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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2013‒11‒14
fourteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Mehlum, Halvor (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | In this article I take up the relationship between economics and law in the hundred-year period preceding the establishing of economics as a separate discipline. Rather than providing a review of historical milestones, I concentrate on some observations that illustrate the relationship between law and economics. I conclude with some reflections on what the law may have missed out on by not having participated in a similar revolution as economics experienced. |
| Keywords: | history; of; economics |
| JEL: | B10 K00 |
| Date: | 2013–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2013_025&r=his |
| By: | James L. Butkiewicz (Department of Economics,University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | While federal financial rescues have become a common response to crises, federal provision of finance was not one of the original powers of the federal government. One man, Eugene Meyer, is largely responsible for the origin of federal financial rescues, through both the War Finance Corporation and Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Meyer learned laissez-faire economics from William Graham Sumner at Yale. However, German economist Adolph Wagner’s state-socialism philosophy heavily influenced Meyer’s thinking, and Meyer developed an interventionist philosophy. Serving in key government positions, Meyer put his beliefs into practice. These channels of influence and the resulting policies are examined. |
| Keywords: | B - History of Thought, N - Economic History |
| JEL: | J16 J30 J31 J70 J71 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:13-09.&r=his |
| By: | Nikolay Nenovsky; Dominique Torre |
| Abstract: | Mihail Manoilescu was one of the main intellectual personalities of the interwar period in Romania. He was known as a politician and a central banker, but also as an economist. From the very beginning of his theoretical and practical career, or at least from the late 1920s till the end of his life, Manoilescu’s ideas and theories were marked by a clear continuity and consistency based on the theory of protectionism. His defence of protectionism is generally presented as clumsy and founded on incorrect method. This paper contributes to a testament of Manoilescu’s conclusions, the validity of which we test in two different paradigms. Section 2 presents the theory of protectionism formulated by the author. Section 3 tries to interpret Manoilescu’s views in modern terms. It presents arguments assimilating his analysis to some post-Marxist presentations of the after-war period. It also develops a Ricardian model proving that Manoilescu’s intuitions can be verified in a Ricardian context. The last section concludes. |
| Keywords: | Mihail Manoilescu, theory of protectionism, gains from trade |
| JEL: | B22 B26 E42 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:icr:wpicer:09-2013&r=his |
| By: | Debertin, David L. |
| Abstract: | These are the notes from the departmental retirement seminar on computing technology employed in agricultural economics presented by Dr. Debertin in April, 2013. These notes and photographs describe the history of computing in agricultural economics over a period of over 40 years from 1969-2013. |
| Keywords: | computers in agriculture, computers in agricultural economics, computer history, computers in economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, C00, |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ukysps:158674&r=his |
| By: | Daniel K. Fetter |
| Abstract: | The US home ownership rate rose by 10 percentage points between 1940 and 1945, about half the size of the net change over the 20th century, despite severe restrictions on construction during World War II. I present evidence that wartime rent control -- which covered over 80 percent of the 1940 U.S. rental housing stock -- played an important role in this shift, as suggested by Friedman and Stigler (1946). The empirical test exploits features of the central authority's method of imposing rent control, which generated variation in the size of rent reductions for cities that had seen similar increases in rents prior to control. Greater rent reductions were associated with greater increases in home ownership over the first half of the 1940's. This relationship does not appear to be driven by differential trends in housing demand or other unobserved factors potentially correlated with variation in rent reductions. The estimates suggest that rent control may explain 65 percent of the urban increase in home ownership over the first half of the 1940's. |
| JEL: | N00 N42 N92 R00 R28 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19604&r=his |
| By: | Carmen Sarasúa (Departament d'Economia i d'Història Econòmica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Este trabajo trata sobre la edad a la que niños y niñas accedían al trabajo remunerado en la España del siglo XVIII. Utilizando como fuente los Memoriales del Catastro de Ensenada (1751-1753), se propone la edad de diez años como edad media de acceso, a partir de la cual se puede calcular la tasa de actividad. La Mancha era una región rica en industria rural, sobre todo de manufacturas textiles, que abastecían al mercado madrileño, el de otras ciudades e incluso al colonial, y que generaban una fuerte demanda de trabajo femenino. Esta estructura productiva explica por qué las niñas se incorporaban al trabajo remunerado antes que los niños, por qué eran escolarizadas desde muy pequeñas en las ‘escuelas de labor’ y no en las escuelas de primeras letras como los niños, y por qué, en definitiva, sus tasas de alfabetización un siglo después eran inferiores a la ya muy baja media femenina española. En la España del siglo XVIII mujeres y niñas estaban masivamente empleadas en las manufacturas, sobre todo textiles, como ocurría en gran parte de Europa. Entender y contabilizar el trabajo realizado por mujeres y niñas, mucho más difundido de lo que se cree habitualmente, y centrado en manufacturas y servicios, transforma nuestra visión de la estructura de la actividad en la España pre-industrial, normalmente identificada con el trabajo agrícola y ganadero. |
| Keywords: | desarrollo económico, historia económica, tasa de actividad femenina, tasa de actividad masculina, trabajo infantil, edad de acceso al trabajo |
| JEL: | J01 J16 J21 N33 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:uhewps:2013_05&r=his |
| By: | Oded Galor; Marc klemp |
| Abstract: | This research presents the first evidence that moderate fecundity maximized long-run reproductive success within the human species. Exploiting an extensive genealogy record for nearly half a million individuals in Quebec during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the study traces the number of descendants of early inhabitants in the subsequent four generations. Using the time interval between the date of marriage and the first live birth as a measure of reproductive capacity, the research establishes that while a higher fecundity is associated with a larger number of children, an intermediate level maximizes long-run reproductive success. The finding further indicates that the optimal level of fecundity was below the population median, suggesting that the forces of natural selection favored individuals with a lower level of fecundity. The research lends credence to the hypothesis that during the Malthusian epoch, natural selection favored individuals with a larger predisposition towards child quality, contributing to the onset of the demographic transition and the evolution of societies from an epoch of stagnation to sustained economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Demography, Evolution, Natural Selection,Fecundity, Quantity-Quality Trade-Off, Long-Run Reproductive Success, Development, Growth |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2013-10&r=his |
| By: | William C. Dudley |
| Abstract: | Remarks at the Museum of American Finance, New York City. |
| Keywords: | Museums ; Federal Reserve System - History ; Corrigan, E. Gerald ; Federal Reserve Bank of New York ; Federal Open Market Committee ; Financial stability |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsp:116&r=his |
| By: | Stéphane Bécuwe (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - CNRS : UMR5113 - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV); Bertrand Blancheton (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - CNRS : UMR5113 - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV); Léo Charles (GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée - CNRS : UMR5113 - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV) |
| Abstract: | Partant des travaux de Bairoch sur les difficultés de la France à atteindre les marchés émergents pendant la première mondialisation (1880-1914), cet article tente d'identifier les sources de cet échec. L'article s'appuie sur une base de données totalement nouvelle regroupant les imports et les exports de la France sur une période de 64 années. L'exploitation de cette base permet d'analyser les changements de la structure géographique et produits des flux commerciaux français. En appliquant les tests statistiques standards pour déterminer la concentration des flux commerciaux, l'article montre que la structure du commerce français devient très rapidement spécialisée dans l'intra-branche, ce qui sous-entend un repli relatif sur les marchés de proximité. |
| Keywords: | Commerce international; Commerce intra-branche; Première mondialisation; Spécialisation; France |
| Date: | 2013–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00879996&r=his |
| By: | Ismael Hernández Adell (Departament d'Economia i d'Història Econòmica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Francisco Muñoz Pradas (Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Josep Pujol Andreu (Departament d'Economia i d'Història Econòmica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | La aproximación habitual en el estudio de la difusión del consumo de un alimento, además de descomponer su aportación nutricional, consiste en estudiar la evolución de sus consumos medios. Pero en todo proceso de difusión de un nuevo producto, establecer el consumo promedio es tan importante como conocer el número de consumidores. Este artículo propone un análisis de la recepción del consumo de leche entre la población española atendiendo a ambas dimensiones entre finales del siglo XIX y 1981. Esto es, se combinará el conocimiento de la evolución del número de consumidores con el de sus niveles medios de consumo. Adoptar este planteamiento supone enfrentarse con el problema de la ausencia de datos sobre la magnitud de consumidores en las fuentes estadísticas disponibles. Este artículo propone una estrategia metodológica diseñada para reconstruir la evolución de esa población tanto en una escala temporal como espacial. |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:uhewps:2013_03&r=his |
| By: | Grigoriadis, Theocharis |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I argue that religion matters for the emergence of democracies and dictatorships. Religion is defined as a stochastically set demand for public goods. Different types of religious collectives reflect different tradeoffs between centralized resource distribution and market rewards. Religions are defined as collectivist, when their respective collectives facilitate the hierarchical provision of common pool resources toward their members at the expense of market incentives. Religions are defined as individualist, when their respective collectives recruit and preserve their members on the basis of market incentives. Islam, Orthodoxy and Catholicism are treated as collectivist religions, whereas Judaism and Protestantism as individualist ones. I provide a historical overview that designates the Jewish kibbutz as the collective of democracy and the Russian-Orthodox monastery as the collective of dictatorship. Assuming a collectivist economy, I solve the radical government and modernization stochastic games. I find that modernization occurs in a collectivist economy when the threat of a radical government is imminent and when the leader has high extraction rents over the economy. In order to stay in power, the leader credibly commits to provide more public goods in the future, and thus modernization occurs. Underdevelopment occurs at intermediate levels of state enforcement, modernization at low levels and centralization at high levels of state enforcement. The emergence of a radical government is more likely in a collectivist rather than in an individualist economy. -- |
| Keywords: | democracy,dictatorship,collectivism,individualism,modernization,Orthodoxy,Judaism |
| JEL: | D72 D73 D78 P21 P26 P32 P51 Z12 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201316&r=his |
| By: | dogru, bulent |
| Abstract: | In this study, relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty is analyzed using Granger causality tests with annual inflation series covering the time period 1923 to 2012 for Turkish Economy. Inflation uncertainty is measured by Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic model. Econometric findings suggest that although in long run the Friedman's hypothesis that high inflation increases inflation uncertainty is strongly supported, in short run the Holland hypothesis proposing that the increase in the inflation uncertainty decreases inflation is also supported for Turkish Economy. We also make analysis for subsample periods selected due to the major policy changes in Turkish economic history. The causality between inflation and inflation uncertainty in these subsample periods is mixed and depends on time period analyzed. |
| Keywords: | Inflation Uncertainty, Conditional Variance, Granger Causality, Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic Model |
| JEL: | C32 E31 |
| Date: | 2013–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51232&r=his |
| By: | Estelle P. Dauchy (New Economic School); Christopher Balding (Peking University HSBC Business School) |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades, the United States federal income tax revenue has shown periods of increased volatility. Throughout the 1990s the growth rate of individual income taxes was between 5 and 10 percent, it has swung between H12 and +12 percent from 2000 to 2006. Meanwhile wage income has been relatively stable during this period while capital income annual growth has swung from H20 to +50 percent between 2000 and 2006. Looking deeper into the income composition of taxable sources, we find that tax revenue has increased its dependence on volatile capital gains income, due in part to an increasing dependence on highHincome taxpayers. In the decade ending 1976, capital and business income represented about 17.1 percent of gross income, including about 3.1 percent for capital gains and losses. While the share of capital and business incomes have been relatively stable over time, the share of net capital gains or losses has increased to about 5.8 percent of gross income, on average the decade ending 2006, an almost twofold compared to four decades ago. Using a database on individual tax files from 1966 to 2006 from the Internal Revenue Service Public Use Files, we estimate the sources of tax revenue volatility over time and by income groups. We find strong evidence that since 1966, the growth rate of tax revenue has become increasingly dependent on the growth rate of capital income, while its dependence on wage income has decreased. Before 1986, both capital income growth and wage income growth were negatively related with income tax growth, suggesting a smoothing effect of taxation. However, after 1986, capital income growth has been positively related to income tax revenue growth, and this positive relationship has increased more than tenfold in 20 years. We also find that this increased dependence of tax revenue growth on capital income is essentially related to top income earners. The results show evidence that capital income growth and tax revenue growth almost continuously increased from the bottom to the top quintile. |
| Keywords: | Tax, Tax Volatility, Public Revenue, Income Sources, Tax Policy, Inequality, Wage Income, Capital Markets, Built-in Flexibility |
| JEL: | H2 H21 H24 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0198&r=his |
| By: | Christine M. Cumming |
| Abstract: | Comments at the 10th Anniversary of CLS, New York City. |
| Keywords: | Foreign exchange administration ; Banks and banking, Central ; Financial risk management ; Payment systems ; Clearinghouses (Banking) ; Bank failures ; Bretton Woods Agreements Act |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsp:103&r=his |