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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2020‒04‒06
37 papers chosen by |
| By: | Estrin, Saul; Decker, Stephanie; Mickiewicz, Tomasz |
| Abstract: | Research Summary: We consider what configurations of historical and geographic dimensions influence entrepreneurial growth aspirations (EGA). Our theoretical framework combines geography (coastal location, resource dependence), long-term colonial history (ethnic heterogeneity, legal origins), and postcolonial history (low levels of conflict and population displacement; not having “bad neighbors”). We employ abductive reasoning to link the social science and historical literatures via analytically structured histories of Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola. Next, we undertake a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis on sub-Saharan Africa countries to investigate which particular configurations of these dimensions are important for EGA. We demonstrate the importance of configurations over individual variables and add context-bound dimensions to the study of entrepreneurship in developing countries, through historical analysis. Managerial Summary: Our analysis may offer entrepreneurs a template for identifying potential opportunities and threats in order to calibrate their strategies for scaling up their venture in sub-Saharan Africa. We argue that environments rich in entrepreneurial growth opportunities are associated with configurations where negative aspects are more than compensated by positive ones. For Botswana, the low levels of internal conflict compensate for unfavorable location. For Angola, the positive impact of coastal location and relatively low ethnic heterogeneity counterbalance the negative effect of resource rents. Resource-driven economies are more entrepreneurial: better economic opportunities can sometimes result from having extractive industries. For African entrepreneurs it is not only relevant what happens in their own countries, as their opportunities are directly affected by economic or political turmoil in neighboring countries. |
| Keywords: | Africa; entrepreneurship; global enterprise monitor; history; qualitative comparative analysis |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2020–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:102989&r=all |
| By: | Marcello Basili; Antonio Nicita |
| Abstract: | The new coronavirus CoVid-19 (SARS Cov-2) pandemic outbreak all around theWorld puts in evidence how institutional failures may end up in a catastrophic event. The precautionary principle (PP) has been proposed as the proper guide for the decision-making criteria to be adopted in the face of the new catastrophic risks that have arisen in the decades of this century. Unfortunately the political institutions at the national and supranational level, such as the European Union Commission, seem having neglected it opening the scenario of a lethal global pandemic that could cause millions of deaths, principally elderlies with chronic diseases, based on early evidence in China and Italy. According to scientists and health authorities human beings are facing the high probable nightmare of a very aggressive and mortal pandemy, worst than the Spanish flu (1918-1919) the most famous reconbined avian flu killed millions, without targeted therapeutics for treatment and vaccines. |
| JEL: | D81 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:823&r=all |
| By: | Kris James Mitchener; Gary Richardson |
| Abstract: | The Great Depression is infamous for banking panics, which were a symptomatic of a phenomenon that scholars have labeled a contagion of fear. Using geocoded, microdata on bank distress, we develop metrics that illuminate the incidence of these events and how banks that remained in operation after panics responded. We show that between 1929-32 banking panics reduced lending by 13%, relative to its 1929 value, and the money multiplier and money supply by 36%. The banking panics, in other words, caused about 41% of the decline in bank lending and about nine-tenths of the decline in the money multiplier during the Great Depression. |
| JEL: | E44 G01 G21 N22 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26859&r=all |
| By: | , Stone Center (The Graduate Center/CUNY); Yang, Li; Novokmet, Filip; Milanovic, Branko |
| Abstract: | Economic and social transformation of China during the past 40 years is without precedent in human history. While the economic transformation was extensively studied, social transformation was not. In this paper, we use for the first time harmonized household surveys covering the period 1988-2013 to study the changes in the characteristics the richest 5 percent of China’s urban population. We find that the elite changed from being composed of high government officials, clerical staff, and workers in 1988 to professionals and small and large business owners in 2013. The educational level of the elite increased substantially. Membership in CCP has a positive (albeit small) effect on one’s income but is particularly valuable to large business owners. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2020–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:enbxv&r=all |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker; Lukas Mergele; Ludger Woessmann |
| Abstract: | German separation in 1949 into a communist East and a capitalist West and their reunification in 1990 are commonly described as a natural experiment to study the enduring effects of communism. We show in three steps that the populations in East and West Germany were far from being randomly selected treatment and control groups. First, the later border is already visible in many socio-economic characteristics in pre-World War II data. Second, World War II and the subsequent occupying forces affected East and West differently. Third, a selective fifth of the population fled from East to West Germany before the building of the Wall in 1961. In light of our findings, we propose a more cautious interpretation of the extensive literature on the enduring effects of communist systems on economic outcomes, political preferences, cultural traits, and gender roles. |
| Keywords: | political systems, communism, preferences, culture, Germany |
| JEL: | D72 H11 P26 P36 N44 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8164&r=all |
| By: | Robert N McCauley; Catherine R Schenk |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the record of central bank swaps to draw out four themes. First, this recent device of central bank cooperation had a sustained pre-history from 1962-1998, surviving the transition from fixed to floating exchange rates. Second, Federal Reserve swap facilities have generally formed a part of a wider network of central bank swap lines. Third, we take issue with the view of swaps as previously used only to manage exchange rates and only more recently to manage offshore funding liquidity and yields. In particular, we spotlight how in the 1960s the Federal Reserve, working in conjunction with the BIS and European central banks, repeatedly used swaps to manage eurodollar funding liquidity and Libor yields. BIS, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank archives show an intention to offset seasonal disturbances to funding liquidity in order to prevent eurodollar yield spikes. Fourth, this earlier cooperation underscores the Federal Reserve's use of swaps to prevent eurodollar shortages from interfering with the transmission of its domestic monetary policy. The US interest in the eurodollar market, and thus its self interest in central bank cooperation, is unlikely to end even when Libor is replaced as the benchmark for US floating-rate loans and mortgages. |
| Keywords: | central bank swaps, international lender of last resort, central bank cooperation, eurodollar market, financial crises, Federal Reserve, Bank for International Settlements |
| JEL: | E52 E58 F33 G15 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:851&r=all |
| By: | Beckert, Jens; Ergen, Timur |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses sociological analyses of the formation and role of expectations in the economy. Recognition of the social constitution of expectations advances the understanding of economic action under conditions of uncertainty and helps to explain core features of modern capitalist societies. The range of applications of the analytical perspective is illustrated by closer examination of three core spheres of capitalist societies: consumption, investment, and innovation. To provide an idea of core challenges of the approach, three major research questions for the sociological analysis of expectations are presented. |
| Keywords: | action theory,economic sociology,expectations,firms,innovation,markets,social change,Erwartungen,Handlungstheorie,Innovation,Märkte,Organisationen,sozialer Wandel,Wirtschaftssoziologie |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:203&r=all |
| By: | Barbara Castillo Rico (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, EHESS, Ecole Centrale, AMSE, Marseille, France) |
| Abstract: | We study intergenerational wealth mobility and its evolution in France over the period 1960-2015. More precisely, we identify the persistence of homeownership between parents and children as indicator of wealth mobility in France. We also provide evidence about different sources of heterogeneity in intergenerational homeownership associations in terms of education and geographic areas. Finally, we study the main transmission mechanism: direct financial transfers. We use all available French wealth surveys since 1986 and perform a data panelization using retrospective information. We document multiple results. First, intergenerational correlation in homeownership status has dramatically increased, particularly since the 1990s. Second, this rise is concentrated among people aged between 20 and 39 years old. Third, we observe higher wealth persistence at the top. Four, we find a strong significant effect of direct wealth transfers on the probability of becoming homeowner, which lasts 5 years. Moreover, parental support is substantially more important for households with no diploma, suggesting a crucial role of human capital on wealth formation. Finally, this phenomenon is intensified in areas with high urban concentration; highlighting the potential role of house prices as determinant of wealth social determinism. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, homeownership, housing, wealth transmission |
| JEL: | D31 J62 R21 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2008&r=all |
| By: | Julien Demade (LAMOP - Laboratoire de Médiévistique Occidentale de Paris - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This book tells the story of a largely forgotten enterprise: that of the International Scientific Committee on Price History. If this endeavour can nevertheless still be of interest today, it is not only because failures offer insights into social dynamics as well as successes do ; nor is it solely because we find, gathered around this failed enquiry, a slew of very famous names, and names indeed which one would not expect to stumble upon in this context – there is Beveridge and Kautsky, Bloch and Malinowski. First and foremost, it is because the object of this enquiry offers a rare opportunity to bridge the divide between national scientific traditions as well as between disciplines – such as history and economy, or epistemology and the sociology of scientific knowledge. Thus, the initially narrow scope of this study opens up to a vast field of enquiry, as the object of this study shifts to determining how a particular class of objects – those deemed scientific – are produced, and how epistemological, theoretical and institutional issues interact in this process. Indeed, the conversion of past prices (as they appear in the archives) into historical prices taken as scientific facts, raises diverse and crucial questions : on the respective standing of social and natural sciences, about monetarism, or on the transition from the academic field of the Humboldtian scholar to that of big science. Viewed through the prism of this particular case, these issues will appear in a new light for the simple reason that, in the case at hand, fields of enquiry which are ordinarily examined independently are found to be tightly interrelated. |
| Abstract: | Ce livre est l'histoire d'une entreprise oubliée : le Comité international d'histoire des prix. Si l'objet pourtant est d'intérêt, c'est que les échecs tout autant que les réussites nous renseignent sur le fonctionnement social ; c'est aussi que l'on retrouve, autour de cette enquête faillie, des noms eux fort célèbres, et que l'on ne s'attend pas à rencontrer dans ce contexte – de Beveridge à Kautsky, de Bloch à Malinowski. Mais c'est surtout que cet objet s'avère idéal pour dépasser les frontières qui séparent aussi bien les traditions scientifiques nationales que les disciplines – entre histoire et économie, entre sociologie des sciences et épistémologie ; et, ce faisant, cette étude permet d'aborder une question aussi vaste que s'est voulu restreint le propos initial. C'est en effet la production d'une classe particulière de faits, les faits considérés comme scientifiques, qu'il s'agit de comprendre, et ceci en tenant compte, parmi les forces à l'œuvre dans la détermination de cette production, des enjeux aussi bien épistémologiques que théoriques et institutionnels. Car, dans la transformation opérée d'un prix passé (tel qu'il apparaît dans les archives) en un prix historique considéré comme un fait scientifique, s'avèrent déterminantes des questions aussi diverses et cruciales que le statut respectif des sciences sociales et des sciences de la nature, le monétarisme, ou le passage du champ académique du savant humboldtien à l'ère de la big science. Questions qui, réciproquement, reçoivent de l'analyse de ce cas précis un éclairage dont l'intérêt tient au croisement de ces domaines le plus souvent considérés isolément, croisement que précisément permet ce cas d'espèce. |
| Keywords: | histoire des prix,William Beveridge,Comité international d'histoire des prix,Thorold Rogers,Georges d'Avenel,historiographie,histoire des sciences,histoire de l'économie,Lucien Febvre,François Simiand,Marc Bloch,Annales d'histoire économique et sociale |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00688447&r=all |
| By: | Luca Fiorito; Massimiliano Vatiero |
| Abstract: | In their 1932 volume American Business Leaders: A Study in Social Origins and Social Stratification, Frank W. Taussig and Carl S Joslyn, then a young Harvard graduate, argued that success in business depended more on innate superiority than on other environmental factors such as financial aid, influential connections, and formal education. The aim of this paper is to analyze the main contentions of Taussig and Joslyn, as well the intellectual genesis of, and the general reactions to, this controversial volume. Although our main focus is on Taussig and Joslyn, other figures, all directly affiliated with Harvard, will play a decisive role in our narrative—the economist Thomas Nixon Carver, the psychologist William McDougall, and the sociologist Pitirim Aleksandrovic Sorokin. This makes the scope of this paper in many respects broader than its title may suggest—in the sense that it will allow us to place a work like American Business Leaders within the context of an important strand of social science research at Harvard during the interwar years. |
| Keywords: | Taussig, Frank Williams; eugenics; hereditarianism, business leaders, Harvard |
| JEL: | B1 B15 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:810&r=all |
| By: | Mark Setterfield (Department of Economics, New School for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines endogenous money theory (EMT) and the contributions of Basil J. Moore to EMT. It then describes the various papers that will appear in Volume 17, Issue 3 (2020) of the European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention. Coolectively, these papers explore the monetary economics of Basil J. Moore – its origins, substance, and application – in light of its status as an ongoing and still-developing research project. |
| Keywords: | Basil J. Moore, monetary economics, horizontalism |
| JEL: | E43 E51 E52 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:new:wpaper:2002&r=all |
| By: | Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández; Serena Sordi |
| Abstract: | This article makes two contributions to the literature on growth and structural change. First, we estimate the multisectoral version of Thirlwall's law and provide some empirical evidence on the stratification mechanism proposed in Dávila-Fernández et al. (2018). Second, we develop two models of structural change which assume that the capacity of adaptation of the economy is a function of attitudes towards change. Societies whose past experiences condition them to regard innovative change with antipathy are in sharp contrast to those whose heritage provide them with favourable attitudes. The models are used to discuss the experiences of Latin America and Asia since the 1960s. They highlight how a complex economy is likely to be associated with a better distribution of political and economic power. Our resulting nonlinear dynamic systems are shown to admit multiple equilibria. A Hopf-Bifurcation analysis establishes the possibility of persistent and bounded cyclical paths, allowing the investigation of further insights on the nature of structural and institutional change. |
| Keywords: | Structural change; Institutions; Attitudes towards change; Hopf bifurcation; Path dependence. |
| JEL: | E12 E32 O40 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:809&r=all |
| By: | Theodore Panagiotidis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece; Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis); Costas Roumanias (Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece) |
| Abstract: | We examine the long run relationship between European far right, radical left and unemployment. A unique dataset is compiled for 31 European countries that span from 1900 to 2013. We reveal the long-run relationship between extreme right and unemployment. An increase in unemployment and radical left increases the far-right vote share. |
| Keywords: | extreme right, extreme left, unemployment rate, cointegration |
| JEL: | C21 N14 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:20-11&r=all |
| By: | , Stone Center (The Graduate Center/CUNY); Davis, Jonathan; Mazumder, Bhashkar |
| Abstract: | We demonstrate that relative intergenerational mobility declined sharply for cohorts born in the early 1960s compared to those born around 1950. The former entered the labor market largely after the large rise in inequality that occurred around 1980 while the latter entered the labor market well before this inflection point. We show that the rank-rank slope rose from 0.24 to 0.36 and the IGE increased from 0.21 to 0.50. We find that both the increase in the returns to schooling and the gradient in the likelihood of marriage by parent income can explain some of the increase in persistence. We also find direct evidence of a decline in absolute intergenerational mobility using intergenerational data, consistent with the bounds-based approach of Chetty et al. (2017). (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2020–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:evfcx&r=all |
| By: | Pierre Mérel; Ariel Ortiz-Bobea; Emmanuel Paroissien |
| Abstract: | This paper provides empirical evidence of large welfare losses associated with asymmetric information about product quality in a competitive market. When consumers cannot observe product characteristics at the time of purchase, atomistic producers have no incentive to supply costly quality. We compare wine prices across administrative districts around the enactment of historic regulations aimed at certifying the quality of more than 250 French appellation wines to identify welfare losses from asymmetric information. We estimate that these losses represent up to 13% of total market value, suggesting an important role for credible certification schemes. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric information, adverse selection, quality uncertainty, welfare, wine appellation |
| JEL: | D82 N54 Q18 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:202005&r=all |
| By: | Laurie Bréban (PHARE - Philosophie, Histoire et Analyse des Représentations Économiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Muriel Gilardone (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR1 - Université de Rennes 1 - UNIV-RENNES - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Sen claims that his 2009 theory of justice is based in part upon Smith's idea of the "impartial spectator". His claim has received criticism: some authors have responded that his interpretation of Smith's concept is unfaithful to the original (e.g., Ege, Igersheim and Le Chapelain 2012); others, focusing on internal features of Sen's analysis, critique his use of the Smithian impartial spectator, arguing that it is a weak point in his comparative theory of justice (e.g., Shapiro 2011). In this paper we address both sets of criticisms. While agreeing with commentators that Sen's reading of Smith is somewhat unfaithful, we reiterate that his aim in The Idea of Justice is not to provide an exegesis of Smith but rather to build his own comparative theory of justice by "extending Adam Smith's idea of the impartial spectator" (IJ: 134) to his own project. After clarifying their distinct approaches to the concept of the impartial spectator, we draw upon our account of these differences to evaluate Sen's own use of the concept. Despite significant divergences, we show that Sen's version of the impartial spectator is not inconsistent with Smith's analysis. Though it does not correspond to Smith's concept, i.e. to what the Scottish philosopher sometimes calls the "man within", it is reminiscent of another figure from Smith's moral philosophy: the "man without". Beyond this analogy, there are further connections between Smith's imaginary figure of the "man within" and Sen's account of "common beliefs"—both notions are ways of representing our beliefs regarding what is moral or just. But whereas Smith's moral philosophy offers an analysis of the process by which the "man without" influences the "man within", nothing of that kind is to be found in Sen's conception of public reasoning. And it is here that Smith's famous concept of "sympathy" can supplement Sen's theory, in a way which furnishes an answer to Shapiro's (2011) criticism regarding the possibility of the spontaneous change of beliefs toward greater impartiality. |
| Keywords: | Sen,Smith,Impartial Spectator,Man Without,Public Reasoning,Man Within,Sympathy,Deliberation,Justice,Agreement,Non-Prudential Morality |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02495559&r=all |
| By: | Michaël Assous (Université Lyon 2, CNRS, Triangle); Muriel Dal Pont Legrand (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France); Sonia Manseri (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Phare) |
| Abstract: | Samuelson (1952: 60) introduced the term «neoclassical synthesis” and used it later in the 1955 3rd edition of Economics: An Introductory Analysis to refer to a “consensus” among American economists. In the 1960s when growth theory emerged as a major issue, Samuelson modified his view and in the 6th edition of Economics, the term assumed a specific meaning. As long as it was assumed that the economy was managed on a Keynesian-basis in the short-run, the neoclassical growth model was considered the most appropriate tool to analyze full-employment growth. This “new” approach of the synthesis was challenged in debates on income distribution dynamics and expectations, opposing the protagonists in the Cambridge controversy. We draw on original archival material from Duke University and Cambridge University in the UK to try to clarify some of the hidden dimensions of Samuelson's synthesis and the debates it triggered. |
| Keywords: | Samuelson, Sen, Kaldor, Neoclassical Synthesis, Instability, growth, expectations |
| JEL: | A1 B2 B3 D5 E1 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2020-12&r=all |
| By: | Hernando Matallana |
| Abstract: | Esta nota considera la lógica monetaria del salario relativo para el caso de trabajo homogéneo, la incidencia tributaria del impuesto sobre las diversas formas del ingreso funcional y la lucha por el salario relativo en el caso de trabajo heterogéneo en la economía monetaria de producción. La discusión advierte que el salario relativo disponible y con ello la condición económica de los trabajadores en el sistema de los mercados, se ajustan al interés particular de la clase funcional de los propietarios de riqueza. |
| Keywords: | distribución del ingreso, economía monetaria de producción, incidencia tributaria, salario relativo, salarios diferenciales |
| JEL: | B21 D33 E12 H22 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000178:018061&r=all |
| By: | Alberto Battistini |
| Abstract: | Rinunciando del tutto alla teoria del valore-lavoro, la teoria economica marxista ha di fatto cancellato contributo specifico di Marx alla stessa teoria e più in generale alla critica dell’economia politica: la teoria del plus-valore, ovvero la differenza tra valore d’uso e valore di scambio della forza lavoro quale determinante del profitto in condizioni di concorrenza perfetta e del carattere contraddittorio del processo di accumulazione del capitale. A partire dalla constatazione per la quale invece tale contributo è ancora rilevante e attuale, tanto in termini teorici quanto in termini pratici, in questo lavoro si mostra come esso possa essere reso indipendente dalla sua formulazione analitica originaria in termini di quantità di lavoro. E’ infatti tale formulazione analitica, che Marx ha in larga parte mutuato da Ricardo, che per motivi di natura altrettanto teorica e pratica appare oggi inservibile. Più specificamente, quindi, in questa prima parte viene affrontata la parte statica di tale teoria, verificando in particolare l’ipotesi per la quale il ruolo giocato dalla nozione Ricardiana di costo di produzione, che Marx, a differenza dello stesso Ricardo, aveva significativamente usato anche per la determinazione del salario, possa essere svolto dalla nozione generale di costo di transazione, inteso nel senso Coasiano di costo di usare il sistema dei prezzi. Nella seconda parte viene invece affrontata la parte dinamica della stessa teoria, verificando in particolare l’ipotesi per la quale il capitale, nella definizione di Marx come denaro in movimento nel circuito Denaro ? Merce ? Maggior Denaro, possa essere preso come unità di selezione in un processo evolutivo che sostituisca la cosiddetta visione circolare del processo produttivo, che pure Marx aveva mutuato da Ricardo ma in realtà risale addirittura a Quesnay e, altrettanto significativamente, è stata pensata con riferimento a un’economia agricola. Il risultato finale, in effetti, è una re-interpretazione in chiave istituzionale e evolutiva della versione di Marx della teoria del valore-lavoro. |
| Keywords: | costi di transazione; effetti di ricchezza; valore d’uso; valore di scambio; replicazione differenziale; individualismo metodologico |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:816&r=all |
| By: | Tristan Auvray (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); Thomas Dallery (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Une histoire des relations finance-industrie aux États-Unis : origines et remèdes à la financiarisation des entreprises Ce document est une version longue d'un article paru dans Entreprises et Histoire, n° 94, p. 30-49. Paris 13 Thomas DALLERY Maître de conférences en économie, CLERSE, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale Résumé Cet article relit l'histoire des relations entre la finance et l'industrie aux États-Unis proposée par Hyman Minsky en la recentrant sur l'actionnariat afin de comprendre l'influence actuelle qu'exercent les propriétaires de titres sur les entreprises. Nous examinons l'évolution des deux institutions qui permettent aux actionnaires de peser sur la gouvernance des firmes : la liquidité du marché, et le pouvoir de vote associé à la concentration des actions. Nous soulignons que malgré le processus de dispersion de l'actionnariat, une concentration a toujours existé. C'est donc l'existence d'une contrainte sur la liquidité qui a permis aux managers de préserver pour un temps une autonomie conquise au cours du XXe siècle. Nous avançons l'hypothèse que cette contrainte repose sur les contrôles de capitaux internes et externes aux États-Unis. An history of finance-industry relationships in the United States: origins and remedies to the financialization of corporations Abstract This article revisits the history of the relationships between finance and industry in the United States, as it was first suggested by Hyman Minsky, but we refocus the analysis on shareholding so as to understand the current influence of shareowners on corporations. We examine the evolution of the two institutions allowing shareholders to weigh on firms' governance: market liquidity and voting power associated with shares' concentration. We underline that, despite the process of shareholding dispersion, a concentration has always been present. It is thus the existence of a constraint on liquidity that allowed managers to preserve a while the autonomy won during the XX th century. We suggest the hypothesis that this constraint relies on capital controls, internal or external to the United States. 2 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02482579&r=all |
| By: | Bárbara Castillo (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Banque de France - Banque de France - Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | We study intergenerational wealth mobility and its evolution in France over the period 1960-2015. More precisely, we identify the persistence of homeownership between parents and children as indicator of wealth mobility in France. We also provide evidence about different sources of heterogeneity in intergenerational homeownership associations in terms of education and geographic areas. Finally, we study the main transmission mechanism: direct financial transfers. We use all available French wealth surveys since 1986 and perform a data panelization using retrospective information. We document multiple results. First, intergenerational correlation in homeownership status has dramatically increased, particularly since the 1990s. Second, this rise is concentrated among people aged between 20 and 39 years old. Third, we observe higher wealth persistence at the top. Four, we find a strong significant effect of direct wealth transfers on the probability of becoming homeowner, which lasts 5 years. Moreover, parental support is substantially more important for households with no diploma, suggesting a crucial role of human capital on wealth formation. Finally, this phenomenon is intensified in areas with high urban concentration; highlighting the potential role of house prices as determinant of wealth social determinism. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility,homeownership,housing,wealth transmission |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02511116&r=all |
| By: | Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the implications of technological change on the wages and skills of workers in early twentieth-century Japan. The Japanese economy experienced essential elements of the industrial revolution, such as the adoption of the factory system and mechanization, in this period. Exploiting detailed plant-level data on the silk weaving industry, we compare wage and composition of workers between powered plants and non-powered plants. We found that (a) the wage, (b) the relative wage of male adult workers to female adult workers, and (c) the ratio of male workers, were all higher at powered plants than non-powered plants. (a) reflects the higher marginal productivity of labour, while (b) and (c) reflect the emergence of a new type of skilled worker, i.e. mechanics. |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2020cf1147&r=all |
| By: | Tetsuji Okazaki (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Koji Sakai (Division of Economics, Kyoto Sangyo University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines capital market integration in prewar Japan, using a methodology that allows for multiple equilibria in convergence. Specifically, we apply the method of log t regression and the club convergence test proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007) to examine the convergence of prefectural loan rates and detect the convergence clubs that followed heterogeneous transition paths. Whereas prefectural loan rates were converging towards two equilibria from 1888–1900, all the prefectural loan rates converged towards a unique equilibrium from 1901–1926. From 1927, however, the prefectural loan rates diverged again, and four different convergence clubs emerged. Restrictive regulation imposed by the Bank Law of 1928 reduced competition in local markets, increased barriers to interregional capital mobility, and, thereby, reversed capital market integration. |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2020cf1148&r=all |
| By: | Obrizan, Maksym; Karlsson, Martin; Matvieiev, Mykhailo |
| Abstract: | What is the economic cost in the medium to long run of an epidemic that kills a large part of the labor force? To answer this question we build an overlapping generations model and calibrate it to the Swedish economy before the 1918–19 influenza pandemic. In the medium run the epidemic, which reduced the population by 0.66%, produces a modest increase in per capita consumption of survivors by 0.45%; however, the benefits are unevenly spread across cohorts. We also find that aggregate labor supply responds elastically while aggregate consumption and investment respond inelastically to the population decline. The aggregate consumption, for example, reduces by 0.27% only for each percentage point decrease in population over the following 10 years. Finally, we document that in the long run, the epidemic has a large cumulative effect over the following century. |
| Keywords: | Epidemics, Overlapping Generations Models |
| JEL: | E21 I15 |
| Date: | 2020–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98910&r=all |
| By: | Andrew Leigh |
| Abstract: | Constructing a new series of incarceration rates from 1860 to 2018, I find that Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since the late nineteenth century. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid-1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 percent, and now stands at 0.22 percent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time span, I find that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 percent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African-Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing practices, tougher sentencing laws, and more stringent bail laws appear to be the main drivers of Australia’s growing prison population. |
| Keywords: | prison, jail, incarceration, crime |
| JEL: | I30 K14 N30 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8163&r=all |
| By: | Lambert, Thomas |
| Abstract: | In his book, the Political Economy of Growth (1957), and in an article he wrote several years earlier (1953), the economist Paul A. Baran noted how in an economic system characterized by a hierarchy of classes and where economic and political power are concentrated in the top class of such a system, the amount of output and income above what is consumed by most people (e.g., food, clothing, housing, public safety, education) mostly goes to the top class. This extra amount is what he called the economic surplus, a form of savings or income left over after consumption. In a feudalistic system, there is little incentive to use the proceeds of this type of surplus to buy more tools and equipment for more production of output and income. The lord or baron has little incentive to lend or give serfs money because he may not benefit from any increased productivity by them. It is with capitalism that such incentives to re-invest in production become important. This paper uses recently published and estimated historical data to illustrate Baran’s observations and thoughts on feudalism. It is shown that during the 13th and 14th centuries in England that the economic surplus declined, and this decline helps to explain the “crisis of feudalism” that started in the 13th century. It is not until several centuries later when capitalism becomes the dominant economic system that the economic surplus begins to rise on a consistent basis probably due to the reinvestment of a portion of the surplus into productive activities and a greater ratio of capital income to rental income and a greater ratio of investment to economic surplus. However, and somewhat surprisingly, by the 19th Century the surplus still does not attain levels reached in the 13th Century. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: Baran ratio, Dobb-Sweezy debate, economic surplus, capitalism, feudalism, GDP, national income |
| JEL: | B24 B51 N13 |
| Date: | 2020–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99128&r=all |
| By: | Nicolle Valentina Herrera Pinto |
| Abstract: | El propósito de este documento es explicar de manera empírica, desde la teoría austriaca del ciclo económico, la causalidad existente entre las políticas intervencionistas en Argentina desde 1983 y su posterior crisis en el año 2002. En dicho periodo, se instauraron cinco diferentes planes de estabilización económica que tenían como principal propósito detener la inflación creciente característica de este país y aumentar el crecimiento económico. Dichos planes se llevaron a cabo mediante políticas monetarias implementadas masivamente por el Banco Central de la República de Argentina, las cuales se basaron en la manipulación de la masa monetaria y en su mayoría, el crédito al sector privado. Sin embargo, de los cinco planes instaurados ninguno fue capaz de crear mejores condiciones a largo plazo, de hecho en la medida en que se instauraba cada nuevo plan, la inflación, el desempleo y la pobreza aumentaban, lo que se evidencia en la crisis del 2001 - 2002. Según la Escuela Austriaca, dichas manipulaciones tienen una causalidad directa con periodos de hiperinflación, depresión y recesión simultánea, como se refleja en el caso argentino en el periodo estudiado. |
| Keywords: | Escuela Austriaca, ciclos económicos Austriacos, crisis argentina |
| JEL: | B25 B53 E32 E43 E52 |
| Date: | 2020–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000176:018059&r=all |
| By: | Alberto Battistini |
| Abstract: | Rinunciando del tutto alla teoria del valore-lavoro, la teoria economica marxista ha di fatto cancellato contributo specifico di Marx alla stessa teoria e più in generale alla critica dell’economia politica: la teoria del plus-valore, ovvero la differenza tra valore d’uso e valore di scambio della forza lavoro quale determinante del profitto in condizioni di concorrenza perfetta e del carattere contraddittorio del processo di accumulazione del capitale. A partire dalla constatazione per la quale invece tale contributo è ancora rilevante e attuale, tanto in termini teorici quanto in termini pratici, in questo lavoro si mostra come esso possa essere reso indipendente dalla sua formulazione analitica originaria in termini di quantità di lavoro. E’ infatti tale formulazione analitica, che Marx ha in larga parte mutuato da Ricardo, che per motivi di natura altrettanto teorica e pratica appare oggi inservibile. Più specificamente, quindi, in questa prima parte viene affrontata la parte statica di tale teoria, verificando in particolare l’ipotesi per la quale il ruolo giocato dalla nozione Ricardiana di costo di produzione, che Marx, a differenza dello stesso Ricardo, aveva significativamente usato anche per la determinazione del salario, possa essere svolto dalla nozione generale di costo di transazione, inteso nel senso Coasiano di costo di usare il sistema dei prezzi. Nella seconda parte viene invece affrontata la parte dinamica della stessa teoria, verificando in particolare l’ipotesi per la quale il capitale, nella definizione di Marx come denaro in movimento nel circuito Denaro ? Merce ? Maggior Denaro, possa essere preso come unità di selezione in un processo evolutivo che sostituisca la cosiddetta visione circolare del processo produttivo, che pure Marx aveva mutuato da Ricardo ma in realtà risale addirittura a Quesnay e, altrettanto significativamente, è stata pensata con riferimento a un’economia agricola. Il risultato finale, in effetti, è una re-interpretazione in chiave istituzionale e evolutiva della versione di Marx della teoria del valore-lavoro. |
| Keywords: | costi di transazione; effetti di ricchezza; valore d’uso; valore di scambio; replicazione differenziale; individualismo metodologico |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:817&r=all |
| By: | Mario Cimoli; Giovanni Dosi; Xiaodan Yu |
| Abstract: | This work discusses the role of industrial policies within an evolutionary view of innovation and learning as drivers of economic development. Building on the notions of technological paradigms and trajectories, it links the processes of catching-up with the dynamics of capability accumulation within and across firms. In turn such processes are embedded in broader national systems of innovation wherein industrial policies play a pivotal role. |
| Keywords: | Technological paradigms; Catching up; Theory of production; Absolute and Comparative Advantages; National systems of innovation; Industrial Policies; Economic Evolution and Development. |
| Date: | 2020–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2020/08&r=all |
| By: | Emanuele Ciani; Guido de Blasio; Samuele Poy |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of the freeway “Salerno-Reggio Calabria” on long-term local economic development. Built between 1962 and 1974, the freeway connected the southernmost region of the Italian peninsula (Calabria) to the national highway network. According to the original plan, the freeway could have been built along three different routes. The final choice was mostly influenced by powerful politicians who lobbied in favor of the path crossing their constituency (the town of Cosenza). In a dif-in-dif framework, we compare the growth of “inconsequentially” treated municipalities – traversed only because they lie on the route connecting Cosenza – with the one of municipalities on the two discarded paths. Our results suggest that the freeway caused a significant reorganization of both economic activity and population from untreated to treated locations. At the same time, the infrastructure does not seem to have helped the convergence of the overall region |
| Keywords: | highways, transport infrastructure, local development |
| JEL: | H54 R12 R42 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:820&r=all |
| By: | , Stone Center (The Graduate Center/CUNY); Berman, Yonatan |
| Abstract: | This paper combines cross-sectional and longitudinal income data to present the evolution of absolute intergenerational income mobility in ten developed economies in the 20th century. Absolute mobility decreased during the second half of the 20th century in all these countries. Increasing income inequality and decreasing growth rates have contributed to the decrease. Yet, growth is the dominant contributor in most countries. We show that detailed panel data are unnecessary for estimating absolute mobility over the long run. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2020–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:rd7xf&r=all |
| By: | Valero, Anna; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | We develop a new dataset using UNESCO source materials on the location of nearly 15,000 universities in about 1,500 regions across 78 countries, some dating back to the 11th Century. We estimate fixed effects models at the sub-national level between 1950 and 2010 and find that increases in the number of universities are positively associated with future growth of GDP per capita (and this relationship is robust to controlling for a host of observables, as well as unobserved regional trends). Our estimates imply that a 10% increase in a region's number of universities per capita is associated with 0.4% higher future GDP per capita in that region. Furthermore, there appear to be positive spillover effects from universities to geographically close neighbouring regions. We show that the relationship between GDP per capital and universities is not simply driven by the direct expenditures of the university, its staff and students. Part of the effect of universities on growth is mediated through an increased s |
| Keywords: | universities; growth; human capital; innovation; ES/M010341/1 |
| JEL: | I23 J24 O10 O31 |
| Date: | 2018–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:90227&r=all |
| By: | Enkhbayar Shagdar (Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia (ERINA)) |
| Abstract: | Mongolia, the second socialist country in the world, pursued non-capitalist and socialist paths of development and practiced a centrally planned economic system under the rule of one political party up to 1990. During this course, Mongolia was successful in transforming from a poor, pastoral livestock based agrarian economy into a dynamic, industry-driven economy. Former CMEA members were its donors and development partners, where the FSU played a dominant role. Owing to its manufacturing industry development based on the country's abundant livestock-origin raw materials, Mongolia could achieve relatively high and sustained economic growth. Rapidly expanding manufacturing industries and economy-wide increases in productivity drove overall improvements in the country’s living standards. Social sectors, such as health, social security, education, culture and sports, maintained a stable share of total budget expenditure. There were no unemployment or income inequalities during this period. However, Mongolia continued to rely on foreign sources for its investments and foreign loans as the share of primary revenues grew. Also, per capita real growth was lower than that of the overall economy. Despite population growth, population income as a share of final expenditure and household consumption share of total use decreased, whereas that of administration expenditures increased. Overall, investments into tangible assets were preferred over boosting intangible assets or human capital incentives. This situation might have triggered dissatisfaction among the population and led to the demands for change that eventually put an end to the planned economy and socialist system practiced in Mongolia for nearly 70 years. |
| Keywords: | Mongolian economic history, Mongolian economic study, socialist systems |
| JEL: | N15 O53 P20 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eri:dpaper:2002&r=all |
| By: | , Stone Center (The Graduate Center/CUNY); Alfani, Guido; Gierok, Victoria; Schaff, Felix |
| Abstract: | This article provides an overview of economic inequality in Germany from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century. It builds upon data produced by the German Historical School, which from the late nineteenth century pioneered inequality studies, and adds new archival information for selected areas. Inequality tended to grow during the early modern period, with an exception: the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), together with the 1627-29 plague, seem to have caused a temporary but significant phase of inequality reduction. This is in contrast to other European areas, from Italy to the Low Countries, where during 1500-1800 inequality growth was monotonic. Some evidence of a drop in inequality is also found after the Black Death of 1348-49. Our findings contribute to deepen and nuance our knowledge of long-term inequality trends in preindustrial Europe, and offer new material to current debates on the determinants of inequality change in western societies, past and present. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2020–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:8qb7x&r=all |
| By: | , Stone Center (The Graduate Center/CUNY); Mijatović, Boško; Milanovic, Branko |
| Abstract: | The paper presents the first estimate of the welfare ratio for Serbia using the 19th and early 20th century data on wages of skilled and unskilled workers (including the part paid in kind) and prices of goods that enter into “subsistence” and “respectability” consumption baskets. It finds a stagnation of unskilled wage close to the welfare ratio of 1, and a modest increase in skilled wage. The paper introduces several adjustments to conventional methodology in order to make it more relevant for predominantly agricultural societies. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2020–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:cafw2&r=all |
| By: | Daniela Cárdenas Sánchez |
| Abstract: | El presente texto tiene como objetivo analizar el surgimiento de La Economía del Desarrollo como disciplina a partir de su respectivo contexto histórico. A través de una revisión de literatura, se expone cómo la época de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la época de la posguerra estuvieron marcadas por elementos como la aparición de nuevos países independientes tras la caída de los imperios coloniales, la Guerra Fría y las aspiraciones políticas de Gran Bretaña. Con base en dichos eventos, es posible entender la importancia del ingreso real per cápita y el intervencionismo en las teorías y propuestas de política de la primera generación de economistas del desarrollo. Luego, se logra demostrar que la disciplina de La Economía del Desarrollo y sus primeros planteamientos nacieron en respuesta a las exigencias del contexto específico correspondiente. |
| Keywords: | Economía del desarrollo, disciplina, contexto histórico, época de posguerra |
| JEL: | B29 O10 |
| Date: | 2020–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000176:018060&r=all |
| By: | Razak, Muhammad Rais Rahmat |
| Abstract: | The application of the principles of good governance is not only limited to ministries and government agencies or central and regional government levels. The application of good governance needs to be extended to non-governmental social institutions such as children's social welfare institutions. Sejati Orphanage of Muhammadiyah Rappang is one of the social welfare institutions of children in South Sulawesi, founded by H. ismail Ambo Mariama since 1950 as a form of social concern for the massacre known as the 40,000 victims in December 1949 in South Sulawesi. This research aims to determine the level of participation and application of the principles of good governance in the orphanage. This research uses quantitative descriptive method by describing the two variables using the Likert scale and examining the relationship between the two variables using linear regression analysis. Samples is 30 was taken from 150 populations. The results show that the level of participation and application of the principles of good governance are included in the excellent category. While the level of participation influences 42.2 percent of the application of the principles of good governance. This shows that the application of the principles of good governance in social institutions is easier compared to other institutions. |
| Date: | 2019–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:2t4ec&r=all |