|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
Issue of 2012‒11‒11
23 papers chosen by |
By: | Christoph Farquet (Université de Lausanne) |
Abstract: | The history of tax havens during the decades before World War II is still little known. To date, the studies that have focused on the 1920s and 1930s have presented either a very general perspective on the development of tax havens or a narrow national point of view. Based on unpublished historical archives of five countries (Switzerland, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany), this paper offers therefore a new comparative appraisal of international tax competition during this period in order to answer the following question: What was the specificity of the Swiss case – already considered a quintessential tax haven at the time – in comparison to other banking centres? The findings of this research study are twofold. First, the 1920s and 1930s appear as something of a golden age of opportunity for avoiding taxation through the relocation of assets. Most of the financial centres granted consistent tax benefits for imported capital, while the limited degree of international cooperation and the usual guarantee of banking secrecy in European countries prevented the taxation of exported assets. Second, within this general environment, the fiscal strategies of a tax haven like Switzerland differed from those of a great financial power like Great Britain. Whereas the Swiss administration readily placed itself at the service of the banking community, British policy was more balanced between the contradictory interests of the Board of Inland Revenue, the Treasury, and the English business circles. |
JEL: | G15 F39 F53 H26 H71 N24 N44 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0027&r=his |
By: | Ciccarelli, Carlo; De Fraja, Gianni |
Abstract: | This paper studies the demand for tobacco products in post-unification Italy. We construct a very detailed panel dataset of yearly consumption in the 69 Italian provinces from 1871 to 1913, and use it to estimate the demand for tobacco products. We find support for the Becker and Murphy (1988) rational addiction model. We also find that, in the period considered, tobacco was a normal good in Italy: aggregate tobacco consumption increased with income. Subsequently, we consider separately the four types of products which aggregate tobacco comprises (fine-cut tobacco, snuff, cigars, and cigarettes), and tentatively suggest that habit formation was a stronger factor on the persistence of consumption than physical addiction. The paper ends by showing that the introduction of the Bonsack machine in the early 1890s did not coincide with changes in the structure of the demand for tobacco, suggesting cost driven technological change. |
Keywords: | Italian Kingdom; Rational Addiction; Tobacco |
JEL: | D11 I18 N33 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9197&r=his |
By: | James Fenske (St.Anthony’s College, University of Oxford) |
Abstract: | At the start of the Second World War, British policies restricted rubber planting in Nigeria's Benin region. After Japan occupied Southeast Asia, Britain encouraged maximum production of rubber in Benin. Late in the war, officials struggled with the planting boom that had occurred. The war was a period of both continuity and change. Producers gained experience and capital. Forestry policies restricting planting survived, and output quality continued to occupy officials after the war. The colonial state was hindered by a lack of knowledge and resources, and by its pursuit of conflicting objectives in giving incentives to both producers and traders. |
Date: | 2012–10–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_107&r=his |
By: | Kevin H. O’Rourke (All Souls College, Oxford) |
Abstract: | This chapter provides a brief introduction to the history of Britain’s engagement with the international economy between 1870 and 2010. It begins by discussing long run trends in the integration of the British economy with the rest of the world over time. Economic historians are typically interested in four types of flows between economies: trade in goods and services; flows of capital; migration flows; and flows of ideas and technology. The last flow is probably the most important one for countries hoping to catch up to the international technological frontier. While this was not the right way to characterise the British economy in 1870, it probably was at various points after World War II. Unfortunately, such flows are also the most difficult to quantify, and so I follow the bulk of the literature in concentrating on trade, capital flows and migration. |
Date: | 2012–10–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_106&r=his |
By: | Javier San Julian Arrupe (Universitat de Barcelona) (Universitat de Barcelona) |
Abstract: | In the last decade of the 19th century, the United Kingdom, France and Spain established progressive rates in their succession taxes. This paper compares the legislative processes that France and Spain countries followed in this matter. In both cases politicians arguments for and against progressive taxation were similar, and backed by well-known economic ideas and authors. The process in France was leaded by a majority of MPs believing that progressive taxes aided in the achievement of real justice in taxpaying. In Spain, there was not this majority, but the reform passed due to other circumstances. This would be one step in the application of new insights on tax fairness; however, proportionality as the right technique of taxation and government refrain from modifying distribution were still predominant. |
Keywords: | parliament, public finance, inheritance tax, progressivity, political economy, liberalism |
JEL: | K34 B12 N43 A11 H24 |
Date: | 2012 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2012285&r=his |
By: | Sibylle H. Lehmann (University of Hohenheim) |
Abstract: | Large universal banks played a major role for Germany’s industrialisation because they provided loans to the industry and thereby helped firms to overcome liquidity constraints. Previous research has also argued that they were equally important on the German stock market. The present paper provides quantitative and qualitative evidence that although the market for underwriters was dominated by a small oligopoly of six large banks, there was still perceptible competition, which kept fees and short run profits low. Another interesting finding of the paper is the absence of a signalling effect to investors. Neither underpricing nor the one year performance was different for the IPOs issued by one of the Big Six. Thus, although the German IPO business was in the hands of a small oligopoly, investors did not benefit from the lack of competition. One explanation is that the quality of IPOs on the German stock market of the time was very good in general caused by the competition between underwriters, but also by the tight regulation of underwriting, which ensured thequality of all firms on the German stock market. |
Keywords: | Financial History, Universal Banks, IPOs |
JEL: | G21 G24 N23 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0026&r=his |
By: | Arthur Downing (All Souls College, University of Oxford) |
Abstract: | Participation in ‘friendly societies’ (or other cooperative organisations) is often used as proxy for measuring the stock of social capital. This is too simplistic. Friendly societies underwent radical changes over the nineteenth century and contemporaries regularly bemoaned that sociability, member participation and conviviality had been in steady decline over the second half of the century. This paper investigates the social relations between friendly society members. Part one looks at the importance of lynchpin ‘social capitalists’ in the functioning of lodges. Parts two and three examine how lodges generated social capital and how they relied on social network ties between members to function. Part four applies network analysis to proposition books to assess ‘intra’ lodge relationships between members. As friendly societies grew in size they became more business like. In turn the emphasis shifted from sociability and conviviality to insurance provision. In the process social capital was squandered, but the welfare function of these organisations was temporarily safeguarded. |
Date: | 2012–10–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_105&r=his |
By: | Miguel Martín-Retorillo (Universidad de Zaragoza); Vincente Pinilla (Universidad de Zaragoza) |
Abstract: | This paper offers a long-term analysis of agricultural labour productivity differences in Europe using econometric techniques. The results show the crucial importance of the land/labour ratio. The continuous exit of manpower from the sector, coupled with increased use of productive factors originating in other sectors of the economy, caused the efficiency of agricultural workers to rise. The different relative importance of these processes across countries largely explains why labour productivity did not converge. In turn, institutions have apparently conditioned differences in productivity, as a direct and inverse relation is detected between membership of the EU and the Communist block and the productivity of agricultural labour. |
Keywords: | Agricultural labour productivity, European agriculture 20th century, European economic development |
JEL: | N50 N54 O13 Q10 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0025&r=his |
By: | Érico Esteves Duarte |
Abstract: | O presente artigo busca contribuir para o debate público motivado pela Estratégia Nacional de Defesa contrapondo-se à expectativa de que a modernização em tecnologia militar tenha efeitos positivos e diretos na capacidade combatente das forças armadas e no desenvolvimento tecnológico civil. O artigo: i) propõe uma definição de tecnologia, assim como uma análise histórica de sua evolução e dos requisitos sociais para seu desenvolvimento; ii) qualifica os limites e dificuldades de inovação em forças armadas na conduta da guerra; e iii) infere as tendências históricas de transferência tecnológica entre esferas militares e civis. O artigo conclui que as forças armadas não são o vetor ideal de inovação de uma sociedade; por isso se argumenta que a decisão pela modernização das Forças Armadas brasileiras não deve ser sujeita a critérios de desenvolvimento econômico, bem como as iniciativas de ganho de produtividade ou inovação tecnológica do parque industrial civil brasileiro não devem obedecer a critérios e necessidades de organizações militares. Palavras-chave: Tecnologia militar, desenvolvimento econômico, história militar, estudos estratégicos, defesa nacional, spin-off. This article aims to foster the national defense debate by arguing against the expectative in favor of the linkage between military technology, on one side, and combatant capacity and economic development, on another one. This article argues: i) a definition of technology that entails on a historical analysis of its evolution and a set of social requirements for its development; ii) the aspects of the conduct of war that limit and hamper overall innovation within armed forces; and iii) the causes that explain the historical trends of technological exchanges between military and civilian areas. This article concludes that the armed forces are not the ideal driving-force of innovation within a society. It sustains the argument that Brazilian armed forces modernization should not be according to economic development requirements and that Brazilian non-military industrial and technological promotion should not be dependent of military requirements and demands. Keywords: Military technology, economic development, military history, strategic studies, national defense, spin-off. |
Date: | 2012–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1748&r=his |
By: | Michael Kopsidis (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO / Halle)) |
Abstract: | Still in recent research a low productive peasant economy and traditional peasant society are often made responsible for Southeast Europe's economic backwardness prior to 1945. However, the radical change of paradigm after 1960 in the view of peasants as agents of economic growth and of their ability to adjust to markets has surprisingly never been realized in economic history research on the Balkan-states (Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece). Interpreting agricultural development as a mainly demand-driven process this paper argues that the potential for agricultural growth was much more restricted in Southeast than in Northwest Europe but Balkan peasants seem to have exploited their growth potential as far as possible. There is a lot of evidence that the reasons for sluggish growth before 1940 were definitely not rooted in any 'peasant traditionalism' as often claimed by Balkan elites and many scholars. |
Keywords: | Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, agricultural development, peasant economy |
JEL: | N53 N54 O13 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0028&r=his |
By: | Juan Carmona Pidal (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Markus Lampe (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Joan Ramón Rosés (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
Abstract: | This paper discusses how Spain’s urban housing markets reacted to the far-reaching changes that affected the demand for dwellings during the first phase of the ruralurban transition process. To this end, we construct a new hedonic index of real housing prices and assemble a cross-regional panel dataset of price fundamentals. The results of our econometric analysis suggest that urban housing markets did not face supply constraints and responded swiftly to the growing demand for accommodation. In light of this new evidence, we conclude that housing markets were not a burden for Spanish economic development and that Spain’s urban infrastructure and institutional framework and were suitable for the housing needs at the time. |
Keywords: | Hedonic prices; Demand and Supply of Housing; Regulation in Housing Markets. |
JEL: | N93 N94 R30 |
Date: | 2012–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0030&r=his |
By: | Shawn Kantor; Price V. Fishback; John Joseph Wallis |
Abstract: | The critical election of 1932 represented a turning point in the future electoral successes of the Democrats and Republicans for over three decades. This paper seeks to measure the importance of the New Deal in facilitating the Democrats’ control of the federal government well into the 1960s. We test whether long-differences in the county-level electoral support for Democratic presidential candidates after the 1930s can be attributed to New Deal interventions into local economies. We also investigate more narrowly whether voters rewarded Roosevelt from 1932 to 1936 and from 1936 to 1940 for his efforts to stimulate depressed local economies. Our instrumental variables estimates indicate that increasing a county’s per capita New Deal relief and public works spending from nothing to the sample mean ($277) would have increased the long-run support for the Democratic party by 10 percentage points. We further find that the long-run shift toward the Democratic party after 1928 was not a function of the Roosevelt landslide victory in 1932. Roosevelt’s ability to win over voters during the 1936 and 1940 elections, however, did matter for the long-term. |
JEL: | H5 N42 |
Date: | 2012–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18500&r=his |
By: | David de la Croix; Omar Licandro |
Abstract: | We build a unique dataset of 300,000 famous people born between Hammurabi's epoch and 1879, Einstein's birth year. It includes, among other variables, the vital dates, occupations, and locations of celebrities from the Index Bio-bibliographicus Notorum Hominum (IBN), a very comprehensive biographical tool. Our main contribution is fourfold. First, we show, using for the first time a worldwide, long-running, consistent database, that mortality displays no trend during the Malthusian era. Second, after correcting for selection and composition biases, we date the beginning of the steadily improvements in longevity to the cohort born in 1640-9, clearly preceding the Industrial Revolution. Third, we find that this timing of longevity improvements concerns most countries in Europe, as well as all types of skilled occupations. Finally, the reasons for this early rise in mean lifetime have to be found in age-dependent shifts in the survival law. |
Keywords: | Longevity, Notoriety, Malthus, Gompertz-Makeham, Compensation Effect of Mortality |
JEL: | J11 I12 N30 I20 J24 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:666&r=his |
By: | James, Ang |
Abstract: | The importance of the length of state history for understanding variations in income levels, growth rates, quality of institutions and income distributions across countries has received a lot of attention in the recent literature on long-run comparative development. The standard approach, however, is to regard statehood as a given. The main objective of this paper is to explore the determinants of statehood and to uncover its deep historical roots. The empirical analysis shows that early transition to fully-fledged agricultural production, adoption of state-of-the-art military innovations, and more opportunity for economic interaction with the regional economic leader all play a catalytic role in the rise and development of the state. However, the hypothesized positive effect of lower cultural diffusion barriers across borders on the rise of statehood is found to be lacking. |
Keywords: | state antiquity; nation formation; comparative economic development |
JEL: | H70 O10 |
Date: | 2012–10–31 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42357&r=his |
By: | Nicholas Crafts (University of Warwick); Terence C. Mills (Loughborough University) |
Abstract: | We report estimates of the fiscal multiplier for interwar Britain based on quarterly data, time-series econometrics, and ‘defense news’. We find that the government expenditure multiplier was in the range 0.5 to 0.8, much lower than previous estimates. The scope for a Keynesian solution to recession was much lower than is generally supposed. We do find that rearmament gave a substantial boost to real GDP after 1935 but this was because the private sector responded to news of massive future defense spending and does not imply that the multiplier effect of temporary public works programs would have been large. |
Keywords: | defense news; multiplier; public works; rearmament |
JEL: | E62 N14 |
Date: | 2012–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0031&r=his |
By: | Kerstin Enflo (Lund University School of Economics and Management); Joan Ramón Rosés (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
Abstract: | In many countries, regional income inequality has followed an inverted U-shaped curve, growing during industrialisation and market integration and declining thereafter. By contrast, Sweden’s regional inequality dropped from 1860 to 1980 and did not show this U-shaped pattern. Accordingly, today’s regional income inequality in Sweden is lower than in other European countries. We note that the prime mover behind the long-run reduction in regional income differentials was structural change, whereas neo-classical and technological forces played a relatively less important role. However, this process of regional income convergence can be divided into two major periods. During the first period (1860-1940), the unrestricted action of market forces, particularly the expansion of markets and high rates of internal and international migrations, led to the compression of regional income differentials. In the subsequent period (1940-2000), the intended intervention of successive governments appears to have also been important for the evolution of regional income inequality. Regional convergence was intense from 1940 to 1980. In this period, governments aided the convergence in productivity among industries and the reallocation of the workforce from the declining to the thriving regions and economic sectors. During the next period (1980-2000), when regional incomes diverged, governments subsidised firms and people in the declining areas. |
Keywords: | Convergence; regional policy; neo-classical growth model; labour reallocation. |
JEL: | N94 N93 R11 R12 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0029&r=his |
By: | Kimbambu Tsasa Vangu, Jean - Paul |
Abstract: | This paper investigates and tests empirically the relationship between military expenditure, civil wars and economic performance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Romer – Taylor model is estimated. The Econometric estimates show that there is a positive effect of military expenditure on economic growth and positive relationship in the short term and negative relationship in the long run between the presence of civil wars and economic growth. A new concept was introduced in the analysis to explain the true causes of the civil war in DR Congo, this is the R – GGC. |
Keywords: | performances économiques; guerres civiles; dépenses militaires |
JEL: | E02 A12 E39 |
Date: | 2012–02–25 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42424&r=his |
By: | James M Nason; Ellis Tallman |
Abstract: | This paper explores the hypothesis that the sources of economic and financial crises differ from noncrisis business cycle fluctuations. We employ Markov-switching Bayesian vector autoregressions (MS-BVARs) to gather evidence about the hypothesis on a long annual U.S. sample running from 1890 to 2010. The sample covers several episodes useful for understanding U.S. economic and financial history, which generate variation in the data that aids in identifying credit supply and demand shocks. We identify these shocks within MS-BVARs by tying credit supply and demand movements to inside money and its intertemporal price. The model space is limited to stochastic volatility (SV) in the errors of the MS-BVARs. Of the 15 MS-BVARs estimated, the data favor a MS-BVAR in which economic and financial crises and noncrisis business cycle regimes recur throughout the long annual sample. The best-fitting MS-BVAR also isolates SV regimes in which shocks to inside money dominate aggregate fluctuations. |
Keywords: | Business cycles ; Forecasting ; Financial markets ; Economic history |
Date: | 2012 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1221&r=his |
By: | Fornes, Gaston |
Abstract: | This article introduces emerging markets, their history, current developments, and future trends. To do this, it first analyses the origin of the “emerging markets” name, a list of potential markets to be included in the emerging category, and the flows of trade and investments along with their share in the world’s economy. It continues by studying the main characteristics of emerging markets and the distinctive features of local players. The article concludes by exploring two growing trends in emerging markets, their largest cities as the markets of the future, and the commercial relationship between China and Latin America. |
Keywords: | Emerging markets |
JEL: | A1 O10 D4 |
Date: | 2012–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42315&r=his |
By: | Hilmer, Christiana E. (San Diego State University, California); Hilmer, Michael J. (San Diego State University, California); Ransom, Michael R. (Brigham Young University) |
Abstract: | We analyze the pay and position of 1,009 faculty members who teach in doctoral-granting economics departments at fifty-three large public universities in the United States. Using the Web of Science, we have identified the journal articles published by these scholars and the number of times each of these articles has been subsequently cited in published research articles. We find that research influence, as measured by various measures of total citations, is a surprisingly strong predictor of the salary and the prestige of the department in which professors are employed. We also examine how coauthorship is rewarded by the market. |
Keywords: | academic labor markets, professor's salaries |
JEL: | J31 J44 |
Date: | 2012–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6960&r=his |
By: | Matthias Doepke (Northwestern University) |
Abstract: | Women's rights and economic development are highly correlated. Today, the discrepancy between the legal rights of women and men is much larger in developing compared to developed countries. Historically, even in countries that are now rich women had few rights before economic development took off. Is development the cause of expanding women's rights, or conversely, do women's rights facilitate development? We argue that there is truth to both hypotheses. The literature on the economic consequences of women's rights documents that more rights for women lead to more spending on health and children, which should benefit development. The political-economy literature on the evolution of women's rights finds that technological change increased the costs of patriarchy for men, and thus contributed to expanding women's rights. Combining these perspectives, we discuss the theory of Doepke and Tertilt (2009), where an increase in the return to human capital induces men to vote for women's rights, which in turn promotes growth in human capital and income per capita. |
Date: | 2012 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed012:116&r=his |
By: | Renato Baumann |
Abstract: | O texto analisa o histórico da inserção externa da indústria brasileira de defesa e o papel que o mercado externo desempenhou - e pode vir a desempenhar - para esta indústria. Demonstra-se que, para um país no qual as aquisições internas de equipamentos militares são relativamente baixas como o Brasil, as exportações desempenham papel essencial à manutenção de uma indústria de defesa economicamente viável - ou seja, que possa produzir itens com custos unitários não muito elevados e seja capaz de manter-se sustentável no longo prazo sem o constante recebimento de subsídios do Estado. Uma análise como esta pode ser útil em momento no qual a revitalização da indústria bélica no Brasil se mostra como processo cada vez mais concreto. Os atores, que, de alguma forma, estão envolvidos no processo de revitalização - ou que possam ser afetados por este - podem ter, assim, mais subsídios para eventuais decisões a serem tomadas nesta área. This paper analyzes the history of international insertion of Brazil`s defense industry and the role the foreign market has played for this industry. It is shown that for a country like Brazil, where the demands for military equipment is relatively low, exports play an essential role to maintain a viable defense industry, i.e., which can be able to produce items with not so high unitary costs and to remain sustainable in the long term without receiving subsidies from the State. Such an analysis can be useful when the revitalization of the defense industry in Brazil is a more and more concrete process, so the actors who somehow are involved in the process of revitalization - or who may be affected by it - can have more information to make any necessary decisions in this area. |
Date: | 2012–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1715&r=his |
By: | Alexandre de Ávila Gomide |
Abstract: | O texto explica o processo político-institucional que resultou na reconfiguração institucional do setor federal de transportes consubstanciada na Lei no 10.233, de 5 de junho de 2001, que criou as duas agências reguladoras autônomas vinculadas ao Ministério dos Transportes, a Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres (ANTT) e a Agência Nacional de Transportes Aquaviários (ANTAQ). Utilizando-se a abordagem teórica do institucionalismo histórico da ciência política contemporânea e o método de rastreamento de processos (process tracing), a análise mostra como a sequência do processo de reforma no tempo e a atuação do mecanismo de policy feedback delinearam um tipo específico de mudança institucional, caracterizado pela introdução de novas regras e organizações sobre as preexistentes (layering). Os processos de desestatização no setor federal de transportes iniciaram-se na ausência de um marco regulatório reestruturado e das estruturas organizacionais ajustadas à nova situação. Assim, o processo de reforma seguiu as trajetórias históricas de constituição dos subsetores, sem preocupação com a integração entre as diversas modalidades. O resultado foi a criação de interesses que se cristalizaram nas instituições recém-configuradas. Deste modo, o mecanismo de policy feedback atuou sob duas maneiras: reforçando os interesses criados pelos arranjos institucionais existentes (caso do subsetor portuário, pós-reforma de 1993) e ativando reações contrárias de atores às novas regras do jogo (caso da navegação marítima pós-liberalização dos anos de 1990). O "efeito reforço" levou alguns atores a pressionar pela manutenção do arranjo existente; o "efeito contrarreação" induziu outros atores a construírem suas capacidades políticas, a fim de instituírem uma alternativa viável para o status quo institucional. Como a discussão da reestruturação regulatória do setor se deu na arena do Congresso, esses interesses tangenciaram-se, viabilizando uma coalizão que logrou impor suas preferências: a criação de uma agência específica para o transporte aquaviário (a ANTAQ), diferentemente das intenções iniciais do Poder Executivo. Palavras-chave: Transportes, mudança institucional, agências reguladoras, mecanismo de policy feedback, institucionalismo histórico. |
Date: | 2012–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1764&r=his |