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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2023‒07‒10
28 papers chosen by |
| By: | Macve, Richard |
| Abstract: | It has long been argued that double-entry bookkeeping (‘DEB’) was important for enabling capitalism’s development in the West and heralded the beginning of ‘modern accounting’. However, these claims remain contested so it is important to understand the history of DEB’s emergence about 700 years ago and its underlying rationale. Sangster (2018a) [Pacioli's Lens: God, Humanism, Euclid, and the Rhetoric of Double Entry. The Accounting Review, 93(2): 299-314] argues that, in the first printed manual on DEB in 1494, Pacioli presented a novel ‘axiomatic’ approach to explaining DEB that requires a corresponding ‘paradigmatic shift’ in our appreciation of his contribution. This paper challenges Sangster’s interpretation of Pacioli’s mathematical contribution and calls for deeper understanding of the historical development of DEB in the West by comparison with accounting developments in the East. |
| Keywords: | Pacioli; double-entry bookkeeping (DEB); algebraic axioms; comparative international accounting history |
| JEL: | B11 C00 M40 P52 |
| Date: | 2021–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112170&r=his |
| By: | Carret, Vincent |
| Abstract: | In this 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. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:xt4qd&r=his |
| By: | Dhammika Dharmapala |
| Abstract: | Tax havens have become a subject of great interest among policymakers, scholars and the general public, and are central to many important current policy debates. This chapter provides an overview of the scholarly literature on the characteristics and origins of tax havens. The earlier literature, used cross-country analysis and found evidence that tax havens tend to have stronger governance institutions than comparable nonhaven countries. The more recent literature analyses the historical origins of tax havens and undertakes longitudinal analysis of their adoption of haven-like laws. This chapter also presents a descriptive analysis of the relationship between tax haven status and quantitative measures of countries’ historical characteristics. This descriptive analysis suggests that tax haven jurisdictions are not appreciably different from nonhavens in their historical experience of foreign rule and in other historical characteristics. This suggests some caution in attributing tax havens’ status to their colonial history or to other historical variables. |
| Keywords: | tax havens, international taxation, colonial history, governance, economic development, comparative economics |
| JEL: | H87 O10 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10411&r=his |
| By: | Khan, Haider |
| Abstract: | How might it be possible for the foreign policy of a small country today to be part of a Nonaligned Movement(NAM) as the unipolar world ends? I do a historical geopolitical and geoeconomic case study to answer this question. How was it possible for the foreign policy of Bangladesh to be oriented toward the world as a part of an independent nonaligned movement even as the newly independent, poor, tropical country ravaged by a brutal war struggled to balance many competing internal and external demands? This becomes a complex question to answer particularly when we recall that the cold war between the US led Capitalist bloc and the USSR led Socialist bloc had already been raging for more than two decades. Only some larger mixed economies like India, Indonesia, and some revolutionary countries like Cuba and Algeria had managed to show such independence during the 1950s and 1960s. In case of Indonesia this was drowned in blood in a coup aided and abetted by the US.My recently developed theory of Critical TransNeoclassical Realism for geopolitics and geoeconomics helps answer these questions and raise the possibility of a new NAM. |
| Keywords: | Nonaligned Movement(NAM), Foreign policy, Geopolitics and Geoeconomics, New NAM, foreign policy of a small country and NAM, Bangladesh after liberation, Critical TransNeoclassical Realism for geopolitics and geoeconomics |
| JEL: | F51 F53 F54 |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117455&r=his |
| By: | Yuxin Zhang (Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China) |
| Abstract: | It is a theoretical and practical difficulty to re-examine the relationship between Confucianism and modernization in the era of "cultural globalization" and "postmodern". This study claims that the connection between Confucianism and modernization is determined by the continuity of social development and the historical inheritance of culture, based on the historical perspective and the enlightenment spirit of Confucianism. Even at the start of East Asia's modernization, Confucianism's Tradition never entirely faded from history, and Confucianism's involvement in the transformation of East Asian countries from tradition to modernity is obvious. From East Asia's authoritarian politics to Asian-style democracy, East Asia's political democracy is a shadow of Confucianism rather than a carbon duplicate of Western democracy. The new Confucian ethics has its own logic, emphasizing the importance of the self in all sorts of relationships, as well as the sense of obligation, self-control, self-cultivation, consensus, and cooperation. It places a great importance on politeness and education. Therefore, this paper presents the close relationship between the Neo-Confucian Ethics and the rise of Asia from the perspective of the modernity of the Confucian tradition in East Asia and Asian political democracy. Neo-Confucian Ethics has shaped Asia's industrial civilization, and Asia's economic development is consistent with the philosophical theory inherent in Confucian ethics. |
| Keywords: | Confucian, Rise of East Asia, Neo-Confucian Ethics, East Asian Politics, Economic Development |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0241&r=his |
| By: | Nancy Qian (Northwestern University,); Marco Tabellini (Harvard Business School,) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents several new facts about the relationship between discrimination and political exclusion and the motivation to fight in wartime. The Pearl Harbor attack triggered a sharp increase in volunteer enlistment rates of American men, the magnitude of the increase was smaller for Black men than for white men and the Black-white gap was larger in counties with higher levels of racial discrimination. Discrimination reduced the quantity and the quality of Black volunteers. The discouraging effects of discrimination were more pronounced in places that were geographically distant from Pearl Harbor and in states that had joined the Union relatively recently. For Japanese-American men, enlistment rates were higher where the Japanese-American community was not interred than where it was interred. These and other results provide empirical support for the theory that discrimination and political exclusion reduce support for the government when it is under threat. |
| Keywords: | Political and Economic Exclusion, Social Contract, Nation Building |
| JEL: | D72 J15 N92 P16 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2310&r=his |
| By: | Tribe, Keith |
| Abstract: | Review of “Religion and the Rise of Capitalism” by Benjamin M. Friedman |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:utgah&r=his |
| By: | Alex Armand (Nova School of Business and Economics – Universidade Nova de Lisboa, CEPR, NOVAFRICA, and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Paul Atwell (University of Michigan); Joseph F. Gomes (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Yannik Schenk (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of progressive radio programming on societal change during the early period of desegregation in post-World War II U.S. We investigate the influence of the popular radio show The Adventures of Superman on promoting tolerance and exposing the bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1946. Using state-of-the-art radio propagation models, we map the broadcast’s exposure and analyze its effect on various socioeconomic outcomes. We find that counties with higher exposure to the broadcast experienced a significant decrease in support for KKK-affiliated political candidates and opponents of civil rights. Individuals potentially exposed to the Superman program during their youth exhibited more progressive attitudes towards civil rights, racial desegregation and African Americans later in life. These individuals were also less likely to participate in the Vietnam war. Additionally, we explore the long-term impact of the radio coverage by examining outcomes at the county level, such as the presence of active KKK branches, civil rights organizations, and accessibility of non-discriminatory services for African Americans listed in the “Negro Motorist Green Books.” We find significant and progressive effects on all analyzed outcomes. These results underscore the potential of progressive radio programming as a catalyst for social change and contribute to our understanding of how media shapes societal attitudes and beliefs. |
| Keywords: | Mass Media; Radio; Segregation; Ku Klux Klan; Superman; Intolerance; Civil Rights; Racism |
| JEL: | D7 D83 J15 L82 N32 Z18 |
| Date: | 2023–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2023012&r=his |
| By: | Bankovsky, Miriam |
| Abstract: | Review of “Gender and the Dismal Science: Women in the Early Years of the Economics Profession” by Ann Mari May. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:azv5y&r=his |
| By: | Calcagno, Adriana |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the intellectual path through which Raúl Prebisch placed industrialization at the center of his economic thought and policy recommendations. It shows how the changing international context of the 1930s and 1940s made him depart from laissez-faire and adopt counter-cyclical policies, gradually abandoning the agrarian export-led growth model and finally embracing industrialization as the new growth strategy for Argentina and Latin America. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:hxv2b&r=his |
| By: | Sigle, Wendy; Reid, Alice; Sear, Rebecca |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2021–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:117311&r=his |
| By: | Medema, Steven G |
| Abstract: | Review of “Law and the Invisible Hand: A Theory of Adam Smith’s Jurisprudence” by Robin Paul Malloy. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:d4fnu&r=his |
| By: | Cunha, Alexandre Mendes |
| Abstract: | Review of “El desafío del desarrollo: Trayectorias de los grandes economistas latinoamericanos del siglo XX” edited by Marcelo N. Rougier and Juan Odisio. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:buhcf&r=his |
| By: | Clark, Gregory (Department of Economics); Cummins, Neil (Department of Economic History) |
| Abstract: | It is widely believed that women value social status in marital partners more than men, leading to female marital hypergamy, and more female intergenerational social mobility. A recent paper on Norway, for example, reports significant female hypergamy, even today, as measured by parental status of men and women in partnerships. Using evidence from more than 33 million marriages and 67 million births in England and Wales 1837-2022 we show that there was never within this era any period of significant hypergamous marriage by women. The average status of women’s fathers was always close to that of their husbands’ fathers. Consistent with this there was no differential tendency in England of men and women to marry by social status. The evidence is of strong symmetry in marital behaviors between men and women throughout. There is also ancillary evidence that physical attraction cannot have been a very significant factor in marriages in any period 1837-2021, based on the correlation observed in underlying social abilities. |
| Keywords: | Hypergamy; marital assortment; female social mobility |
| JEL: | J10 J12 J16 J62 |
| Date: | 2023–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2023_003&r=his |
| By: | Elad DeMalach (Bank of Israel) |
| Abstract: | Secondary school enrollment has grown substantially over the past century, but there is surprisingly little economic evidence on the effects of geographic access to high schools, particularly for remote and disadvantaged communities. I attempt to fill this gap in the literature by examining the effects of openings of new local high schools for the Arab minority in Israel over two episodes: (1) Historical openings in 1972-1995 for Israeli Arabs (2) Recent openings in 2007-2014 for the poorer Bedouin population of the Negev in southern Israel. For both episodes, I find that the establishment of a high school in a locality increases high school completion rates by about 5-7 percentage points. The effect is higher for localities that were further away from pre-existing schools. For the historical Arab sample, I also examine the long-run effects and find an increase in post-secondary attainment and in women’s employment and earnings. Among the Negev Bedouin population, I also observe a decrease in the number of juvenile criminal records. Overall, these findings suggest that the geographic barrier to high school access is important, especially for disadvantaged communities, and that establishing a high school in remote communities can be beneficial in multiple aspects. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boi:wpaper:2023.02&r=his |
| By: | Aspromourgos, Anthony |
| Abstract: | Review of Andreas Ortmann and Benoît Walraevens' "Adam Smith’s System: a Re-Interpretation Inspired by Smith’s Lectures on Rhetoric, Game Theory, and Conjectural History". |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ec7t2&r=his |
| By: | Klausinger, Hansjoerg |
| Abstract: | Review of “A Political Economy of Power: Ordoliberalism in Context, 1932–1950” by Raphaël Fèvre. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:w2gpj&r=his |
| By: | Mottironi, Henri-Pierre |
| Abstract: | Review of “Trade and Nation: How Companies and Politics Reshaped Economic Thought” by Emily Erikson. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9zcfe&r=his |
| By: | Gouverneur, Virginie |
| Abstract: | From the JHET Interviews series, a professional interview of Evelyn L. Forget by Virginie Gouverneur. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:yg27z&r=his |
| By: | Andres Rivas (Primerica); Rahul Verma (University of Houston, Downtown); Antonio Rodriguez (Texas A&M International University); Pedro H. Albuquerque (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France and ACCELERATION & ADAPTATION, Aix-en-Provence, France) |
| Abstract: | The article examines stock index price responses in Brazil, Chile and Mexico to those in the US, Spain and four European countries during three sub-periods surrounding the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s: 1988 to 1994, 1995 to 1998, and 1999 to 2004, using VAR modeling. It finds that equity markets became more interconnected as countries opened to international trade and capital flows, and that there was an increasing impact of Spain on Latin American equity markets. Stronger economic linkages (more trade and foreign direct investment) between Spain and these countries, specially in Brazil, seem to explain increased equity markets interconnectedness. |
| Keywords: | Emerging markets, Latin America, Spain, Stock markets interdependence, VAR modeling |
| JEL: | G15 O54 C22 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2312&r=his |
| By: | Xu, Wenfei |
| Abstract: | Mid-20th urban renewal in the United States was transformational for the physical urban fabric and socioeconomic trajectories of these neighborhoods and its displaced residents. However, there is little research that systematically investigates its impacts due to incomplete national data. This article uses a multiple machine learning method to discover 204 new Census tracts that were likely sites of federal urban renewal, highway construction related demolition, and other urban renewal projects between 1949 and 1970. It also aims to understand the factors motivating the decision to “renew” certain neighborhoods. I find that race, housing age, and homeownership are all determinants of renewal. Moreover, by stratifying the analysis along neighborhoods perceived to be more or less risky, I also find that race and housing age are two distinct channels that influence renewal. |
| Date: | 2023–05–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:bsvr8&r=his |
| By: | Curi, Luiz Felipe Bruzzi |
| Abstract: | Review of “Os homens do cofre: o que pensavam os Ministros da Fazenda do Brasil republicano (1889-1985)” edited by Ivan Colangelo Salomão. |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:97fcb&r=his |
| By: | Everton Sotto Tibiriçá Rosa (FACE-UFG); Tiago Camarinha Lopes (FACE-UFG) |
| Abstract: | As teorias econômicas de Keynes e Marx possuem muitas similaridades considerando o padrão do pensamento econômico neoclássico mainstream. Mesmo que ambos os autores entendam o papel central do dinheiro e do capital em um sistema econômico, eles divergem nitidamente no campo político. Para fazer uma comparação adequada entre Marx e Keynes é necessário relembrar a obra de Silvio Gesell, economista da virada do século 19 para o século 20 pouco lembrado na história do pensamento econômico. Este artigo questiona o que se poderia aprender do espírito de Gesell hoje como maneira de apreender o entendimento de Keynes sobre o Marxismo e o sistema econômico que deriva dessa doutrina. Keynes discordava principalmente da teoria do dinheiro de Marx, pois ela não seria construtiva no sentido de uma reforma monetária para controlar o movimento de acumulação do capital. Concluímos que as propostas de política econômica de Keynes funcionam como uma reforma sistêmica para atingir um sistema econômico não-Marxista, o que difere da linha de Gesell de buscar um caminho de transformação econômica e social que pode ser caracterizado como anti-Marxista. |
| Keywords: | Keynes, Gesell, Marx, moeda, juros, teoria do capital |
| JEL: | B00 E11 E12 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ufb:wpaper:094&r=his |
| By: | Oded Galor; Marc Klemp; Daniel C. Wainstock |
| Abstract: | Evidence suggests that the prehistoric Out of Africa Migration has impacted the degree of intra-population genetic and phenotypic diversity across the globe. This paper provides the first evidence that this migration has shaped cultural diversity. Leveraging a folklore catalogue of 958 oral traditions across the world, we find that ethnic groups further away from East Africa along the migratory routes have lower folkloric diversity. This pattern is consistent with the compression of genetic, phenotypic, and phonemic traits along the Out of Africa migration routes, setting conditions for the emergence and proliferation of differential cultural diversity and economic development across the world. |
| JEL: | N0 O10 O40 Z10 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31274&r=his |
| By: | Azmat, Ghazala (Sciences Po, Paris); Kaufmann, Katja Maria (University of Bayreuth); Özdemir, Yasemin (University of Bayreuth) |
| Abstract: | We exploit a large quasi-exogenous shock to study the development of socioemotional skills during adolescence and the consequences for long-term behavior and labor market outlook. Using novel, longitudinal, microdata on cohorts of East German adolescents before and after a large macro shock (the German Reunification), we causally estimate the impact on socioemotional skills, finding substantial negative effects in the short run. These effects are substantially larger among those affected by the shock in their early adolescence (13-14 years old), relative to older adolescents (16-17 years old). Changes in socioemotional skills have a lasting (negative) impact on them as adults, especially among those affected early in their adolescence, in terms of their expressions of externalizing behavior (e.g., physical fighting) and behavioral control problems (i.e., substance abuse), as well as internalizing behavior (i.e., mental health) and in their (labor-market) optimism and expectations. This study highlights the permanent effects of uncertainty on socioemotional skills during formative years. |
| Keywords: | socioemotional development, youths, behavior, health, education |
| JEL: | D91 I12 I31 J13 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16187&r=his |
| By: | Lambert, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper briefly outlines the idea and development of the economic surplus concept at the macroeconomic level as opposed to the one in microeconomics often labeled as a Marshallian surplus. Of special interest and focus is the concept as developed and used by heterodox economists. The notion of a residual amount of output or income over and above what is necessary for a society’s consumption (education, housing, food, clothing, health care, transportation, and other necessities of life) that can be used either for further consumption by an elite class, used for reinvestment in productive activities, and/or wasted on unproductive efforts is one that has been and continues to be taught and used in heterodox and neo-Marxian economics. The relevancy of the economic surplus view to modern and recent US economic growth is examined especially in light of new ways that have been created to apply the economic surplus concept. Applications using the Baran Ratio and long wave cycles theory are demonstrated, and it appears that the Baran Ratio is a useful concept to help predict long wave movements that are based on the economic surplus. |
| Keywords: | Baran Ratio, economic surplus, investment, Kondratiev waves, monopoly capital |
| JEL: | B22 B24 B51 B52 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117537&r=his |
| By: | Gérard Mondello (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes Coase's notion of "legal rights" in "The Social Cost Problem" and focuses on the part devoted to zero transaction costs. "Legal rights" cover different types of civil rights that Coase groups together in a common understanding in order to facilitate transactions between agents. This article reintroduces the specificity of civil rights in the theoretical examples and case law analyzed by Coase. As a result, neither the effectiveness nor the invariance of Coase's theorem can be proved any more. |
| Keywords: | Legal rights, property rights, Coase, Social Cost, Case law, Coase theorem |
| JEL: | D62 K13 K23 K32 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2023-04&r=his |
| By: | Orlikowski, Wanda J.; Scott, Susan V. |
| Abstract: | As “the digital” becomes pervasive within organizations and industries, it is increasingly evident that how we live, work, connect, coordinate, and govern are being significantly changed by digitalization. Many of these digital transformations are highly visible and dramatic, involving a purposeful repositioning and restructuring of organizations and industries. But in addition to these direct and visible changes, we argue that processes of digitalization are also producing less visible transformations in core institutional values, norms, and rules, which are indirectly, yet more fundamentally, reconfiguring how organizations and industries perform. Referencing findings from two different sectors, we posit that the corollary effects of waves of digitalization — what we conceptualize as the “digital undertow” — are generating a set of dynamics that are displacing institutional apparatuses from their positions of primacy and authority within industries. We further suggest that our conventional toolkits for studying organizational phenomena are not well equipped to examining such corollary effects of digitalization. In addressing this challenge, we consider how the relational and performative theorizing of strong sociomateriality provides a powerful analytic for investigating these effects and we highlight how it offers valuable insights into the institutional displacements arising in the digital undertow. |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2023–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:119271&r=his |