the nineteenth century, but the process had earlier roots. In early modern times a fall in trading costs was followed by an increase in market efficiency. Gradually expanding processes of integration unfolded in the long-run. Early modern regional integration was widespread but uneven, with North-Western Europe reaching high levels of integration at a particularly early stage. Low-land European markets tended to be larger and better integrated than in land-locked Europe, especially within large, centralised states. In the nineteenth century, national markets grew in old states, but continental and domestic dynamics had become strictly linked. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:412&r=his |
| By: | Dora Costa |
| Abstract: | The US Civil War provides researchers a unique opportunity to identify wartime leaders and thus to test theories of leadership. By observing both leaders and followers during the war and forty years after it, I establish that the most able became wartime leaders, that leading by example from the front was an effective strategy in reducing desertion rates, and that leaders later migrated to the larger cities because this is where their superior skills would have had the highest pay-offs. I find that US cities were magnets for the most able and provided training opportunities for both leaders and followers: men might start in a low social status occupation in a city but then move to a higher status occupation. |
| JEL: | M5 N31 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17382&r=his |
| By: | Galo Nuño (Banco de España); Pedro Tedde (Banco de España); Alessio Moro (Università di Cagliari) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the Spanish monetary system from 1856, when the Bank of Spain was created, to 1874, when it was awarded the monopoly of emission. This period was characterized by the emergence of an unregulated banking system, with multiple banks of issue entitled to emit bank notes. We focus on two main issues: i) the large fluctuations in the money supply during this period; and ii) the lack of a lender of last resort in the banking panic of 1866. To analyze this, we construct a new dataset on money supply aggregates. The paper also estimates the economic impact of monetary fluctuations with the help of a calibrated new Keynesian model. Our results suggest that money supply shocks had a milder effect on inflation and output than the one predicted by the theory. |
| Keywords: | unregulated banking, Gresham’s`law, lender of last resort, Overend and Gurney crisis |
| JEL: | N13 N23 E31 E5 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1119&r=his |
| By: | R. Mark R. Isaac (Department of Economics, Florida State University); Douglas A. Norton (Department of Economics, Florida State University) |
| Abstract: | We present here a case study of successful institutional change in the 1950s Los Angeles Police Department in which Police Chief William H. Parker produced a stunning record of effective reforms. Parker used a combination of institutional reforms that economists can view as changes in incentives, but he also devoted substantial resources to changes in values. Finally, we apply this history to modern day development economics. |
| Keywords: | Corruption, institutions, equilibrium selection, media, values |
| JEL: | D2 H8 K4 O1 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsu:wpaper:wp2011_08_01&r=his |
| By: | Marta Juanita Villaveces Niño; Paul Rodríguez Lesmes |
| Abstract: | RESUMEN: En el presente documento utilizamos las caricaturas económicas que aparecieron en el principal periódico colombiano entre 1928 y 1937 (El Tiempo), como una fuente primaria válida para el análisis de las tensiones que los fenómenos y situaciones económicas generaron en Colombia en una época tensa para la economía mundial. A través de la caricatura económica es posible ver la percepción de la opinión pública respecto a las políticas económicas y el temor e incertidumbre que estas causaban en el común de la gente. Este análisis hace parte de un análisis mayor en el que se utiliza la caricatura económica como una fuente para examinar la historia económica de Colombia. ABSTRACT: In this paper we use economic cartoons that were published in the leading Colombian newspaper –El Tiempo- between 1928 and 1937, as a valid primary source for analysis of the tensions and economic situations lived in Colombia during a tough worldwide economic period. Through economic cartoon it is possible to observe the perception of public opinion on economic policies and the fear and uncertainty that these were having on ordinary people. This document is part of a larger analysis that used economic cartoons as a source for examining Colombian economic history. |
| Date: | 2011–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:008942&r=his |
| By: | Waidlein, Nicole |
| Abstract: | Since the Second World War the West German states show persistent differences in their standard of living. The explanation of the incomplete catching-up process within West Germany is of crucial interest. After identifying productivity as the major growth driving force, this paper investigates the main causes of productivity growth on the state level between 1950 and 1990. With the help of growth theories different determinants of productivity growth are identified. These are innovations, secondary and tertiary human capital, structural change, openness and institutions. Finally, the empirical analysis reveals that three of those determinants are able to explain the persistent differences in the regional productivity levels: innovations, tertiary human capital and structural change. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:292011&r=his |
| By: | Jeremy Barofsky (Harvard School of Public Health); Claire Chase (Harvard School of Public Health); Tobenna Anekwe; Farshad Farzadfar |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the economic consequences of a malaria eradication campaign in the southwestern Ugandan district of Kigezi. The project was a joint venture between the WHO and Uganda's Ministry of Health, designed to test for the first time the feasibility of malaria eradication in a sub-Saharan African country. During the years of 1959 and 1960, eradication efforts employing DDT spraying and mass distribution of anti-malarials were implemented, beginning in northern Kigezi. Follow-up studies reported a drop in overall parasite rates from 22.7 to 0.5% in hyperendemic areas and from 12.5 to 0% in mesoendemic areas. We use this campaign as a plausibly exogenous health shock to explore changes in human-capital formation and income. We employ a difference-in-difference methodology to show that eradication produced differential improvements in Kigezi compare to the rest of Uganda in years of schooling, literacy, and primary school completion. In addition, we find suggestive evidence that eradication increased income levels. |
| Keywords: | human capital, malaria, economic development and health |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdm:wpaper:7011&r=his |
| By: | Wolz, Axel |
| Abstract: | With the collapse of the socialist regime in East Germany in late 1989 and the rising political call for unification in early 1990, a radical and abrupt change of the institutional structure became necessary. Among others, the (agricultural) administration had to be totally restructured. This referred not only to substance, functions and tasks which had to be adjusted, similar to most other transition economies, to the market-economic and pluralistic democratic system, but also the whole administrative set-up had to be re-established in line with the West German system (territorial re-organisation). Hence, a new administrative system had to be built up in the East, while simultaneously the socialist one had to be dismantled. This transformation process implied the recruitment of new staff and had to be carried out in a very short period. However, different to the other transition economies, there had been strong support from the West in re-organising the administration. Overall, this institutional change seems to have been accomplished successfully as billions of Deutsch Mark could be processed by the agricultural administration in 1990 in order to avoid an imminent collapse of the agricultural sector. In addition, the new administration also comprised the set-up of a specialised agency in charge of state property. This office while originally anticipated to last for a short period only, still operates today. Similarly, the organisations representing the agricultural population had to be re-organised. The re-organisation of the German Farmers' Union is of special prominence as both German parts were representing completely different agricultural models. Nevertheless, this is the only important organisation at national level where East Germans could stay in decision-making positions after unification. This had severe repercussions when shaping transformation policies affecting the agricultural sector in East Germany during the 1990s. -- Der Zusammenbruch des sozialistischen Regimes Ende 1989 sowie der immer lauter werdenden Ruf nach politischer Einheit seit Beginn 1990 bedingte einen schnellen und radikalen Bruch der ostdeutschen Institutionen. Dieser Bruch umfasste auch eine komplette Neuausrichtung der (landwirtschaftlichen) Verwaltung. Ähnlich wie in den anderen Transformationsländern Mittel- und Osteuropas mussten die Inhalte, Funktionen und Aufgaben entsprechend den Anforderungen einer demokratischen Gesellschaft sowie der Marktwirtschaft angepasst werden. Darüber hinaus musste jedoch die Verwaltungsstruktur Ostdeutschland dem verwaltungsmäßigen (territorialen) Aufbau Westdeutschland angepasst werden. In der Praxis bedeutete dies, dass die sozialistische Struktur abgebaut und aufgelöst, während gleichzeitig eine neue aufgebaut wurde. Dieser Prozess bedingte auch die komplett neue Einstellung von Personal, obwohl Ehemalige sich neu bewerben konnten. Der Zeitrahmen für diese Transformation war extrem begrenzt. Im Unterschied zu den anderen Transformationsländern konnte hierbei jedoch auf die massive Unterstützung durch Westdeutschland zurückgegriffen werden. Zurückblickend ist diese Transformation der Agrarverwaltung sehr erfolgreich verlaufen, da in dieser Periode ohne nennenswerte Probleme Milliarden von DM an die landwirtschaftlichen Betriebe ausgereicht wurden, um den drohenden Zusammenbruch der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion zu verhindern. Die landwirtschaftliche Verwaltung musste jedoch nicht nur transformiert werden, sondern es wurden neue Veraltungseinheiten geschaffen, besonders um das Staatseigentum an Grund und Boden mit dem Ziel einer raschen Privatisierung zu verwalten. Allerdings erhielt diese Verwaltungseinheit, die ursprünglich nur auf kurze Zeit ausgelegt war, im Laufe der Jahre einen permanenten Charakter. Neben der Verwaltung mussten sich auch die landwirtschaftlichen Verbände neu organisieren. Von besonderer Bedeutung war die Vereinigung und Neuausrichtung des Deutschen Bauernverbandes, da beide Ursprungsverbände ein völlig konträres landwirtschaftliches Leitbild vertraten. Dies ist jedoch der einzig bedeutende Verband Deutschlands, in dem ostdeutsche Personen nach der Vereinigung an der Verbandsspitze verblieben sind. Diese Konstellation hatte tiefgreifende Auswirkungen auf die Ausgestaltung der Agrarstrukturpolitik in Ostdeutschland während der ersten Jahre nach der Vereinigung. |
| Keywords: | Transition,agricultural administration,rural associations,farmers' union,unification,Germany.,Transformation,Agrarverwaltung,ländliche Verbände,Bauernverband,Vereinigung,Deutschland. |
| JEL: | H77 P21 P36 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamodp:136&r=his |
| By: | Keith R. Phillips; James Nordlund; Roberto Coronado |
| Abstract: | The rolling recessions of the 1970s and 1980s were characterized by industry and region specific shocks that led to large dispersions in the economic performance of regions across the U.S. The 1970s were primarily impacted by sharply rising energy prices that hit the manufacturing states hard while stimulating growth in the energy states.> ; The 1980s began with declines in the Farm Belt, followed by declines in the Energy Belt, the Rust (manufacturing) Belt, and finally, due to declines in defense spending, a decline in the Gun Belt. Simple measures of regional dispersion such as the population-weighted variance of job growth across states show that the economic dispersion was historically high during these two decades.> ; The 1990s saw a continuous decline in regional economic dispersion and the 2000s has seen historically low levels of dispersion. Perhaps the biggest surprise this decade has been the low levels of dispersion of economic performance over the past several years given the significant energy price shocks and the depth of the national economic recession. In this paper, we look at the likely causes of economic dispersion across regions and test for the major influences both in the rise of dispersion in the 1970s and 1980s and the subsequent fall in the 1990s and 2000s. Major factors that we test include state industrial structure, oil price shocks and bank integration. |
| Keywords: | Regional economics ; Industries ; Economic development |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:1108&r=his |
| By: | Escañuela Romana, Ignacio |
| Abstract: | Based on a deterministic hypothesis, this paper aims to verify the regularity of the stock market cycles and, if this regularity is found, the ability to predict major stock market crises. Harmonic analysis, or Fourier series, is applied in order to, decomposing into sinusoids curves, find the constant periodicities hidden under the series of observed data. Starting from the industrial stock market data in the U.S., considering three periods of similar length of 165 months: 1919:01 to 1932:09, 1977:01 to 1999:09 and 1997:03 to 2010:11, I stand in the moment of maximum growth of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and I check if the most significant hidden periodicities allowed to predict the sharp drop in the index that was coming and the subsequent development. The evidence is inconclusive. A small number of theoretical cycles reasonably explain the stock market evolution. In terms of predictive power, in two cases there is this ability, while not in another. The conclusion reached indicates that, due to the regularity in the data, the application of the a deterministic hypothesis is reasonable. However, it is necessary to perform a deeper analysis of the data to be able to describe and predict major stock market cycles, including crises or large declines in stock market prices. |
| Keywords: | Stock Market; Periodogram; Business Cycles Prediction |
| JEL: | C10 E32 C22 E37 |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33150&r=his |
| By: | Hălăngescu, Constantin I. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines some aspects of current debates about what the XXI century’s University represents in the context of the globalized society, with particular emphasis on the concepts, perspectives and trends that occur worldwide. higher education is facing the changing society’s pressing needs, hence the need for continuous adaptation by adopting evernew methods to cope with the irreversible process of internationalization and globalization. higher education plays a major role in the transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based society. This research literature aims to study the globalization-university relationship, the higher education’s transnationalization through internationalization, as seen by the researchers in the field. |
| Keywords: | globalization; internalization; higher education; EMG; TNA; knowledge-based society; regionalization; glocalization |
| JEL: | I29 N30 I23 I21 F29 |
| Date: | 2011–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33269&r=his |
| By: | Michael D. Bordo; Agnieszka Markiewicz; Lars Jonung |
| Abstract: | The recent financial crisis 2007-2009 was the longest and the deepest recession since the Great Depression of 1930. The crisis that originated in subprime mortgage markets was spread and amplified through globalised financial markets and resulted in severe debt crises in several European countries in 2010 and 2011. Events revealed that the European Union had insufficient means to halt the spiral of European debt crisis. In particular, no pan-European fiscal mechanism to face a global crisis is available at present. The aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of a robust common fiscal policy framework that could have alleviated the consequences of the recent crisis. This is done by using the political and fiscal history of five federal states; Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany and the United States. |
| JEL: | H10 H70 H73 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17380&r=his |
| By: | Yun Kim (Department of Economics, Trinity College) |
| Abstract: | We empirically examine the relationship between U.S. output and household debt. To account for structural change due to financial liberalization, we divide the sample at the fourth quarter of 1982. We find structural differences between earlier and later business cycles for the U.S. household sector and its relation to the macroeconomy. In the regression analysis for pre-1982, we find no evidence that the household debt variables had any negative effect on output. However, we find some evidence that the household debt variables have negative effects on output for the post-1982 period. A formal structural break test provides evidence of a structural change in the relationship of U.S. output to household debt. Unit root tests for the separate samples show that none of the household variables possesses a unit root in the earlier period, yet all of them do in the later period, indicating fundamental differences between earlier and later periods in terms of the data generating process. |
| Keywords: | household debt, output, financial liberalization, structural break |
| JEL: | E29 B59 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tri:wpaper:1107&r=his |
| By: | Lupa Ramadhani (Institute for British-Irish Studies, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin); Jennifer Todd (Institute for British-Irish Studies, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin); Patrick Paul Walsh (Geary Institute, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | The African Great Lakes Region (GLR) has witnessed some of the most intense violence and protracted conflict of the last half-century. There has been spiralling and sometimes over-lapping conflict in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (hereinafter Zone 1 conflict states). Yet their neighbours—Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia (hereinafter Zone 2 peaceful states)—have remained generally peaceful. This article asks what makes the difference in conflict outcomes between these neighbouring states? It has one goal: to identify a set of structural and historical factors (if any), that differentiate the zone 1 from the zone 2 states and which can explain the incidence of conflicts across time and countries. We set out to document and estimate the impact of a common set of structural factors that underpin the outbreak of wars in this region over the past fifty years, while controlling for time and country specific effects. |
| Date: | 2011–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201118&r=his |
| By: | Oliver Falck; Christina Guenther; Stephan Heblich; William R. Kerr |
| Abstract: | We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool industry fled the Soviet occupied zone to prevent expropriation. We show that the regional location decisions of these firms upon moving to western Germany were driven by non-economic factors and heuristics rather than existing industrial conditions. Relocating firms increased the likelihood of incumbent failure in destination regions, a pattern that differs sharply from new entrants. We further provide evidence that these effects are due to increased competition for local resources. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration, competition, firm dynamics, labor, Germany |
| JEL: | R10 L10 H25 O10 J20 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0088&r=his |
| By: | Herman O. Stekler (George Washington University); Raj M. Talwar (George Washington University) |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwc:wpaper:2011-005&r=his |
| By: | Michael D Bordo; Owen F Humpage; Anna J Schwartz |
| Abstract: | If official interventions convey private information useful for price discovery in foreign-exchange markets, then they should have value as a forecast of near-term exchange-rate movements. Using a set of standard criteria, we show that approximately 60 percent of all U.S. foreign-exchange interventions between 1973 and 1995 were successful in this sense. This percentage, however, is no better than random. U.S. intervention sales and purchases of foreign exchange were incapable of forecasting dollar appreciations or depreciations. U.S. interventions, however, were associated with more moderate dollar movements in a manner consistent with leaning against the wind, but only about 22 percent of all U.S. interventions conformed to this pattern. We also found that the larger the size of an intervention, the greater was its probability of success, although some interventions were inefficiently large. Other potential characteristics of intervention, notably coordination and secrecy, did not seem to influence our success rates. |
| Keywords: | Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.) ; Foreign exchange |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1118&r=his |
| By: | John R. Graham; Sonali Hazarika; Krishnamoorthy Narasimhan |
| Abstract: | We study a period of severe disequilibrium to investigate whether board characteristics are related to corporate investment, debt usage, and firm value. During the 1930-1938 Depression era, when the corporate sector was shocked by an unprecedented downturn, we document a relation between board characteristics and firm performance that varies in economically sensible ways: Complex firms (that would benefit more from board advice) exhibit a positive relation between board size and firm value, and simple firms exhibit a negative relation between board size and firm value. Moreover, simple firms with large boards do not downsize adequately in response to the severe economic contraction: they invest more (or shrink less) and use more debt during the 1930s. We document similar effects for the number of outside directors on the board. Finally, we also find that companies with properly aligned governance structures are more likely to replace the company president following poor performance. |
| JEL: | G31 G32 G34 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17387&r=his |
| By: | Monojit Chatterji; Stephen Devlin |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a summary of the purpose, practice and history of job evaluation in its primary role as a compensation system. It critically reviews the implicit assumptions made in the construction and application of the procedure with specific reference to PwC’s evaluation of the salary structure of the Welsh Assembly in 2004. |
| Keywords: | job evaluation, compensation systems |
| JEL: | J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dun:dpaper:259&r=his |
| By: | John R. Graham; Sonali Hazarika; Krishnamoorthy Narasimhan |
| Abstract: | We use firm-level data to study corporate performance during the Great Depression era for all industrial firms on the NYSE. Our goal is to identify the factors that contribute to business insolvency and valuation changes during the period 1928 to 1938. We find that firms with more debt and lower bond ratings in 1928 became financially distressed more frequently during the Depression, consistent with the trade-off theory of leverage and the information production role of credit rating agencies. We also document for the first time that firms responded to tax incentives to use debt during the Depression era, but that the extra debt used in response to this tax-driven “debt bias” did not contribute significantly to the occurrence of distress. Finally, we conduct an out of sample test during the recent 2008-2009 Recession and find that higher leverage and lower bond ratings also increased the occurrence of financial distress during this period. |
| JEL: | G0 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17388&r=his |
| By: | Stocchetti, Andrea; Scattola, Elena |
| Abstract: | The article presents a retrospective review on key-issues about how the management discipline evolved up to the current view about supply-chain management (SCM) in industrial production. Specifically, the article resumes: a) the reasons that led to the transition from the traditional procurement policies to the SCM approach, b) the variables involved in the process of defining SCM relations and c) the key managerial principles underlying SCM policies and strategies. In the manufacturing industry the problem of organizing and managing firm’s relationships with supplier has recently become of an unprecedented complexity. The evolution of production systems started around the ‘80s, with the shift from the “flexible” paradigm to the “lean” one, has increased dramatically the intricacy of product and process architecture.. At the same time, the opportunities brought by the technological hybridization of products (that is: opportunities deriving from incorporating complementary technologies within products so to enhance its features and performance) gained a critical role as a competitive advantage. In our view supply chain management, as well as others managerial areas, has undergone a profound change; indeed, in the last 30 years the evolution of the industrial competitive environment has deeply modified the reference framework of supply-chain relationships even in common procurement and/or routine contracts. In the attempt to give an adequate response to changes in the competitive environment, supply policies evolve to become articulate relational strategies based on the strategic assessments of the role and the relevance of the various suppliers. The traditional approach to procurement management is combined with a perspective of value creation, a perspective that goes beyond the traditional “make-or-buy” criteria, since it introduces principles for the assessment of the strategic capability of the suppliers to create value for customer rather than to be able to fulfill its task for the firm. In such a view, firms operating in the same value-chain coordinate their strategies with a view to increase the overall value rather than compete for the allocation of the existing one. Firms’ network of suppliers and the relational capabilities assume a critical role in order to coordinate the value creation processes within the chain. |
| Keywords: | Supply chain management; industrial management |
| JEL: | M11 L1 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33094&r=his |
| By: | Gaoussou Diarra (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Patrick Plane (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | What does governance mean for the World Bank and to what extent does the organization succeed in diffusing the paradigm worldwide? The World Bank primarily focused on economic aspects of governance in the 1980s, and progressively moved to its political dimensions towards the end of 1990s. The paper discusses the reasons for this global shift and its consistency with regard to the values of the liberal society. Bibliometric methods are used to evaluate the role of the Bank as a producer of knowledge on this specific issue. The potential influence of the World Bank's main governance indicators: Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) and Doing Business, is depicted through what donors claim when allocating aid, and beyond rhetoric, through what correlations suggest. For each of the main international donors, cross-sectional econometric regressions are run on large samples of developing countries (2005-2008). Depending on the donor we look at, empirical results do not reject strong covariations between new aid commitments and the CPIA, and to a lesser extent with the WGI. |
| Keywords: | The World Bank;governance;liberal society;soft power;aid commitments |
| Date: | 2011–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00617576&r=his |
| By: | McKenzie, David J.; Özler, Berk |
| Abstract: | There is a proliferation of economics blogs, with increasing numbers of economists attracting large numbers of readers, yet little is known about the impact of this new medium. Using a variety of experimental and non-experimental techniques, we try to quantify some of their effects. First, links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers. Second, blogging raises the profile of the blogger (and his institution) and boosts their reputation above economists with similar publication records. Finally, we find that a blog can transform attitudes about some of the topics it covers. |
| Keywords: | blog; dissemination; impact evaluation; influence |
| JEL: | A11 A23 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8558&r=his |