- current issue
Labor, wages, and living standards in Java, 1680-1914
De Zwart, P., Van Zanden, J. L., 2015-09-14 12:47:35 AM
The development of living standards in Java has long been a subject of scholarly interest. A number of scholars have suggested that between 1600 and 1900 Southeast Asian living standards declined significantly. The present article contributes to these issues by calculating long-term real wages for Java between 1680 and 1914, following Allen's subsistence basket methodology. New data on wages and prices were collected from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) archives and connected to data on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The resultant long-term real wage developments show a slightly different picture of Javanese living standards than that which has emerged from the literature to date.Did the Great Deflation of 1929-33 really have to happen? A reconsideration of the inevitability of the Great Deflation view
Dąbrowski, M. A., 2015-09-14 12:47:35 AM
The article challenges the hypothesis that the Great Deflation was an inevitable outcome of the resumption of gold convertibility at prewar parities. The alternative that the relative prices of gold tended to gravitate one to another is derived from the conventional gold standard model and Cassel's insights into purchasing power of currency. It is demonstrated that (1) although the relative price of gold returned to its prewar level the adjustment was driven by differences between countries rather than the absolute deviation from the prewar level; (2) mutually inconsistent monetary policies of major central banks were important for deflation dynamics.Modern Greece's first industry? The shipbuilding center of sailing merchant marine of Syros, 1830-70
Delis, A., 2015-09-14 12:47:35 AM
Wooden shipbuilding represented a very important economic activity in Greece during the nineteenth century, and it was strictly related to the growth of the Greek-owned merchant marine. Particularly in Hermoupolis of Syros, a major commercial and shipping center of the same period, wooden shipbuilding experienced unprecedented rates of growth, helping it to become one of the major shipbuilding centers of the Mediterranean. The article examines whether this activity can be characterized as the first industry of Modern Greece before the introduction of the factory system. The analysis includes an overview of the level of industrialization during the period 1830–70, the conditions of the establishment and growth of wooden shipbuilding in Hermoupolis, its occurrence at a national and international level, its contribution to the local and national economy, and last but not least, the specific aspects that may perhaps be seen as factors in the "industrialization" of a craft-based activity.Institutions versus demand: determinants of agricultural development in Saxony, 1660-1850
Pfister, U., Kopsidis, M., 2015-09-14 12:47:35 AM
The study produces new data on the long-term development of vegetable foodstuff output and average labor productivity in Saxon agriculture c. 1660–1850. This territory saw an early development of a large, but spatially dispersed industrial sector and an agrarian reform in 1832. We establish, first, that food demand from the labor force of the non-agricultural sectors promoted agricultural development in the absence of urbanization as well; nevertheless, the spatial dispersion of demand limited the pace of growth. Second, agrarian reform had no effect on output and productivity growth. This is because, on the one hand, the reform consisted mainly in a redistribution of income from land in the long run and did not affect incentive structures. On the other hand, property rights during the pre-reform period were both sufficiently secure and negotiable to reallocate land to more intensive patterns of arable farming under a traditional property rights regime.Did democracy bring redistribution? Insights from the Spanish tax system, 1960-90
Torregrosa Hetland, S., 2015-09-14 12:47:35 AM
The relationship between democracy, inequality, and redistribution has inspired extensive research, but consensus is still elusive. In order to contribute to this discussion, the author analyzes the Spanish case, where transition to democracy was accompanied by a comprehensive tax reform, aiming at increasing progressivity and revenue. But how effectively did it change the distribution of the tax burden? Was there a "fiscal revolution"? The results show that persistent regressivity (albeit decreasing) exacerbated income inequality, failing to attain convergence with more developed countries. The joint effect of the fiscal system, however, was slightly positive due to progressive social spending.
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