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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2021‒07‒26
35 papers chosen by |
| By: | Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo; Buckley, Tom |
| Abstract: | In this article we describe the trials and tribulations in the early stages to introduce cashless retail payments in the USA. We compare efforts by financial service firms and retailers. We then document the ephemeral life of one of these innovations, colloquially known as “Hinky Dinky”. We conclude with a brief reflection on the lessons these historical developments offer to the future of digital payments. |
| Keywords: | cashless, payments, innovation, USA, Hinky Dinky |
| JEL: | E42 L81 N2 N8 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:108834&r= |
| By: | Carlos, Ann M.; Feir, Donna; Redish, Angela |
| Abstract: | Abundant land and strong property rights are conventionally viewed as key factors underpinning US economic development success. This view relies on the "Pristine Myth" of an empty undeveloped land. But the abundant land of North America was already made productive and was the recognized territory of sovereign Indigenous Nations. We demonstrate that the development of strong property rights for European/American settlers was mirrored by the attenuation and increasing disregard of Indigenous property rights and that the dearth of discussion of the dispossession of Indigenous nations results in a misunderstanding of some of the core themes of US economic history. |
| Keywords: | indigenous peoples,development of the American economy,Institutions |
| JEL: | N40 N41 N50 N51 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:202104&r= |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; James A. Robinson |
| Abstract: | Modernization theory is a cornerstone of much of political science, despite the mounting evidence against its predictions. In this paper, we argue that the theory's failings are rooted in predictions that are not conditioned on history and cultural configurations. We outline a theory in which the interplay of the distribution of political power and cultural configurations lead to three distinct self-reinforcing paths of political development, with very different state-society relations, institutions, and economic structures. These are paths to Despotic, Absent and Shackled leviathans. The role of cultural configurations, made up of attributes in a society's culture set, is critical in legitimizing the social arrangements in each path. For example, a Despotic Leviathan, as in China, cannot be understood without appreciating how Confucian culture has been used to bolster a worldview in which rulers are supposed to be virtuous and regular people are discouraged from political participation. We argued that this interpretation is not inherent to Confucian thought, but has to be understood as an endogenous outcome along the trajectory to the Despotic Leviathan. None of the three different paths we highlight support modernization theory. Under the Absent Leviathan, there is no economic modernization. Under the Despotic Leviathan, economic growth bolsters the existing regime and its supporting cultural configuration, with no tendency towards democracy or associate political changes. Under the Shackled Leviathan, there are dynamics leading to economic growth and political changes with greater bottom-up participation. Nevertheless, the causation does not go from the former to the latter, and these changes are critically dependent on cultural and political entrepreneurship in order to formulate and popularize new cultural configurations and institutionalize political changes. |
| JEL: | N10 O10 P16 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29007&r= |
| By: | Antonin Aviat; Frédérique Bec; Claude Diebolt; Catherine Doz; Denis Ferrand; Laurent Ferrara; Eric Heyer; Valérie Mignon; Pierre-Alain Pionnier |
| Abstract: | Cet article propose une datation trimestrielle de référence des périodes de récession et d’expansion de l’économie française depuis 1970, réalisée par le comité de datation des cycles de l’AFSE (Association Française de Science Economique). La méthodologie mise en place repose sur deux piliers : (i) des estimations économétriques à partir d’un ensemble de données pour identifier les périodes candidates, et (ii) une approche narrative qui détaille le contexte économique de l’époque pour finaliser notre datation. De 1970 à nos jours, le comité a identifié quatre périodes de récession économique : les deux chocs pétroliers de 1974-75 et 1980, le cycle d’investissement de 1992-93 et la Grande Récession de 2008-09 engendrée par la crise financière mondiale. Le pic précédant la récession Covid a quant à lui été daté au dernier trimestre 2019. |
| Keywords: | Cycles économiques, économie française, datation, analyse narrative, modèles économétriques. |
| JEL: | E32 E37 C24 N14 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2021-27&r= |
| By: | Paul L. E. Grieco; Charles Murry; Ali Yurukoglu |
| Abstract: | We construct measures of industry performance and welfare in the U.S. car and light truck market from 1980-2018. We estimate a differentiated products demand model for this market using product level data on market shares, prices, and product characteristics, and consumer level data on demographics, purchases, and stated second choices. We estimate marginal costs under the conduct assumption of Nash-Bertrand pricing. We relate trends in consumer welfare and markups to industry trends in market structure and the composition of products, like the rise of import competition, the proliferation of SUV's, and changes in vehicle characteristics. We find that although prices rose over time, concentration and market power decreased substantially. Consumer welfare increased over time due to improving product quality and falling marginal costs. The fraction of total surplus accruing to consumers also increased. |
| JEL: | L1 L40 L62 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29013&r= |
| By: | Nan Li; Chris Papageorgiou; Tong Xu; Tao Zha |
| Abstract: | Using a novel database of domestic financial reforms in 90 countries over 1973-2014, we document that global financial liberalization followed an S-curve path: reforms were slow and gradual in early periods, accelerated during the 1990s, and slowed down after 2000. We estimate a learning model that explains these dynamics. Policymakers updated their beliefs about the growth effects of financial reforms by learning from their own and other countries' experiences. Positive growth surprises in advanced economies helped accelerate belief updating worldwide, leading to the global wave of financial liberalization in the 1990s. The 2008 financial crisis, however, caused significant belief reversals. |
| JEL: | C11 C54 O11 O50 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28994&r= |
| By: | Giampaolo Lecce (Groningen University); Laura Ogliari (University of Milan); Tommaso Orlando (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | What determines the rejection of exogenously imposed institutions? To address this question, we exploit the transplantation of institutions that occurred when southern Italy was annexed to Piedmont, during the Italian unification process of the 1860s. We assemble a novel dataset on episodes of brigandage, a form of violent uprising against the unitary government, and on pre-unification social and economic characteristics of southern Italian municipalities. We find that the intensity of institutional rejection is ceteris paribus lower in and close to settlements of Piedmontese origin. We argue that geographical distance from these communities is a proxy for cultural distance from the Piedmontese rulers. Thus, our results suggest that cultural proximity to the ‘donor’ reduces institutional rejection by ‘recipient’ communities in the context of institutional transplantations. We rule out alternative mechanisms proposed by the economic literature, provide suggestive evidence of cultural persistence and diffusion in our context, and discuss two possible culture-based interpretations of our results: a clash between local values and the content of the new institutions, and social identification with the Piedmontese rulers. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Culture, Institutional Transplantations, Cultural Diffusion |
| JEL: | N43 D74 P16 Z10 |
| Date: | 2021–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:473&r= |
| By: | Edward E. Leamer |
| Abstract: | Using the recession recovery point equal to the month when private payrolls first exceeded their previous peak level, this paper argues that it was the negative secular trend in manufacturing jobs that was the most important determinant of the length and depth of the last three recessions/recoveries. This negative secular trend changed the layoff/recall pattern of jobs in manufacturing into permanent displacements, a malady that lengthened the recovery periods and that is not the explicit target of either traditional monetary policy or traditional fiscal policy. Using the ideas gathered from an examination of the US two-digit sectoral data for the US overall, attention turns to the recession/recoveries of the 50 US states in the last three national recession periods. Regressions that explain the lengths and depths of the recessions in 50 US states reveal the importance of construction jobs, but the most important predictor was manufacturing jobs: the greater the share of manufacturing jobs prior to the recession, the worse was the recession/recovery. |
| JEL: | E3 E32 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28982&r= |
| By: | Swanepoel, Christie; Fliers, Philip |
| Abstract: | The newly established South African Reserve Bank (SARB) was tasked to protect the currency by navigating the interwar gold standard, and, from March 1933, maintaining parity with the Pound Sterling. We find that South Africa's exit from gold secured an unparalleled and rapid recovery from the Great Depression. South Africa's exit was accompanied by an inextricable link of the SARB's policy rate to the interest rate set by the Bank of England (BoE). This sacrifice of independent monetary policy allowed the SARB to fix the country's exchange rate without impeding the flow of gold to London. The SARB fuelled the economy by reducing its policy rates and accumulating gold. Had South Africa not devalued, the country would have suffered a severe depression and persistent deflation. An alternative to the devaluation, was for the SARB to pursue a cheap money strategy. By setting interest rates historically low, we find that South Africa could have achieved higher levels of economic growth, at the cost of higher inflation. Ultimately, South Africa's unparalleled recovery can be ascribed to the devaluation, however the change in the SARB monetary policy and the bank's control over the gold markets were of paramount importance. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy management,interwar gold standard,South Africa |
| JEL: | N14 N20 E42 E52 E58 F33 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:202105&r= |
| By: | Alessio Terzi |
| Abstract: | Gross Domestic Product (GDP) started to be used during World War II to measure the material production needs of the conflict. Throughout the decades, several issues have been identified with measuring economic success via this single indicator. Most prominently, GDP fails to inform decision makers on how the benefits of growth spread across the population, and to what extent these are concentrated in certain pockets of society. Moreover, it does not take into account the depletion of natural resources and environmental sustainability more broadly. As these have become increasingly pressing concerns for policymakers and the public at large, over the past decade, statistical institutes (including Eurostat) have been developing new complementary indicators, which have been embraced to various degrees by several governments and international organisations. At the current juncture, the challenge is to bring these indicators into more active policy-making in a sensible and manageable way. This paper therefore reviews the pros and cons of some of the ongoing efforts, in Europe and beyond, laying out potential avenues for future scholarship on the topic. |
| JEL: | B20 B40 D78 E01 E66 I30 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:dispap:142&r= |
| By: | Mehdi El Herradi (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); Aurélien Leroy (Larefi - Laboratoire d'analyse et de recherche en économie et finance internationales - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux 4) |
| Abstract: | How do banking crises a ect rich, middle-class and poor households? This paper quanti es the distributional implications of banking crises for a panel of 140 economies over the 1970-2017 period. We rely on di erent empirical settings, including an instrumental variable approach, that exploit the geographical di usion of banking crises across borders. Our results show that banking crises systematically reduce the income share of rich households and positively a ect middle-class households. We also nd that income inequality increases during periods preceding the triggering of a banking crisis. |
| Keywords: | banking crises,income distribution,inequality |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03269859&r= |
| By: | Quentin Couix (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-03226587&r= |
| By: | Van, Germinal G. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this essay is to explain how the cost of maintaining the welfare state does not produce the results intended in addition to creating an economic burden on the taxpayer from which he does not obtain any significant benefit. By cost, I do not merely imply monetary cost, but also a social cost. The welfare state exists in almost every advanced economy whether it is in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, or Germany. However, the analysis of this essay focuses on the welfare system of the United States since it is the country in which I reside. Hence, this essay argues about how the welfare state could be dismantled by a gradual approach rather than an abrupt and revolutionary approach. To elucidate how the welfare state could be dismantled gradually rather than abruptly, I proceeded with the inductive method by first analyzing the historical and statistical evidence related to the welfare state, then developed a hypothetical scenario of the dismantlement of the welfare state. |
| Keywords: | Econometrics, Statistical Modelling, Welfare Economics, Statistical Analysis |
| JEL: | C01 C1 C5 D60 D62 |
| Date: | 2021–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:108876&r= |
| By: | Acerbi, Alberto (Brunel University London); Sacco, Pier Luigi |
| Abstract: | Within the conceptual framework of the Tightness-Looseness (TL) paradigm, we study the dynamics of the social salience of self-control (tight) vs-self-indulgence (loose) orientations across the 20th century on the basis of the English Google Books corpus, by means of the construction of specific lexica of which we track their relative frequency. We find that whereas the trend of self-control displays a steady increase throughout, that of self-restraint is U-shaped, so that following a decline along the most part of the century, starting from the late 70s-early 80s we observe a reversal of the trend that signals an increasing salience of self-control. Such result seems to reflect the consumerist turn that has characterized the post-industrial cycle from the 80s onwards. The coexistence of growing trends for mutually antagonizing orientations calls for further analysis of their social interplay. We also perform a parallel analysis on semantically related lexica that confirm the robustness of our findings. |
| Date: | 2021–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:xgqt5&r= |
| By: | Braswell, Anna; Leyk, Stefan; Connor, Dylan; Uhl, Johannes |
| Abstract: | Current estimates of U.S. property at risk of coastal hazards and sea level rise (SLR) are stag-gering, evaluated at over a trillion U.S. dollars. Despite being enormous in the aggregate, po-tential losses due to SLR depend on mitigation, adaptation, and exposure and are highly uneven in their distribution across coastal cities. We provide the first analysis of how changes in expo-sure (how and when) have unfolded over more than a century of coastal urban development in the United States. We do so by leveraging new historical settlement layers from the Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the U.S. (HISDAC-US) to examine building patterns within and between the SLR zones of the conterminous United States since the early twentieth century. Our analysis reveals that SLR zones developed faster and continue to have higher structure density than non-coastal, urban and inland areas, patterns which are particularly prominent in locations affected by hurricanes. However, density levels in historically less-developed coastal areas are now quickly converging on early-settled SLR zones, many of which have reached building saturation. These “saturation effects” suggest that adaptation polices targeting existing buildings and developed areas are likely to grow in importance relative to the protection of previously undeveloped land. |
| Date: | 2021–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:j4k3e&r= |
| By: | Devansh Bajpai; Rishi Ranjan Singh |
| Abstract: | Analysis of wars and conflicts between regions has been an important topic of interest throughout the history of humankind. In the latter part of the 20th century, in the aftermath of two World Wars and the shadow of nuclear, biological, and chemical holocaust, more was written on the subject than ever before. Wars have a negative impact on a country's economy, social order, infrastructure, and public health. In this paper, we study the wars fought in history and draw conclusions from that. We explore the participation of countries in wars and the nature of relationships between various countries during different timelines. A big part of today's wars is fought against terrorism. Therefore, this study also attempts to shed light on different countries' exposure to terrorist encounters and analyses the impact of wars on a country's economy in terms of change in GDP. |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2107.01098&r= |
| By: | Michel De Vroey (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Luca Pensieroso (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we introduce a new understanding of the mainstream notion in economics. Its distinct character is based on a set of methodological standards deemed compulsory in the theoretical or empirical practice of the discipline. We contend that a theoretical mainstream arose around the 1980s, when the prevailing methodological standards in microeconomics and game theory – mathematical language, equilibrium discipline, and ‘explicit micro-foundations’ – came to be adopted in theoretical papers across a wide range of fields and specializations. We further argue that the 1990 period witnessed the surge of a distinct empirical mainstream and the emergence of a joint mainstream, the result of the rise of experimental economics and a renewal of applied economics centered on the notion of causal inference. An examination of the contents of the articles published in top journals in selected years from 1970 to 2018 confirms our contention. |
| Keywords: | Mainstream, Neoclassical approach, Experimental economics, Causal inference, Methodology |
| JEL: | A10 B20 B41 C9 |
| Date: | 2021–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2021015&r= |
| By: | Léa Saint-Raymond (ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres) |
| Abstract: | In 1885, some artists from Toulouse gathered together and decided to pursue a "cultural policy" ahead of its time, by organizing an annual exhibition in their city: the Union artistique de Toulouse. In 1905, other painters, sculptors, furniture makers and architects went even further in this regionalist and southern affirmation: they organized a second exhibition in Toulouse, the Salon des artistes méridionaux, which is still active today. Based on a comprehensive dataset of 24,646 artworks exhibited in Toulouse at the Union artistique and the Salon des artistes méridionaux, and using hedonic regression analysis, this paper aims at measuring the effectiveness and scope of this local cultural policy, from 1885 through 1939. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03265468&r= |
| By: | Blum, Matthias; Krauss, Karl-Peter; Myeshkov, Dmytro |
| Abstract: | Prior to the Age of Mass Migration, Germans left central Europe to settle primarily in modernday Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. Despite the harsh conditions that the first generation of settlers had to endure, their descendants often fared better, not worse, compared to native population groups. This study offers a possible explanation for this surprising outcome. We use data on approximately 11,500 individuals to estimate and compare basic numeracy scores of German settlers and other populations groups in target regions. We find that German settlers generally had superior basic numeracy levels, suggesting that these settlers must have contributed positively to the human capital endowment in their target regions. The numeracy of Germans was somewhat higher than the numeracy of Hungarians and substantially higher than the numeracy of Russians, Ukrainians and Serbs. We do not find noteworthy differences in terms of numeracy between German emigrants and the population they left behind, suggesting the absence of substantial migrant selection. |
| Keywords: | Migration,Economic History,Germany,Hungary,Russian Empire,Ukraine,Eastern Europe |
| JEL: | N13 N23 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:202103&r= |
| By: | Mathieu Lefebvre; Pierre Pestieau; Gregory Ponthierez |
| Abstract: | Under income-differentiated mortality, poverty measures suffer from a selection bias: they do not count the missing poor (i.e. persons who would have been counted as poor provided they did not die prematurely). The Pre-Industrial period being characterized by an evolutionary advantage (i.e. a higher number of surviving children per household) of the non-poor over the poor, one may expect that the missing poor bias is substantial during that period. This paper aims at estimating the missing poor bias in Pre-Industrial societies, by computing the hypothetical headcount poverty rates that would have prevailed provided the non-poor did not benefit from an evolutionary advantage over the poor. Using data on Pre-Industrial England, we show that the sign and size of the missing poor bias is sensitive to the degree of downward mobility for the non-poor. |
| Keywords: | poverty, measurement, selection e¤ects, missing poor. |
| JEL: | I32 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2021-29&r= |
| By: | Ana Paula Franco; Sebastian Galiani; Pablo Lavado |
| Abstract: | The Inca Empire was the last of a long series of highly developed cultures in pre-colonial South America. It stretched across parts of the current territories of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and the whole of Peru. The Inca Road was its 30,000-kilometer-long transportation system. The aim of this study is to identify its long-term impact on current development in Peru. Our results show that the long-run effect of the Inca Road includes increases in wages and educational attainment, a reduction of child malnutrition and an increase in children’s mathematics test scores. We also find that these effects are around 20% greater for women and explore the mechanisms that may account for this pattern. |
| JEL: | O1 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28979&r= |
| By: | Straumann, Tobias |
| Abstract: | Die Commerzbank, 1870 von Kaufleuten und Privatbankiers in Hamburg gegründet, widmete sich zunächst der Finanzierung des Außenhandels und der mittelständischen Wirtschaft, ehe sie im Verlauf des 20. Jahrhunderts zu einer führenden, international agierenden Geschäftsbank aufstieg. Anhand vieler, zum Teil bisher unerschlossener archivalischer Quellen beschreiben Stephan Paul, Friederike Sattler und Dieter Ziegler den Weg der Bank von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart. Sie widmen sich dabei den Erschütterungen durch die Finanzkrisen 1931/32 und 2008/09 ebenso wie den Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung des Bankgeschäfts in jüngster Zeit: ein faszinierendes Kapitel deutscher Wirtschaftsgeschichte. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ibfpps:0321&r= |
| By: | Juan Carlos de Pablo |
| Abstract: | Resumen. Respuesta idiota: que dura 10 años. Respuesta aparentemente inteligente: período durante el cual el PBI real creció de manera ininterrumpida (en Argentina una excepción, durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX), a 5% equivalente anual, muy por encima de la tasa de crecimiento de largo plazo. ¿Por qué califico a esta respuesta como aparentemente inteligente? Por las interpretaciones que algunos economistas derivan del referido hecho estadístico. Durante el período hubo gobiernos civiles y militares, la presidencia de la Nación fue ocupada por 8 personas, y la titularidad del equipo económico por 12; mayor heterogeneidad imposible. Respuesta idiota: que dura 10 años. Respuesta aparentemente inteligente: período durante el cual el PBI real creció de manera ininterrumpida (en Argentina una excepción, durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX), a velocidades muy superiores a la tasa de crecimiento de largo plazo. ¿Por qué califico a esta respuesta como aparentemente inteligente? Por las interpretaciones que algunos economistas derivan del referido hecho estadístico. Esta monografía está dividida en 2 secciones. En la primera presento los números, mientras que en la segunda planteo una interpretación más cercana a la realidad, dados los contextos político y económico del período en consideración. |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cem:doctra:800&r= |
| By: | David Courpasson (emlyon business school); Dima Younès; Michael Ivor Reed |
| Abstract: | Durkheim's contributions to organization studies have so far been decidedly marginal, and largely concentrated on culture. In this paper, we draw upon his theory of anomie and solidarity to show how a Durkheimian view of contemporary organizations and work has special relevance today for debates about how workers, particularly middle managers, can reshuffle a capacity to resist neoliberal efforts to profoundly disrupt their working conditions, in particular their autonomy to define what is a job well done. We show how Durkheim's insights can account for the unexpected rekindling of forms of social solidarity in highly competitive and individualistic organizational settings, through dissident efforts that convey a renewal of a certain work ethos severed by neoliberal managerial policies and practices. Recent studies on resistance confirm Durkheim's view that forms of collective activity, resembling supposedly ‘old' mechanisms of former days, continue to exist and develop in contemporary societies and organizations, in response to pressure to put people in situations of inter-individual competition that disrupts social relationships. |
| Keywords: | anomie,solidarity,resistance,middle managers,Durkheim,enclaves |
| Date: | 2021–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03273207&r= |
| By: | Dutta, Sourish |
| Abstract: | Though the basic (the late 1860s) Marxian model, under the capitalist mode of production, assumes perfect competitive or contestable ambience within the market by means of a large number of trivial firms in each industry, Marx was cognizant of the growing size of firms, the subsequent dwindling of competition, and the evolution of monopolistic or anti-competitive power. Hence, the capital has the inclination for concentration and centralization in the hands of the richest and big capitalists. Actually, the concentration and centralization of capital are two capital accumulation (or self-expansion of capital) techniques. Such concentration and centralization of capital can be clearly detected at this modern time, especially in the USA, in the enormous occurrences of mergers, acquisitions and conglomerates. In this assignment, henceforth, I will be trying to cultivate an analytical discussion about these two interlinked concepts and their implications and repercussions in this modern world of capitalism. |
| Date: | 2021–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:6ywth&r= |
| By: | Gorecki, Paul |
| Abstract: | Since 2017 Ireland’s competition agency, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), has cleared two merger to monopoly transactions, albeit both subject to the divestment of selected assets to an entrant. One of these transactions was Kantar Media’s 2017 acquisition of Newsaccess. Prior to 2017 the CCPC had prohibited mergers to monopoly. Does this apparent relaxation mark a sea change in CCPC merger policy? Taking the Kantar Media/Newsaccess merger as a case study, the paper explores this question. The paper finds that there has been a relaxation of merger enforcement by the CCPC. On an ex ante basis the Kantar Media/Newsaccess merger should have been prohibited or the remedy substantially strengthened. However, ex post, due to business difficulties of the merger entity consequent upon a major pre-merger restructuring, the market has self-corrected through successful entry facilitated in large part by these business difficulties. Such rapid self-correction in restoring competition is very much the exception rather than the rule. If it were otherwise there would be no need for merger control. |
| Keywords: | Ireland; merger control; structural remedies; substantial lessening of competition; ex post evaluation; Competition Act 2002. |
| JEL: | D22 K21 L41 |
| Date: | 2021–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:108743&r= |
| By: | González-Bustamante, Bastián (Universidad de Santiago de Chile); Astete Olmos, Matías Ignacio; Orvenes, Berenice Issabella |
| Abstract: | Where do appointments based on political trust end and meritocratic recruitments begin? This question dates to the end of the nineteenth century and is linked to civil service systems’ modernisation processes in the twentieth century. The Chilean civil service has been an example of modernisation in Latin America over the past decades, however, the existing evidence is descriptive and mainly evaluates its coverage. There is no clear, systematic empirical evidence on its stability. This paper presents a novel data set of senior public managers in Chile during the 2009-2017 period. The focus of this methodological article is demonstrating how data mining and machine learning processes could be useful in order to create the data set and its potential applications. First, we present how we created and validated this data set. Then, we present some descriptive applications and nonparametric survival estimates with Kaplan-Meier curves. We hope that this data set will be a relevant resource for deepening understanding of the Chilean civil service and making different comparisons to extend this research line on political and government personnel. |
| Date: | 2021–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:vshcz&r= |
| By: | Luca Baldo (Bank of Italy); Elisa Bonifacio (Bank of Italy); Marco Brandi (Bank of Italy); Michelina Lo Russo (Bank of Italy); Gianluca Maddaloni (Bank of Italy); Andrea Nobili (Bank of Italy); Giorgia Rocco (Bank of Italy); Gabriele Sene (Bank of Italy); Massimo Valentini (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we assess the main drivers of banknote circulation in Italy over the last decades by using a number of econometric tools proposed in the literature. We explore the role played by the banknote flows from abroad, changes in the institutional framework and disentangle domestic demand for transaction purposes from other components, including liquidity hoarding. We find that changes in legal limits on cash payment and money holdings for precautionary reasons explain the bulk of cash dynamics. Moreover, the share of transaction demand declined over time becoming of second-order. Finally, we find that, during the pandemic from Covid-19, the exceptional raise in cash circulation was mostly the result of an increase in precautionary demand due to both economic uncertainty and restrictions to mobility that resulted into a marked decline of lodgments to the central bank. |
| Keywords: | cash circulation, cash, payment habits, Covid-19 pandemic |
| JEL: | E41 E42 G2 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wpmisp:mip_007_21&r= |
| By: | Quentin Couix (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | his paper investigates the methodology of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and his conception of economic models as analytical similes. His approach has received little attention from mathematical economists and economic methodologists. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to characterize his perspective and situate it in the broader spectrum of economic methodologies. It shows that Georgescu-Roegen criticized the lack of significance of certain economic models and attempted to give philosophical foundations to this criticism. He also provided a set of methodological principles that are illustrated by his practice of economic modeling. This perspective placed Georgescu-Roegen in opposition to the axiomatic approach that dominated postwar economics, and in line with economists such as Marshall, Wicksell, and Keynes, on the limited and subordinate role of mathematics in the discipline. Overall, the paper shows that Georgescu-Roegen's methodological contribution is still relevant to contemporary debates on the status of economic models. |
| Keywords: | Georgescu-Roegen,methodology,mathematical economics,models |
| Date: | 2021–04–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-03226589&r= |
| By: | Bogdan David (Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University of Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | Legal consciousness has been and remains an integral part of the historical evolution of human society, and even more, it, in the context of the historical process of development of human society is identified as a phenomenon that drives, complements and defines social relations and reflects them in the norms of law, or consciousness is a superior form of reflection of the objective reality, proper only to human. |
| Keywords: | Legal conscience, ancient times, legal work, legal norms |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:lpaper:00181&r= |
| By: | Claudius Graebner (Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; ZOE Institute for future-fit Economies, Bonn, Germany); Stephan Puehringer (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the actual relevance and historical origins or ‘competition universalism’. In economics, competition is conceptualized as a nearly ubiquitous element of societies, or, at least, used to study a wide array of social and political relations, including competition between firms for market shares, between individuals for prestige, countries for resources, athletes for victory, or politicians for influence. This trend towards ‘competition universalism’ was facilitated by the increasing dominance of an economic approach that places less weight on descriptive accuracy and a consideration so socio-historical specificities, but instead focuses on the development of general and tractable mathematical models. Thereby, the paper links the trend to competition universalism to developments in the epistemological orientation in economics. It first explicates the historical genesis of competition universalism, then discusses the extent it has reached today, and concludes with critical remarks and the proposition of an alternative, more particularist approach to study competition. |
| Keywords: | competition universalism; economic and social sphere; economic imperialism; economic methodology |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:125&r= |
| By: | Kelly, Colm; Snower, Dennis J. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines major forces that have decoupled economic and business prosperity from social prosperity and explores how recoupling can be promoted. Economists have specified well-known conditions under which free market enterprise with shareholder value maximization is efficient. These conditions are systematically violated by three forces - globalization, technological advance and financialization (GTF) - that have weakened the connections between economies and societies over the past four decades. Consequently, the recoupling process requires abandoning the default premise of economic decision making that social progress follows financial performance. For business, it calls for a move from shareholder to stakeholder value. For government, it calls for setting legal obligations, targets and incentives to ensure that stakeholder value is compatible with a rigorously defined concept of 'societal and planetary value.' |
| Keywords: | recoupling,shareholder value,stakeholder value,wellbeing,globalization,technological advance,financialization |
| JEL: | M10 M14 B55 B41 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2191&r= |
| By: | Manuel Bétin (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); Umberto Collodel (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: | While the recent empirical literature on macroeconomic crises focused on a limited subset of events (e.g. banking, currency and sovereign), macroeconomic crises are usually characterized by large scale domino effects that involve a much wider and heterogeneous array of sectors and transform them into highly complex events. This data limitation, in turn, hampers the understanding of these chaotic and painful episodes for researchers and policymakers alike. After building a raw corpus of roughly 23,000 International Monetary Fund country reports, we harness the power of text mining to produce a new database on crises discussion: the database covers 20 different types of economic, financial and non economic events for a sample of 181 countries over the period 1950-2019. We document a substantial rise in complexity of macroeconomic crises throughout the X X and X X I t h century and a higher centrality of the non-fundamental channel in the system. |
| Keywords: | Financial crises,Narrative Economics,IMF,Text Analysis,Complexity |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03268889&r= |
| By: | Federico S. Mandelman |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic produced a massive decline in U.S. consumption in 2020 and swift fiscal and monetary responses. After growing at a rather steady 5 percent rate for decades, the money supply (M2) increased 25 percent over the past year alongside unprecedented fiscal support, raising some inflationary concerns. Concurrent with the reopening of the economy as vaccines roll out, this article derives some lessons from the U.S. experience during and after WWII. The debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 40 percent to 110 percent because of the war effort. Most of it was financed by Fed debt purchases, through a de facto yield curve control that held down short- and long-term interest rates. The money supply doubled in size, but inflation was muted during the conflict as private consumption demand was severely restrained. Private consumption was suppressed, as factories were fully devoted to the rearmament effort, food was rationed, and construction was practically prohibited. Households’ saving boomed as a result. After the war, swift pent-up consumption demand culminated in a short-lived spike in inflation from 2 percent to 20 percent in 1946–47, which quickly returned to 2 percent in 1949. Contractionary monetary and fiscal policies, along well-anchored low inflation expectations inherited from the Great Depression, appeared to have contributed to rapid disinflation. I also discuss the experiences of Japan and Europe in recent decades. |
| Keywords: | Money aggregates; inflation; World War II; pent-up demand; COVID-19 |
| JEL: | E19 I19 |
| Date: | 2021–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:a00001:92864&r= |
| By: | Amélie Artis (IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Kouassi N’goran (UMR ART-Dev - Acteurs, Ressources et Territoires dans le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the institutionalization process of microfinance in its ability to diffuse its rules and visions into the financial and banking sector as well as into development policies. This research presents how the practices, the discourse and the specific ideals of this social innovation diffuse into different sectors with different funding logics. Institutionalist theory allows us to describe the process of of institutionalization of this socio-economic practice with conventional organizations. This article highlights different channels of diffusion to demonstrate that microfinance has become a microfinance has become a financial institution in thirty years. |
| Abstract: | Cet article examine le processus d'institutionnalisation de la microfinance dans sa capacité à diffuser ses règles et ses visions tant dans le secteur financier et bancaire que dans les politiques de développement. Cette recherche présente comment les pratiques, le discours tenu et les idéaux spécifiques de cette innovation sociale se diffusent dans différents secteurs aux logiques de financement différentes. La théorie institutionnaliste nous permet de décrire le processus d'institutionnalisation de cette pratique socioéconomique auprès d'organismes conventionnels. Différents canaux de diffusion sont mis en exergue, dans le cadre cet article, pour démontrer que la microfinance est devenue en trente ans une institution financière. |
| Keywords: | Microfinance,Institution,Institutionnalisation,Développement Microfinance,Développement |
| Date: | 2019–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03251114&r= |