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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2023‒04‒17
29 papers chosen by |
| By: | Claude Diebolt (BETA/CNRS & University of StrasbourgAuthor-Name: Nadir Altinok; University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afc:wpaper:05-23&r=his |
| By: | Stephen Broadberry (Nuffield College Oxford, CAGE and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | British per capita GDP grew at an average annual rate of 0.13 per cent between 1086 and 1700. Although the annual growth rate increased to 0.48 per cent between 1700 and 1870, the period covering the Industrial Revolution, this was still not particularly fast. What mattered for Britain’s catching-up and forging ahead of other economies was its resilience, with few episodes of negative growth. By the late nineteenth century, other countries had begun to emulate Britain’s Industrial Revolution and by the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States had emerged as the new per capita income leader. However, the process by which the United States and Germany overtook Britain owed more to a later structural shift out of agriculture and developments within services than to any change in the comparative productivity position within manufacturing. After 1870, other countries were bound to grow faster than Britain while catching-up, and once Britain had fallen behind, it too could benefit from borrowing technology and institutions from abroad. TFP growth has been an important proximate source of Britain’s rise to GDP per capita leadership and also of Britain’s relative economic decline since 1870. However, the ultimate source of these developments in technology lies in the institutional framework. Britain’s rise to GDP per capita leadership occurred as innovators responded to the factor price combination that they faced within an environment shaped by the Enlightenment. After 1870, British relative decline occurred as barriers to competition arose and slowed the response to technological change. |
| Keywords: | JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:658&r=his |
| By: | Vincent Carret (Duke University [Durham]) |
| Abstract: | In this note to be published as a letter to the editor of the Journal of the History of Economic Thought, I present my results on Ragnar Frisch's rocking horse model published in the same journal and detail why the comments by Ginoux and Jovanovic on my paper have no grounding. I explain the role of initial conditions on the amplitude of cycles and trend in Frisch's solution, and emphasize that my contribution was to show that Frisch built a model where cycles and growth came from the same economic mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Ragnar Frisch, rocking horse, delay differential equations |
| Date: | 2023–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03948122&r=his |
| By: | Christian Flamant |
| Abstract: | This book starts from the basic questions that had been raised by the founders of Economic theory, Smith, Ricardo, and Marx: what makes the value of commodities, what are production, exchange, money and incomes like profits, wages and rents. The answers that these economists had provided were mostly wrong, above all by defining the equivalence of commodities at the level of exchange, but also because of a confusion made between values and prices, and wrong views of what production really is and the role of fixed capital. Using the mathematical theory of measurement and the physical theory of dimensional analysis, this book provides a coherent theory of value based on an equivalence relation not at the level of exchange, but of production. Indeed exchange is considered here as an equivalence relation between money and a monetary price, and not between commodities, modern monetary theory having demonstrated that money is not a commodity. The book rejects the conception of production as a surplus, which owes much to Sraffa's theory of production prices, and is shown to be severely flawed. It founds the equivalence of commodities at the level of a production process considered as a transformation process. It rehabilitates the labor theory of value, based on the connection between money and labor due the monetary payment of wages, which allows the homogenization of various kinds of concrete labor into abstract labor. It shows that value is then a dimension of commodities and that this dimension is time, i.e. the time of physics. On this background, the book shows that the calculation of values for all commodities is always possible, even in the case of joint production, and that there cannot be any commodity residue left by this calculation. As a further step, this book provides a coherent theory of the realization of the product, which occurs in the circulation process. Using an idea - the widow's cruse - introduced by Keynes in his Treatise on Money, it brings to light the mechanism behind the transformation of money values into money prices and of surplus-value into profits and other transfer incomes, ensuring the formation of monetary profits. The book sheds some light on the rate of profit, its determinants and its evolution, showing in particular the paramount importance of capitalist consumption as one of its main determinants. In passing it explains the reasons why in the real world there is a multiplicity of profit rates. Finally, it allows to solve in a precise and illustrated way the problems raised by the Marxist law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. Most of the results obtained translate into principles, the first ones being truly basic, the following ones less basic, but all of them being fundamental. All in all, this book might provide the first building blocks to develop a full-fledged and scientific economic theory to many fellow economists, critical of neo-classical theory, but who have not yet dicovered the bases of a complete and coherent alternative. |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2303.09399&r=his |
| By: | Norbert Ankri (AMU - Aix Marseille Université); Païkan Marcaggi (AMU - Aix Marseille Université, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The unit value of a commodity that Michio Morishima's method (and its variations) enables to determine correctly, is the sum of the value of the commodities it contains (inputs) and the quantity of labor required for its production. However, goods are sold at their market production price only when they meet a solvent social need that involves the entire economy with its interconnections between the different industrial sectors. This condition gives full meaning to Marx's fundamental equalities, which derive from the law of value and constitute invariants that apply to the economy as a whole. These equalities are necessary to determine market production prices. We demonstrate that they also enable to solve the transformation problem for a simple reproduction system without fixed capital by starting from Morishima's formalism and returning to a formalism closer to that used by Marx. |
| Abstract: | La valeur unitaire d'une marchandise que la méthode de Michio Morishima (et ses variantes) permet de déterminer correctement, est la somme de la valeur des marchandises qu'elle contient (intrants) et de la quantité de travail nécessaire pour sa fabrication. Cependant les marchandises ne sont vendues à leur prix de production de marché que si elles répondent à un besoin social solvable qui fait intervenir la totalité de l'économie avec ses interconnections entre les différents secteurs industriels. Cette condition donne tout son sens aux égalités fondamentales de Marx qui découlent de la loi de la valeur et constituent des invariants s'appliquant à l'économie dans sa totalité. Ces égalités sont nécessaires pour déterminer les prix de production de marché. Nous démontrons qu'elles permettent également de résoudre le problème de la transformation pour un système de reproduction simple sans capital fixe en partant du formalisme de Morishima et en revenant à un formalisme plus proche de celui utilisé par Marx. |
| Keywords: | Labor theory of value, Karl Marx, capitalism, profit, surplus value, Théorie de la valeur-travail, Capitalisme, plus-value |
| Date: | 2023–02–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03994960&r=his |
| By: | Mark T. Kanazawa (Carleton College) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the politics of eminent domain, using a specific historical episode: the enactment of the new California constitution in 1879. It presents evidence that the failure of a constitutional provision that would have codified eminent domain powers for water development resulted from a complex interchange of economic interests among farmers, miners, and urban residents. This evidence was manifested in delegate behavior on the floor of the constitutional convention in 1878, including various roll-call votes, which are subjected to an econometric analysis. The results have implications for the interpretation of legislative eminent domain decisions, and the degree to which economic development processes are shaped by the institutional environment in which they occur. |
| JEL: | K4 N5 O1 Q1 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avv:wpaper:2023-01&r=his |
| By: | Olivier Allais (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Guy Fagherazzi (LIH - Luxembourg Institute of Health); Julia Mink (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, Sciences Po - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of early-life exposure to war on adult health outcomes including cancer, hypertension, angina, infarction, diabetes and obesity. We combine data from the French prospective cohort study E3N on women employed in the French National Education with historical data on World War II. To identify causal effects, we exploit exogenous spatial and temporal variation in war exposure related to the German invasion of France during the Battle of France. The number of French military casualties at the level of the postcode area serves as main measure of exposure. Our results suggest that exposure to the war during the first 5 years of life has significant adverse effects on health in adulthood. A 10 percent increase in the number of deaths per inhabitants in the individual's postcode area of birth increases the probability of suffering from any of the health conditions considered in this study by 0.08 percentage points. This is relative to a mean of 49 percent for the sample as a whole. |
| Keywords: | Early-life exposure, Developmental origins, World war II, Human capital development |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03275491&r=his |
| By: | Joshua Brault (Department of Economics, Carleton University); Hashmat Khan (Department of Economics, Carleton University) |
| Abstract: | We construct a two period consumption-saving model with two agents where rising income inequality leads to declining equilibrium rates of interest, rising debt levels, and lower future aggregate demand. Importantly, our model does not rely on non-homothetic preferences to generate these outcomes. Instead, borrowers face a borrowing constraint which eases when income inequality increases. This feature is supported by the stylized fact that consumer credit and inequality have strongly co-moved and risen in the U.S. since the mid-1980s. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality, Borrowing Constraint, Interest rate, Indebted demand |
| JEL: | E21 E43 |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:car:carecp:21-13&r=his |
| By: | Simon Cottin-Marx (EMA - École, mutations, apprentissages - CY - CY Cergy Paris Université, LATTS - Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Gustave Eiffel) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we examine the role of "Unions of employers" in the production of the collective agreement architecture of the non-profit health, social and medico-social sector. The socio-history of the employers' unions that we carry out in this text allows us to understand their divisions and how this contributed to the splintering of this sector into different national collective agreements (NCA) during the 1960s to 1980s, before they joined forces and created a professional branch in 1993. In the years that followed, relations between employers' organizations were turbulent, but in recent years they have finally converged on the project of a single, comprehensive NCA. Following these developments allows us to observe what this associative employer can do, but also that the State remains the main financer and regulator of this professional sector and that it actively participates in the production of rules. |
| Abstract: | Dans cet article, nous interrogeons le rôle des acteurs « patronaux » dans la production de l'architecture conventionnelle de la branche sanitaire, sociale et médico-sociale à but non lucratif (BASS). La sociohistoire des syndicats d'employeurs que nous réalisons dans ce texte nous permet de comprendre leurs divisions et comment cela a participé à l'éclatement de ce secteur en différentes conventions collectives nationales (CCN) au cours des années 1960 à 1980, avant qu'ils ne s'unissent et créent une branche professionnelle en 1993. Après cette date, les relations entre organisations patronales sont mouvementées, mais elles finissent par converger ces dernières années sur le projet d'une CCN unique et étendue. Suivre ces évolutions nous permet d'observer ce que ce patronat associatif peut faire, mais aussi que l'État reste le principal financeur et régulateur de ce secteur professionnel et qu'il participe activement à la production des règles. |
| Keywords: | negotiation, collective agreement, non-profit sector, health, social, medicosocial, employers' union, negotiation collective, relations professionnelles, syndicat d'employeurs, Patronat, association, secteur non-lucratif, secteur sanitaire et social, branche sanitaire, sociale et médico-sociale |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04002970&r=his |
| By: | van den Berg, Gerard J. (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); von Hinke, Stephanie (School of Economics, University of Bristol); H. Wang, R. Adele (School of Economics, University of Bristol.) |
| Abstract: | Maternal sugar consumption in utero may have a variety of effects on offspring. We exploit the abolishment of the rationing of sweet confectionery in the UK on April 24, 1949, and its subsequent reintroduction some months later, in an era of otherwise uninterrupted rationing of confectionery (1942-1953), sugar (1940-1953) and many other foods, and we consider effects on late-life cardiovascular disease, BMI, height, type-2 diabetes and the intake of sugar, fat and carbohydrates, as well as cognitive outcomes and birth weight. We use individual-level data from the UK Biobank for cohorts born between April 1947–May 1952. We also explore whether one’s genetic “predisposition” to the outcome can moderate the effects of prenatal sugar exposure. We find that prenatal exposure to derationing increases education and reduces BMI and sugar consumption at higher ages, in line with the “developmental origins” explanatory framework, and that the sugar effects are stronger for those who are genetically “predisposed” to sugar consumption. |
| Keywords: | Nutrition; food consumption; gene-environment interplay; education; developmental origins |
| JEL: | D45 I12 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2023–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_005&r=his |
| By: | Bell, Brian; Blundell, Jack; Machin, Stephen |
| Abstract: | We present a new analysis of intergenerational mobility across three cohorts in England and Wales using linked decennial census microdata, focusing on occupation, homeownership, and education. Four main results emerge. First, area-level differences in upward occupational mobility are highly persistent over time. Second, measures of absolute and relative mobility tend to be spatially positively correlated. Third, there is a robust relationship between upward educational and upward occupational mobility. Last, there is a small negative relationship between upward homeownership mobility and upward occupational mobility, revealing that social mobility comparisons based on different outcomes can have different trends. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility; ES/R00823X/1; Europe Center at Stanford University |
| JEL: | J62 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2023–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:118512&r=his |
| By: | Samuel Klebaner (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - LABEX ICCA - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to question the way a trade-union may participate to the French filières policy in the medical imaging industry. The first section shows, though a qualitative analysis, how a trade-union has built a multi-scale social network to incite the State to subsidize an open-platform for innovation. In a second part, we demonstrate through an institutional analysis that despite the central position of the trade-union in this policy-making, the project's implementation and its institutional arrangement may thwart the wished industrial cooperation in this sector. |
| Abstract: | L'objectif de ce papier est de s'interroger sur la manière dont un syndicat peut participer à la construction d'une filière industrielle, à partir de l'étude de l'imagerie médicale. La première section montre de manière qualitative comment un syndicat de salarié a construit un réseau multi-niveau afin d'obtenir de l'Etat un engagement dans la création d'un centre d'innovations technologiques. La seconde section montre à partir d'une lecture institutionnaliste que malgré le rôle central du syndicat dans la construction de cette politique industrielle, l'implémentation et l'architecture institutionnel de ce centre peut mettre en échec la volonté de coopération industrielle espérée. |
| Keywords: | institutions, trade-union, medical imaging, network, filières, syndicat, imagerie médicale, réseau |
| Date: | 2023–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03986700&r=his |
| By: | Abbas Moosvi (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | Has the process of foreign-led assistance/development fostered economic growth and development around the globe? Reviewing the literature, this paper charts out the foreign aid landscape, in terms of its salient stakeholders, operational dynamics, and historical evolution, following which an attempt is made to offer a comprehensive summary and analysis of the academic literature on the phenomenon. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2022:84&r=his |
| By: | Jean-Louis Combes (LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [2022-...] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne, UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne); Pascale Combes Motel (LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [2022-...] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne, UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | This literature review covers recent works dealing with the ultimate causes of economic development. The article first considers the driving role of the rules of the social game. Then the focus shifts to the role of historical circumstances. Finally, we seek to understand how geography can influence development paths. These studies are multidisciplinary and use new databases. The results should not imply that there is a cultural, historical or geographical determinism. That is, historical contingencies and economic policy decisions can foster lasting changes in development trajectories. |
| Date: | 2023–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04013722&r=his |
| By: | Mauricio Grotz |
| Keywords: | Productividad, productividad total de los factores, frontera estocástica, eficiencia, cambio tecnológico. |
| JEL: | O40 D24 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4481&r=his |
| By: | Saúl Néstor Keifman; Luis Blaum |
| Keywords: | Keynesianismo, Estructuralismo |
| JEL: | B31 O11 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4483&r=his |
| By: | Dominique Barjot (CRM - Centre de Recherche Roland Mousnier Histoire et Civilisation - EPHE - École pratique des hautes études - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Over the long-term, public-private partnerships constituted a means of conciliating the social function of public services and public works, whilst limiting their costs for citizens. It was the case with the use of the concession system in the utilities, even after the massive waves of nationalizations in France in 1944-1946, then 1981-1982. Indeed, from the end of the 1980s, there was a return to the concession system, which was combined with Anglo-Saxon practices, including Build Operate Transfers (BOT) and Public-Private partnerships (PPP). The French model of concession contributed significantly towards the international development of the French Colonial Empire, it was an excellent instrument for French capitalism around the world (Compagnie du Canal de Suez). After World War Two, the concession remained a competitive system: indeed, France produced four important private groups (GDF-Suez, Veolia Environnement, Vinci and Bouygues). The world competitiveness of these French groups resulted of a long-term tradition of interest on the part of engineers in networks systems (École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Ecole Centrale de Paris) and questions relating to energy (Écoles Nationales des Mines), but also due to the intervention of French banks as Suez or Paribas in major international ventures. Building Suez (today Engie) constituted a quasi-perfect example of the French experience: take-over of the Société Générale de Belgique (1988), merger Lyonnaise des Eaux-Dumez (1990), then Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux (1997), finally merger GDF-Suez (2008). |
| Abstract: | Sur le long terme, les partenariats public-privé ont constitué un moyen de concilier la fonction sociale des services et travaux publics, tout en limitant leurs coûts pour les citoyens. Ce fut le cas avec l'utilisation du système de concession dans les services publics, même après les vagues massives de nationalisations en France en 1944-1946, puis en 1981-1982. En effet, à partir de la fin des années 1980, il y a eu un retour au système de concession, qui a été combiné avec des pratiques anglo-saxonnes, notamment le Build Operate Transfers (BOT) et les partenariats public-privé (PPP). Le modèle français de concession a contribué de manière significative au développement international de l'Empire colonial français, il a été un excellent instrument pour le capitalisme français dans le monde (Compagnie du Canal de Suez). Après la seconde guerre mondiale, la concession est restée un système compétitif : en effet, la France a produit quatre groupes privés importants (GDF-Suez, Veolia Environnement, Vinci et Bouygues). La compétitivité mondiale de ces groupes français résulte d'une longue tradition d'intérêt des ingénieurs pour les systèmes de réseaux (École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, École Centrale de Paris) et les questions relatives à l'énergie (Écoles Nationales des Mines), mais aussi de l'intervention de banques françaises comme Suez ou Paribas dans de grands projets internationaux. La construction de Suez (aujourd'hui Engie) a constitué un exemple quasi-parfait de l'expérience française : rachat de la Société Générale de Belgique (1988), fusion Lyonnaise des Eaux-Dumez (1990), puis Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux (1997), enfin fusion GDF-Suez (2008). |
| Date: | 2023–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04010657&r=his |
| By: | Kalyuzhnyi, Valeriy |
| Abstract: | The paper argues that economists still regard the solution to the problem of the transformation of values into prices of production, got by L. von Bortkiewicz, as belonging to Marx himself. After all, it was allegedly “correctly corrected” by the said author in 1907. Bortkiewicz based his solution on several erroneous interpretations’ theory of Marx. Because of Bortkiewicz’s errors, the representatives of the mainstream see no connection between the “value system” and the “production price system”. They claim that the transformation problem itself results from impossibility and that Marxist value theory is, at best, irrelevant and irremediably inconsistent. The paper shows that the solution to the transformation issue exists in both the direct and inverse formulation. We used for this purpose the Tugan-Baranowsky—Bortkiewicz three-sector model. These results are consistent with the concept of Marx within the dualistic approach. They coincide with the results generated by the author in his previous work (see https://osf.io/tk43d/). In the present paper, we introduce methods and examples of transformation, including iterative and based on solving systems of simultaneous equations. We prove again with their help that at equilibrium prices, profit arises from surplus value, or more precisely, from the newly created value generated by workers’ labour and from no other source. We also show that a dualistic approach to transformation allows us to see the advantages of value prices, which, unlike production prices, do not limit the growth of the productive power of labour when enterprises introduce new machines. Value prices are in demand under socialism. |
| Date: | 2023–01–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:jq47c&r=his |
| By: | Jon D. Wisman |
| Abstract: | Thorstein Veblen gave special importance to work in human society. He claimed that once humans became tool users, their work activity was driven by an instinct of workmanship. This instinct is "an object of attention and sentiment in its own right" beyond providing provisioning and serving another instinct, that of parental bent, or society's wellbeing. Given appropriate social institutions, workmanship enriches personal and social lives. Yet, during his lifetime between 1857 and 1929, the rapid industrialization of the American economy massively proletarianized workers and degraded not only their work experience, but also their lives. In Europe, this proletarianization and degradation of workers had begun centuries earlier with the rise of capitalism, and greatly accelerated with more rapid industrialization during Veblen's lifetime. Yet, paradoxically, Veblen ignored this degradation of work and presented industrialization as positive for workers. This article surveys the process of proletarianization, focusing especially on the American experience. It then explores Veblen's understanding of the impact of industrialization on workers and probes for an understanding of how he could have missed a far-reaching labor-degrading process that provoked massive and violent insurrection, and which had much earlier been recognized and addressed by political economists as diverse as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Because he failed to recognize the proletarianization of workers, he failed to see its role in generating the explosion of conspicuous consumption by Americans of all classes, the subject of his most renowned work, The Theory of the Leisure Class. |
| Keywords: | Industrialization; Proletarianization; Instinct of Workmanship; Worker alientation |
| JEL: | A13 B15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2023-05&r=his |
| By: | Ivo Maes (Chaire Robert Triffin, Université catholique de Louvain & ICHEC Brussels Management School) |
| Abstract: | In this paper the vision of the “Young” and “Elder” Lamfalussy on the origins of instability in capitalist economies will be contrasted. The young Lamfalussy found the origins of instability in medium-term cumulative processes in the real sector of the economy, very much inspired by the vicious circles in the British and Belgian economies in the postwar period, in contrast to the virtuous growth processes of the German and Italian economies. The Elder Lamfalussy focused on financial innovations and the short-term myopic behavior of financial markets, very much inspired by his experience of the Latin American debt build-up and ensuing crisis in the early 1980s. The Euro area crisis showed the importance of both processes, as it was the consequence of both short-term myopic behavior in financial markets and medium-term cumulative processes in the real sector. |
| Keywords: | Lamfalussy, economic instability, economic cycles, financial innovations, Latin American debt crisis, Euro area crisis. |
| JEL: | A11 B22 B32 E3 E F02 G10 N10 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:202303-436&r=his |
| By: | Seeck, Hannele; Kantola, Anu |
| Abstract: | This study explores how the adoption of management ideas is conditioned by wider macro-level mentalities that are not company based but that instead reflect professionally or nationally rooted ways of managing. Drawing from studies on professional mentalities and practices, we study Finnish top executives working in globally operating multinational corporations in the metal and forestry industries, showing how, starting in the 1980s, they adopted new management practices during the rise of globalisation, market liberalisation and post-Fordism. Altogether, a traditional engineering mentality strongly conditioned the dissemination of new management ideas, which needed to adapt with the existing mentality. As a result, we find three ways of management idea dissemination: (a) new ideas had to fit in with the old business elite mentality, (b) new ideas were side-lined and belittled by the old mentality and (c) new ideas were smuggled into management by reframing and widening the old mentality. By extending Guillén’s work on elite mentalities, the study contributes to the research on management ideas by exploring the role of societal macro-level mentalities in management learning, highlighting their role in times of societal transformation. |
| Keywords: | business elite; elite mentality; Finland; management ideas; market liberalisation; multinational corrporations; post-Fordism; top managers |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2022–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:118461&r=his |
| By: | Asaf Bernstein; Carola Frydman; Eric Hilt |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of the first-ever ratings for corporate securities. In 1909, John Moody published a book that partitioned the majority of listed railroad bonds into letter-graded ratings based on his assessments of their credit risk. These ratings had no regulatory implications and were largely explainable using publicly available information. Despite this, we find that lower than market-implied ratings caused a rise in secondary market bond yields. Using an instrumental-variables design, we show that bonds that were rated experienced a substantial decline in their bid-ask spreads, which is consistent with reduced information asymmetries and improved liquidity. Our findings suggest that ratings can improve information transmission, even in settings with the highest monetary stakes, and highlight their potential value for the functioning of financial markets. |
| JEL: | G24 G28 N21 N81 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31064&r=his |
| By: | Maria Waldinger |
| Abstract: | The paper studies whether a drought in 1788 affected the outbreak of peasant revolts during the French Revolution. I construct a community-level data set with information on local drought severity and peasant uprisings in 1789. Results indicate that those more affected by the drought more often participated in peasant revolts against the feudal system. Then, I investigate a mechanism through which drought may have affected peasant revolts. I find that those more affected by the drought had higher demand for institutional change as expressed in the lists of grievances. The results provide evidence on specific ways in which the drought of 1788 impacted the French Revolution, a milestone in the democratization of Western Europe. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, incentives, signalling, crowding out, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D83 D91 D01 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10303&r=his |
| By: | Dupraz, Yannick |
| Abstract: | Vellore Arthi, Brian Beach and W. Walker Hanlon (2022) investigate the effect of the Lancashire Cotton Famine on mortality, accounting for the migration response to the downturn. They use difference-indifferences to estimate the effect of the cotton famine on mortality. To account for the migration response to the cotton famine, they construct a linked dataset giving mortality rates by district of residence during the cotton famine, rather than by district of residence at the time of death. They find that the cotton famine increased mortality in cotton-textile producing districts, and that accounting for migration matters, in the sense that their estimates would have been markedly different had they not accounted for it. I check that ABH results are fully reproducible using their data and code, and that their claims are robust to (1) decreasing the age window for building the linked dataset, (2) modifying the specification and (3) computing different standard errors. The only significant discrepancy in results is that I find stronger effects of the cotton famine when I decrease the age window for building the linked dataset, likely because this reduces measurement errors. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:25&r=his |
| By: | Angel de la Fuente; Pep Ruiz Aguirre |
| Abstract: | En esta nota se describe brevemente la última actualización del módulo sectorial de la base de datos RegData FEDEA-BBVA (véase de la Fuente 2017 y 2023 y de la Fuente y Ruiz Aguirre, 2020). En este módulo se desagregan por sectores las series regionales de empleo (ocupados y asalariados), VAB a precios corrientes y constantes y remuneración de asalariados del módulo central de RegData y se construyen deflactores regionales del VAB para cada sector, trabajando con una desagregación en seis grandes ramas productivas extensible de forma tentativa a ocho. |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2023-07&r=his |
| By: | Moore, Andrew (Monash University) |
| Abstract: | This article uses economic analysis of the marcher lord actor theorised by sociology literature, particularly the work of Michael Mann (1986), to explain the shifting nature of power in the ancient world. We model the marcher lord to argue that a first mover advantage from developing state institutions first does not bring a lasting military advantage as lesser developed lords located closer to the periphery of a region are better able to diversify their armies. We develop a second model to analyse Mann's strategies of control and a rational calculus of technology adoption to consider whether new empires will emerge to dominate existing empires. We find that advancement does not emanate from the seat of power, rather marcher lords on the periphery of civilisation development have the opportunity to expand leading to them being more innovative and able to shift the centre of power away from stablished empires in later time periods. |
| Keywords: | Marcher Lord ; Michael Mann ; Military Power ; Ancient States JEL classifications: H10 ;N40 ;O33 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wrkesp:50&r=his |
| By: | David Audretsch; Christian Fisch; Chiara Franzoni; Paul P. Momtaz; Silvio Vismara |
| Abstract: | The first-ever article published in Research Policy was Casimir's (1971) advocacy of academic freedom in light of the industry's increasing influence on research in universities. Half a century later, the literature attests to the dearth of work on the role of academic freedom for innovation. To fill this gap, we employ instrumental variable techniques to identify the impact of academic freedom on the quantity (patent applications) and quality (patent citations) of innovation output. The empirical evidence suggests that improving academic freedom by one standard deviation increases patent applications and forward citations by 41% and 29%, respectively. The results hold in a representative sample of 157 countries over the 1900-2015 period. This research note is also an alarming plea to policymakers: Global academic freedom has declined over the past decade for the first time in the last century. Our estimates suggest that the decline of academic freedom has resulted in a global loss quantifiable with at least 4.0% fewer patents filed and 5.9% fewer patent citations. |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2303.06097&r=his |
| By: | Dieter von Fintel (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Calumet Links (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Erik Green |
| Abstract: | Research on long-term historical inequality has expanded to include previously neglected periods and societies, particularly in the global South. This is partly due to the resurgence of the social tables method in economic history, an approach which uses archival records to reconstruct income and wealth distributions in contexts where micro data is unavailable. This method can cause a downward bias in estimating inequality, but there is limited evidence of this bias in economic history. We collected a new data set of 108 historical social tables spanning over a 1000 years. We found that the compilers consistently made careful methodological choices that took data limitations into account. We found that the inequality estimates are not systematically related to the number of classes chosen or the size of the top class, but that choosing bottom classes that bundle together even small variations in income or wealth can introduce a downward bias to the inequality estimates. This drawback can be overcome by using methodological cohesion to mitigate the problem of limited information about the poorest classes in colonial archives. |
| Keywords: | Social tables, Gini, inequality, pre-industrial, grouped data |
| JEL: | N30 C13 C18 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers377&r=his |
| By: | Andres Rodriguez-Pose; Javier Terrero-Davila; Neil Lee |
| Abstract: | Economic change over the past twenty years has rendered many individuals and territories vulnerable, leading to greater interpersonal and interterritorial inequality. This rising inequality is seen as a root cause of populism. Yet, there is no comparative evidence as to whether this discontent is the consequence of localised interpersonal inequality or stagnant growth in ‘left-behind’ places. This paper assesses the association between levels and changes in local GDP per capita and interpersonal inequality, and the rise of far-right populism in Europe and in the US. The analysis —conducted at small region level for Europe and county level for the US— shows that there are both similarities and differences in the factors connected to populist voting on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, neither interpersonal inequality nor economic decline can explain populist support on their own. However, these factors gain significance when considered together with the racial composition of the area. Counties with a large share of white population where economic growth has been stagnant and where inequalities have increased supported Donald Trump. Meanwhile, counties with a similar economic trajectory but with a higher share of minorities shunned populism. In Europe, the most significant factor behind the rise of far-right populism is economic decline. This effect is particularly large in areas with a high share of immigration. |
| Keywords: | populism, anti-system voting, interpersonal inequality, interterritorial inequality, economic growth, Europe, US. |
| JEL: | D31 D72 R11 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2306&r=his |