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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
| By: | Rindborg, Gabriel V |
| Abstract: | Interest rates are central to understanding economic development and conditions, not just in the present, but throughout history. Yet surprisingly little research has focused on medieval interest rates. This essay demonstrates, through an analysis of Stockholm’s jordeböcker (land registers) and tänkeböcker (court records) from 1420 to 1520, that it is entirely possible to calculate interest rates from these sources, and argues that further research into historical interest rates is essential for advancing materialist historiography. The study reveals a consistent norm of 5% interest within the source material, rates that far outpaced inflation during the period. This finding reinforces the view that capital, whatever the prevailing ideological constraints, has an inherent tendency toward concentration. |
| Date: | 2026–03–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2sbvc_v1 |
| By: | Quentin Belot Couloumies (UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, UGA INP IAE - Grenoble Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| Abstract: | This article explores the transformation of French capitalism in the 1970s by examining budgetary control practices at PSA (Peugeot SA). Drawing on internal archives and interviews with former executives, it analyses how state-led planning, élite networks, and corporate restructuring shaped a hybrid model of management control. Rather than a straightforward ‘Americanisation', the system that emerged combined long-term planning logics with increasing financial discipline. The case illustrates how budgetary tools became instruments of organisational control and financial rationalisation, reconfigured through engineering expertise, internal experimentation, and institutional entrenchment. This study contributes to the socio-historical analysis of accounting change and offers insights into the evolving architecture of post-war French capitalism. |
| Abstract: | Cet article explore la transformation du capitalisme français dans les années 1970 en examinant les pratiques de contrôle budgétaire chez PSA (Peugeot SA). S'appuyant sur des archives internes et des entretiens avec d'anciens dirigeants, il analyse comment la planification étatique, les réseaux d'élite et la restructuration du groupe ont façonné un modèle hybride de contrôle de gestion. Loin d'une simple « américanisation », le système qui en a résulté combinait des logiques de planification à long terme avec une discipline financière croissante à court terme. Ce cas illustre comment les outils budgétaires sont devenus des instruments de contrôle organisationnel et de rationalisation financière, reconfigurés grâce à l'expertise en ingénierie, à l'expérimentation interne et à l'ancrage institutionnel. Cette étude contribue à l'analyse socio-historique de l'évolution de la comptabilité et offre un éclairage sur l'architecture en mutation du capitalisme français d'après-guerre. |
| Keywords: | Budgetary control, Accounting History, Management Control, French Business System, Peugeot, Financial Performance, Accounting History Management Control Budget Financial Performance Peugeot |
| Date: | 2025–11–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04911538 |
| By: | Taylor Jaworski; Carl T. Kitchens; Luke P. Rodgers |
| Abstract: | We examine how the World War I agricultural commodity price boom affected human capital accumulation during the early decades of the high school movement in the United States. First, based on newly collected county-level enrollment data, we show that enrollment and average daily attendance fell sharply at the peak of the boom. Second, using linked census data between 1910 and 1940, we find that greater exposure during teenage years reduced completed schooling by 0.27 to 0.47 years, with the largest effects concentrated in high school. For younger children, the net effect of increased household resources depends on local child labor intensity: the positive effect of higher parental income on completed schooling is offset in counties where child labor was prevalent. Our results are consistent with dynamic complementarities in skill formation whose effects on lifetime schooling are mediated by the opportunity cost of child labor. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J13 J24 N30 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35032 |
| By: | Xue, Melanie |
| Abstract: | This article explores the intellectual underpinnings of Qing fiscal conservatism, tracing its ideological roots to late Ming thinkers such as Wang Yangming, Huang Zongxi, and Gu Yanwu. These figures contributed to a tradition of governance that emphasized moral responsibility and institutional reform, which influenced the Qing dynasty’s efforts to protect the agrarian class from excessive taxation. By situating Qing fiscal conservatism within a broader historical and philosophical framework, this article offers additional perspectives on the relationship between ideology, governance, and law in late imperial China. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137830 |
| By: | David de la Croix (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Rossana Scebba (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Chiara Zanardello (Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST). Toulouse School of Economics, Universite Toulouse Capitole) |
| Abstract: | While good ideas can emerge anywhere, it takes a community to develop and disseminate them. In premodern Europe (1084-1793), there were approximately 200 universities and 150 academies of sciences, home to thousands of scholars from the Middle Ages to the First Industrial Revolution. By inferring co-presence from institutional affiliations, we simulate how ideas would spread from a scholar to another across the European academic network. We find that the implied exposure patterns align with observed urban developments: examples include botanic gardens, astronomical observatories, and Protestantism. Scholars’ mobility and multiple affiliations sustain the diffusion, and counterfactual simulations underscore the bridging role played by scientific academies. We also show that the spread of ideas through the affiliation network was locally fragile but globally robust, pointing towards academia as being a connective infrastructure underlying early European development. |
| Keywords: | Temporal Network, Structural Estimation, Scientific Revolution, European Academia, Epidemiological model |
| JEL: | N33 O33 I23 |
| Date: | 2026–03–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2026008 |
| By: | Bottasso, Anna; Cerruti, Gianluca; Conti, Maurizio; Santagata, Marta |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates whether exposure of local areas to medieval Mediterranean trade with Africa and the Middle East still shapes Italian political attitudes. Such exchanges may have fostered cultural traits that eased interaction with people of different cultures, ethnicities, and religions. We show that individuals living near a medieval port are less likely to view migrants as a security threat or to report right-wing voting preferences; these areas also had fewer xenophobic attacks during the 2015 Syrian refugee surge. We also find that right-wing parties received fewer votes near medieval ports only when immigration was highly salient. Finally, we document a lower probability of Jewish deportations near medieval ports during the Nazi occupation, the only period when a minority group was explicitly targeted. This suggests that deep-rooted cultural traits can re-emerge when historical and political conditions make them relevant. |
| Keywords: | persistence studies; trade networks; political preferences; cultural persistence; immigration |
| JEL: | F22 D72 |
| Date: | 2026–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137817 |
| By: | Stéphane Benveniste (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, AMU - Aix Marseille Université) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the overrepresentation of students with aristocratic ancestry in elite higher education. It relies on a sample of 269, 917 students from ten leading French grandes écoles between 1911 and 2015 and uses surname‑based indicators of nobility. Individuals with aristocratic ancestry are between six and nine times more likely to enrol in one of these ten grandes écoles than the rest of the population, compared to eleven to fifteen times a century ago. While historically concentrated at Sciences Po Paris, their presence has become more evenly distributed across top‑tier institutions, with business schools now showing the highest levels of overrepresentation. The analysis also shows that noble men are more overrepresented than noble women in these top‑tier institutions, although this gap has narrowed. These results underscore that beyond the abolition of legal privileges, historical hierarchies persist. Future research could distinguish the extent to which this persistence may reflect the transmission of social, educational, cultural, or economic capital. |
| Abstract: | Cet article quantifie la surreprésentation des étudiants d'origine aristocratique dans les grandes écoles les plus prestigieuses. Il s'appuie sur un échantillon de 269 917 étudiants de dix grandes écoles entre 1911 et 2015 et mobilise des indicateurs d'ascendance aristocratique fondés sur le nom de famille. Les individus d'ascendance noble ont, sur la période récente, entre six et neuf fois plus de chances d'intégrer l'une de ces dix grandes écoles que le reste de la population, contre onze à quinze fois au début du XX è siècle. Alors qu'ils étaient historiquement concentrés à Sciences Po Paris, leur présence est désormais plus uniformément répartie entre les établissements les plus prestigieux, les écoles de commerce affichant les niveaux de surreprésentation les plus élevés. Les hommes d'ascendance noble sont par ailleurs davantage surreprésentés que les femmes dans ces grandes écoles, même si l'écart s'est réduit. Ces résultats montrent qu'au-delà de l'abolition de privilèges juridiques, des hiérarchies historiques peuvent persister. Des recherches futures pourraient contribuer à distinguer ce qui, dans cette persistance, relève notamment de la transmission d'un capital social, scolaire, culturel ou encore économique. |
| Keywords: | higher education, nobility and aristocracy, history of inequality, enseignement supérieur prestigieux, grandes écoles, noblesse et aristocratie, histoire des inégalités elite |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05567573 |
| By: | Seltzer, Andrew; Wadsworth, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines overcrowding, an indicator of low quality of life. We use household-level data from the 1929-31 New Survey of London Life and Labour to construct new estimates of overcrowding and analyze its geographic and economic determinants. We then examine how interwar public policy contributed to declining overcrowding. Improvements to public transportation led to increased worker earnings and housing expenditure. More importantly, public transport allowed workers to live in outer areas with lower overcrowding rates and commute inwards. Housing legislation reduced overcrowding by subsidizing new home construction, thereby increasing dwelling size, reducing rents, and improving housing quality. |
| Keywords: | overcrowding; public transportation; public housing; working-class London |
| JEL: | N94 N74 R21 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:137932 |
| By: | Nicolas Camilotto (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a life-cycle analysis of the Trust Game, using its trajectory as a lens to clarify the boundaries between experimental and behavioral economics. We first trace its 1995 creation by Berg et al. as a challenge to calculative trust paradigms. A bibliometric study then maps its diffusion, revealing two divergent paths in economics: one, rooted in experimental economics, prioritizes measurement; the other, in behavioral economics, theory-testing. These paths differ in methods and validity standards, constituting an epistemic divide that illuminates the fields’ evolving relationship. |
| Keywords: | trust; trust game; experimental economics; behavioral economics |
| JEL: | B2 B4 C9 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2026-11 |
| By: | Reynolds, Matt |
| Abstract: | ‘Modern slavery’ not only fails to conceptualise the exploitation of migrant domestic workers from post-colonial nations, but also their affluent employers in post-imperial London. Existing evidence focuses on ‘victims’ or ‘survivors’, with sparse data on whom they work for. This study analyses 200 responses to a survey asking migrant domestic workers about the employers they accompanied to the UK, their post-‘rescue’ employers and the (lack of) support provided by the British state. Comparing the survey findings with visa schemes in place during the British Empire, and using contemporaneous social theory (Du Bois and Martineau), this study applies a historical lens to show how Britain was, and is, more concerned with protecting wealthy employers than migrant domestic workers. Since the 18th century, this has been justified using the moral binary of ‘British’ freedom and ‘foreign’ slavery. |
| Keywords: | Britishness; colonialism; domestic work; migration; slavery |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2026–03–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137394 |
| By: | Gildas Noury (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières); Thomas Jacob (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières); Jacques Deparis (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières); Florian Masson (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières); Isabelle Halfon (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières); Marc Peruzzetto (BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières) |
| Abstract: | The Buttes-Chaumont Park in Paris is currently affected by significant signs of aging and ground instability, which have resulted in the closure of several areas to the public. As part of a large-scale redevelopment project, the City of Paris sought to gain a clearer understanding of the site's configuration, particularly in the lake area, which is a key feature of the park. To support this effort, BRGM expanded and updated a historical and technical synthesis of the site's structures and subsurface conditions, initially undertaken in 2022. Historical archives document several collapses that occurred during the original construction of the lake between 1864 and 1867, as well as shortly thereafter. These events are attributed to a complex and sensitive geotechnical context. The lake rests on thick layers of clayey and gypsum-rich fill materials, reaching up to 12 meters in thickness in some locations. These fills were used to backfill former open-pit quarries, beneath which older underground quarries are also present. Originally, the lake was not waterproofed, allowing uncontrolled water inflows that weakened the underlying materials and increased instability. After numerous minor and largely ineffective repair attempts, two major reconstruction campaigns were carried out, first in the early twentieth century and later in the 1950s–1960s. During these works, the lake bottom was transformed into a concrete slab supported by approximately 350 piles. This structural solution significantly improved stability, and no major disorders were reported for several decades. However, in 2021, new signs of deterioration were observed, including instabilities along the lake's edges and cracking in the slab. Geophysical surveys conducted in January 2024, including microgravity and ground-penetrating radar investigations, largely confirmed the configuration of the historical structures while identifying several anomalies potentially associated with unstable zones. Subsequent geotechnical boreholes did not reveal large voids beneath the slab but did detect small cavities and weak materials, likely corresponding to altered fill. Together, these studies contributed to assessing ground movement risks and provided essential data for designing future engineering works. |
| Abstract: | Le parc des Buttes-Chaumont à Paris présente des signes de vieillissement et de mouvements de terrain qui ont nécessité de fermer certaines zones au public. Dans le cadre d'un réaménagement d'ampleur, la ville de Paris a souhaité préciser la configuration du secteur, notamment au niveau du lac. Le BRGM a pour cela complété une synthèse historique initiée en 2022. Les archives relatent plusieurs effondrements survenus au niveau du lac au cours de son aménagement (1864-1867) et peu de temps après. Ces mouvements s'expliquent par une configuration géotechnique sensible aux apports d'eau non maitrisés venus du lac. L'ouvrage, originellement non étanchéifié, repose en effet sur des remblais argileux et gypseux, atteignant par endroit 12 m d'épaisseur ; ces remblais comblent d'anciennes carrières à ciel ouvert, en dessous desquelles se trouvent également d'anciennes carrières souterraines. Après de nombreuses petites réparations infructueuses, deux phases de réfection d'ampleur ont été entreprises dans les années 1900-1910, puis 1950-1960 ; le fond du lac est alors « devenu » une dalle portée par 350 pieux environ et il n'est plus apparu de nouveaux désordres d'ampleur. Le BRGM a toutefois observé en 2021 des instabilités sur les bords du lac et des fissures sur ses dalles. Les mesures géophysiques effectuées en janvier 2024 (microgravimétrie et géoradar -BRGM) confirment en grande partie la configuration des ouvrages anciens et identifient plusieurs anomalies, pouvant a priori correspondre à des zones instables. Les sondages géotechniques effectués par la suite n'ont pas révélé de grands vides sous les dalles mais ont détecté quelques petits vides et des matériaux peu résistants correspondant vraisemblablement à des remblais ayant évolué. L'ensemble de ces analyses a alimenté la conception des ouvrages à venir, en permettant notamment 1) d'évaluer les risques de mouvements de terrain et 2) de fournir un plan des ouvrages anciens avec la profondeur supposée des pieux. |
| Keywords: | géotechnique, géophysique, pieu, effondrement, gypse |
| Date: | 2026–04–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05536174 |
| By: | Dong Cheng; Mario J. Crucini; Hanjo T. Kim |
| Abstract: | Aggregate real U.S. GDP fell by roughly 26 percent between 1929 and 1932, yet the severity of the Great Depression varied dramatically across states: CPI-deflated income per capita declined by 15 percent in Maryland but by 48 percent in South Dakota. To analyze this heterogeneity, we digitize Slaughter’s (1937) panel of state-by-sector production income for all 48 U.S. states and construct a novel set of sector- and state-specific deflators, allowing us to separate movements in physical quantities produced from the large relative price changes that occurred during the Great Depression. We then discipline a three-sector, 48-region dynamic spatial stochastic general equilibrium model and recover sequences of sector-state productivity shocks that exactly reproduce the observed sector-state quantity paths. The choice of deflators proves central, as correct deflation shifts the aggregate contraction away from agriculture and toward manufacturing while preserving idiosyncratic income variation across agricultural-dependent states. We further show that narratives based on common or even sector-specific shocks are inconsistent with the observed evolutions of state-level quantities and relative prices. Explaining the geography of the Great Depression therefore requires a high-dimensional sector-state shock structure. |
| JEL: | E32 F44 N12 R13 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35028 |
| By: | Ando, Michihito; Furuichi, Masato |
| Abstract: | Exploiting regional variation in local public spending during the Great Depression in Japan in the early 1930s, this study examines the effects of expansionary fiscal policy on suicide rates. Drawing on historical regional panel data from 1899 to 1938, the analysis shows that increases in local spending alleviated the rise in suicides during the Depression. The effects are particularly pronounced among young men and non-employed individuals. These findings suggest that the unprecedented fiscal stimulus contributed to reducing suicide, particularly among young men, in a manner consistent with an employment channel linked to public works spending. |
| Date: | 2026–03–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:a3yhk_v1 |
| By: | Patrícia C. Melo; Carlos Sampaio; Miguel Gonçalves; Bruno T. Rocha; João de Abreu e Silva; Valentino Cunha |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the evolution of passenger railway accessibility in Portugal over the fifty-year period from 1971 to 2021, combining historical institutional analysis with a newly constructed longitudinal spatial database of railway infrastructure and services. The study documents how waves of line closures, service restructuring, and selective modernisation reshaped the geography of rail accessibility across Portugal’s municipalities. The empirical analyses reveal a pronounced asymmetry in the evolution of rail accessibility. While the overall share of population served by rail declined only moderately, the territorial coverage of the railway network contracted sharply, particularly between 1988-1992 and again between 2008-2013. The elimination of rail services disproportionately affected low-density municipalities in the interior of the country. At the same time, long-distance and suburban services experienced significant improvements in travel times and service levels, reflecting targeted investment and operational modernisation along a limited number of strategic corridors. The results show that gains in long-distance accessibility, especially along the Lisbon-Porto axis and other major intercity routes, coexisted with a marked deterioration of regional connectivity. Urban and suburban rail services also benefited from relatively stable or increasing service levels, reinforcing the concentration of accessibility gains in metropolitan areas. The analysis points to a process of functional specialisation of railways in Portugal, with systematic prioritisation of long-distance intercity services and urban metropolitan services over regional services, with significant implications for territorial cohesion. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:remwps:wp04102026 |
| By: | Hector Galindo-Silva |
| Abstract: | The European colonization of sub-Saharan Africa drove a massive shift from indigenous religions to Christianity, yet the channels through which this transformation occurred remain poorly understood. Using a geographic regression discontinuity design at colonial borders in sub-Saharan Africa, I find that Christian adherence is substantially higher under French and Portuguese direct rule than under British indirect rule -- a gap that implies a correspondingly greater persistence of traditional religions where indirect rule prevailed. Neither mission presence nor pre-colonial political centralization can account for the discontinuity. Instead, the evidence points to the disruption of the inherited social order as the key channel: where direct rule eroded rigid traditional social structures, Christianity -- which bypassed hereditary boundaries -- expanded to fill the void; where indirect rule preserved them, indigenous religions endured. These findings shed light on the dynamics of religious identity change and how it was shaped by colonialism. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2604.04777 |
| By: | YAMAMURA, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a countercultural signaling framework to explain the rise and fall of the punch perm in postwar Japan. Three conditions determined its social salience: the normative condition of democratic selfhood introduced by the postwar occupation, the income condition, and the systemic condition of a dominant social order sufficient to serve as a target for countercultural opposition. The analysis reveals a three-tier masculine appearance structure: the side-parted hairstyle as the elite standard, the crew cut as the working-class conformity signal, and the punch perm as its countercultural negation. The punch perm's peak coincided with the peak of Japan's corporate system in the 1980s. Its collapse reflected the destruction of the systemic condition. The analysis contributes to cultural economy by showing how value is relationally produced through opposition, and how institutional shifts reshape the conditions under which cultural forms acquire and lose social significance. |
| Date: | 2026–04–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:fe7tj_v1 |
| By: | Alice Nicole Sindzingre (ACT - Analyse des Crises et Transitions - LABEX ICCA - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, LAM - Les Afriques dans le monde - IEP Bordeaux - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Bordeaux - UBM - Université Bordeaux Montaigne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | International financial institutions (IFIs, the IMF and the World Bank) and their policies have faced several global crises since the late twentieth century, and these institutions claim that they have implemented significant changes in response. In this context, after examining the polysemy of the concept of change, it is argued that the changes have been limited, and that language plays a key role in maintaining the stability of policies, theories, and the international institutions that convey them. This is illustrated by the empirical example of the formulations of the policies required by the IFIs in Sub-Saharan African economies since the rise of the IFIs' role as policy drivers in the 1980s. Economic outcomes in African countries remain poor and even exhibit a divergence from other regions, with the underlying causalities remaining unchanged (notably, export structures based on commodities). Despite the 'small changes' claimed by theories and policies, evaluating them based on their consequences reveals their underlying stability. |
| Keywords: | epistemology of economics, international financial institutions, Sub-saharan africa |
| Date: | 2025–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05571524 |
| By: | Doepke, Matthias (London School of Economics and Political Science); Klasing, Mariko (University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | Children and their parents resemble each other in terms of economic preferences such as patience and risk tolerance. What drives the intergenerational correlation in preferences? We build a model of preference formation that combines genetic transmission, state influence through childcare institutions, and altruistic parental socialization, where parents seek to endow children with preferences conducive to success. To assess the importance of these channels, we exploit German reunification as a natural experiment that simultaneously removed state indoctrination and transformed economic incentives. For risk tolerance-a trait with arguably high returns during a rapid transition to a market economy-parent-child correlations decline by more than a third among East German families after reunification, consistent with parents actively instilling new values in their children to prepare them for capitalism. For trust and patience, correlations rise as the state withdraws and socialization in the family looms larger. These contrasting patterns suggest that parents do not just aim to reproduce their own preferences but adapt their socialization effort to the world their children will face. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational preference transmission, cultural transmission, German reunification, risk tolerance, family economics |
| JEL: | D10 I20 J13 Z10 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18481 |
| By: | Michel Le Breton (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Paul Castañeda Dower (Unknown); Gunes Gokmen (Unknown); Шломо Вебер (Unknown) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the lasting impact of Cold War alignment on African economic development. To determine alignment and reduce the number of potential outcomes under consideration, we introduce a non-cooperative game of social interactions where each country chooses its bloc based on its predetermined bilateral similarities with other members of the bloc. We are able to use the celebrated MaxCut method to exactly identify the equilibrium partition. The alignment predicts UN General Assembly voting patterns during the Cold War but not after. We find that the alignment produces two clusters of development outcomes today that reflect the Cold War's ideological divide. Western-aligned African countries have greater inequality coupled with deeper financial penetration, while there is no difference in the level of income per capita between the two groups of countries. |
| Keywords: | Cold War, Political Alliances, Africa, Blocs, Development Clusters, Strong, Guerre froide, Alliances politiques, Afrique, Blocs, Pôles de développement, ,Nash Equilibrium, Landscape Theory., Equilibre de Nash fort, Théorie du paysage. |
| Date: | 2026–03–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05573607 |
| By: | Elise Boz-Acquin (UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines) |
| Abstract: | Article 38 of the French Constitution allows the government to legislate in place of Parliament with its enabling legislation, "fictitiously" passing itself off as Parliament. This is all the more useful given that successive governments in recent months have also almost systematically used another procedure, article 49-3, to consolidate their political existence. These two constitutional provisions alone bear witness to the complex relationship between Parliament and government that the 1958 Constitutional Treaty established to streamlining the parliamentary system of the Fifth Republic. However, recent "governmental instabilities" are challenging the original status quo, so that power-sharing between Parliament and Government is now becoming a major issue. This contribution contextualizes the use of this method of legislation by Ordinance, drawing on the historiographical resources of the First World War, complemented by those of the Roman Republic, in order to make an in-depth study of this mechanism, using a reversal decision by the Constitutional Council in 2020 as a starting point for understanding the controversies it raises. |
| Abstract: | L'article 38 de la Constitution permet au gouvernement de légiférer en lieu et place du Parlement avec son habilitation en se faisant passer « fictivement » pour le Parlement. Il est d'autant plus utile que les différents gouvernements qui se sont succédé ces derniers mois ont également utilisé quasi-systématiquement un autre procédé, l'article 49-3, pour consolider leur existence politique. Ces deux dispositions constitutionnelles, instruments du parlementarisme rationalisé que le constituant de 1958 avait organisées pour borner le parlementarisme de la Vème République afin d'éviter les dysfonctionnements de la IIIème République témoignent des relations complexes du Parlement et du gouvernement Mais, les récentes « instabilités gouvernementales » mettent à mal le statu quo initial de sorte que le partage du pouvoir entre le Parlement et le gouvernement devient aujourd'hui un enjeu majeur. La présente contribution tend à analyser ce mode de législation en mobilisant les ressources historiographiques de la Première Guerre mondiale, complétées par celles de la République romaine, afin de faire une étude approfondie de ce mécanisme en contextualisant le recours à celui-ci et ce, à partir d'une décision de revirement du Conseil constitutionnel de 2020, pour comprendre les polémiques qu'elle soulève. |
| Keywords: | Government, Public law in the republican era, World War, Article 38 of the Constitution (Ordinance), Parliament, Droit public de l'ère républicaine, Première guerre mondiale, Article 38 de la Constitution, Parlement, Gouvernement |
| Date: | 2025–07–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05543310 |
| By: | Badr Guelida (UM5 - Université Mohammed V de Rabat [Agdal]) |
| Abstract: | Real property is one of the fundamental rights that one seeks to own. It plays a significant role in meeting both social and economic needs. The concept of economic real property takes its origins from the Romanian law reflects two opposing facets: the first is expressed as "positive ownership", which is the effective exercise of management power over a thing that one does not legally own, potentially to realize benefits , in one's own interest and in the interest of the legal owner, the latter being certain to eventually gain full ownership of the asset itself or a substituted asset, or its value.and the second as "passive ownership" whereas at the end of the term, for the complete ownership of an asset (or of a substituted asset or its value) for which one is not the legal owner, and on which the legal owner exercises, during this time, the power of management in the interest, for the benefit, of the economic owner to whom can possibly be added (but never exclusively) their own interest. This paper aims to examine how real estate property is impacted by economic factors in Moroccan and comparative law. The comparative legal methodology is adopted to study the spirit of the different legal systems, namely the French law due to historical considerations and the Anglo-Saxon law. The findings of the study reveal that economic factors contribute to the development emersion of a novel approach to real property. |
| Abstract: | La propriété immobilière constitue l'un des droits fondamentaux auxquels tout individu aspire. Elle joue un rôle essentiel dans la satisfaction des besoins à la fois sociaux et économiques. Le concept de propriété immobilière économique trouve son origine dans le droit romain, qui met en évidence deux facettes opposées : La première, dite « propriété positive », correspond à l'exercice effectif du pouvoir de gestion sur une chose dont on n'est pas le propriétaire légal, dans le but d'en tirer des avantages, à la fois dans son propre intérêt et dans celui du propriétaire légal. Ce dernier est assuré d'obtenir, à terme, la pleine propriété du bien lui-même, d'un bien de remplacement ou de sa valeur. La seconde, dite « propriété passive », renvoie à la situation inverse : à la fin du terme, la pleine propriété d'un bien (ou d'un bien de remplacement, ou de sa valeur) revient à une personne qui n'en est pas le propriétaire légal, tandis que, durant cette période, le propriétaire légal exerce le pouvoir de gestion du bien dans l'intérêt et au bénéfice du propriétaire économique, auquel peut éventuellement s'ajouter (sans jamais l'exclure totalement) son propre intérêt. Cette étude a pour objectif d'examiner comment la propriété immobilière est influencée par les facteurs économiques dans le droit marocain et dans une perspective de droit comparé. La méthodologie juridique comparative est adoptée afin d'analyser l'esprit des différents systèmes juridiques, notamment le droit français, pour des raisons historiques, et le droit anglo-saxon. Les résultats de cette recherche révèlent que les facteurs économiques contribuent à l'émergence et au développement d'une nouvelle approche du droit de propriété immobilière. |
| Keywords: | Comparative law, Propriété immobilière, Real contract, Real property, Economic property, Droit comparé, Fiducie, Contrat immobilier, Trust propriété économique |
| Date: | 2026–01–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05545019 |
| By: | Song, Xianwei (Shandong University of Finance and Economics) |
| Abstract: | In Capital, on the assumption that the values of the means of production are not transformed, Marx proves that total value equals total production price, and total surplus value equals total profit. Later, when many Marxist economists relax this assumption, they find that the two aggregate equalities no longer hold simultaneously. For more than a century, this has been one of the main problems plaguing Marxian economists. This paper shows that the reason for the problem is that the calculation ranges of the two aggregate equalities are inconsistent, that is, the calculation of total surplus value and total profit does not include all the surplus value and profit in the total value and total price. Assuming that the total exploitation rate is constant before and after the transformation, the two aggregate equalities must be valid at the same time if the calculation ranges are consistent. |
| Date: | 2026–04–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9fmau_v1 |
| By: | A De Palma; Myriam Reiss (CY Cergy Paris Université, THEMA) |
| Abstract: | Ce chapitre examine la miniature de Jean Fouquet représentant la construction du Temple de Salomon comme une mise en image de l’organisation des chantiers de cathédrales médiévales. Il soutient que cette représentation offre une description détaillée et structurée du travail collectif, révélant un système fondé sur la division du travail, des interdépendances productives et des mécanismes de coordination institutionnalisés. À travers cette lecture, la cathédrale apparaît non seulement comme un monument religieux, mais aussi comme un système productif complexe. L’analyse situe d’abord la miniature dans le contexte historique plus large du « temps des cathédrales », marqué par la croissance urbaine, la consolidation politique et l’expansion économique. Elle se concentre ensuite sur la représentation du chantier par Fouquet, en montrant comment celle-ci rend visibles la hiérarchie des métiers, la spécialisation des tâches et la coordination entre les corporations. Le chapitre explore également les fondements économiques et institutionnels de cette organisation, notamment les modes de financement, le rôle des pouvoirs ecclésiastiques et séculiers, ainsi que la formalisation progressive des métiers et des structures de travail. En s’appuyant sur la théorie économique, le chantier de cathédrale est interprété comme un système de tâches interdépendantes nécessitant une forte coordination et générant des processus d’apprentissage cumulatif. Cette approche conduit à une interprétation plus large de la cathédrale comme une forme précoce de plateforme de coordination. Contrairement aux plateformes modernes, principalement orientées vers la captation et la monétisation de l’attention, la cathédrale médiévale intègre, dans un même cadre spatial et social, attention, production et structures institutionnelles.Le chapitre se conclut par un parallèle avec l’incendie de Notre-Dame de Paris en 2019, qui a suscité une mobilisation mondiale sans précédent. Cet événement illustre la capacité persistante de la cathédrale à concentrer l’attention et à la transformer en ressources économiques et symboliques, confirmant ainsi sa pertinence en tant que plateforme à travers le temps. |
| Keywords: | Plateforme, Jean Fouquet, temple, centralité, attracteur, mobilisation |
| JEL: | N33 D23 Z20 Z11 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2026-06 |
| By: | DENG, Yongheng; INOUE, Tomoo; NISHIMURA, Kiyohiko; SHIMIZU, Chihiro |
| Abstract: | Why have the world's most rapidly aging economies experienced decades of low inflation followed by emerging supply-side price pressures? We propose a mechanism based on the interaction between demographic change and the irreversibility of physical capital. In a three-generation overlapping-generations model with Calvo pricing and irreversible investment (Ii ≥ 0), durable capital built during the demographic bonus period cannot be rapidly scrapped when population declines, creating a prolonged overhang of productive capacity relative to demand. As depreciation gradually erodes this overhang and the labor force continues to shrink, the economy eventually transitions from structural excess supply to a supply-constrained regime. Reduced-form evidence from 38 economies over 1965- 2019 is consistent with the model's predictions: aging is associated with lower inflation, the Phillips curve slope declines with the elderly share, and countries that experienced migration-driven population reversals exhibit more stable slopes-patterns that the irreversibility mechanism can account for. We interpret the negative Phillips curve slope estimated for Japan after 2015 as suggestive of the onset of the supply-constrained phase, though causal identification remains an important limitation of the international panel design. |
| Keywords: | population aging, inflation, irreversible investment, overlapping generations, supply constraints, international panel data |
| JEL: | E22 E31 E52 J11 O41 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:rcesrs:dp26-3 |
| By: | Autor, David (MIT); Chin, Caroline (MIT); Salomons, Anna (Tilburg University and Utrecht University); Seegmiller, Bryan (Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of expertise in new work—novel occupational roles that emerge as technological and economic conditions evolve—using newly available 1940 and 1950 Census Complete Count files and confidential American Community Survey data from 2011–2023. We show that new work is systematically distinct from simply more work in existing occupations in four respects. First, it attracts workers with distinct characteristics: new work is disproportionately performed by younger and more educated workers, even within detailed occupation-industry cells. Second, new work commands wage premiums that persist beyond workers’ initial entry into new work, consistent with returns to scarce, specialized expertise rather than temporary market disequilibrium. Third, these premiums decline across vintages as expertise diffuses, with ‘newer’ new work commanding larger premiums. Fourth, the emergence of new work can be traced to regional demand shocks, suggesting that expertise formation responds to economic opportunities. These findings suggest that new work is a countervailing force to automation-driven job displacement not merely by creating additional employment, butby generating new domains of human expertise that command market premiums. |
| Keywords: | new work, technological change, occupations, tasks |
| JEL: | E24 J11 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18504 |