Questions tagged [history]
The history tag has no usage guidance.
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14 views
Who was the inventor of Utility function?
To my knowledge, the idea of representing weak-order with a function dates back to Cantor. So my questions are:
1) Was Cantor the first person who rigorize these kinds of representation?
2) Were ...
1
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2answers
29 views
How to convert an historic value denoted in foreign currency to a modern value in local currency?
I want to convert GBP in 1968 to USD in 2018, in order to "translate" an amount paid by an individual in Britain fifty years ago. My intention is that an American reader today will be able to better ...
0
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1answer
41 views
Does the Italian national debt really go all the way back to Mussolini's excessive prewar spending?
The WWI & WWII debt is quite well defined in the UK for example and quite shocking how many years it took to pay off.
Somebody told me that the Italian debt crisis really goes all the way back ...
3
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1answer
33 views
Military expenditure over time
The following graph from the world bank website shows the world wide military expenditure in percentage of the world GDP over time from 1988 to 2015
I am trying to find similar data over a much ...
2
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1answer
24 views
Pascali (2015) Natural Experiment
In The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade and
Economic Development (2015), Pascali estimates various effects on freight rates (i.e. the cost of transport) on outcomes such as trade volumes and ...
0
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0answers
18 views
Do ads work for businesses as they used to and how can they be measured if it's possible?
The gist of Seth Godin's 'Purple Cow' is that advertisements don't work any more.
As marketers, we know the old stuff isn't working. And we know why:
because as consumers, we're too busy to pay ...
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0answers
52 views
What are some great economic reforms from the Middle Ages / the Ancient History?
Is there any great economic structural reforms, which date back to the Middle Ages or to the Ancient times?
0
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0answers
11 views
American perception of Japanese economic power in 1989
Signal, a newsletter from Eurasia Group, stated that
Back in 1989, 68 percent of Americans considered the economic power of Japan to be the most serious “threat to the future of the United States,” ...
0
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3answers
88 views
What are modern examples of established economic theories being used on a large scale in real life?
I was thinking recently how economic theories (the stuff they teach you in college) affects real-life decisions. I found some examples (see below), but most of them are from the past and many of those ...
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0answers
1k views
Has Trickle-Down economics ever worked?
With "trickle-down economics" on the tongue of Americans this year, I wanted to do some research. The prevailing opinion is "trickle-down economics doesn't work." I can find many resources which ...
6
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3answers
233 views
Who created the concept of “present value”?
I cannot find anything on this online. The wikipedia article is purely technical, except by a mention that such system was used in England in early 16th century.
Do you know who was the first to come ...
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5answers
135 views
What are good books on economic world history?
I am trying to find a book that covers human history with a special focus on economics. It should answer questions like:
What economic systems prevailed during which eras?
How did these systems work ...
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0answers
29 views
Maximum wage laws in mercantilist France
One John K Williams (1986) writes that in mercantilist France,
The government actually imposed maximum wage laws. Any employer who paid wages above a legally defined ceiling was charged with an ...
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1answer
1k views
How could the economic cost of the world not speaking the same language be estimated?
While languages are fun and add color and flair to cultures and make the world a more interesting place, they also have a cost. Beyond the monetary costs of translation/editing/proofreading, ...
3
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1answer
1k views
Was the aid in the Marshall Plan a loan?
In the aftermath of the Second World War the USA organised the Marshall plan for the post-war reconstruction of Europe.
I take it this was actually a loan of some kind; on what kind of terms was the ...
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2answers
44 views
Historical GDP of world economies back to 1945: What are the most complete and reliable data sets?
I need the historical GDP of all modern countries (or at least the vast majority) from 1945 to now. It seems the world bank data only starts in 1960 or later. I found Angus Maddison's data, but I don'...
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1answer
36 views
Quantifying economic mobilization
Total war requires mobilization of the economy.
The degree of a nation's mobilization can be quantified in two major ways:
Negatively: as, e.g., the reduction of "non-essential consumer production" --...
3
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2answers
249 views
Did the idea of “making money” originate in the United States?
I am currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and I came across an interesting paragraph related to Economics and American History.
If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, ...
2
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0answers
36 views
When in the history the governments issued non-cash money first?
I understand that the Federal Reserve is issuing money in the form of deposits. Those deposits "are not cash but they are money: they can be used for payment (at which point they become somebody else'...
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2answers
125 views
When and why women left the labour market?
It is well documented that women in now developed countries entered the labour market all thoughout the 20th century. As such, female labour participation have consistently increased. For example, ...
1
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1answer
43 views
What are some good books, explaining why the society and economy developed like it is through the history?
It has always been fascinating to me why, out of so many other options, the society has developed in this way. So I was searching for resources which explain what chain of events-and why- from ...
1
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1answer
52 views
When was the supply and demand model first used?
Who created the supply and demand model in economics or when was it first used?
4
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0answers
125 views
Has there been anyone since the philosopher Thales that has held an extremely detached view of money, and also found innovative ways to profit?
According to legend anyway (ie Aristotle's account), Thales was a business man of his time! On the motive Thales had for attaining material possession, Aristotle held that Thales was only out to prove ...
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3answers
172 views
How wealthy are modern day humans compared to preindustrial times?
I would like to see a quantitative wealth comparison between the average human in a hunter gather or agrarian society to average human in the today's world.
I'm mostly interested in how the discovery ...
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2answers
105 views
Rationale behind teaching History in University
I wrote an answer to this question regarding how economists evaluate a specific subject in a given curriculum.
Subjects which develop skills that have labour market significance are valuable to a ...
3
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1answer
39 views
Is finance complex?
I am reading a book that is describing a group of people in the middle ages. It says "[they] had managerial and financial jobs, jobs of high complexity, and were neither farmers nor craftsmen". I am ...
2
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2answers
49 views
Recommended reading to understand American economic history
In India Unbound, the author goes over India's economic history, right from independence to present day. I am interested in a similar reading for the United States, specifically conditions in the 20th ...
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0answers
16 views
Delaying wages in response to slack?
I'm reading a book about the economic development of South Korea during the 'miracle' period.
One of the points the author makes is the following:
A major source of industrial disputes was ...
2
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0answers
664 views
What evidence is there that Adam Smith made mistakes in criticizing Mercantilism and upholding capitalism?
This commentator writes:
On March 9, 1776, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (commonly referred to as simply "The Wealth of Nations") was published. Smith, a Scottish ...
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2answers
667 views
Why could interest rates go up if Brexit happens?
I was reading this article, George Osborne says Brexit would drive up mortgage rates:
George Osborne has issued a stark warning that mortgage rates will
rise if Britain leaves the European Union.
...
1
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0answers
50 views
What is the “natural rate of interest” vs. “money interest rate”?
What exactly is the distinction that Knut Wicksell made in his Interest & Prices between
"natural rate of interest" or "natural interest" ("der natürliche
Kapital zins")
and the
"money rate of ...
4
votes
2answers
346 views
Is money capital?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines "capital" as
n. economic goods (e.g. railways, ships, machinery, buildings) destined for use in production (as opposed to consumers' goods).
Historically, the ...
7
votes
1answer
73 views
Is there a study of world poverty rates over time pre 1800?
There seems to be research showing that world poverty rates have declined since 1800, see eg this. Is there any research on world poverty rates before this period? I am guessing that during this ...
5
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3answers
120 views
What is Islamic Banking?
What is "Islamic banking," and how is it similar to and different from banking as it occurs in the U.S.?
I have heard Shariah Law prohibits usury, the taking of interest on loans. How do Muslim ...
5
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1answer
159 views
Book for Bretton Woods conferences and gold standard
I am looking for a good book to explain to me why the gold standard existed and why in the Bretton Woods conferences, some countries choose to abandon it. An explanation of the general scenario in a ...
3
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1answer
36 views
Could food storage prevent a depression?
In Genesis chapter 41 Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh about 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine which resulted in saving Egypt from famine, among other things.
I think this is a great ...
6
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2answers
3k views
When was fractional reserve banking introduced?
According to Wikipedia's history of banking article:
Modern banking practice, including fractional reserve banking and the issue of banknotes emerged in the 17th century.
The article on fractional ...
2
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0answers
43 views
Is the average age of economists getting higher than it was many years ago?
I read Hamermesh's 2012 paper, "Six Decades of Top Economics Publishing: Who and How?". He collected the data from QJE, AER and JPE. It seems that the average age of economists is now higher than it ...
4
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1answer
58 views
Was factory beef farming (in the USA) the result of government-subsidized corn?
In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes that industrial beef farming, in the form of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), is dependent on low corn prices for its cost-effectiveness....
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2answers
471 views
What causes the “imperialism of economics” and how did it start?
Wikipedia defines "economics imperialism" as follows:
Economics imperialism (often economic imperialism) in contemporary economics refers to economic analysis of seemingly non-economic aspects of ...
10
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1answer
161 views
Do large public companies ever “quit while they're ahead”?
Large public companies (e.g. S&P 500) seem to end their lives in one of two ways: either they're acquired (or taken private), or they go bankrupt.
Theoretically it seems like there should be a ...
7
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2answers
337 views
Historical US Housing Data Availability
Papers like Ng and Moench (2011) and Negro and Otrok (2007) use historical housing data to estimate latent variables that correspond to some "true" or "truer" measure of house prices or housing ...
18
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2answers
697 views
Why is capital income taxed differently than wage income?
Why is income from capital gains taxed differently than wage income? There are perhaps historical, practical, and theoretical reasons. What are they?
(As far as historical reason go, I'm asking ...
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5answers
3k views
What was economics like as a field before Adam Smith, the father of *modern* economics?
Adam Smith is called the "father of modern economics" and his book The Weath of Nations, a fundamental work in the field of economics, is considered the first modern book on economics. In addition, ...
