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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2015‒07‒25
25 papers chosen by |
| By: | Ekaterina Khaustova (Russian State Social University (Kursk)); Paul Sharp (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of published information on wages and prices in Denmark to construct consistent real wage series for the years 1731 to 1913, which can be compared to other countries. Placing Denmark in a comparative perspective demonstrates that from being a relatively poor, backward economy in the eighteenth century, by the 1870s Copenhagen had one of the highest standards of living in Europe. Interestingly, this was before the introduction of stream-driven cooperative creameries, which leads us to speculate that high wages might have been an incentive to mechanize, as well as being a consequence of the later productivity increases in agriculture in particular. |
| Keywords: | Copenhagen, Denmark, prices, real wages! |
| JEL: | N33 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0081&r=his |
| By: | Sebastian Edwards |
| Abstract: | In this paper I revisit the period leading to the abandonment of the gold standard by the U.S. in 1933. I analyze what the important players – and in particular FDR and the members of the advisory group known as the “Brains Trust” – thought about the gold standard. My conclusion is that during the primary and presidential campaigns, neither Roosevelt nor his inner circle had a strong view on gold or the dollar. They did believe in the need to experiment with different policies in order to get the country out of the slump. Tinkering with the value of the currency was a possible area for experimentation; but it was an option with a relatively low priority, lower than implementing a public works program, and passing a bill that included crops allotment. Until inauguration day FDR’s views on the gold standard were ambivalent and noncommittal; he was neither a diehard fan of the system, nor was he a severe critic. |
| JEL: | B2 B22 B26 E31 F31 N12 N22 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21380&r=his |
| By: | Michael Kopsidis (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (Halle / Germany)); Martin Ivanov (Department of Philosophy, Sofia University) |
| Abstract: | The classical view of BulgariaÕs failed industrialization prior to the Second World War was established by Alexander Gerschenkron. According to his interpretation, an inherently backward small peasant agriculture and well-organized peasantry not only retarded growth in agriculture but obstructed any possible industrialization strategy. Following Hayami and Ruttan, we utilize the decomposition of farm labor productivity into land productivity, and land-to-man ratio to analyze the sources of growth in BulgariaÕs agriculture 1887-1939. Our results show that BulgariaÕs peasants did cross the threshold to modern growth during the Interwar period. Rich qualitative evidence supports the findings of our quantitative analysis that contrary to GerschenkronÕs view and conventional wisdom, BulgariaÕs peasants substantially contributed to the modernization of BulgariaÕs economy and society. We interpret our results in light of modern development economics, and conclude that agriculture formed no impediment to BulgariaÕs industrialization. The reasons that a Ôlarge industrial spurtÕ did not occur in Bulgaria until 1945 are not to be found in the agricultural sector. |
| Keywords: | Bulgaria, agricultural productivity, peasant agriculture, industrialization |
| JEL: | N53 N54 N13 N14 O13 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0082&r=his |
| By: | Oded Galor (Brown University); Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | This research explores the origins of the distribution of time preference across regions. It advances the hypothesis, and establishes empirically that geographical variations in the natural return to agricultural investment have had a persistent effect on the distribution of time preference across societies. In particular, exploiting a natural experiment associated with the expansion of suitable crops for cultivation in the course of the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that pre-industrial agro-climatic characteristics that were conducive to higher return to agricultural investment, triggered selection and learning processes that had a persistent positive effect on the prevalence of long-term orientation in the contemporary era. |
| Keywords: | Time preference, Delayed Gratification, Culture, Agriculture, Economic Development, Evolution |
| JEL: | O1 Z1 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1501&r=his |
| By: | Keller, Wolfgang; Shiue, Carol Hua; Wang, Xin |
| Abstract: | Capital markets allow surplus income to be invested into productivity-enhancing projects. Despite their prominence in general accounts of growth little is known on their role in the emergence of modern economic growth. In this paper we ask whether capital market performance might explain why Britain surged ahead of China in the 18th century. We employ an asset-pricing model together with information on regional grain prices to derive interest rates, and then compare capital market development in large parts of Britain and China. We first calibrate the method and show that it can replicate key features of the United States’ early 19th century capital market, where more systematic data from bank interest rates is available. Using this approach we estimate interest rates for Britain that are at least 20% lower than those for China, for the years 1770 - 1860. Moreover, the regional integration of British capital markets, measured in terms of bilateral interest rate correlations, was far greater than it was in China. The Yangzi Delta correlations come close to the British average at distances below 200 kilometers, but at larger distances interest rate correlations in Britain are twice those of the Delta, and three or more times as high as elsewhere in China. We also find that Britain’s advantage over China in terms of market integration existed already in the late 18th century. Backcasting on the 19th century trends suggests capital market divergence started by the year 1690. Overall, our results provide support for the hypothesis that divergence in capital market development occurred before income divergence, and may therefore be an important factor in explaining the Great Divergence. |
| Keywords: | asset pricing; capital market integration; financial development; storage |
| JEL: | G10 N10 N13 N15 O40 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10702&r=his |
| By: | Sara Horrell (University of Cambridge); Deborah Oxley (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Gender bias against girls in nineteenth-century England has received much interest but establishing its existence has proved difficult. We utilise data on heights of 16,402 children working in northern textile factories in 1837 to examine whether gender bias was evident. Current interpretations argue against any difference. Here our comparisons with modern height standards reveal greater deprivation for girls than for boys. But this result cannot be taken at face value. We query whether modern standards require adjustment to account for the later timing of puberty in historical populations and develop an alternative. Gender discrimination remains, although its absence amongst younger children precludes an indictment of culturally-founded gender bias. The height data must remain mute on the source of this discrimination but we utilise additional information to examine some hypotheses: occupational sorting, differential susceptibility to disease, poorer nutrition for girls, disproportionate stunting from the effects of nutritional deprivation, and type and amount of work undertaken, specifically labour additional to paid work in the domestic sphere. Of these, we favour housework as the main culprit, factory girls undertook more physical labour than factory boys and this was reflected in disproportionate stunting. The ‘double burden’ was, and remains, a form of gender discrimination. |
| Date: | 2015–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_133&r=his |
| By: | Ni Yuping (History Department, Tsinghua University); Martin Uebele (Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new archival evidence about amount and structure of central government disaster relief during ChinaÕs devastating flood of 1823. While the flood affected 20 percent of ChinaÕs counties, spending per capita was sizable and distributed between provinces depending on the intensity of flooding. However, because of its small relative size and thus limited state capacity the Chinese government had to spend about half of annual tax income on relief during 1823. We thus conclude that short-term disaster relief was prioritized by the Qing administration over long-term investments, which may have contributed to its secular economic stagnation. |
| Keywords: | Daoguang Depression, disaster relief, China, 19th century, state capacity |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0083&r=his |
| By: | B. Zorina Khan |
| Abstract: | Prizes for innovations are currently experiencing a renaissance, following their marked decline during the nineteenth century. However, Daguerre’s “patent buyout,” the longitude prize, inducement prizes for butter substitutes and billiard balls, the activities of the Royal Society of Arts and other “encouragement” institutions, all comprise historically inaccurate and potentially misleading case studies. Daguerre, for instance, never obtained a patent in France and, instead, lobbied for government support in a classic example of rent-seeking. This paper surveys empirical research using more representative samples drawn from Britain, France, and the United States, including “great inventors” and their ordinary counterparts, and prizes at industrial exhibitions. The results suggest that administered systems of rewards to innovators suffered from a number of disadvantages in design and practice, some of which might be inherent to their non-market orientation. These findings in part explain why innovation prizes lost favour as a technology policy instrument in both the United States and Europe in the period of industrialization and economic growth. |
| JEL: | N80 O3 O31 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21375&r=his |
| By: | HASAN BAKIR (ULUDAG UNIVERSITY); SEVGINAZ ISIK (ULUDAG UNIVERSITY); GORKEM BAHTIYAR (ULUDAG UNIVERSITY) |
| Abstract: | Crises have become one of the central concepts in macroeconomic policy issues for almost one century. Because it is crystal clear that the crises’ effects last at least a few years, then the recovery period lags behind. On the other hand, since the existing policies do not respond to the crisis, a new branch of economic school of thought arises or the existing one rises up again. After the Great Depression, Keynesian policies came forward causing the post-World War II era to be known as the ‘Golden Age of Capitalism’. But soon were tides to change. After the oil-price shocks, Monetarist school arose. The 1970s experienced the rise of the neo-liberal transformation, liberalization and rise of financial markets. Financial activity spread eventually everywhere as never before after this liberation movement. In addition to this, technological development occurred in financial services and more sophisticated and new financial instruments were produced in the financial sector. Gains in the financial sector increased and it captured power of industry sector. Neo-classical synthesis and the Efficient Market Hypothesis came to prominence. With all these, however, the global economy experienced another crisis named ‘The Great Recession’. Then, appropriate macroeconomic policy issues came to mind. Therefore, the paper argues that which directions of the economic schools of thought arose or came forward after the Great Recession. |
| Keywords: | Crises, the great recession, economic schools of thought |
| JEL: | A10 B22 G01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2604482&r=his |
| By: | Trincado, Estrella; Vindel, José María |
| Abstract: | This article poses a new methodology applying the statistical analysis to the economic literature. This analysis has never been used in the history of economic thought, albeit it may open up new possibilities and provide us with further explanations so as to reconsider theoretical issues. With that purpose in mind, the article applies the intermittency of the turbulence in different economic texts, and specifically in three important authors: William Stanley Jevons, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx. |
| Keywords: | econophysics,history of economic thought,bibliometrics,applications of statistical analysis |
| JEL: | B16 B40 C18 Z11 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201551&r=his |
| By: | Nurgül Dursun (Selcuk University) |
| Abstract: | The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 and Ataturk was the first President until his death in 1938. After Ataturk’s death, one party system continued until the establishment of Democrat Party in 1946. One party era lasted in 1950 after the victory Democrat party general elections. The period of Turkey after Ataturk, one party system affected sports as well as all areas of life. In our presentation, it will be emphasized general information about the perspective of sports of one party system over the sample Konya City.This presentation focuses on sport clubs and their activities and also sports in schools especially high schools in Konya between 1938 – 1950 and also significantly expresses the cooperation between local government, party administration and clubs on to gain the society sports culture and to acquire sport habit. This presentation includes main sports branches and local sportsmen, sport events and sport facilities of the era. |
| Keywords: | Sports History, Sports in Konya, One Party Era, Clubs, Branches. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2604374&r=his |
| By: | Filipe Campante; David Yanagizawa-Drott |
| Abstract: | We study whether war service by one generation affects service by the next generation in later wars, in the context of the major US theaters of the 20th century. To identify a causal effect, we exploit the fact that general suitability for service implies that how close to age 21 an individual’s father happened to be at a time of war is a key determinant of the father’s likelihood of participation. We find that a father’s war service experience has a positive and significant effect on his son’s likelihood of service. We estimate an intergenerational transmission parameter of approximately 0.1, across all wars, and that each individual war had a substantial impact on service in those that followed. We find evidence consistent with cultural transmission of war service from fathers to sons, and with the presence of substitutability between this direct transmission and oblique transmission (from society at large). In contrast, father’s war service increases sons’ educational achievement and actually reduces the likelihood of military service outside of wartime, suggesting that the results cannot be explained by material incentives or broader occupational choice. Taken together, our results indicate that a history of wars helps countries overcome the collective action problem of getting citizens to volunteer for war service. |
| JEL: | D74 D90 J12 J13 Z10 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21371&r=his |
| By: | Grintser, N. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Shumilin, M. (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The work is dedicated to the study of the Homeric poems in the modern and contemporary times, the current state of the most important related issues, urgent issues of research in this area and their most promising directions. A separate particularly interesting from the point of view of modern trends of Homerology case from the history of European science of Homer XVIII century is proposed to be compared in detail with the current state of Homeric studies. |
| Keywords: | Homer, Homer studies, XVIII century |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:mn71&r=his |
| By: | David LE BRIS (Bordeaux Management School, KEDGE-BEM) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the question of whether French savers bought foreign assets before 1914 in order to gain higher foreign returns or because of low correlation. Using the tools of Modern Portfolio Theory, the benefits from international diversification are decomposed into these two components, using a counterfactual hypothesis of perfect correlation between two assets. This approach allows for an original measure of the respective share of higher foreign returns and low correlation in the benefits of diversification. We argue that French investors were attracted mainly by weak foreign correlation with domestic assets rather than by higher foreign returns. |
| Keywords: | Portfolio diversification, Home bias, 19th century |
| JEL: | G11 G15 N23 |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvre:2013033&r=his |
| By: | Timothy Guinnane (Economic Growth Center, Yale University); Susana (University of Murcia, Spain) |
| Abstract: | Economists have long neglected study of an important contractual decision, a firm’s choice of legal form. Enterprise form shapes the relations among a firm’s owners as well as many features of a firm’s interactions with the rest of the economy. Using unusual firm-level data on Spain 1886-1936, we estimate nested logit models of the determinants of enterprise form choice. In 1919, Spain introduced a new enterprise form that compromised between partnerships and corporations, and displaced larger partnerships and smaller corporations. This Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada was especially important for small and median-sized enterprises whose owners were not related. |
| Keywords: | Law and finance, law and economics, legal form of enterprise, Spanish economic history, limited partnership, limited-liability company |
| JEL: | K20 N43 N44 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:1049&r=his |
| By: | Hills, Thomas (Department of Psychology, University of Warwick); Proto, Eugenio (Department of Economics, University of Warwick, CAGE and IZA); Sgroi, Daniel (Department of Economics, University of Warwick and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | We present the first attempt to construct a long-run historical measure of subjective wellbeing using language corpora derived from millions of digitized books. While existing measures of subjective wellbeing go back to at most the 1970s, we can go back at least 200 years further using our methods. We analyse data for six countries (the USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain). To highlight some results, we need a positive short-run effect for GDP and life expectancy on subjective wellbeing. An increase of 1% life expectancy is equivalent to more than 5% increase in yearly GDP. One year of internal conflict costs the equivalent of a 50% drop in GDP per year in terms of subjective wellbeing. Public debt, on the other hand, has a short-run positive effect. Our estimated index of subjective wellbeing generally does not feature any positive trend, which is consistent with the Easterlin paradox, although we caution against long term analysis given the historical variation of written texts (which parallel similar issues with historical GDP statistics). |
| Keywords: | Historical Subjective Wellbeing ; Big Data ; Google Books ; GDP ; Conflict JEL Classification: N3 ; N4 ; O1 ; D6 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:236&r=his |
| By: | Juljana Krisafi (Europian University of Tirana, doctoral school) |
| Abstract: | Between 1948 and 1960 albania relied on the soviet union. In 1948 the soviet union supplied the aid that Albania had lost from its break from Yugoslavia. Albania’s factories became dependent on soviet technology. New elements of the Stalinist economic system were adopted. This included the soviet process for drawing up the national economic plan. A lot of soviets arrived in Albania. They were the consultants in every area.The Soviet Union provided active assistance to backward, agrarian Albania in establishing a socialist economy. Hundreds of Soviet civilian and military experts were sent to Albania. There were also large cultural and educational exchanges, with thousands of Albanians (overwhelmingly males) traveling to study in the Soviet Union.Russian became compulsory in Albanian schools, and attitudes toward Russia had never been as positive in Albania’s history. According to information found in Albanian statistical archives, from 1947 to 1961, there were nearly 400 mixed marriages between the ethnic Albanian men and Russian women. Most of these women moved to Albania permanently with their husbands. In this paper I will focus in the the role of soviets in communist Albania, testimonies, documents, real evocations and lives lived between the two countries. Details about the complicated relationship between the two countries. |
| Keywords: | Soviet union, Albania, russian |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:0100833&r=his |
| By: | Stefano Fenoaltea |
| Abstract: | This paper is the eleventh section of Italian Industrial Production, 1861 1913: A Statistical Reconstruction (in progress). It documents the derivation, from the historical sources, of the time series that track the 1911-price value added of the construction industries. The path of railway and tramway construction is estimated from physical indicators. Construction to extend the (major/minor) railways and (urban/suburban, machine/horse) tramways is estimated from the annual completed mileage of the various networks, and the corresponding maintenance is estimated from track length and use; construction for (railway-net) improvements is indexed by rail consumption in excess of that required for network extensions. The new construction and maintenance of other public works are estimated from the expenditure figures in the national and local budgets, significantly corrected for changes in accounting rules, suitably scaled and deflated. The new construction and maintenance of private social overhead capital are estimated in part as expenditure (calculated for example from the matching public subsidy for land-reclamation projects), suitably deflated, and in part from physical indicators (for example of the additions to the productive capacity and distribution networks of the private utilities). The new construction and maintenance of private residential and commercial buildings are calculated by deflating assessment-based estimates of the gross additions to the stock, and of the stock itself, allowing for the buildings that were statutorily exempt. An index of urban construction is also estimated from the binder-consumption data available for a few dozen cities. |
| Keywords: | method, construction, Italy |
| JEL: | E01 N13 N63 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:422&r=his |
| By: | Robin Winkler (Oxford University) |
| Abstract: | How good was the standard of living in pre-war Nazi Germany? Some historians have argued that household food consumption in the 1930s was at least as high as in the Weimar Republic, in spite of militarisation. This article provides new evidence against this view by demonstrating that food price controls significantly distorted consumption patterns. We estimate that involuntary substitution effects cost average working-class households 7% of their disposable income. Consumer welfare in Nazi Germany was thus meaningfully lower than observed consumption levels and prices suggest. Our finding is based on microeconometric welfare analysis of detailed budget data for 4,376 individual German households surveyed in 1927 and 1937. |
| Keywords: | German economic history, National Socialism, household consumption |
| JEL: | N14 N34 D12 D52 |
| Date: | 2015–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_136&r=his |
| By: | William J. Collins; Marianne H. Wanamaker |
| Abstract: | We construct datasets of linked census records to study internal migrants’ selection and destination choices during the first decades of the “Great Migration” (1910-1930). We study both whites and blacks and intra- and inter-regional migration. While there is some evidence of positive selection, the degree of selection was small and participation in migration was widespread. Differences in background, including initial location, cannot account for racial differences in destination choices. Blacks and whites were similarly responsive to pre-existing migrant stocks from their home state, but black men were more deterred by distance, attracted to manufacturing, and responsive to labor demand. |
| JEL: | J10 J61 N32 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21384&r=his |
| By: | Maiofis, Maria (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)); Kukulin, Ilya (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)) |
| Abstract: | The three articles included in the preprint, show different options for applying the methods of the history to the study of the history of Soviet educational policy. Included in the preprint studies analyze specific types of educational institutions - namely, schools with enhanced learning of foreign languages and children's choral studio. |
| Keywords: | methods of the history, Soviet educational policy |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:mn70&r=his |
| By: | Marcel Prokopczuk (Leibniz University Hannover); Francesco D'Acunto (University of California at Berkeley); Michael Weber (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We look at the geography of historical Jewish persecution to proxy for localized distrust in finance. Households in German counties where Jewish persecution was one standard deviation higher are 7.5% to 12% less likely to invest in stocks. The results hold when comparing only geographically close counties, and counties that hosted documented Jewish communities in the distant past. Current antisemitism, discriminatory beliefs, generalized trust, or supply-side forces do not explain the effect, which instead is consistent with a norm of distrust in finance, transmitted across generations. The forced migrations of Jewish communities across the German lands in the Middle Ages help assess if the effect of Jewish persecution on stockholdings is causal. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:26&r=his |
| By: | Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt; Daniel P. McMillen |
| Abstract: | We analyze the determinants of building heights in Chicago by combining a micro-geographic data set on tall buildings with a unique panel of land prices covering 140 years. Consistent with the predictions of classic urban economics models, we find that developers respond to increasing land prices by increasing density, i.e. building taller. In 2000, the elasticity of height with respect of land price was about 45% for tall commercial buildings and 30% for tall residential buildings. As expected given significant improvement in construction technology over time, we find that the height elasticity approximately doubled over the last 100 years. We find evidence for dissipative height competition within cities, as excessively tall buildings are significantly less likely to be constructed near to each other than other buildings. Proximity to scenic amenities creates an extra incentive to outrival competitors, particularly in the residential market. |
| Keywords: | Chicago, density, height, land value, skyscraper |
| JEL: | R20 R30 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0180&r=his |
| By: | Teixeira, Aurora A. C.; Castro e Silva, Manuela |
| Abstract: | The way the fields are delineated has been the Achilles' heel of studies analyzing the status and evolution of given scientific areas. Based on van den Besselaar and Leydesdorff's (Mapping change in scientific specialities; a scientometric reconstruction of the development of artificial intelligence, 1996) contribution, the authors propose a systematic and objective method for delineating the field of ecological economics assuming that aggregated journal-journal citation relations is an appropriate indicator for the disciplinary organization of the sciences. They found that the relational scientific backbone of ecological economics comprises 7 main journals: American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Ecological Economics, Environment and Development Economics, Environmental and Resources Economics, Land Economics, Land Use Policy, and Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. From the 3727 articles published between 2005 and 2010 in the ecological economics field, and the corresponding 142 thousand citations two main outcomes emerged: 1) the intellectual frame of reference is overwhelmed by economists and environmental and resources economists with (renowned) ecological economists relatively underrepresented; 2) the building of an integrative knowledge domain is not apparent: on the one hand, ecological economics is seen to be an 'unbound' heterodox and multidisciplinary field, but on the other hand, and somewhat awkwardly, it is (still) heavily 'bound' by quantitative mainstream/ orthodox methodologies. |
| Keywords: | ecological economics,philosophy of science,bibliometrics |
| JEL: | C18 C8 Y10 Q57 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201552&r=his |
| By: | Janneke Plantenga |
| Abstract: | So far, the economic case for gender equality and female empowerment has gained stronger attention in the case of developing countries where women have far less rights and opportunities compared to developed ones. Hence, the grounds supporting gender equality have been much stronger and much more researched in the former. In developed countries, although there are still large differences in labour force participation, income and power, there is at least a growing equality in opportunity, making it less easy to analyse the existing gender inequality in terms of restrictions which need to be lifted in order to reach a fair and efficient division of work. This paper offers a review of the literature on the economics of gender equality by way of organising it along three propositions and two questions. This way it is possible to combine very different strands of literature, ranging from rather formal explorations within theoretical micro-economics, to more empirically oriented macro-economic research on economic growth, and rather heterodox contributions from feminist economics, illustrating the richness of the debate and the different positions that can be taken. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2015:m:7:d:0:i:104&r=his |