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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
| By: | Flores Zendejas, Juan; Nodari, Gianandrea |
| Abstract: | This paper adopts a historical perspective to examine the geopolitical dimensions of monetary policy, focusing on the 1930s. During this period, Stabilization Funds were established to promote exchange rate stability as nations abandoned the gold exchange standard. These entities intervened in foreign exchange markets and extended stabilization loans to other countries. This article analyzes the experience of the U.S. Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), situating it within the broader context of global economic fragmentation and the formation of currency blocs. The analysis reveals that rivalries with foreign powers significantly influenced the outcomes of these loans, and the political conditions attached to them delineated the boundaries of the expanding "dollar bloc." The U.S. ESF emerged as a pivotal instrument, enabling the United States to secure trade markets while bolstering the war efforts of allied nations. |
| Keywords: | Economic fragmentation, Great depression, Geopolitical competition, Currency crises, Dollar diplomacy |
| JEL: | N16 N22 N26 F15 F34 F36 F53 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnv:wpaper:unige:185041 |
| By: | Goodhart, C. A. E.; Postel-Vinay, Natacha |
| Abstract: | The City of Glasgow Bank failure in 1878, which led to large numbers of shareholders becoming insolvent, generated great public concern about their plight, and led directly to the 1879 Companies Act, which paved the way for the adoption of limited liability for all shareholders. In this paper, we focus on the question of why the opportunity was not taken to distinguish between the appropriate liability for ‘insiders, ’ i.e. those with direct access to information and power over decisions, as contrasted with ‘outsiders.’ We record that such issues were raised and discussed at the time, and we report why proposals for any such graded liability were turned down. We argue that the reasons for rejecting graded liability for insiders were overstated, both then and subsequently. While we believe that the case for such graded liability needs reconsideration, it does remain a complex matter, as discussed in Section 4. |
| Keywords: | corporate governance; limited liability; bank risk-taking; financial regulation; financial crises; senior management regime; banks; banking |
| JEL: | G21 G28 G30 G32 G39 N23 K22 K29 L20 |
| Date: | 2024–02–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:121956 |
| By: | Roy, Tirthankar |
| Abstract: | The economic emergence of societies in arid and semi-arid tropical regions depended on their ability to extract and recycle water and manipulate the environment for this purpose. India is a prominent example of this process. This pathway to economic growth has significant political and environmental costs. In light of climate change, a key question for the future is: Is tropical development sustainable in this way? The paper answers by drawing on the economic history of the tropical arid regions and a recent literature on climate impact on water resources. |
| JEL: | N50 N55 O13 Q56 |
| Date: | 2024–10–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125641 |
| By: | Schlicht, Haley |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the dynamics of Western OECD syndicated bank lending to East Asian borrowers during the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis (AFC), focusing on the interplay between sentiment volatility and moral hazard. Analysing loan data from Thomson-Reuters DealScan reveals that between 1993-2003 East Asian borrowers received disproportionately high loan volumes compared to other emerging market countries and this phenomenon is not full explainable by economic fundamentals. Regression analysis highlights the paradoxical role of short-term debt: while it was associated with higher loan spreads and fees, reflecting an acknowledgment of risk, it simultaneously increased lending volumes, indicating conflicting risk assessment. The study employs the novel use of GenerativeAI to construct an estimate of volatility in sentiment towards East Asia from financial news headlines, offering an original assessment of how market sentiment influenced lending behaviour. The Difference-in-Differences analysis provides compelling evidence that, in the pre-crisis period, increased sentiment volatility spurred increased lending while post-crisis that same volatility deterred lending. This shift highlights how lenders engaged in excessive lending despite appreciable risk before the AFC, only to recalibrate their behaviour in response to the post-crisis fallout. These findings indicate that the "East Asia effect" was shaped not just by regional economic factors, but also by sentiment-driven decision-making which contributed to the financial instability that characterized the AFC. This research highlights the need for further investigation into the role of sentiment in international finance, particularly its influence on financial decision-making during periods of economic growth and crisis. |
| JEL: | F34 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127154 |
| By: | Kelly, Ross |
| JEL: | N14 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127148 |
| By: | Asuamah Yeboah, Samuel |
| Abstract: | The paper proposes the Energy Demand–Economic Growth Dynamics Theory (ED-EGD Theory) based on empirical findings from Ghana over the period 1970 to 2011. The theory emphasises the dynamic and long-term interactions between energy demand determinants and economic growth in the context of a developing economy. By utilising a comprehensive dataset spanning four decades and applying robust econometric models (ARDL, Johansen cointegration, Gregory and Hansen structural break tests, and ARIMA forecasting), this study offers a historical foundation for understanding energy-growth linkages. The theoretical model derived from these insights remains relevant to contemporary debates on sustainable energy use and economic planning in emerging economies. While the data ends in 2011, the methodological approach and conceptual development presented in this paper provide a valuable framework for ongoing research and policy formulation. |
| Keywords: | Energy demand, economic growth, structural breaks, Ghana, ARDL, Johansen, ARIMA, fiscal policy |
| JEL: | C32 O55 Q43 |
| Date: | 2025–03–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:124513 |
| By: | Cheng, Ruoran |
| Abstract: | The Great Divergence has arguably been one of the most important debates in the field of economic history over the past two decades. This article contributes to this ongoing discussion from a novel perspective, specifically focusing on transportation conditions. Utilizing travel route books published since 16th century China, I reconstructed the national trade transport network of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th to 19th centuries) and estimated transport costs and speeds in the Yangtze region during the late 17th and 18th centuries. These estimates were then compared with those of England for the same period. The findings reveal that, in the late 17th century, transport costs and speeds in the Yangtze region of China were comparable to those in England. However, a divergence emerged after 1700. This timing of divergence in transportation between the Yangtze region and England supports the strand of literature proposing that The Great Divergence began around 1700. |
| JEL: | N75 N73 O18 R41 |
| Date: | 2024–10–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125855 |
| By: | Ingrid Gould Ellen; Daniel Hartley; Jeffrey Lin; Wei You |
| Abstract: | We study the unintended effects of Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plans developed by 26 states in the 1960s to address insurance redlining in urban neighborhoods. FAIR plans’ problematic features included prohibitions on considering environmental hazards in underwriting, mandatory insurer participation that diluted underwriting incentives, and payouts exceeding market values in declining areas. Using a triple-difference design comparing pre/post-FAIR periods, neighborhoods with/without likely FAIR access, and participating/nonparticipating states, we find that FAIR inadvertently led to significant housing disinvestment and accelerated declines in neighborhood population and income, with simultaneous increases in the Black population share. |
| Keywords: | Arson; Housing disinvestment; Moral hazard; Neighborhoods; Property Insurance |
| JEL: | G52 N92 R31 |
| Date: | 2025–05–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:99985 |
| By: | Hiroshi Kumanomido; Yutaro Takayasu; Suguru Otani |
| Abstract: | We construct a novel elite-level dataset on prewar Japanese elites using the Personnel Inquiry Records (PIR), a historical biographical source covering 1903 to 1939. The PIR contains rich information on family structure, education, occupation, and spatial mobility, capturing elite formation during Japan's transition from a feudal to modern society. By reconstructing intergenerational links and family networks, we document the persistence and transformation of elite status. The dataset provides a foundational resource for quantitative historical research on elite reproduction, social stratification, and institutional development. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.18788 |
| By: | Wu, Ningzhu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of international trade in shaping the economic development of Imperial China and Western Europe, focusing on the 50 years following the Opium War, a pivotal moment in the Great Divergence. Utilizing newly discovered primary data from Chinese Customs records, this study explores how trade dynamics—including volume, volatility, and product categories—interacted with political, institutional, and colonial factors. While trade significantly boosted industrialization in Western Europe, China’s weak institutions and colonial exploitation made it particularly vulnerable to trade fluctuations. Unlike other peripheral economies that experienced deindustrialization, China faced economic instability without industrial decline due to deteriorating trade terms. Trade, acting as an influence amplifier, magnified China’s institutional weaknesses, further deepening the divergence between China and the West. This paper contributes fresh insights into the broader impact of trade on the Great Divergence and offers practical lessons for underdeveloped regions today. |
| JEL: | N75 N73 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127152 |
| By: | Andrea Bernini; Sven A. Hartmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term impact of West German television exposure on smok ing behavior in East Germany, with a focus on gender-specific responses. Using data from 1989 and 2002 and leveraging quasi-random variation in West German TV signal avail ability across East German regions, we find that TV exposure led to a substantial increase in smoking among women — by 10.7 percentage points in smoking probability and 68% in cigarette consumption — while having no measurable effect on men. This asymmet ric effect reflects divergent pre-reunification norms: under socialism, female smoking was heavily stigmatized, and exposure to Western media relaxed these social constraints. The behavioral shift persisted over time, with exposed women reporting worse physical and mental health and higher healthcare utilization in 2002. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest a sizable increase in smoking-related mortality and healthcare costs. Our findings highlight how cultural integration through media can alter health behaviors and generate significant public health externalities in transitional societies. |
| Date: | 2025–05–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:1080 |
| By: | Churakov Dmitry (Department of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Abstract: | I have carried out a quantitative analysis of the influence of the development of the railway infrastructure in the Russian Empire on its industrial development. This topic is practically not worked out in the modern economic literature, despite the existence of the necessary tools and works devoted to this process in other countries... The results I have obtained do not support the hypothesis that the proximity to the railways had a positive effect on the population growth of the counties of the European part of the Russian Empire, on their urbanization and on industrial development, which I understand as the use of new engines by firms in production. Such conclusions are consistent with the Vogelian view that railways were not such an important driver of economic growth in the 19th century. |
| Keywords: | railways, urbanization, industry, economy of the Russian Empire |
| JEL: | N73 O14 O18 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upa:wpaper:0071 |
| By: | Khan, Sarah; Seltzer, Andrew J. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the Pakistani Taliban's terror campaign against girls' education in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. We measure individual exposure to terror using the time and location of attacks against schools. The evidence suggests that the impact of the campaign was limited. We find limited evidence of reduced enrolment in response to terror, except during a 21-month period when the Taliban controlled the district of Swat. Where we do find evidence of reduced enrolment, it's generally small and diminishes over time. We also find no evidence of increased enrolment in religious schools, which were not targeted by the Taliban. |
| Keywords: | education; terrorism; Pakistan |
| JEL: | O15 I20 D74 O53 N15 |
| Date: | 2023–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120987 |
| By: | Mitchener, Kris; Wandschneider, Kirsten |
| Abstract: | Explaining President Trump's "Liberation-day" tariffs on April 2nd, 2025, Stephen Miran, President Trump's chairman of the council of economic advisors suggested that countries accept the U.S. tariffs without retaliation to come to a fair "burden sharing"(Miran: 2025). History shows that this assumption is wrong: using a detailed data set of bilateral trade flows constructed for the interwar period, this column shows that in fact the US faced substantial and widespread retaliation from trade partners in response to the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 (i.e., the Smoot-Hawley Tariff). U.S. exports to retaliating countries fell by as much as 33%, with U.S. trade partners specifically targeting high-end, branded consumer products, such as U.S. autos. The drop in trade contributed to the Great Depression, which in turn triggered a large currency war: between 1929 and 1936, 70 countries devalued their currencies relative to gold. We show that trade was further reduced by more than 21% following devaluation. The currency war destroyed the trade-enhancing benefits of the global monetary standard, ending regime coordination and increasing trade costs. The 1930s are a potent reminder of what can happen when international policy coordination breaks down and countries go it alone when negotiating trade and exchange-rate policies. |
| Abstract: | Bei der Erläuterung von Präsident Trumps "Befreiungstag"-Zöllen vom 2. April 2025 schlug Stephen Miran, Präsident Trumps Vorsitzender des Rates der Wirtschaftsberater, vor, dass Länder die US-Zölle ohne Vergeltungsmaßnahmen akzeptieren, um zu einer fairen "Lastenteilung" zu kommen (Miran: 2025). Die Geschichte zeigt jedoch, dass diese Annahme falsch ist: Anhand eines detaillierten Datensatzes bilateraler Handelsströme, der für die Zwischenkriegszeit erstellt wurde, zeigt unsere Analyse, dass die USA tatsächlich erheblichen und weit verbreiteten Vergeltungsmaßnahmen von Handelspartnern als Reaktion auf das US-Zollgesetz von 1930 (auch bekannt als Smoot-Hawley-Tariff) ausgesetzt waren. Die US-Exporte in Länder, die mit Gegenzöllen oder anderen Maßnahmen reagierten, sanken um bis zu 33%, wobei US-Handelspartner gezielt hochwertige, markengebundene Konsumgüter wie US-Autos ins Visier nahmen. Der Rückgang des Handels trug zur Großen Depression bei, die wiederum einen Währungskrieg auslöste: Zwischen 1929 und 1936 werteten 70 Länder ihre Währungen gegenüber Gold ab. Wir zeigen, dass der Handel infolge dieser Abwertungen zusätzlich um mehr als 21% zurückging. Der Währungskrieg zerstörte die handelsfördernden Vorteile des globalen Goldstandards, beendete internationale Koordination und erhöhte die Handelskosten. Die 1930er Jahre sind eine eindringliche Mahnung daran, was geschehen kann, wenn die internationale politische Koordination zusammenbricht und Länder bei Handels- und Wechselkurspolitiken im Alleingang handeln. |
| Keywords: | US trade policy, tariff policy, Trump administration, historic trade wars, US national debt, S-Handelspolitik, Zollpolitik, Trump-Administration, historische Handelskriege, US-Staatsschulden |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkpb:317793 |
| By: | Wang, Yuton; Guo, Jingyuan; Deng, Kent |
| Abstract: | Since Kenneth Pomeranz’s Great Divergence that was published in 2000, the scholarly debate has been focused on when the divergence was likely to begin. But a lack of real data for the Pomeranz framework has been noticeable. For our purpose, real data are imperative. The primary-source data this study uses are from the first large-scale modern survey of the rural economy in China in the 1920s and 30s to establish correlations between inputs, outputs and living standards in China’s rural sector. This study views China’s traditional growth trajectory continuing from the Qing to troubled times of the 1920s and 1930s despite considerable negative externalities from a regime change. The present view is that given that the rural economy managed to hang on during the Republican Period despite many disadvantages Qing China would have performed at least at the 1920s-30s’ level. Our findings indicate that rural population did indeed eat quite well during the politically troubled time, supporting Pomeranz’s pathbreaking comparison of utility functions between China’s Yangzi Delta and Western Europe. Secondly, food consumption proved incentives for improvement in labour productivity. Thirdly, China’s peasants were rational operators to maximise their returns. Fourthly, China’s highyield farming depended on land and labour inputs along a production probability frontier, which explains the root cause of the Great Divergence. Finally, there was a ‘little divergence’ inside China which was dictated by rice production, which justifies the Yangzi Delta as the best scenario. |
| Keywords: | Great Divergence; little divergence; primary-source data; inputs and outputs; living standards |
| JEL: | N35 N55 C51 |
| Date: | 2023–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120277 |
| By: | Deng, Kent; Du, Jane |
| Abstract: | It has been commonly believed that economic reforms in the post-Mao Era since 1980 have changed China from autarky to an export-oriented developmental path, accompanied by inward and cheap FDI with advanced foreign technology. This paper challenges this view with quantitative evidence and shows that China’s recent growth has depended heavily on a domestic source of capital coming from newly available household sayings, stemming from (1) state mandatory price control over food as a wage good on the one hand and (2) a fast-growing wage level due to arising labour productivity on the other. |
| Keywords: | developmental state; gradualism; saving-led growth; price overshoot; wage goods; economic transition |
| JEL: | O11 P21 P51 Q18 |
| Date: | 2024–03–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122355 |
| By: | Thaler, Balázs |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effectiveness of the National Hungarian Economic Society (NHES) in representing agricultural interests in late 19th-century Hungary. As Hungary's leading agricultural interest group, the NHES shifted its focus in 1879 toward representing sectoral interests, responding to increased international competition and tensions in international trade. By analysing parliamentary records and NHES publications, the study found that while the NHES actively lobbied for agricultural interests, it often struggled to achieve its objectives, particularly in high-profile cases. External factors, such as strong Austrian interests and limited state capacity of Hungary, contributed to these challenges. However, internal issues also hindered the organisation’s capacity for collective action. An analysis of NHES membership data revealed the organisation likely struggled to integrate a diverse membership, which included landholders and non-farmers with varied interests. Disproportionate representation, weak norm enforcement and favouritism in lobbying efforts further weakened the cohesion of the organisation. The NHES lacked a comprehensive strategy to counter free rider issues and foster greater cooperation among members. Consequently, both external constraints and internal fragmentation weakened the NHES’ ability to effectively represent the Hungarian agricultural sector. |
| JEL: | Q10 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127236 |
| By: | Oettinger, Sophia |
| Abstract: | This dissertation examines Latin America’s historical attempts to address urban housing precarity during the 1990s through market-based social housing policies, focusing on Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay. It assesses how these policies, shaped by national coalition- building challenges, historical social policy frameworks, and state capacities, failed to resolve housing issues. Despite advancements in housing studies, the dual nature of housing as both a social good and a commodity—along with its complex social, financial, and spatial connections within the capitalist economy—remains insufficiently understood. This research employs a Marxist-inspired perspective to explore the nuances and shortcomings of the post- Cold War mixed economy governance in Latin America, situated between economic developmentalism and political liberalisation. It revisits concepts of post-structural development deploying the notion of 'privatised Keynesianism.' Latin American governments, aiming to stimulate housing markets, exacerbated economic instability by subsidising debt-financed consumption of market-produced social housing. Contrary to optimistic expectations about the spillover effects of financial liberalisation, this approach led to increased household indebtedness and deteriorating housing conditions. The dissertation reveals how the shift to market-oriented social housing policies and overwhelming focus on macroeconomic demand stimulation, intensified the link between liberalised financial markets and housing beneficiaries. To avoid confronting the wealthy while addressing poverty, the new welfare regime rather relied on informal housing solutions, such as self-built homes and cooperative models, pointing to the inherent capitalist dichotomy between the right to housing and the right to the city. Those intricacies fundamentally altered state-market-citizen relations and the spatial dynamics of modern cities. |
| JEL: | R31 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127153 |
| By: | Eduardo C. Ferraciolli; Francesco Renzini; Tanya V. Araújo; Flaminio Squazzoni |
| Abstract: | St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226) famously called money the devil’s dung, and indeed money is often associated with greed, inequality, and corruption. Drawing on Nowak’s five rules for the evolution of cooperation, we argue here that money promotes the formation of circuits of generalized reciprocity across human groups that are fundamental to social evolution. In an evolutionary tournament, we show that money exchange is an evolutionarily stable strategy that promotes cooperation without relying on the cognitive demands of direct reciprocity or reputation mechanisms. However, we also find that excessive liquidity can be detrimental because it can distort the informational value of money as a signal of past cooperation, making defection more profitable. Our results suggest that, in addition to institutions that promoted trust and punishment, the emergence of institutions that regulated the money supply was key to maintaining generalized reciprocity within and across human groups. |
| Keywords: | money, cooperation, reputation, generalized reciprocity, evolution. |
| JEL: | C23 E52 E58 E62 G12 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:remwps:wp03792025 |
| By: | Mark Setterfield (Department of Economics, New School For Social Research, USA) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses Victoria Chick's concepts of provisional equilibrium and long run equilibrium of action. Attention is paid to the relationship between these concepts and other strands of thinking in Post Keynesian theory, as well as the relationship of the two concepts to one another. With respect to the latter, it is argued that a long run equilibrium of action is provisional, while provisional equilibrium outcomes in a Post Keynesian system can and should be thought of as depending on a long run equilibrium of action. As such, Chick's writings can be regarded as the source of a consistent vision of both short- and long-term equilibrium in Post Keynesian theory, this vision, in turn, being consistent with her preferred open-systems ontology. |
| Keywords: | Victoria Chick, provisional equilibrium, long run equilibrium of action, uncertainty, open systems |
| JEL: | B41 E12 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:new:wpaper:2508 |
| By: | Antonie, Luiza; Inwood, Kris; Minns, Chris; Summerfield, Fraser |
| Abstract: | This paper uses linked Census records from 1871 to 1901 to compute intergenerational mobility for Canadian regions and census districts. The results reveal sharp differences in mobility over space: Ontario featured high relative and absolute mobility, Quebec low relative and absolute mobility, and the Maritimes low absolute mobility. Local differences in human capital endowments and labour market inequality are correlated with district mobility patterns but do not account for regional differences, where migration and structural change toward industry and services appear important. Comparing spatial patterns of Canadian mobility in the 19th century to today shows substantial changes for Quebec districts. |
| JEL: | J62 N31 |
| Date: | 2024–11–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126165 |
| By: | Bianchini, Virginia |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the establishment of Trieste as a Free Territory after WW2. The existing literature covered its contested status between Yugoslavia and Italy, focusing on its socioeconomic, and geopolitical challenges. However, I adopt a unique approach examining correspondence letters between country leaders and internal reports to provide first-hand accounts of the negotiations and considerations of leaders from the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France, and the U.S.S.R. The methodology involves a qualitative analysis of the correspondence letters to comprehend the decision-making process behind the creation of Trieste Free Territory. The findings reveal a consensus on establishing a unique currency the "Triestuno" and Bank of Issue for Trieste, which aimed to provide financial stability but faced challenges due to limited initial capital and dependency on external financial support. It then complements this with internal reports providing data on economic indicators such as budget allocations, balance of payments, labour, and wages. The budgetary analysis shows a balance between revenue and expenditure, with a potential surplus indicating cautious financial planning. Furthermore, the balance of payments reveals Trieste's dependence on international trade, particularly with neighbouring countries and the importance of the port and shipbuilding industry offers potential for economic growth. |
| JEL: | F50 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127146 |
| By: | Claridge, Jordan; Delabastita, Vincent; Gibbs, Spike |
| Abstract: | Much of our understanding of the dynamics of historical economies has been shaped by insights drawn from long-run wage series. Behind much scholarship concerning pre-industrial wages lies the quest for a representative ‘average’ wage trend. Indeed, much methodological discussion surrounds what characterizes an ‘average’ labourer and how best to capture their wages. This paper offers an alternative perspective by undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the diverse forms and levels of remuneration, including both pay rates and methods of payment. We find groups of workers whose working and earning was seemingly unaffected by the societal transmutations which followed the Black Death. At the same time, we find evidence of the ‘commercialization’ of labour markets: a process in which cash wages on lords’ demesne farms were increasingly shaped by market forces, and a more professionalized labour force was supplemented by a variety of higher-paid peripheral jobs. This paper highlights the need for a holistic perspective to fully appreciate the dynamics and statics of pre-industrial labour markets. |
| Keywords: | wages; labour markets; medieval England; inequality |
| JEL: | J33 J42 N33 N53 |
| Date: | 2025–04–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128024 |
| By: | Andrea Foschi; Christopher House; Christian Proebsting; Linda Tesar |
| Abstract: | We examine the responsiveness of labor participation, unemployment and labor migration to exogenous variations in labor demand. Our empirical approach considers four instruments for regional labor demand commonly used in the literature. Empirically, we find that labor migration is a significant margin of adjustment for all our instruments. Following an increase in regional labor demand, the initial increase in employment is accounted for mainly through a reduction in unemployment. Over time however, net labor in-migration becomes the dominant factor contributing to increased regional employment. After 5 years, roughly 60 percent of the increase in employment is explained by the change in population. Responses of labor migration are strongest for individuals aged 20-35. Based on historical data back to the 1950s, we find no evidence of a decline in the elasticity of migration to changes in employment. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 F66 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33755 |
| By: | Rieche, Fraser |
| Abstract: | Abstract The Late Bronze Age collapse (~1200 BCE) is traditionally attributed to war, famine, migration, and natural disasters. This paper proposes that an overlooked economic factor—the gradual adoption of iron—contributed materially to systemic fragility. Although initially rare and limited to prestige contexts, iron began subtly displacing bronze in Mediterranean markets. This commodity substitution weakened the intricate trade networks critical to Bronze Age economies, creating economic vulnerabilities that amplified broader societal collapse. By examining archaeological, textual, and metallurgical evidence, this paper suggests that early shifts in material economies played a more pivotal role than previously recognized. |
| Date: | 2025–04–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:48bgz_v1 |
| By: | Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude (Dalhousie University); Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. (Sabanci University); Kirdar, Murat Güray (Koc University); Turan, Belgi (TOBB University of Economy and Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the horizontal transmission of gender norms using the forced migration of ethnic Turks from Bulgaria to Türkiye after the fall of the Iron Curtain as a natural experiment. Despite shared linguistic and religious ties, migrant women held more progressive gender norms and stronger labor market attachment than native Turkish women. Their arrival increased labor market participation among native women, particularly in male-dominated manufacturing, while men’s outcomes remained unchanged. Additionally, native women’s fertility declined, and middle school attainment rose, aligning with refugee women’s patterns. Exposure to progressive norms reshaped native women's roles in work and family life. |
| Keywords: | culture, horizontal transmission, social learning, migration |
| JEL: | J16 J15 J13 N45 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17871 |
| By: | Guo, Jingyuan; Deng, Kent |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how changes in state capacity facilitates economic growth in an authoritarian system. This is the case of Deng Xiaoping’s systematic replacement of government officials with a new army of better-educated technocrats which uprooted Maoist revolutionary cadres. Our assumption is that post-Mao economic growth can be taken as a proxy for state capacity improvement. With a continuous treatment difference-in-differences strategy, this paper reveals that one percent increase in officials’ replacement intensity results in 1.3 percent increase in GDP in post-Mao China. Moreover, effects are robust across various technical concerns and maintain stable over a period of four decades. Furthermore, our results explain 18.05 percent of the contemporary economic disparity between China’s provinces (with intensity above and below the median). These effects can be associated with improvements in officials’ human capital which in turn rebuilt China’s fiscal capability, re-started a market-friendly industrialization, and resumed grassroots self-governing institutions. All these have been achieved without a regime change in the People’s Republic of China, hence, a ‘bloodless coup d’état’. |
| Keywords: | officials' replacement; state capacity; economic reforms; economic growth |
| JEL: | H11 O11 N45 |
| Date: | 2024–11–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126083 |
| By: | Volha Lazuka; Peter Sandholt Jensen |
| Abstract: | Can the effects of childhood vaccination extend across three generations? Using Swedish data spanning 250 years, we estimate the impact of smallpox vaccination on longevity, disability, and occupational achievements. Employing mother fixed-effects, difference-in-differences, and shift-share instrumental-variables designs, we find that vaccination improves health and economic outcomes for at least two subsequent generations. Causal mediation analysis reveals that these benefits arise from improved health behaviors and epigenetic factors. Even in milder disease environments as seen today, vaccination delivers lasting advantages, demonstrating its long-term benefits beyond epidemic contexts. These findings highlight the benefits of early-life health interventions lasting for subsequent generations. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.21580 |
| By: | Mustapha Meziani (UB - Université Abderrahmane Mira [Université de Béjaïa] = University of Béjaïa = جامعة بجاية) |
| Abstract: | This chapter traces the evolution of management theories since the 19th century, comparing two major approaches: Taylorism, focused on work rationalization and productivity (division of labor, performance-based pay) but neglecting the human aspect, and Fayolism, which broadens the perspective by identifying six key business functions (technical, commercial, financial, etc.), though without defining their interrelationships. While these models differ, they complement each other and culminate in a systemic approach, integrating all functions and their interactions with the environment. Furthermore, theorists such as Mayo, Maslow, and Herzberg expanded the discourse by emphasizing psychosocial needs and social performance. Aimed at management students, this work explores the stages of management evolution (sociotechnical, economic, HR perspectives), the concepts of leadership and corporate culture, organizational structures, as well as quality management and its pioneers. It concludes by highlighting the need for a holistic vision, combining operational efficiency, human resource management, and systemic thinking for sustainable performance. |
| Abstract: | Ce chapitre retrace l'évolution des théories du management depuis le 19ème siècle, en comparant deux approches majeures : le taylorisme, axé sur la rationalisation du travail et la productivité (division des tâches, salaire au rendement), mais négligeant la dimension humaine, et le fayolisme, qui élargit la perspective avec six fonctions clés de l'entreprise (technique, commerciale, financière, etc.), sans toutefois définir leurs interactions. Bien que ces modèles diffèrent, ils se complètent et trouvent leur aboutissement dans une approche systémique, intégrant l'ensemble des fonctions et leurs relations avec l'environnement. Par ailleurs, des théoriciens comme Mayo, Maslow et Herzberg ont enrichi la réflexion en soulignant l'importance des besoins psychosociaux et de la performance sociale. Destiné aux étudiants en management, ce travail explore les étapes d'évolution du management (sociotechnique, économique, RH), les concepts de leadership et de culture d'entreprise, les structures organisationnelles, ainsi que le management de la qualité et ses fondateurs. Il conclut sur la nécessité d'une vision globale, alliant efficacité opérationnelle, gestion des ressources humaines et pensée systémique pour une performance durable. |
| Date: | 2025–04–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05023248 |
| By: | Aspromourgos, Tony (School of Economics, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This article provides transcriptions of two manuscripts of William Petty (1623–1687), together with a substantial editorial apparatus. The first manuscript analyses the feasibility of doubling the population of England plus Ireland and Scotland in 25 years; the second considers how a uniform taxation might be imposed upon consumption. Elements of particular interest in the manuscripts are: an empirical estimation of economic surplus for England, Ireland and Scotland taken together; the conceptualization of value-added taxation as an instrument for taxing consumption; and an argument for limits to rational quantification. |
| Keywords: | economic surplus; population growth; value-added taxation; quantification |
| JEL: | B11 |
| Date: | 2025–04–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:0071 |
| By: | Cummins, Neil |
| Abstract: | Using surnames from the universe of death and wealth-at-death records in England and Wales, from 1858 to 2018, I document the emergence of a modern ethnic wealth gradient. Historically, Non-British ethnicities have average wealth 2-5 times that of the English. However, this premium has decreased over the 20th century. By 1980, non-British ethnicities have no advantage over the British. However, this masks considerable heterogeneity within the non-British ethnicity group. Europeans typically die significantly richer than the English whereas the Pakistani and Swedish die significantly poorer. Some groups always have lower wealth. The Irish, have wealth around 50% of the average English throughout. Surprisingly, the most egalitarian measure of wealth is representation within the top 1%. Most ethnicities have an equal, or greater, representation in the top 1% than the English, 1980-1992. Despite large differences in average wealth between ethnicities, the vast majority of variation, 97.5% is between individuals. |
| JEL: | N00 N33 N34 |
| Date: | 2024–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124681 |
| By: | Kalyagin Grigory (Department of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Abstract: | In this article, using the methods of law and economics, we study three practices of law enforcement and punishment of criminals, which in our time look very controversial and even ineffective, but which were quite widespread in early Modern Russia: 1) interpretation in court, alcohol intoxication as a mitigating circumstance; 2) the use of torture during interrogations not only of the accused, but even of witnesses; 3) replacing the cutting off of limbs, as a form of punishment for criminals, with branding and tearing out nostrils. The analysis shows that these institutional forms of law enforcement and punishment of criminals can be effective (from the point of view of the state) solutions in this area. |
| Keywords: | law and economics, optimal enforcement, crime deterrence |
| JEL: | K14 K42 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upa:wpaper:0074 |
| By: | Irigoin, Alejandra; Kobayashi, Atsushi; Chilosi, David |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses a new, large dataset of silver prices, as well as silver and merchandise trade flows in and out of China in the crucial decades of the mid-19th century when the Empire was opened to world trade. Silver flows were associated with the interaction between heterogenous monetary preferences and availability of specific coins. Before the 1850s, money markets became increasingly efficient, as reliance on bills of exchange allowed exports to grow in times when sound money was in short supply. When a new standard for silver eventually emerged, there was a new peak in China’s silver imports. |
| Keywords: | China silver flows; triangular trade settlement mechanism; exchange operations; arbitrage; ‘opening of China’ |
| JEL: | E42 F33 N10 |
| Date: | 2023–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:119759 |
| By: | Jessica Leutert; Rolf Scheufele; Selina Schön |
| Abstract: | We analyse the historical relationship between consumer prices and wages in Switzerland. Our results show that, between 1980 and 2019, the pass-through from prices to wages was substantial. At the same time, nominal wage increases only had a modest effect on prices. Other factors – such as imported inflation, inflation expectations and economic slack – clearly dominate wages in explaining price movements in Switzerland. Second-round effects of inflation, in turn, are mainly explained by inflation expectations. Our results suggest that the pass-through from wages to prices could be higher in an environment of elevated inflation. However, even in the 1980s and 1990s, the pass-through was only modest. It follows that periods of simultaneously high inflation and high wage growth were not the result of a wage-price spiral. Instead, the long-term comovement of the two variables can mostly be explained by common drivers (e.g., inflation expectations, economic slack) and by the gradual adjustment of wages to price. |
| Keywords: | Inflation, Labour costs, Pass-through, Switzerland, SVECM, Granger causality |
| JEL: | E24 E31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snb:snbwpa:2025-06 |
| By: | Xue, Melanie; Zhang, Boxiao |
| Abstract: | We study the short- and long-term effects of affirmative action policies in the context of China. During imperial China, official positions were awarded to the most academically talented individuals through a multi-stage examination process administered by the central government. In 1712, a reform was implemented to address disparities in exam performance, aiming to equalize acceptance rates across provinces and increase representation from underrepresented regions. Using a unique dataset, we analyze career outcomes and find that more candidates from underrepresented provinces secured positions without compromising their performance after the reform. However, sub-provincial units showed different trends. Although the reform ended in 1905, the gap between underrepresented provinces and others widened again, but some effects of the reform remained. Moreover, the intervention had spillover effects, extending its impact to secondary education. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action; education; inequality; China |
| JEL: | H75 I28 J71 N40 |
| Date: | 2025–04–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128023 |
| By: | Aurélien Goutsmedt (F.R.S.-FNRS, UCLouvain, ISPOLE, ICHEC - Brussels Management School [Bruxelles]); Francesco Sergi (LIPHA - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'étude du Politique Hannah Arendt Paris-Est - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - Université Gustave Eiffel, UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12); François Claveau (UdeS - Université de Sherbrooke, CIRST - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie - UdeM - Université de Montréal - UQAM - Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal); Clément Fontan (UCLouvain, ISPOLE) |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the scientization process in central banks, using the Bank of England (BoE) as a case study. Its main goal is to clarify the interactions and tensions among three dimensions of scientization: contributory, policymaking and legitimizing. To do so, we outline an ideal type of contributory scientization in central banks, whereby they become active contributors to science. The article derives empirically observable characteristics for this ideal type, regarding leadership and staff profiles, use of internal resources, composition of external networks, and publication and discursive outputs. The BoE is then contrasted to this ideal type of a central bank thoroughly involved in contributory scientization. The empirical material includes archives and interviews as well as three databases providing quantitative information from the 1970s to 2019. We find that the development of contributory scientization is strategically motivated, often generating tensions with policymaking and legitimizing dimensions. Our findings suggest that scientization in central banks is best understood as a three-dimensional, non-linear process, rather than a steamroller. |
| Abstract: | Cet article étudie le processus de scientificisation dans les banques centrales, en utilisant la Banque d'Angleterre (BoE) comme étude de cas. Il propose un idéal-type de banque centrale scientifique, qui est lié à l'idée centrale selon laquelle la scientificité d'une organisation augmente avec sa volonté de contribuer à la science pertinente. Nous dérivons de cet idéal-type des caractéristiques empiriquement observables concernant les profils des dirigeants et du personnel, l'utilisation des ressources internes, la composition des réseaux externes et les résultats des publications et des discours. La BoE est ensuite comparée à cet idéal-type d'une banque centrale entièrement scientifique. Le matériel empirique comprend des archives et des entretiens ainsi que trois bases de données fournissant des informations quantitatives de 1980 à 2019. Nous constatons que le chemin vers la scientificisation est stratégiquement motivé et varié, influencé par des facteurs tels que l'équilibre entre les impératifs de crédibilité des experts et l'information des décideurs politiques. Sur la base de cette analyse empirique, nous soulignons les multiples facettes de la dynamique du processus de scientifisation et appelons à des représentations plus nuancées dans la littérature académique. |
| Keywords: | Central bank, Scientisation, Expertise, Depoliticisation, Word embedding |
| Date: | 2025–04–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04267004 |
| By: | Kristin Forbes; Jongrim Ha; M. Ayhan Kose |
| Abstract: | Central banks often face tradeoffs in how their monetary policy decisions impact economic activity (including employment), inflation and the price level. This paper assesses how these tradeoffs have evolved over time and varied across countries, with a focus on understanding the post-pandemic adjustment. To make these comparisons, we compile a cross-country, historical database of “rate cycles†(i.e., easing and tightening phases for monetary policy) for 24 advanced economies from 1970 through 2024. This allows us to quantify the characteristics of interest rate adjustments and corresponding macroeconomic outcomes and tradeoffs. We also calculate Sacrifice Ratios (output losses per inflation reduction) and document a historically low “sacrifice†during the post-pandemic tightening. This popular measure, however, ignores adjustments in the price level—which increased by more after the pandemic than over the past four decades. A series of regressions and simulations suggest monetary policy (and particularly the timing and aggressiveness of rate hikes) play a meaningful role in explaining these tradeoffs and how adjustments occur during tightening phases. Central bank credibility is the one measure we assess that corresponds to only positive outcomes and no difficult tradeoffs. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy, interest rates, central bank, Sacrifice Ratio, business fluctuations, prices, employment |
| JEL: | E31 E32 E43 E52 E58 F33 F44 N10 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2025-30 |
| By: | Sajayan, Gayatri |
| Abstract: | Until the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1919, voting rights for women in the US were not mandatory. Accordingly, many states refused women this privilege. However, the West appeared to be an exception, with all but one state in this region having granted female suffrage before federal enforcement. This paper seeks to understand the role of regional trends in female labour force participation in women’s enfranchisement, with a focus on the impact of occupational dispersion between 1880 - 1910. By exploring an avenue outside of religion and gender imbalances, an original contribution to existing literature on the success of Western women’s suffrage is provided. I utilise census data and governmental marital status statistics to conduct graphical analysis using cartography and complementary log-logistic regression analysis. The key finding of the paper is that women in Western states tended to be engaged in a narrow range of jobs – a consistent pattern found over the period of study. This helped them form a collective voice to fight for emancipation by facilitating mobilisation and more effective suffrage strategies. Hence, although the impact of women’s occupational dispersion is not found to be statistically significant, the relationship between the two variables is nevertheless historically meaningful. |
| JEL: | N31 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127205 |
| By: | Kelly, Paul V. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide the first time series of interest rates in the Irish mortgage market of the eighteenth century.1 This time series, when combined with new data on the investment returns from land and other types of investments, sheds light on the determinants of interest rates in economies without a central bank. This paper is relevant to two key global economic history issues for the period: the influence of institutions on economic growth and the timing of the ‘Great Divergence’ between Western Europe and the rest of the world.2 However, the primary questions dealt with are how did Irish rates compare with English ones and how did they influence the development of the Irish economy? Interest rates are ‘an important index of the quality of the institutional framework’ and this paper examines the development of Irish rates and shows how they compare to other economies.3 The paper demonstrates that Irish interest rates were consistently higher than equivalent English ones and that the Irish mercantile and industrial sectors were handicapped as a result. This spread is not attributable to risk premia caused by differences in institutional effects but rather by the relative risk/return hierarchy of different investment types, notably by the exceptionally high returns on Irish land. Credit market failure was the result for much of the century as the unrealistic usury maximum caused credit rationing. There was also a sustained strong correlation between English and Irish rates.4 However, this correlation was not due to direct market integration, since the English and Irish markets were segregated, but rather the two markets were reacting in the same way to external stimuli such as wars. |
| JEL: | N13 E43 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127155 |
| By: | Parrinello, Sergio (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) |
| Abstract: | Recent years have seen a reinterpretation of Ricardo's numerical example on foreign trade from Sraffa's note (1930), prompting economic historians and theorists to recon-sider the scope of the example. This article seeks to clarify the revised interpretation and explain the common and distinct principles that govern the laws of comparative and absolute advantage. The condition of balanced trade in aggregated value is emphasized relative to the equations of normal prices based on this revisiting. Its special role is shown by the reformulation of Sraffa's price equations for two trading economies with-out international capital movements. It is proved that there is no additional degree of freedom for the choice of exogenous distributive variables if countries move from a state of autarky to one of free trade. |
| Keywords: | David Ricardo; comparative advantage; absolute advantage; trade balance; global economy |
| JEL: | B12 B17 F10 |
| Date: | 2025–05–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:0072 |
| By: | Andrea Bernini (University of Oxford); Sven A. Hartmann (Trier University & Institut für Arbeitsrecht und Arbeitsbeziehungen in der Europäischen Union (IAAEU)) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term impact of West German television exposure on smoking behavior in East Germany, with a focus on gender-specific responses. Using data from 1989 and 2002 and leveraging quasi-random variation in West German TV signal availability across East German regions, we find that TV exposure led to a substantial increase in smoking among women — by 10.7 percentage points in smoking probability and 68% in cigarette consumption — while having no measurable effect on men. This asymmetric effect reflects divergent pre-reunification norms: under socialism, female smoking was heavily stigmatized, and exposure to Western media relaxed these social constraints. The behavioral shift persisted over time, with exposed women reporting worse physical and mental health and higher healthcare utilization in 2002. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest a sizable increase in smoking-related mortality and healthcare costs. Our findings highlight how cultural integration through media can alter health behaviors and generate significant public health externalities in transitional societies. |
| Keywords: | Health, Smoking, Cultural Transmission, Television, Social Norms, German Reunification |
| JEL: | I12 I18 N34 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:dpaper:202502 |
| By: | Castro, Esther |
| Abstract: | La Dra. Esther Castro se desempeña como Decana de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Aquí, un recorrido por sus inicios en la profesión, su llegada al decanato y los desafíos de la gestión universitaria. |
| Keywords: | Entrevistas; Gestión Universitaria; Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; |
| Date: | 2025–02–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:4292 |
| By: | Broadberry, Stephen; Lennard, Jason |
| Abstract: | The modern business cycle features long expansions combined with short recessions and is thus related to the emergence of sustained economic growth. It also features significant international co-movement and is therefore associated with growing market integration and globalisation. When did these patterns first appear? This paper explores the changing nature of the business cycle using historical national accounts for nine European economies between 1300 and 2000. For the sample as a whole, the modern business cycle emerged at the end of the eighteenth century. |
| Keywords: | business cycle; economic growth; Europe |
| JEL: | N10 E32 O47 |
| Date: | 2023–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120364 |
| By: | Subhayu Bandyopadhyay; Hoang Le |
| Abstract: | How did developing economies with the largest number of terrorism incidents from 2000 to mid-2021 track in terms of per capita incomes and political rights and civil liberties? |
| Keywords: | developing countries; terrorism; income per capita; political rights; civil liberties |
| Date: | 2025–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:l00001:99936 |
| By: | James, William |
| Abstract: | Economic historians have acknowledged the importance of the accumulation of craft knowledge and the incremental innovations that it helped to induce in turning Europe from a technological backwater in the thirteenth century to the most technologically advanced part of the world by 1750. Yet though artisanal manufacturing was largely an urban phenomenon in the early modern period, there has not been extensive historiographical focus specifically on how different urban dynamics shaped the production and circulation of craft knowledge. Additionally, those that do explore artisanal knowledge within the urban context often do so through the lens of agglomeration theory which presents a highly generalised understanding of the impact of cities. This critical review brings together the literatures from urban history and the history of science and technology with the intention of developing a more nuanced understanding that emphasises idiosyncrasy and heterogeneity rather than generality in the ways that European cities shaped artisanal knowledge. |
| JEL: | N63 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127149 |
| By: | Andrea Borsato; Patrick Llerena |
| Abstract: | Contributing to the fast-growing Economics of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this paper examines the close relationship between university and industry for what concerns to the research and development of AI technologies in the USA. Recalling the history of the university-industry relationships in the several phases of the US national system of innovation (NSI), we argue that current collaborations resemble in some respects what happened during the prewar NSI. Yet, the AI R&D presents some peculiarities. Universities are changing their positioning in the innovation process and turning to a research-based training model in the domains concerned by AI. This could potentially change the trajectory of university-industry links, since it is very much in line with the typical Humboldtian perspective that was at work in some European institutes in XVIII century up to US early XX century. At the same time, if the way in which the production of knowledge and the training of the workforce envisages a return to the origins, differences arise in the definition of the main goals, e.g., Sustainable Development Goals, and in the role of stakeholders. The overall discussion also bears some implications for the link between division of knowledge and division of labour. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, AI research, University-industry relationship, US national innovation system. |
| JEL: | I2 L2 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2024-46 |
| By: | Dietze-Hermosa, David |
| Abstract: | This paper approaches the discussion of the Byzantine economic revival of the 11th century using a qualitative comparative methodology (S Greece and S Italy) paired with descriptive statistics, and by including the heretofore under-discussed economy of Byzantine Italy. By doing so, it reveals and confirms the economic principles, associated with the Smithian growth framework, underlying said economic revival, namely, extensive economic growth followed by intensive economic growth brought on by demand-induced industrialisation and specialisation. This process was facilitated in the Byzantine empire by elite investment, monetisation and, in latter decades of the 11th century, trade liberalisation. This is evident with both southern Greece and southern Italy’s experiences with agricultural (especially olive oil and wine) and sericultural specialisation, and with the development of the southern Greek textile (especially silk) and pottery industries. Thus, the Byzantine economy is confirmed as experiencing sustained Smithian growth in the 11th century. |
| JEL: | N14 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127150 |
| By: | Victor de Macedo Maia; Romain A Raymondie (LAPCOS - Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cliniques, Cognitives et Sociales - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur); Dirk D Steiner (LAPCOS - Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cliniques, Cognitives et Sociales - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Abstract: | Né à Bruxelles, Belgique, en 1925, Jean Stacy Adams, qui signait ses articles « J. Stacy Adams », a passé la majeure partie de sa vie aux États-Unis, où il a poursuivi ses études en psychologie après avoir servi dans la marine marchande pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Un de ses doctorants, Robert Folger, a remarqué que J. S. Adams était le seul psychologue tatoué qu'il connaissait à l'époque. Pour sa formation, Adams a fréquenté différentes institutions universitaires américaines. Il a obtenu son Bachelor of Arts à l'Université du Mississippi en 1948, puis sa Master of Arts en 1955 suivi en 1957 de son doctorat en psychologie expérimentale à l'Université de Caroline du Nord à Chapel Hill. Après sa thèse, il était assistant professor à l'Université de Stanford pendant trois ans où il a collaboré avec Leon Festinger, dont la théorie de la dissonance cognitive a eu une influence majeure sur le développement de sa propre théorie de l'équité. En 1960, Adams a rejoint General Electric en tant que chercheur dans un programme social de l'entreprise, visant à développer les sciences sociales au sein de celle-ci (Miner, 2005). Pendant cette période, il a développé et testé sa théorie de l'équité, devenue l'une des principales théories pour comprendre la justice et la motivation humaine (Ryan, 2016). Après son expérience chez General Electric, Adams est retourné à l'Université de Caroline du Nord, où il a poursuivi sa carrière académique. Il a continué à travailler sur le perfectionnement de sa théorie de l'équité (Adams & Freedman, 1976), ainsi que sur d'autres sujets liés aux rôles organisationnels qui permettent d'obtenir des informations auprès d'acteurs extérieurs à l'organisation (Miner, 2005). En outre, Adams a dirigé les thèses de Robert Folger (connu pour ses contributions à la justice organisationnelle), Dennis Organ (pionnier dans l'étude des comportements de citoyenneté organisationnelle) et Robert Miles (reconnu dans les domaines de la transformation organisationnelle et du leadership exécutif) et a participé à l'encadrement de la thèse de Allan Lind (reconnu dans le domaine de la justice organisationnelle). J. Stacy Adams est décédé en 1984 à l'âge de 59 ans. DE LA PSYCHOLOGIE SOCIALE A LA PSYCHOLOGIE DES ORGANISATIONSAu début de sa carrière à l'Université de Stanford, Adams travaillaient principalement sur des thématiques de la psychologie sociale qui n'étaient pas directement liées à la psychologie des organisations. Initialement, il a mené des recherches sur les thèmes du renforcement social (Adams & Hoffman, 1960 ; Maccoby et al., 1961), de la dissonance cognitive (Adams, 1961) et de l'autorité (Adams & Romney, 1959). Parmi ces recherches, seul son travail sur l'analyse fonctionnelle de l'autorité a été associé au contexte organisationnel, notamment au leadership. Cependant, bien que ce modèle ait été brièvement mentionné dans certains manuels de référence sur le leadership (e.g., Bass & Bass, 2008), il n'a généralement pas été repris dans la littérature. C'est en intégrant la société General Electric en 1960 que le parcours d'Adams en tant que psychologue social et des organisations a réellement commencé. Dans un premier temps, et en lien avec ses travaux sur la dissonance cognitive, il s'est intéressé à l'équité dans les échanges sociaux, un sujet qui a occupé la majeure partie de sa carrière. Ces travaux ont principalement été menés dans le cadre de son poste de chercheur au sein de General Electric, où il a développé et testé la théorie de l'équité (Adams, 1963a, b 1965 ; Adams & Jacobsen 1964 ; Adams & Rosenbaum, 1962). Ses recherches dans ce domaine se sont poursuivies jusqu'aux années 1970 dans l'Université de Caroline du Nord (Adams & Freedman, 1976). Parallèlement, Adams s'est intéressé à d'autres thématiques, notamment aux rôles organisationnels qui s'étendent au-delà des frontières (rôle transfrontalier) de la structure (boundary positions 1 ), et sur lesquels il a publié quelques articles empiriques. D'une part, il a étudié les facteurs qui influencent la sévérité des mesures disciplinaires prises à l'encontre des employés transgressant les normes éthiques envers leur supérieur hiérarchique (Rosen & Adams, 1974). D'autre part, il a analysé les exigences contradictoires auxquelles sont confrontés les employés occupant des rôles transfrontaliers (Frey & Adams , 1972 ; Wall & Adams, 1974). Cependant, à l'instar de ses travaux en psychologie sociale, ce n'est pas dans ce domaine qu'Adams a apporté le plus de contributions. En effet, en tant que chercheur, Adams est principalement reconnu pour ses travaux sur la théorie de l'équité. Il est raisonnable d'affirmer que peu de théories en psychologie sont associées au nom de leurs auteurs comme c'est le cas pour la théorie de l'équité d'Adams. Toutefois, comme Adams l'a lui-même reconnu, la théorie de l'équité n'était pas une nouvelle théorie (Adams, 1965), mais plutôt des propositions articulées à partir de théories déjà existantes. |
| Keywords: | Equité, Management |
| Date: | 2024–08–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05020843 |
| By: | Gürcan, Efe Can |
| Abstract: | What are the key characteristics of the current instabilities of the capitalist world-system, and how does it compare to previous periods that led to world wars? What factors are driving the similarities and differences between the present systemic chaos and earlier transitions in the world-system? What potential trajectories might the unfolding period of systemic instabilities take, and what balance of forces could emerge as dominant in shaping the world-system? Focusing on the foundational works of Wallerstein, Chase-Dunn, Goldstein, and Arrighi, this article critically re-evaluates the contemporary relevance and explanatory power of world-systems analysis. Its key contribution to world-systems literature lies in moving beyond the predominantly cyclical interpretations of world wars by integrating analytical tools, such as conceptual schemas and statistical evidence, with narrative approaches highlighting historical contingencies. Overall, contemporary systemic instabilities within the capitalist world-system are marked by the intensification of economic competition, geopolitical rivalries, and social discontent, reflecting historical patterns of systemic chaos during prior hegemonic transitions, yet distinguished by the unanticipated disruption of economic expansion since the 2010s, China’s unexpected rise alongside the fading influence Germany and Japan, the U.S.-China decoupling, the pivotal role of frontier technologies, and the fragmented character of heightened popular mobilization. |
| Keywords: | economic Cycles; hegemony; multipolarity; systemic Chaos; world Wars; world-System |
| JEL: | N0 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–04–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128055 |
| By: | Claridge, Jordan; Delabastita, Vincent; Gibbs, Spike |
| Abstract: | For long periods of history, a significant proportion of the labour force has received all or part of their wages in non-monetary in-kind payments. Despite its historical ubiquity, this form of labour remuneration remains poorly understood. This paper presents a framework which allows for the valuation and interpretation of in-kind wages. We apply our method to a new dataset of agricultural wages for labourers in medieval England (1270-1440), most of whom received a composite wage for which in-kind payment was the largest share. Assessing the market value of the wages these workers received, we find an increase in the relative importance of cash payments in the latter decades of the 14th century. We show that this was connected to a fundamental shift in labour relations, providing new empirical insights into the so-called ‘golden age of labour’ that followed the Black Death. |
| Keywords: | labour markets; labour relations; medieval economy; wages |
| JEL: | J33 J42 N33 N53 |
| Date: | 2023–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120307 |
| By: | Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | This study examines publications in three leading general economics journals from the 1960s through the 2020s, considering levels and trends in the demographics of authors, methodologies of the studies, and patterns of co-authorship. The average age of authors has increased nearly steadily; there has been a sharp increase in the fraction of female authors; the number of authors per paper has risen steadily; and there has been a pronounced shift to articles using newly generated data. All but the first of these trends have been most pronounced in the most recent decade. The study also examines the relationships among these trends. |
| Keywords: | sociology of economics, co-authors, authorship |
| JEL: | A14 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17863 |
| By: | Hall, Ursula |
| Abstract: | In order to push back against the narrative that the sanitary revolution in early 19th-century England was primarily an initiative of the government, this study investigates the characteristics of drainage adoption before it was legislated under state-provision after 1848. Whilst it finds that drainage adoption during 1812-1847 was both substantial and characterised by a sanitary impulse, it also uses Mokyr’s model of Household health and knowledge consumption to hypothesise that its provision on the commodity market resulted in an adoption pattern described by an inverse relationship between drainage adoption year and income, for which servant number is used as a proxy. Whilst an inconclusive correlation between average adoption year and average servant number rejects this hypothesis, it finds that this is in large part explained by a redistributive characteristic of adoption that occurred outside the model of household consumption. More specifically, the finding that those in the wealthiest income percentile were the primary remunerators for drainage adoption amongst the poorest members of the distribution supports the cautious conclusion that drainage adoption gave rise to a ‘learning’ process amongst this group, which resulted in the increased dissipation of drainage technologies across the period and potentially provided a productive impulse for later reform. |
| JEL: | N33 N53 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127145 |
| By: | André Neveu (Académie d'Agriculture de France) |
| Abstract: | Depuis les années 1960, la France a progressivement et considérablement accru ses productions agricoles. Disposant d'excédents importants, elle a pu augmenter ses exportations, d'abord en Europe, puis dans les pays tiers. Ces positions commerciales lentement et laborieusement constituées semblaient solides. Or elles sont maintenant fragilisées, pour deux raisons principales : l'environnement international est moins favorable, et notre potentiel exportable est affaibli. |
| Keywords: | Exportations agricoles |
| Date: | 2025–02–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05029106 |
| By: | Sarah Z. Daly |
| Abstract: | In post-war elections a large number of citizens vote for political parties with deep roots in the violent organizations of the past. However, despite the prevalence of rebel, militia, and military successor parties, their success varies dramatically. This study explores the correlates of civil war belligerent party performance in contexts emerging from ethnic wars fought over government control and over territory. |
| Keywords: | Elections, Ethnic conflict, Violence, Post-conflict |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-35 |
| By: | Chaplygina Irina (Department of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University) |
| Abstract: | The transition to the analysis of dynamic processes in the economy is characteristic of the economic science of the 20th century. At the same time, it was prepared by a number of changes of the XIX century, which took place in the economy, economic and social thought, philosophy... The article considers the process of formation of the concept of economic dynamics as a branch of science, distinguishes two definitions of dynamics - through the characteristic of the subject and the characteristic of the method, analyzes the methodological origins of the static nature of classical analysis and determines a number of prerequisites for the formation of dynamic analysis (economic progress, the successes of biology, the formation of the historical method, agnosticism). |
| Keywords: | economic statics and economic dynamics, economic thought of the XIX century, historical method, romanticism, agnosticism |
| JEL: | B10 B12 B15 B41 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upa:wpaper:0075 |
| By: | César Ducruet; Barbara Polo Martin |
| Abstract: | Based on untapped data on vessel movements and urban population, this paper investigates the changing relationship between ports and cities since the late 19th century. We refer to a number of models in maritime geography and history that converge about port-city spatial and functional disconnection. The principal results show that the average distance between ports and cities doubled over the period, from 4.9 km in 1880 to 10.1 km in 2020. While the correlation between vessel traffic and city size grew since 1880, it declined rapidly from 0.66 in 1946 to 0.33 in 2020. In turn, vessel traffic became more and more correlated with the size of city-regions, of which port and non-port. Such trends are differentiated across regions of the world, due to historical legacies and specific patterns of port hinterlands. |
| Keywords: | globalization; hinterlands; port city; maritime transport; regionalization |
| JEL: | R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2025-25 |
| By: | Bin Chen; Yingchao Xie; Ting Yang; Qin Zhou |
| Abstract: | Between 1957-1985, Chinese mathematician Loo-Keng Hua pioneered economic optimization theory through three key contributions: establishing economic stability's fundamental theorem, proving the uniqueness of equilibrium solutions in economic systems, and developing a consumption-integrated model 50 days before his death. Since 1988, Mu-Fa Chen has been working on Hua's theory. He introduced stochastics, namely Markov chains, to economic optimization theory. He updated and developed Hua's model and came up with a new model (Chen's model) which has become the starting point of a new economic optimization theory. Chen's theory can be applied to economic stability test, bankruptcy prediction, product ranking and classification, economic prediction and adjustment, economic structure optimization. Chen's theory can also provide efficient algorithms that are programmable and intelligent. {Stochastics} is the cornerstone of Chen's theory. There is no overlap between Chen's theory, and the existing mathematical economy theory and the economics developments that were awarded Nobel Prizes in Economics between 1969 and 2024. The distinguished features of Chen's theory from the existing theories are quantitative, calculable, predictable, optimizable, programmable and can be intelligent. This survey provides a theoretical overview of the newly published monograph \cite{5rw24}. Specifically, the invariant of the economic structure matrix, also known as the Chen's invariant, was first published in this survey. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.19134 |
| By: | Harris, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | Literature attesting to the existence of a resource ‘curse’ implied that economic prospects for resource abundant nations were poor and out of their hands. Not only had resource abundance created difficult-tomanage structural conditions, but it had also corrupted institutions and, in turn, condemned nations to further negative management of resources in the future. A critical branch of literature rose in opposition, suggesting that the outcomes of resource abundant nations had not been predetermined by their resources, but had been contingent on active institutional management. Correct management could not only have mitigated the immediate structural and institutional impacts of the socalled ‘curse, ’ but it could also have prevented the degradation of these virtuous institutional behaviours themselves. This comment will add to the debate by demonstrating which theory applies better to the case of Chile during its nitrate era: which stated ‘curse’ effects struck Chile, and how culpable was institutional management in this process? I find that whilst there are definite ‘curse’ symptoms, institutional management played a larger role than ‘determinists’ would predict, supporting the ‘activist’ strand of argument. This is not to downplay, however, the pressures that resource abundance exerted, even in countries that had a claim to institutional exceptionality. |
| JEL: | O13 N56 |
| Date: | 2024–11–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126154 |
| By: | Masahiro Yoshida (Department of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | Male labor force participation rates (LFPR) in developed economies have been declining since the 1970s. This paper argues that modern climate change has fueled dropouts of adult males by eroding the traditional advantage of working outdoors. Using exposure to climate change across US commuting zones constructed from granular daily weather records for nearly half a century, I find that extreme temperature days hurt the LFPR of prime-age males. In the new century, climate change accounts for approximately 10-15 percent of the nationwide decline in LFPR. I find that outdoor jobs—prevalent across sectors and prominent in disadvantaged regions—are likely hotbeds of dropout. Disability accounts for a substantial proportion of climate-induced dropouts, but the majority of these are likely due to preference; the decline in LFPR has been catalyzed by the spread of housing amenities (e.g., air conditioning and cable TV) and access to affluent family backgrounds. Overall, the results suggest that climate change exacerbates socioeconomic inequality. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Male labor force participation, Outdoor jobs |
| JEL: | J21 J22 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wap:wpaper:2508 |