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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2023‒03‒20
35 papers chosen by |
| By: | Flores Zendejas, Juan |
| Abstract: | How are expropriations related to governments' debt defaults? The literature has shown that expropriation episodes and debt defaults have rarely coincided, suggesting that each event resulted from a different set of factors. The aim of this article is twofold. First, I analyze expropriation-default relationships in the years previous to the debt crisis of 1982. I show that while expropriation and default episodes did not always coincide, countries that expropriated at least once during the period were also those that defaulted more often. I observe that countries that expropriated had worse macroeconomic indicators than countries that did not. Second, I focus on the case of Mexico, when its announcement of a debt moratorium in August 1982 was followed, less than one month later, by the nationalization of its banking system. Both events were outcomes of an acute economic crisis. The nationalization announcement aggravated the crisis, because an agreement with the IMF seemed increasingly uncertain. I provide evidence from the largely overlooked bond market (on which the government never defaulted) that shows that investors reacted negatively to the bank nationalization. Finally, I present original, published, and unpublished primary sources to demonstrate that commercial banks, as well as international organizations, expressed misgivings about the bank nationalization. This fact may have hindered the country's economic recovery through the deterioration of public confidence and a decline in foreign investment. |
| Keywords: | Sovereign debt crises, Expropriations, IMF |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnv:wpaper:unige:164370&r=his |
| By: | Sebastian Alvarez (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago, Chile); Gianandrea Nodari (Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This article explores the evolution of the Argentine banking system between 1925 and 1935. In order to reach this goal, we gathered individual banks' monthly balance sheets and offer a novel and comprehensive database on the Argentine banking system of the time. Using this new source, our analysis displays that the situation of Argentine banks during the Great Depression was more complex and dramatic than has been generally recognized. Although intense and deep, the banking crisis was not, however, homogeneous. The nature and timing of the problems, as well as their causes and scope, varied significantly between individual banks or groups of banks. As the article shows, the reasons and motives behind the heterogeneity of banks' problems seem to be linked both to national political episodes of instability as well as to the contagion of the financial crisis from the core countries. |
| Keywords: | Argentina, Great Depression, Banking crisis, International Finance |
| JEL: | G01 G21 N16 N26 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:2303&r=his |
| By: | Gilles Pache (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon) |
| Abstract: | Religious tourism refers to travel for religious or spiritual purposes, such as pilgrimages or visits to sacred places. It is not a new concept, especially as far as pilgrimages are concerned, since the first of them would have taken place as early as the 10th century BC in Jerusalem, with the construction of Solomon's temple. If pilgrimages were for a long time reserved for people from the highest spheres of society, who then combined religion, culture, and leisure to enjoy their travel, this is no longer the case today. The democratization of religious tourism generates increasingly massive flows of pilgrims, which poses huge logistical problems, but also security, in the sacred places of reception. This article uses the example of the Hajj in Mecca to highlight these problems and the technological and managerial innovations that can be used to solve them and suggests important research avenues. |
| Abstract: | Le tourisme religieux désigne les voyages effectués à des fins religieuses ou spirituelles, comme les pèlerinages ou les visites de lieux sacrés. Il ne s'agit pas d'un concept nouveau, notamment en ce qui concerne les pèlerinages, puisque les premiers d'entre eux auraient eu lieu dès le X e siècle avant J.-C. à Jérusalem, avec la construction du temple de Salomon. Si les pèlerinages furent longtemps réservés aux personnes issues des plus hautes sphères de la société, qui associaient alors religion, culture et loisirs pour profiter de leur voyage, ce n'est plus le cas aujourd'hui. La démocratisation du tourisme religieux induit des flux de plus en plus massifs de pèlerins, ce qui pose de redoutables problèmes logistiques, mais aussi sécuritaires, sur les lieux d'accueil. L'article prend l'exemple du Hajj à La Mecque pour mettre en lumière lesdits problèmes et les innovations technologiques et managériales envisageables pour les résoudre, en suggérant des avenues de recherche de première importance. |
| Keywords: | Flux, Hajj, Innovation, La Mecque, Logistique urbaine, Pèlerinage, Sécurité, Tourisme religieux, Transport |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03973981&r=his |
| By: | Andreas Link |
| Abstract: | The Renaissance era in Western Europe was marked by a flourishing of economic and cultural life that gave rise to numerous discoveries and inventions. This paper studies the role played by Greek migrants in this process. Using a newly constructed dataset on Greek migrants in Europe after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, I show that a Greek presence in the second half of the fifteenth century increased city growth in the sixteenth century. In terms of mechanisms, I find that a Greek presence increased the available knowledge stock in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine – fields in which ancient Greek and Byzantine scholars were especially advanced. Finally, I document an increase in upper-tail human capital and inventions in these cities. In this way, the findings illustrate the important role of Greek migrants in disseminating scientific knowledge in early modern Europe and show their positive impact on city growth during that time. |
| Keywords: | Economic development, economic history, human capital, innovation, migration |
| JEL: | N13 N33 O15 O33 O47 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:223_link&r=his |
| By: | Peter Parlasca FRICS |
| Abstract: | The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) affected all European countries. House prices were affected later and with some exceptions in European Countries. It could be illuminating to compare this downturn with the latest Corona crisis.How developed the housing markets in the European countries during the Corona crisis and the follwing recovery compared to the periods after the GFC? First results of the analysis underline that on one hand market activity (turnover) declined during the pandamic. However, prices went up all over Europe.Comparing the developments since 2008 it is worth mentioning that GDP recovery after the GFC allowed nearly in all countries passing the pre-crisis level before the Corona crisis hit again the European economies in 2020.In contrast to the economic developments, housing markets in various European countries did not reach the pre-crisis level until 2019 and sometimes not until 2021 either although the upswing of the housing markets started in Europe around 2014. In a small number of European countries prices doubled between 2008 and 2021. |
| Keywords: | Corona crisis; economic development during crises; housing market activity (turnover); Housing Prices |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_95&r=his |
| By: | Hubert BONIN |
| Abstract: | A strong North-South economic development trend led colonial Africa into transatlantic and transmediterranean maritime transport networks. Shipping and logistics companies became essential tools. Port investment programs have succeeded each other to provide the empire, in Africa and Metropolitan France, with trade bases capable of supporting the growth of import-export trade. |
| Keywords: | colonial Africa, maritime transportation, ports, logistics, overseas power. |
| JEL: | F54 F14 N77 N87 O55 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:bdxewp:2023-01&r=his |
| By: | Valentina Peruzzi (Sapienza University of Rome); Pierluigi Murro (LUISS University); Stefano Di Colli (Confindustria Research Department) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether local cooperative banks mitigated income inequality in Italian municipalities after the two main crises that characterized the European landscape between 2008 and 2015, i.e. the financial and sovereign-debt crises. Estimation results reveal that, although in the post-crisis periods income inequality increased, this increase was lower in municipalities with at least one cooperative bank branch. The same result, that is a mitigation of income inequality, is not found for non-cooperative banks. Also the size of the cooperative banking system mattered after the crises: where cooperative banks extended more loans and collected more deposits income inequality was lower. The distributional impact of cooperative banks after the two crises was particularly relevant in small municipalities, and where the level of industrial and financial development was higher. |
| Keywords: | Cooperative banking; income inequality; financial development; financial crisis; municipalities |
| JEL: | G21 G38 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:casmef:2301&r=his |
| By: | Emanuel Kohlscheen; Richhild Moessner; Daniel Rees |
| Abstract: | We test the international applicability of Friedman's famous plucking theory of the business cycle in 12 advanced economies between 1970 and 2021. We find that in countries where labour markets are flexible (Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States), unemployment rates typically return to pre-recession levels, in line with Friedman's theory. Elsewhere, unemployment rates are less cyclical. Output recoveries differ less across countries, but more across episodes: on average, half of the decline in GDP during a recession persists. In terms of sectors, declines in manufacturing are typically fully reversed. In contrast, construction-driven recessions, which are often associated with bursting property price bubbles, tend to be persistent. |
| Keywords: | business cycle; growth; labour market; unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 E32 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1076&r=his |
| By: | Pitteloud, Sabine |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnv:wpaper:unige:165414&r=his |
| By: | Malmendier, Ulrike |
| Keywords: | lived-experience, experience effects, pandemics, expectations, beliefs |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:pp1859:37&r=his |
| By: | Perry Mehrling (Boston University) |
| Abstract: | The global dollar system, though repeatedly reported to be on its last legs-most recently in the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, but most famously in the Nixon devaluation of 1971-has repeatedly instead consolidated and gone on to further geographical expansion (McCauley 2021). The key currency approach to international monetary economics, first put forward by John H. Williams in the aftermath of the 1931 devaluation of sterling, suggests that such resilience arises from the actions of market practitioners who appreciate the convenience of a global means of payment. So the question arises, why has the key currency approach remained a minority view, if not among practicing bankers then certainly among practicing academics? This paper proposes two main reasons—the discredit of monetary optimism during the depression, and the subsequent fateful adoption of Walrasian equilibrium as the frame for academic discussion after WWII. |
| Keywords: | key currency approach, Hahn Problem, sterling system, dollar system, exorbitant privilege. |
| JEL: | B2 F3 N1 |
| Date: | 2023–01–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp198&r=his |
| By: | Shoshana Grossbard (San Diego State University) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes choice between marital and non-marital childbearing based on a conceptual model that considers the repercussions of marriage laws for the individual wellbeing of women and men living in couples. Childbearing responses to changes in three marriage laws are evaluated: (1) the annulment of coverture laws in the second half of the 19th Century and the first part of the 20th Century; (2) a switch in legal regime used to attribute marital property (from a British system generally less protective of the property rights of lower-earning spouses to a regime of community property), and (3) changes in the availability of Common law marriage in addition to regular marriage. The model is based on a WIHO (Work-In-Household) model and assumes that individual women and men make decisions regarding production and reproduction. |
| Keywords: | marital and non-marital childbearing, coverture laws, common law marriage |
| JEL: | J12 J13 K36 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2023-005&r=his |
| By: | Angélique Breuillot (MMU - Manchester Metropolitan University); Rachel Bocquet (IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc); Véronique Favre-Bonté (IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc) |
| Abstract: | Despite an increasing number of studies identifying factors that influence the internationalization process for early internationalizing firms (EIFs), it remains unclear which of these numerous factors could play a strategic role and, more specifically, when. This paper develops a new conceptual framework anchored in the resource-based view to identify strategic resources that can explain EIFs' internationalization process accurately over time. Building on a systematic literature review based on 102 papers covering a period of 29 years, we methodically present a phase-by-phase observation of EIFs' internationalization process to identify the strategic relevance of different influential resources. The results highlight the importance of the shift from individual to organizational resources, which occurs at a critical phase of transition from the entry to the post-entry phase. Studying the evolution of strategic resources along four phases allows us to determine that the progress of EIFs through the phases of their internationalization process is closely linked to their resources' development process. This study suggests some promising research avenues, at theoretical and methodological levels, and results in a series of concrete recommendations intended for entrepreneurs and/or managers of EIFs. |
| Abstract: | Malgré le nombre croissant de publications sur les facteurs influençant le processus d'internationalisation des entreprises à internationalisation précoce (EIP), il reste difficile de déterminer lesquels pourraient jouer un rôle stratégique, et surtout à quel moment du processus. Cet article développe un modèle conceptuel novateur ancré dans la théorie basée sur les ressources permettant d'identifier précisément les ressources stratégiques qui favorisent la soutenabilité du processus d'internationalisation des EIP dans le temps. À l'aide d'une revue systématique comprenant 102 papiers couvrant une période de 29 ans, nous identifions les ressources stratégiques à la progression des EIP à travers les quatre phases caractérisant leur processus d'internationalisation. Les résultats montrent également l'importance du passage des ressources individuelles aux ressources organisationnelles en phase de transition, située entre la phase d'entrée à l'international et la phase de post-entrée. En portant l'accent sur le lien étroit entre le développement de certaines ressources et la progression des EIP à travers le processus d'internationalisation, cet article propose des pistes de recherches futures prometteuses, tant au niveau théorique que méthodologique, et aboutit à une série de recommandations concrètes à destination des entrepreneurs et/ou des managers d'EIP. |
| Keywords: | international entrepreneurship, early internationalizing firms, internationalization process, resource-based view, systematic review |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03895776&r=his |
| By: | Atsuko Suzuki (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | The title of this study, "Edo Koban 60-me" means the following: in "Edo, " one ryo (a unit of gold currency) of "Koban" (a middle-sized oval gold coin) was equal to "60-me" (me: the abbreviation of a unit of silver currency, momme, in round numbers) as the fixed exchange rate. This is a phenomenon seen only in the Edo commodity market, and the fixed exchange rate was used only when Edo citizens bought silver-denominated commodities from Kamigata (Osaka and Kyoto area) in gold coins. Osaka and Edo were the two major markets in early modern Japan. Osaka was the center of commerce, and exported large volumes of goods mainly to Edo. Edo was the political center and the largest consumer of goods from the Kamigata region. The early modern monetary system was a bimetallism of gold and silver coins, with copper coins used as small denominations. In Osaka, the pricing of goods and settlement of accounts was conducted in silver denomination. Contrarily, in Edo, transactions were handled in gold and copper coins. Gold and silver had fluctuating market prices. The shogunate set the rate at 60 momme per one ryo in 1700, but the Edo commodity market was the only one that adhered to this rate. The Kamigata market and the Edo financial market continued with the existing fluctuating prices. A unique phenomenon occurred. Kamigata merchants manipulated silver prices before shipping goods to Edo. In the mid-Edo period, silver usually had a high price, and the Edo selling price had already caused a price spike in Osaka before exporting. Thus, "Edo Koban 60-me" was a sociocultural phenomenon that could not have been created unless all the following conditions were met: a fixed exchange rate in the Edo commodity market, floating market prices in the Kamigata market, transactions in gold denomination in Edo, settlements in silver denomination in Kamigata, goods shipped to Edo being denominated in silver, and the pricing method in futures of Kamigata merchants. These historical commercial facts are readily apparent in the documents of merchant families in the early modern period, and are also discussed in early modern books. Even ukiyoe woodblock prints depict "Koban 60-me" in scenes of buying and selling inside Edo stores. However, this has not become common academic knowledge in modern Japan, and is hardly known to the general public even though the Japanese love their own history. For instance, in the academic world, the current understanding is that, despite the shogunate's effort to fix an exchange rate between gold and silver, in effect, they floated against each other in all markets. The specific circumstances of the Edo market are not recognized. Thus, the understanding of East-West trade also assumes only a unitary floating exchange rate; that when silver was high, the purchasing power of gold would decline, leading to a decrease in Edo's imports, which would, in turn, increase demand for the Edo market and lead to higher prices. This does not recognize that prices had been raised prior to exportation. The purpose of this study is to incorporate the "Edo Koban 60-me" phenomenon into the common knowledge of early modern Japanese history. |
| Keywords: | history of money, commodity money, early modern Japan, fixed and floating exchange rates, Edo and Osaka. |
| JEL: | D46 E31 K42 N15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:2204r&r=his |
| By: | Bona, Leandro Marcelo |
| Abstract: | This study investigates, with preliminary insights, the process of Argentina's financial valorization in the 2015-2019 period, which led to a (new) sovereign debt restructuring between 2020/22 in Argentina. The paper draws a comparison with the previous indebtedness cycle (1976-2001), as well as with the Kirchner governments (2003-2015). Results indicate that approximately USD 321 billion were extracted from the national financial system from 1976-2015, while in the 1976-2001 period, foreign currencies originated from external indebtedness (both private and public). In 2002-2015, this role was played by trade surplus. Since 2016, the relationship between public external indebtedness and capital flight was reestablished, and there was a wealth externalization amounting to approximately USD 100 billion, in what was the accelerated implementation of the second financial valorization experience, which concluded with a rapid sovereign debt crisis. Its subsequent restructuring marks the limit of debt-led growth models for peripheral economies, such as the Argentine one, where the capital flight constitutes a major obstacle to recreate growth processes with income redistribution. |
| Keywords: | CAPITAL FLIGHT, EXTERNAL DEBT, PERIPHERY, ARGENTINA, FINANTIAL VALORIZATION |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnv:wpaper:unige:162752&r=his |
| By: | Martin Hoesli (University of Geneva - Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM); Swiss Finance Institute; University of Aberdeen - Business School); Louis Johner (University of Geneva - Geneva School of Economics and Management); Jon Lekander (Aberdeen Property Investors Nordic Region) |
| Abstract: | Pension funds aim to hold assets that match their future liabilities. For this purpose, there is a growing interest in multi-family properties as their returns should be positively related to wage growth and hence pension liabilities. Using data for Sweden over 145 years, we investigate the role that multi-family properties play in the context of a mixed-asset portfolio that aims to track wage growth. The benefits from holding multi-family properties are the greatest for low-risk allocation approaches. For more risky strategies, the role of real estate is also positive but more muted, and it varies greatly over time. Holding real estate was most beneficial during the first two decades of the 21st century. Multi-family properties are found to be the only asset class to be positively related to wage growth. We show that the net operating income acts as the transmission channel between wages and property returns. |
| Keywords: | Multi-family properties, Mixed-asset portfolio, Pension fund, Wages, Long run, Sweden |
| JEL: | R33 G11 G23 C63 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2308&r=his |
| By: | Foliano, Francesca (UCL Institute of Education); Bryson, Alex (University College London); Joshi, Heather (University College London); Wielgoszewska, Bożena (University College London); Wilkinson, David (University College London) |
| Abstract: | We study the evolution of the gender wage gap among young adults in Britain between 1972 and 2015 using data from four British cohorts born in 1946, 1958, 1970 and 1989/90 on early life factors, human capital, family formation and job characteristics. We account for non-random selection of men and women into the labour market and compare the gender wage gap among graduates and non-graduates. The raw and covariate adjusted gender wage gaps at the mean decline over the period among nongraduates, but they rise among young graduates. The gender wage gap across the wage distribution narrows over time for lower wages. Adjusting for positive selection into employment increases the size of the gender wage gap in earlier cohorts, but selection is not apparent in the two most recent cohorts. Thus the rate of convergence in the wages of young men and women is understated when estimates do not adjust for positive selection in earlier cohorts. Differences in traditional human capital variables explain only a very small component of the gender wage gaps among young people in all four cohorts, but occupational gender segregation plays an important role in the later cohorts. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, birth cohorts, employment selection, graduates, occupational segregation |
| JEL: | J16 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15973&r=his |
| By: | Sarımehmet Duman, Özgün |
| Abstract: | Privatisation is a strategic policy restructuring the relationship between the state and the market, the public and the private, and hence, the political and the economic. It opens non-capitalist spaces to capital accumulation and creates new markets for international competition. Privatisation alters a society’s relationship to public goods, services and rights by commodification practices, and turns into a highly controversial reform in economic restructuring. This paper discusses how privatisation gained priority in Greece with the economic crisis. It incorporates the concept of depoliticisation to offer a new perspective on the analysis of the economic plans, programmes and documents that Greece signed with international creditors for the sake of its economic recovery. It claims that depoliticisation functioned as a strategy for putting privatisation policies onto the agenda by simply reproducing the elusive separation between the political and the economic. The paper argues that introducing extensive privatisation policies through internationally agreed-upon documents confirms the attempt to erode the political character of the process in order to (i) present such policies as a technical, economic imperative, (ii) externalise political decisions, and (iii) limit public discontent. The depoliticisation and privatisation processes reinforce each other in widening the state-market divide. |
| Keywords: | depoliticisation; economic crisis; eurozone; Greece; privatisation |
| JEL: | N0 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114448&r=his |
| By: | Remo Nitschke; Felix Roesel |
| Abstract: | Why do public policies change little over time in individual places, sometimes for centuries? We investigate different mechanisms for policy persistence. Several city mayors serving in democratic Weimar Germany were expelled by the Nazis in 1933, but re-installed by the Allies after World War II. We find that pre-Nazi patterns in public debt re-appear in cities with a re-installed mayor, albeit all city debt defaulted after the war. We do not find such correlations in a matched sample of cities where the Weimar mayor did not return to office. Historical public debt does also not predict debt today in East Germany and in former German cities in present-day Poland—places where political elites or most of the population changed. We conclude that elite persistence dominates place-based features such as geography or population preferences in explaining persistent policies. |
| Keywords: | elite persistence, public debt, fiscal policy, Weimar Germany |
| JEL: | H63 H74 N44 N94 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10251&r=his |
| By: | Sarkar, Anindita (International Water Management Institute); Chakraborty, Shreya (International Water Management Institute); Mukherji, Aditi (International Water Management Institute) |
| Keywords: | Agrifood systems; Policies; Food production; Food security; Agrarian structure; Political aspects; Agricultural productivity |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwt:bosers:h051632&r=his |
| By: | Morgane Laouenan (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Palaash Bhargava (Department of Economics Columbia University - Columbia University [New York]); Jean-Benoît Eyméoud (LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Olivier Gergaud (LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Guillaume Plique (médialab - médialab (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, Kedge BS - Kedge Business School); Etienne Wasmer (New York University [Abu Dhabi] - NYU - NYU System, LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | A new strand of literature aims at building the most comprehensive and accurate database of notable individuals. We collect a massive amount of data from various editions of and . Using deduplication techniques over these partially overlapping sources, we cross-verify each retrieved information. For some variables, adds 15% more information when missing in . We find very few errors in the part of the database that contains the most documented individuals but nontrivial error rates in the bottom of the notability distribution, due to sparse information and classification errors or ambiguity. Our strategy results in a cross-verified database of 2.29 million individuals (an elite of 1/43, 000 of human being having ever lived), including a third who are not present in the English edition of . Data collection is driven by specific social science questions on gender, economic growth, urban and cultural development. We document an Anglo-Saxon bias present in the English edition of , and document when it matters and when not. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03930666&r=his |
| By: | Mario Larch; Yoto V. Yotov |
| Abstract: | Starting with Tinbergen (1962), quantifying the effects of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on international trade flows has always been among the most popular topics in the trade literature. Also not surprisingly, to estimate the effects of RTAs, most researchers and policy analysts have relied on the workhorse model of trade—the gravity equation. Over the past 60 years, there have been many important developments in the RTA literature, both in terms of better methods to quantify their effects, and also in terms of more and higher quality data. The objective of this paper is to trace the evolution of the methods and data developments in the RTA literature, from Tinbergen’s very first exploration until today, and to critically evaluate their significance for our ability to measure the impact of RTAs (and other policies) on international trade. |
| Keywords: | regional trade agreements, gravity equation, estimation, methods, data |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F16 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10267&r=his |
| By: | Daniel Hartley; Jonathan D. Rose |
| Abstract: | We study the impacts of blockbusting, i.e. large-scale racial turnover of urban neighborhoods orchestrated by real estate professionals using aggressive and discriminatory practices. In a panel of census tracts across large cities in the postwar United States, we compare tracts subjected to blockbusting activity to similar neighboring tracts not subjected to blockbusting. We find that blockbusting caused substantially lower house values over the next few decades. To understand the mechanisms behind this effect, we analyze property-level data in one neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. We find that new residents that purchased their properties through blockbusters were charged higher prices and had higher foreclosure rates than new residents that purchased directly from existing property owners. |
| Keywords: | blockbusting; wealth-gap; housing finance discrimination |
| JEL: | G21 N22 N92 R23 R51 |
| Date: | 2023–01–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:95623&r=his |
| By: | Victor A. Luque de Haro (University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a state of the art on the theories about the evolution of social differences in adult mortality throughout development and offers an interpretation of the available evidence. The importance of the different determinants of social inequalities in mortality has been changing during the last centuries due to the advances in medical and health knowledge. Therefore, the diverse rates of growth experienced by the different economies, the disparities in education, the role of the state in the provision of certain services, as well as the way in which production has been distributed, have conditioned the evolution of social differences in mortality in each of the processes of developing. These elements help to explain the heterogeneity of results at the international level and provide some explanatory keys about the European north-south pattern that is observed when comparing the available evidence. |
| Keywords: | health inequality, death determinants, standard of living, adult mortality, 19th century, Europe |
| JEL: | N33 I14 I18 J18 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:2302&r=his |
| By: | Luis R. Martinez; Jonas Jessen; Guo Xu |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits the idiosyncratic line of contact separating Allied and Soviet troops within East Germany at the end of WWII to study political resistance in a non-democracy. When Nazi Germany surrendered, 40% of what would become the authoritarian German Democratic Republic was initially under Allied control but was ceded to Soviet control less than two months later. Brief Allied exposure increased protests during the major 1953 uprising. We use novel data on the appointment of local mayors and a retrospective survey to argue that even a “glimpse of freedom” can foster civilian opposition to dictatorship. |
| Keywords: | East Germany, political resistance, protest, autocracy, spatial RDD, World War II |
| JEL: | F51 H10 N44 P20 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1176&r=his |
| By: | Ottinger, Sebastian (CERGE-EI); Rosenberger, Lukas (Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | France sent five thousand men to fight alongside George Washington's army in the American Revolutionary War. We show that the French combatants' exposure to the United States of America increased support for the French Revolution a decade later. French regions (départements) from which more American combatants originated had more revolutionary societies, volunteers for the revolutionary army, riots against feudal institutions, and emigrants from the Old Regime's elite. To establish causality, we exploit two historical coincidences: i) originally, a French army of seven and a half thousand was ready to board ships but one third did not sail to America because of logistical problems; ii) among the regiments who fought in America against the British, some regiments were stationed for one year in New England before the main battle, and in Virginia afterwards, while others were stationed in the Caribbean colonies. We find that only the combatants who were exposed to the United States affected the French Revolution after their return. |
| Keywords: | institutional change, French Revolution, American War of Independence |
| JEL: | N4 D74 H1 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15974&r=his |
| By: | Ramon Sotelo |
| Abstract: | After II World War a subsidy system called 1. Förderweg was implemented in West-Germany to cope with the challenges of housing shortage after and due to the war. In the late 80ties of the last century this policy was left behind. During the first decade of this century public housing policy was based on the conception `Germany is built´and therefore there is no need to build new dwellings. After the GFC and the forthcoming European development, heavy capital inflows, low interest rates, and advantages within the common currency Germany experienced a relatively strong growth and with rather inflexible rents in the housing stock a felt shortage of affordable housing. Although migration is the dominant political topic, housing policy is becoming important, again. This paper based on a report for the Bundesverband der Deuschen Wohnungs- und Immobilienunternehmen (GdW) identifies possibilities of effective housing policy by separating the three main instruments of housing policy, the subsidy of the demand, the purchase of rights for housing, and the subsidy of the supply. |
| Keywords: | Affordable Housing; Housing Policy; Rent Control |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_251&r=his |
| By: | Stefano Solari (Unipd - Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua) |
| Abstract: | The philosophy of the Enlightenment and political thought of modernity found tough opposition in the Roman Catholic Church. Liberalism was associated with Free Masons and revolutionary intent. Nonetheless, liberalism and political economy stimulated some theoretical analysis and specific theoretical positions in terms of social philosophy and social economics by the Church. This paper presents an analysis of encyclical letters and other papal documents, as well as the writings of other Catholic scholars, to elaborate on the theoretical points used to contrast liberalism. Compromises, as well as turning points in the evolution of the Catholic position, are investigated. Lastly, the epistemological and historical reasons for the affinity of Roman Catholicism with ethical liberalism and the limits of this similarity are discussed. 1. Liberal and Catholic, an Italian drama |
| Date: | 2023–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03619130&r=his |
| By: | Jorge Carrera (Central Bank of Argentina); Gaspar Maciel (Central Bank of Argentina); Esteban Rodríguez (Central Bank of Argentina) |
| Abstract: | Este trabajo se concentra en la instrumentación de la política monetaria del BCRA desde fines de la convertibilidad hasta el presente. En este proceso, la emisión de pasivos remunerados fue un elemento central que le brindó autonomía operativa al BCRA para implementar su política monetaria en el marco de contextos macroeconómicos diversos. A los fines de recuperar esta historia, la cual deja muchas lecciones para el presente y futuro cercano, se realiza un análisis bajo tres ópticas distintas. En una primera sección, se describen a nivel estilizado los cambios en las hojas de balance ante diversas operaciones de esterilización monetaria. En una segunda sección, se realiza una recopilación de las distintas modificaciones normativas que fueron introduciéndose sobre los títulos emitidos por el BCRA. Finalmente, en una tercera sección, se repasa la historia reciente de la política monetaria y el marco económico en la cual se desarrolló la emisión de títulos propios por parte del BCRA. |
| Keywords: | Política Monetaria, Banco Central, Pasivos Remunerados |
| JEL: | E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcr:wpaper:2023107&r=his |
| By: | Billington, Stephen D.; Lane, Joe |
| Abstract: | Did the outbreak of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars influence technical change during the Industrial Revolution? We address this question by investigating an instance of state intervention into the market for inventions from 1793-1820: the introduction of a new proviso into British patents compelling inventors to supply the military, and also attracting military inventions from outside the patent system. We present new patent data alongside previously unused archival evidence to argue that the state's intervention helped direct technical change in Britain. Our evidence provides additional support for the military-demand-induced hypothesis as a credible explanation for Britain's ongoing industrialisation. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Revolution, Institutions, Invention, Patents |
| JEL: | N43 N73 O31 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:202305&r=his |
| By: | Antonella Bandiera (ITAM); Lelys Dinarte-Diaz (Development Research Group, The World Bank); Juan Miguel Jimenez (University of British Columbia); Sandra V. Rozo (Development Research Group, The World Bank); Maria Micaela Sviatschi (Princeton University, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | How does rebel governance affect long-term development? Rebel forces have controlled territory and imposed their own institutions in many countries over the past decades affecting millions of people. We investigate the economic, social, and political consequences of temporary territorial control by guerrillas during the Salvadoran Civil War. During that time, guerrillas displaced state authorities and created their own informal institutions that encouraged autonomy and self-sufficiency from the state and external actors. Using a spatial regression discontinuity design, we show that areas once under guerrilla control have experienced worse economic outcomes over the last 20 years than adjacent areas controlled by the formal state. Our results suggest that reliance on non-state governance reinforced norms of distrust of external actors, producing overdependence on subsistence farming and disengagement from postwar governments. Results do not revert despite increased postwar public investment in formerly guerrilla areas. We argue that when non-state actors develop alternative governance institutions, these can prompt adverse development effects through lasting norms of distrust of out-groups. |
| Keywords: | Armed non-state actors, norms, economic development |
| JEL: | N3 O10 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:383&r=his |
| By: | Samuel Demeulemeester (TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The 2007-2008 global financial crisis has brought strong renewed interest in the "100% money" reform proposal, inherited from the 1930s, which aims at divorcing money creation from bank lending by imposing 100% reserves on current account deposits. This reform idea, however, is frequently subject to confusion, being sometimes likened to the idea of abolishing bank intermediation, sometimes to that of setting up a currency board, or yet mistaken for the more recent "narrow banking" proposal. For this reason, this article offers to clarify its concept and objectives, by revisiting the works of the authors of this proposal in the 1930s—Henry Simons, Lauchlin Currie and Irving Fisher in particular. After briefly recalling the history of the "100% money" idea, we present its main arguments, and then discuss its implications for the payment system, bank intermediation, and the institutional framework of money issuance. We conclude on the importance of a conceptual clarification of this reform idea in respect of the ongoing discussions about it. |
| Abstract: | La crise financière mondiale de 2007-2008 a conduit à un renouvellement d'intérêt marqué pour la proposition de réforme « 100% monnaie », héritée des années 1930, qui vise à dissocier la création monétaire des prêts bancaires en imposant 100% de réserves sur les dépôts en compte courant. Cette idée de réforme est cependant régulièrement sujette à confusion, étant tantôt assimilée à l'idée d'abolir l'intermédiation bancaire, tantôt à celle d'instaurer un currency board, lorsqu'elle n'est pas confondue avec la proposition plus récente du narrow banking. Pour cette raison, cet article entreprend d'en clarifier le concept et les objectifs, en revisitant les travaux des auteurs de cette proposition dans les années 1930 – Henry Simons, Lauchlin Currie et Irving Fisher notamment. Après un bref rappel historique de l'idée de « 100% monnaie », nous en présentons les principaux arguments, puis discutons de ses implications pour le système de paiement, l'intermédiation bancaire, et le cadre institutionnel de l'émission monétaire. Nous concluons sur l'importance d'une clarification conceptuelle de cette idée de réforme au regard des débats dont elle continue de faire l'objet. |
| Keywords: | 100% money, money creation, Irving Fisher, Chicago Plan, narrow banking, 100% monnaie, Plan de Chicago, création monétaire |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03938669&r=his |
| By: | Sonia Baijot (UJML3 Droit - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 - Faculté de Droit - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon); Charlotte Le Chapelain (UJML3 Droit - Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 - Faculté de Droit - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon, MSH-LSE - Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Lyon Saint-Etienne (MSH Lyon St-Etienne) - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Nineteenth-century businesswomen were almost entirely neglected, the historiography having adopted the hypothesis of the withdrawal of women from the business sphere after the eighteenth century. A growing body of literature is challenging this view, claiming that women did in fact actively contribute to the industrialization process and occupied key positions as investors and entrepreneurs, and revealing the constant and non-negligible presence of women at the head of businesses. This article reviews recent literature on women entrepreneurship in the nineteenth century. On the one hand, we analyze the reasons invoked by recent studies in order to explain why female entrepreneurship has so long remained ignored. The separate spheres ideology, the rise of industrialization, legal systems, the narrow definition of entrepreneurship and the issue of the sources might have contributed to maintain the idea that women would have withdrawn from business. On the other hand, we review the methods used in the recent revisionist literature in order to identify women entrepreneurs in the historical records and to assess the importance of their participation in entrepreneurial activities. Whereas some sources (tax rolls, censuses, directories, articles of association, etc.) help drawing general conclusions about female entrepreneurship supporting quantitative research, others (private family papers and objects, newspapers and advertisements, public and legal records) are particularly helpful for qualitative investigations permitting to draw in-depth portraits of these women. |
| Abstract: | Une littérature récente remet en question le présupposé, dominant dans l'historiographie, selon lequel les femmes se seraient retirées du monde des affaires au XIXe siècle. Elle montre en effet que l'entrepreneuriat féminin n'a pas disparu au XIXe siècle. Les femmes ont activement contribué au processus d'industrialisation, à des postes clés, en tant qu'investisseurs et en tant qu'entrepreneurs. Cette revue de littérature fait, d'une part, le bilan des facteurs d'invisibilisation des femmes dans l'historiographie traditionnelle, tel qu'invoqués par les récents travaux. L'idéologie des sphères distinctes, le développement du capitalisme industriel, les droits nationaux, la définition restrictive de l'entrepreneuriat ou encore le problème des sources sont invoqués comme ayant contribué à entretenir l'idée que les femmes se seraient retirées du monde des affaires au XIXe siècle. Par ailleurs, afin de délivrer des pistes de recherche et des outils pour de futurs travaux, cette revue de littérature présente les sources et les méthodes utilisées dans les récentes études. Alors que certaines sources (rôles d'imposition, recensements, annuaires, actes de sociétés, etc.) permettent de dresser des conclusions générales sur les femmes en affaires et viennent plutôt soutenir des recherches quantitatives, d'autres (documents et objets privés, articles de journaux et publicités, documents publics et légaux) sont plutôt appropriées aux recherches qualitatives et permettent de dresser un portrait approfondi de ces femmes. |
| Keywords: | Female entrepreneurship, nineteenth century, separate spheres ideology, sources, methods |
| Date: | 2022–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03932307&r=his |
| By: | Chadha, Jagjit S.; Lennard, Jason; Solomou, Solomos; Thomas, Ryland |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the degree of pass-through from import prices and tariffs to wholesale prices in interwar Britain using a new high-frequency micro data set. The main results are: (i) Pass-through from import prices and tariffs to wholesale prices was economically and statistically significant. (ii) Despite devaluation, import prices exacerbated deflation in the early 1930s because of the global slump in export prices. (iii) Rising protection, however, was a mild stimulus to prices during the shift to inflation. |
| Keywords: | exchange rates; interwar; pass-through; prices; tariffs; United Kingdom |
| JEL: | E31 F13 N14 |
| Date: | 2023–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:118237&r=his |
| By: | Sugden, Fraser (International Water Management Institute); Dhakal, S.; Rai, J. |
| Keywords: | Agrifood systems; Policies; History; Agrarian structure; Social aspects; Political aspects; Cropping systems; Cropping patterns; Land reform; Landowners; Migration; Labour; Indigenous peoples; Resettlement; Taxes |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwt:bosers:h051631&r=his |