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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
| By: | Becker, Sascha O. (University of Warwick and Monash University) |
| Abstract: | This chapter explores the intersection of religion and economics on the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776. While Smith is often viewed as a secular figure in economics, his work was deeply influenced by the moral philosophy of his time, which was shaped by Christian thought. I discuss how economists think about the religious themes in Smith’s work in the 21st century and review what we know today about the connection between religion and economic outcomes. JEL codes: B1 ; B2 ; N3 ; N9 ; P5 ; Z12 |
| Keywords: | Adam Smith ; religion |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1598 |
| By: | Katherine Eriksson; Gregory Niemesh; Myera Rashid; Jacqueline Craig |
| Abstract: | We document that women’s economic mobility improved nearly a century before married women gained broad labor market opportunities. Using Massachusetts marriage registers linked to U.S. censuses (1850–1920), we create new father–child links for women to estimate intergenerational mobility and assortative mating, overcoming a key historical linkage barrier. Estimates from a structural marriage market model suggest assortative mating fell 61% from 1850–1870 to 1900–1920. Counterfactuals imply women’s mobility would have been far lower absent the decline in assortative mating. Had late cohorts faced early cohort sorting, the rank–rank slope between a woman’s father and husband would have been 2.5 times higher. |
| JEL: | J12 J62 N31 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34821 |
| By: | Luc Marco (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Anis Gnichi (IHEC Sousse - IHEC) |
| Abstract: | The authors of this book, pioneers of modern finance, were the Sala brothers. The elder, Eugène, became the accountant and then the manager of the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris. The younger, Adolphe, was a former career soldier who ended his professional life as the general manager of the Suez Canal, where he was killed by local inhabitants. The editor of this work is Luc Marco, honorary professor of management science at Sorbonne Paris Nord University, a member of the CEPN-CNRS laboratory, and president of the Institute for the History and Foresight of Management, based in Castres (Tarn). The afterword is written by Anis Gnichi, lecturer at the University of Sousse in Tunisia. |
| Abstract: | Les auteurs de ce livre, précurseurs de la finance moderne, étaient les frères Sala. L'aîné, Eugène, deviendra le comptable puis le gérant du Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle à Paris. Le cadet, Adolphe, était un ancien militaire de carrière qui finira son activité professionnelle comme intendant général du Canal de Suez où il mourra tué par les indigènes. L'éditeur de cet ouvrage est Luc Marco, professeur honoraire de sciences de gestion à l'Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, membre du laboratoire CEPN-CNRS, et président de l'Institut d'histoire et de prospective du management, basé à Castres (Tarn). La postface est signée par Anis Gnichi, maître-assistant à l'Université de Sousse en Tunisie. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Transformation, July Monarchy, Emerging Technologies, Economic History, Industrial Values, Monarchie de Juillet, Technologies émergentes, Transformation industrielle, Histoire économique, Valeurs industrielles, France |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05511951 |
| By: | Juan Luis Martiren (Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto Ravignani); Carolina Román (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on industrial wages during a period of great dynamism in the Uruguayan economy. Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Uruguay developed a major meat industry that gained international prominence. Among the largest firms was the Liebig Extract of Meat Company (LEMCO)—renamed as Frigorífico Anglo in 1924—which played a central role in supplying this product to European markets. It also had a significant impact on the local labor market. While the company's role is well-documented, the characteristics of its labor remuneration remain unexplored. Using a novel dataset of employment records spanning 1890 to 1928, this paper builds new wage series in order to achieve two primary objectives: first, to analyze the evolution of nominal and real wages; and second, to examine the wage differentials based on skill, age, and gender. The findings offer new insights into labor market dynamics within one of Uruguay's most transformative sectors. |
| Keywords: | wages, Uruguay, meat packing industry, First Globalization |
| JEL: | N36 E24 J2 L66 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-24-25 |
| By: | Vasiliki Fouka; Theo Serlin |
| Abstract: | When do people identify with their class? Evidence from social psychology shows that individuals are more likely to identify with a group if they are similar to its members. We study early 20th century Britain and show that regional cultural heterogeneity combined with internal migration influenced class identity. We develop and validate a measure of class identity using naming decisions. Exploiting within-household variation, we show that migration patterns that increased the local share of culturally-distant workers reduced working class identification. Where migration increased the cultural distance of the working class, workers were less likely to join unions, voters were less likely to support the nascent Labour Party, and parliamentary candidates were less likely to target working class voters. By 1911, slower in-migration and rising local population growth reduced working class distance in urban areas, which also became strongholds of support for Labour. Migration alters social identity and creates political cleavages. |
| Keywords: | migration, identity, class |
| JEL: | D72 J61 N33 Z10 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12419 |
| By: | Talent Nesongano; Carol Newman; John Rand; Marvin Suesse |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which the historical legacy of apartheid laws explains contemporary misallocation and firm productivity in South Africa. During the apartheid era (1948-1994), job reservations, closed-shop agreements, and minimum-wage policies were implemented to restrict occupational mobility for Black workers and to insulate White employees from competition. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, Apartheid, Discrimination, Misallocation, Labour, Firm productivity |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2026-15 |
| By: | Sonia Bhalotra; Damian Clarke; Atheendar Venkataramani |
| Abstract: | We leverage the introduction of the first antibiotic therapies in 1937 to examine the long-run effects of early childhood pneumonia on adult educational attainment, employment, income, and work-related disability. Using census data, we document large average gains on all outcomes, alongside substantial heterogeneity by race and gender. On average, Black men exhibit smaller schooling gains than white men but larger employment and earnings gains. Among Black men (and women), we identify a pronounced gradient in gains linked to systemic racial discrimination in the pre–Civil Rights era: individuals born in more discriminatory Jim Crow states realized much smaller gains than those born in less discriminatory states. There is no similar gradient among white Americans. Women of both races exhibit smaller education and earnings gains than men on average, consistent with cultural and institutional barriers to women's work. Our findings highlight the role of opportunities in shaping the extent to which investments in early-life health translate into longer run economic gains. |
| Keywords: | early childhood, medical innovation, race, human capital production, education, income, disability, systemic discrimination, institutions, infectious disease, pneumonia, antibiotics, sulfa drugs |
| JEL: | I10 I14 J71 H70 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12387 |
| By: | Sara Caicedo-Silva (Universidad de los Andes) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines if and how economic ideas spread across political language. The publication of the TV Series and the book Free to Choose (FC) by Milton and Rosa Friedman in 1980 serves as a tool to understand how economic ideas are popularized and adopted by politicians. Using natural language models, I compute the semantic similarity between FC and the interventions in congressional records from 1975 to 1985 to assess the change in political debate speeches in the US. I find that Democratic legislators increasingly adopted the rhetorical framing of FC, reaching or even surpassing Republicans in the similarity of their speeches relative to FC. This convergence was especially strong in debates on macroeconomic policy and foreign trade. These results suggest that FC amplified existing liberal ideas and transformed them into a shared language of both advocacy and critique within Congress. |
| Keywords: | Political Discourse, Text-as-Data, Semantic Similarity, U.S. Congress |
| JEL: | B25 B41 D72 P16 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:022309 |
| By: | Johannes Marzian; Christoph Trebesch |
| Abstract: | We study the fiscal consequences of large military buildups. To do so, we assemble the Global Budget Database, a comprehensive dataset of disaggregated central government finances for 20 countries from 1870 to 2022. We identify 114 episodes of military spending booms, in peace and war, and analyze their financing and long-term fiscal legacy. Consistent with theory, wartime booms are financed primarily through debt, while peacetime booms rely on a more balanced mix of debt and taxes. In contrast to the classic notion of “guns versus butter, ” we find little evidence that social spending is cut during military expansions. Instead, when societies rearm, they tend to choose guns and butter, resulting in higher debt, expenditures, and taxes. Debt rises and later falls, but tax rates and tax revenues remain elevated for 15 years or more. Large geopolitical shocks, in war and peace, result in higher taxes and a lasting fiscal expansion. |
| Keywords: | military finance, rearmament, war, fiscal policy, taxes, government debt |
| JEL: | E62 H20 H61 H87 N10 N40 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12469 |
| By: | Oded Galor |
| Abstract: | This essay suggests that the evolution of human cooperation over the course of human history should be viewed as a two-layer process. A foundational layer, rooted in subsistence and ecological pressures, shaped cooperative dispositions unevenly, whereas an expansionary layer, rooted in conflict and stratification, generated large-scale cooperation in societies in which its seeds were formed. The first evolutionary layer unfolded over the grand arc of human evolution, reinforcing the capacity for small-scale cooperation in hunter-gatherer societies while favoring traits complementary to cooperation only in some sedentary societies. The second evolutionary layer emerged as rising population density heightened external threats, fostered coercive centralized authority, and raised the returns to public infrastructure. In environments where cooperative traits had already evolved, warfare, extraction, and infrastructure provision reinforced these predispositions, transforming them into durable collective institutions. Yet in settings where such cultural foundations were absent, large-scale collective action was more challenging, and conflict was often destabilizing, magnifying division and political fragility. Recognizing the profound global heterogeneity in this foundational layer of cooperative behavior is essential for identifying the origins of large-scale cooperation and the conditions under which conflict reinforced cooperative capacity rather than intensifying fragmentation. |
| Keywords: | cultural evolution, unified growth theory, future-oriented mindset, cooperation, malthusian epoch, the journey of humanity |
| JEL: | O10 Z10 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12494 |
| By: | Pablo Castro (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Henry Willebald (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this article is to study the process of agricultural mechanization in the temperate economies of new European settlements (settler economies) from a historical and comparative perspective. The historical significance of agricultural activity in these countries is evident in the characteristics of their productive specialization and the modes of their international integration. First, the article proposes constructing an indicator of agricultural mechanization in Uruguay and New Zealand for an extended period (the entire 20th century). Second, it offers an exploratory analysis of the factors that influenced the diffusion and adoption of the tractor in both countries. The evolutionary and neo-Schumpeterian perspective on technical change and innovation provides a conceptual framework that addresses the complex nature of technological change and allows for the study of its evolution over time, emphasizing its tacit, cumulative, and path-dependent nature. Based on a comprehensive characterization of the tractor fleet and its evolution, a logistic model is applied to determine the dynamics of adoption and diffusion of this technology. In general terms, the introduction of the tractor marked a milestone in the process of mechanization and revealed a dynamic that exhibited particularities associated with the nature and evolution of technological change. Initially, the introduction of the tractor in agricultural activities responded to a slow adoption process—and replacement of other techniques—that constituted an early stage of learning, after which it spread rapidly across the productive structure of the analyzed countries. Ultimately, the process reached a saturation point that coincided with the emergence of new production techniques that have progressively replaced the previously dominant ones. Secondly, it is observed that the technological dynamics differed between the countries, with Uruguay consistently lagging behind New Zealand. Finally, the analysis of the determinants of the different rates of tractor adoption and diffusion in both countries reveal that New Zealand producers faced significantly more favorable conditions in terms of lower fuel costs and higher wages, which incentivized the adoption of labor-saving technology such as the tractor. Additionally, greater access to financing, lower tractor prices, and a more conducive agrarian structure for mechanization facilitated a faster and more sustained adoption of this technology compared to Uruguay. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, tractor, logistic model, technological adoption and diffusion. |
| JEL: | N56 N57 O13 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-07-25 |
| By: | Mark A. Carlson |
| Abstract: | Prior to the establishment of the Federal Reserve, commercial banks issued "bank notes" that circulated as a privately issued form of money. In addition to being backed by the issuing bank, these notes were backed by various types of collateral, including state government bonds and U.S. government bonds. |
| Date: | 2026–02–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:102444 |
| By: | Tamar den Besten; Diego R. Känzig |
| Abstract: | We study the macroeconomic effects of tariff policy using U.S. historical data from 1840–2024. We construct a narrative series of plausibly exogenous tariff changes – based on major legislative actions, multilateral negotiations, and temporary surcharges – and use it as an instrument to identify a structural tariff shock. Tariff increases are contractionary: imports fall sharply, exports decline with a lag, and output and manufacturing activity drop persistently. The shock transmits through both supply and demand channels. Prices rise in the full sample but fall post-World War II, a pattern consistent with changes in the monetary policy response and with stronger international retaliation and reciprocity in the modern trade regime. |
| JEL: | E30 F13 F14 F41 H20 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34852 |
| By: | Poeura Tetoe (MEE - Ministère de l'Education, de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Culture); Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This article skows the ambivalence of the relationships between Papua New Guinea and Australia, by successively analyzing the historical links which bind these two countries (Part I), their continuity after independence (Part II), and the mechanisms of this dependence, especially at the economic and political levels (Part III). The social structures of Australia's former colony are studied, in particular in relation to the issues of the access to land and the expansion of the mining sector penetrated by foreign capital, around which the interests of the States and the transnational firms, on the one hand, and those of the Papua New Guinean people, on the other hand, are clashing. |
| Keywords: | debt, public aid, Australia, law, land regime, natural resources, dependency, development, Papua New Guinea |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05432520 |
| By: | Van Le Thy Ha |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the persistent effects of Vietnam War (1955–1975) bombing on occupations and incomes of different cohorts in 2018. To do this, I link the US National Archives bombing data to a Vietnamese representative household survey. I employ an instrumental variable approach that leverages rounding thresholds used to target villagelevel airstrikes. The results show that bombing increases the share of post-war young cohorts working in low-skilled occupations by 10 percentage points and reduces their income by over 50% in 2018. The effects are even more pronounced for older cohorts who were directly exposed to the war. I estimate that heavily bombed villages lag approximately 1.3 to 1.6 generations behind in occupational transformation. My analysis indicates that educational accessibility and wartime village governance partially mediate these effects. This paper provides the first evidence that bombing distorts occupational and income structures for the post-war generation, causing bombed villages to lag in structural transformation. |
| Keywords: | bombing, cohorts, income, occupation, Vietnam War |
| JEL: | F51 J62 N45 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp813 |
| By: | Gay, Victor; Davoine, Eva; Enguehard, Joseph; Kolesnikov, Igor |
| JEL: | N01 N43 H22 C82 |
| Date: | 2026–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:131448 |
| By: | Nicolau Martin-Bassols; Pietro Biroli; Elisabetta De Cao; Massimo Anelli; Stephanie von Hinke; Silvia Mendolia |
| Abstract: | The establishment of the UK National Health Service (NHS) in July 1948 was one of the most consequential health policy interventions of the twentieth century, providing universal and free access to medical care and substantially expanding maternal and infant health services. In this paper, we estimate the causal effect of the NHS introduction on early-life mortality and we test whether survival is selective. We adopt a regression discontinuity design under local randomization, comparing individuals born just before and just after July 1948. Leveraging newly digitized weekly death records, we document a significant decline in stillbirths and infant mortality following the introduction of the NHS, the latter driven primarily by reductions in deaths from congenital conditions and diarrhea. We then use polygenic indexes (PGIs), fixed at conception, to track changes in population composition, showing that cohorts born at or after the NHS introduction exhibit higher PGIs associated with contextually-adverse traits (e.g., depression, COPD, and preterm birth) and lower PGIs associated with contextually-valued traits (e.g., educational attainment, self-rated health, and pregnancy length), with effect sizes as large as 7.5% of a standard deviation. These results based on the UK Biobank data are robust to family-based designs and replicate in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Effects are strongest in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and among males. This novel evidence on the existence and magnitude of selective survival highlights how large-scale public policies can leave a persistent imprint on population composition and generate long-term survival biases. |
| Keywords: | early-life, health systems, survival bias, infant mortality, genetics, polygenic Index, UK biobank, ESSGN |
| JEL: | I10 I38 C21 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12445 |
| By: | Johan Fourie (LEAP, Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Kelsey Lemon; Jan-Hendrik Pretorius |
| Abstract: | We study how selective sanitation investments reshaped racial health inequality in one twentieth-century South African town. Combining a complete transcription of geo-linked death notices and intercensal birth imputation, we construct annual race- and cause-infant mortality rates and track the rollout of a municipal storm-water drainage scheme. Importantly, drainage was targeted and had distributional consequences: large, persistent reductions in white infant mortality from sanitation-sensitive disease on treated streets, but little improvement (and sometimes worsening outcomes) for coloured infants. Triple-difference estimates, event-study evidence, and cause-of-death patterns thus reveal a ‘reversal-of-fortunes’ effect: turning high-risk streets safe and concentrating preventable mortality among coloured households. |
| Keywords: | infant mortality, health inequality, sanitation, South Africa |
| JEL: | I14 I18 N37 H51 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers391 |
| By: | Giuseppe Di Giacomo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the long-run effects of foreign tourism on local labor markets and economic development in advanced economies, using Italy as a case study. To isolate plausibly exogenous variation in tourist arrivals, I construct a shift-share measure that interacts changes in outbound tourism by country of origin with historical destination preferences across Italian locations. Higher exposure to tourism reduces employment and labor-force participation rates. It also induces structural transformation by expanding employment rates in hospitality and entertainment while contracting them in manufacturing and in non-tourism-related services. Average per-capita and labor income decline, whereas property income increases. Estimates in log-levels indicate that tourism raises local population, shrinks the manufacturing sector, and expands tourism-related services. Evidence on underlying mechanisms points to two main channels. First, tourism alters the composition of the local labor supply. Population growth is driven by young, low-skilled non-Italians, limiting the ability of productive, non-tourism firms to benefit from agglomeration forces. Second, rising land costs crowd out non-touristic activities. Consistent with this, nearly all net firm entry is accounted for by tourism-related establishments. Overall, results suggest that, in advanced economies, tourism may hinder long-run development by reallocating resources from more to less productive sectors. |
| Keywords: | tourism, structural transformation, local economic shocks, Dutch disease |
| JEL: | D31 E24 J21 L60 L83 O14 O18 R11 Z32 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12434 |
| By: | Guillaume Blanc and Masahiro Kubo (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies nation-building in a fragmented society. We document the political economy of mass education, the adoption of a common language, and the construction of a national identity in France. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that statesponsored education led to linguistic homogenization. To understand why nation-building was successful, we study heterogeneity and find that knowledge elites and the demand for education were instrumental. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp26-04 |
| By: | Ulle Endriss (ILLC - Institute for Logic, Language and Computation - UvA - Universiteit van Amsterdam); Nicolas Maudet (SMA - Systèmes Multi-Agents - LIP6 - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | On the occasion of his 60th birthday, we review some of Jérôme Lang's influential contributions to the study of collective decision making, bringing together ideas from Economic Theory and Artificial Intelligence. Over the past two decades, his work in this domain—often inspired by fundamental questions regarding the most appropriate way of modelling the preferences of individual agents and how answers to those questions might impact the design of algorithms to support decision making—has significantly shaped the interdisciplinary field of Computational Social Choice. |
| Date: | 2026–01–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05519686 |
| By: | Nidhiya Menon; Yana Rodgers |
| Abstract: | This article provides an overview of the history of economic thought on natural resource extraction, which has long been considered an enclave industry with few benefits for areas beyond the local economy. We focus on more recent scholarship examining the social impacts of natural resource extraction, emphasizing gender-related outcomes and determinants. An important lesson from this scholarship is that it is difficult to discuss sustainable development in its contemporary sense without paying due diligence to the gender dimensions of natural resource extraction. A lesson highlighted is that the "resource curse" view of natural capital may not be as pervasive as previously thought. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.15980 |
| By: | boughabi, houssam |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the interplay between distributive conflict, wage dynamics, and persistent unemployment within a Kaleckian framework, emphasizing the long-memory properties of wages. We develop a stochastic model in which wages adjust adaptively to cumulative historical discrepancies between prices and wages, reflecting backward-looking expectations, institutional rigidities, and distributive conflict. Applying this framework to Germany over the period 1990–2024, we provide empirical evidence that persistent price–wage divergences generate long-lasting effects on real wages and aggregate demand. Within a Kaleckian perspective in which investment and employment are demand-driven, these wage dynamics contribute to the persistence of unemployment by weakening consumption and effective demand over time. Our findings highlight that long-memory wage adjustment amplifies the macroeconomic consequences of distributive conflict and inflation, underscoring the importance of historical wage inertia in shaping employment outcomes. The results offer new insights into the structural origins of persistent unemployment in advanced economies. |
| Keywords: | Kaleckian economics, wage–price dynamics, long-memory, distributive conflict, persistent unemployment |
| JEL: | C22 E12 E24 E32 J30 |
| Date: | 2026–01–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127752 |
| By: | Ferreira, José Luis; Ruiz-Castillo, Javier |
| Abstract: | We study the mode of production of the first populations of Homo erectus about 2.5 million years ago. It is characterized by a dual strategy unprecedented in human history: (i) a division of labor into big game hunting and gathering, and (ii) the sharing of the food obtained from both sources. We view these two characteristics as a form of increasing productivity through individual specialization, and a form of insurance. When big game hunters fail to capture a large piece –a highly frequent event–, they rely on the food collected by gatherers. In turn, a successful hunter who could only consume in situ a portion of a large kill, shares the catch with the rest of the group. We present a simple mathematical model of the situation, consisting of a non-cooperative repeated game whose equilibria exhibit the two innovations just mentioned. A sufficient condition for a sexual division of labor where women gather and men hunt is that men are relatively more productive than women in hunting. We compare this model with a number of alternatives found in the literature, and discuss its main shortcoming: the failure to include a third key feature of the hunting-gathering mode of production, namely, the specific study of intergenerational food transfers that may involve three types of agents –children, adults, and grandparents. |
| Keywords: | Homo Erectus; Hunter-Gatherers; Division Of Labor; Food Sharing; Insurance; Specialization; Non-Cooperative Repeated Games; Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium |
| Date: | 2026–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:49470 |
| By: | Claude Diebolt (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Date: | 2025–10–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05511263 |
| By: | Mohamed Ali Abdelwahed (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) |
| Abstract: | This course offers an in-depth exploration of the major theories of organizations and the firm, articulating their historical foundations, epistemological assumptions, and contemporary managerial implications. It traces the evolution of the main paradigms—classical and rationalist, human relations, contingency, systems, environmental, and neo-institutional—through to critical and culturalist approaches. Particular attention is devoted to theories of the firm (transaction cost theory, agency theory, the resource-based view, and dynamic capabilities) and their contemporary extensions. The course brings into dialogue foundational authors and recent developments in order to demonstrate that organizational theories constitute complementary analytical frameworks rather than competing ones. The analysis is conducted from an applied perspective, with particular reference to the health and medico-social sector, where tensions between rationalization, professionalization, and institutional legitimacy are especially salient. The pedagogical objective is twofold: to provide students with a structured theoretical foundation and to develop their critical capacity to mobilize these frameworks in analyzing complex organizational situations. |
| Abstract: | Ce cours propose une exploration approfondie des principales théories des organisations et de la firme, en articulant leurs fondements historiques, leurs présupposés épistémologiques et leurs implications managériales contemporaines. Il retrace l'évolution des paradigmes majeurs - classique et rationaliste, relations humaines, contingence, systémique, environnemental et néo-institutionnel - jusqu'aux approches critiques et culturalistes. Une attention particulière est portée aux conceptions de la firme (théorie des coûts de transaction, théorie de l'agence, approche par les ressources, capacités dynamiques) et à leurs prolongements contemporains. Le cours met en dialogue les auteurs fondateurs et les développements récents afin de montrer que les théories des organisations constituent des grilles d'intelligibilité complémentaires plutôt que concurrentes. L'analyse s'inscrit dans une perspective appliquée, notamment au secteur sanitaire et médico-social, où les tensions entre rationalisation, professionnalisation et légitimité institutionnelle sont particulièrement saillantes. L'objectif pédagogique est double : fournir aux étudiants un socle théorique structurant et développer leur capacité critique à mobiliser ces cadres pour analyser des situations organisationnelles complexes. |
| Keywords: | organization theory, Theory of the firm, Governance, Coordination, Théorie de la firme, Paradigme organisationnel, Gouvernance, Théorie de l'organisation |
| Date: | 2026–01–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05508521 |
| By: | Valentina Chiariello; Oguzhan C. Dincer |
| Abstract: | We investigate the long-run relationship between organized crime and corruption using data from 20 Italian regions over 30 years. As Rose-Ackerman and Palifka (2018) argue, corruption and organized crime often go together. Our study contributes to the literature in several ways in terms of empirical methodology and specification. We account for integration and cointegration properties of the data and estimate the cointegrating relationship between organized crime and corruption using Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), following Pedroni (2000). Our findings are twofold. First, according to our FMOLS estimates, organized crime increases corruption, and this effect becomes stronger as government spending increases. Second, there is bidirectional Granger causality between corruption and organized crime. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and different estimation methods. Overall, our findings point to a persistent and mutually reinforcing relationship between organized crime and corruption, which has significant consequences for implementing anti-corruption policies. |
| Keywords: | corruption, organized crime, Italian regions, panel cointegration, FMOLS, Granger causality |
| JEL: | K42 D72 D73 H11 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12474 |