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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
|
Issue of 2018‒12‒10
thirty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | Joaquín Viloria De La Hoz (Banco de la República de Colombia) |
| Abstract: | En el documento se analizan los hechos más relevantes de la colonización adelantada en la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta y Serranía de Perijá, así como en la zona agrícola al sur de Ciénaga, más tarde conocida como Zona Bananera del Magdalena. El período de estudio se extiende entre los siglos XVII y XIX. Durante el siglo XVIII, las autoridades coloniales decidieron retomar la colonización de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta y su primer paso fue la evangelización de las comunidades indígenas allí establecidas. También, en la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII, el sistema colonial ordenó establecer una colonia agrícola con irlandeses, a mitad de camino entre Santa Marta y Valle de Upar, en territorio dominado por los indígenas chimilas. Estos proyectos fundacionales cumplían propósitos militares, religiosos y económicos. Más adelante, el proceso de la Independencia generó expectativas económicas en la nueva dirigencia política colombiana, que sólo empezarían a concretarse tres décadas más tarde. Aparejado a estas nuevas dinámicas, fue ganando fuerza el proyecto de crear empresas de inmigración y colonización en diferentes zonas del país, para atraer inmigrantes europeos. Pero estas empresas tropezaron con múltiples inconvenientes como la pobreza fiscal en los diferentes niveles de gobierno y las guerras recurrentes. La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta no fue ajena a la expansión cafetera nacional, lo que generó una colonización moderada a partir de las últimas décadas del siglo XIX. Lo cierto es que la colonización e inmigración planificada de la Sierra fue un fracaso, pero en cambio prosperó la emprendida por empresas particulares o por familias con vocación empresarial. De allí se pueden destacar las haciendas cafeteras organizadas en las cercanías de Santa Marta, Valledupar y Villanueva. **** ABSTRACT: The document analyzes the most relevant facts of the early colonization in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Serrania de Perijá, as well as in the agricultural area south of the Ciénaga, later known as the Magdalena Banana Zone. The period of study extends between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. During the 18th century, the colonial authorities decided to take back colonization of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and their first step was the evangelization of the indigenous communities established there. In addition, in the second half of the 18th century, the colonial system ordered the establishment of an agricultural colony with the Irish community, halfway between Santa Marta and Valle de Upar, in territory dominated by the indigenous people known as Chimilas. These foundational projects fulfilled military, religious and economic purposes. Later, the process of Independence generated economic expectations in the new Colombian political leadership, which would only begin to materialize three decades later. Together with these new dynamics, the project of creating immigration and colonization companies in different areas of the country to attract European immigrants was gaining strength. Nevertheless, these companies encountered multiple problems such as fiscal poverty at different levels of government and recurrent wars. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta was not unfamiliar with the national coffee expansion, which generated a moderate colonization from the last decades of the nineteenth century. It is true that colonization and the planned immigration of the Mountain range was a failure but, on the other hand, the one undertaken by private companies or families with business vocation was prosperous. As examples, it is worth mentioning coffee plantations organized nearby Santa Marta, Valledupar and Villanueva. |
| Keywords: | Colonización, inmigración, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Zona Bananera de Santa, Marta, Serranía de Perijá, café, banano. Colonization, immigration, Magdalena’s banana zone, coffee, banana. |
| JEL: | N9 N96 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:cheedt:49&r=his |
| By: | Jill Trinh (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between the Pareto distribution and Piketty’s third fundamental law of capitalism. It has been widely known that top income and wealth takes the form of Pareto distribution, yet there is very limited literature investigating the role of Piketty’s third fundamental law of capitalism, in which r (the rate of return on capital) > g (the growth rate of national income), in determining the shape parameter α of the Pareto distribution. The central takeaway of this paper includes: (i) a critical assessment of Piketty’s criticism of Pareto’s work on distributional inequality, presented in Capital in the Twenty First century (2014) in which he indicated that Pareto had an illusion of “stable” inequality; and (ii) a simple agent model to formally demonstrate the relationship between Pareto’s alpha and Piketty’s third fundamental law of capitalism. The first one concerns intellectual history and the second one has contemporary relevance. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:17-11&r=his |
| By: | Lychakov, Nikita |
| Abstract: | How can industrial policies lead to bank distress? In the 1890s, when undergoing rapid state-led industrialisation, the Russian Empire grew by foreign capital inflows into national debt and by state procurement of industrial output. Concurrently, state policies incentivised, but did not compel, commercial banks to finance industry. In 1899, the inflow of foreign capital fell sharply, initiating a financial crisis. Using newly-collected historical data and extensive narrative evidence, I find the banks which experienced greater distress in the crisis had more personal connections to the government officials who were close to the epicentre of policymaking. Moreover, these banks had more personal ties to the companies which had been most-stimulated by state policies to expand production. Taken together, these two findings suggest that national development policies had a destabilising impact on bank performance. |
| Keywords: | financial crises,bank failures,development policies,political economy,Russia |
| JEL: | G01 L5 O25 P16 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:201811&r=his |
| By: | William J. Collins; Ariell Zimran |
| Abstract: | The repeated failure of Ireland's potato crop in the late 1840s led to a major famine and a surge in migration to the US. We build a dataset of Irish immigrants and their sons by linking males from 1850 to 1880 US census records. For comparison, we also link German and British immigrants, their sons, and males from US native-headed households. We document a decline in the observable human capital of famine-era Irish migrants compared to pre-famine Irish migrants and to other groups in the 1850 census, as well as worse labor market outcomes. The disparity in labor market outcomes persists into the next generation when immigrants’ and natives’ sons are compared in 1880. Nonetheless, we find strong evidence of intergenerational convergence in that famine-era Irish sons experienced a much smaller gap in occupational status than their fathers. The disparities are even smaller when the Irish children are compared to those from observationally similar native white households. A descriptive analysis of mobility for the famine-era Irish sons indicates that more Catholic surnames and birth in Ireland were associated with less upward mobility. Our results contribute to literatures on immigrant assimilation, refugee migration, and the Age of Mass Migration. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J62 N31 O15 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25287&r=his |
| By: | Swinnen, J.; Meloni, G.; Haeck, C. |
| Abstract: | The concept of geographical indications or terroir refers to the special characteristics of a place that imparts unique qualities to the product (wine) produced. This paper analyses how regulations that formally establish a link between product quality and production location ( terroir ) affect the price of the product. More specifically, we study how the introduction of wine geographical indications or Appellations of Origin in early twentieth century France influenced the price of specific wines (Champagne and Bordeaux) in the years and decades following their introduction. We find very significant effects on prices of the initial Champagne zone, but no impact on other types of wines. Acknowledgement : This research was funded by the KU Leuven (Methusalem Funding) and the Cournot Center, Paris. The paper benefited from helpful conversations with and suggestions from Kym Anderson, Erik Buyst, Koen Deconinck, Eline Poelmans and Karl Storchmann. We also thank Antonio Meloni for excellent assistance throughout the construction of the dataset. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277221&r=his |
| By: | Rogério Arthmar (Department of Economics, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo); Michael McLure (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Keynes's relationship with Gustav Cassel and Eli Hecksher and puts together the events related to him being awarded the 1939 Söderström Gold Medal by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The correspondence between these economists during the interwar years is detailed, with emphasis on their personal approaches to economic theory and history. Cassel's and Heckscher's critical reviews of Keynes's General Theory are outlined as well. Lastly, an account is provided of the grounds for conferring the award on Keynes while also drawing attention to the conflict-laden proceedings within the Academy when the conferral of the ward was being contemplated. The final remarks ponder why Keynes received the prize in spite of the prevailing controversy within the Swedish School over the General Theory at the time. |
| Keywords: | European reconstruction, purchasing power parity, mercantilism, effective demand, history of science |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:17-17&r=his |
| By: | Richard B. Baker; Carola Frydman; Eric Hilt |
| Abstract: | We study the importance of discretion in antitrust enforcement by analyzing the response of asset prices to the sudden accession of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency. During McKinley’s term in office the largest wave of merger activity in American history occurred, and his administration did not attempt to use antitrust laws to restrain any of those mergers. His vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, was known to be a Progressive reformer and much more interested in controlling anticompetitive behavior. We find that firms with greater vulnerability to antitrust enforcement saw greater declines in their abnormal returns following McKinley’s assassination. The transition from McKinley to Roosevelt caused one of the most significant changes in antitrust enforcement of the Gilded Age—not from new legislation, but from a change in the approach taken to the enforcement of existing law. Our results highlight the importance of enforcement efforts in antitrust. |
| JEL: | N11 N21 N31 N41 N81 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25237&r=his |
| By: | Michael McLure (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | Polemical views are held among many historians as to whether the ‘original version’ of the Edgeworth box was drawn by Edgeworth, in his 1881 Mathematical Psychics, or Pareto, in his 1906 Manual of Political Economy. This study demonstrates that that polemic is largely attributable to a failure to consider the relationship between ‘trade’ flow oriented indifference curves drawn in Edgeworth’s Figures 1 and 5 and the implications of the relationship between those two diagrams for the definition of the origin of Edgeworth’s Figure 1. A new history of Edgeworth’s and Pareto’s contributions to the development of the Edgeworth box diagram is presented that highlights the intermediate role played by Pareto’s graph, from his 1902 article ‘On a New Error in the Interpretation of the Theories of Mathematical Economics’, which derives from Edgeworth’s Figure 5 except Pareto maps the indifference curves in the standard ‘allocation’ orientation. |
| Keywords: | Box diagram, Creedy, Edgeworth, Jaffé, Pareto, Tarascio |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:17-12&r=his |
| By: | Masato Shizume (Professor, Waseda University; Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, the Bank of Japan (e-mail: masato.shizume@waseda.jp)) |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs a time series of data related to black- market prices of five goods (rice, sweet potatoes, potatoes, chicken eggs and sugar) during World War II (WWII) in Japan. It is the first attempt to capture the actual price fluctuation trends for individual products throughout the period during and after WWII. To this end, I have employed the hedonic approach, which is a methodology used to adjust for the quality of goods including the characteristics of counterparties and places of transaction in constructing the price data, to obtain estimates that are as unbiased as possible. The data reveals that 1) black-market prices of these goods soared during WWII to post 40-80 percent inflation on a quarterly basis toward the end of the war, 2) by the end of the war, black-market prices had already increased by over 50 times (in the case of sweet potatoes) or 700 times (in the case of sugar) compared with 1934 levels, prior to wartime inflation, indicating more severe inflation during the war than after the war, 3) the most severe period of inflation varied by product, peaking during the war for rice and sugar and after the war for sweet potatoes, potatoes and chicken eggs, and 4) black- market prices were generally higher in urban areas than in rural areas. |
| Keywords: | Price Formation, Black Markets, World War II, Hedonic Approach, Economic Controls |
| JEL: | E31 N15 N45 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ime:imedps:18-e-17&r=his |
| By: | Joaquím Cuevas (Universidad de Valencia, Spain); Pablo Martín-Aceña (Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Spain); María Ángeles Pons (Universidad de Valencia, Spain) |
| Abstract: | Since the 1990s, BBVA and Banco Santander have undergone a huge transformation; they have gone from being two of the largest Spanish banks to two of the world’s biggest. Although the internationalisation process intensified from the 1990s on, some of the banks that were merged to form BBVA and Banco Santander had a previous history of internationalisation. This paper addresses two main issues. Firstly, we explore why Spanish banks internationalise and why Latin America has been the main region of expansion for these two banks. Secondly, we examine how Spanish banks internationalise and how BBVA and Santander adopted different internationalisation strategies. To that end, the paper examines the roots of international expansion and explains the main changes occurring in the 1990s that encouraged the internationalisation process of both banks. |
| Keywords: | Spain, Financial history, Banks, Globalisation, Market entry |
| JEL: | F23 G21 M16 N20 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1809&r=his |
| By: | Esra Kose (Bucknell University); Elira Kuka (Southern Methodist University); Na'ama Shenhav (Dartmouth College) |
| Abstract: | While a growing literature has shown that women prefer investments in child welfare and increased redistribution, little is known about the long-term effect of empowering women. Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in U.S. suffrage laws, we show that children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who were exposed to women�s political empowerment during childhood experienced large increases in educational attainment, especially blacks and Southern whites. We also find improvements in earnings among whites and blacks that experienced educational gains. We employ newly digitized data to map these long-term effects to contemporaneous increases in local education spending and childhood health, showing that educational gains were linked to improvements in the policy environment. |
| Keywords: | women's suffrage, educational attainment |
| JEL: | I21 N32 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1809&r=his |
| By: | Fenoaltea, Stefano |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that we cliometricians have failed as economists, because we did not drag the profession out of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth; that we have failed as historians, because we do not take measurement seriously, and misapprehend “the data”; and that we failed signally as economic historians, because we backcast “GDP” as if it measured gross domestic product. |
| Keywords: | economics, economic history, cliometrics |
| JEL: | A10 B40 N01 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90210&r=his |
| By: | Luca Benati |
| Abstract: | Schularick and Taylor (2012) documented a sizeable increase in the ratio between credit and broad money since the end ofWWII, which they interpreted in terms of a progressive disconnect between the two aggregates. I show that this interpretation is incorrect, since, as I demonstrate mathematically, this evidence is uninformative for the issue at hand. In fact, Jordà, Schularick and Taylor’s (JST) data show that, since the XIX century, fluctuations in broad money and credit have exhibited an extraordinarily strong correlation within each single country in the dataset, to the point that (e.g.) either Shin’s (1994) or Wright’s (2000) test consistently detects cointegration between the multipliers of the two aggregates. I also show that, after WWII, there has been no change in the relative prediction power of credit and broad money for financial crises compared to the pre-WWII period, and that the change in the multiplier of either aggregate has been more powerful than credit growth, the variable considered by Schularick and Taylor. My results imply that (1) for the ‘traditional’ banking sector there has been no change, since WWI, in the relationship between its monetary liabilities, and the amount of credit it extends to the private non-financial sector; and (2) only the comparatively recent ascent of the ‘shadow’ banking sector–which is not covered by either JST’s, or the Bank for International Settlements’ data– introduced a ‘wedge’ between broad money and credit. Contrary to Schularick and Taylor’s interpretation, the ascent of ‘shadow banking’ is the only reason why, today, we live in the ‘Age of Credit’. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp1811&r=his |
| By: | Li, Y.; Ruan, J.; Ye, C. |
| Abstract: | Market is the foundation of modern society. However, how did market evolve? Previous research has explored the impacts of spatial distance and transportation conditions on market integration. This paper argues that natural disasters also played a crucial role in the evolution of market integration in China, particularly in the grain market. When natural disasters occur, governments relief measures and merchants arbitrage activities will gradually promote interconnectivity among local grain markets. In this paper, China's major grain monthly price dataset from 1746-1795 and the Chinese historical disaster records dataset from 1696-1795 are used to analyze the impact of natural disasters on grain market integration. The empirical results show that natural disasters have a significantly positive effect on the integration of the grain market. The findings continue to hold after controlling the traffic conditions, grain varieties and lag effect. This study proposes a new perspective for understanding the evolution of the grain market. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277346&r=his |
| By: | Lieberknecht, Philipp; Vermeulen, Philip |
| Abstract: | We estimate the long- and short-run relationship between top income and wealth shares for France and the US since 1913. We find strong evidence for a long-run cointegration relationship governed by relative saving rates at the top. For both countries, we estimate a decline in the relative saving rates at the top – after 1968 in France and 1983 in the US, equivalent to a reduction of the long-run gap between wealth and income inequality compared to the period before. In the short-run, income inequality drives wealth inequality, while the converse link is weaker and slower. Using counterfactual simulations, we find that the recent rise in wealth inequality in the US is largely attributable to the contemporary increase in income inequality. Modest income concentration dynamics and a stronger decline in relative saving rates at the top than in the US contributed to a more subdued rise in wealth inequality in France. JEL Classification: D31, E21, E25, N32, N34 |
| Keywords: | cointegration, income inequality, top shares, VECM, wealth inequality |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20182204&r=his |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Oasis Kodila-Tedika (University of Kinshasa, DRC) |
| Abstract: | One of the most disturbing contemporary episodes in human history that has been decried globally is the recent Libyan experience of slave trade, where migrants captured end-up being sold as slaves. We contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon by investigating the role of cognitive human capital in slave trade. To this end, we use the historic intelligence and slave trade variables respectively, as the independent and outcome variables of interest. Our findings show a negative relationship between slave trade and cognitive human capital. Hence, slave trade is more apparent when cognitive human capital is low. The Ordinary Least Squares findings are robust to the control for outliers, uncertainty about the model and Tobit regressions. We substantiate why from the perspective of massive sensitisation and education, the non-contemporary relationship between cognitive ability and slave trade established in this study has contemporary practical policy relevance in efforts to stem the tide of clandestine travel to Europe through countries in which clandestine migrants are captured and sold as slaves. |
| Keywords: | Intelligence; Human Capital; Slavery |
| JEL: | I20 I29 N30 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afe:wpaper:18/014&r=his |
| By: | Rogério Arthmar (Department of Economics, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Brazil); Michael McLure (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This study reflects on Arthur Cecil Pigou’s contribution to public debate over Britain’s return to peace during the initial period the First World War. It explores Pigou's letters to The Nation, in early 1915, suggesting an open move by the Allies towards an honourable peace with Germany; and provides and account of the fierce controversy that erupted in the British press in reaction to Pigou's proposal. The study also places Pigou’s efforts at persuading the broader public of a peace treaty with Germany within the context of events at Cambridge. That is achieved by providing an outline of the March 1915 debate, at the Cambridge Union Society, on Pigou's motion for a moderate Allied peace policy to secure Germany’s ‘conditional’ surrender. Pigou's assessment of the conditions for peace is also compared with those formulated at the time by William Cunningham, Bertrand Russell and Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson. The study ends with a critical reflection on Pigou’s plan for ending the war. |
| Keywords: | peace, war costs, reparations, foreign policy, commercial integration |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:17-14&r=his |
| By: | Matthieu Renault |
| Abstract: | Contrarily to standard accounts of the history of macroeconomics, recent research has increasingly paid attention to the Old Keynesians’ criticisms of the New Classical Economics. In this paper, I study another study case through Edmond Malinvaud’s criticisms of the New Classical Economics from the 1980s onwards. I argue that his opposition was radical in the sense that it was both multi-dimensional and systematic. I show, then, that the way he opposed reveals his own conception of macroeconomics, which owed much to the methodology and the practice of macroeconometric modeling. Finally, I suggest that the study of Malinvaud’s opposition to the New Classical Economics shed light on both the nature and rationale of the Old Keynesians’. |
| Keywords: | History of Macroeconomics; Edmond Malinvaud; Old Keynesians; Neoclassical Synthesis; The New Classical Economics; Macroeconometric modeling |
| JEL: | B22 B23 B31 B41 |
| Date: | 2018–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2018wpecon21&r=his |
| By: | Elena Esposito |
| Abstract: | Why did African slavery rise in the southern United States? The novel empirical evidence presented in this paper reveals that (i) malaria was a major determinant for the rise and spread of African slavery in the US South and (ii) malaria resistance made sub-Saharan Africans especially attractive for employment in these regions. We show that African enslaved labor was massively introduced in the United States after the spread of a deadly malaria species, and that it remained largely concentrated in the more malariainfested areas of the South. We further document that more malaria-resistant slaves, i.e. those born in the most malaria-ridden regions of Africa, commanded higher prices. |
| Keywords: | Slavery, Malaria, African Slave Trade, Colonial Institutions |
| JEL: | I12 N31 N37 N57 J15 J47 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lau:crdeep:18.07&r=his |
| By: | Oded Galor; Ömer Özak; Assaf Sarid |
| Abstract: | This research explores the geographical origins of the coevolution of cultural and linguistic traits in the course of human history, relating the geographical roots of long-term orientation to the structure of the future tense, the agricultural determinants of gender bias to the presence of sex-based grammatical gender, and the ecological origins of hierarchical orientation to the existence of politeness distinctions. The study advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that: (i) geographical characteristics that were conducive to higher natural return to agricultural investment contributed to the existing cross-language variations in the structure of the future tense, (ii) the agricultural determinants of gender gap in agricultural productivity fostered the existence of sex-based grammatical gender, and (iii) the ecological origins of hierarchical societies triggered the emergence of politeness distinctions. |
| JEL: | O10 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25289&r=his |
| By: | Federico Etro; Elena Stepanova |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence of a cubic law of art prices that hints to a general pattern for the distribution of artistic talent. The persistence across heterogeneous markets from historical ones to contemporary art auctions of a power law in the distribution of the average price per artist suggests the possibility of a universal law for talent distribution. We explore scale-free networks of teacher-students to investigate the diffusion of talent over time. |
| Keywords: | Power laws; Art prices; Talent distribution; Scale-free networks |
| JEL: | C23 Z11 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2018_20.rdf&r=his |
| By: | Nicoleta Caragea (National Institute of Statistics, Ecological University of Bucharest); Antoniade Ciprian Alexandru (Ecological University of Bucharest, National Institute of Statistics) |
| Abstract: | Education is not just a matter of national interest, it's strategic, it's a fundamental interest. For over 100 years, the Romanian education system has been constantly changing. At present, there is still a need to modernize the national education system and to create mechanisms for integrating young graduates into the labor market according to their professional training. The year 2018 is an anniversary one in Romania. Statistics of education could reflect the social development of the nation, in term of education system evolution and structure during the last century. This paper presents a summary of data on education collected from a diversity of old statistical yearbooks, historical studies and databases provided by National Institute of Statistics. |
| Keywords: | education, century of statistics, history, Romania |
| JEL: | B00 B23 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eub:wpaper:2018-03&r=his |
| By: | Schnabl, Gunther |
| Abstract: | The currency reform on 20 June 1948, together with a comprehensive liberalisation of prices and the implementation of monopoly control, formed the basis for the West German economic miracle. From then on, the market principles formulated by Walter Eucken und implemented by Ludwig Erhard became the economic backbone of the European integration process. 70 years later, little remains of the basic principles of the German social market economy. An increasingly expansive monetary policy of the European Central Bank undermines market principles, growth and social cohesion in Europe, thereby eroding political stability. To ensure Europe's economic, political and social stability, a return to a stable currency and a marketoriented order is needed. |
| Keywords: | currency and economic reform,economic order,Ludwig Erhard,Walter Eucken,European integration,democracy,inequality,social market economy |
| JEL: | B20 B25 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:leiwps:156&r=his |
| By: | Ravagnani, Fabio |
| Abstract: | In two passages of Production of Commodities, Sraffa states very concisely that the analysis presented also applies to viable economic systems in which the means of production consumed are not fully replaced. This aspect of the book has been nearly ignored for a long time, and only in the last two decades have some scholars begun to discuss it in depth. Since these scholars basically rely on the terse references to non-self-replacing systems appearing in Sraffa’s published works, however, a question is left pending in their contributions—what exactly was Sraffa’s position as regards the nature and relevance of those systems? The present note seeks to shed light on this question by systematically examining the pertinent passages of Sraffa’s unpublished manuscripts. On the basis of this examination, the final section briefly comments on some debatable aspects of current renditions of Sraffa’s theory. |
| Keywords: | Sraffa; Production Systems; Modern Classical Approach |
| JEL: | B24 B51 E11 |
| Date: | 2018–11–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90259&r=his |
| By: | Adrian GHIONEA (Faculty of Financial Management (Student), Ecological University of Bucharest) |
| Abstract: | Romania has witnessed a new positive evolution, after 1918, through the new framework created as a result of the unification of Basarabia, Bucovina and Transylvania. In that time, Romania was one of the countries with the strongest economic, political and cultural development in Europe. This paper presents a summary of data on population collected from a diversity of old statistical yearbooks, historical studies and databases provided by National Institute of Statistics. |
| Keywords: | population, century of statistics, history, Romania |
| JEL: | B00 B23 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eub:wpaper:2018-08&r=his |
| By: | Jan Kregel |
| Abstract: | Ten years after the fall of Lehman Brothers and the collapse of the US financial system, most commentaries remain overly focused on the proximate causes of the last crisis and the regulations put in place to prevent a repetition. According to Director of Research Jan Kregel, there is a broader set of lessons, which can be unearthed in the work of Distinguished Scholar Hyman Minsky, that needs to play a more central role in these debates on the 10th anniversary of the crisis. This insight begins with Minsky's account of how crisis is inherent to capitalist finance. Such an account directs us to shore up those government institutions that can serve as bulwarks against the inherent instability of the financial system--institutions that can prevent that instability from turning into a prolonged crisis in the real economy. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levypn:18-5&r=his |
| By: | Gergana Popova (South-West University ?Neofit Rilski?, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the disciplining of sexuality in the family frame during the first two decades of the communist rule in Bulgaria. It analyses legislative documents against divorce, abortion and cohabitation; speeches of high-standing party functionaries on the role of the communist family and the danger from sexual corruption; the media campaigns and early repressive practices against youngsters with loose behavior. The paper draws the conclusion that both the conceptualization and the legislative actions aiming to preserve family morality perceived sexual practices in Bulgaria during the early communist regime as legitimate as long as they were reproductive sexual relationships between spouses. The pursuit of sexual satisfaction as an end in itself, even within the framework of family life, was rendered unacceptable. In this respect the study uses some of Foucault?s reflections about ?the great appropriation of sexual ethic by family morals? but also tries to show the difference between communist and bourgeois family. In its final part the paper makes an attempt to clarify the reasons for the intensification of the repression upon sexuality in Bulgaria under communist rule. |
| Keywords: | communist regime, disciplining of sexuality, communist family, comradeship, repressive hypothesis |
| JEL: | P30 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:7009080&r=his |
| By: | Valdes, A. |
| Abstract: | The agrarian reform carried out between 1965 and 1973 was the result of legitimate problems in pre-reform rural society, of which slow agricultural growth was one major determinant. Ultimately the reform failed to achieve its initial objectives in terms of accelerating growth but had a profound social and political impact in rural areas. This text contributes to the literature on the objectives and outcomes of agricultural reform in Chile by raising arguments and evidence regarding various components of the process. The key lessons from this analysis are that the leaders behind the agrarian reform misinterpreted their diagnosis about the causes behind the slow growth of agriculture, attributing this slow growth to farm tenure system at the time, ignoring the adverse impact on the sector of economy-wide policies. Additionally, simply paying attention to similar agricultural reform processes worldwide may have helped the reformers avoid the Asentamientos disappointing performance. These lessons are relevant to continuing debates on the interphase between land tenure structure and agricultural policies. Acknowledgement : The authors want to thank William Foster for his valuable contribution on a previous study on the Agrarian Reform. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277144&r=his |
| By: | Abdelghani Maddi (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | En s'appuyant sur les techniques de cartographie, en se basant sur l'analyse textuelle et l'analyse des réseaux de citations nous avons analysé le développement de la thématique de la crise économique. L'objectif est de montrer dans un premier temps les courants de pensée et les auteurs influents. Dans un second temps comprendre son évolution à travers le temps. Pour ce faire, nous avons extrait de l'interface du WOS en ligne l'ensemble des publications contenant le mot « crisis » dans les catégories disciplinaires « economics » et « business & finance ». Notre requête renvoie plus de 24000 publications. Nos résultats nous ont permis de montrer les différents courants de pensée dominant l'analyse de la crise économique ainsi que les auteurs les plus influents. L'analyse textuelle des termes présents dans les titres, résumé et mots-clés montre des changements majeurs dans la façon dont les économistes traitent le sujet. Désormais, une bonne partie des publications traitant la thématique de la crise économique cherche non pas à traiter les conséquences ou à proposer des solutions, mais plutôt prévoir l'avènement des crises à travers l'analyse des différents risques qui conduiraient à une crise. Nous avons montré également que cette thématique est très fortement dominée par la finance tant au niveau microéconomique que macroéconomique. |
| Keywords: | crise économique,analyse textuelle,bibliométrie,citations,références bibliographiques |
| Date: | 2018–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cepnwp:hal-01922256&r=his |
| By: | Price Fishback; Sebastián Fleitas; Jonathan Rose; Kenneth Snowden |
| Abstract: | Foreclosures led to severe disruptions in home mortgage lending during the recent Great Recession and the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is difficult to measure these impacts in the modern market where origination, funding and servicing are separated within complex lending structures, but during the 1930s local building & loans (B&Ls) combined all three functions. We measure the impact of foreclosures on new mortgage lending using a panel of all B&Ls in 4 states. The foreclosure overhang explains about 30 percent of the drop in new mortgage lending by B&Ls as the housing crisis intensified between 1930 and 1935. |
| JEL: | E32 E44 G23 N12 N22 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25246&r=his |
| By: | Jonathan Marie (Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord (CEPN)); Sébastien Charles (LEDA) |
| Abstract: | Adoptant un cadre post-keynésien, l’article analyse le processus inflationniste à l’œuvre de 1948 jusqu’aux années 1980 pour, d’une part, comprendre les origines de la quasi hyperinflation du 1er semestre 1985 et, d’autre part, saisir la réussite du plan de stabilisation intervenu lors de l’été de cette même année. En 1985 le shekel semble devoir être complètement rejeté par ses utilisateurs au profit du dollar, ce qui, dans le contexte fortement inflationniste d’alors, aurait dû engendrer une hyperinflation. Ce résultat est provoqué par la conjonction de plusieurs facteurs : la virulence historique du conflit de répartition, la présence de mécanismes d’indexation et la fragilité des comptes extérieurs marqués par un déficit courant structurel. Le plan de stabilisation, soutenu par l’aide financière importante des États-Unis, permet d’atténuer immédiatement la contrainte de financement externe et parvient à affaiblir durablement la virulence du conflit de répartition, écartant ainsi les risques hyperinflationnistes. L’analyse de cette trajectoire historique confirme la cohérence théorique de l’analyse post-keynésienne de l’hyperinflation. |
| Keywords: | Israël, Hyperinflation, analyse post-keynésienne |
| JEL: | E12 E31 N15 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upn:wpaper:2018-10&r=his |
| By: | Thep Boontanondha (Graduate School of Asia ? Pacific Studies, Waseda University) |
| Abstract: | Thailand has seen 13 coup d'états since the 1932 revolution that established democracy in the country. This number marks Thailand as one of the countries experiencing most frequent coup d?états. Therefore, the coup d?état and the democracy in Thailand is one of the much-studied topics by many scholars. Some famous pieces of work include Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism by Thak Chaleumtiarana and The Plan to snatch the Nation: About the Stage and against Stage in the second term of Field Marshal P. Phibunsongkram (1948 - 1957) by Suthachai Yimprasert. Most of these researches focus on the political circumstance and the factors that supported the occurrence of the coup d'état. These studies identify many factors that contributed to the success of the armed forces in overthrowing governments. However, the martial law, one of the important factors, has been always overlooked. Generally, the purpose of martial law imposition is to maintain peace in the society during wartime or in periods of civil unrest or chaos. The particular feature of martial law allows military armies to impose the law without government approvals. Once declared, it gives the ultimate power to the commander-in-chief of the army who becomes the person that everyone in the country must obey. This law preludes the way for the commander-in-chief to seize power from the civil government. Hence, it is unsurprising that the armed forces always declare martial law before it overthrows the government. Martial law has probably, in a way, become military's preparation for coup launching. This research will focus on how the armed forces use martial law to support their coup and how martial law becomes one of the most important military?s tools for launching a coup. |
| Keywords: | martial law, armed force, coup d?état |
| JEL: | N95 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6710146&r=his |