Economic History

Unlocking the “Debtors’ Prison” - A Book Review

Despite rising stock market prices and more friendly newspaper headlines, the economic picture in the West remains grim.

The current rate of job creation is not only insufficient to replace the jobs lost in the crisis – it can’t even keep up with labor force growth. At the recent pace of job creation, and with the correspondingly perverse embrace of austerity, we not only fall further behind, but also become further locked into the debtor’s prison. Read more

Posted by Marshall Auerback at 9:23 am

Keynesianism, neoliberalism and the 'Dissemination' of Economic Ideas: That's the Way of the World.

It is often argued that in recent years the question of the 'dissemination' of economic knowledge has been increasingly addressed by historians of economics. However, as our buddy Tiago has noted on the previous version of this blog quite some time ago, historians seem to not really know what they're talking about when they talk about 'dissemination'. In fact, I would argue that most accounts of the history of science - and therefore, of economics - should deal with the question of dissemination, as science itself is "a form of communicative action" (Secord, 2004). Read more

Posted by Yann Giraud at 12:15 pm

Between Free and Forced Labor: An innovative new paper by INET grantee Suresh Naidu

Economists differentiate free and forced labor as if there were no room in between. Yet history shows many examples of "intermediate" labor market institutions that fall outside this simple dichotomy. These historical labor markets have rarely looked like the textbook free markets.  Read more

Posted by The Institute for... at 2:40 pm

Growth and Credit: Mortgage Securitization through Landschaften in Prussia

Project Leader: 
Kirsten Wandschneider

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, covered mortgage bonds have been suggested as a way to revitalize and remove the federal guarantees from the US housing market. This project explores the origins of covered mortgage bonds and tests for the impact of financial development on economic growth, by analyzing the Prussian Landschaften. Landschaften were cooperative mortgage credit institutions founded in late 18th century Prussia. Landschaften were the first institutionalized mortgage lenders, and they re-capitalized the Prussian landed estates by issuing a new asset class of covered mortgage bonds - called Pfandbriefe - that were jointly backed by all member estates. Landschaften included all estates of a geographic region, eliminating selection bias. Read more

Growth and Credit: Mortgage Securitization through Landschaften in Prussia

Project Leader: 
Kirsten Wandschneider

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, covered mortgage bonds have been suggested as a way to revitalize and remove the federal guarantees from the US housing market. This project explores the origins of covered mortgage bonds and tests for the impact of financial development on economic growth, by analyzing the Prussian Landschaften. Landschaften were cooperative mortgage credit institutions founded in late 18th century Prussia. Landschaften were the first institutionalized mortgage lenders, and they re-capitalized the Prussian landed estates by issuing a new asset class of covered mortgage bonds - called Pfandbriefe - that were jointly backed by all member estates. Landschaften included all estates of a geographic region, eliminating selection bias. Read more

Growth and Credit: Mortgage Securitization through Landschaften in Prussia

Project Leader: 
Kirsten Wandschneider

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, covered mortgage bonds have been suggested as a way to revitalize and remove the federal guarantees from the US housing market. This project explores the origins of covered mortgage bonds and tests for the impact of financial development on economic growth, by analyzing the Prussian Landschaften. Landschaften were cooperative mortgage credit institutions founded in late 18th century Prussia. Landschaften were the first institutionalized mortgage lenders, and they re-capitalized the Prussian landed estates by issuing a new asset class of covered mortgage bonds - called Pfandbriefe - that were jointly backed by all member estates. Landschaften included all estates of a geographic region, eliminating selection bias. Read more

Asset Prices, Illiquidity, and Political Instability

Project Leader: 
Hans-Joachim Voth
Project Members: 
Kris Mitchener

Why can asset prices swing wildly in some periods? This project will examine the role of political and social unrest, analysing their effects on bond and stock markets over the period 1900-2000. First, a new database on political instability will be produced, examining riots, demonstrations, political assassinations, and anti-government strikes. Second, the impact of uncertainty shocks on market liquidity will be analyzed. It is hypothesized that the combined effect of political and social uncertainty shocks – on likely asset payoffs and on market liquidity – can explain a good part of “excess volatility.”

The London and Cambridge Economic Service: New Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought and Economic History

Project Leader: 
Robert Cord

The project aims to rescue the work of the London and Cambridge Economic Service (LCES). Founded in 1922 by rivals Cambridge University and the London School of Economics (LSE), the LCES was arguably the first body in Britain to collect and disseminate economic statistics. Staffed by a host of eminent economists, including Keynes and Hayek, the LCES archive at the LSE is an untapped treasure trove for those interested in how early macroeconomic theories were developed and how data was used to analyse key episodes in 20th century British, European, and US economic history.

Monetary Reform and the Bellagio Group: Selected Letters and Papers of Fritz Machlup, Robert Triffin and William Fellner

Project Leader: 
Carol M. Connell
Project Members: 
Joseph T. Salerno

At a time of financial crisis and loss of confidence in the international financial system not unlike the global financial crisis of 2008, a team of academics, policy makers, bankers, and corporate leaders sought to reform the system and build support for their reforms.  Led by economists Fritz Machlup, Robert Triffin, and William Fellner, the group, which became known as the Bellagio Group after the Rockefeller estate in Lake Como where they often met,  would play a major role in creating the current hybrid system based on flexible exchange rates and special drawing rights (SDRs) to protect the system in the event of a crisis. Co-editors Connell and Salerno propose to compile, annotate, and publish the archival legacy of the Bellagio Group’s founders.

Karine van der Beek: Human Capital in the Industrial Revolution

Did the industrial revolution increase the relative demand for skilled labor, or decrease it? Read more

In this video: 
Karine van der Beek