In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, coffee became the main Colombian export, turning the country into one of the world’s leading coffee producers. This agrarian commodity provided resources for coffee-growing areas, favouring the rise of mass education. However, this paper suggests that coffee led to children ceasing to attend school to work in coffee production, thus affecting the demand for education adversely. We test this hypothesis by using different empirical strategies. We conduct panel regressions and instrumental variable cross-sectional estimates. The results show that increasing coffee production negatively affects the demand for the education of primary school-age children.
{"title":"Coffee tastes bitter: education and the coffee economy in Colombia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries","authors":"María José Fuentes-Vásquez, Irina España-Eljaiek","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, coffee became the main Colombian export, turning the country into one of the world’s leading coffee producers. This agrarian commodity provided resources for coffee-growing areas, favouring the rise of mass education. However, this paper suggests that coffee led to children ceasing to attend school to work in coffee production, thus affecting the demand for education adversely. We test this hypothesis by using different empirical strategies. We conduct panel regressions and instrumental variable cross-sectional estimates. The results show that increasing coffee production negatively affects the demand for the education of primary school-age children.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44718090","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}
After the Black Death, serfdom disappeared in Western Europe while making a resurgence in Eastern Europe. What explains this difference? I argue that serfdom was against the interests of the sovereign and was only imposed when the nobility, who needed serfdom to maintain their economic and political standing, had leverage to impose their will. The nobility gained this power through financing the state. Using data from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, I show that serfdom was imposed and strengthened in areas where sovereigns had few other resources to finance the state.
{"title":"Government finance and imposition of serfdom after the Black Death","authors":"Margaret E Peters","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac011","url":null,"abstract":"After the Black Death, serfdom disappeared in Western Europe while making a resurgence in Eastern Europe. What explains this difference? I argue that serfdom was against the interests of the sovereign and was only imposed when the nobility, who needed serfdom to maintain their economic and political standing, had leverage to impose their will. The nobility gained this power through financing the state. Using data from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, I show that serfdom was imposed and strengthened in areas where sovereigns had few other resources to finance the state.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"163 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138534212","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}
By analyzing a new dataset of terms of trade covering the whole world during the “first globalization” (1800–1913), this article finds that trends of terms of trade varied significantly, both within the periphery and the core, and were mainly driven by import prices. Volatility declined because price spikes became less frequent and export prices became increasingly stable. We find little evidence of de-industrialization. Consistent with our trends, prices of primary products, similarly to those of manufactures, were falling and so was their volatility. These results sit uneasily with the view that terms of trade played a crucial role in holding back the development of peripheral countries before World War I.
{"title":"Terms of trade during the first globalization: new evidence, new results","authors":"David Chilosi, G. Federico, Antonio Tena-Junguito","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac012","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 By analyzing a new dataset of terms of trade covering the whole world during the “first globalization” (1800–1913), this article finds that trends of terms of trade varied significantly, both within the periphery and the core, and were mainly driven by import prices. Volatility declined because price spikes became less frequent and export prices became increasingly stable. We find little evidence of de-industrialization. Consistent with our trends, prices of primary products, similarly to those of manufactures, were falling and so was their volatility. These results sit uneasily with the view that terms of trade played a crucial role in holding back the development of peripheral countries before World War I.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45027859","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 article examines the association of mothers’ income with children’s economic mobility in a period of increased women’s labor market participation in Sweden. I found that whether a mother was economically independent and had an income similar to that of the father during her children’s late childhood and adolescence positively associated with upward mobility. The results show a substantial association of mother’s income position to their daughters’ mobility, but not for sons’. Among the primary mechanisms, I argue that extra resources from mothers helped human capital investment through education and that mothers influenced daughters by a gendered role model.
{"title":"Materfamilias: the association of mother’s work on children’s absolute income mobility, Southern Sweden (1947–2015)","authors":"G. Brea-Martínez","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article examines the association of mothers’ income with children’s economic mobility in a period of increased women’s labor market participation in Sweden. I found that whether a mother was economically independent and had an income similar to that of the father during her children’s late childhood and adolescence positively associated with upward mobility. The results show a substantial association of mother’s income position to their daughters’ mobility, but not for sons’. Among the primary mechanisms, I argue that extra resources from mothers helped human capital investment through education and that mothers influenced daughters by a gendered role model.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49313982","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 article examines the accuracy of Russian foreign trade statistics between 1880 and 1913 and provides empirical evidence that prior to the introduction of the gold standard in 1897, Russia’s trade surplus was systematically understated. My novel trade data suggest a higher degree of protectionism with an increase of an ad valorem equivalent tariff up to 4 percentage points. Moreover, my corrections of the current account balance reduce the annual average deficit of the balance for 1885–1897 by 67 percent, supporting the idea that there was a substantial increase of foreign investments in the post-gold standard period in Russia.
{"title":"Foreign investments and tariff protection revisited: correcting the trade balance of the Russian Empire, 1880–1913","authors":"Marina Chuchko","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac009","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the accuracy of Russian foreign trade statistics between 1880 and 1913 and provides empirical evidence that prior to the introduction of the gold standard in 1897, Russia’s trade surplus was systematically understated. My novel trade data suggest a higher degree of protectionism with an increase of an ad valorem equivalent tariff up to 4 percentage points. Moreover, my corrections of the current account balance reduce the annual average deficit of the balance for 1885–1897 by 67 percent, supporting the idea that there was a substantial increase of foreign investments in the post-gold standard period in Russia.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47561284","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 examine selection by class origin and gender in the emigration from Sweden to the United States during the age of mass migration. We use full-count census data linked to emigration lists to create a panel of over one million men and women. Class selection was similar for men and women, with children from medium-skilled backgrounds being most likely to leave. Selection on class origin was most pronounced in poorer and less industrialized regions, but similar in rural and urban areas. These patterns suggest that not only returns to skill determined migrant selection but also class-specific costs of migration.
{"title":"From Sweden to America: migrant selection in the transatlantic migration, 1890–1910","authors":"M. Dribe, Björn Eriksson, Jonas Helgertz","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 We examine selection by class origin and gender in the emigration from Sweden to the United States during the age of mass migration. We use full-count census data linked to emigration lists to create a panel of over one million men and women. Class selection was similar for men and women, with children from medium-skilled backgrounds being most likely to leave. Selection on class origin was most pronounced in poorer and less industrialized regions, but similar in rural and urban areas. These patterns suggest that not only returns to skill determined migrant selection but also class-specific costs of migration.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43851508","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}
Leveraging an original dataset on coastal shipping and invoking a new economic geography framework, we study the effects of domestic and international trade costs on industrial concentration and productivity growth in interwar Brazil. In the great wave of globalization before 1914, international trade costs were low and domestic costs high. Economic activity was dispersed along the coastline. The interwar period saw a reversal: international costs surged and domestic costs declined. Economic activity was increasingly concentrated in São Paulo. Agglomeration economies enabled productivity growth in the 1930s, mostly in durable and capital goods.
{"title":"Smooth sailing: market integration, agglomeration, and productivity growth in interwar Brazil","authors":"Marc Badia-Miró, Anna Carreras-Marín, M. Huberman","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Leveraging an original dataset on coastal shipping and invoking a new economic geography framework, we study the effects of domestic and international trade costs on industrial concentration and productivity growth in interwar Brazil. In the great wave of globalization before 1914, international trade costs were low and domestic costs high. Economic activity was dispersed along the coastline. The interwar period saw a reversal: international costs surged and domestic costs declined. Economic activity was increasingly concentrated in São Paulo. Agglomeration economies enabled productivity growth in the 1930s, mostly in durable and capital goods.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46487017","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 In the shadow of industry, the service sector substantially expanded during the late nineteenth century. This paper analyzes how the creation of industrial employment contributed to this growth of services. I leverage full-count census data from the United States, Great Britain, and Sweden to estimate local employment multipliers. I show that industrial growth was a key driver in the emergence of services. Each new industrial job created up to one additional local service job. This effect was driven by the high-skilled industrial sector where each additional job created up to two service jobs. Multiplier effects created jobs across different services.
{"title":"Local multipliers and the growth of services: evidence from late nineteenth century USA, Great Britain, and Sweden","authors":"Vinzent Ostermeyer","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the shadow of industry, the service sector substantially expanded during the late nineteenth century. This paper analyzes how the creation of industrial employment contributed to this growth of services. I leverage full-count census data from the United States, Great Britain, and Sweden to estimate local employment multipliers. I show that industrial growth was a key driver in the emergence of services. Each new industrial job created up to one additional local service job. This effect was driven by the high-skilled industrial sector where each additional job created up to two service jobs. Multiplier effects created jobs across different services.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138534214","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}
The article presents GDP estimates for fifteenth century Tuscany, based on the 1427 Florentine Catasto. In per capita GDP, Tuscany was only slightly above England and Holland. Furthermore, when compared to England and Holland, Tuscany was characterized by high extractive rates in favor of Florence, to the detriment of the subdued cities and the countryside, and by subsequent market blockades. This may explain why previous estimates, partly based on the construction wages in Florence, can lead to an overestimate of GDP. It may also explain the exceptional artistic blossoming of fifteenth century Florence, despite only a small lead in average GDP.
{"title":"Benchmarking the Middle Ages: fifteenth century Tuscany in European perspective","authors":"J. L. van Zanden, Emanuele Felice","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The article presents GDP estimates for fifteenth century Tuscany, based on the 1427 Florentine Catasto. In per capita GDP, Tuscany was only slightly above England and Holland. Furthermore, when compared to England and Holland, Tuscany was characterized by high extractive rates in favor of Florence, to the detriment of the subdued cities and the countryside, and by subsequent market blockades. This may explain why previous estimates, partly based on the construction wages in Florence, can lead to an overestimate of GDP. It may also explain the exceptional artistic blossoming of fifteenth century Florence, despite only a small lead in average GDP.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47015978","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 examines how changes in newspaper circulation affected voter turnout, party vote shares, and mass polarization in Weimar Berlin. My empirical strategy exploits variation in the development of railway system across historical districts of Berlin, which influenced the circulation of newspapers. I find that an increase in newspaper circulation significantly induced higher turnout in fourteen outer districts and a higher degree of mass polarization. Partisan newspapers benefitted party vote shares, with stronger effects in federal elections than in local elections. The electoral influence of newspapers was driven by tabloids and mass newspapers, and not by elite political newspapers.
{"title":"Political power of the press in the Weimar Republic","authors":"Bang Dinh Nguyen","doi":"10.1093/ereh/heac002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper examines how changes in newspaper circulation affected voter turnout, party vote shares, and mass polarization in Weimar Berlin. My empirical strategy exploits variation in the development of railway system across historical districts of Berlin, which influenced the circulation of newspapers. I find that an increase in newspaper circulation significantly induced higher turnout in fourteen outer districts and a higher degree of mass polarization. Partisan newspapers benefitted party vote shares, with stronger effects in federal elections than in local elections. The electoral influence of newspapers was driven by tabloids and mass newspapers, and not by elite political newspapers.","PeriodicalId":51703,"journal":{"name":"European Review of Economic History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48550750","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}