|
on Business, Economic and Financial History |
|
Issue of 2019‒04‒29
fourteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Noriko Tsuya (Faculty of Economics, Keio University); Satomi Kurosu (Department of Foreign Languages, Reitaku University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines similarities and differences in the determining mechanism of the likelihood of first marriage among young men and women in early modern and contemporary Japan, by estimating the socioeconomic and family factors of first marriage in three rural communities in 18th- and 19th-century northeastern Japan and Japan as a whole in 1960 to 2000. |
| Keywords: | First marriage, Factors, Early modern Japan, Contemporary Japan |
| JEL: | J12 |
| Date: | 2019–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2019-012&r=all |
| By: | Hein, Eckhard |
| Abstract: | This paper compares Marx's economics with those by Sraffa, Keynes, Kalecki and Minsky. The paper takes an "ex post" view on the matter and rather looks at the output side of the respective authors, but not at the input side. This means no attempt is made at studying in a systematic way, if and to what extent Sraffa, Keynes, Kalecki and Minsky were individually influenced by Marx's work. First, the relationship between Marx's theory of value and Sraffa's reformulation of the classical theory of prices and distribution is reviewed. Then the relationship between Marx's and Keynes's monetary theory is examined relying on an interpretation of Marx's theory of value as a "monetary theory of value". Next, some light is shed on the Marx-Kalecki connection focusing on Marx's theory of simple and extended reproduction and the built-in, although not fully elaborated "principle of effective demand" and the related theories of distribution and accumulation. Finally, Marx's and Minsky's views on financial instability and crises are scrutinised. It is concluded that Marx should not be considered as an "early post-Keynesian" but rather as an important forerunner of modern post-Keynesianism, with certain similarities, but also some important differences, and several areas of compatibility. |
| Keywords: | Marx,Kalecki,Keynes,Minsky,Sraffa,comparison of economic theories |
| JEL: | B14 B24 B50 B51 E11 E12 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ipewps:1182019&r=all |
| By: | Aspromourgos, Tony (University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | The recently published Elgar Companion to John Maynard Keynes (2019) is a major new contribution to Keynes scholarship, with sixty-three participants contributing ninety-five distinct entries, in 632 pages of text proper. This review essay provides an overview and assessment of the character and content of the work. It does so also via consideration of the question of Keynes’s key theoretical achievements; the relation between Keynes’s thought and the main currents of subsequent Keynesian economics; Keynes’s policy sensibility vis-à-vis ‘Keynesian’ policy; and finally, the question as to what is of endur-ing validity and greatest importance in Keynes’s economics, for the future. |
| Keywords: | John Maynard Keynes; Keynesianism; Pierangelo Garegnani. |
| JEL: | B22 B31 |
| Date: | 2019–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:0035&r=all |
| By: | Pelfey, Patricia A |
| Abstract: | A 1966 University of California academic plan estimated that future enrollments would soar to well over 200,000 before leveling off, and that by 1975 student demand would require two more UC campuses in addition to the ones opened a few years earlier at Santa Cruz, Irvine, and San Diego. The 1970 US census brought these stratospheric assumptions down to earth. Its projections of declining numbers of college-age students into the next decade and beyond, combined with the shock of unfavorable academic market and budgetary trends, became the starting point for an ambitious new UC planning endeavor. The intent was to improve long-range decision-making on the size, quality, and academic balance of the University. The strategy was to ensure that planning led budgeting; that campus academic plans were systematically reviewed at the universitywide and Regental level; and that fiscal realities disciplined planning at all levels. Two UC presidents led this experiment in multicampus system planning. Charles J. Hitch (1968-1975) had revolutionized planning and budgeting at Robert S. McNamara’s Department of Defense before coming to UC. David S. Saxon (1975-1983) brought a deep knowledge of the University and its culture gained through long experience as a faculty and administrative leader at UCLA. Despite differences in background, perspective, and approach, both shared the same goal: to create a truly universitywide plan that harmonized campus ambitions with the broader aims of the University as a whole and with the coming constraints on growth. This paper considers the context, assumptions, and forces that shaped, and then reshaped, the planning directions UC chose at the end of the golden age of the 1960s. |
| Keywords: | Education |
| Date: | 2017–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:cshedu:qt0zn9s0sn&r=all |
| By: | Rashid, Muhammad Mustafa |
| Abstract: | Since the late 18th century and the signing of the National Bank Act, the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971 and the Asian crises in 1997-98, financial Institutions had already become one of the most heavily regulated of all business in the modern business world. Increase in Regulation occurred after the 2000-2006 subprime crises and the 2007-2009 crises with the creation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection passed in July 2010 emphasizing financial stability although most of the structure was based on the regulatory solutions of the 1930’s and the New Deal. The euro crises have further raised questions about financial architecture in the euro zone. Furthermore, the increase in innovation, the shadow banking system and recent political pressure towards deregulation, it has proved hard for the financial regulations to keep up and hence even though at the present moment point time the system seems to be holding up, the long-term direction of the financial regulatory system is uncertain. |
| Keywords: | Financial Economics, Financial Markets, Financial Institutions and Services, Corporate Finance and Governance, Government Policy and Regulation. |
| JEL: | G18 G28 G38 |
| Date: | 2019–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93447&r=all |
| By: | Andersson, Jens (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Andersson, Martin (Department of Economic History, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the outcome of the efforts to economically catch up during the so-called development era in French speaking West Africa. An attempt is made to measure and discuss key elements of social capability over the period 1930-1980 in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal following Moses Abramovitz' interpretation of social capability. The paper distinguishes between four elements of social capability: degree of structural transformation, social and economic inclusion, the state's autonomy and its accountability. We find that there was significant but uneven progress in social capability in both countries during the development era. Despite their differences in economic performance both countries confronted fundamental shared challenges. Most notably, our analysis highlights how persistent lack of broad-based access to economic opportunities played a significant role in disrupting sustained economic and social progress in the two countries. This gives an opportunity to reflect on similarities and differences between the development era and the recent African growth phase. |
| Keywords: | Social capability; Africa; Developoment; Transformation; Colonialism |
| JEL: | N17 O11 O47 O55 |
| Date: | 2019–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0202&r=all |
| By: | Rashid, Muhammad Mustafa |
| Abstract: | Building on the system of reason provided for by the Greek philosopher and specifically Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas built a comprehensive system and theory of natural law which has lasted through the ages. The theory was further developed in the Middle Ages and in the Enlightenment Ages by many a prominent philosopher and economist and has been recognized in the Modern Age. The natural law-theory and system has been repeatedly applied to the spheres of economic thought and has produced many lasting contributions such as private property rights and individual rights. In recent times with the collapses of the financial system and rapid globalization, there has been a renewed interest in the application of natural law theory to economics to counter a certain anthropology and distortion of values created by a modern economic system of self-preservation deriving its insights from the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli. |
| Keywords: | St. Thomas Aquinas, Natural Law and Economics, Scholasticism, Morality and Markets, Law and Economics |
| JEL: | B0 B1 K0 K4 |
| Date: | 2019–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93435&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Razzu (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Carl Singleton (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Mark Mitchell (School of Economics, University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Using over four decades of British micro data, this paper asks why the narrowing of the gender employment rate gap has stalled since the early 1990s. We find that changes to the structure of employment both between and within industry sectors impacted the gap at approximately constant rates throughout the period, and does not account for the stall. Instead, changes to how the characteristics of women's partners affected their own employment rates address most of the gap's shift in trend. There is also evidence that increases in women's employment when they had children or higher qualifications continued to narrow the gender gap even after it had stalled overall. |
| Keywords: | gender employment gaps, structural change, micro time series dataset |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2019-02&r=all |
| By: | Kretschmer, Mark |
| Abstract: | Since the crisis of 2008 the liberal market order has been challenged by several (populist) social movements and has become object of political regulation. Whereas in the late 70s and early 80s politics tend to deregulate the market, nowadays deregulation seem to be a synonym for the negative externalities of a free global market. Following Polanyi (The Great Transformation, 1944), societies with market market economies tend to experience a double movement - the Polanyi's Pendulum - between phases in which the policies are designed to restrict the markets or liberalize them. This paper raises the question if these indicated changes have an impact on the economic research topics. Referring to modern Varieties-of-Capitalism literature bibliometric data of the period between 1950 and 2015 are used to analyze if there is a Polanyi's Pendulum within the economic literature. Looking for specific key words, e.g. liberalization, and using correlation analyses and time-series regressions it is possible to determine changes of the topics economists worked on and to identify those economic macro-forces that have been driven these changes. The political development in recent years can be considered as a new swing of Polanyi's pendulum. Economics itself is part of the double movement. A second look at Polanyi's might be fruitful to face present challenges better equipped. |
| Keywords: | political economy,double movement,bibliometry,Varieties of Capitalism,economics |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:opodis:201904&r=all |
| By: | Asuka Yamaguchi (Graduate School of Economics, Nagoya City University) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, energy constraints are discussed from a historical point of view. This study aims at examining the copper industry's energy use in Japan from the Meiji period to the time of WWI and clarifying the process of, and reasons for, the energy source selection. This study considered not only energy use in the large-scale mines but also energy use in the small-scale mines and miners' homes. As a result, it was clarified that the mines changed into a space that is based on a diverse combination of energy depending on differences in location (access to energy), natural conditions, financial power, the required amount and price of energy, energy use technologies, ore quality, and end-product (usage). |
| Keywords: | energy, diversity, mine, copper, Japan |
| JEL: | N75 N55 Q40 |
| Date: | 2019–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2019-010&r=all |
| By: | Pástor, Luboš; Stambaugh, Robert F. |
| Abstract: | The Critical Finance Review commissioned Li, Novy-Marx, and Velikov (2017) and Pontiff and Singla (2019) to replicate the results in Pastor and Stambaugh (2003). Both studies successfully replicate our market-wide liquidity measure and find similar estimates of the liquidity risk premium. In the sample period after our study, the liquidity risk premium estimates are even larger, and the liquidity measure displays sharp drops during the 2008 financial crisis. We respond to both replication studies and offer some related thoughts, such as when to use our traded versus non-traded liquidity factors and how to improve the precision of liquidity beta estimates. |
| Keywords: | liquidity; liquidity beta; liquidity factor; liquidity risk |
| JEL: | G12 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13680&r=all |
| By: | William W. Olney (Williams College) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the economic implications of the Jones Act, which is a 1920 U.S. cabotage law that restricts domestic waterborne shipments to American vessels. Since the passage of the Act, there has been a dramatic rise in the Asian maritime industry which has caused American shipbuilding to become uncompetitive. It is now eight times more expensive to build a large merchant ship in the U.S., and as a result most American shipyards have closed and the number of American built ships has plummeted. Thus, the Jones Act requirement that domestic shipments be transported on American built ships has become more onerous over time. The first set of findings show that this has reduced waterborne trade between U.S. states relative to other modes of transport, relative to waterborne exports, and especially in coastal states. Second, there is evidence that this reduction in domestic trade, due to the Jones Act, has increased prices within U.S. states, although the magnitude of this effect is modest. These findings support common, but to date unverified, claims that the Jones Act impedes domestic trade and drives up prices. |
| Keywords: | Trade policy, Non-tariff barriers, Cabotage, Jones Act, Domestic trade |
| JEL: | F13 F14 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2019-03&r=all |
| By: | Daniel L. Greenwald; Martin Lettau; Sydney C. Ludvigson |
| Abstract: | We provide novel evidence on the driving forces behind the sharp increase in equity values over the post-war era. From the beginning of 1989 to the end of 2017, 23 trillion dollars of real equity wealth was created by the nonfinancial corporate sector. We estimate that 54% of this increase was attributable to a reallocation of rents to shareholders in a decelerating economy. Economic growth accounts for just 24%, followed by lower interest rates (11%) and a lower risk premium (11%). From 1952 to 1988 less than half as much wealth was created, but economic growth accounted for 92% of it. |
| JEL: | G0 G12 G17 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25769&r=all |
| By: | Berge, Erling (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | The paper discusses the link between commons as they might have been used in prehistoric Norway and the rules concerning the exploitation of the commons as found in the oldest known legislation for regions of Norway, Gulating Law and Frostating Law. One clear social dilemma has been identified: the setting of a common date for moving animals from the home fields up to the summer farms and home again in the fall. The problem was obvious and the solution not particularly difficult to institute. Many more problems were of course present, but they did not rise to the level of a social dilemma. All such problems were managed by the rules enacted by the bygdeting along with other problems of a community. In particular the process of inheritance, the problems of fencing, how to change borders between neighbours and between individually owned fields and the commons, were treated by extensive rules. The bygdeting managed such issues from prehistory until the 16th and 17th centuries when reforms initiated by the Danish-Norwegian kings started to take effect, making the rule-of-law more uniquely a task for the central authorities and of less concern for the local communities. Maybe the basic legacy of the long history of local rule was a strong belief in the court system, that it would secure the old saying: "By law the land shall be built, not with unlaw wasted". |
| Keywords: | Commons; prehistory; Norway; social dilemmas; legislation |
| JEL: | K11 P48 Q15 Q20 Z13 |
| Date: | 2019–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2019_002&r=all |