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on Business, Economic and Financial History |
| By: | Reynolds, Nicholas (University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | The secular trend of growth in height suddenly slowed for Americans born after the middle of the 20th century, and the health and human capital of these cohorts as adults appears to have declined, or at least stagnated, more broadly. This paper presents evidence that the physical growth of these unhealthy cohorts was particularly stunted during adolescence. Using data from NHANES and its predecessors, I show that males born in the 1960s were the same height in childhood as those born a decade earlier, but then fell behind and were half an inch shorter in adolescence. By adulthood, the heights of the two cohorts were nearly identical. This suggests that males born in the 1960s had a later or smaller adolescent growth spurt than those born a decade earlier. Similar patterns are not evident in the height of females; however, females born in the 1960s experienced menarche later than those born a decade earlier. The delayed puberty of cohorts born in the 1960s appears to be a short-term blip in a long-run trend towards earlier puberty. The findings strongly suggest that something had already gone wrong by at least adolescence for American cohorts born after mid-century. |
| Keywords: | height, health, human capital, cohorts, early-life |
| JEL: | I14 J13 N32 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18046 |
| By: | Cantoni, Davide; Yuchtman, Noam |
| Abstract: | In 2024, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson (AJR) received the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. These three scholars were recognized “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.” This paper reviews the contributions of these three scholars to our understanding of the institutional causes of historical and contemporary economic development. We place their work in the context of the intellectual history of the fields of economics and economic history: these authors pioneered the quantitative analysis of historical natural experiments to identify the causal effects of political institutions. We then discuss a less widely discussed contribution of their work: the identification of historically contingent causal effects. Historical contingency, we argue, is at the heart of AJR’s conceptual and empirical insights. These insights clarify transformative processes in historical development, including: (i) European colonialism; (ii) the Atlantic Trade; and, (iii) the French Revolution. More generally, they have implications for how we think about the path-dependence of political institutions and economic development: history has a long shadow, but that shadow shifts over time. |
| Keywords: | political institutions; economic development; natural experiments; historical contingency; critical junctures; Nobel Prize |
| JEL: | N00 B00 P00 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127989 |
| By: | Rémy Campos (HEM-GE - Haute École de Musique de Genève, CNSMDP - Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris); Guillaume Cot (Scènes du monde, création, savoirs critiques - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - INHA, RIRRA 21 - Représenter, Inventer la Réalité, du Romantisme au XXIe siècle - UMPV - Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry); Anne-Madeleine Goulet (CESR - Centre d'études supérieures de la Renaissance UMR 7323 - MCC - Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - UT - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Suzanne Rochefort (CRULH - Centre de Recherche Universitaire Lorrain d'Histoire - UL - Université de Lorraine, UL - Université de Lorraine) |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04847578 |
| By: | Tetsuji Okazaki (Meiji Gakuin University) |
| Abstract: | During World War II, the Japanese government carried out a large-scale mobilization of the labor force for war production. To move young and middle-aged men into the military and strategic industries where they were essential, the government restricted male employment in certain designated industries where female workers could substitute for male workers. Women were regarded as a major source of labor, in addition to men in "nonessential and nonurgent" industries and (male) students. Exploiting the variation in the regulation of male employment across industries, we conducted a simple regression analysis to investigate the impact of the war on the female labor force participation, using industry-level panel data from 1920 to 1970. We found that the female employment ratio in the industries where male employment was restricted increased relative to the other industries from 1940, and that this effect continued until 1970. This suggests that wartime labor mobilization had a positive impact on female labor participation, and that the impact was persistent. The case study on banks indicates that major banks indeed made efforts to substitute female for male employees, and that they changed the internal organization and rules of the banks to achieve this, which is one of the reasons for the persistence of the impact. |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2025cf1256 |
| By: | Lin, Huan Chang (I-Shou University); Chen, Yi-Chun |
| Abstract: | This study reinterprets the phrase "jí yú qiū yì" (急於丘役) from Sun Tzu’s Art of War ("The Use of Troops" chapter), arguing that it does not refer to institutional conscription by rulers but rather signifies the desperate flight of civilians into mountainous wilderness to engage in "survival labor" (private/subsistence corvée) due to wartime economic collapse. The research employs three methodological approaches: Linguistic archaeology—deconstructing the semantic evolution of "jí yú" (volitional urgency), "qiū" (marginal spaces), and "yì" (gray/illicit labor). Historical pathology—analyzing Warring States-era refugee phenomena and household registry collapse using excavated texts (e.g., Liye Qin slips). Theoretical synthesis—constructing a "political economy of exodus" framework to dialogue with Western theories (Hobbes’ social contract, Scott’s Zomia, Tilly’s state formation). The findings offer historical insights for contemporary refugee governance, demonstrating how premodern China’s collapse dynamics anticipate modern state fragility patterns. |
| Date: | 2025–08–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:wm4c2_v1 |
| By: | Grant Fleming; Frank Liu; David Merrett; Simon Ville |
| Abstract: | We analyse prize winners at international exhibitions held in Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century as a means of estimating the significance of female inventors. It provides an alternative measure from the more common focus on patents. While both methodologies – patents and exhibitions – have shortcomings, exhibitions appear to be more inclusive of sectors in which female inventiveness was concentrated including apparel, textiles and the creative arts. This is confirmed by the larger share of women inventors as exhibition prize-winners compared with patentees. Female patentees and prize-winners possessed similar characteristics – many were married, lived locally, and were occasional and individualist in their creative habits. |
| Keywords: | Female inventors; Australia; international exhibitions; prize winners; creative industries; patenting |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:133 |
| By: | Clay, Karen (Carnegie Mellon University); Hernandez-Cortes, Danae (Arizona State University); Jha, Akshaya (Carnegie Mellon University); Lewis, Joshua (University of Montreal); Miller, Noah (University of Southern California); Severnini, Edson (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relative contributions of siting decisions and post-siting demographic shifts to current disparities in exposure to polluting fossil-fuel plants in the United States. Our analysis leverages newly digitized data on power plant siting and operations from 1900-2020, combined with spatially resolved demographics and population data from the U.S Census from 1870-2020. We find little evidence that fossil-fuel plants were disproportionately sited in counties with higher Black population shares on average. However, event study estimates indicate that Black population share grows in the decades after the first fossil-fuel plant is built in a county, with average increases in Black population share of 4 percentage points in the 50-70 years after first siting. These long-run demographic shifts are driven by counties that first hosted a fossil-fuel plant between 1900-1949. We close by exploring how these long-run demographic shifts were shaped by the Great Migration, differential sorting in response to pollution, and other factors. Our findings highlight that the equity implications of siting long-lived infrastructure can differ dramatically depending on the time span considered. |
| Keywords: | environmental justice, fossil-fuel power plants, infrastructure siting, demographic shifts |
| JEL: | N52 N92 Q40 Q52 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18052 |
| By: | John R. Logan; H. Jacob Carlson; Jongho Won |
| Abstract: | This study examines Hispanic Americans’ residential settlement patterns nationwide in the last 120 years. Drawing on newly available neighborhood data for the whole country as early as 1900, it documents the direction and timing of changes in two aspects of their location. First, it charts Hispanics’ transition from a predominantly rural population to majority metropolitan by 1930 and also their growing presence in all regions of the U.S. while still maintaining a predominance in the West and Texas. Second, it provides the first evidence of the long-term trajectory of their segregation from whites in the metropolitan areas where they were settling. As shown by studies of more recent decades, Hispanics were never as segregated as African Americans. Nonetheless, similar to African Americans, their segregation from whites increased to high levels through the middle of the century, followed by slow decline. For both groups metropolitan segregation was driven mainly by segregation among central city neighborhoods prior to the 1940s. But new forms of segregation – a growing city/suburb divide and increasing segregation among suburban places – have become the largest contributors to segregation today. |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:25-50 |
| By: | Mark A. Carlson |
| Abstract: | There was a banking panic in New Mexico in early 1924 when about one-fourth of the banks in the state closed temporarily or permanently amid widespread runs. The Federal Reserve used both high profile and behind the scenes operations to calm the panic. This paper provides a history of this episode and explores how conspicuous and inconspicuous aspects of the Federal Reserve’s response interacted to bolster confidence in the banking system. |
| Keywords: | Banking Panic; New Mexico; Federal Reserve; Lender of Last Resort |
| JEL: | G01 N21 |
| Date: | 2025–08–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-64 |
| By: | Brandão, Tiago |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a critical historical analysis of the intellectual and institutional precursors to the open innovation paradigm. Challenging the perception of open innovation as a radical departure from earlier models, the paper demonstrates that many of its core principles—such as external collaboration, absorptive capacity, and distributed knowledge flows—have deep roots in 20th-century innovation practices and theories. Through an extensive review of foundational literature in innovation studies, strategic management, and organizational learning, this extended paper traces how ideas of inter-firm cooperation, technological brokering, and institutional embeddedness shaped current open innovation frameworks. Emphasis is placed on the path-dependent nature of absorptive capacity, the strategic management of complementary assets, and the evolution of innovation networks. By revisiting contributions from Mowery, Teece, Cohen and Levinthal, March, Hagedoorn, Powell, and others, the study repositions open innovation within a broader intellectual trajectory, offering a more nuanced understanding of its origins and limitations. |
| Date: | 2025–08–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2nbs3_v1 |
| By: | Grant Fleming; Frank Liu; David Merrett; Simon Ville |
| Abstract: | We examine the extent of inventiveness by women in Australia, especially Victoria of patent applications that included a woman although this remained small compared to male only applications. Women came from a variety of backgrounds and geographic areas although with some emphasis on married middle-class women from the main cities. Most women patented only once, did so by themselves, and focussed on femalefriendly industries. Although Australia’s geographic location and economic development process have been distinctive, we find very similar results to those in northern hemisphere industrial nations. We also find a number of similarities to Australian female investors although a much smaller community than the latter. All of this points to general forces at work in the evolving economic role of women. |
| Keywords: | Female inventors; patents; Australia; investing; revealed technological advantage |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:132 |
| By: | Lin, Huan-Chang Ph.D. (I-Shou University) |
| Abstract: | This study conducts a semantic reconstruction and strategic reinterpretation of the phrase “Ji Yu Qiu Yi” (急於丘役) from the “Waging War” chapter of The Art of War by Sun Tzu, challenging the conventional interpretation that equates it with state-imposed conscription or public labor mobilization. Employing a hermeneutic approach and a socio-linguistic perspective, combined with the institutional context of the Warring States period and contemporary sociological theories, this paper proposes that “Qiu Yi” denotes a survival-driven response manifested as displaced, non-institutional labor emerging from systemic disorder and institutional collapse following military defeat. This phrase, rather than illustrating centralized governance, unveils the disintegration of national mobilization capacity, the breakdown of social order, and the fragmentation of the populace. At the semantic level, “Qiu” (丘) transcends its literal meaning as a mound or battlefield, symbolizing a disordered social domain characterized by involuntary gathering and dispersal; “Yi” (役) refers to marginalized, non-voluntary labor detached from institutional protections. This reinterpretation resonates with contemporary phenomena such as the rise of the gig economy, failures in strategic governance, and early indicators of systemic collapse, revealing an embedded early-warning logic within Sun Tzu’s military treatise. The phrase “Ji Yu Qiu Yi” is thus reframed as a linguistic signal of strategic imbalance, offering a novel perspective on dynamic governance, social resilience, and national security risks in the modern era. The contributions of this research are threefold: (1) rectifying long-standing semantic misinterpretations and Western interpretive biases in classical texts; (2) developing an interpretive framework that integrates semantic reconstruction with historical context and sociological insights; and (3) underscoring the pivotal role of popular agency in the collapse of strategic systems and governance structures, providing profound implications for understanding contemporary gig economies, policy failures, and public sentiment fragmentation. This paper bridges historical linguistics, institutional sociology, and strategic hermeneutics in its reinterpretation of classical Chinese texts. |
| Date: | 2025–08–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:um8xy_v2 |
| By: | Connor, Dylan Shane; Kemeny, Tom; Storper, Michael |
| Abstract: | This article examines the role of work at the cutting of technological change - frontier work - as a driver of prosperity and spatial income inequality. Using new methods and data, we analyze the geography and incomes of frontier workers from 1880 to 2019. Initially, frontier work is concentrated in a set of 'seedbed' locations, contributing to rising spatial inequality through powerful localized wage premiums. As technologies mature, the economic distinctiveness of frontier work diminishes, as ultimately happened to cities like Manchester and Detroit. Our work uncovers a plausible general origin story of the unfolding of spatial income inequality. |
| Keywords: | cities; industrial revolutions; inequality; technological change; wages |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:123950 |
| By: | Leonardo Perini (University of Torino); Enrico Bertacchini (University of Torino); Roberto Zanola (University of Eastern Piedmont) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the impact of movie censorship in post-war Italy, a topic largely examined from historical perspectives but rarely through quantitative empirical economic analysis, especially in democratic nations. Using a unique dataset from the Ministry of Culture covering over 13, 000 films (1948–1974), the research categorizes censorship interventions and enriches them with additional film characteristics. The analysis investigates how factors such as morality, violence, crime incitement, and concerns about Italy’s international image influenced censorship decisions. It also considers the broader institutional and socio-demographic context, with preliminary findings highlighting the role of political dynamics in shaping censorship policies. |
| Keywords: | Censorship, Movie, ITSA, Italy |
| JEL: | Z1 C6 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-05-2025 |
| By: | Luisa Corrado; Stefano Grassi; Aldo Paolillo (Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | Recent studies suggest that space activities generate significant economic benefits. This paper attempts to quantify these effects by modelling both business cycle and long-run effects driven by space sector activities. We develop a model in which technologies are shaped by both a dedicated R&D sector and spillovers from space-sector innovations. Using U.S. data from the 1960s to the present day, we analyse patent grants to distinguish between space and core sector technologies. By leveraging the network of patent citations, we further examine the evolving dependence between space and core technologies over time. Our findings highlight the positive impact of the aerospace sector on technological innovation and economic growth, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s. |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jbs:wpaper:202502 |
| By: | John Coglianese; Seth Murray; Christopher J. Nekarda |
| Abstract: | The official labor force statistics often exhibit discontinuities in January, when updated population estimates are incorporated into the Current Population Survey (CPS) for the current year but are not revised backward through history. We construct harmonized population estimates spanning five decades and produce new weights for the CPS microdata that are benchmarked to these estimates. Using these weights, we estimate harmonized labor force statistics that reflect the latest available information about the population and its characteristics. The harmonized labor force series are free from the discontinuities in the historical data and show a notably larger labor force shortfall in the post-pandemic period. |
| Keywords: | Population; Labor force; Employment; Unemployment; Immigration; CPS |
| JEL: | C80 E24 |
| Date: | 2025–08–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-57 |
| By: | Sarracino, Francesco; Slater, Giulia |
| Abstract: | Nearly one hundred years ago, John M. Keynes envisioned a future where material concerns would fade, allowing individuals to focus on leisure and well-being. Similar expectations were common in Keynes' days, when industrial progress promised to yield productivity gains, which would increase wages and lift workers out of poverty. Freed from material constraints, individuals would devote more attention to personal interests, relationships, and quality of life. One hundred years later, history proved that Keynes was right about economic growth, but individuals remain focused on material concerns at the expense of quality of life and of the environment. Why did economic activity deliver affluent, but socially and environmentally unsustainable societies? What possibilities are there for our future, the one of our grandchildren? In this article, we first review the evidence on the unsustainability of the current economic model. We discuss the role of economic growth for well-being, providing new evidence on defensive consumption, and illustrating a new explanation of unsustainability. We then discuss Neo-humanism, an evidence-based narrative to promote sustainable quality of life, ensures thriving lives in socially and environmentally sustainable societies. A shift towards sustainable quality of life is possible thanks to the insights from decades of research in this field. |
| Keywords: | neo-humanism, subjective well-being, post-growth, sustainability, social capital, quality of life, defensive growth, beyond GDP |
| JEL: | I00 I3 I31 O10 P0 Q50 |
| Date: | 2025–07–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:125369 |
| By: | Raimi, Daniel (Resources for the Future); Doctor, Sarah; Kaufman, Noah; Whitlock, Zachary (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | In the early years of the shale revolution, some prominent voices argued that the boom would be short-lived (Hughes 2013). As recently as 2018, some warned that the inevitable bust would even pose risks to the US financial system (McLean 2018). But today, more than 15 years after companies began producing substantial quantities of natural gas and oil from shale and other “tight” rocks, the revolution marches onward, with US oil and gas production at all-time highs. In 2023, the country produced about 13 million barrels of crude oil per day (mb/d) and more than 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (EIA 2024a, 2024b) and was the global leader in both categories. |
| Date: | 2025–02–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:ibrief:ib-25-04 |
| By: | Ozili, Peterson K; Okeke, Esther Ngozika; Obiora, Kingsley I. |
| Abstract: | Wars occur frequently in the world today. Wars cause economic distortions, and they lead to adverse human, economic and social consequences. Monetary policy actions can be used to cushion the adverse effects of war on the economy. Monetary authorities can respond to war by developing wartime monetary policy frameworks to control inflation and to support the war economy throughout the war. This article explores some monetary policy options that central banks can adopt during war. They include increase interest rate at the start of the war to control inflation expectations, hold interest rate at the same level when there is high uncertainty around war, decrease interest rate when war is battering the economy on multiple fronts, decrease cash reserve requirements on bank deposits during war as was observed in Russia, keep liquidity ratio fixed or increase it during war as was seen in Ukraine, the sale of government securities during war should be considered as well as and the unpopular and least advisable option of printing money to increase money supply during war. The recommended wartime monetary policy options in the study are useful to economists, central banks and governments who are facing war in their countries. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy; central bank interest rate; monetary policy rate; war; economic impact of war; inflation; cash reserve ratio; money supply; liquidity ratio; interest rate; banks |
| JEL: | E42 E44 E51 E52 E58 E59 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:125397 |
| By: | Brigitte Gouesnard (UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Yacine Diaw (ISRA - Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles [Dakar]); Laurène Gay (UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Joëlle Ronfort (UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Jacques David (UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | Maize landraces (Zea mays subsp. mays) have evolved under the joint action of environmental factors and of the farmers who cultivated them. In this study, we aim to quantify the selection gradients exerted by farmers by proposing them a selection test consisting in choosing the ears they would select if they were to grow maize landraces the following year. The study focused on the Pyrenees region of France, where landraces were cultivated until the arrival of hybrids in the 1960s and conserved ex-situ ever since. We interviewed former Pyrenean farmers or their children who were cultivating landraces 60 years ago. The survey documented seed management practices and know-how. Our selection test showed that their selection was based solely on ears: old farmers selected healthy and productive ears by using ear length and volume as the first two selection criteria. Both were highly correlated with the kernel weight per ear. Heritabilities of ear traits at an individual plant level were estimated in one trial for four landraces and were found variable between traits and landraces (average 0.36 ranging between 0 and 0.76). We calculated the expected genetic change after one generation of mass selection, following farmer selection criteria. For ear length, genetic change was expected to reach about 3.4% (from 1 to 7.5% over the 17 selection tests). We investigated seed selection practices both east and west of the Pyrenees and compared them qualitatively with those of native American farmers. |
| Keywords: | Heritability, Seed management, Landraces, Ethnobotanical survey, Zea mays subsp. mays, Mass selection |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05210925 |
| By: | Fanfani, Bernardo (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This study documents the evolution of minimum wages bargained in Italian private sector collective contracts over a forty-year period (1983-2023). Minimum wages have grown in real levels over the last three decades, particularly among high-skilled occupations, but this growth has been partially eroded by the 2022-2023 inflation crisis. Nominal minimum wage growth is strongly correlated with past inflation and very weakly correlated with sectoral productivity growth and unemployment dynamics, which is consistent with strong coordination across industries and real wage rigidity. Increasing differences between high- and low-skilled occupation minimum wages can explain around one-third of the overall growth in the inequality of full-time equivalent daily wages that has occurred in Italy during the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | industrial relations, wage rigidity, wage inequality, minimum wage, collective bargaining |
| JEL: | J31 J38 J52 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18051 |
| By: | Arnaud Le Marchand (IDEES - Identité et Différenciation de l’Espace, de l’Environnement et des Sociétés - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - ULH - Université Le Havre Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IRIHS - Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Homme et Société - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université) |
| Abstract: | The chapter relates over 30 years of fieldwork in the port city of Le Havre. As port labor markets evolved, primarily through containerization, from localized to globalized markets, the researcher was led to adopt changes in his way of doing fieldwork. The practice of distancing, or how to distance oneself from the place and people to study, constituted a first reflection on conducting research in industrial relations, in very localized but interconnected systems such as ports. This involved using a mix of tools, such as interviews and archives, and confronting the limits of both cultural and material approaches. To understand how a particular type of industrial district (the port community) was transformed within the global maritime labor market required making comparisons, which prompted the local researcher to go abroad. Finally, as the spread of neoliberal policies during globalization modifies the social landscape and networks, the local port is crossed by flows of mobile workers and migrants. Mobile housing becomes an object of research when poor globalized workers come to settle in the city. Among them, Roma migrants and seasonal workers taught me at last an ancient way of inquiring: dockwalking. The study of industrial relations is endless and must combine many methods. |
| Date: | 2024–06–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05112834 |
| By: | Stefan Buechele (University of Kassel, INCHER and Institute of Economics); Guido Buenstorf (University of Kassel, INCHER and Institute of Economics); Matthias Huegel (University of Kassel, INCHER and Institute of Economics); Johannes Koenig (University of Kassel, INCHER and Institute of Economics; IAB Institute for Employment Research, Saarbruecken); Maria Theissen (University of Kassel, INCHER and Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Previous research has shown that a large fraction of tenured university faculty in the U.S. and other countries were trained at a small number of highly prestigious universities. The question remains whether this concentration is due to competitive advantages held by candidates from these universities, or whether it merely reflects the larger output of early-career researchers aspiring to faculty positions by these universities. To address this question, we analyze data covering the full population of doctoral graduates in Germany since the 1960s. Similar to studies of the U.S. system of higher education, we observe a strong concentration of professors trained at only a small number of universities. However, we find no evidence indicating that the prestige of the doctoral degree-granting university systematically affects individuals’ odds of being appointed to professorships. Despite increasing stratification tendencies, our results do not indicate that the importance of the degree-granting university for academic careers has increased. While doctoral graduates from top-tier universities are more likely to secure faculty positions at similar institutions, this is mostly due to returns to their own alma mater after initial appointments elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | Faculty appointment, university prestige, stratification, academic labor market, professorship, Germany, Habilitation |
| JEL: | I24 J24 J40 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:202516 |
| By: | Ms. Nan Li; Sergii Meleshchuk; Qiuyan Yin; Dennis Zhao; Robert Zymek |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces the Bilateral Trade in Services (BiTS) database. It draws on a range of sources to provide the broadest-possible, consistent coverage of bilateral services trade for the period 1985-2023. The database covers bilateral trade across 12 major services categories, 9 of which are further disaggregated into 26 distinct subcategories, all harmonized under a consistent BPM6 classification standard. While historical data is only available for some advanced economies and emerging markets, the bilateral flows contained in BiTS capture most of global services trade from 2000 onwards. We illustrate the uses of this data through two research applications. The first shows that "gravity forces" have become less powerful in explaining services trade patterns over time, due to a shift in the composition of trade towards less distance-sensitive services. The second documents that overall services trade remains resilient to growing geopolitical fissures, but that modern services appear more sensitive to geopolitical alignment than traditional services. |
| Keywords: | bilateral trade; services; gravity; distance elasticity; geoeconomic fragmentation |
| Date: | 2025–08–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2025/163 |
| By: | Riste Ichev; Rok Spruk |
| Abstract: | We assess the broad repercussions of Yemen's 2011 revolution and subsequent civil war on its macroeconomic trajectories, human development, and quality of governance by constructing counterfactual benchmarks using a balanced panel of 37 developing countries over 1990-2022. Drawing on matrix-completion estimators with alternative shrinkage regimes and a LASSO-augmented synthetic-control method, we generate Yemen's hypothetical no-conflict paths for key macroeconomic aggregates, demographic and health indicators, and governance metrics. Across the full spectrum of methods, the conflict's outbreak corresponds with a dramatic reversal of economic and institutional development. We find that output and income experience an unprecedented contraction, investment and trade openness deteriorate sharply, and gains in life expectancy and human development are broadly reversed. Simultaneously, measures of political accountability, administrative capacity, rule of law, and corruption control collapse, reflecting systemic institutional breakdown. The concordance of results across a variety of empirical strategies attests to the robustness of our estimates. |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2507.08512 |
| By: | Krassen Stanchev |
| Abstract: | Since 1989, flat tax (FT) reforms have been attempted in Europe and the EU only by ex-communist countries and Iceland. In the 1990s all ex-communist countries lowered and simplified their income taxes, often starting with corporate taxes. In the late 1990s and early 2000s they also reformed their social security systems. In many respects the tax reforms have never stopped, but with regard to income taxation they are less radical than in the 1990s and at the turn of this century. Even when there were reforms re-establishing progressive taxation, they have almost never returned to complex sets of nominal rates and a steep vertical ladder of progressive thresholds. This report attempts to reconstruct the reasons why EU countries moved to introduce proportional taxation on either corporate or personal income, or both, as well as the reasons behind five of them returning to progressive taxation. These reforms happened in different political and economic contexts. It would be difficult to identify unequivocal causality between flattening taxes and economic performance. However, the report compares the dynamics of economic growth and factors related to competitiveness for periods before and after the reforms were launched. The same effort has been made for indicators of wealth and disposable income. The analysis allows for a discussion of lessons learnt and of the prospects for further reforms. The report concludes that it seems impossible to prove that FT systems have been a key contributor to higher economic growth. However, it does seem that, if the social security contributions remain relatively stable and are financed by other tax revenues, they have a positive impact on fiscal performance and general welfare. |
| Keywords: | tax system, tax reform, proportional taxation, progressive taxation, corporate tax, personal income tax, economic performance, ex-communist countries, EU |
| JEL: | E62 H23 H24 H25 H26 H31 H32 |
| Date: | 2023–12–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sec:mbanks:0175 |