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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2021‒02‒01
thirty papers chosen by |
| By: | O'Sullivan, Mary |
| Abstract: | In the inaugural issue of Past and Present, Eric Hobsbawm emphasised the complexity of workers’ and capitalists’ attitudes to new machines. Moreover, noting that: “only rarely were new machines immediate and obvious paying propositions”, he suggested the potential of a history of profit to understand the motivations for introducing machines and the consequences of their adoption. This article grapples with Hobsbawm’s “profit puzzle” to understand the implications of the adoption and use of the Boulton & Watt steam engine for capitalists and workers in Cornish copper mines between 1777 and 1791. It shows that the engine’s economic implications for the people who invested in, and worked, the Cornish copper mines were conditioned by a complex relationship between power and profit. Power is assigned three meanings in this analysis: steam power, which was crucial to the mining of copper and the costs of its production; imperial power, given fluctuating demand for copper from different parts of the British Empire; and market power since control over price setting on the British copper market had decisive implications for Cornish mining profits. The article shows that the evolving relationship between power and profit conditioned both the enthusiasm for the B&W engine in Cornwall and the subsequent hostility that Cornish miners and mining adventurers displayed towards the partners. More generally, it suggests the potential of studying the economic and social history of new machines through the lens of profit to understand the motivations for introducing machines and the consequences of their adoption. |
| Keywords: | Profit, Mining capitalism, New technology, British Empire, Steam engine |
| JEL: | N00 N73 N83 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnv:wpaper:unige:148291&r=all |
| By: | Michael D. Bordo; Mickey D. Levy |
| Abstract: | In this paper we survey the historical record for over two centuries on the connection between expansionary fiscal policy and inflation. As a backdrop, we briefly lay out several theoretical approaches to the effects of fiscal deficits on inflation: the earlier Keynesian and monetarist approaches; and modern approaches incorporating expectations and forward looking behavior: unpleasant monetarist arithmetic and the fiscal theory of the price level. We find that the relationship between fiscal deficits and inflation generally holds in wartime when fiscally stressed governments resorted to the inflation tax. There were two peacetime episodes in the early twentieth century when bond financed fiscal deficits that were unbacked by future taxes seem to have greatly contributed to inflation: France in the 1920s and the recovery from the Great Recession in the 1930s in the U.S. In the post-World War II era a detailed examination of the Great Inflation in the 1960s and 1970s in the U.S. and the U.K. suggests that fiscal influences on monetary policy was a key factor. Finally we contrast the experience of the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008, when both expansionary fiscal and monetary policy did not lead to rising inflation, with the recent pandemic, which may involve the risks of fiscal dominance and future inflation. |
| JEL: | E3 E62 N4 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28195&r=all |
| By: | Daniel P. Gross; Bhaven N. Sampat |
| Abstract: | Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made comparisons to World War II. In 1940, a group of top U.S. science administrators organized a major coordinated research effort to support the Allied war effort, including significant investments in medical research which yielded innovations like mass-produced penicillin, antimalarials, and a flu vaccine. We draw on this episode to discuss the economics of crisis innovation. Since the objectives of crisis R&D are different than ordinary R&D (prioritizing speed, coordination, redundancy, and more), we argue that appropriate R&D policy in a crisis requires going beyond the standard Nelson-Arrow framework for research policy. |
| JEL: | H12 H56 N42 N72 O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28335&r=all |
| By: | Becker, Sascha O (Monash U and U Warwick, CAGE, CEPR, CESifo, Ifo, IZA and ROA); Won, Cheongyeon (Monash Business School) |
| Abstract: | In the mid 19th century, pre-colonial Korea under the Joseon dynasty was increasingly isolated and lagging behind in its economic development. Joseon Korea was forced to sign unequal treaties with foreign powers as a result of which Christian missionaries entered the country and contributed to the establishment of private schools. We show that areas with a larger presence of Christians have higher literacy rates in 1930, during the Japanese colonial period. We also show that a higher number of Protestants is associated with higher female literacy, consistent with a stronger emphasis on female education in Protestant denominations. |
| Keywords: | Literacy ; Religion ; Missionaries ; Gender gap ; Korea. JEL Classification: I21 ; N35 ; Z12 ; J16. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1322&r=all |
| By: | Thierry Kirat (Université Paris-Dauphine; PSL Research Université; IRISSO CNRS); Frédéric Marty (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This article discusses the institutionalization of the field of Law and Economics in the United States from the post-war period to the Reagan administration. It emphasizes the role of pro-market corporate foundations in the development of Law and Economics. It analyses individual and collective trajectories, including research projects, training programs led with judges, as well as leading academics contributions and judicial and administrative careers. It ultimately focuses on the impact of this institutionalization on judging methods. |
| Keywords: | Law and Economics, Foundations, Antitrust, Conservatism |
| JEL: | B21 B31 K21 N42 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2021-03&r=all |
| By: | Konstantin A. Kholodilin; Sebastian Kohl |
| Abstract: | The long-run U-shaped patterns of economic inequality are standardly explained by basic economic trends (Piketty’s r>g), taxation policies, or “great levelers,” like catastrophes. This paper argues that housing policy, in particular rent control, is a neglected explanatory factor in understanding overall inequality. We hypothesize that rent control could decrease overall housing wealth, lower incomes of generally richer landlords, and increase disposable incomes of generally poorer tenants. Using original long-run data for up to 16 countries (1900-2016), we show that rent controls lowered wealth-to-income ratios, top income shares, Gini-coefficients, rent increases, and rental expenditure. A counterfactual analysis using micro-data from the Luxembourg Income Study shows that rent controls could reduce rental expenditure of mostly lower-income tenants and rental incomes of mostly higher-income landlords. Overall, rent controls must be strict in order to have tangible effects and, historically, only strict rent controls have significantly reduced inequalities. The paper argues that housing policies should generally receive more attention in understanding economic inequalities. |
| Keywords: | economic inequality, stratification, rent control |
| JEL: | D31 E64 R38 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1927&r=all |
| By: | Aslanidis, Nektarios; Martínez Ibáñez, Oscar; Tadei, Federico |
| Abstract: | Despite the essential role that international trade has historically played for resource-rich African economies, growth possibilities have been hindered by considerable trade barriers. Yet, in the large literature on commodity market integration, Africa is a blank spot and little is known about the origins of high trade costs in the African export markets. In this article, we contribute to fill this gap by analyzing West African trade costs from the mid-nineteenth century to the eve of World War II. We construct estimates of international trade costs by applying a flexible threshold model to a representative sample of West African export prices and European import prices. Our results show that trade costs for West Africa experienced a substantial reduction from the 1840s to 1880, similar to the one we observe in other areas of the world. After the 1880s, however, they declined in the rest of the world, but not in West Africa. Consequently, since the late nineteenthcentury, trade for West Africa became relatively more expensive than for other world regions and Africa became relatively less integrated into the global economy. Our findings shed new light on the debate about the origins of African underdevelopment by emphasizing the role of increased trade costs and limited access to global markets. Keywords: Market Integration; West Africa; Commodity Trade; Trade Costs; Threshold Autoregressions. JEL classification: F1; N7; O43 |
| Keywords: | Àfrica de l'Oest--Condicions econòmiques--S. XIX-XX, Integració econòmica, 338 - Situació econòmica. Política econòmica. Gestió, control i planificació de l'economia. Producció. Serveis. Turisme. Preus, |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/417678&r=all |
| By: | Stéphane Gauthier (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This article shows that two widely used data sources from the French military administration pertain to two different enlistment stages and combines these sources to build a quasi-exhaustive panel of young men around their 20s. The panel is applied to measure height growth of men born at the end of the 19th century in an economically backward small rural area of France. The one-year growth is 0:39cm and only concerns the shortest men; the tallest men already reached adult maturity. Industrial pollution imposes a growth penalty that overcomes the enhancing impact of industrial development. |
| Keywords: | Industrialization,Norm of reaction,Military data,Rural development,Height growth,Pollution |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03117083&r=all |
| By: | William Roberds; Eugene White |
| Abstract: | During late 1920, the president (then called "governor") and board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta were confronted with an unexpected, devastating collapse in the price of a commodity whose global production was concentrated in their district—cotton. Their judgment was that the fall in cotton prices was temporary and that its effects could be lessened with generous credit policies that did not conflict with the Federal Reserve Act. Other officials within the Federal Reserve System did not agree with this judgment, however, leading to a contentious policy debate and an eventual rollback of the Bank's policy accommodation. |
| Keywords: | Federal Reserve; emergency lending; 13(3) |
| JEL: | E58 N12 |
| Date: | 2020–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:a00001:89439&r=all |
| By: | Karau, Sören |
| Abstract: | I study whether monetary gold hoarding was the main cause of the Great Depression in a structural VAR analysis. The notion that monetary forces played an important role in bringing about the depression is well established in the narrative literature, but has more recently met some skepticism by formal macroeconometric work. In deliberate contrast to the existing macroeconometric literature, the paper i) uses a newly-assembled monthly data set of the interwar world economy, and ii) models monetary disturbances as shocks to central bank gold demand. Based on a monetary DSGE model, the world gold reserve ratio (the ratio of central bank gold holdings to monetary liabilities) is used to describe monetary conditions. This permits the use of narrative information to sharpen shock identification in a structural VAR analysis based on sign restrictions. Monetary shocks are found to have real effects and to account for a substantial part of the collapse in prices and output during the initial slide into the Great Depression. |
| Keywords: | Great Depression,Gold Standard,Monetary Policy,Narrative Sign Restrictions |
| JEL: | E32 E42 E58 N12 N14 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:632020&r=all |
| By: | Dukes, Ruth; Streeck, Wolfgang |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the notions of contract and status found in classical sociology, legal theory, and labour law. Adopting an historical perspective, it explores the fragmentation of the status of industrial citizenship during the neoliberal period and discusses the enduring usefulness of the status/contract distinction in analyzing current trends in the regulation of working relations, including the spread of "gig" or platform-mediated work. Elements of status, it is argued, must always be present if work is to be performed and paid for as the parties require it. Claims to the contrary - for example, that the gig economy creates a labour market without search frictions and only minimal transaction costs: contracts without status - assume an undersocialized model of (monadic) social action that has no basis in the reality of social life (Durkheim, Weber). Still, status may come in a variety of forms that are more or less desirable from the perspective of workers, businesses, and society at large. The paper traces what it conceives as the privatization of status via contracts between employers and workers under the pressure of marketization and dominated by corporate hierarchies. Towards the end of the twentieth century, sociologists observed the division of workers into two groups or classes - core (with relatively well-paid and secure employment) and peripheral (low-paid and insecure). Thirty years later, gross inequalities of wealth and conceptions of the neoliberal self as ever-improving, ever-perfectible, are combining to create novel forms of status not fully anticipated by the literature. |
| Keywords: | contract and status,corporatism,entrepreneurialism,gig economy,industrial citizenship,industrial democracy,master and servant,precarity,industrielle Bürgerrechte,industrielle Demokratie,Korporatismus,master and servant,Prekarität,Unternehmertum,Vertrag und Status |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:2013&r=all |
| By: | Gustavo J. Bobonis; Luis Raúl Cámara Fuertes; Harold J. Toro; Julie Wilson |
| Abstract: | Corruption has been a salient feature of Puerto Rico (PR)’s modern history. However, systematic empirical research on this subject has been generally lacking. In this paper, we examine trends and patterns in municipal government malfeasance and corruption during a period spanning over six decades. Using data from all municipal audit reports conducted by the PR Office of the Comptroller between 1952 through 2015, we characterize patterns of corruption across three periods of change that altered governance practices in the territory: the time of hegemonic dominance of the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), the era of intense political competition between the PPD and the pro-statehood Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP), and the final collapse of the territory’s institutional model. We show that institutions and political practices, as opposed to economic determinants, play a key role in explaining corruption patterns. We argue that corruption patterns can be explained through the lens of politics in divided and polarized societies. |
| Keywords: | corruption; clientelist politics; anti-corruption audits; accountability; political polarization; divided societies |
| JEL: | D72 D74 J15 O17 |
| Date: | 2021–01–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-687&r=all |
| By: | Bütikofer, Aline (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Karadakic, René (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Salvanes, Kjell Gunnar (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | While Norway has experienced income growth accompanied by a large decline in mortality during the past several decades, little is known about the distribution of these improvements in longevity across the income distribution. Using municipalitylevel income and mortality data, we show that the stark income gradient in infant mortality across municipalities in the 1950s mostly closed in the late 1960s. However, the income gradient in mortality for older age categories across municipalities persisted until 2010 and only flattened thereafter. Further, the infant mortality gap between rich and poor Norwegian families based on individual-level data persisted several decades longer than the gap between rich and poor municipalities and only finally closed in the early 21st century. |
| Keywords: | Mortality; Income Inequality |
| JEL: | I00 |
| Date: | 2021–01–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2021_004&r=all |
| By: | Leendertz, Ariane |
| Abstract: | Die Mehrheit des wissenschaftlichen Personals an den Hochschulen und außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen in Deutschland ist heute befristet beschäftigt. Der Beitrag rekonstruiert die Ursachen und Dynamiken dieser Entwicklung, die in den 1970er-Jahren begann, am Gegenstand der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Lag der Befristungsanteil 1976 lediglich bei 15,7 Prozent, stieg er bis 2016 auf 69,2 Prozent an. Die Beweggründe der MPG-Spitze, die die Möglichkeiten der Befristung über die Jahre immer weiter ausdehnte, veränderten sich dabei über die Zeit. Sollten Zeitverträge in den 1970er- und 1980er-Jahren zuerst dazu beitragen, die personelle Mobilität im Bereich des Mittelbaus zu erhalten und eine Überalterung des wissenschaftlichen Personals sowie Stellenblockaden zu verhindern, traten im Verlauf der 1990er-Jahre strategische Organisationsinteressen in den Vordergrund. Um die Jahrtausendwende verfestigte sich die Überzeugung, dass die MPG über ein größtmögliches Maß personeller und institutioneller Flexibilität verfügen müsse, um sich im globalen Wettbewerb der Forschungsorganisationen um Reputation und Leitungspersonal behaupten zu können. Je mehr wissenschaftliche Beschäftigte nur befristet angestellt waren, desto leichter war es, obsolete Abteilungen und Institute zu schließen, stattdessen neue zu gründen und den neu berufenen Direktorinnen und Direktoren aus der ganzen Welt so viele freie Wissenschaftlerstellen wie möglich anzubieten. |
| Keywords: | Befristungen,Flexibilität,Geschichte,Max-Planck-Gesellschaft,Wettbewerb,competition,fixed-term contracts,flexibility,history,Max Planck Society |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:2015&r=all |
| By: | Raouf Boucekkine (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, France); M. Laksaci (Ecole Supérieure de Banque, Alger, Algeria); M. Touati-Tliba (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce d’Alger, Algeria) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the demand for money for monetary aggregates M1 and M2, and cash in Algeria over the period 1979-2019, and study its long-run stability. We show that the transaction motive is significant for all three aggregates, especially for the demand for cash, reflecting the weight of informal economy “practices”. The elasticity of the scale variable is very close to unity for M2 and M1, and even equal to unity for cash demand (1.006). The elasticity of inflation is also significant for all three aggregates, although its level is higher in the case of cash demand (-6.474). Despite the persistence of certain financial repression mechanisms, interest rate elasticity is significant for all three aggregates, but higher for M1 and cash. The same observation is made for elasticity of the exchange rate, reflecting the effect of monetary substitution, especially for M1 and cash. Finally, our study concludes that the demand for money in terms of M1 remains stable, the same observation being confirmed for the M2 aggregate. However, the demand for fiat currency proves not to be stable. The consequences for the optimal design of monetary policy in Algeria are clearly stated. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy, money demand, long-run stability, resource-rich countries, Algeria, co-integration |
| JEL: | E41 E42 E52 C13 |
| Date: | 2021–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2021001&r=all |
| By: | Raouf Boucekkine (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France.); Mohammed Laksaci (Ecole Supérieure de Banque, Alger, Algeria); Mohamed Touati-Tliba (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce d’Alger, Algeria) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the demand for money for monetary aggregates M1 and M2, and cash in Algeria over the period 1979-2019, and study its long-run stability. We show that the transaction motive is significant for all three aggregates, especially for the demand for cash, reflecting the weight of informal economy “practices”. The elasticity of the scale variable is very close to unity for M2 and M1, and even equal to unity for cash demand (1.006). The elasticity of inflation is also significant for all three aggregates, although its level is higher in the case of cash demand (-6.474). Despite the persistence of certain financial repression mechanisms, interest rate elasticity is significant for all three aggregates, but higher for M1 and cash. The same observation is made for elasticity of the exchange rate, reflecting the effect of monetary substitution, especially for M1 and cash. Finally, our study concludes that the demand for money in terms of M1 remains stable, the same observation being confirmed for the M2 aggregate. However, the demand for fiat currency proves not to be stable. The consequences for the optimal design of monetary policy in Algeria are clearly stated. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy, money demand, long-run stability, resource-rich countries, Algeria, co-integration |
| JEL: | E41 E42 E52 C13 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2104&r=all |
| By: | Diego Herrero (Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires - UBA - CONICET); Saúl Nestor Keifman (Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires - UBA - CONICET) |
| Abstract: | Se pusieron a prueba las hipótesis de convergencia absoluta y condicional en el crecimiento económico de los países utilizando distintos métodos de estimación con datos de la Penn WorldTable 9.0, para el período 1950-2014 y distintos subperíodos. La hipótesis de convergencia absoluta se rechaza en general salvo para el período 2000-2014. La hipótesis de convergencia condicional no se rechaza para el período 1970-2014 y se rechaza solo para la década de 1980. |
| Keywords: | Crecimiento Económico, Divergencia, Convergencia |
| JEL: | O47 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ake:iiepdt:202049&r=all |
| By: | Felix Koenig |
| Abstract: | The rollout of television to virtually every household in the United States in the mid-twentieth century created a potentially huge audience for people working in the entertainment industry. As Felix Koenig explains, this experience illustrates how new technologies can have a disruptive impact on labour markets: a handful of superstars were richly rewarded, but the majority of entertainers ended up worse off. |
| Keywords: | Superstar Effect, inequality, top incomes, technical change |
| JEL: | J31 J23 O33 D31 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:574&r=all |
| By: | Emilie Bonhoure (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Agency issues (the conflicts that arise due to the divergence of stakeholders' interests within firms) remain a critical challenge faced by companies. Unfortunately, there is hardly any existing solution that can claim to mitigate all agency issues at the same time. In this study, I examine an original governance mechanism, widespread within French firms at the turn of the 20th century, which could do so: a statutory rule of profit allocation. It fixed in corporate statutes the part of profits to be allocated to a pre-determined set of agents. Contrary to other solutions, this rule could indeed be a way to solve several types of agency issues at the same time. Focusing on the allocations to shareholders, I show that this was the case: firms with more severe agency conflicts promised a higher part of profits to shareholders. I also provide evidence of the efficiency of this rule. Firms with more severe agency issues did not deviate too much from it (despite the specific deviations sometimes allowed) and distributed actual dividends close to the promised ones. |
| Keywords: | profit allocation,corporate governance,dividend policy,agency theory,historical finance,France |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03107869&r=all |
| By: | Jha, Chandan Kumar; Sarangi, Sudipta |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the availability of arable land in antiquity created gender norms that continue to affect current gender inequality. We show that countries with greater ancestral arable land have lower levels of gender inequality, better female reproductive health outcomes, and greater female labor force participation. Using more than 80,000 individual-level observations from over 70 countries, we find that it is positively associated with attitudes regarding women’s rights and abilities. We show that the primary mechanism driving this relationship is the shaping of norms that promote female labor force participation. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, historical factors, ancestral arable land, cultural norms |
| JEL: | D03 J16 N30 Z1 |
| Date: | 2020–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104336&r=all |
| By: | Aníbal Jáuregui (Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires - UBA - CONICET) |
| Abstract: | El golpe de Estado inconcluso de marzo de 1962 disparó una serie de respuestas económicas en buena medida inesperadas por los actores concentrados en resolver los agudos problemas institucionales del momento. Con la economía a la deriva, los ministros del ramo buscaron encaminar con escasos recursos la situación acudiendo a las recomendaciones ortodoxas del Fondo. Sin embargo, en este contexto se consolida un nuevo tipo de heterodoxia liderada por Prebisch y la Comisión Económica para América Latina. |
| Keywords: | Ruptura Institucional, Presidencia De Guido, Ministerio De Economía, Planificación Económica |
| JEL: | N16 N46 H60 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ake:iiepdt:201942&r=all |
| By: | Chaudhary, Latika (Graduate School of Defense Management, Naval Postgraduate School); Fenske, James (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of railroads, the single largest public investment in colonial India, on human capital. Using district-level data on literacy, we find railroads had positive effects on literacy, in particular on male and English literacy. We employ two identification strategies. First, we exploit synthetic panel variation contained in cohort-specific literacy rates due to differences in the timing of railroad exposure of different cohorts within the same district and census year. We find a one standard deviation increase in railroad exposure raises literacy by 0.29 standard deviations. Second, we use distance from an early railway plan as an instrument for district railway exposure in the cross section and find results of similar magnitude. We show that railroads increased literacy by raising secondary, rather than primary, schooling. Our mediation analysis suggests that non-agricultural income and opportunities for skilled employment are important mechanisms, while agricultural income is not. |
| Keywords: | Colonialism ; Railways ; Literacy JEL codes: N75 ; N35 ; R40 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1320&r=all |
| By: | Wang, Xintong; Flores, Carlos A.; Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso |
| Abstract: | We analyze the short- and long-term effects of the U.S. Vietnam-era military service on veterans' health outcomes using a restricted version of the National Health Interview Survey 1974-2013 and employing the draft lotteries as an instrumental variable (IV). We start by assessing whether the draft lotteries, which have been used as an IV in prior literature, satisfy the exclusion restriction by placing bounds on its net or direct effect on the health outcomes of individuals who are nonveterans regardless of their draft eligibility (the "never takers"). Since we do not find evidence against the validity of the IV, we assume its validity in conducting inference on the health effects of military service for individuals who comply with the draft-lotteries assignment (the "compliers"), as well as for those who volunteer for enlistment (the "always takers"). The causal analysis for volunteers, who represent over 75% of veterans, is novel in this literature that typically focuses on the compliers. Since the effect for volunteers is not point-identified, we employ bounds that rely on a mild mean weak monotonicity assumption. We examine a large array of health outcomes and behaviors, including mortality, up to 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War. We do not find consistent evidence of detrimental health effects on compliers, in line with prior literature. For volunteers, however, we document that their estimated bounds show statistically significant detrimental health effects that appear 20 years after the end of the conflict. As a group, veterans experience similar statistically significant detrimental health effects from military service. These findings have implications for policies regarding compensation and health care of veterans after service. |
| Keywords: | Veteran health,Treatment effects,Bounds,Instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I12 C31 C36 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:764&r=all |
| By: | Richard Layard; George Ward |
| Abstract: | If the goal for society is the greatest possible all-round happiness, how can that be achieved? Richard Layard and George Ward outline the evidence on what explains the huge variation in people's life satisfaction - and how we can boost wellbeing, both through public policy and in our jobs and private lives. |
| Keywords: | wellbeing,happiness |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:568&r=all |
| By: | Chipten Valibhay (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Pascal Masson (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Benoit Weil (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | En quoi le brevet porte-t-il une définition de l'invention technique ? Depuis la création de systèmes des brevets à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, le droit du brevet cherche à établir une frontière entre le domaine de l'inventif et celui du non-inventif, et ce au travers notamment du critère d'activité inventive et de la figure d'homme du métier apparue aux États-Unis. À travers une étude généalogique des pratiques d'examen des brevets dans la jurisprudence américaine fondée sur la théorie C/K, cet article met en évidence l'existence de trois régimes hétérogènes d'invention (régime de la nouveauté, régime du progrès fonctionnel et régime de l'originalité combinatoire) apparus successivement. Chacun correspond à une manière particulière de structurer le connu (l'état de l'art) et les formes d'inconnus explorées dans les inventions, au travers de critères d'évaluation spécifiques. Ces régimes permettent de mieux modéliser une variété de représentations de la figure d'homme du métier, et d'historiciser ce que signifie, aux yeux du droit du brevet, ce qu'est une « invention validée ». |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03042486&r=all |
| By: | Cosimo Petracchi |
| Abstract: | One of the most compelling pieces of evidence for monetary non-neutrality is the Mussa puzzle, in which the break in the monetary regime when the Bretton Woods System broke down increased the volatility of not only the nominal exchange rate but the real exchange rate. Using data covering thirty-one European countries from 1954 to 2019, I find that the Mussa puzzle is generalizable: any break in a monetary regime that changes the volatility of the nominal exchange rate also changes the volatility of the real exchange rate. This provides further evidence of monetary non-neutrality. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2021-001&r=all |
| By: | Bachmann, Ronald; Stepanyan, Gayane |
| Abstract: | We analyse whether the rise in female labour force participation in Germany over the last decades can be explained by technological progress increasing the demand for non-routine social and cognitive skills, traditionally attributed to women. We do so by examining which task groups and occupations drive the increase in the female share and how this is related to women's wages. Our findings show that the share of women indeed rises most strongly in non-routine occupations requiring strong social and cognitive skills. While the female share in high-paid occupations increases over time, the share of women in the upper parts of the overall wage distribution rises much less which implies significant within-occupation gender wage gaps. |
| Keywords: | Female labour market participation,occupations,tasks,technological progress |
| JEL: | J21 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:889&r=all |
| By: | Michael Peneder |
| Abstract: | From Aristotle to Ricardo and Menger, economists have emphasised the function of money as a medium of exchange together with the intrinsic qualities that increase its saleability and credibility as a most liquid store of value. But the social institution of money co-evolves with technology. It is significant that the advent of digital cryptocurrencies was initiated by computer scientists and has taken economists completely by surprise. As a consequence, it also forces our profession to rethink the basic phenomenology of money. In accordance with the views of Wieser and Schumpeter, digitization brings to the fore its immaterial function as a standard of value and social technology of account, which increasingly absorbs that of a medium of exchange. The potential impact on economic policy is huge. The variety of different crypto coins has proven the technical feasibility of competing private currencies as proposed by Hayek. In the long term, however, there is reason to doubt the persistence of intense competition. One must fear that major digital platforms will extend their current dominance in multisided virtual market places to include digital payments and money. Central banks are increasingly anxious to preserve public sovereignty over the common unit of account and consider issuing their own digital fiat money. After the current era of intense creative experimentation, the potentially new spontaneous order of private crypto-currencies is likely to be supplanted by central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the design of which will depend on deliberate public choices and policies. |
| Keywords: | Digitization, evolution of money, currency competition, general ledger, crypto coins, central bank digital currency (CBDC), Austrian economics |
| Date: | 2021–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2021:i:620&r=all |
| By: | Cookson, Richard; Skarda, Ieva; Cotton-Barratt, Owen; Adler, Matthew; Asaria, Miqdad; Ord, Toby |
| Abstract: | We introduce a summary wellbeing measure for economic evaluation of cross‐sectoral public policies with impacts on health and living standards. We show how to calculate period‐specific and lifetime wellbeing using quality‐adjusted life years based on widely available data on health‐related quality of life and consumption and normative assumptions about three parameters—minimal consumption, standard consumption, and the elasticity of the marginal value of consumption. We also illustrate how these three parameters can be tailored to the decision‐making context and varied in sensitivity analysis to provide information about the implications of alternative value judgments. As well as providing a general measure for cost‐effectiveness analysis and cost‐benefit analysis in terms of wellbeing, this approach also facilitates distributional analysis in terms of how many good years different population subgroups can expect to live under different policy scenarios. |
| Keywords: | cost effective; health; QALY; quality of life; wellbeing; SRF-2013-06-015; 205427/Z/16/Z |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2021–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:107065&r=all |
| By: | Waitkus, Nora; Minkus, Lara |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role of occupational class in the Gender Wealth Gap (GWG). Despite rising interest in gender differences in wealth, the central role of occupations in restricting and enabling its accumulation has received less scrutiny thus far. Drawing on the German Socio-economic Panel, we employ quantile regressions and decomposition techniques. We find explanatory power of occupational class for the gender wealth gap, which operates despite accounting for other labour-market-relevant parameters, such as income, tenure, and full-time work experience at all points of the wealth distribution. Wealth gaps by gender vary between and within occupational classes. Particularly, women's under-representation among the self-employed and over-representation among socio-cultural professions explain the GWG. Our study thus adds another dimension of stratification - occupational class - to the discussion of the gendered distribution of wealth. |
| Keywords: | gender wealth gap; inequality; gender; wealth; occupational class |
| JEL: | R14 J01 N0 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:108206&r=all |