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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2015‒01‒19
34 papers chosen by |
| By: | Mishkin, Frederic S. (Columbia University); White, Eugene (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | Interventions by the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis of 2007-2009 were generally viewed as unprecedented and in violation of the rules---notably Bagehot’s rule---that a central bank should follow to avoid the time-inconsistency problem and moral hazard. Reviewing the evidence for central banks’ crisis management in the U.S., the U.K. and France from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, we find that there were precedents for all of the unusual actions taken by the Fed. When these were successful interventions, they followed contingent and target rules that permitted pre- tive actions to forestall worse crises but were combined with measures to mitigate moral hazard. |
| JEL: | E58 G01 N10 N20 |
| Date: | 2014–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddgw:209&r=his |
| By: | Marc Badia-Miró (Facultat d'Economia i Empresa; Universitat de Barcelona (UB)); Cristián A. Ducoing |
| Abstract: | This chapter analyses the effects of Natural Resources on the Chilean economy in the long run (1850 - 1950). Specifically, the authors focus their attention on the mining cycles (nitrates and copper) and their impact on the mining activity. We also compare it with the evolution of the industry and whole economy, and how this has affected the economic growth of the country. In that sense, the industrial performance in Chile at the end of the 19th century until the Great Depression is still under debate. The optimistic view of Kirsch (1977) forehead the pessimistic view of Lagos (1966) and Palma (1979). The new data and its analyses shows a neutral effect of the Natural Resources in the industrial development. |
| Keywords: | Natural Resources, Dutch Disease, Chile, Industrialization. |
| JEL: | N56 Q33 Q37 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ewp:wpaper:318web&r=his |
| By: | Borio, Claudio (Bank of International Settlements); James, Harold (Princeton University); Shin, Hyun Song (Bank of International Settlements) |
| Abstract: | In analysing the performance of the international monetary and financial system (IMFS), too much attention has been paid to the current account and far too little to the capital account. This is true of both formal analytical models and historical narratives. This approach may be reasonable when financial markets are highly segmented. But it is badly inadequate when they are closely integrated, as they have been most of the time since at least the second half of the 19th century. Zeroing on the capital account shifts the focus from the goods markets to asset markets and balance sheets. Seen through this lens, the IMFS looks quite different. Its main weakness is its propensity to amplify financial surges and collapses that generate costly financial crises – its “excess financial elasticity”. And assessing the vulnerabilities it hides requires going beyond the residence/non-resident distinction that underpins the balance of payments to look at the consolidated balance sheets of the decision units that straddle national borders, be these banks or non-financial companies. We illustrate these points by revisiting two defining historical phases in which financial meltdowns figured prominently, the interwar years and the more recent Great Financial Crisis. |
| JEL: | E40 E43 E44 E50 E52 F30 F40 |
| Date: | 2014–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddgw:204&r=his |
| By: | Richard S.Grossman (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University); Masami Imai (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University) |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes data on the presence of prominent individuals—that is, those with political (e.g., Members of Parliament) and aristocratic titles (e.g., lords)--on the boards of directors of English and Welsh banks from 1879-1909 to investigate whether the appointment of wellconnected directors enhanced equity value for bank shareholders. Our analysis of panel data shows that the appointment of connected directors did not increase the rate of return on bank equity. In fact, we find that the appointment of MPs to directorships had negative effects on bank equity returns. Our event-study analysis corroborates this finding, showing that a bank’s shares exhibited negative abnormal returns when their directors were elected to Parliament. Taken together, our results indicate that connected directors yielded little--or even negative--economic payoff to bank shareholders in pre-war Britain. |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wes:weswpa:2014-004&r=his |
| By: | Dusan Jerotijeviæ (Fakultet za poslovno industrijski Menadzment, Univerzitet Union, Belgrade) |
| Abstract: | . Beginning of the twentieth century brought great challenges, great sacrifices and great victories Serbian people. Political and economic conflict with the Austro - Hungarian empire , the wars with Turkey and Bulgaria, and finally the First World War brought a great victory and at the same time new challenges. The creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was supposed to bring peace deadbeat Serbian people. That, however, did not think the new citizens, notably the Croats, but some minorities (Albanians, Hungarians, etc.). Though defeated in war, in peace they quickly turned against the Serbs, although their rights have been equal to or greater than those enjoyed Serbian people. In addition, one new group, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, glorified the anti-Serbian and conducted many terrorist actions. Therefore, the period from the 1919th until in 1929. Age was infused with political conflicts and crises and parliamentary government. Beginning dictatorship was an attempt to calm this situation with a significant share of the King. There have also been forming unit’s administrations - duchies, which were supposed to mitigate inter-regional differences. While people in most, had a negative attitude towards these changes, after the death of King Alexander policies, integral Yugoslav abandoned. |
| Keywords: | King, Serbs, Croats, regime provinces.. |
| JEL: | K1 K19 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esb:casdrg:2014-223&r=his |
| By: | Mejía Cubillos, Javier |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the population estimates for 1500 of the current territory of Colombia. It reviews the literature and analyzes critically the methods and sources used in the field. We conclude that there is no consensus on population estimates for the period, much less with respect to the methods used in them. We offer arguments to show the importance of advancing in the exploration of the field and the existence of space to do so, thanks to the availability of new methods and sources. |
| Keywords: | Conquest, native population, prehispanic Colombia, 16th century |
| JEL: | I10 J11 J12 J13 N36 N96 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60611&r=his |
| By: | Konstantin Polivanov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The paper explores the tight relation between “art” and “immortality” in Boris Pasternak’s author’s ideology on the basis of his new discovered letter to his second wife Zinaida Nikolaevna Neigauz, written in the beginning of 1931. This letter, preserved only in a copy, sheds new light upon one of the most important point of author’s ideology. In this document, Pasternak explains his views on the unacceptability of suicide. The letter is closely related to his autobiographical work Safe Conduct, the final part of which was written soon after the suicide of Vladimir Mayakovsky. It is possible to stretch a line from the letter to the late Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago. The life finals of two protagonists, Yuri Zhivago and his antipode Pavel Antipov-Strelnikov, are compared. The main protagonist dies, leaving behind his poetry. For Pasternak, it is the way of continuation, “life after death”, and the symbol of creative immortality of a poet. On the contrary, Antipov committed suicide, and it was consequential final of his life position. |
| Keywords: | Boris Pasternak, 20th century Russian literature, literary biography |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:04/ls/2014&r=his |
| By: | Réka Juhász |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a natural experiment to assess whether temporary protection from trade with industrial leaders can foster development of infant industries in follower countries. Using a new dataset compiled from primary sources, I find that in the short-run regions (départements) in the French Empire which became better protected from trade with the British for exogenous reasons during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) increased capacity in a new technology, mechanised cotton spinning, to a larger extent than regions which remained more exposed to trade. Temporary protection had long term effects. In particular, by exploiting the fact that the post-war location of the cotton industry was determined to a large extent by the historical accident of the wars, I first show that the location of cotton spinning within France was persistent, and firms located in regions with higher post-war spinning capacity were more productive 30 years later. Second, I find that after the restoration of peace, exports of cotton goods from France increased substantially, consistent with evolving comparative advantage in cottons. Third, I show that as late as 1850, France and Belgium - both part of the French Empire prior to 1815 - had larger cotton spinning industries than other Continental European countries which were not protected from British trade during the wars; this suggests that adoption of the new technology was far from inevitable. |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1322&r=his |
| By: | Federico Tadei |
| Abstract: | A common explanation for African current underdevelopment is the extractive character of institutions established during the colonial period. Yet, since colonial extraction is hard to quantify, its precise mecha- nisms and magnitude are still unclear. In this paper, I tackle these issues by focusing on colonial trade in French Africa. By using new data on export prices, I show that the colonizers used trade monopsonies and coercive labor institutions to reduce prices to African agricultural producers way below world market prices. As a consequence, during the colonial period, extractive institutions cut African gains from trade by at least one-half. JEL Classification: N17; O43 Keywords: Africa, Development, Institutions, Colonization, Trade, Labor Markets |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:536&r=his |
| By: | Alexey A. Pleshkov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Language theory is an important part of Hobbes’ intellectual legacy. Nevertheless, it seems that the value of language can be understood only within political sphere. The role and place of language in Hobbes’ political theory should be examined intimately. What can language say about distinction between natural and political philosophy? Does the sovereign have power over the language of his subjects? Can we distinguish language in the commonwealth and language in the state of nature? Searching for answers to these questions is important not only in the context of the history of philosophy, but allows us to include Hobbes’ ideas in modern political and philosophical discourse. |
| Keywords: | Hobbes, language, state of nature, social contract, commonwealth |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:69hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Neil Cummins |
| Abstract: | I analyse the age at death of 121,524 European nobles from 800 to 1800. Longevity began increasing long before 1800 and the Industrial Revolution, with marked increases around 1400 and again around 1650. Declines in violence contributed to some of this increase, but the majority must reflect other changes in individual behavior. The areas of North-West Europe which later witnessed the Industrial Revolution achieved greater longevity than the rest of Europe even by 1000AD. The data suggest that the `Rise of the West' originates before the Black Death. |
| Keywords: | Mortality; Health; Nobility; Divergence |
| JEL: | O52 I3 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:60555&r=his |
| By: | Soldatos, Gerasimos T. |
| Abstract: | Put in terms of the two fundamental theorems of welfare economics, social or welfare liberalism is being defined as the tenet criticizing classical liberalism for neglecting the second theorem, having nothing to say about the “liberalism” of macroeconomic policymaking. This note claims that the macroeconomic dimension of social liberalism is the one advanced by pre-war, Old Chicago, which, based on the quantity theory of money, was maintaining (i) that it abides by laissez-faire but against classical liberalism’s laissez faire of “let the cycle run its course”, and given (ii) that Old Chicago was seeing government intervention necessary for income-redistribution reasons, too. Which of the two liberalisms holds the true version of laissez faire? Going back to the Physiocrats who had coined the term, one realizes that they had done so from the welfare liberalist point of view abstracting from the macro-monetary issues raised of Jean Bodin separately. This abstraction continues until today neglecting the “fact” that what Old Chicago had really done was to integrate into social liberalism the quantity-theory-of-money macro-monetary considerations having started with Bodin. The German “experiment” with the Freiburg-School-inspired Soziale Marktwirtschaft - an experiment in social liberalism - attests to the need for “Chicago rules” if social liberalism is to stand out as a different system altogether. In sum, the only microeconomics-cum-macroeconomics consistent with the true, the socio-liberal laissez-faire is the Old Chicago economics. Examples in classical liberalism are Monetarism and Austrian economics whereas Keynesianism and Marxism abandon laissez faire altogether. |
| Keywords: | Liberalism, Physiocrats, Pre-war Chicagoans, Soziale Marktwirtschaft, Macro-Monetary Economics |
| JEL: | B1 B2 D02 E3 P1 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59425&r=his |
| By: | Svetlana A. Yatsyk (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | William, Ninth Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1127) was one of the most powerful feudal lords of his day. Probably inspired by the intricate verse forms he discovered in Arabic Spain and Syria, he seems to have created the first troubadour lyrics (in his own words, “a chansoneta nueva” (new song), “un vers ... totz mesclatz d'amor e de joy e de joven” (a verse ... all mixed with love and joy and youth)). The fact that he shared courtly values and behaved himself has never been called in question in historiography. The cornerstone problem of this research is as follows: how and for what reason did William apply the specific feudal formulas in his poetry. In his canzones one can face a number of turns which were then recorded by later troubadours and became a kind of cliches displaying the ceremonies practiced in the South French society and connected to the formation of feudal system, especially to relations between vassal and his lord. |
| Keywords: | William IX of Aquitaine, troubadour, feudalism, canzone, Old Provencal, versification |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:74hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Andrei Vinogradov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper clarifies some issues of late antique and early Byzantine topography of Eastern Pontos Euxeinos. These questions can be divided into two large groups: the ecclesiastical topography and the locations of Byzantine fortresses. The earliest testimony of Apostolic preaching on the Eastern black sea coast—the list of the apostles by Pseudo-Epiphanius—following the ‘Chronicon’ of Hyppolitus of Rome, unsuccessfully connects South-Eastern Pontos Euxeinos to Sebastopolis the Great (modern Sukhumi), which subsequently gives rise to an itinerary of the apostle Andrew. The Early Byzantine Church in the region had a complicated arrangement: the Zekchians, Abasgians and possibly Apsilians had their own bishoprics (later archbishoprics); the Lazicans had a metropolitan in Phasis (and not in their capital Archaeopolis) with five bishop-suffragans. Byzantine fortresses, mentioned in 7th c sources, are located mostly in Apsilia and Missimiania, in the Kodori valley, which had strategic importance as a route from the Black sea to the North Caucasus |
| Keywords: | Caucasus, Byzantium, topography, Church, fortresses |
| JEL: | Z12 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:82hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Alexey V. Obraztsov (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Irina V. Gaida |
| Abstract: | The paper outlines the life and works of the prominent Russian orientalist and rightist conservative statesman Grigoryev, the founder of Europe's first department of Oriental history, the president of 3rd International Symposium of Orientalists (St. Petersburg 1876). Grigoryev was not only a world-renowned scholar but also a top imperial bureaucrat of colonial type. In 1854-1862 he virtually ruled “the Kyrghyz” (Kazakh) steppe. This article is an output of the research project "“Minority” vs “Majority” in the Historical and Cultural Continuum of Asia and Africa " implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the Higher School of Economics (HSE). |
| Keywords: | Oriental Studies, Vasily Valsilevich Grigoryev, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian orientalist, the Kyrghyz (Kazakh), 3rd International Symposium of Orientalists. |
| JEL: | Z19 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:72hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Michael Peneder (WIFO); Andreas Resch |
| Abstract: | Schumpeter's relation to venture finance constitutes a fascinating yet so far unacknowledged chapter of his biography and financial history. Presenting new historical evidence and pointing out connections that have so far escaped attention, we first discuss Schumpeter's venture theory of money and banking, then his personal history as a broke investor in Vienna, and finally his influence on the emerging venture industry during his later years at Harvard. We show how the theoretical vision inspired his failed effort as a venture investor in the 1920s, and provided a powerful intellectual frame for the later development of venture finance in the 1940s. |
| Date: | 2014–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2014:i:490&r=his |
| By: | Elena Galán del Castillo |
| Abstract: | Understanding the replacement of the nutrients removed by harvests helps us understand the influence of humans on fertility. In this paper we compare two previous studies on the nutrient balance of the cropland area in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, which run circa 1860 and 1920. Although in this region livestock densities per cropland area were insufficient to balance the extraction of three macronutrients—N, P and K—, a diverse range of fertilising sources managed to reach equilibrium at regional level. The vineyard played a key role, not because of the great area occupied, but by its relatively low nutrient requirements. Albeit due to the availability of historical sources the scale of analysis differs, the comparison of the two cases shows two different steps of the Socio-Ecological Transition of agricultural metabolism. Finally, the results take us to consider the relationship between fertility and inequality in the highly polarized Catalan rural world at the late nineteenth century. |
| Keywords: | Social Metabolism, Socio-Ecological Transition, Regional Nutrients Balance, Industrial Agriculture, Agricultural Change |
| JEL: | N33 D63 I12 I31 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:seh:wpaper:1411&r=his |
| By: | Maya Lavrinovich (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines an attempt to implement modern disciplinary practices in a new charity institution in early 19th century Moscow. The Sheremetev Almshouse was the first charity institution in Russia to expose the applicants for relief to inspections and visitations – practice borrowed from the system of outdoor relief established in Central and Western Europe since Reformation. The study demonstrates that the recipients were married men or widows with numerous children. They all belonged to the middling sort of Moscow dwellers, i.e. they were families of clerks and officials or non-commissioned and commissioned officers of middle ranks, sometimes, of priests, and considerable number of them had additional sources of income besides the relief they intended to receive from the Almshouse. Apparently, for members of these strata, applying for an extraneous relief was a kind of everyday practice. Yet, even though for none of them this relief was crucial for survival, they were still willing to consent to the inspections conducted for the administration in order to confirm their decent way of life. The focus of administrators on evaluating the social and moral conditions on the poor indicates that the Sheremetev Almshouse played a role generally associated with the state institutions established during the Catherine II’s reign in order to extend the modernizing efforts to a wider strata of the Empire's population. |
| Keywords: | early modern state, Russia, the Sheremetev Almshouse, Malinovsky, Moscow, poor relief, social discipline |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:65hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Estrada, Fernando |
| Abstract: | Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st century" has been the most important book economy in recent times. Its aim integrates the debate theories of growth, income distribution, inequality and differences between the extremes income and income of the majority. The work predicts a slow increase in the share of capital income and inequality. His proposal for a global tax on capital is a way to evaluate such tendencies. |
| Keywords: | Piketty, Capital in the 21st century, Capitalism, Distribution, Theory of economics. |
| JEL: | D3 D31 D33 E2 E25 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61126&r=his |
| By: | Riccardo Bellofiore |
| Abstract: | An understanding of, and an intervention into, the present capitalist reality requires that we put together the insights of Karl Marx on labor, as well as those of Hyman Minsky on finance. The best way to do this is within a longer-term perspective, looking at the different stages through which capitalism evolves. In other words, what is needed is a Schumpeterian-like, nonmechanical view about long waves, where Minsky's financial Keynesianism is integrated with Marx's focus on capitalist relations of production. Both are essential elements in understanding neoliberalism's ascent and collapse. Minsky provided crucial elements in understanding the capitalist "new economy." This refers to his perceptive diagnosis of "money manager capitalism," the new form of capitalism that came from the womb of the Keynesian era itself. It collapsed a first time with the dot-com crisis, and a second time, and more seriously, with the subprime crisis. The focus is on the long-term changes in capitalism, and especially on what L. Randall Wray appropriately calls Minsky's "stages approach." Our aim is to show that this theme has a deep connection with the topic of the socialization of investment, central in the conclusions of the latter's 1975 book on Keynes. |
| Keywords: | Great Recession; Marx; Minsky; Money Manager Capitalism; Neoliberalism; Schumpeter; Socialization of Investment; Stages Approach |
| JEL: | E5 E11 E12 E32 E44 E60 G01 G20 N10 P16 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_822&r=his |
| By: | Leah Boustan; Robert A. Margo |
| Abstract: | The United States has a long and ongoing history of racial inequality. This paper surveys the literature on one aspect of that history: long-run trends in racial differences in health. We focus on standard measures such as infant mortality and life expectancy but also consider the available data on specific diseases and chronic conditions. Our basic conclusion is that large improvements have occurred in the average health of African Americans over the twentieth century, both in absolute terms and relative to Whites. These health advancements occurred steadily throughout the twentieth century, with the peak period of improvement between 1920 and 1945 (for infant mortality) and 1940 and 1960 (for overall life expectancy). We attribute the improvements to successful efforts to fight specific diseases, improvements in public health, and narrowing racial gaps in education and income. Although racial inequality in health outcomes has fallen in the long term, significant disparities remain today. |
| JEL: | I14 J15 N11 N12 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20765&r=his |
| By: | Roman Yu. Pochekaev (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Mikhail Speranskiy, outstanding Russian statesman and legislator of the first half of the 19th century was the Siberian Governor-General from 1819-1821. The main result of this stage in his career was the reform of government in Asiatic Russia as well as development in 1822 of a set of codes – rules and regulations – for Siberia and its peoples. Speranskiy tried to incorporate his theoretical views on the state and law into these codifications. One of them were the “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz” which provided reforms of the government system of Kazakhs (“Kirghiz” in the Russian pre-revolutionary tradition) of the Middle Horde which were under the control of Siberian regional authorities. The Middle Horde became a place for practical experimentation for Speranskiy’s ideas. Previous researchers have paid more attention to consequences of the promulgation of the “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz” on the further history of Kazakhstan. This paper clarifies which specific ideas of Speranskiy on the state and law were reflected in the “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz” and answers the question of whether they had practical importance. A substantial part of the “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz” was, in fact, ineffective and didn’t use in practice because of lack of knowledge of Speranskiy on Kazakhs and his underestimation of their political and legal level. At the same time, authority of Speranskiy in the Russia of the 19th c. as legislator and reformer was so high that his “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz” became actual until 1860s when next substantial reforms in Kazakhstan took place |
| Keywords: | Mikhail Speranskiy, Russian Empire, Kazakhstan, “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz”, traditions and modernization, political and legal reforms, imperial legislation, traditional law |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:43/law/2014&r=his |
| By: | Apollon Davidson (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | For decades of the Cold War and for centuries before it the interests of both Russian and British academics that studied the history of each other’s countries seemed to be centred mainly on differences and conflicts between them, providing multiple detailed accounts of mutual hostility. History, alas, gave enough ground for this. |
| Keywords: | Russian studies, British studies, historiography, international relations, relations between Russia and Britain. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:66hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Maria A. Volkonskaya (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The twelfth-century renaissance was a new stage in European intellectual life. This paper examines the works of two distinguished medieval phonologists and spelling reformers of the time, namely Orm’s Ormulum and the so-called First Grammatical Treatise, which mark a significant step in medieval grammatical theory and show a number of similarities in the intellectual background, governing principles, and sources of their orthography. |
| Keywords: | Ormulum, First Grammatical Treatise, Middle English, Icelandic, spelling reforms. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:02/ls/2014&r=his |
| By: | Mireille Razafindrakoto (IRD, UMR DIAL, PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine); François Roubaud (IRD, UMR DIAL, PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine); Jean-Michel Wachsberger (Université Lille 3, UMR DIAL) |
| Abstract: | (english) This article aims at supplying an interpretative frame of the long-term Malagasy trajectory by redrawing the structuring knots of its political economy. The concomitance of periods of economic expansion and political crises leash indeed to suppose that one of the essential sources of the difficulties met by the country is its weak capacity to establish a stable political consensus around the processes of accumulation and the way of wealth distribution. In this hypothesis, the understanding of the Malagasy trajectory passes by a proofreading of the long history to highlight, for every period, the elements of system regulation and the contradictions which it faces. From precolonial period to our days, we identify the main actors, the sources of power and wealth, the modes of economic and social regulation and the contradictions of the system. This modelled proofreading of the history leads us to distinguish six big periods marking each a clear break with the one that came before without managing to solve all the main contradictions. _________________________________ (français) Cet article vise à fournir un cadre interprétatif de la trajectoire malgache de long terme en retraçant les noeuds structurants de son économie politique1. La concomitance de périodes d’expansion économique et de crises politiques laisse en effet supposer qu’une des sources essentielles des difficultés rencontrées par le pays est sa faible capacité à instaurer un consensus politique stable autour des processus d’accumulation et des modes de répartition des richesses. Dans cette hypothèse, la compréhension de la trajectoire malgache passe par une relecture de l’histoire longue en vue de mettre en évidence, pour chaque période, les éléments de régulation du système et les contradictions auxquelles il fait face. De la période précoloniale à nos jours, nous identifions les principaux acteurs, les sources de pouvoir et de richesse, les modes de régulation économique et sociale et les contradictions du système. Cette relecture modélisée de l’histoire nous conduit à distinguer six grandes périodes marquant chacune une nette rupture avec celle qui précède sans réussir pour autant à en résoudre les principales contradictions. |
| Keywords: | political economy, Madagascar, Long-term history, elites, rents, coalitions, institutions, growth, économie politique, histoire longue, élites, rentes, croissance. |
| JEL: | P48 F50 D70 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201421&r=his |
| By: | Elena A. Vishlenkova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The article focuses on theoretical aspects of an analysis of visual culture and the national and ethnic imagination throughout the latter part of the 18th century and the first 30years of the 19th century. Social conventions of demonstration and vision are revealed through works of art were issued by mass artistic production, such as paintings, medals, tapestries, snuffboxes, caricatures, cheap prints, theatre decorations, optical toys and glazed tableware, and sculptured symbols. At that time, the achievement of these conventions was linked to the cultural elite’s desire to determine the boundaries of the Russian nation and to distinguish it from the other tribes and people of the Russian Empire. The author also scrutinizes the cognitive abilities of the image and its abilities to shape of national consciousness |
| Keywords: | Russian empire, visual culture, national imagination, ethnic consciousness, Russianness, natural knowledge |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:77hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Maria A. Soloshcheva (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper represents an account of the text of the "Ñonquest of Qinghai" stele erected in 1725 in the context of the suppression of the rebellion against the Qing Empire initiated by Gushi Khan’s (1581-1655) grandson Lobsang Danjin in 1723–1724. This event became pivotal in the history of the eastern Inner Asia having influenced the situation not only in Qinghai itself, but also in Jungaria and Tibet. Why was the reduction of the rebellion of such a great importance and why did it lead to massive massacres of the lamas and destruction of the Buddhist monasteries? What was the official position of the Qing court on these events? This research offers a revision of the motives lying behind turbulent events in Qinghai of 1723–1724, based on the Yongzheng Emperor’s words carved in stone, shows his official attitude to the circumstances of the Rebellion; besides, it reveals significant aspects of his policy toward the peoples of eastern Inner Asia and outlines some aftermath of the Rebellion. |
| Keywords: | History of China, Qinghai, Koko Nor, Tibet, Qing Empire, Yongzheng, stele, rebellion of Lobsang Danjin. |
| JEL: | Z19 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:73hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Johansson, Anders (Stockholm China Economic Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | As Suharto’s authoritarian regime came to an end in 1998, the country’s business elite faced new challenges. While rent seeking had previously primarily taken place through direct relationships with and concessions from Suharto, the business elite in contemporary Indonesia operates in a setting with a higher degree of fluidity and uncertainty. This study sheds light on how the changes to the political landscape in Indonesia have affected the business elite. This is done by tracing the relationship between business and politics throughout history from the colonial period up to contemporary Indonesia. It also discusses how these changes have made the analysis of political connections and the value of political capital more complicated and highlights some of the factors believed to be important when analyzing the economics behind business-political relationships in Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | Indonesia; political change; rent seeking; political connections; patronage; patrimonialism; elite; oligarchy |
| JEL: | D72 G30 G38 |
| Date: | 2014–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hascer:2014-034&r=his |
| By: | Matteo Di Tullio |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to understand how traditional societies faced a period of general crises and more specifically, which behaviours were adopted to limit the increase of local socio-economic inequality. Thus, this paper focuses on a boundary area (the Geradadda) disputed by Milan and Venice that was constantly crossed and occupied by armies during the long period of the Italian Wars (1494-1559). Analysing the management of local finances, and specifically the local commons, it is possible to show the different ways in which these societies organized themselves and, generally, how economic growth occurred in the early modern period. |
| Keywords: | Commons, Inequality, Cooperation, Italian Wars, Sixteenth Century, Rural societies |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:don:donwpa:069&r=his |
| By: | Anastasia V. Shalaeva (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to establish German Romanticism as the foundation for the process of formation of the humanities as a discipline. The research aims to enquire into the ideas that were crucial for the formation of mythology into discipline. The research explores the role of the romantic philosopher and philologist Friedrich Creuzer’s arguments in relation to the history of science of mythology. The findings of the research illustrate the impact of the different positions in the debates surrounding mythology in the age of German Romanticism and German Idealism on the development of the humanities as a discipline. At the same time as he was studying the symbolism and mythology of the ancients he was acutely influenced by romantic ideas. We suggest that this fact is crucial for the interpretation of the history of mythology as a subject and as a discipline along with the complex interactions between historical, philological and philosophical arguments in Creuzer’s work |
| Keywords: | symbolism, mythology, romanticism, history of humanities, Georg Friedrich Creuzer |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:80hum2014&r=his |
| By: | Mark Dincecco; James Fenske; Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato |
| Abstract: | We show that the long-run consequences of historical warfare are different for Sub-Saharan Africa than for the rest of the Old World. We identify the locations of over 1,750 conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Europe from 1400 to 1799. We find that historical warfare predicts greater state capacity today across the Old World, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is no significant correlation between historical warfare and current civil conflicts across the rest of the Old World. However, this correlation is strong and positive in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, while a history of conflict predicts higher per capita GDP for the rest of the Old World, this positive consequence is overturned for Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2014-35&r=his |
| By: | Razafindrakoto, Mireille; Roubaud, François; Wachsberger, Jean-Michel |
| Abstract: | This article aims at supplying an interpretative frame of the long-term Malagasy trajectory by redrawing the structuring knots of its political economy. The concomitance of periods of economic expansion and political crises leash indeed to suppose that one of the essential sources of the difficulties met by the country is its weak capacity to establish a stable political consensus around the processes of accumulation and the way of wealth distribution. In this hypothesis, the understanding of the Malagasy trajectory passes by a proofreading of the long history to highlight, for every period, the elements of system regulation and the contradictions which it faces. From precolonial period to our days, we identify the main actors, the sources of power and wealth, the modes of economic and social regulation and the contradictions of the system. This modelled proofreading of the history leads us to distinguish six big periods marking each a clear break with the one that came before without managing to solve all the main contradictions. |
| Keywords: | Political economy; Long-term history; rents; growth; économie politique; Madagascar; histoire longue; élites; rentes; coalitions; institutions; croissance; |
| JEL: | P48 F50 D70 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dau:papers:123456789/14464&r=his |
| By: | Ivanskyy Andrey Yosipovich (Doctor of Law, Professor, Distinguished Lawyer of Ukraine) |
| Abstract: | The scientific article is devoted to the multidisciplinary study of the phenomenon of legal responsibility, in legal terms, as a manifestation of social responsibility. Responsibility as a phenomenon of social life rezmatra primarily from the standpoint of hermeneutics, and then illuminates the standpoint sematièkog pojimanja and substantive content of other humanitarian sciences. The study starts from the time of ancient Rome and sheds light on the genesis of conceptions of "responsibility" to the real legal understanding of the term today. Deep understanding of the contents of one of the most important features of socio-economic life ("odgovonrost") is based on the semantic and historical, but also multicultural method, and provides a strong basis for the development of optimal models of legal regulation of social relations that underlie this understanding of the content . |
| Keywords: | responsibility, legal responsibility, legal category, doctrinally place, a modern interpretation, substantive meaning |
| JEL: | K1 K10 K19 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esb:casdrg:2014-203&r=his |
| By: | Svetlana Bankovskaya (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The paper is based on the outcomes and inferences from the experiment with urban heterotopia found on the Manezhnaya square in Moscow. The main point of the experimental design (ethnomethodological in its intent) is to explore in vivo the heterotopical properties of the urban environment as the condition of this environment’s creativity and its interaction with the mobile actors. Creativity of the urban environment was interpreted as a particular kind of spatial order accumulating in counterfinal effects of collective behavior in the unique constellation --“heterotopia”. The flaneur was chosen as the most appropriate actor displaying the properties of an object and that of a receptive mobile interactant. The object of the experiment was the fragment of the metropolitan environment which combines the logic of the urban social organization (embodied in its concrete place) and the paralogy of the counterfinality of the mobilities inside this particular environment.Two modes of interaction were provoked in the experiment: first, intended, but unpurposive action observed by the passage through the ambiances of the specific fragment of the city by the flaneur, and focusing on his affective states during these actions (the affective profile of the place thus was achieved); and second, observing and mapping the flaneur’s movements as a purposive interaction with the same fragment of the environment, but in the form of derive (observation of the movement by the means of movement). The end of the observation in movement was to focus on the flaneur’s movements and to depict his route through the observable details of the spatial/social order of the environment. |
| Keywords: | urban history, history of sociology, new urbanism, heterotopias, creative environment, counterfinality, psychogeography, flaneurism, derive |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:70hum2014&r=his |