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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
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Issue of 2024‒05‒27
forty papers chosen by |
| By: | Adereth, Maya |
| Abstract: | When do labor movements come to support universal welfare policies? This article examines this question through a comparative account of the British and American labor movements at the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on newspaper and meeting records from the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS), the Cigarmakers International Union (CMIU), and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (BLF) from the mid-nineteenth century to World War I, it considers why, given a common tradition of exclusive benefits, the two movements diverged on the question of universal state health and pension schemes at the turn of the century—with the British labor movement abandoning its voluntarist orientation and the AFL preserving it. Complementing existing sociological accounts that emphasize state and party structure, sectoral composition, pace and quality of industrial change, and the demographic makeup of labor movements, this article builds on approaches from the sociology of organizations in centering the importance of organizational arenas in shaping trade union strategies and aims. In particular, it investigates the role of friendly and fraternal societies in structuring trade union interests over this period. The article demonstrates how changes within the friendly and fraternal society movement shaped the contextual significance and strategic value of benefit provision in each trade union over time. In doing so, it opens the way for a deeper reflection on the importance of organizational reasoning in shaping trade union organizing and the trajectory of welfare institutions. |
| Keywords: | CUP deal |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2024–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122433&r=his |
| By: | Gary Richardson; Marco Del Angel; Michael Gou |
| Abstract: | During the Progressive Era (1900-29), economic growth was rapid but volatile. Boom and busts witnessed the formation and failure of tens of thousands of firms and thousands of banks. This essay uses new data and methods to identify causal links between failures of banks and bankruptcies of firms. Our analysis indicates that bank failures triggered bankruptcies of firms that depended upon banks for ongoing access to commercial credit. Firms that did not depend upon banks for credit did not fail in appreciably larger numbers after banks failed or during financial panics. |
| JEL: | E44 G21 N22 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32345&r=his |
| By: | Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio; Özak, Ömer (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | We explore the effect of historical ethnic borders on contemporary conflict in Africa. We document that the intensive and extensive margins of contemporary conflict are higher close to historical ethnic borders. Exploiting variations across artificial regions within an ethnicity's historical homeland and a theory-based instrumental variable approach, we find that regions crossed by historical ethnic borders have 27 percentage points higher probability of conflict and 7.9 percentage points higher probability of being the initial location of a conflict. We uncover several key underlying mechanisms: competition for agricultural land, population pressure, cultural similarity, and weak property rights. |
| Date: | 2024–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:k76mt&r=his |
| By: | Matringe, Nadia; Power, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theoretical history of the intricate relationship between accounting as a recording technology and memory, arguing that accounting's influence extends beyond mere financial documentation to shape human memory and projections into the past and the future. Drawing on Stiegler's theory of transindividuation, understood as the trans-formation of individuals, groups and technologies, and his emphasis on technology-mediated memory, we propose that varying types of accounting records cultivate different memory forms by fostering spatiotemporal projections which reshape the societal perception and comprehension of accounting. Our analysis relies on a comparison between two decentralized transaction recording systems similar in their operations, but which emerged in two different eras: blockchain and early double-entry bookkeeping. Our approach draws from Haydu (1998) to identify similarities and contrasts between different periods which can emphasize the uniqueness of each, while conceptualizing long-term trends. By juxtaposing DEB and BC as instances of decentralized records, the study postulates a critical shift in accounting's transindividuation over time. We argue that while DEB's norms of recording aided in the formation of collective memory and long-term projections, turning records into objects of social investment, BC's recording, propelled by automation and an economic emphasis, manifests as an isolated numerical sequence hindering the scope of human projections. We posit that compared to early DEB, BC recording, although it holds the potential for democratization, may lead to divisions between users, among themselves, and with their records. We discuss the potential implications of this trans-dividuation process for notions of accountability, transparency, regulation, and the broader political role of accounting in society. |
| Keywords: | theoretical history; recording; automation; memory forms; projections; double-entry bookkeeping; Stiegler; transindividuation; Elsevier deal |
| JEL: | M40 |
| Date: | 2023–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120410&r=his |
| By: | Chitwood, Daniel H. (Michigan State University); Delaye, Luis; Domínguez-Castro, Cristina; Hernández-López, Antonio; López-Medellín, Xavier; Mojica-Muñoz, Diana Margarita; Rougon-Cardoso, Alejandra |
| Abstract: | The wild grapevine species (Vitis spp.) that comprise the pedigrees of rootstocks, the Americas as the source (and solution) to the Phylloxera crisis that decimated European vineyards, and California as a premier wine growing region are the topics that usually frame the history of grapes in North America. This Anglo-American perspective ignores that domesticated grape varieties were first introduced to North America in what is now Mexico, and the singular contributions of Mexican labor to the California wine economy that continue to influence politics. Here, we highlight the neglected history of grapevines in Mexico and argue that the politics of labor that played out during the Conquest never ceased and still shape debates surrounding immigration. Beginning with Hernán Cortés, Indigenous peoples were forced to plant grapevines and when they were successful, they were abruptly forbidden by Spain to grow grapes. This interference influenced Miguel Hidalgo, who taught the poor viticulture as a trade and who would lead the Mexican War of Independence and pay with his life. The grapevine continued its journey north to California, where Jesuits established the missions and cultivated the Mission grapes, which had lasting impacts on the genetics of grapevine varieties. Finally, it was the Delano grape strike that coalesced Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers to demand justice for Mexican labor that is the foundation of the California wine economy and still shapes the current political debate of immigration, labor, and human rights between the United States and Mexico. |
| Date: | 2024–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:372rj&r=his |
| By: | Maurice Obstfeld (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | The global economic institutions that grew from the Bretton Woods conference of 1944 aimed to create a cooperative policy environment conducive to recovery, development, continuing prosperity, social stability, and democracy. Prominent in the minds of the architects were the macroeconomic and trade policy coordination failures of the 1930s, which accompanied a world depression and the march toward the Second World War. The assumption of "embedded" liberalism' underlying Bretton Woods gave way to a much more market-oriented system by the early 1990s, fueling strong growth in several large emerging markets and a period of hyperglobalization--but also social tensions in advanced economies. The result has been a changed geopolitical balance in the world as well as a backlash against aspects of globalization in many richer countries, notably the main sponsor of postwar international cooperation, the United States. At the same time, global cooperation is threatened despite the emergence of a broader range of shared global threats requiring joint action. The rich industrial countries that dominate the existing multilateral institutions should recognize them as being instrumental for channeling superpower competition into positive-sum outcomes that can also attract broad-based international support. However, leveraging those institutions will require buy-in from middle- and low-income countries, as well as from domestic political constituencies in advanced economies. The future of multilateralism depends on reconciling these potentially conflicting imperatives. |
| Keywords: | multilateralism, Bretton Woods, globalization, geopolitics |
| JEL: | F13 F52 F6 N40 P16 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp24-9&r=his |
| By: | Ugarte, Ana C. Gomez; Acosta, Enrique (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research); Basellini, Ugofilippo; Alburez-Gutierrez, Diego |
| Abstract: | The Israel-Hamas war, triggered by the October 7th 2023 Hamas-led attack in Israel, has caused extensive mortality and sparked a major humanitarian crisis in the region. Direct conflict mortality has been mostly concentrated among non-combatants in the Gaza Strip. Here, most of the population has been internally displaced and faces limited access to food, water, shelter, sanitation, and essential health services. We aim to assess the impact of conflict deaths reported between October and December 2023 on life expectancy at birth (LE) in Palestine —including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. For this, we combine multiple sources of data on combatant and non-combatant fatalities and use demographic methods to impute the missing sex and age distribution of conflict mortality. We focus on LE because it is a widely used mortality indicator that is not affected by the population's age distribution and can be meaningfully compared across populations and over time. |
| Date: | 2024–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:8smy2&r=his |
| By: | Lundberg, Jacob (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the generational wealth transfer within Sweden’s public pay-as-you-go pension system introduced in 1960. Using extensive administrative registers, the paper quantifies the contributions made and benefits received by each birth cohort. The findings reveal a substantial fiscal imbalance favouring the initial generation (born in the early 20th century), who received a net gain of $1.5 trillion in today’s present value, equivalent to up to 13% of their discounted lifetime income. This windfall for the initial generation resulted in an implicit tax on current workers, accounting for 70% of their pension contributions. However, the study also highlights the effectiveness of Sweden’s 1999 notional defined-contribution pension reform in stabilizing this imbalance. Unlike many international counterparts, Sweden’s reformed system successfully mitigates further generational inequities in the pension system. |
| Keywords: | Pensions; Social security; Pay-as-you-go; Generational equity; Generational accounting |
| JEL: | H55 N34 |
| Date: | 2024–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1488&r=his |
| By: | H. Spencer Banzhaf; Randall Walsh |
| Abstract: | Like today, one hundred years ago air pollution was a matter of grave concern in the world's most polluted cities. In the wake of its famous 1908-9 social survey, the City of Pittsburgh commissioned an "Economic Survey of Pittsburgh" from John T. Holdsworth, a prominent institutional economist at the University of Pittsburgh. Although wide ranging, the report opened by stating that "The first fundamental need in Pittsburgh is the eradication of smoke." This report was followed by a series of Smoke Investigations, in which, astonishingly, jars were placed around the city and the ash weighed monthly. In one application, Holdsworth's assistant, John J. O'Connor, estimated the economic costs from smoke. Arguably the first damage-cost study, O'Connor's work challenges our understanding of what counts as "economic" in the progressive era. |
| JEL: | B1 Q5 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32328&r=his |
| By: | Richard Hornbeck; Shanon Hsuan-Ming Hsu; Anders Humlum; Martin Rotemberg |
| Abstract: | We examine the long transition from water to steam power in US manufacturing, focusing on early users of mechanical power: lumber and flour mills. Digitizing Census of Manufactures manuscripts for 1850 to 1880, we show that as steam costs declined, manufacturing activity grew faster in counties with less waterpower potential. This growth was driven by steam powered entrants and agglomeration, as water powered incumbents faced switching barriers primarily from sunk costs. Estimating a dynamic model of firm entry and steam adoption, we find that the interaction of switching barriers and high fixed costs creates a quantitatively important and socially inefficient drag on technology adoption. Despite substantial entry and exit, switching barriers remained influential for aggregate steam adoption throughout the 19th century, as water power required lower fixed costs and therefore was attractive to relatively low productivity entrants. These entrants then became incumbents, locked into water power even if their productivity grew. |
| JEL: | D25 N61 O14 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32384&r=his |
| By: | Mill, Wladislaw; Ebert, Tobias; Berkessel, Jana; Jonsson, Thorsteinn; Lehmann, Sune; Gebauer, Jochen |
| Abstract: | Does war make people more religious? Answers to this classic question are dominated by the lack of causality. We exploit the Vietnam Draft Lottery -- a natural experiment that drafted male U.S. citizens into military service during the Vietnam War -- to conclusively show that war increases religiosity. We measure religiosity via religious imagery on web-scraped photographs of hundreds of thousands of gravestones of deceased U.S. Americans using a tailor-made convolutional neural network. Our analysis provides compelling and robust evidence that war indeed increases religiosity: people who were randomly drafted into war are at least 20 % more likely to have religious gravestones. This effect sets in almost immediately, persists even after 50 years, and generalizes across space and societal strata. |
| Date: | 2024–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9se4r&r=his |
| By: | Lennard, Jason (London School of Economics); Kenny, Seán (University College Cork, Queen's University Centre for Economic History, and Lund University); Horgan, Emma (University College Cork) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a natural experiment in macroeconomic history: the Irish bank strike of 1966, which led to the closure of the major commercial banks for three months. We use synthetic control to estimate how the economy would have evolved had the strike not happened. We find that economic activity slowed, deviating by 6% from the counter- factual path. Narrative evidence not only supports this finding, but also depicts the struggles of households and firms managing a credit crunch, a liquidity shock, and rising transaction costs. This case study highlights the importance of banks for economic performance. |
| Keywords: | banks; Ireland; macroeconomy; post-war |
| JEL: | E32 E44 G21 N14 N24 |
| Date: | 2024–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0256&r=his |
| By: | Christ, Carol |
| Keywords: | Arts and Humanities, 150w, UCB, Women's History |
| Date: | 2024–04–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:cshedu:qt3q98h57t&r=his |
| By: | Steven N. Durlauf; Gueyon Kim; Dohyeon Lee; Xi Song |
| Abstract: | This paper studies long-run differences in intergenerational occupational mobility between Black and White Americans. Combining data from linked historical censuses and contemporary large-scale surveys, we provide a comprehensive set of mobility measures based on Markov chains that trace the short- and long-run dynamics of occupational differences. Our findings highlight the unique importance of changes in mobility experienced by the 1940–1950 birth cohort in shaping the current occupational distribution and reducing the racial occupational gap. We further explore the properties of continuing occupational inequalities and argue that these disparities are better understood by a lack of exchange mobility rather than structural mobility. Thus, contemporary occupational disparities cannot be expected to disappear based on the occupational dynamics seen historically. |
| JEL: | J15 J62 N31 N32 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32370&r=his |
| By: | Masiello , Francine |
| Keywords: | Arts and Humanities, University of California, Berkeley, 150 Years of Women, Feminism |
| Date: | 2024–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:cshedu:qt2ps4f7t4&r=his |
| By: | Hetzel, Robert L.; Humphrey, Thomas M.; Tavlas, George S. |
| Abstract: | Carl Snyder was one of the most prominent U.S. monetary economists of the 1920s and 1930s. His pioneering work on constructing the empirical counterparts of the terms in the equation of exchange led him to formulate a four percent monetary growth rule. Snyder is especially apposite because he was on the staff of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Despite his pioneering empirical work and his position as an insider, why did Snyder fail to effectively challenge the dominant real bills views of the Federal Reserve (Fed)? A short answer is that he did not possess a convincing version of the quantity theory that attributed the Great Depression to a contraction in the money stock produced by the Fed as opposed to the dominant real bills view attributing it to the collapse of speculative excess. |
| Date: | 2024–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5xqt9&r=his |
| By: | Serafica, Ramonette B. |
| Abstract: | This essay discusses the rationale for economic charter change through the lens of services reform and identifies three issues with the current proposal of Congress: the retention of the legislative franchise requirement, the exclusion of mass media from the scope of the amendments, and the choice of the liberalization approach. To harness the full potential of services as an engine of economic growth and development in the 21st century, the paper recommends addressing these issues and removing all the specific restrictions that have been locked in the 1987 Constitution, namely: Art. XII Sec. 11 (public utility), Art. XII Sec. 14 (practice of all professions), Art. XIV Sec. 4(2) (educational institutions); Art. XVI Sec. 11(1) (mass media); and Art. XVI Sec. 11(2) (advertising industry). Liberalization must be pursued as part of a broader structural reform agenda. This involves improving regulations and strengthening institutions that will foster an economic environment that supports robust competition, encourages innovation, and facilitates the efficient allocation of resources. The reforms will contribute to higher productivity, which the Constitution itself recognizes “as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged” (Art. XII Sec.1). Comments to this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph. |
| Keywords: | services;restrictions;trade;investment;regulation |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2024-03&r=his |
| By: | Reda Cherif; Fuad Hasanov |
| Abstract: | Industrial policies pursued in many developing countries in the 1950s-1970s largely failed while the industrial policies of the Asian Miracles succeeded. We argue that a key factor of success is industrial policy with export orientation in contrast to import substitution. Exporting encouraged competition, economies of scale, innovation, and local integration and provided market signals to policymakers. Even in a large market such as India, import substitution policies in the automotive industry failed because of micromanagement and misaligned incentives. We also analyze the risk tradeoffs involved in various industrial policy strategies and their implications on the 21st century industrial policies. While state interventions may be needed to develop some new capabilities and industries, trade protectionism is neither a necessary nor a sufficient tool and will most likely be counterproductive. |
| Keywords: | Industrial policy; export orientation; import substitution; growth; diversification; innovation; technology |
| Date: | 2024–04–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2024/086&r=his |
| By: | Marcos A. L. de Campos; Jose Luis Oreiro; Kalinka Martins da Silva |
| Abstract: | This article aims to analyse the impact of exchange rate levels and trade liberalization that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s on the exports, imports, and trade balances of Latin American countries over the last five decades. The basic idea is to update the study conducted by A. Santos-Paulino and A. P. Thirlwall in 2004, which aimed to test the hypothesis that trade liberalizations in developing countries lead to a deterioration of the trade balance by boosting imports more than exports. Additionally, this analysis introduces the effect of the exchange rate on the trade balance through the currency undervaluation index created by Rodrik (2008). Data from seven Latin American countries between 1970 and 2019 were selected to estimate econometric models for exports, imports, and the trade balance. Although the inherent uniqueness of each Latin American economy makes it challenging to make general conclusions, the results show that currency undervaluation has a strong effect on export performance, and they also support the idea that trade liberalisation reforms generate imbalances in the trade balance in the long run. This negative effect of trade liberalization, however, can be offset by a proper exchange rate policy that aims to set an undervalued exchange rate. If trade liberalization is combined with a competitive exchange rate, then an increase in exports growth and in the trade balance as a ratio to GDP will be consequence of this smart combination of trade and exchange rate policies. |
| Keywords: | Trade Liberalization, Real Exchange Rate and Trade Balance |
| JEL: | F10 F15 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2408&r=his |
| By: | Matija Kovacic (Department of Economics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Cristina Elisa Orso (Department of Law, Economics and Cultures, University of Insubria) |
| Abstract: | Women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which represent an important and well-remunerated set of occupations that are expected to grow in significance in the future. In this paper, we show that this phenomenon is deeply rooted in historical processes that have contributed to the emergence and persistence of gender roles and stereotypes transmitted down to children by their parents or society at large. Using a sub-population of second-generation immigrants from the European Social Survey (ESS), we find that the pre-1500 ancestral factors related to stronger family ties and gender norms significantly reduce the probability of women sorting into STEM occupations. The causal link between norms and occupation is both direct and indirect, passing through contemporary cultural traits. Ancestral factors do not have any effect on men's occupational choices as well as on preferences for STEM professional careers. The results are robust to a rich set of potential confounding factors at the country of origin level and a battery of sensitivity checks. |
| Keywords: | family ties, gender roles, STEM occupations, women |
| JEL: | D03 J16 N30 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2024:08&r=his |
| By: | Hui, Nena; Kambhampati, Uma |
| Abstract: | Abolition of slavery in British Colonies led to the facilitation of Indian indentured migration by the British Government. This form of migration came about when the discourse of economic freedom and individual liberty strongly resonated in British political-economy circles, following the work of Adam Smith and J S Mill. We analyse how unfreedom in indentured labour was rationalised when the rhetoric of freedom was essential to the dominant intellectual milieu. We consider why free labour was deemed unfeasible in the plantation colonies. We also consider the constraints that asymmetric information and unequal bargaining posed to freedom within the institution of indenture. We conclude that indenture represented an uneasy compromise between the problems of slavery and the unattainable goal of free labour. |
| Date: | 2024–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:32nxv&r=his |
| By: | Alberti, Manfredi; Asso, Pier Francesco |
| Abstract: | Recent studies have revalued Hazel Kyrk for her original works on consumption and the critique of neoclassical demand theory. Kyrk’s A Theory of Consumption (1923), opened up new perspectives for understanding the nature of consumption and revalued home economics as a central part of the economist agenda, taking distance from the first generation of home economists. This paper focuses on Kyrk’s post-1923 scientific production and professional activities. Our main purpose is to show her contributions to the quantitative foundations of consumption together with her attempt to feed contemporary research on consumers’ behaviour with pragmatism, policy advice and field knowledge. We selected specific issues: the education of consumers through information and a strategy of “critical consumption”; the analysis of strategic industries; the well-being of American families; the importance of “invisible” objects (non-market activities) and their statistical processing. |
| Date: | 2024–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2uqya&r=his |
| By: | Lupu, Noam |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2024–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122759&r=his |
| By: | Hunter, Janet |
| Abstract: | This article analyses labour-intensive workforce strategies in Japan's government-run informational infrastructure (post, telegraph, and telephone) and in the adjunct services associated with their administration in the decades up to the Pacific War. It asks to what extent the growing scale of employment in Japan's communications infrastructure in this period confirms the existence of labour-intensive growth outside the manufacturing sector, and how far the growth of the labour force in post and telecommunications was facilitated by specific labour-absorbing institutions—that is, formal or informal institutions designed to mobilise or incentivise large numbers of employees. The discussion of these two associated questions shows not only that this area of infrastructure provision was highly labour-intensive in terms of the numbers employed and the diverse tasks undertaken, but also that the government-run postal system in effect depended for its growth and development on labour strategies and labour-absorbing institutions analogous to those usually associated with manufacturing development. The article also seeks to establish how far we can see in this sector the gradual improvement in the quality of labour normally associated with the labour-intensive industrialisation process, providing evidence that the evolving institutions were closely associated with a gradual improvement in the quality of labour and its ability to interact with rapidly changing needs and technologies. |
| Keywords: | telecommunications; Japan; postal system; tertiary sector; labour intensie industrialisation; AAM requested |
| JEL: | R14 J01 N0 |
| Date: | 2024–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122665&r=his |
| By: | Jennifer Hunt; Carolyn Moehling |
| Abstract: | We create a dataset of 14, 000 hand-coded help–wanted advertisements placed by employment agencies in three U.S. newspapers in 1950 and 1960, a time when help–wanted advertisements were divided into male and female sections, and collect information on agency ownership. We find that female-owned agencies specialized in vacancies for women, thereby expanding the access of female jobseekers to agency services, including for positions in majority-male occupations. Female-owned agencies advertised more skilled occupations to women than did male-owned agencies, leading to a 5.5% higher wage for women. On the other hand, female-owned agencies had a greater propensity to match male jobseekers to clerical jobs, contributing to 21% lower male wages than for male-owned agencies. The results are consistent with female proprietors having had a comparative advantage in female jobseekers and clerical occupations or with client firms having trusted female proprietors only with vacancies for women and homogeneous, lower-skill occupations. However, in choosing to establish an agency and to specialize in female jobseekers, female proprietors may have sought to mitigate employer discrimination against female jobseekers; their higher propensity to advertise majority-male occupations among professional, technical and managerial advertisements for women may also reflect discrimination mitigation. |
| JEL: | J16 J63 J71 N32 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32383&r=his |
| By: | Alessandro GUAZZINI |
| Abstract: | Since Veblen’s “The Leisure Class†was published in 1899, a considerable amount of literature on conspicuous consumption has been produced; while much has been said from a demand viewpoint, its supply side and social consequences rest largely undetermined. This paper aims at highlighting the highly conflictual interests between firms and the generality of consumers in a market characterized by conspicuous consumption. It also has in view to take a step forward towards the formalization of conspicuous consumption, to accelerate his admittance in the broadly accepted microeconomic theory. Starting from an analysis of the past literature and the state of the art in demand theory, I will first include positional concerns in an individual utility function. I will then examine the adverse economic and socio-psychological externalities that similar behaviors entail. I will eventually turn to the analysis of the supplier’s responsibility in shaping the phenomenon. Through an advertising augmented Lerner index I will investigate the role of a firm’s advertising expense in both raising markups and increasing conspicuous consumption’ negative effects. After an empirical analysis aimed at supporting my thesis, I will finally suggest a few remedies. |
| Keywords: | Conspicuous consumption, Positional concerns, Utility function, Profit function, Lerner index, Advertising externalities, Advertising tax |
| JEL: | D01 D62 D91 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2024_03.rdf&r=his |
| By: | Matthew A. Kraft; Melissa Arnold Lyon |
| Abstract: | We examine the state of the U.S. K-12 teaching profession over the last half century by compiling nationally representative time-series data on four interrelated constructs: occupational prestige, interest among students, the number of individuals preparing for entry, and on-the-job satisfaction. We find a consistent and dynamic pattern across every measure: a rapid decline in the 1970s, a swift rise in the 1980s extending into the mid 1990s, relative stability, and then a sustained decline beginning around 2010. The current state of the teaching profession is at or near its lowest levels in 50 years. We identify and explore a range of hypotheses that might explain these historical patterns including economic and sociopolitical factors, education policies, and school environments. |
| JEL: | I20 J21 J45 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32386&r=his |
| By: | Skwarecki, Beth |
| Abstract: | Duncan Heights is an abandoned cemetery near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with known burials from 1931 to 1961. Parkview and, later, Lakeview were also used as names for this cemetery. The original records have been lost, and only a few dozen headstones are present and legible. However, I have used death certificates to partially reconstruct the burial records. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of known burials from June of 1931, when the cemetery opened, to June of 1935, when a Works Progress Administration (WPA) survey reported that there were 400 graves, including 10 veterans. My analysis, based on an extensive examination of Allegheny County death certificates, found that the number of people buried in that timeframe was more than double what the WPA reported. This examination revealed death certificates for 822 people, including all of the reported 10 veterans. Decedents were 66.2% Black and 33.7% white. The median age at death was 40. Infants 1 year and under made up 13.6% of burials. From these results, I identify three distinct populations of burials. One consists of mainly Black Pittsburghers buried by Black funeral directors. A second, much smaller, group consists of white decedents buried under the Parkview Cemetery name. Finally, the largest group is roughly 50% white and includes a high proportion of both stillborn infants and adult institutional patients. |
| Date: | 2024–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:e85aj&r=his |
| By: | Degrave, Anne; Lopez-Peceno, Alejandro; Rozenas, Arturas |
| Abstract: | The rise of mass politics is conventionally attributed to state expansion and economic modernization. We propose a complementary institutional explanation, highlight-ing how the expansion of voting rights politicizes the general public and enhances their mobilization capacity. To test this argument, we use discontinuous variation in suffrage levels in the French local elections during the July Monarchy (1830-1848). Communes with more suffrage later showed a heightened interest in public affairs, capacity for collective mobilization, and opposition to autocracy. Even when intro-duced and practiced in an autocratic system, the right to vote seems to encourage the development of a pro-democratic mass public. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:129319&r=his |
| By: | Salzer, Tim |
| Abstract: | This chapter offers a concise overview of China's endeavors towards establishing a state-backed digital currency from the early 2000s to the present, culminating in the digital yuan. Drawing on the social scientific literature concerned with large technical systems, we assert two main arguments. First of all, while many commentators have considered that the new payment infrastructure could overhaul the existing institutional arrangements in the realm of payments and in particular weaken private financial entities, its evolution actually follows a much more incremental logic and relies on both private and public institutions. Secondly, many foreign observers have assumed that the digital yuan represents a long-planned attempt at challenging the international currency hierarchy and American international hegemony. Contrary to this line of thinking, we argue that initially, currency digitalization in the PRC was first and foremost motivated by domestic factors. The project assumed an openly international dimension only after other foreign countries began to initiate their own attempts at currency digitalization under the new slogan of developing "Central Bank Digital Currencies". |
| Date: | 2024–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5yq4r&r=his |
| By: | Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen; Landais, Camille; Posch, Johanna; Steinhauer, Andreas; Zweimüller, Josef |
| Abstract: | Do family policies reduce gender inequality in the labor market? We contribute to this debate by investigating the joint impact of parental leave and child care, using administrative data covering the labor market and birth histories of Austrian workers over more than half a century. We start by quasi-experimentally identifying the causal effects of all family policy reforms since the 1950s, including the introduction of maternal leave benefits in 1961, on the full dynamics of male and female earnings. We then use these causal estimates to compute gender inequality series for counterfactual scenarios regarding the evolution of family policies. Our results show that the enormous expansions of parental leave and child care subsidies have had virtually no impact on gender convergence. |
| Keywords: | grant #679704-DYNAMICSS |
| JEL: | D63 J00 |
| Date: | 2024–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:117492&r=his |
| By: | Lucke, Bernd |
| Abstract: | After more than 20 years of European Monetary Union (EMU), surprisingly few scientific studies exist which study the growth effects of introducing a common currency in large parts of the European Union. I do so using a large panel (NUTS3 data) of regional data for the EU-15. Some 800 (treated) regions were subject to a policy intervention when their country joined the Euro, while some 200 control regions were not. In a synthetic control approach as explored e. g. by Abadie, Diamond and Hainmueller (ADH, 2010), I estimate the causal effects of EMU both with the standard ADH-methodology and with a novel approach which estimates counterfactuals from the control group in post-treatment time. The results from both approaches are very similar: EMU has benefited regions with export-oriented and highly competitive companies e. g. in Germany, while it has had sizable detrimental growth effects on most French and Mediterranean Eurozone regions. Over eighteen years, these losses in growth cumulate to losses in per-capita income of between 15% and 30% vis-à-vis the non-EMU counterfactual. |
| Keywords: | European Monetary Union, synthetic control methods |
| JEL: | C12 C13 C21 C23 E65 F33 N14 |
| Date: | 2022–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120662&r=his |
| By: | Stephen J. Redding; Daniel M. Sturm |
| Abstract: | We use the German bombing of London during the Second World War as an exogenous source of variation to provide evidence on neighborhood effects. We construct a newly-digitized dataset at the level of individual buildings on wartime destruction, property values, and socioeconomic composition in London before and after the Second World War. We develop a quantitative spatial model, in which heterogeneous groups of individuals endogenously sort across locations in response to differences in natural advantages, wartime destruction and neighborhood effects. We find substantial and highly localized neighborhood effects, which magnify the direct impact of wartime destruction, and make a substantial contribution to observed patterns of spatial sorting across locations. |
| JEL: | F16 N9 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32333&r=his |
| By: | Degrave, Anne |
| Abstract: | Informational capacity is widely viewed as a fundamental dimension of state power and a factor of economic development. However, there is little direct evidence on the consequences of historical investments in legibility. I analyze the case of the French Napoleonic cadaster, an ambitious land survey which aimed at equalizing the distribution of taxation following the Revolution. Exploiting detailed spatial and tem-poral variation over four decades and 2, 697 cantons, I find that the cadaster had little impact on state power, including fiscal capacity. In the long run, areas that received a centralized cadaster collect more taxes than others, suggesting that how information capacity is built matters for fiscal capacity. The cadaster also led to shifts in land use, promoting public works and the privatization of communal land, but had no clear impact on economic development. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:129320&r=his |
| By: | Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan; Filiz D. Unsal |
| Abstract: | Contrary to historical episodes, the 2022–2023 tightening of US monetary policy has not yet triggered financial crisis in emerging markets. Why is this time different? To answer this question, we analyze the current situation through the lens of historical evidence. In emerging markets, the financial channel–based transmission of US policy historically led to more adverse outcomes compared to advanced economies, where the trade channel fails to smooth out these negative effects. When the Federal Reserve increases interest rates, global investors tend to shed risky assets in response to the tightening global financial conditions, affecting emerging markets more severely due to their lower credit ratings and higher risk profiles. This time around, the escape from emerging market assets and the increase in risk spreads have been limited. We document that the historical experience of higher risk spreads and capital outflows can be largely explained by the lack of credible monetary policies and dollar-denominated debt. The improvement in monetary policy frameworks combined with reduced levels of dollar-denominated debt have helped emerging markets weather the recent Federal Reserve hikes. |
| JEL: | F30 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32329&r=his |
| By: | Marandici, Ion |
| Abstract: | This article examines the relationship between nomenklatura membership, wealth accumulation and political ties across the post-Soviet region from the 1990s up to the mid-2010s. It introduces the Post-Soviet Oligarchs (PSO) dataset, containing the sociodemographic characteristics of the super-rich across the former Soviet republics. While the article finds partial support in favour of the nomenklatura capitalism hypothesis, statistical analysis also points to distinct regional patterns of wealth and political inequality. Thus, the most extensive overlap of wealth and power is observed in the authoritarian regimes of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, where ties to the Soviet regime facilitated the exertion of political influence after 1991, enabling in turn wealth accumulation. By contrast, in democratising contexts, the connections between politicians and super-rich point to a mutually dependent relationship between the economic and political realms, with wealth featuring as a major power resource. |
| Keywords: | oligarchs; nomenklatura capitalism; wealthy elites; post-Soviet region; democracy; wealth inequality; authoritarianism; economic transition; billionaires |
| JEL: | N00 O1 P2 P20 P26 P31 P36 P48 P52 Y10 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120709&r=his |
| By: | Fleming, Kate |
| Keywords: | Arts and Humanities, Hearst, Near Eastern Studies, 150w, UC RegentsBerkeley |
| Date: | 2024–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:cshedu:qt4322s33g&r=his |
| By: | Anni T. Isojärvi; Sam Jerow |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, income and wealth inequality have risen notably in the United States and other countries around the world. Importantly, such rises in inequality have been shown to predict financial crises. |
| Date: | 2024–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2024-04-19-2&r=his |
| By: | Bellanca, Nicolo' |
| Abstract: | These writings examine Claudio Napoleoni's reflection on the problems of Marxist theory of value. While the first one focuses on the notion of economic exploitation, the second dwells on the concept of alienation. Both discuss how these explorations seek to delineate a horizon of human emancipation. The third essay finally argues that Napoleoni's Marxist contributions are not separate from those, more concrete, concerning the Italian economy. During the Sixties, his reassessment of the concepts of productive labor and rent allows him to argue that the social and political hegemony of redistributive coalitions constitutes Italy's major structural weakness and the most important cause of inequalities and lack of inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Marxist theory of value; Claudio Napoleoni; Hanna Arendt; Alienation; Economic exploitation; Productive labour; Political economy; Italian economy |
| JEL: | B24 D72 E11 |
| Date: | 2024–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120760&r=his |
| By: | Elbadawi, Ibrahim; Amin, Magdi; Elobaid, Amir; Alhelo, Alzaki; Osman, Abdelrahman; Suliman, Kabbashi |
| Abstract: | Sudan is currently embroiled in high-intensity, catastrophic, and factional military warfare which is a culmination of an acrimonious transition following a popular uprising that managed to depose the long-reigning kleptocratic regime of General Omer al-Bashir in December 2018. During the previous regime, Sudan experienced a major economic decline due to the loss of more than three-quarters of its oil revenues. In this paper, we argue that the same entrenched economic interests that explain the failure of the former regime to prepare for the massive economic and political shock waves associated with the partitioning of the country are also relevant in explaining why the military leadership reneged on their commitment to the constitutional transition to civilian democratic rule. |
| Keywords: | Sudan, South Sudan, military warfare, civil war, kleptocracy, sudden stops, post-conflict financing and reforms, long-term growth, catastrophic economic cost, peaceful renaissance growth, agricultural potential |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:notfdl:2312&r=his |