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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
| By: | Carmela Nitti (University of Florence); Marco Bellucci (University of Florence); Pierluigi Terenzi (University of Florence); Giacomo Manetti (University of Florence) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the management and accountability practices employed by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (OSMF) during the construction of Florence Cathedral between 1353 and 1382. Based on an analysis of 530 provisions recorded in the OSMF’s historical archives, the research investigates voluntary reporting practices and stakeholder engagement, offering new insights into the governance of hybrid organisations in the Middle Ages. The OSMF, funded by public resources, balanced the pressures of political and religious authorities through transparency and participatory decision-making. The analysis highlights three key aspects: (i) the role of stakeholders involved as advisors in the management of the construction site; (ii) the adoption of early forms of workplace welfare, such as loans, injury compensations, and wine distributions; (iii) the evolution of accounting practices in response to institutional and socio-economic pressures. Applying stakeholder-agency theory, institutional theory, and legitimacy theory, the study demonstrates that the OSMF’s reporting was not merely an administrative tool but also a means of securing social and political legitimacy. The findings contribute to accounting history and enhance our understanding of governance dynamics in complex environments. Furthermore, comparisons with contemporary accountability practices in public and hybrid organizations reveal interesting parallels and offer valuable lessons for modern management. |
| Keywords: | Accounting history, accountability, Middle Ages, reporting, welfare, stakeholder engagement, Florence |
| JEL: | M40 M41 N33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpmmos:wp2025_01.rdf |
| By: | Nogues-Marco, Pilar |
| Abstract: | Payment systems evolved from decentralized networks to centralized systems coordinated by a national bank. Contrary to the view that centralization was a natural economic process driven by the gradual concentration of interbank deposits in reputable banks, this research highlights state-driven institutional change. In Spain, the Bank of Spain secured a monopoly on national banknote issuance in 1874 during a civil war, despite opposition from regional issuing banks. While Northern Spain’s industrial growth challenged Madrid’s dominance as the payment system’s center, political motivations ultimately cemented Madrid as Spain’s geographical monetary center to support the nation-state’s building. |
| Keywords: | Payment systems, National issuing banking, Monetary geography, Political sovereignty, Systèmes de paiement, Banque nationale d’émission, Géographie monétaire, Souveraineté politique |
| JEL: | N23 G21 E58 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnv:wpaper:unige:183332 |
| By: | Guillaume Blanc; Romain Wacziarg |
| Abstract: | For most of human history, until the fertility transition, technological progress translated into larger populations, preventing sustained improvements in living standards. We argue that migration offered an escape valve from these Malthusian dynamics after the European discovery and colonization of the Americas. We document a strong relationship between fertility and migration across countries, regions, individuals, and periods, in a variety of datasets and specifications, and with different identification strategies. During the Age of Mass Migration, persistently high fertility across much of Europe created a large reservoir of surplus labor that could find better opportunities in the New World. These migrations, by relieving demographic pressures, accelerated the transition to modern growth. |
| Keywords: | migra0on, fertility, growth, Malthus |
| JEL: | F22 J13 N33 O11 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:allwps:0008 |
| By: | Falk Laser (ABC economics, Berlin); Alexander Mihailov (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Jan Weidner (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper fills a gap in the data by country -- and the corresponding comparative analysis of patterns and trends over the past quarter century -- in the composition of foreign exchange (FX) reserves and monetary gold in total international reserves, typically held by central banks. The monetary mystique since the 1980s and the related unwillingness of central banks to disclose the composition of their official reserves until about the turn of the millennium have made such an area of study a terra incognita to the wider profession. Our ambition with this paper is to cast light, also providing the data online, on the relative importance and reshufflings of the US Dollar, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the British Pound, the Australian Dollar, the Canadian Dollar, the Chinese Yuan or Renminbi and monetary gold as international reserves in the recent times of crises, wars and geopolitical reconfigurations. We find that the US Dollar retains its dominance inherited from the Bretton Woods system, but the Euro and perhaps the Yuan may increase their reserve shares in the decade ahead, with a return to gold in official reserves already obvious since at least the Global Financial Crisis. Our rich and diverse dataset, and the insights from it we highlight, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the field, covering 7 major currencies and 64 countries in terms of FX shares, and a subset of 50 for which we also provide the gold shares, in an unbalanced panel since the late 1990s. |
| Keywords: | currency denomination of foreign exchange reserves, central banks, gold shares in total international reserves, visualizations by country and region, stylized facts and key insights |
| JEL: | F31 F32 F33 F41 F62 N40 |
| Date: | 2025–03–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2025-01 |
| By: | Ruggeri, Francesco Rocco |
| Abstract: | This preprint collects data on the migration of people from San Pier Niceto to America from 1892 to 1970. It includes almost 900 people and 120 surnames. It considers where these people settled and what they did, in addition to information about Ellis Island arrivals. |
| Date: | 2023–11–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ckmj6_v1 |
| By: | Amélie Allegre (School of Economics, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom); Oana Borcan (School of Economics, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom); Christa Brunnschweiler (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | We examine colonial-era primary education as a determinant of modern-day attainment and gender disparities in education. We construct a novel dataset from the French Protectorate in Morocco, combining archival data on colonial school locations in 1931 and 1954 with the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data in arbitrary grids. We analyse the influence of colonial schools on the probability of attaining primary and secondary education in 2004. Overall, schools dedicated to Moroccans in 1931 exhibit a persistent positive impact on education outcomes, but only in the absence of nearby schools reserved for Europeans. Stark gender gaps in access during the Protectorate were narrowed in places with schools for Jewish Moroccans. These had a positive impact on girls’ contemporary levels of education, but a negative impact on the enrolment for boys following the dismantling of Jewish communities after 1948. DHS measures of preferences for female education point to a social norms transmission mechanism between Jewish and Muslim Moroccan communities. |
| Keywords: | education, colonial legacy, female education, Morocco, French Protectorate |
| JEL: | N37 O15 I21 |
| Date: | 2025–03–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:20225 |
| By: | Hervé Plusquellec |
| Keywords: | Environment-Environmental Management Agriculture-Agricultural Irrigation and Drainage Water Resources-Irrigation and Drainage Water Resources-Groundwater |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:41364 |
| By: | Dillon, Sean |
| Abstract: | This study examines the declining usage lifespan of household consumer durables in the United States between 1970 and 2018, situating the phenomenon within a heterodox political economy framework. While mainstream economic narratives attribute the rising rate of consumer durable waste over this time to “overconsumption” driven by consumer materialism, this study challenges that perspective through an empirical analysis of waste generation, consumer spending, depreciation rates, and corporate profitability within the consumer durables sector. *** The findings reveal a significant divergence between rising levels of durable goods waste and relatively stable per capita ‘real’ consumer spending, suggesting that falling product longevity is largely not demand-driven. Instead, the data indicates that manufacturers have profitably reduced product durability, as evidenced by increasing rates of geometric depreciation and a rise in total sectoral earnings without proportional increases in earnings margins. *** These findings align with the theory of “planned obsolescence, ” whereby firms deliberately shorten product lifespans to drive replacement purchases and sustain profit growth. Given that this strategy cannot be adequately explained within conventional neoclassical economic models, the article draws the Veblenian theory of “strategic sabotage” to conceptualize the deliberate underutilization of technological capacity in pursuit of pecuniary gains. The study provides both empirical and theoretical evidence that the decline in consumer durables product longevity observed between 1970 and 2018 is structurally embedded in capitalist production of consumer durables goods. |
| Keywords: | capital accumulation, obsolescence, overconsumption, sabotage, waste, United States |
| JEL: | P1 Q53 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:capwps:312938 |