Using yearly data on 153 prominent German authors (1700–1932), we show how changes in the political and economic environment facilitated the formation of literary clusters. Early authors follow general population patterns, leading to geographic dispersion in a patronage system characterized by spatial competition. At the end of the nineteenth century, authors concentrate in large economic and political capitals. These changes in location patterns mirror trends in political and territorial consolidation and the professionalization of authorship. The last cohort shows large-scale migration into literary centers around the age of 20 years. Therefore, these literary clusters are not due to changing birth locations.
{"title":"Market structure and creative cluster formation: the origins of urban clusters in German literature, 1700–1932","authors":"Lukas Kuld, Sara Mitchell","doi":"10.1093/ereh/head003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/head003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Using yearly data on 153 prominent German authors (1700–1932), we show how changes in the political and economic environment facilitated the formation of literary clusters. Early authors follow general population patterns, leading to geographic dispersion in a patronage system characterized by spatial competition. At the end of the nineteenth century, authors concentrate in large economic and political capitals. These changes in location patterns mirror trends in political and territorial consolidation and the professionalization of authorship. The last cohort shows large-scale migration into literary centers around the age of 20 years. Therefore, these literary clusters are not due to changing birth locations.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43603417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper revisits the Swedish banking crisis (1919–1926) that materialized as post-war deflation replaced wartime inflation (1914–1918). Inspired by Fisher’s “debt deflation theory,” we employ survival analysis to “predict” which banks would fail, given certain ex-ante bank characteristics. Our tests support the theory; maturity structures mattered most in a regime of falling prices, with vulnerable shorter-term customer loans and bank liabilities representing the most consistent cause of bank distress in the crisis. Similarly, stronger growth in (1) leverage, (2) weaker collateral loans, and (3) foreign borrowing during the boom were all associated with bank failure.
{"title":"The highs and the lows: bank failures in Sweden through inflation and deflation, 1914–1926","authors":"S. Kenny, Anders Ögren, Liang Zhao","doi":"10.1093/ereh/head001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/head001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper revisits the Swedish banking crisis (1919–1926) that materialized as post-war deflation replaced wartime inflation (1914–1918). Inspired by Fisher’s “debt deflation theory,” we employ survival analysis to “predict” which banks would fail, given certain ex-ante bank characteristics. Our tests support the theory; maturity structures mattered most in a regime of falling prices, with vulnerable shorter-term customer loans and bank liabilities representing the most consistent cause of bank distress in the crisis. Similarly, stronger growth in (1) leverage, (2) weaker collateral loans, and (3) foreign borrowing during the boom were all associated with bank failure.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43137997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We investigate the determinants of dividend payments in Belgium between 1838 and 2020. As the institutional environment changes drastically over time, we explore whether the determinants of dividend payments depend on the environment in which firms operate. Large firms, firms that are not informationally opaque, firms with a high share denomination and firms with liquid shares are more likely to pay. However, the importance of these characteristics changed over time. Surprisingly, firms seemingly do not use dividends for signaling. Our results indicate that the omnipresence of universal banks in pre-war Belgium might have lowered the need for a signal.
{"title":"Why do firms pay dividends? 180 years of evidence","authors":"Leentje Moortgat, J. Annaert, M. Deloof","doi":"10.1093/ereh/head002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/head002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 We investigate the determinants of dividend payments in Belgium between 1838 and 2020. As the institutional environment changes drastically over time, we explore whether the determinants of dividend payments depend on the environment in which firms operate. Large firms, firms that are not informationally opaque, firms with a high share denomination and firms with liquid shares are more likely to pay. However, the importance of these characteristics changed over time. Surprisingly, firms seemingly do not use dividends for signaling. Our results indicate that the omnipresence of universal banks in pre-war Belgium might have lowered the need for a signal.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46581208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the context of a booming art market in Paris, eighteenth-century art dealers began to exploit authorship as a value-enhancing strategy. Using Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun’s business as a case study, we show that art dealers purposefully used a firm scale of authentication to create product differentiation and to boost auction dynamics and revenues by reordering the lots before the sale in leaflets known as feuilles de vacation. Our empirical findings support the hypothesis of the development of a market driven by the quest for the artist’s hand in pre-revolutionary Paris, with differential use of connoisseurial knowledge, depending on buyers’ profiles.
在巴黎艺术市场蓬勃发展的背景下,18世纪的艺术品经销商开始利用作者身份作为一种提升价值的策略。以让-巴蒂斯特·皮埃尔·勒布伦(Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun)的业务为例,我们发现艺术品经销商有目的地利用固定的认证规模来创造产品差异化,并通过在拍卖前以名为“假期”(feuilles de vacation)的传单对拍品进行重新排序,提高拍卖动态和收入。我们的实证研究结果支持了这样一个假设,即在革命前的巴黎,人们对艺术家作品的追求推动了市场的发展,根据买家的背景,鉴赏知识的使用也有所不同。
{"title":"Authorship as a determinant of art prices and auction settings in eighteenth-century Paris","authors":"Hans J. van Miegroet, A. Radermecker","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac022","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In the context of a booming art market in Paris, eighteenth-century art dealers began to exploit authorship as a value-enhancing strategy. Using Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun’s business as a case study, we show that art dealers purposefully used a firm scale of authentication to create product differentiation and to boost auction dynamics and revenues by reordering the lots before the sale in leaflets known as feuilles de vacation. Our empirical findings support the hypothesis of the development of a market driven by the quest for the artist’s hand in pre-revolutionary Paris, with differential use of connoisseurial knowledge, depending on buyers’ profiles.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48040325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates quantitatively the evolution of the German art market between 1937 and 1944. During the war, the boom observed in occupied countries offers a sharp contrast with the price evolution in the United Kingdom. Did the German art market show more similarities with the countries it was occupying or was its evolution closer to the British one? Our results show that the German art market underwent a boom during the war. Beyond the historical interest in the art market, this analysis also speaks to the larger debates on wartime economies and of artworks as wartime investments.
{"title":"The German art market during WW II","authors":"J. Euwe, K. Oosterlinck","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac024","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper investigates quantitatively the evolution of the German art market between 1937 and 1944. During the war, the boom observed in occupied countries offers a sharp contrast with the price evolution in the United Kingdom. Did the German art market show more similarities with the countries it was occupying or was its evolution closer to the British one? Our results show that the German art market underwent a boom during the war. Beyond the historical interest in the art market, this analysis also speaks to the larger debates on wartime economies and of artworks as wartime investments.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42054791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We document the participation of women in European academia from the first universities to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. A total of 108 women taught at universities or were members of academies of arts and sciences. Most of them were active in Catholic southern Europe—an unexpected result. We conjecture that Protestantism left less room for women at the top of the distribution of human capital to exercise their talent. The percentage of ever-married female scholars is 79%, but a large fraction of them remained childless. Comparing them with 58,995 male scholars, we find that they were on average better.
{"title":"Women in European academia before 1800—religion, marriage, and human capital","authors":"David de la Croix, M. Vitale","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 We document the participation of women in European academia from the first universities to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. A total of 108 women taught at universities or were members of academies of arts and sciences. Most of them were active in Catholic southern Europe—an unexpected result. We conjecture that Protestantism left less room for women at the top of the distribution of human capital to exercise their talent. The percentage of ever-married female scholars is 79%, but a large fraction of them remained childless. Comparing them with 58,995 male scholars, we find that they were on average better.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45254420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper analyses the functioning of the primary art market for living artists in the periphery of France, in a context where there was no secondary market nor intermediaries such as art dealers. It is based on a historical data set constituted manually, regarding the Toulouse Salons—the Union artistique de Toulouse (UAT) between 1861 and 1909, and the Société des Artistes méridionaux (SAM), between 1907 and 1939. These exhibitions, which were intended to give artists a regional alternative to the Parisian academic and dealer-critic systems, failed at emancipating the local artists from the domination of the capital.
{"title":"The Toulouse salons: a regional counterweight to the Parisian art scene? (1861–1939)","authors":"Léa Saint-Raymond","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac020","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper analyses the functioning of the primary art market for living artists in the periphery of France, in a context where there was no secondary market nor intermediaries such as art dealers. It is based on a historical data set constituted manually, regarding the Toulouse Salons—the Union artistique de Toulouse (UAT) between 1861 and 1909, and the Société des Artistes méridionaux (SAM), between 1907 and 1939. These exhibitions, which were intended to give artists a regional alternative to the Parisian academic and dealer-critic systems, failed at emancipating the local artists from the domination of the capital.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135393225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract We study contractual solutions to creative disagreements in the market for original paintings using a sample of ninety commission documents from Renaissance Italy (1285–1530). We investigate the determinants of creative freedom by comparing the length of the description of the final painting with variables capturing painter-, patron-, and commission-specific characteristics. Our results suggest that corporate patronage was positively associated with creative freedom for the painter as compared to individual patrons. We also find evidence that the reputation of the painter at commission and larger commission values are negatively associated with creative freedom.
{"title":"Contracting creativity: patronage and creative freedom in the Italian Renaissance art market","authors":"Ennio E Piano, Clara E Piano","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac021","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We study contractual solutions to creative disagreements in the market for original paintings using a sample of ninety commission documents from Renaissance Italy (1285–1530). We investigate the determinants of creative freedom by comparing the length of the description of the final painting with variables capturing painter-, patron-, and commission-specific characteristics. Our results suggest that corporate patronage was positively associated with creative freedom for the painter as compared to individual patrons. We also find evidence that the reputation of the painter at commission and larger commission values are negatively associated with creative freedom.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135392568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dimitris P Sotiropoulos, Janette Rutterford, Daniele Tori, Antonis Kyparissis
Abstract This study investigates the portfolio asset allocation of UK investment trusts between 1914 and 1928 using a unique hand-collected dataset of 41 companies, which comprises 40,875 portfolio holdings. UK investment trusts not only survived WWI without major losses but also had a remarkable performance in the 1920s, which led to a wave of new incorporations. The 1920s was a period of significant shifts in investment trust portfolio composition and our analysis examines the main reasons for this. We show that investment trust managers were able to adjust quickly to the new socioeconomic circumstances and secure high profitability for their shareholders.
{"title":"Fund management in the interwar period: UK investment trust portfolio asset allocation in the 1920s","authors":"Dimitris P Sotiropoulos, Janette Rutterford, Daniele Tori, Antonis Kyparissis","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac019","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study investigates the portfolio asset allocation of UK investment trusts between 1914 and 1928 using a unique hand-collected dataset of 41 companies, which comprises 40,875 portfolio holdings. UK investment trusts not only survived WWI without major losses but also had a remarkable performance in the 1920s, which led to a wave of new incorporations. The 1920s was a period of significant shifts in investment trust portfolio composition and our analysis examines the main reasons for this. We show that investment trust managers were able to adjust quickly to the new socioeconomic circumstances and secure high profitability for their shareholders.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135996483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
How sticky were wages during the Great Depression? Although classic accounts emphasise the importance of nominal rigidity in amplifying deflationary shocks, the evidence is limited. In this paper, I calculate the degree of nominal wage rigidity in the United Kingdom between the wars using new granular data covering millions of wages. I find that nominal wages changed infrequently but that wage cuts were more common than wage rises on average. Nominal wage adjustment fluctuated over time and by state, so that in 1931 amid falling output and prices more than one-third of workers received wage cuts.
{"title":"Sticky wages and the Great Depression: evidence from the United Kingdom","authors":"Jason Lennard","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac014","url":null,"abstract":"How sticky were wages during the Great Depression? Although classic accounts emphasise the importance of nominal rigidity in amplifying deflationary shocks, the evidence is limited. In this paper, I calculate the degree of nominal wage rigidity in the United Kingdom between the wars using new granular data covering millions of wages. I find that nominal wages changed infrequently but that wage cuts were more common than wage rises on average. Nominal wage adjustment fluctuated over time and by state, so that in 1931 amid falling output and prices more than one-third of workers received wage cuts.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138534213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}