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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2014‒05‒04
39 papers chosen by |
| By: | Reckendrees, Alfred |
| Abstract: | The economic transition characterizing the process of European industrialization in the 19th century was concentrated on regions rather than on states. In the first half of the 19th century, the region of Aachen (in the west of Prussia) pioneered on the territory of the German states and developed to a powerful industrial district. The implementation and diffusion of the factory system and the economic impact of adapted and new institutions make the core of this paper. Reciprocal interconnections between firms of different clusters shaped the region and created economic dynamics. Investments transgressed the boundaries of single industries and new industries emerged. One important feature of the regional production system was cross-sectional knowledge transfer; a second was institutions supportive to this process. |
| Keywords: | Germany, Industrialization, Factory System, Joint-Stock-Companies, Development |
| JEL: | N63 N94 O14 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55523&r=his |
| By: | Roine, Jesper (Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics); Waldenström, Daniel (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the long run developments in the distribution of personal income and wealth. It also discusses suggested explanations for the observed patterns. We try to answer questions such as: What do we know, and how do we know, about the distribution of income and wealth over time? Are there common trends across countries or over the path of development? How do the facts relate to proposed theories about changes in inequality? We present the main inequality trends, in some cases starting as early as in the late eighteenth century, combining previous research with recent findings in the so-called top income literature and new evidence on wealth concentration. The picture that emerges shows that inequality was historically high almost everywhere at the beginning of the twentieth century. In some countries this situation was preceded by increasing concentration, but in most cases inequality seems to have been relatively constant at a high level in the nineteenth century. Over the twentieth century inequality decreased almost everywhere for the first 80 years, largely due to decreasing wealth concentration and decreasing capital incomes in the top of the distribution. Thereafter trends are more divergent across countries and also different across income and wealth distributions. Econometric evidence over the long run suggests that top shares increase in periods of above average growth while democracy and high marginal tax rates are associated with lower top shares. |
| Keywords: | income inequality, income distribution, wealth distribution, economic history, top incomes, welfare state, taxation |
| JEL: | D31 H2 J3 N3 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8157&r=his |
| By: | Ana Bela Nunes |
| Abstract: | This research aims to critically assess the references to theories of crises and economic cycles that existed in the main textbooks on political economy of Portuguese universities during the first half of the 20th Century, and, as much as possible, categorise their authors into international trends of economic thought. The conclusions support the position that the various studies that have been made of the panorama of economic thought in Portugal up to the end of the first half of the past century, have essentially shown, namely, a delay in the reception of new economic theories and an absence of autonomous production during that period. |
| Keywords: | Portugal, crises, economic cycles, economic thought JEL classification : A23; B10; B20; E32 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:gheswp:wp502014&r=his |
| By: | Gerardo Serra |
| Abstract: | The paper presents the history of the contribution of two American economists to a radical cause: the establishment of a socialist and politically united Africa. The setting is 1960s Ghana which under Kwame Nkrumah, the man who led the country to independence from British colonial rule, emerged as the epicentre of this Pan-African vision. Ann Seidman and Reginald H. Green became, as members of the research team on ‘The Economics of African Unity’ established at the University of Ghana in 1963, the most sophisticated and systematic advocates of Nkrumah’s economic argument for continental planning and political union. The paper argues that Green and Seidman’s support for Pan- Africanism was rooted in an attempt to question radically the applicability of mainstream economic theory to African conditions, and find an alternative framework to conceptualise African trade, institutions and economic integration. Ultimately the vision associated with Nkrumah and economists like Green and Seidman failed to gain any significant political legitimacy and ended in 1966 with Nkrumah’s overthrow. Yet, it is argued that the story of the ‘economics of African unity’ is a useful departure point to deepen our understanding of the relationship between economics and political imagination in postcolonial Africa. |
| Keywords: | Ann Seidman, Reginald H. Green, Ghan a, Pan-Africanism, Kwame Nkrumahn |
| JEL: | B24 B29 B31 P41 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-8&r=his |
| By: | Reckendrees, Alfred |
| Abstract: | Today the European welfare states are strongly challenged and it is heavily debated how much social security a society should provide and how much private insurance is possible. This article goes back to the origins of the German welfare state. In the 1830s, industrialists from the district of Aachen (Prussian Rhineprovince) suggested to implement collective labour rules regulating working hours and wages. In the 1860s –20 years before Bismarck– they proposed a mandatory pension system with equal contributions of employers and employees; they suggested labour conflict resolution by joint arbitration panels of employers and labour representatives. The proposals did not gain support from the Prussian ministries arguing collective agreements would violate freedom of contracting. Entrepreneurs demanding social welfare and the Prussian state defending economic liberalism – this challenges the perception of the Bismarckian welfare state as a means to reconcile labour with the German state. Yet, in the early 19th century the district of Aachen was the most advanced economic region in Prussia in regard with industrial employment and modern industrial organisation. Producing quality goods for the world markets, the industrialists aimed at stabilizing the social environment and reconciling labour with the capitalist society. Their motivation, however, was not based on philanthropy; it was guided by economic aims and collective self-interest. Analysing ‘social policy’ as a capitalist aim, the paper puts the German welfare state in a new perspective. By doing this it also wants to contribute to the discussion on the future of the modern welfare states, because if the argument presented here holds it might have implications for the possibility of privately solving social problems. |
| Keywords: | Welfare State; Social Policy; Business History |
| JEL: | I31 N33 N83 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55520&r=his |
| By: | Dorota Leszczynska |
| Abstract: | Much of the research on clusters refers to trajectories as a central feature of regional development. In this article, we explore changes within a French perfume cluster in order to show how a theory of cluster trajectory could be improved by an analysis of this specific case. Using central concepts from Mahoney’s theory, we analyse the historical sequences of the development trajectory of this regional cluster and put forward a conceptual model and a case study. In particular, we argue that embedded knowledge and innovation influence trajectory sequences in the long and discontinuous history of the cluster. Our research has also led us to identify some types of managerial behaviour that support embedded knowledge. |
| Keywords: | trajectory, regional development, embedded knowledge, cluster, historical sequences |
| Date: | 2014–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-268&r=his |
| By: | R. Christopher Whalen |
| Abstract: | The history of regulation in America is as old as the republic itself. Since colonial times, Americans have struggled with the conflict between the desire for individual freedom and economic growth, and the need for rules and structure in a civil society. The evolution of the United States from a largely agrarian, libertarian society to one with strong industrial and consumer components that are regulated by the federal government has been greatly influenced by Progressive ideas, not only in financial services but in all aspects of economic life. The swing of public policy from periods of strict regulation to eras of greater permissiveness has enormous implications for economic growth. This paper examines the development of regulation in the US from the 19th century up to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) in 2010, from both a political and economic perspective. |
| Keywords: | Dodd-Frank Act, Financial Regulation, Progressive, Louis Brandeis, Benedict v. Ratner, fraud |
| JEL: | G18 G20 G23 G28 K22 N12 N22 N24 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nfi:nfipbs:2014-pb-01&r=his |
| By: | Homburg, Stefan |
| Abstract: | This paper is about 'Capital in the Twenty-first Century' by Thomas Piketty. It identifies his central macroeconomic claims and examines them, arguing that the contentions are theoretically and empirically unwarranted. |
| Keywords: | Capital, wealth, income distribution, taxes |
| JEL: | D31 E H24 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-530&r=his |
| By: | Ashenfelter, Orley (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | This paper contains a review of the early history of program evaluation research at the US Department of Labor. Some broad lessons for successful evaluation research are summarized. |
| Keywords: | program evaluation, training programs, active labor market programs |
| JEL: | B4 C21 J8 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8118&r=his |
| By: | Galor, Oded; Klemp, Marc |
| Abstract: | This research explores the biocultural origins of human capital formation. It presents the first evidence that moderate fecundity was conducive for 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 human capital formation, the onset of the demographic transition and the evolution of societies from an epoch of stagnation to sustained economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Demography, Evolution, Human Capital Formation, Natural Selection, Fecundity, Quantity-Quality Trade-Off, Long-Run Reproductive Success |
| JEL: | J10 O10 |
| Date: | 2014–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55636&r=his |
| By: | Gregg Huff; Gillian Huff |
| Abstract: | This working paper analyzes demographic change in Southeast Asia's main cities during and soon after the World War II Japanese occupation.� We argue that two main patterns of population movements are evident.� In food-deficient areas, a search for food security typically led to large net inflows to main urban centres.� By contrast, an urban exodus dominated in food surplus regions because the chief risk was to personal safety, especially from Japanese and Allied bombing.� Black markets were ubiquitous, and essential to sustaining livelihoods in cities with food-deficit hinterlands.� In Rangoon and Manila, wartime population fluctuations were enormous.� Famines in Java and northern Indochina severely impacted Jakarta and Hanoi through inflows of people from rural areas.� In most countries, the war's aftermath of refugees, revolution and political disruption generated major rural-urban population relocations.� Turmoil in the 1940s had the permanent consequences of augmenting the primacy of Southeast Asia's main cities and promoting squatter settlement. |
| Keywords: | urbanization, Southeast Asia, famine, World War II, entitlements, Japan |
| JEL: | N15 N90 N95 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:number-128&r=his |
| By: | Bailey, Roy E. (University of Essex); Hatton, Timothy J. (University of Essex); Inwood, Kris (University of Guelph) |
| Abstract: | We examine the health and height of men born in England and Wales in the 1890s who enlisted in the army at the time of the First World War. We take a sample of the army service records and use this information to find the recruits as children in the 1901 census. Econometric results indicate that adult height was negatively related to the number of children in the household as well as to the share of earners, the degree of crowding, and positively to socioeconomic class. Adding the characteristics of the local registration district has little effect on the household-level effects. But local conditions were important; in particular the industrial character of the district, local housing conditions and the female illiteracy rate. We interpret these as representing the negative effect on height of the local disease environment. The results suggest that changing conditions at both household and locality levels contributed to the increase in height and health in the following decades. |
| Keywords: | heights of recruits, household structure, health in Britain |
| JEL: | I12 J13 N33 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8128&r=his |
| By: | Foreman-Peck, James (Cardiff Business School); Zhou, Peng (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | We construct a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model of the interaction between demography and the economy for six centuries of English history. At the core of the four overlapping generations, rational expectations model is household choice about target number and quality of children, as well as female age at first marriage. The parameters are formally estimated rather than calibrated. Data on births, deaths, population and the real wage, and data moments can be closely matched by the estimated model. We show that the marriage age rises to reach that typical of the Western European Marriage Pattern at the end of the high mortality epoch of the 14th century. Higher marriage age lowers costs of child quality so that human capital gradually accumulates over the generations. But it does so more slowly than that of population initially, so that there is a negative correlation between population and wage. Ultimately the growth of human capital catches up with that of population and triggers a break out from the Malthusian equilibrium at the end of the 18th century. Without the contribution of late female age to human capital, human capital would have been about 20% of what it actually was around 1800, and real wages would only have attained about half their actual value. |
| Keywords: | Economic development; Demography; DGSE model; English economy |
| JEL: | O11 J11 N13 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2014/3&r=his |
| By: | John D.Singleton |
| Abstract: | Milton Friedman was the leading public proponent for an all-volunteer military. This chapter traces his influence upon the national debate over conscription, which culminated in Friedman’s service on the Gates Commission. Friedman’s argument relied on economic reasoning and appeal to cost-benefit analysis. Central was his conjecture that the social cost of the draft, which imposed an “implicit tax” on draftees, exceeded that of the all-volunteer military. This was supported by the work of Walter Oi. Friedman’s position attracted support both within the conservative movement and from across the political landscape, allowing Friedman to form coalitions with prominent individuals otherwise in disagreement with his politics. With the social context ripened by the draft and the Vietnam War, Friedman’s argument echoed in influential circles, reaching policymakers in Washington and Martin Anderson on the Nixon advising team. The successful institution of the all-volunteer armed force reflected Friedman’s intellectual entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Military draft, conscription, all-volunteer armed force, Gates Commission, Vietnam War, implicit tax, Walter Oi, Martin Anderson |
| JEL: | B20 B31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-7&r=his |
| By: | Roman N. Abramov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The article analyzes of the content and context of research on occupations and professions in Soviet sociology from 1960 to the 1980s. It describes the key topics of observations of professional groups, gives definitions of occupations and professions in Soviet social sciences, and analyzes ideological and censorship restrictions for research and publishing. Sociology of occupations and professions as a separate disciplinary field appeared in Russia only in the late 1990s. Before this time, these topics were integrated into social structure and social stratification observations, research of the working class, intelligentsia, industrial sociology and sociology of organizations. From the 1960s Soviet sociologists searched for new explanatory models and they decided that socio-professional groups were the best criterion for a Soviet social structure description. During 1970-80s researchers of Soviet social structures debated about the place of professional groups. This article analyzes these and other features of sociology of occupations and professions in the USSR. The analysis is based on the bibliographical observations and interviews with Soviet sociologists. This project was supported by Science Foundation of NRU HSE. |
| Keywords: | professions, history of sociology, occupations, soviet sociology, USSR |
| JEL: | B24 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:40/soc/2014&r=his |
| By: | Kira Ilina (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This article reconstructs the activity of 'Alexander Yakushev school', a scholarly movement whose representatives over the last 20 years have studied the history of awarding academic degrees in the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation. The causes of this school's emergence, its prospective research areas are analyzed, and its achievements are evaluated. Besides, the article assesses the reform plan for the thesis review procedure which Yakushev suggested after the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK) refused to confirm the higher doctorate in law he was awarded. |
| Keywords: | Russia, universities, academic degrees, scholarly certification, thesis, review, legislation, historiography |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:46hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Elena Shubina (Department of Geography, University of NamurAuthor-Name: Gani Aldashev; Department of Economics and CRED, University of Namur); Sabine Henry (Department of Geography, University of Namur) |
| Abstract: | Technology adoption in agriculture is one of the key factors of change in rural areas of developing countries. Large-scale in-migration by groups using a more advanced production technology often triggers such change in autochthone populations. We analyse the determinants of adoption of new agricultural technology by nomadic pastoralists using unique micro-level data from a historical episode of massive Russian peasant in-migration into Kazakhstan at the turn of the 20th century. We find that distance to Russian settlers is a key determinant of technology adoption, even after controlling for socio-economic and environmental characteristics. This effect is stronger for wealthier and less mobile Kazakh families with pasture land more suitable for agriculture. The adoption of new technology follows a heterogeneous pattern within the autochthone population, with important implications for the evolution of inequality. |
| Keywords: | technology adoption, nomadic pastoralism, migration, Kazakhstan |
| JEL: | N5 O33 O13 Q15 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:wpaper:1407&r=his |
| By: | Robert W. Dimand |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship of the monetary economics of James Tobin to modern monetary theory, which has diverged in many ways from the directions taken by Tobin and his associates (for example, moving away from multi-asset models of financial market equilibrium and from monetary models of long-run economic growth) but which has also built upon aspects of his work (e.g., the use of simulation and calibration in his work on inter-termporal consumption decisions). Particular attention will be paid to Tobin's unpublished series of three Gaston Eyskens Lectures at Leuven on Neo-Keynesian Monetary Theory: A Restatement and Defense, and the paper draws on my forthcoming volume of Tobin for Palgrave Macmillan's series on Great Thinkers in Economics. |
| Keywords: | James Tobin, modern monetary theory, microeconomic foundations, Keynesian economics, corridor of stability |
| JEL: | B22 B31 E12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-5&r=his |
| By: | Galina Babkova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the history of the concept “ugolovnoe prestuplenie” (criminal offences) in the penal drafts of Catherine II as an integral part of the penal policy that transformed and modernized the Russian legal system. Based on published and unpublished legal sources, materials of the legislative commissions, and acts of civil and military legislation, the paper focuses on the new language of the law. New legal terms and concepts defined an individual as a legal entity and marked a shift in the relations between subjects and the state which in securing the personal safety and property rights of every citizen led toward the political liberty of a modern state |
| Keywords: | Catherine II, criminal law, criminal offences, W. Blackstone, Russia. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:43hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Julia V. Ivanova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The article deals with the epistemological background of the early modern theories of sociability: taking as a starting point the ‘prudential theorems’ from the sixth chapter of Hobbes’ Leviathan, the author examines in consecutive order the Cartesian foundations of sociability in Samuel Pufendorf’s theory of the natural right, the sensualist scienza del commercio of Celestino Galiani, and the refutation of both Cartesian ‘hypothetical metaphysics’ and ‘politics of merchants’ on the grounds of ‘practical Platonism’ by Paolo Mattia Doria. |
| Keywords: | Th. Hobbes, natural right, political Platonism, commercial republicanism, political Cartesianism, scienza nuova |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:51hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Vellore Arthi |
| Abstract: | �I use variation in childhood exposure to the Dust Bowl, an environmental shock to health and income, as a natural experiment to explain variation in adult human capital.� I find that the Dust Bowl produced significant adverse impacts in later life, especially when exposure was in utero, increasing rates of poverty and disability, and decreasing rates of fertility and college completion.� Dependence on agriculture exacerbates these effects, suggesting that the Dust Bowl was most damaging via the destruction of farming livelihoods.� This collapse of farm incomes, however, had the positive effect of reducing demand for child farm labor and thus decreasing the opportunity costs of secondary schooling, as evidence by increases in high school completion amongst the exposed. |
| Keywords: | Dust Bowl, environmental shock, human capital formation, early life health |
| Date: | 2014–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:number-129&r=his |
| By: | Alexander J. Gill |
| Abstract: | Ben Bernanke researched monetary policy for over 25 years prior to becoming a policymaker, and his two-term career as Chairman of the Federal Reserve featured a severe recession coupled with a nancial crisis, a chief subject of Bernanke's research. His reaction to economic events is noteworthy in its originality and breadth, but its intellectual underpinnings are, with a few exceptions discussed in the paper, not without written precedent. This paper will summarize and connect Bernanke's research and policymaking and show that the two are closely aligned. |
| Keywords: | Economic thought, history of economic thought, central banking, Fed, Bernanke |
| JEL: | B31 E58 E65 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-6&r=his |
| By: | Medeiros, Marcelo; Ferreira de Souza, Pedro H.G. |
| Abstract: | We review the literature about the rich, the affluent and the top incomes focusing in two issues: identification and measurement, and the analysis of the determinants of richness. The review discusses data sources, indicators, populations and units of analysis used for the identification of the rich, approaches used to construct affluence lines and measures of richness. It also surveysempirical results about the composition of the incomes of the rich and the role of direct determinants of richness, such as individual characteristics, the State and the structure of production. We cover literature since the early twentieth century but give special attention to the research conducted after the 2000s. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2014–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt6070n04v&r=his |
| By: | Konstantin Yanovskiy (Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy); Ilia Zatcovetsky (Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology); Sergey Zhavoronkov (Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy) |
| Abstract: | The present article traces the dynamics of the priorities chosen by leading leftist parties in Israel vis-a-vis the functions of the state. During the period of the British Mandate they, like all leftist parties, maintained anti-militaristic views. Leaders of the Left more than once accused their rightist opponents of militarism and even fascism. Beginning in 1948, Israel’s Labor Party members become vividly pronounced “pro-defenders.” But during 1977-1982, their views begin to drift toward the original position typical of all leftists: the precedence of social spending and goals rather than defending the country and maintaining the security of its citizens. A study of the motives for change in the leftist stance supports the hypothesis that the period of leftist “patriotic-defensive” priorities depended on perceiving the state as a party-“corporate” asset of the Left; the state needed to be defended in all ways, including defense from enemies from the without. The loss of leftist leadership in the elections was the undoing of this perception of the state, returning the Israeli Left to the classic leftist stance of “Guns or Butter” in favor of social spending. As historical data bear out, mixed public goods and unlimited opportunity for discretional rule are a priori more attractive for the Left and the majority of bureaucrats than is historically limited spending on the production of “pure public goods.” |
| Keywords: | encompassing interest, pure public goods quality, defense, Labor Party priorities |
| JEL: | D72 D74 H41 H56 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gai:wpaper:0095&r=his |
| By: | Scott Scheall |
| Abstract: | The present essay investigates F.A. Hayek’s epistemology and his methodology of sciences of complex phenomena for implications relevant to an explanation of Hayek’s own so- called “epistemic turn.” The thesis defended here is that Hayek’s dissatisfaction with his technical economics – in particular, his business cycle project – prompted, in keeping with his evolutionary theory of belief revision, the develo pment of an approach less susceptible to the same disappointment. |
| Keywords: | Hayek, epistemic turn, methodology, complex phenomena, explanation of the principle |
| JEL: | B2 B25 B3 B31 B4 B41 B53 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-4&r=his |
| By: | Theodore, R. Breton |
| Abstract: | Practitioners of development accounting assume that the private return on schooling equals its social marginal product. I show that this assumption is inconsistent with the mathematical structure of a multiplicative production function, which specifies that the private return is only a fraction of the social marginal product. I then show that the empirical results from development accounting in the literature substantially underestimate human capital’s contribution to national output and overestimate national productivity differences. ***** Los profesionales de la contabilidad del desarrollo asumen que el rendimiento privado de la educación es igual a su producto marginal social. Se Muestra que este supuesto es incompatible con la estructura matemática de una función multiplicativa de producción, que especifica que el rendimiento privado es sólo una fracción del producto marginal social. A continuación, se muestra que los resultados empíricos de la contabilidad del desarrollo en la literatura subestiman considerablemente la contribución del capital humano para la producción nacional y sobreestiman las diferencias de productividad nacional. |
| Keywords: | Development accounting; Human capital; Physical Capital; Productivity |
| JEL: | E25 O11 O47 |
| Date: | 2014–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000122:010924&r=his |
| By: | Alsu Biktasheva (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper reconstructs the rationale and principles governing the work of the Special Corps of Gendarmes in the Russian Empire during the first decade of the reign of Nicholas I. An analysis of instructions given to police officers and of their feedback reveals an intention to create an efficient watchdog — an institution that would keep an eye on the population as well as control local administrative bodies. The article demonstrates the ways in which the police produced knowledge about the empire. This knowledge, along with the findings of institutional science, was to serve as a basis for a new concept of power and rational governance. |
| Keywords: | Russian empire, political police, provincial gendarme officers, instruction. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:45hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Francesco C. Billari (Department of Sociology and Nuffield College, University of Oxford); Vincenzo Galasso (CEPRA, IGIER, Università Bocconi and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | The emergence of old-age social security has been linked to general fertility decline, and in recent years pension reforms have emerged as a response to the challenges of population ageing, in turn partially a consequence of fertility decline. Understanding the link between social security and low fertility is therefore very important. In this paper we analyse the link between fertility and social security in a novel way. We exploit a series of pension reforms that were implemented in Italy, one of the first ‘lowest-low’ fertility societies, during the 1990s, to test the effect of expected retirement income on fertility. The design of the reforms, which introduced a discontinuity depending on the numbers of years of contributions, allows considering them as a natural experiment. We analyse fertility data reconstructed from a series of surveys from the Bank of Italy and show that couples in which the husband was affected by the reform, therefore facing a lower pension, had subsequently higher fertility. |
| Keywords: | old-age security, quantity-quality trade-off, public pension systems, fertility, altruism |
| JEL: | H55 J13 D64 |
| Date: | 2014–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpidep:1403&r=his |
| By: | Douglas Cumming; Grant Fleming |
| Abstract: | We examine the formation and growth of the distressed asset investment industry during the late twentieth century, with specific focus on the strategies of the leading firms. The distressed asset investment industry is dominated by firms based in the United States and is relatively concentrated, due in large part to early movers developing distinctive investment capabilities through participation in landmark transactions, relationship-specific resources, and exploiting scale effects. We argue that the participation of these firms in the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring markets has resulted in private sector workouts becoming more competitive and more efficient over the last thirty years, especially in the United States. |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:028&r=his |
| By: | Evgeny Steiner (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Hokusai Manga (HM) is the biggest and the best known work of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) which consists of ca. 900 pp. published in 15 volumes from 1814 to 1875. This publication discusses the phenomenon of HM and its place in the context of Japanese picture books. Was it a drawing manual or comic cartoons or perhaps a pictorial encyclopedia? What are the historical meanings and etymology of the word manga? The special attention is devoted to the principles of compilation of HM and to the ways of organization of the compositional unity of its volumes. This research offers a major revision of the textual nature of this famous, yet insufficiently studied, masterpiece. Contrary to the common belief that HM is a chaotic jumble of random disjointed pictures, every volume is actually composed as a sophisticated whole with the help of elaborate schemata deeply imbedded in the traditional Japanese ways of textual organization. |
| Keywords: | Hokusai, manga, Japanese art, illustrated books, woodblock prints |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:49hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Ashraf, Quamrul; Galor, Oded; Klemp, Marc |
| Abstract: | This research establishes that migratory distance from the cradle of anatomically modern humans in East Africa and its effect on the distribution of genetic diversity across countries has a hump-shaped effect on nighttime light intensity per capita as observed by satellites, reflecting the trade-off between the beneficial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity. The finding lends further credence to the hypothesis that a significant portion of the variation in the standard of living across the globe can be attributed to factors that were determined in the distant past. |
| Keywords: | Nighttime light intensity, Out of Africa Hypothesis of Comparative Development, Genetic Diversity, Comparative Development, Migratory Distance from Africa |
| JEL: | N10 N30 N50 O10 O50 Z10 |
| Date: | 2014–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55634&r=his |
| By: | Júnia Cristina Peres R. da Conceição; Pedro Henrique Zuchi da Conceição |
| Abstract: | Este trabalho procurou fazer uma análise histórica do setor agrícola brasileiro, procurando enfatizar a importância do setor na obtenção de saldos positivos na balança comercial. Uma das conclusões do artigo é que o setor agrícola ainda desempenha um importante papel no que se refere a sua contribuição no comércio internacional e, desta forma, para o desenvolvimento econômico do país. The present paper intended to make a historical analysis of the Brazilian agricultural sector. It was showed the importance of the agricultural sector for the superavits in the trade balance. One of the conclusions of the article is that the agricultural sector is still important and has an important role in the International commerce. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1944&r=his |
| By: | Jacques Arlotto; Jean-Michel Sahut; Frédéric Teulon |
| Abstract: | The concept of "Business Model" emerged from the mid 90s with the rise of eCommerce and more generally of the "new economy". The mutations responsible of its development are technological, economic and regulatory. Then, the concept of business model was built by successive additions and sedimentation of many papers, reports and books that came to define its meaning over time. In addition to its ability to explain why some firms perform better than others, this concept opens up many ways and applications for entrepreneurship research. |
| Date: | 2014–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-261&r=his |
| By: | Evers, Hans-Dieter |
| Abstract: | Evers, Hans-Dieter. 2014. "Understanding the South China Sea: An Explorative Cultural Analysis." International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies 10(1):80-95. The South China Sea has attracted considerable attention among politicians, journalists and scholars since it has become a contested maritime space. Most works concentrate on conflicts and negotiations to resolve the ensuing issues. In this paper, a cultural theory will be applied to stress the importance of conceptions of space found in different cultures. The South China Sea is defined as "Mediterranean." By comparing it to other maritime spaces, like the Baltic and the Mediterranean Sea, lessons will be drawn from the "longue durée" of history, as analysed by French historian Fernand Braudel and from concepts of the cultural theory of Oswald Spengler. The paper will look at the South China Sea from two perspectives. The political perspective will discuss various events that have happened due to political tensions because of territorial demarcations, fishing rights and access to natural resources. Comparing three "Mediterranean seas," I shall argue that Mediterranean seas share certain properties that give rise to tensions and even armed conflict, but also solutions to its problems. The second perspective uses macro-sociology and cultural anthropology to classify and understand actions of the general population as well as political leaders when they ascertain property rights to Mediterranean seas. |
| Keywords: | South China Sea, maritime economy, resources, cultural analysis,Mediterranean seas, ASEAN, China; South China Sea, cultural analysis, cultural theory, Mediterranean seas, ASEAN |
| JEL: | F5 F51 Q4 Q48 Z1 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55389&r=his |
| By: | Sandro Pereira Silva |
| Abstract: | A trajetória da segurança alimentar e nutricional (SAN) na agenda governamental foi marcada ao longo do século XX por uma série de descontinuidades, baixo grau de centralidade na política geral e poucos resultados sociais concretos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar essa trajetória histórica e avaliar as diferentes incursões da temática da segurança alimentar na agenda governamental brasileira. A partir de 2003, essa temática ganhou uma nova abordagem operacional, tendo como principal elemento a estratégia do Programa Fome Zero (PFZ). Ao verificar a operacionalização das ações desencadeadas a partir do lançamento desse programa, divididas neste trabalho para fins analíticos em seis linhas de atuação, notou-se que elas foram se fortalecendo ao longo dos anos. Chegou-se à conclusão de que a engenharia proposta e estabelecida pelo PFZ forneceu o principal referencial para a institucionalização da SAN na agenda das políticas públicas. Mas não se pode esquecer que ela foi uma estratégia totalmente dependente de contexto, e só conseguiu garantir essa institucionalização por uma série de medidas e ações anteriores. The trajectory of the food and nutritional security in the government agenda was marked throughout the twentieth century by a series of discontinuities, low degree of centrality in the general political and few social results. This work aims to analyze this historical trajectory and evaluate the different raids the theme of food security in the government agenda. Since 2003 this topic has gained a new operational approach, the main element of the strategy of Zero Hunger Program. When checking the operation of actions triggered from the launch of this program, this paper divided for analytical purposes into six action lines, it was noted that they were getting stronger over the years. The conclusion is that the engineering proposal and established to the Zero Hunger Program provided the main framework for the institutionalization of food and nutritional security in the public policy agenda. But we cannot forget that it was a strategy totally context dependent, and only managed to secure this institutionalization of a series of measures and actions earlier. |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1953&r=his |
| By: | Jenny-Paola Lis-Gutiérrez |
| Abstract: | Este artículo tiene el propósito de realizar una revisión de la literatura sobre la gestión de la propiedad intelectual (GPI) en las empresas. La documentación revisada para su elaboración tiene como fuente los artículos indexados en el índice bibliográfico Scopus y en las bases Emerald, Scielo y SSRN. La presente exploración abarca trabajos publicados a partir de 2003, ya que Hanel (2004) elaboró una revisión exhaustiva sobre prácticas en la GPI. El documento aborda la relación existente en la literatura entre la GPI y, las organizaciones, la Universidad; así como algunos casos de estudio en Estados Unidos, China, Japón, Europa y América Latina. |
| Keywords: | propiedad intelectual, gestión, organizaciones, patentes, universidad. |
| JEL: | L20 M15 M51 O34 |
| Date: | 2013–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000458:010904&r=his |
| By: | Jayne Cravens (Coyote Communications) |
| Abstract: | This is a review of Internet-mediated volunteering in European Union (EU) countries. It assesses the current status of such in EU countries and identifies key actors and stakeholders, drivers and barriers, uptake and usage, and potential challenges and risks for users, donors, policy makers and service operators. It reviews the early history of Internet-mediated volunteering, also known as virtual volunteering, online volunteering, micro-volunteering, crowdsourcing, and various other names, in Europe. This report also reviews possible linkages between Internet-mediated volunteering and greater employability and social inclusion for online volunteers, particularly young people. Finally, it identifies areas for EU policy development, review and refinement, and makes recommendations for future research. |
| Keywords: | Employability, Information Society, Work, Employment, Social Inclusion, Volunteering, Skills, Internet |
| JEL: | D64 L31 L32 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc85755&r=his |
| By: | Wittenberg, Martin (DataFirst, University of Cape Town); Pirouz, Farah (DataFirst, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | Earnings questions have been asked in South Africa's national surveys annually since 1994. A key question for labour economists has been to track and explain the evolution of earnings over this post-apartheid period. Unfortunately, however, the measurement instrument has changed in ways that make it tricky to simply take the raw figures and compare them even if one restricts the attention to the October Household Surveys and the various Labour Force Surveys. In this paper we analyse some of the changes and indicate where corrections are needed. We implement many of these changes in the second release of PALMS, the Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series (Kerr, Lam and Wittenberg 2013). The structure of the paper is as follows. In section 2 we review studies done on the earnings variables in the national surveys from Statistics South Africa, particularly those that comment on the comparability of the variables over time. In Section 3 we pay attention in more detail to the evolution of the measurement instrument. We then turn to an analysis of the actual responses in section 4 with a view to pinpointing where the underlying measurements may have changed. The following sections deal with ways of handling bracket information and missing data respectively . In section 8 we look at the impact of these data quality adjustments on the estimation of average real earnings over time. |
| Keywords: | earnings; PALMS, the Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:108&r=his |
| By: | Ho Fai Chan; Bruno S. Frey; Jana Gallus; Markus Schaffner; Benno Torgler; Stephen Whyte |
| Abstract: | External prominence (measured by the number of pages indexed on search engines or TED talk invitations) can be capitalized on the speakers' market while research performance (measured by publication and citation indicators) cannot. There is thus a clear distinction between the capitalization of external and internal prominence. Success through authorship of books is also positively correlated with speaking fees, however once we control for external prominence the statistical significance disappears. We find that academics profit from having been awarded a major book prize. |
| Keywords: | Academic Performance; Scholarly Importance; Market for Economists; Social Importance of Economists; External and Internal Influence; Book Prizes; TED Talks |
| JEL: | A11 A13 Z18 Z19 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2013-18&r=his |