Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Leandro Prados de la Escosura
Author-X-Name-First: Leandro
Author-X-Name-Last: Prados de la Escosura
Title: OUTPUT PER HEAD IN PRE-INDEPENDENCE AFRICA: QUANTITATIVE CONJECTURES
Abstract:
GDP figures for Africa
are unreliable. More dependable information can be found in government
expenditure and international trade records. These records, though,
provide little insight into non-market output. In this paper an attempt is
made to draw explicit conjectures on real output per head in
pre-independence Africa on the basis of trade data so that conjectures can
be established about Africa's long-run growth. Two alternative approaches
are considered. One estimates per capita GDP by assuming no increase in
output per head outside the tradable sector, for which the purchasing
power of per capita exports is accepted as a proxy. Another approach
establishes an econometric association between real per capita GDP and the
income terms of trade per head for 1950-1990 and, on the basis of the
prediction equation's parameters and the values of the RHS variables,
infers real output per head for 1870-1938. Trends in real output per head
are then drawn for Africa (and its main regions). By comparing these
trends with those from other developing regions, some conjectures about
Africa's relative position over time are put forward. It emerges that
economic growth started earlier than usually assumed and there is
continuity in growth before and after colonial independence. Sub-Saharan
Africa's retardation is a gradual process, as growing and falling behind
took place simultaneously. But it is in the period 1975-1995 when the
worst setback in modern Africa's history took place.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-36
Issue: 2
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.745659
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.745659
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:1-36
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Yen-liang Chen
Author-X-Name-First: Yen-liang
Author-X-Name-Last: Chen
Author-Name: Cheng-chung Lai
Author-X-Name-First: Cheng-chung
Author-X-Name-Last: Lai
Title: GOOD MONEY DRIVES OUT BAD: A NOTE ON FREE COINAGE AND GRESHAM'S LAW IN THE CHINESE HAN DYNASTY
Abstract:
Gresham's law states only
one precondition: in the world of metal coins, if there is a fixed rate of
exchange between good and bad money, then bad money will drive out good.
We argue, however, that when there is no fixed exchange
rate between good and bad money, and when the government encourages free
coinage, then it is possible for good money to drive out bad. We use these
two preconditions to explain why the sizhu coins were
successful during the reign of Emperor Wen (179-157 BC) under his free
coinage policy. Our analysis of their metal composition and their weights
confirms that the sizhu coins minted under a free coinage
policy had a better metal content those produced under a central minting
policy. This supports our argument that in certain circumstances Gresham's
Law will be reversed.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 37-46
Issue: 2
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.745660
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.745660
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:37-46
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Martine Mariotti
Author-X-Name-First: Martine
Author-X-Name-Last: Mariotti
Title: ESTIMATING THE SUBSTITUTABILITY OF AFRICAN AND WHITE WORKERS IN SOUTH AFRICAN MANUFACTURING, 1950-1985
Abstract:
In this paper I estimate
the elasticity of substitution between African and white workers in the
South African manufacturing industry during Apartheid. I find that the
elasticity of substitution remained fairly high despite changes in the
technology used in manufacturing, despite changes in the allocation of
jobs to African and white workers, and despite the increasing skill
differential between white and African workers. The elasticity of
substitution for production workers declined from 9.81 in 1950 to 4.64 by
1985. This result shows that African and white workers were substitutes
throughout Apartheid notwithstanding legislation restricting the types of
jobs that African workers could do.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 47-60
Issue: 2
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.745664
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.745664
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:47-60
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeanne Cilliers
Author-X-Name-First: Jeanne
Author-X-Name-Last: Cilliers
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Title: NEW ESTIMATES OF SETTLER LIFE SPAN AND OTHER DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1652-1948
Abstract:
To date, very little is
known about the demography of European settlers in South Africa, since
descriptions have been based on Ross's 1975 calculations of a small sample
of 300 observations in the Cape Colony. In this paper we provide a broader
and deeper account, using a dataset drawn from the Genealogical Institute
of South Africa (2008) that includes information on 401,602 observations
of settlers in South Africa and spans the period 1652 to 1948. We estimate
useful descriptive statistics on key demographic indicators: population
dynamics, age distribution, longevity, marriage patterns, and dependency
burdens. These shed new light on the development and demographic
transition of the South African settler population and enable
international comparisons.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 61-86
Issue: 2
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.745663
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.745663
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:61-86
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: J.H. Havenga
Author-X-Name-First: J.H.
Author-X-Name-Last: Havenga
Author-Name: W.J. Pienaar
Author-X-Name-First: W.J.
Author-X-Name-Last: Pienaar
Title: QUANTIFYING FREIGHT TRANSPORT VOLUMES IN DEVELOPING REGIONS: LESSONS LEARNT FROM SOUTH AFRICA'S EXPERIENCE DURING THE 20th CENTURY
Abstract:
A number of attempts were
made during the 20th century to develop national freight flow information
for South Africa. This paper discusses these contributions and attempts to
identify the major reasons why the research did not give rise to long-term
strategic infrastructure planning. It is important to learn these lessons
to avoid making the same mistakes during the critical large-scale
infrastructure investments that are unfolding in the first half of the
21st century. The paper starts with an overview of the development of
South Africa's surface freight transport infrastructure, and then provides
a cross-country comparison of South Africa's key freight indicators. This
serves to underscore the importance of a long-term approach to such
infrastructure investment.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 87-113
Issue: 2
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.745666
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.745666
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:87-113
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Paul Caruana-Galizia
Author-X-Name-First: Paul
Author-X-Name-Last: Caruana-Galizia
Title: INDIAN REGIONAL INCOME INEQUALITY: ESTIMATES OF PROVINCIAL GDP, 1875-1911
Abstract:
After constructing a
dataset on Indian provincial GDP per capita between 1875 and 1911, I
examine it for levels and trends of provincial income inequality.
Cross-sectional dispersion of income was initially high, but declined over
time. In terms of levels, internal Indian inequality compared well with a
number of European states. Testing for unconditional beta-convergence, I
found a tendency for provinces to converge to their steady-state at a rate
of 0.6 per cent; 6.7 per cent when controlling for province and year
fixed-effects. These results indicate that the likely forces of
convergence (mainly driven by transport and communication infrastructure
advances) trumped forces of divergence (heterogeneity in social and
geographical characteristics). I made no formal attempts to uncover the
true drivers of provincial dynamics. Future research would do well to test
the dynamic effects of observable provincial geographical and political
characteristics on growth.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-27
Issue: 1
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.805510
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.805510
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:1:p:1-27
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Antonio Tena-Junguito
Author-X-Name-First: Antonio
Author-X-Name-Last: Tena-Junguito
Author-Name: Henry Willebald
Author-X-Name-First: Henry
Author-X-Name-Last: Willebald
Title: ON THE ACCURACY OF EXPORT GROWTH IN ARGENTINA, 1870-1913
Abstract:
Argentine export growth
before the First World War is considered one of the most relevant
variables in order to understand the main characteristics of Argentina's
long-run modern economic growth properly. The lack of accuracy of the
official export series, especially the relative official values used, lies
behind some of the controversies and doubts of the historiography when
addressing the causes and consequences of Argentina's international
convergence. We have used empirical evidence to test the accuracy of
quantities and value exports records, first, according to their import
partners' records and, second, according to international market prices.
Results show that the hypothesis of export price undervaluation bias is
correct. In the light of these results we reconstructed a new Argentine
export f.o.b. values and price index using international prices valued in
pounds sterling which allows us to offer a new proposal indicating a more
dynamic Argentine export growth during the Belle Époque years.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 28-68
Issue: 1
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.805508
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.805508
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:1:p:28-68
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Guo-ping He
Author-X-Name-First: Guo-ping
Author-X-Name-Last: He
Title: THE RISE AND FALL OF SERFDOM IN CHINA: A THEORY OF INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
Abstract:
This article uses
contract theory and institutional change theory to make suggestions about
the factors underlying the rise and fall of serfdom in China. The article
defines serfdom as a labour contract in which serfs worked for their
owners instead of paying land rent and taxes. In terms of institutional
theory it follows that serfdom prevailed in the Xia, Shang and Western
Zhou Dynasties because the transaction costs of serfdom were lower than
all possible alternative contracts under the prevailing conditions. It
also follows that during the Spring-Autumn and Warring States Periods the
transaction costs of serfdom began to exceed the costs of other possible
contracts because of wider social changes. As a result, serfdom was
gradually replaced by the private ownership of land and other more
efficient contracts. This article seeks to clarify some of the conceptual
issues relating to the application of institutional theory to
understanding these processes in Chinese history. Its aim is to point to
new research initiatives that could either confirm or reject the
hypotheses presented here.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 69-86
Issue: 1
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.807552
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.807552
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:1:p:69-86
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Dieter von Fintel
Author-X-Name-First: Dieter
Author-X-Name-Last: von Fintel
Author-Name: Sophia Du Plessis
Author-X-Name-First: Sophia
Author-X-Name-Last: Du Plessis
Author-Name: Ada Jansen
Author-X-Name-First: Ada
Author-X-Name-Last: Jansen
Title: THE WEALTH OF CAPE COLONY WIDOWS: INHERITANCE LAWS AND INVESTMENT RESPONSES FOLLOWING MALE DEATH IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES
Abstract:
Losing a household member
is usually negatively associated with welfare, especially if that person
is a breadwinner. Coping methods include disposal of assets to generate
cash flow, while other households increase their labour supply. This paper
considers a specific case in a pre-industrial society, presenting evidence
where male mortality was associated with distinct benefits for widows. In
the Cape Colony (during the Dutch East India Company occupation), Roman
Dutch inheritance laws favoured widows, who were then able to set up
households independently of their children. Their sizable inheritances
(relative to other heirs) enabled investment in production assets with
otherwise prohibitively high fixed costs (in particularly slave labour and
vineyards) and resulted in divestment from other non-productive assets.
While the mortality shock would presumably have had negative impacts on
income and subsistence crop levels, this was not the case in the Cape:
instead, reconstructed asset portfolios set widows up for productive,
slave intensive farming and subsequent status and affluence.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 87-108
Issue: 1
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.805512
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.805512
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:1:p:87-108
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Anna Carreras-Mar�n
Author-X-Name-First: Anna
Author-X-Name-Last: Carreras-Mar�n
Author-Name: Marc Badia-Mir�
Author-X-Name-First: Marc
Author-X-Name-Last: Badia-Mir�
Author-Name: Jos� Peres Caj�as
Author-X-Name-First: Jos�
Author-X-Name-Last: Peres Caj�as
Title: Intraregional Trade in South America, 1912-1950: The Cases of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Peru
Abstract:
This paper assesses whether the disruption of world
trade, protectionist policies and industrial growth that dominated South
American economic history from 1912 to 1950 permitted an increase in
intraregional trade. The paper demonstrates that during this period
intraregional trade reached some of the highest levels of the entire 20th
century. These levels have since receded. With the exception of some
Brazilian exports, most of intraregional trade had the same features as
global trade during this period: a high concentration on few products of
very low value-added. These main findings suggest that, in contrast with
other global experiences, intraregional trade did not directly support
industrialization in South America during the first half of the 20th
century. This resembles similar results from other Latin American studies,
which remark that, beyond the rhetoric of regional integration and the
signature of different trade agreements, few changes in the character of
interregional trade emerged from the 1950s to the late 1980s (see
Bulmer-Thomas (2003) and Devlin and Estevadeordal (2001)). In a time when
intraregional trade is again at the forefront of the economic strategy of
most South American countries (see Devlin and Ffrench-Davis (1999); Devlin
and Estevadeordal (2001), and ECLAC (2011)), this finding certainly
demands further study and explanation.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-26
Issue: 2
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.866379
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.866379
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:2:p:1-26
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Aloysius Gunadi Brata
Author-X-Name-First: Aloysius Gunadi
Author-X-Name-Last: Brata
Author-Name: Piet Rietveld
Author-X-Name-First: Piet
Author-X-Name-Last: Rietveld
Author-Name: Henri L.F. de Groot
Author-X-Name-First: Henri L.F.
Author-X-Name-Last: de Groot
Author-Name: Wouter Zant
Author-X-Name-First: Wouter
Author-X-Name-Last: Zant
Title: The Krakatau Eruption in 1883: Its Implications for the Spatial Distribution of Population in Java
Abstract:
We investigate the impact of the Krakatau eruption
in August 1883 on the spatial distribution of population across
residencies in Java. The analysis is based on historical data of the
indigenous population at residency level covering the period from 1880 to
1928. Based on our empirical analysis we conclude that the Krakatau
eruption had no permanent impact on the spatial distribution of the
population across regions in Java. The evidence gives support to the
locational fundamentals theory.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 27-55
Issue: 2
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.866381
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.866381
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:2:p:27-55
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Kris Inwood
Author-X-Name-First: Kris
Author-X-Name-Last: Inwood
Author-Name: Oliver Masakure
Author-X-Name-First: Oliver
Author-X-Name-Last: Masakure
Title: Poverty and Physical Well-being among the Coloured Population in South Africa
Abstract:
We review the social construction of race and the
experience of relative poverty and ill-health among South Africa's
Coloured population. We argue that childhood deprivation among Coloureds
and race-based inequality in physical well-being, which is still visible
today, began at least as early as the 1870s. The historical literature
points to differences in morbidity and mortality between Whites and
Coloureds before World War Two. New evidence from
military reports of stature points to regional, socio-economic and urban
influences on physical well-being which differed between Coloureds and
Whites. Coloureds were much shorter even after adjusting for potentially
confounding influences. The gap in stature changed very little between men
born in the 1870s and those born in the 1920s.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 56-82
Issue: 2
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.866382
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.866382
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:2:p:56-82
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Gavin Williams
Author-X-Name-First: Gavin
Author-X-Name-Last: Williams
Title: Who, Where, and When were the Cape Gentry?
Abstract:
The "Cape gentry" has come to be conventional in
descriptions and in analyses of the south-western Cape during the rule of
the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie). Implicit in
the idea of a "Cape gentry" are ownership of land and of slaves, degrees
of inequalities, tenure and exercise of political office, and recognition
of status honour, which were perpetuated over generations in networks of
intermarried kin. This paper emphasizes the relevance of published
statistics for interpreting changes over time in economic inequalities and
social relations among the districts of the Colony. It sets out Mentzel's
account of the four "classes" of rural society and ends by bringing into
question the deployment of the idea of "Cape gentry" in analyses of the
social structure in the Cape for lacking geographic and historical
specificity.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 83-111
Issue: 2
Volume: 28
Year: 2013
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2013.866383
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2013.866383
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:28:y:2013:i:2:p:83-111
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Author-Name: Leigh Gardner
Author-X-Name-First: Leigh
Author-X-Name-Last: Gardner
Title: The Internationalization of Economic History: A Puzzle
Abstract:
The internationalization of economic history is everywhere except in the
publication outputs. Using a new dataset of publications in the top four
economic history journals, we investigate this puzzle and attempt to
explain why relatively few papers on and from developing countries are
published in top journals despite the growing internationalization of
economic history more broadly. We find little evidence to suggest that
this is due to a bias against papers on developing country topics and by
developing country authors. Developing country papers and authors also do
not perform worse in citation analyses. Authors from developing countries,
it seems, are less productive, or discouraged from submitting their papers
to top quality journals, choosing instead local journals. This journal
aims to reduce this disparity.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-14
Issue: 1
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.922842
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.922842
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:1:p:1-14
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tirthankar Roy
Author-X-Name-First: Tirthankar
Author-X-Name-Last: Roy
Title: The Rise and Fall of Indian Economic History 1920-2013
Abstract:
The number of original articles published in Indian
economic history shows a boom in the 1980s ending in a recession from the
1990s. The paper surveys the evolution of the field and explores the
reasons behind these tendencies. It concludes that the trends reflect
shifts in the popularity of archives-based research on economic issues
among historians in India. Following on from a rise in the 1980s, in the
last 20 years, cultural history crowded out economic history, and debates
about the process of long-term economic change became rare. More recently,
the link between comparative economic growth and Indian history has
strengthened, leading to a modest revival.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 15-41
Issue: 1
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.922843
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.922843
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:1:p:15-41
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Emmanuel Akyeampong
Author-X-Name-First: Emmanuel
Author-X-Name-Last: Akyeampong
Author-Name: Hippolyte Fofack
Author-X-Name-First: Hippolyte
Author-X-Name-Last: Fofack
Title: The Contribution of African Women to Economic Growth and Development in the Pre-Colonial and Colonial Periods: Historical Perspectives and Policy Implications
Abstract:
Bringing together history and economics, this paper
presents a historical and processual understanding of women's economic
marginalization in sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the
end of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been economically
active or productive; it is rather that they have often not been able to
claim the proceeds of their labor or have it formally accounted for. The
paper focuses on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three
major arguments. First, it discusses the historical processes through
which the labor of women was increasingly appropriated even in kinship
structures in pre-colonial Africa, utilizing the concepts of "rights in
persons" and "wealth in people". Reviewing the processes of production and
reproduction, it explains why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were
women and discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the
exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the cultivation of cash
crops and European missionary constructions of the individual, marriage,
and family from the early decades of the 19th century sequestered female
labor and made it invisible in the realm of domestic production. Third, it
discusses how colonial policies from the late 19th century reinforced the
"capture" of female labor and the codification of patriarchy through the
nature and operation of the colonial economy and the instrumentality of
customary law.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 42-73
Issue: 1
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.923154
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.923154
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:1:p:42-73
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Felix Meier zu Selhausen
Author-X-Name-First: Felix
Author-X-Name-Last: Meier zu Selhausen
Title: Missionaries and female empowerment in colonial Uganda: New evidence from Protestant marriage registers, 1880-1945
Abstract:
Protestant missionaries have recently been praised
for their comparatively benign features concerning their support of
women's education in Africa. Using a novel dataset of 5,202 Protestant
brides born between 1880 and 1945 from urban and rural Uganda, this paper
offers a first pass at analysing empirically the role of mission education
on African women's socio-economic position within the household. The paper
finds that although mission education raised the sampled brides' literacy
skills way above female national levels, they were largely excluded from
participating in the colonial wage labour market. In this context, the
missionary society presented an almost exclusive source of female wage
labour in areas of religious service, schooling and medical care. While
literacy per se did not affect women's marriage behaviour, women who
worked for the missionaries married significantly later in life and
married men closer to their own age, signalling a shift in the power
balance between parents and daughters and between husband and wife. On
average, daughters of fathers deeply entrenched in the missionary movement
had the highest chances to access wage employment, emphasizing the
importance of paternal mission networks for Protestant women's work
outside the household during colonial times.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 74-112
Issue: 1
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.927110
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.927110
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:1:p:74-112
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Martine Mariotti
Author-X-Name-First: Martine
Author-X-Name-Last: Mariotti
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Title: The economics of apartheid: An introduction
Abstract:
Twenty years after apartheid was formally abolished it continues to shape
South African society. Its legacy persists over and above interest in it
as a perverse phenomenon. We therefore find it timely, as part of our
introduction to this special issue, to review some important studies of
the economic aspects, and particularly some newer research by young
scholars. Since so much about the apartheid system remains unexamined,
Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) organized a workshop in March
2013 to bring together people who work on the economics of apartheid. This
special issue is partly the result of papers presented at this workshop or
collaborations developed there.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 113-125
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.958298
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.958298
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:113-125
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Mats Lundahl
Author-X-Name-First: Mats
Author-X-Name-Last: Lundahl
Title: Some stepping stones in the economic modelling of apartheid
Abstract:
After a review of some of the seminal empirical contributions to the study
of the economic role of racial discrimination in South Africa, the essay
compares and contrasts three different approaches to the formal economic
modelling of the apartheid system, based on these contributions: the
neoclassical approach which emphasizes gains and losses in terms of factor
incomes, the public goods approach designed to deal with 'petty'
apartheid, and the efficiency wage approach which models apartheid as an
anti-shirking device. It compares the predictions of the different models
with the historical sequence of racial discrimination in South Africa.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 126-145
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955274
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955274
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:126-145
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Anton D. Lowenberg
Author-X-Name-First: Anton D.
Author-X-Name-Last: Lowenberg
Title: An Economic Model of the Apartheid State
Abstract:
Rather than a rigid racial ideology, it is argued that South African
apartheid was a pragmatic response of a white oligarchy to changing
economic and political constraints. Consequently, the degree to which
apartheid principles were applied and enforced by the South African state
varied over time. A public choice model is developed to explain apartheid
as endogenous policy, the parameters of which are determined by political
support-maximizing politicians. The model suggests that the enforcement of
apartheid was responsive to changes in such exogenous variables as defence
costs, the gold price and the reservation wage of black unskilled labour.
Predictions of the model hold implications for the causes of the
democratic transition of the 1990s, including the role played by
international sanctions.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 146-169
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955270
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955270
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:146-169
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lindie Koorts
Author-X-Name-First: Lindie
Author-X-Name-Last: Koorts
Title: If neither capitalism nor communism, then what? DF Malan and the National Party's economic rhetoric, 1895-1954
Abstract:
DF Malan is known as the Afrikaner nationalist leader who led the National
Party to victory in 1948 and instituted the policy of apartheid. While
much research has been done on the relationship between Afrikaner
nationalism, apartheid and Afrikaners' economic interests, this article
seeks to understand the Nationalists' mode of thinking by tracing their
economic rhetoric - in particular the rhetoric of DF Malan, as one of
their chief ideologues. It finds that from an early age, Malan's economic
thinking reflected the interests of his class, i.e., as a rural, Cape
Afrikaner. This entailed a concern for the interests of farmers and a
desire for state protection, which was also tied to anxiety about the
rising poor white problem at a time of increasing social stratification in
the wake of the Mineral Revolution. Malan expressed an ambivalent
hostility to both capitalism and communism: he believed that capitalism
(in particular, South African mining capital) created inequality, which in
turn gave rise to socialism, the result being class divisions and social
unrest. This clashed with his nationalist worldview and his religious
beliefs. When Malan entered politics, he joined the National Party, which
from the outset expressed the same ambivalence. In the decades that
followed, both Malan and the party would shift their weight from
anti-capitalism to anti-communism, as the political issues of the day
dictated. This ranged from populist anti-mining rhetoric and the threat to
expropriate land from private companies, to the communist bogeyman, which
formed one of the key tenets of the 1948 election. It reveals a fluid
attitude towards the chief economic ideologies of the day, as well as a
somewhat vague and opportunistic approach to economic policy.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 170-196
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955271
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955271
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:170-196
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Martine Mariotti
Author-X-Name-First: Martine
Author-X-Name-Last: Mariotti
Author-Name: Danelle van Zyl-Hermann
Author-X-Name-First: Danelle
Author-X-Name-Last: van Zyl-Hermann
Title: Policy, practice and perception: Reconsidering the efficacy and meaning of statutory job reservation in South Africa, 1956-1979
Abstract:
Building on a long history of racially discriminatory labour practices,
South African governments instituted statutory job reservation through the
Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924, and extended its scope through
Section 77 of its successor Act in 1956. Section 77, which provided for
direct government intervention in reserving certain occupations for
specific racial groups, attracted widespread condemnation from apartheid
critics throughout its tenure, and has been vilified in the historiography
as one of the cornerstones of racial discrimination in apartheid South
Africa. This paper evaluates contradictions between the application of the
job reservation policy in practice and its perceived power amongst
sections of organized labour. We contribute to the discussion on job
reservation in South Africa in two ways: first, by assessing the actual
impact of Section 77 on racial employment practices, and second, by
examining the reaction of certain groups of organized labour to efforts to
scrap the policy from the late-1970s. It shows that the impact of job
reservation determinations in the period 1956 to 1979 was very limited in
practice - yet a number of constellations of minority workers strongly
defended the policy because of the perceived protection it offered them as
workers vulnerable to competition from African labour. We conclude that,
in this sense, Section 77 primarily provided symbolic rather than actual
job protection to organized labour.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 197-233
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955273
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955273
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:197-233
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Servaas van der Berg
Author-X-Name-First: Servaas
Author-X-Name-Last: van der Berg
Title: The transition from apartheid: Social spending shifts preceded political reform
Abstract:
Given the nature of apartheid, social spending incidence figures were
collected by race for many decades. An analysis of these figures shows an
important structural break in racial patterns of social spending in the
mid-1970s, with a major shift towards the black population. This left the
post-apartheid government with much of the social spending shifts already
accomplished, and relatively limited fiscal leeway. Nevertheless, it
continued these shifts, with the result that South African social spending
is now extremely well targeted.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 234-244
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955277
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955277
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:234-244
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Nicoli Nattrass
Author-X-Name-First: Nicoli
Author-X-Name-Last: Nattrass
Title: Deconstructing Profitability under Apartheid: 1960-1989
Abstract:
This paper discusses trends in South African profitability between 1960
and 1989 (the last peak year before the release of Nelson Mandela in
1990). It is argued that where distributional conflict is a persistent
feature of the economic historical landscape, or is claimed to be of
central importance (as is the case with regard to the radical 'cheap
labour' theory of capital accumulation and growth under apartheid),
examining trends in profitability and the underlying forces behind it may
be of some assistance to economic historians. Trends in the profit rate
can be linked to institutional transformation, and deconstructing the
profit rate can help isolate the relative importance of the profit share
and productivity in shaping the rate of return for capitalists. The
empirical analysis finds that there were different economic factors at
work behind trends in profitability between 1960 and 1989, and that
Marxist claims about cheap labour being the basis for supposedly rising
profitability and growth under apartheid are not supported by the data.
Rather, the paper highlights the role of falling capital productivity as
the key determinant of falling profitability - developments which suggests
that investment in the late apartheid period was misdirected in
significant ways.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 245-267
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955269
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955269
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:245-267
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Roy Havemann
Author-X-Name-First: Roy
Author-X-Name-Last: Havemann
Title: The Exchange Control System under Apartheid
Abstract:
Exchange controls were part of a complex system of maintaining some
financial stability during apartheid, particularly as the apartheid
economic system began to implode, and the macroeconomy deteriorated. The
centrepiece of the system was a complex system of multiple exchange rates,
with residents and non-resident transactions taking place under different
currency regimes, creating at different periods a 'blocked rand', a
'securities rand', a 'commercial rand' and a 'financial rand'. Exchange
controls appear to have assisted the apartheid regime to maintain
macroeconomic stability despite other poor policy choices. However,
measured in terms of monetary independence and exchange-rate stability,
even this was a mixed success. Much like apartheid itself, short-term
economic benefits came with severe long-term political, social and
economic distortions. Twenty years later, some of the distortions remain,
and, indeed, some of the controls. This highlights the need for ongoing
reforms to make the post-apartheid South African economy less distorted
and more competitive, and to continue to develop a modernized system for
managing external risks.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 268-286
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955276
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955276
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:268-286
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Roger Southall
Author-X-Name-First: Roger
Author-X-Name-Last: Southall
Title: The African Middle Class in South Africa 1910-1994
Abstract:
Contemporary interest in the black African middle class requires holistic
attention to how this class has developed historically. In what follows,
the origins of the African middle class are located in the efforts of
Christian missionaries to create a literate, 'civilized' African elite.
The resultant middle class was defined by its employment in professional,
service and clerical spheres, and was noted for its orientation towards
material improvement. However, confronted by racial barriers which stunted
its opportunities for upward mobility, the African middle class played a
key role in the establishment of the African National Congress (ANC).
Although significant debate attends the extent to which middle-class
leaders of the ANC connected with the masses during the inter-war years,
there is strong for backing for the claim that the radicalization of the
movement in the 1950s saw middle-class elements move into political
alliance with the black working class. Thereafter, however, the banning of
the liberation movements 1960 led the African middle class to lapse into
political quiescence, although some of them pursued the limited advances
offered by the bantustan programme. In turn, these were to be overtaken by
political developments of the 1980s alongside accompanying reformist
efforts to promote a collaborationist middle class within African urban
communities. Ironically, this paved the way for the African middle class
to line up behind the ANC, and for the ANC to become a predominantly
middle class formation after 1994.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 287-310
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955275
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955275
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:287-310
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Katherine Eriksson
Author-X-Name-First: Katherine
Author-X-Name-Last: Eriksson
Title: Does the language of instruction in primary school affect later labour market outcomes? Evidence from South Africa
Abstract:
This paper uses a change in the language of instruction in South African
schools in 1955 to examine the effect of mother-tongue instead of English
or Afrikaans instruction on long-term educational and economic outcomes.
Using the 1980 South African census, a difference-in-difference framework
allows me to estimate the effect of increasing mother-tongue instruction
for black students from four to six years. I find positive effects on
wages which I interpret as evidence of increases in human capital; these
effects might have been larger in the absence of labour market
discrimination against blacks under apartheid. I find positive effects on
the ability to read and write, on educational attainment, and on the
ability to speak English in predominantly English areas. I examine
heterogeneous effects by region. This paper informs knowledge about the
long-term effects of one aspect of a major apartheid education policy, the
Bantu Education Act.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 311-335
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955272
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.955272
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:311-335
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Waldo Krugell
Author-X-Name-First: Waldo
Author-X-Name-Last: Krugell
Title: The Spatial Persistence of Population and Wealth During Apartheid: Comparing the 1911 and 2011 Censuses
Abstract:
This article examines the spatial distribution of people and wealth in
South Africa over the period 1911 to 2011. Economic development is
typically characterized by agglomeration, but Apartheid policies tried to
separate people and disperse economic activity. Zipf's Law is used to
examine the balance of these forces. The results show that Apartheid's
interventions could not stop agglomeration, which seems to have continued
to the point of over-concentration today. Wealth has become increasingly
concentrated in places of initial white settlement and the large urban
agglomerations.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 336-352
Issue: 2
Volume: 29
Year: 2014
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.957907
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2014.957907
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:336-352
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Nonso Obikili
Author-X-Name-First: Nonso
Author-X-Name-Last: Obikili
Title: Social Capital and Human Capital in the Colonies: A Study of Cocoa Farmers in Western Nigeria
Abstract:
I examine the relationship between social and human capital in colonial
Western Nigeria. Using data on expenditure of cocoa farmers in 1952, I
show that farmers in towns with higher social spending individually spend
more on education. The relationship holds after controlling for various
characteristics of the farmers and the towns. Thus I highlight the
importance of social capital in generating human capital. I also show that
this relationship is not limited to contemporary African development but
was already present during the colonial era.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-22
Issue: 1
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1012712
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1012712
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:1:p:1-22
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lorraine Greyling
Author-X-Name-First: Lorraine
Author-X-Name-Last: Greyling
Author-Name: Grietjie Verhoef
Author-X-Name-First: Grietjie
Author-X-Name-Last: Verhoef
Title: Slow growth, supply shocks and structural change: The GDP of the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth century
Abstract:
The trajectory of South African economic development starts in the
colonial economies. No systematic data exists on the Gross Domestic
Product of the territories that formed the Union of South Africa in 1910.
A comprehensive project to reconstruct nineteenth-century Gross Domestic
Project (GDP) for the different territories can now report for the first
time on actual Cape Colony GDP data. This paper presents the findings of
reconstructed Cape Colony GDP according to the SNA. It confirms earlier
estimates, refines very tentative projections of Cape Colony GDP during
the nineteenth century and offers new insights into the nature and
direction of the settler economy in the nineteenth century. It also
pioneers data on the Cape Colony GDP and is the first in a series
outlining nineteenth-century GDP of the territories that formed the Union
of South Africa in 1910.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 23-43
Issue: 1
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1012711
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1012711
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:1:p:23-43
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ewout Frankema
Author-X-Name-First: Ewout
Author-X-Name-Last: Frankema
Title: Labour-Intensive Industrialization in Global History: A Review Essay
Abstract:
In Labour-Intensive Industrialization in Global History,
11 leading economic historians explore whether East Asia's pathway into
modern economic growth can be meaningfully characterized as a trajectory
of 'labour-intensive industrialization', a route distinct from the North
Atlantic capital-intensive path as well as the more diffuse paths of
industrialization in the labour scarce regions of the Southern hemisphere.
This review essay situates this collective volume in the wider literature
on modern economic growth to stake out its main arguments. It proceeds
with an integrated overview of the main chapters to discuss some of the
shared conclusions as well as some of the internal disagreements. It
concludes with some critical reflections on the viability of the concept
of labour-intensive industrialization, as well as the possible
implications for areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa, which have largely
remained outside the global diffusion of modern manufacturing.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 44-67
Issue: 1
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1035705
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1035705
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:1:p:44-67
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Erik Green
Author-X-Name-First: Erik
Author-X-Name-Last: Green
Author-Name: Pius Nyambara
Author-X-Name-First: Pius
Author-X-Name-Last: Nyambara
Title: The Internationalization of Economic History: Perspectives from the African Frontier
Abstract:
In an interesting and thought-provoking paper recently published by the
Economic History of Developing Regions, Johan Fourie and
Leigh Gardner ask why relatively few papers from developing countries have
been published in top-ranked economic history journals. They provide a
number of tentative answers of which differences in academic traditions
between regions seem to be an important one. In this paper, we contribute
to this discussion by putting the identified puzzle in the broader context
of the development of economic history in the Western world and African
universities. We fear that the silence from African scholars in top-ranked
economic history journals might lead economic historians in the Western
world to believe that little economic history research is taking place at
African universities. The paper shows that economic history research at
African universities is not only strong, but remained vibrant even when
African economic history was on the decline at universities elsewhere. The
lack of visible output in major economic history journals is thus not a
sign of weakness. Instead it is an effect of the increased methodological
specialization of economic history in the Western world. There is a danger
that this specialization may led to regional isolation and we thus urge
economic historians in the Western world to further engage in the work by
African scholars.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 68-78
Issue: 1
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1025744
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1025744
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:1:p:68-78
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Gareth Austin
Author-X-Name-First: Gareth
Author-X-Name-Last: Austin
Title: African Economic History in Africa
Abstract:
This paper reviews the state of research in African economic history in
tropical Africa, reaching a more pessimistic conclusion than Green and
Nyambara. The subject has seen a renaissance in recent years but
relatively few of the publications have come from authors based at
universities between the Zambezi and the Sahara (the 'sub-region'). This
discrepancy is not new, except in degree. It is partly attributable to
resource constraints. But it also reflects both intellectual priorities
and the way disciplines are organized. Economics departments in the
sub-region have shown little interest in history, especially recently;
while history departments are often wary of both quantitative methods and
economic theory, reflecting a frequently strong institutional divide
between humanities and social sciences. Further, while it is true that
economic historians in tropical Africa have been less enamoured with
mainstream theory and cliometrics than many of their colleagues elsewhere,
on both sides this partly reflects insufficient awareness of others'
publications. The paper proceeds to suggest ways in which economic
historians inside and outside tropical Africa can collaborate to overcome
segmentation in intellectual markets, which is desirable anyway and would
probably lead to more contributions to international economic history
journals from scholars based in the sub-region.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 79-94
Issue: 1
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 6
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1033686
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1033686
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:1:p:79-94
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jutta Bolt
Author-X-Name-First: Jutta
Author-X-Name-Last: Bolt
Author-Name: Ellen Hillbom
Author-X-Name-First: Ellen
Author-X-Name-Last: Hillbom
Title: Potential for Diversification? The Role of the Formal Sector in Bechuanaland Protectorate's Economy, 1900-65
Abstract:
While Botswana since independence has experienced impressive economic
growth and development this progress has not been accompanied by economic
diversification and endogenous growth. In this article we focus on the
colonial period and investigate to what extent the formal sector of
Bechuanaland Protectorate (colonial Botswana) had the potential to
constitute the basis for a diversification of the dominating cattle
economy away from its dependency on exporting a single natural resource
good - beef. We base our study on colonial archive sources and
anthropological evidence which we use to: examine labour market
structures; estimate welfare ratios and surplus; and discuss government
spending. We find that the demand for skilled labour and human capital
development was low throughout the colonial period and that the private
sector generally lacked the economic strength and dynamics to develop
alternative and/or complementary sectors. Further, we find no evidence of
demand driven diversification, neither stemming from private sector
consumption and investments, nor from government spending on economic
activities outside the cattle sector, infrastructure and human capital
development.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 95-124
Issue: 2
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1066671
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1066671
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:2:p:95-124
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Indrajit Ray
Author-X-Name-First: Indrajit
Author-X-Name-Last: Ray
Title: 'The Great Divergence' Revisited: The Case of Bengal in Early Modern Times
Abstract:
This study contributes to the literature on the 'Great Divergence' by
analysing the historical roots of the economic slowdown in Bengal. It
offers a critique of existing hypotheses insofar as they fail to account
for the experience of Bengal sufficiently. In particular, emphasis on
demographic-ecological crisis as an explanation of Asian regions falling
behind seems inapt for Bengal. The paper proposes an alternative
theoretical framework based on Adam Smith's understanding of pre-modern
process of economic development, and especially the role of capital
inflows. This alternative is tested against a detailed analysis of
monetary and fiscal trends in early modern Bengal.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 125-156
Issue: 2
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1071662
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1071662
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:2:p:125-156
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Klas R�nnb�ck
Author-X-Name-First: Klas
Author-X-Name-Last: R�nnb�ck
Title: The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Social Stratification on the Gold Coast
Abstract:
The paper is concerned with the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on
African economies. It focuses upon the case of the Gold Coast, studying
quantitatively the impact on the social stratification of Gold Coast
societies. The paper argues that the demand for provisions from the
external slave trade was too small to have any substantial direct positive
linkage effects for the development of commercial agriculture in the rural
part of the Gold Coast. Some labourers in the coastal European enclaves
experienced an initial temporary boom in living standards, but soon a
period of decline took precedent. Only a small group of highly privileged,
key employees were able to gain consistently from their positions working
for the European slave traders.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 157-181
Issue: 2
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1075384
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1075384
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:2:p:157-181
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Vishnu Padayachee
Author-X-Name-First: Vishnu
Author-X-Name-Last: Padayachee
Author-Name: Bradley Bordiss
Author-X-Name-First: Bradley
Author-X-Name-Last: Bordiss
Title: How Global Geo-Politics Shaped South Africa's Post-World War I Monetary Policy: The Case Of Gerhard Vissering And Edwin Kemmerer In South Africa, 1924-25
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to highlight using international archives,
the extent to which America's attempts to anchor its increasingly dominant
global economic power and specifically the struggle between London and New
York as the centre of global finance, impacted on the nature and character
of the monetary policy advice given by these two international experts, as
evident in their work on the Kemmerer-Vissering Commission. We show that
Kemmerer, a representative of the rising new global economic powerhouse,
the United States of America, and Vissering, a representative of a far
less significant global player, the Netherlands, also with somewhat closer
historical ties to Britain, were in fact instruments of these global
dynamics, as they went about their work on the Commission. This global
aspect of the narrative of the Kemmerer-Vissering report has not been
highlighted by previous research.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 182-209
Issue: 2
Volume: 30
Year: 2015
Month: 12
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1051027
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1051027
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:2:p:182-209
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Sarah G. Carmichael
Author-X-Name-First: Sarah G.
Author-X-Name-Last: Carmichael
Author-Name: Selin Dilli
Author-X-Name-First: Selin
Author-X-Name-Last: Dilli
Author-Name: Jan Luiten van Zanden
Author-X-Name-First: Jan Luiten
Author-X-Name-Last: van Zanden
Title: Introduction: Family Systems and Economic Development
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-9
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1132625
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1132625
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:1-9
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Auke Rijpma
Author-X-Name-First: Auke
Author-X-Name-Last: Rijpma
Author-Name: Sarah G. Carmichael
Author-X-Name-First: Sarah G.
Author-X-Name-Last: Carmichael
Title: Testing Todd and Matching Murdock: Global Data on Historical Family Characteristics
Abstract:
This paper investigates the possibilities for the creation of a global
dataset on family and household characteristics. This is done by
scrutinizing and comparing two prominent data sources on family system
classifications. We first focus on historical data, by comparing Emmanuel
Todd's classification of countries by family systems with ethnographic
data compiled in George Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas.
Qualitative and quantitative tests show that the two datasets frequently
agree about family traits. Nonetheless, substantial differences exist that
are mostly attributable to the focus of the datasets on different regions,
and the difficulties in translating local, descriptive studies to hard
data. We therefore emphasize that it is important to know the strengths
and weaknesses of the two datasets and emphasize that robustness checks
are necessary in empirical research into family characteristics. We also
compare these historical data with present-day data. This comparison
suggests that family characteristics and the values associated with them
can persist over long periods.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 10-46
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1114415
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1114415
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:10-46
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lotte van der Vleuten
Author-X-Name-First: Lotte
Author-X-Name-Last: van der Vleuten
Title: Mind The Gap! The Influence of Family Systems on The Gender Education Gap in Developing Countries, 1950--2005
Abstract:
This paper argues that, by shaping everyday attitudes towards women and
perceptions of their value and decisions about them, family systems
explain part of the difficulty in bridging the gap between men's and
women's achievement in education. The gap is more pronounced outside the
highly industrialized nations, where affordable mass education is not the
standard, and gender differences in educational attainment are markedly
affected by persisting cultural norms. I test this hypothesis by examining
family systems that have had a lasting effect on gender norms. I find
evidence that family systems explain gender differences in average years
of education in 86 developing and middle-income countries around the
globe, for the period 1950 to 2005.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 47-81
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1114414
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1114414
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:47-81
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Selin Dilli
Author-X-Name-First: Selin
Author-X-Name-Last: Dilli
Title: Family Systems and the Historical Roots of Global Gaps in Democracy
Abstract:
The current study investigates the role of ‘family systems’
as a historical institution in explaining why some countries have enduring
democracy while others remained authoritarian despite the repeated global
waves of democratization. To do so, empirical data including information
on 127 countries between 1849 and 2009 has been gathered. The results of
cross sectional and panel data analyses show that countries characterized
by a nuclear household structure in the past also have higher levels of
democracy in the long run (at the national level). Thus, the current study
provides evidence for Todd's hypothesis on the origins of political
systems. Moreover, family systems that determine the position of women are
also found to be relevant for democratic development. The persistent
effect of family systems on democracy can be attributed to their link with
norms and values that are conducive to democracy, gender equality and
local democracy practices. Overall, these findings emphasize family
organization as an important historical factor in understanding the
long-term global patterns of democratic development.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 82-135
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1109440
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1109440
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:82-135
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bastian Mönkediek
Author-X-Name-First: Bastian
Author-X-Name-Last: Mönkediek
Author-Name: Hilde A.J. Bras
Author-X-Name-First: Hilde A.J.
Author-X-Name-Last: Bras
Title: The Interplay of Family Systems, Social Networks and Fertility in Europe Cohorts Born Between 1920 and 1960
Abstract:
Despite important variations in regional family systems, little research
has been done to assess the effects of these differences on fertility and
thus on families’ economic status. Even less attention has been
paid to the effects of deviating from these regionally embedded norms in
terms of network compositions. People's social networks may not conform to
the region's view of the ideal family, while this could have important
implications for their fertility behaviour. To fill this knowledge gap,
this paper aims to answer two questions: to what extent do family systems
shape family size, and to what extent do deviations from regional family
system norms in terms of social network composition result in differences
in completed fertility? To answer these questions, we use the first two
waves of the ‘Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement’ and
derive indicators describing regional family systems and people's social
networks. We test the influence of these covariates on the completed
fertility of cohorts born between 1920 and 1960 in 13 European countries.
Our results show that family system norms, and deviations from them in
terms of specific social networks, play an important role in determining
family size.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 136-166
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1109441
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1109441
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:136-166
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Anne Booth
Author-X-Name-First: Anne
Author-X-Name-Last: Booth
Title: Women, Work and the Family: Is Southeast Asia Different?
Abstract:
In the literature on women and development, there has been a tendency to
view the countries of Southeast Asia as less patriarchal than other parts
of Asia. It has also been argued that patterns of female literacy and
female employment in the Moslem-majority countries in Southeast Asia are
different from those in Moslem-majority countries in the Middle East and
North Africa. This paper reviews both the historical and contemporary
evidence on the role of women in Southeast Asia paying particular
attention to four indicators. The first is the extent to which women have
been able to obtain employment outside the home. The second is their
ability to gain access to at least sufficient education to give them
literacy and numeracy. The third concerns their control over when and who
they marry, and their fertility within marriage. The fourth concerns the
extent to which Southeast Asian societies have been characterized by
strong son-preference. The paper discusses whether Southeast Asia is
different and the possible reasons for these differences.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 167-197
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1132624
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1132624
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:167-197
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Dónya S. Madjdian
Author-X-Name-First: Dónya S.
Author-X-Name-Last: Madjdian
Author-Name: Hilde A.J. Bras
Author-X-Name-First: Hilde A.J.
Author-X-Name-Last: Bras
Title: Family, Gender, and Women's Nutritional Status: A Comparison Between Two Himalayan Communities in Nepal
Abstract:
During the last decades, the focus of food and nutrition security research
has shifted from issues of macro-level availability to problems of unequal
access, and distribution within the household. Little systematic attention
has however been paid to the role of family systems in household food
allocation processes. This study focuses on the extent to which family
relations, and particularly gender roles, in two Himalayan communities
with different family systems influence intra-household food allocation,
and the subsequent nutritional status of women of reproductive age
(15--49). In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Buddhist and 15 Hindu
women, the latter belonging either to the higher Chhetri or lower Dalit
castes. Additionally, anthropometric data of women were collected. Results
show that women from Hindu families were worse off than women from
Buddhist households in terms of nutritional status, which is due to
different intra-household allocation patterns. Secondly, women's
nutritional status varied over the reproductive life course. Women were
most vulnerable during menses, pregnancy, and the post-partum period.
Comparison with research conducted in the 1980s in this area suggests that
the influence of family-level values and practices on women's nutritional
status is slowly changing.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 198-223
Issue: 1
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 3
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1114416
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1114416
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:1:p:198-223
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jannie Rossouw
Author-X-Name-First: Jannie
Author-X-Name-Last: Rossouw
Title: Politics and policies: Determinants of South Africa's monetary policy problems in the 1980s
Abstract:
The interim and final reports of the De Kock Commission (Republic of South Africa 1985) brought monetary policy in South Africa closer to the international consensus of the 1980s, where explicit nominal anchors supporting a policy commitment were widely shared principles. A nominal anchor for monetary policy was introduced for the first time in South Africa in 1986. Despite the adoption of a nominal achor, the 1980s were characterized by sustained high inflation and financial instability. This paper assesses the role of politics and policies in the period running up to and following the announcement of a nominal monetary policy anchor for South Africa. It is shown that all politics and policies contributed to financial instability and to sustained inflation in the 1980s.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 51-68
Issue: 1
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1372187
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1372187
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:1:p:51-68
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Keen Meng Choy
Author-X-Name-First: Keen Meng
Author-X-Name-Last: Choy
Author-Name: Ichiro Sugimoto
Author-X-Name-First: Ichiro
Author-X-Name-Last: Sugimoto
Title: Staple Trade, Real Wages, and Living Standards in Singapore, 1870–1939
Abstract:
This paper examines the impact of Singapore’s rise as a staple port on the city’s real wages and living standards during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when this British colony acted as the heartland to surrounding hinterlands. Based on an analysis of newly reconstructed nominal wage and price time series, it is shown that real wages in Singapore fluctuated substantially over this period, rising and falling with the port’s staple trade in tin and rubber. As the city transformed itself into a commercial and financial hub during the interwar period, however, Singapore’s real wages rose, though this was accompanied by a widening skill premium. Compared to its peers in Asia, the city appears to have enjoyed a relatively higher average living standard before 1900, and possibly by the late 1930s as well.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 18-50
Issue: 1
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1430512
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1430512
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:1:p:18-50
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Emmanuel Akyeampong
Author-X-Name-First: Emmanuel
Author-X-Name-Last: Akyeampong
Title: African socialism; or, the search for an indigenous model of economic development?
Abstract:
Ralph Austen in African Economic History (1987) noted how few African countries explicitly choose capitalism on independence, and for those who did it was a default model or a residual pattern. ‘African socialism’ was popular in the early decades of independence and pursued by several countries, including Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and Tanzania, the cases considered in this paper. The term had multiple meanings, and its advocates were quick to stress that they were not communist, and some said they were not even Marxist. This paper explores the argument that African socialism was a search for an indigenous model of economic development for a generation that was justifiably ambivalent about capitalism, but wary of being put in the communist camp in the Cold War era. Importantly, advocates of African socialism often proposed bold and transformative visions for their countries. These visions might be worth revisiting, devoid of the paradigm of socialism.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 69-87
Issue: 1
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1434411
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1434411
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:1:p:69-87
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Paola Giuliano
Author-X-Name-First: Paola
Author-X-Name-Last: Giuliano
Author-Name: Nathan Nunn
Author-X-Name-First: Nathan
Author-X-Name-Last: Nunn
Title: Ancestral Characteristics of Modern Populations
Abstract:
We construct a database, with global coverage, that provides measures of the cultural and environmental characteristics of the pre-industrial ancestors of the world’s current populations. In this paper, we describe the construction of the database, including the underlying data, the procedure to produce the estimates, and the structure of the final data. We then provide illustrations of some of the variation in the data and provide an illustration of how the data can be used.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-17
Issue: 1
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1435267
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1435267
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:1:p:1-17
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bas De Roo
Author-X-Name-First: Bas De
Author-X-Name-Last: Roo
Title: Taxation in the Congo Free State, an exceptional case? (1885–1908)
Abstract:
This article analyses the annual budgets of the Congo Free State to examine whether the broader fiscal patterns observed for British, French and Portuguese Africa can be found in Leopold’s colony; often considered a fiscal exception. The fiscal history of the Free State was unique. A history of the income composition of the state however reveals that Leopold’s revenue-raising strategies showed a lot of similarity with colonial taxation in British, French and Portuguese Africa. Leopold’s administration faced the fiscal challenge of ruling a vast, thinly populated, inaccessible colony that produced little taxable surplus, with little metropolitan support and limited access to international lending. To deal with this challenge, the Free State developed a minimalistic fiscal system that was based on the taxation of international trade and the African subject. Only during a commodity boom did this system generate sufficient income to cover colonial expenditure. The study of the not so exceptional case of the Free State hence supports the claim that the colonial scope to tax African colonies was fundamentally determined by local economic conditions and power relations, global demand for commodities and Metropolitan pressure to be financially self-sufficient.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 97-126
Issue: 2
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1327807
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1327807
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:2:p:97-126
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lorraine Greyling
Author-X-Name-First: Lorraine
Author-X-Name-Last: Greyling
Author-Name: Grietjie Verhoef
Author-X-Name-First: Grietjie
Author-X-Name-Last: Verhoef
Title: Savings and economic growth: a historical analysis of the Cape Colony economy, 1850–1909
Abstract:
The savings-development nexus is a topical issue in current development literature. No study has yet explored this relationship in nineteenth-century ‘South African’ colonies. An historical analysis of the development of the savings’ trends in South Africa may assist in understanding development trends in the twentieth century. Apart from general descriptions of the nature of economic activity in the Cape Colony very little is known about the role of savings and financial sector development in the growing colonial economy. This paper describes and surveys the nature of financial markets in the Cape Colony between 1850 and 1909 and seeks to explain the relationship between savings and economic growth. Savings is defined in the broad sense of monetary and non-monetary savings and would be assumed to be a proxy for financial development in the Cape Colony. This paper contributes to the economic history literature on the colonial past of South Africa by using recently compiled data on the GDP (Greyling & Verhoef 2015) as well as monetary savings and non-monetary savings (livestock) to test whether the general view that ‘financial development is robustly growth promoting’ can be substantiated in the last half of the nineteenth-century Cape Colony. The Johansen vector error correction model technique is applied to determine the relationship between savings and economic growth. It is found that despite the expectations in the literature that financial deepening contributes to economic growth, the Cape Colony did not display such causal relationship in the period under review.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 127-176
Issue: 2
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1327808
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1327808
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:2:p:127-176
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: David Wuepper
Author-X-Name-First: David
Author-X-Name-Last: Wuepper
Author-Name: Johannes Sauer
Author-X-Name-First: Johannes
Author-X-Name-Last: Sauer
Title: Moving Forward in Rural Ghana: Investing in Social and Human Capital Mitigates Historical Constraints
Abstract:
There is now considerable evidence to suggest that historical events have had long-term impacts on economic outcomes in Africa. What is less widely studied is the potential for mitigating such impacts. We surveyed 400 pineapple farmers in Ghana and find that both the historical dependency on different crops and the impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade predict income differences in 2013. However, not all farmers are affected equally by history. Using instrumental variables to identify causal effects, we find that human and social capital are pivotal for overcoming historically inherited constraints.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 177-209
Issue: 2
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1330654
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1330654
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:2:p:177-209
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Paul Shaffer
Author-X-Name-First: Paul
Author-X-Name-Last: Shaffer
Title: Seasonal Hunger in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, 1900-40
Abstract:
There are ongoing controversies about the effects of colonial-era policies on hunger – and the nature of hunger in precolonial societies – in the Global South which have proved difficult to adjudicate because of the fragmentary nature of empirical information. The twin facts of the relatively recent incorporation of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast into the British Empire (1896) along with an interesting assortment of data on hunger from the early colonial period allow for certain inferences to be drawn about these debates. The Northern Territories is an interesting case in that it is characterized by poor soil quality, variable and seasonal rainfall, minimal experience with cash crops, limited forced labour recruitment and the late introduction of direct taxation. Overall, the data do paint a picture of severe seasonal hunger in the early colonial period, circa 1900–40, but do not suggest that colonial policies or practices had a pronounced impact either way, pointing to the likelihood that seasonal hunger is a long-standing phenomenon which predates colonial rule.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 270-300
Issue: 3
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1340093
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1340093
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:3:p:270-300
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lars C. Bruno
Author-X-Name-First: Lars C.
Author-X-Name-Last: Bruno
Title: Palm oil plantation productivity during the establishment of the Malaysian refinery sector, 1970–1990
Abstract:
The Malaysian palm oil sector is an example of how a developing country can manage to establish itself as a world leader in the production and processing of an agricultural crop. This paper examines the formative period (1970–1990) of the Malaysian palm oil industry by focusing on the productivity at the plantation level, the first level of production, to understand how this process influenced the establishment of the higher value-added refineries. The paper finds that the official productivity figures, the oil yield (metric tonnes of crude palm oil per hectare), is inconsistent and estimates more consistent productivity figures. In addition, the paper briefly considers labour productivity as the Malaysian palm oil sector is more labour-intensive than its competitors. The main finding is that the improvements in plantation productivity were crucial for the development of the palm oil processing refinery sector, which might hold important implications for other developing countries wishing to promote agricultural processing industries.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 221-269
Issue: 3
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1343660
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1343660
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:3:p:221-269
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Marianne H Wanamaker
Author-X-Name-First: Marianne H
Author-X-Name-Last: Wanamaker
Title: 150 Years of Economic Progress for African American Men: Measuring Outcomes and Sizing Up Roadblocks
Abstract:
This article uses data on relative incomes to measure the economic convergence (or lack thereof) of African American men over time, and reviews current research in economic history on the struggle for economic equality for African American men in the United States since the end of the Civil War in 1865. The contents of this paper were originally presented at the University of Stellenbosch Laboratory for the Economics of Africa’s Past (LEAP) Lecture on 6 December 2016.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 211-220
Issue: 3
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1371587
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1371587
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:3:p:211-220
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Federico Tadei
Author-X-Name-First: Federico
Author-X-Name-Last: Tadei
Title: The Long-Term Effects of Extractive Institutions: Evidence from Trade Policies in Colonial French Africa
Abstract:
Despite having convincingly linked colonial extractive institutions to African current poverty, the literature remains unclear about which exact institutions are to blame. To address this research question, in this paper I identify trade policies as one of the main components of colonial extraction by showing their long-term effects on African economic growth. By using the gap between prices paid to African producers in the French colonies and competitive prices as a measure of rent extraction via trade monopsonies, I find a negative correlation between such price gaps and current development. This correlation is not driven by differences in geographic characteristics or national institutions. Moreover, it cannot be explained by the selection of initially poorer places into higher colonial extraction. The evidence suggests that trade monopsonies affected subsequent growth by reducing development in rural areas and that these effects persisted for a long time after independence.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 183-208
Issue: 3
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1527685
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1527685
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:3:p:183-208
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Luis Bértola
Author-X-Name-First: Luis
Author-X-Name-Last: Bértola
Author-Name: María Rey
Author-X-Name-First: María
Author-X-Name-Last: Rey
Title: The Montevideo-Oxford Latin American Economic History Database (MOxLAD): Origins, Contents and Sources
Abstract:
The Montevideo-Oxford Latin American Economic History Database "MOxLAD" provides statistical series for a wide range of economic and social indicators covering the Latin American countries for the period 1870-2010. In this paper we describe the origins and the content of MOxLAD as well as some examples of the procedure to produce the estimates in order to achieve consistency and comparability of the data series, over time and between countries.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 209-224
Issue: 3
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1532286
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1532286
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:3:p:209-224
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Luis Felipe Zegarra
Author-X-Name-First: Luis Felipe
Author-X-Name-Last: Zegarra
Title: Were early banks important for economic growth? Evidence from Latin America
Abstract:
This article examines the available evidence from five Latin American economies (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru) and determines the effect of bank output on economic growth from 1870 to 1920. By relying on a panel error-correction model, the evidence suggests that bank output had a significant long-term impact on GDP per capita. In the long run, an increase of 1% in the level of bank output per capita caused an increase of 0.2%-0.3% in GDP per capita. Compared to other studies, however, our estimates suggest a relatively low impact of bank output on GDP per capita. The results are robust to changes in the specification, in the sample, and in the method of deflating nominal variables.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 225-258
Issue: 3
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1502036
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1502036
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:3:p:225-258
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Steven Nafziger
Author-X-Name-First: Steven
Author-X-Name-Last: Nafziger
Title: Serfdom, Emancipation, and Off-farm Labour Mobility in Tsarist Russia
Abstract: Serfdom is the most well known institutional feature of Russia under the Tsars, but its empirical implications for growth and development have rarely been explored. This paper investigates whether the legacy of serfdom affected labour mobility in the Russian countryside after Emancipation in 1861. I detail the structure of the reforms that ended serfdom and transferred property to the former serfs, and show that these measures did result in smaller land endowments, higher obligation levels, and possibly stronger communal restrictions than other groups of peasants faced in the post-Emancipation period. Drawing on a unique panel dataset of representative villages in Moscow province, I show how these differences were related to the scope of mobility out of agriculture between former serf and non-serf villages after 1861. Although the results suggest some persistence of constraints on labour mobility among former serfs, the observable differences in off-farm labour market activity largely disappear by 1900, despite persistent differences in land endowments between former serfs and non-serf peasants.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-37
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682377
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682377
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:1-37
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Qiang Chen
Author-X-Name-First: Qiang
Author-X-Name-Last: Chen
Title: The Needham Puzzle Reconsidered: The Protection of Industrial and Commercial Property Rights
Abstract: Various non-institutional hypotheses are insufficient to account for the Needham Puzzle, i.e. why the Industrial Revolution did not originate in China. This paper proposes that the fundamental cause of the Needham Puzzle is the weak protection of industrial and commercial property rights (ICPR) in historical China. Through a simple model, technological progress is shown to depend on the protection of ICPR, and evidence is provided to show China's weak protection of ICPR, demonstrated by a high real tax rate and its unpredictability, arbitrariness and progressiveness. The ICPR hypothesis helps explain why the Song Dynasty's early industrial revolution did not continue, and the peculiar de-urbanisation trend in the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 38-66
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682379
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682379
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:38-66
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Chiara Cazzuffi
Author-X-Name-First: Chiara
Author-X-Name-Last: Cazzuffi
Author-Name: Alexander Moradi
Author-X-Name-First: Alexander
Author-X-Name-Last: Moradi
Title: Membership Size and Cooperative Performance: Evidence from Ghanaian Cocoa Producers' Societies, 1930–36
Abstract: Using a complete panel of Ghanaian cocoa producers' societies in the 1930s, we investigate whether group interaction problems threatened (1) capital accumulation, (2) cocoa sales and (3) cooperative survival as membership size increased. We find evidence of group interaction problems. The net effect, however, is positive indicating gains from economies of scale as cooperatives expanded their membership.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 67-92
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682380
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682380
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:67-92
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Joerg Baten
Author-X-Name-First: Joerg
Author-X-Name-Last: Baten
Author-Name: Julia Muschallik
Author-X-Name-First: Julia
Author-X-Name-Last: Muschallik
Title: The Global Status of Economic History
Abstract: How many economic historians are there? In which countries or regions are they concentrated? What can we learn from the number of economic historians participating in world congresses, and which determinants encourage or limit participation? Using an e-mail questionnaire, we analyse the discipline's global status. Overall 59 countries were surveyed in this overview. Although the majority of economic historians are concentrated in rich countries, developing regions do have a substantial number of practitioners. Cross fertilisation between development studies, development economics and economic history is bearing increasing fruit. It is therefore important to strengthen the discipline of economic history in those regions where development is the core issue.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 93-113
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682390
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682390
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:93-113
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Author-Name: Stefan Schirmer
Author-X-Name-First: Stefan
Author-X-Name-Last: Schirmer
Title: The Future of South African Economic History
Abstract: Significant progress has been made recently in South African economic history, but much work remains to be done. In the pages that follow we set out a few potential paths of analysis based on developments within the broader discipline at the level of both methodology and theory. We highlight some of the more interesting developments and then offer suggestions as to how they could open up new avenues of exploration within the South African context.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 114-124
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682392
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682392
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:114-124
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Sophia Du Plessis
Author-X-Name-First: Sophia
Author-X-Name-Last: Du Plessis
Author-Name: Stan Du Plessis
Author-X-Name-First: Stan
Author-X-Name-Last: Du Plessis
Title: Happy in the Service of the Company: The Purchasing Power of VOC Salaries at the Cape in the 18th Century
Abstract: This paper contributes to the debate on the level and trajectory of welfare at the Cape of Good Hope during the 18th century. Recent scholarship (for example, Allen 2005) has calculated and compared the levels and evolution of real wages in various European and Asian economies since the early modern period. To this literature we add evidence for unskilled and skilled workers of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope during the 18th century, following De Zwart (2009; 2011), who recently presented evidence for unskilled workers in the Cape for the latter half of the 17th century and the 18th century. We calculate job-specific real wages in a three-step argument; from the narrowest international comparison of wage rates in terms of silver content to one based on a basket of widely consumed goods. This paper adds to this literature by adapting the consumption basket for local circumstances (due to both diet and relative prices) and the comparison for local demographics. We also provide a broader range of comparative statistics on real wages. Finally, we add the real wages of skilled workers to the comparison of unskilled workers offered in the literature to date. While the paper is based on real wages for VOC officials the mechanism we identify as the cause of this rising prosperity (sustained lower prices of consumption goods) would have raised the prosperity of all colonists at the Cape.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 125-149
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682398
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682398
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:125-149
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Justine Burns
Author-X-Name-First: Justine
Author-X-Name-Last: Burns
Author-Name: Malcolm Keswell
Author-X-Name-First: Malcolm
Author-X-Name-Last: Keswell
Title: Inheriting the Future: Intergenerational Persistence of Educational Status in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Abstract: This paper examines the changes in the educational attainment of three successive generations in South Africa: grandparents, parents and children. Many of the results accord with widely known facts, such as the educational penalty faced by individuals who are African or who live in rural areas or in female-headed households. Similarly, the larger impact of mother's education on child outcomes relative to father's education accords with previous work, although it is interesting that this gender difference is only sizeable and significant for relationships between the second and third generation. Key findings in this paper include the fact that persistence has increased with subsequent generations.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 150-175
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682403
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682403
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:150-175
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Johannes Fedderke
Author-X-Name-First: Johannes
Author-X-Name-Last: Fedderke
Author-Name: Charles Simkins
Author-X-Name-First: Charles
Author-X-Name-Last: Simkins
Title: Economic Growth in South Africa
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of South African economic growth and employs modern growth theory to structure the historical record. The recent literature on growth is large and investigates the impact of a great many variables on economic growth. Constraints of space and information confine this analysis to the following core issues: the relative contributions of employment, capital stock and technological change on growth; the determinants of investment and hence of the trajectory of capital accumulation; the contribution of the financial sector and foreign capital flows; the contribution of human capital; the impact of monetary and fiscal policy; growth consequences of governance and institutions; and the functioning of the labour market and its impact on growth.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 176-208
Issue: 1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.682408
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.682408
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:176-208
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bas van Leeuwen
Author-X-Name-First: Bas
Author-X-Name-Last: van Leeuwen
Author-Name: Jieli van Leeuwen-Li
Author-X-Name-First: Jieli
Author-X-Name-Last: van Leeuwen-Li
Author-Name: Peter Foldvari
Author-X-Name-First: Peter
Author-X-Name-Last: Foldvari
Title: Human Capital in Republican and New China: Regional and Long-Term Trends
Abstract:
In recent decades it has been debated whether China’s growth performance is primarily driven by capital accumulation (more inputs) or rather by an increase in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth (better technology and institutions). The answer to this question may offer a glimpse into the future trends of China’s economic growth. If the perspiration factors are dominant, one should expect a slowdown in the growth of the Chinese economy in accordance with the traditional Solow model. If, however, TFP growth drives per capita GDP growth, one can expect a strong convergence of China toward the technological frontier. In this paper we combine historical, long-term analysis with quantitative methods to find out whether the effect of (both human- and physical) capital and TFP on growth changed over the last 90 years. While partly relying on existing data, lack of information required us to estimate a new dataset on human capital for the provinces of China between 1922 and 2010 which allows us to decompose the observed economic growth into accumulation driven and TFP driven parts. We find that general technological development improved steadily over the course of the 1990s and 2000s.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-36
Issue: 1
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2016.1261629
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2016.1261629
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:1:p:1-36
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jens Andersson
Author-X-Name-First: Jens
Author-X-Name-Last: Andersson
Title: Long-Term Dynamics of the State in Francophone West Africa: Fiscal Capacity Pathways 1850–2010
Abstract:
This study identifies and analyses common and country-specific patterns in the evolution of the state in francophone West Africa through a detailed comparison of long-term fiscal capacity between Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Senegal. The study finds common patterns of long-term growth in fiscal capacity in the four countries since the early colonial period, which is indicative of a process of long-term economic development. It also finds significant differences in the historical fiscal pathways between the individual countries in spite of geographic proximity and common colonial heritage, which can be explained by country specific variation in economic and political context and in particular the prospects of key export commodities. These differences provide reasons to be cautious about generalizations about the history of the ‘African state’ and its capacity.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 37-70
Issue: 1
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2016.1261630
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2016.1261630
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:1:p:37-70
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tirthankar Roy
Author-X-Name-First: Tirthankar
Author-X-Name-Last: Roy
Title: The Origins of Import Substituting Industrialization in India
Abstract:
In the post-war world, India was one of the most protectionist countries. Protectionism originated in British colonial measures to design an industrialization policy in the 1920s. Whereas in the 1920s, protection was applied with discrimination, after independence in 1947, protection was offered without discrimination. The paper explains how this transformation came into being. It rejects the hypothesis now current that discriminating protection was dropped because it was a weak policy, and suggests instead that the aspirations of nationalistic businesses played a role.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 71-95
Issue: 1
Volume: 32
Year: 2017
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1292460
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1292460
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:32:y:2017:i:1:p:71-95
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tymofii Brik
Author-X-Name-First: Tymofii
Author-X-Name-Last: Brik
Title: Wages of male and female domestic workers in the Cossack Hetmanate: Poltava, 1765 to 1769
Abstract:
This paper investigates wage inequalities among domestic workers in early modern Poltava (present day Ukraine), which was an important military-administrative of a Cossack Hetmanate, which was an autonomy within the Russian Empire. The data are derived from Rumyantsev census conducted between 1765 and 1769 (N = 1,109). While previous studies often measured domestic workers’ wages indirectly, this historical source contains direct information on their wages in rubles per year. The data suggest that age and social status shaped wages of domestic workers in early modern Ukraine. After the age of 29, wages of all domestic workers stagnated and after 40 wages declined significantly. However, male domestic workers of Cossack origin had higher wages when compared to peasantry, while median wages of married women were similar to that of peasant men, and young girls received higher wages than young boys. These findings open a room for a debate about economic power of male and female workers in early modern Ukraine on the dawn of the Russian Empire centralization.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 123-146
Issue: 2
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2017.1372186
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2017.1372186
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:2:p:123-146
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Hana Nielsen
Author-X-Name-First: Hana
Author-X-Name-Last: Nielsen
Title: Technology and scale changes: The steel industry of a planned economy in a comparative perspective
Abstract:
This paper provides an analysis of the role of technical advances and upscaling practices in the steel sector and the differences in these practices between planned and market-based economies. It focuses on the Czechoslovak steel sector, comparing it to other planned economies as well as Western economies. The primary method of analysis employed is the logistic-fit curve of technology diffusion, complemented with panel regression models. The paper draws two major conclusions: first, Czechoslovakia suffered from technological backwardness in the adoption of new steel technology with prolonged formation stage and high saturation levels as seen in some of the core steel markets. To some degree, this was due to the detrimental nature of central planning on new technology adoption. However, it was mainly linked to some specific characteristics of Eastern European markets, such as availability of scrap, the vintage of individual plants and the different structure of steelmaking costs. Second, the focus on Soviet-style large scale production was visible not only at the industry level but also at the level of the individual furnaces. It was this large-scale production that can be linked to improvements in relative energy efficiency – through economies of scale and learning-by-doing effects.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 90-122
Issue: 2
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1432353
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1432353
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:2:p:90-122
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Piotr Łozowski
Author-X-Name-First: Piotr
Author-X-Name-Last: Łozowski
Title: The Social Structure of the Real Estate Market in Old Warsaw in the Years 1427–1527
Abstract:
The article examines the operations of the property market in late medieval Old Warsaw during a period of economic expansion. Two major professional groups (merchants and craftsmen) are distinguished to indicate fundamental differences in their interest in the property market. While craftsmen accumulated goods, merchants sought profit in a quick resale. In addition, the consideration of separate groups such as nobility, clergy, peasants, and Jews, and the analysis of the size of the urban market revealed that the property market in Old Warsaw was dominated by burgesses. The comparison of the number of transactions with the number of newcomers granted citizenship revealed a fact overlooked in the literature, i.e. that the vast majority of migrants had a low economic status and could not afford to purchase their own property just after arriving in the town. This suggests that the rental market played an important role in providing accommodation for newcomers. The analysis also shows the steady and dynamic development of the property market in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. This evidence conflicts with suggestions of an economic crisis affecting late medieval Polish towns, at least for Old Warsaw.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 147-182
Issue: 2
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1471353
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1471353
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:2:p:147-182
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Leigh Gardner
Author-X-Name-First: Leigh
Author-X-Name-Last: Gardner
Author-Name: Alex Klein
Author-X-Name-First: Alex
Author-X-Name-Last: Klein
Author-Name: Mikolaj Malinowski
Author-X-Name-First: Mikolaj
Author-X-Name-Last: Malinowski
Author-Name: Tamas Vonyo
Author-X-Name-First: Tamas
Author-X-Name-Last: Vonyo
Title: EHDR and the economic history of Eastern Europe
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 89-89
Issue: 2
Volume: 33
Year: 2018
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2018.1484410
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2018.1484410
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:33:y:2018:i:2:p:89-89
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jan Luiten van Zanden
Author-X-Name-First: Jan Luiten
Author-X-Name-Last: van Zanden
Title: In Good Company: About Agency and Economic Development in Global Perspective
Abstract: The paper discusses some evidence, based on a review of new literature on economic history, about what is coined the Sen-hypothesis, that increasing human agency (of both men and women) is a key factor in economic development. It briefly discusses various dimensions of agency (or its absence): slavery (as the absolute suppression of human agency), access to markets, agency concerning marriage, and political participation. This concept perhaps also allows economic historians to move beyond the historical determinism that is central to much recent work in this field.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S16-S27
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657456
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657456
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S16-S27
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tirthankar Roy
Author-X-Name-First: Tirthankar
Author-X-Name-Last: Roy
Title: Beyond Divergence: Rethinking the Economic History of India
Abstract: The interest of global historians in the non-western world tends to be driven by a desire to explain growing international economic inequality between 1800 and 2000. A preoccupation with the question, when the third world fell behind, results in a neglect of important characteristics of the economic history of the third world itself. A theory of international inequality can explain neither the recent economic resurgence in the economies of Asia and Africa, nor the highly uneven pattern of transformation within the larger nations like India. The paper suggests, with the Indian example, how these issues might be brought back into the discourse.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S57-S65
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657458
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657458
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S57-S65
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Şevket Pamuk
Author-X-Name-First: Şevket
Author-X-Name-Last: Pamuk
Title: Political Power and Institutional Change: Lessons from the Middle East
Abstract: This paper focuses on the internal organisation of the societies of the Middle East and how that may have influenced the economic institutions to explain the economic trajectory of the region since the medieval era. Societies of the Middle East experienced a good deal of institutional change since the rise of Islam. While many of these changes were in response to the changing circumstances, they also reflected the social structure and prevailing power balances. Beginning in the medieval era and continuing with the Ottomans in the early modern period, political power was concentrated in the hands of the sovereign and the state elites around him. In contrast, the influence of various social groups, not only of landowners but also of merchants, manufacturers and moneychangers, over economic matters, and more generally over the policies of the central government remained limited. As a result, societies in the Middle East did not develop institutions more independent of the state and the state elites and more in favour of the private sector.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S41-S56
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657481
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657481
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S41-S56
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Kenneth Pomeranz
Author-X-Name-First: Kenneth
Author-X-Name-Last: Pomeranz
Title: Contemporary Development and Economic History: How do we Know what Matters?
Abstract: “Development” involves increases in human and physical capital, plus institutional changes, that are characteristic of whole societies, not just particular sectors. Such changes are not necessarily well-reflected in GDP figures at the time that these changes are occurring – even assuming that we can measure GDP in historical societies with sufficient accuracy. Consequently, types of largely narrative long-run history focused on one or a few case studies are a vital supplement to more econometric and formally-modeled studies. They are particularly useful as correctives to historical work that aims at finding a single variable or event separating cases of developmental “success” and “failure.” However, the claims that emerge from such case studies are quite hard to verify. The article uses examples drawn from East Asia at certain moments a possible example of “failure,” but more recently assumed to be an example of “success” – to both identify historical findings that might have implications for contemporary development choices and to explore why such inferences are necessarily very fragile.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S136-S148
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657483
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657483
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S136-S148
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Joerg Baten
Author-X-Name-First: Joerg
Author-X-Name-Last: Baten
Author-Name: Matthias Blum
Author-X-Name-First: Matthias
Author-X-Name-Last: Blum
Title: Growing Tall but Unequal: New Findings and New Background Evidence on Anthropometric Welfare in 156 Countries, 1810–1989
Abstract: This is the first initiative to collate the entire body of anthropometric evidence during the 19th and 20th centuries, on a global scale. By providing a comprehensive dataset on global height developments we are able to emphasize an alternative view of the history of human well-being and a basis for understanding characteristics of well-being in 156 countries, 1810–1989.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S66-S85
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657489
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657489
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S66-S85
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Nicholas Crafts
Author-X-Name-First: Nicholas
Author-X-Name-Last: Crafts
Title: Economic History Matters
Abstract: This paper considers the future of economic history in the context of its relationship with economics. It is argued that there are strong synergies between the two disciplines and that awareness of the economic past is an important resource for today's economists. Examples are given that illustrate these points. It is clear that the past has useful economics but the potential value of economic history to economics will only be realised if economic historians are fluent in economics and organise the presentation of their research findings with a view to addressing questions that matter from a policy perspective.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S3-S15
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657823
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657823
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S3-S15
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Anne McCants
Author-X-Name-First: Anne
Author-X-Name-Last: McCants
Title: Public Welfare and Economic Growth
Abstract: Adam Smith's focus on the needs and wants of the general consumer is only conceivable in a context in which the value of labour has increased much faster than the value of everything else. History suggests that this happens best in a context of public infrastructure investment and human capital cultivation. An economics that accounted for the overlooked contributions of care work to the production of the labour force; that recognised the output benefits of publically funded networks of social services; that valued time spent outside of paid work at more than the zero estimate that current GDP calculations assume; that supported spending on well-crafted infrastructure investments; and that valued for its own sake the quality of life available to all; would go a long way toward realising the hopeful vision that Adam Smith first articulated at the dawn of the age of modern economic growth.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S86-S91
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.657825
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.657825
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S86-S91
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Stanley Engerman
Author-X-Name-First: Stanley
Author-X-Name-Last: Engerman
Author-Name: Kenneth Sokoloff
Author-X-Name-First: Kenneth
Author-X-Name-Last: Sokoloff
Title: Colonisation and Development
Abstract: This paper describes the nature of European colonisation, particularly of the Americas, in the period from the 16th to the 19th centuries. It details the importance of slaves purchased from Africa in the settlement process. Although Spain was the first major European coloniser, its importance was supplanted over time by the British.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S28-S40
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.658660
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.658660
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S28-S40
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert McGuire
Author-X-Name-First: Robert
Author-X-Name-Last: McGuire
Title: Demography, Disease, and Development: An Evolutionary Approach
Abstract: Emphasising the impact of diseases on history, the essay integrates demography, economics, evolutionary theory, and microbiology to explain the historical development of humanity and the economy, with specific application to American economic development prior to the twentieth century. The cultural development of prehistoric humanity is explained with simple demography in which the blooming of Paleolithic culture about 50,000 years ago also induced diseases of permanent settlements. A model of historical long-run growth incorporates transportation developments with cycles; one “virtuous” (expanding markets and specialisation), the other “vicious” (spread of diseases with increased trade). The New World conquest is viewed as almost entirely due to microbiology, evolutionary selection, and environmental conditions (climates and soils) as was the eventual peopling of different New World regions. American economic development prior to the twentieth century is considered the result of primarily demographic changes, transportation developments, and large-scale plantation slavery that combined to spread infectious diseases. This has implications for American economic development, Malthusian Doctrine, and issues of environmental degradation and sustainability.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S92-S107
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.660379
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.660379
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S92-S107
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Walter Friedman
Author-X-Name-First: Walter
Author-X-Name-Last: Friedman
Title: Predicting the Next Panic: The Pioneering Economic Forecasters and their Legacies
Abstract: A market for predictions is part of any capitalist economy. In the U.S., the modern economic forecasting industry got its start in the early twentieth century. By elaborating on the “rules” by which economies function, forecasters provided ways to make sense of the very atmosphere in which businesses and investors operate. Like the development of routines for managing work within a firm, the popularization of forecasting models provided a sense of control over uncertainty.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S127-S135
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.663525
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.663525
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S127-S135
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Nathan Nunn
Author-X-Name-First: Nathan
Author-X-Name-Last: Nunn
Title: Culture and the Historical Process
Abstract: This article discusses the importance of accounting for cultural values and beliefs when studying the process of historical economic development. A notion of culture as heuristics or rules of thumb that aid in decision making is described. Because cultural traits evolve based upon relative fitness, historical shocks can have persistent effects if they alter the costs and benefits of different traits. A number of empirical studies confirm that culture is an important mechanism that helps explain why historical shocks can have persistent impacts; these are reviewed here. As an example, I discuss the colonial origins hypothesis (Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson 2001), and show that our understanding of the transplantation of European legal and political institutions during the colonial period remains incomplete unless the values and beliefs brought by European settlers are taken into account. It is these cultural beliefs that formed the foundation of the initial institutions that in turn were key for long-term economic development.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S108-S126
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.664864
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.664864
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S108-S126
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Grietjie Verhoef
Author-X-Name-First: Grietjie
Author-X-Name-Last: Verhoef
Title: Introduction
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S2-S2
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.665265
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.665265
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S2-S2
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Title: The Roots of Development
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: S1-S1
Issue: S1
Volume: 27
Year: 2012
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2012.677580
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2012.677580
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:27:y:2012:i:S1:p:S1-S1
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeanne Cilliers
Author-X-Name-First: Jeanne
Author-X-Name-Last: Cilliers
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Author-Name: Christie Swanepoel
Author-X-Name-First: Christie
Author-X-Name-Last: Swanepoel
Title: ‘Unobtrusively into the ranks of colonial society’: Intergenerational wealth mobility in the Cape Colony over the eighteenth century
Abstract:
Intergenerational mobility studies are now expanding in three directions – including different regions and time periods, using different outcomes to measure mobility, and investigating the mechanisms that affect mobility. We investigate, for the first time, wealth mobility in the Cape Colony. We compare a number of outcomes, and consider several mechanisms to explain our results. Our data allow us to match at much higher rates than before, and also include daughters. We find very high mobility at the Cape and, in contrast to the existing historiography, higher rates for those at the bottom of the wealth distribution.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 48-71
Issue: 1
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1574565
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1574565
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:1:p:48-71
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: A. G. Hopkins
Author-X-Name-First: A. G.
Author-X-Name-Last: Hopkins
Title: Fifty years of African economic history
Abstract:
The article summarizes the evolution of the study of African economic history during the past half century. It does so, not by attempting to assess the mountain of evidence that is now available, but by identifying the intellectual impulses that have shaped the contours of the subject. Six main phases have influenced several generations of postgraduate students who have been drawn to the study of Africa: modernization theory, the dependency thesis, Marxism, the Annales school, postmodernism, and, most recently, the new economic history. The discussion identifies the common features of these schools as well as their differences. Entrants to the subject, it is argued, should take encouragement from past achievements, which have opened frontiers of knowledge and set standards, but they should also be aware that the latest is not necessarily the best, nor is it always as novel as its advocates commonly suppose. Familiarity with historiographical trends enables newcomers to relate their own work to that of their predecessors. In this way, they can find room to express their own individuality and ensure that their creativity carries the subject forward.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-15
Issue: 1
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1575589
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1575589
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:1:p:1-15
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Maria Fibaek
Author-X-Name-First: Maria
Author-X-Name-Last: Fibaek
Author-Name: Erik Green
Author-X-Name-First: Erik
Author-X-Name-Last: Green
Title: Labour Control and the Establishment of Profitable Settler Agriculture in Colonial Kenya, c. 1920–45
Abstract:
This article contributes to the growing literature on the impact of colonial legacies on long-run development. We focus on Kenya, where it is previously argued that land tenure and taxation policies created an impoverished class of wage workers leading to lower living standards, high inequality, and stunted economic development. We take issue with this interpretation. Using archival sources, we map the rise of profitable settler agriculture. Next, we correlate settler profitability with taxation and the development of African agriculture. Contrary to previous studies, we find that labour came from areas that became increasingly more commercialized. Thus, a decline in African livelihoods was not a necessary pre-condition for the establishment of successful European settler agriculture. Instead a restructuring of the settler agricultural sector coinciding with tightened labour control policies can explain the increased profitability. An increased cultivation of high-value crops raised the value of labour. Reductions of African mobility lowered both the wage and transaction costs of finding and retraining workers enabling the settlers to raise their profit share. Our finding calls for a revision of the colonial legacy of European settler agriculture for long-term economic and social development in Kenya.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 72-110
Issue: 1
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1581058
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1581058
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:1:p:72-110
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Laura Maravall Buckwalter
Author-X-Name-First: Laura
Author-X-Name-Last: Maravall Buckwalter
Title: The Impact of a ‘Colonizing River’: Colonial Railways and the Indigenous Population in French Algeria at the turn of the Century
Abstract:
Colonial railways eased settlement and altered the economic activity of the surrounding areas. Thus, they provide a good testing ground for the impact of settlement expansion. By taking advantage of unique territorial population data and digitized historical colonization maps in the Constantine region, this paper assesses the effect of railways on the indigenous population in Algeria during the colonial years. The indigenous population growth and density are first analysed in a cross-section multivariate regression framework that permits controlling for various forms of settlement. As a robustness check to the results, the paper implements differences-in-differences combined with a propensity score matching methodology that allow analysing the impact in relatively isolated areas where the infrastructure arrived later. The main conclusion of the paper is that, if settlement did have a positive effect on the indigenous population growth – as many historians tend to argue – it was channelled through railways only after 1900, when cereal cultivation improved, and the trade policy changed. The lack of significance before the 1900s is most likely explained by geographic-specific factors that limited the potential effects of railways.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 16-47
Issue: 1
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1581059
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1581059
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:1:p:16-47
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Title: Who Writes African Economic History?
Abstract:
Much has been said about the rise, or ‘renaissance’, of African economic history. What has received far less attention is who is producing this research. Using a complete dataset of articles in the top four economic history journals, I document the rise in African economic history in the last two decades. I show that although there has indeed been an increase in papers on Africa, it has included little work by Africans. I then attempt to explain why this is so, and motivate why this should matter. The good news is that, mostly owing to efforts by the academic community, more is being done to encourage African inclusion. I conclude with a few suggestions on how to make more African scholars part of the renaissance of African economic history.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 111-131
Issue: 2
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1639500
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1639500
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:2:p:111-131
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tawanda Chingozha
Author-X-Name-First: Tawanda
Author-X-Name-Last: Chingozha
Author-Name: Dieter von Fintel
Author-X-Name-First: Dieter
Author-X-Name-Last: von Fintel
Title: The Complementarity Between Property Rights and Market Access for Crop Cultivation in Southern Rhodesia: Evidence from Historical Satellite Data
Abstract:
Agriculture plays a central role in the efforts to fight poverty and achieve economic growth. This is especially relevant in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where the majority of the population lives in rural areas. A key issue that is generally believed to unlock agricultural potential is the recognition of property rights through land titling, yet there is no overwhelming empirical evidence to support this in the case of SSA. This paper investigates access to markets as an important pre-condition for land titles to result in agricultural growth. Using the case of Southern Rhodesia, we investigate whether land titles incentivised African large-scale holders in the Native Purchase Areas (NPAs) to put more of their available land under cultivation than their counterparts in the overcrowded Tribal Trust Areas (TTAs). We create a novel dataset by applying a Support Vector Machine (SVM) learning algorithm on Landsat imagery for the period 1972 to 1984 – the period during which the debate on the nexus between land rights and agricultural production intensified. Our results indicate that land titles are only beneficial when farmers are located closer to main cities, main roads and rail stations or sidings.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 132-155
Issue: 2
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1584526
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1584526
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:2:p:132-155
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Remi Jedwab
Author-X-Name-First: Remi
Author-X-Name-Last: Jedwab
Author-Name: Adam Storeygard
Author-X-Name-First: Adam
Author-X-Name-Last: Storeygard
Title: Economic and Political Factors in Infrastructure Investment: Evidence from Railroads and Roads in Africa 1960–2015
Abstract:
Transport investment has played an important role in the economic development of many countries. Starting from a low base, African countries have recently initiated several massive transportation infrastructure projects. However, surprisingly little is known about the current levels, past evolution, and correlates of transportation infrastructure in Africa. In this paper, we introduce a new data set on the evolution of the stocks of railroads (1862–2015) and multiple types of roads (1960–2015) for 43 sub-Saharan African countries. First, we compare our estimates with those from other available data sets, such as the World Development Indicators of the World Bank. Second, we document the aggregate evolution of transportation investments over the past century in Africa. We confirm that railroads were a ‘colonial’ transportation technology, whereas paved roads were a ‘post-colonial’ technology. We also highlight how investment patterns have followed economic patterns. Third, we report conditional correlations between five-year infrastructure growth and several geographic, economic and political factors during the period 1960–2015. We find strong correlations between transportation investments and economic development as well as more political factors including pre-colonial centralization, ethnic fractionalization, European settlement, natural resource dependence, and democracy.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 156-208
Issue: 2
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1627190
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1627190
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:2:p:156-208
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Mark Dincecco
Author-X-Name-First: Mark
Author-X-Name-Last: Dincecco
Author-Name: James Fenske
Author-X-Name-First: James
Author-X-Name-Last: Fenske
Author-Name: Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato
Author-X-Name-First: Massimiliano Gaetano
Author-X-Name-Last: Onorato
Title: Is Africa Different? Historical Conflict and State Development
Abstract:
We show new evidence that the consequences of historical warfare for state development differ for Sub-Saharan Africa. We identify the locations of more than 1,600 conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Europe from 1400 to 1799. We find that historical warfare predicts common-interest states defined by high fiscal capacity and low civil conflict across much of the Old World. For Sub-Saharan Africa, historical warfare predicts special-interest states defined by high fiscal capacity and high civil conflict. Our results offer new evidence about where and when ‘war makes states’.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 209-250
Issue: 2
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 5
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1586528
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1586528
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:2:p:209-250
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Arvind Ashta
Author-X-Name-First: Arvind
Author-X-Name-Last: Ashta
Author-Name: Isabelle Demay
Author-X-Name-First: Isabelle
Author-X-Name-Last: Demay
Author-Name: Mawuli Couchoro
Author-X-Name-First: Mawuli
Author-X-Name-Last: Couchoro
Title: The Role of Stakeholders in the Historical Evolution of Microfinance in Togo
Abstract:
The paper traces the evolution of The Microfinance Sector of Togo over the half century from its independence in 1960 to 2010. The methodology uses oral histories, consisting of a round table discussion with heads of Microfinance Institutions as well as regulatory, supervisory and financing institutions and academics, followed by semi-structured individual interviews. We compare their diverse perspectives with the few archives and data that exist. We find seven stages in the development of microfinance from an unorganized sector consisting of tontines and usurious money-lenders in the 1960s to a considerably organized sector dominated by credit unions (COOPECs) and NGOs. The unorganized sector continues to play a role and the regulatory authority intervenes to protect the masses from unscrupulous and inefficient operators.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 303-344
Issue: 2-3
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1114413
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2015.1114413
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:2-3:p:303-344
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Mikołaj Malinowski
Author-X-Name-First: Mikołaj
Author-X-Name-Last: Malinowski
Title: Market Conditions in Preindustrial Poland, 1500–1772
Abstract:
In this paper I investigate commodity market integration, market efficiency and market performance in preindustrial Eastern Europe. In particular, I look at the Polish rye market between 1500 and 1772. I analyse annual rye price data from seven cities. The results suggest that market conditions in Poland in the sixteenth century were relatively favourable. The market disintegrated in the seventeenth century. Afterwards, Polish markets remained relatively segmented, in contrast to many Western European countries whose markets thrived in the eighteenth century. This supports the hypothesis that even before the Industrial Revolution there was the Little Divergence in economic development between western and eastern Europe. The disintegration crisis in Poland was linked to the separation of landlocked cities from the common market. After the seventeenth century, cities located on the Vistula river enjoyed better market conditions and remained better integrated than the landlocked ones. The long-term market crisis may have resulted from the devastating warfare in the mid-seventeenth century.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 253-276
Issue: 2-3
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2016.1175297
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2016.1175297
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:2-3:p:253-276
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: José Aguilar-Retureta
Author-X-Name-First: José
Author-X-Name-Last: Aguilar-Retureta
Title: Regional Income Distribution in Mexico: New Long-Term Evidence, 1895–2010
Abstract:
Recent studies in economic history have investigated long-term changes in regional income inequality in various countries after their domestic markets have been regionally integrated. But this literature has focused mainly on developed economies. Evidence is needed from developing economies. This paper is the first investigation of Mexican regional income disparity over the long term, from the early stages of domestic market integration to the present day (1895–2010). The results show that, despite a persistent north-south income division and very low rank-income mobility, regional inequality has been N-shaped over the long term. This trend is closely correlated to the economic models adopted by Mexico since the late nineteenth century. Box-plot graphs and kernel densities suggest that the initial divergence was driven by rich states becoming richer and poor states becoming poorer, and the subsequent convergence by rich states’ incomes falling towards the national average and poor states’ incomes improving. Moran’s I coefficients show that the only statistically significant income cluster appearing over the entire period was the low income cluster formed by the southern regions. In other words, in Mexico, having rich neighbours does not bring a region prosperity.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 225-252
Issue: 2-3
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2016.1175298
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2016.1175298
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:2-3:p:225-252
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Albert Mushai
Author-X-Name-First: Albert
Author-X-Name-Last: Mushai
Author-Name: Agata MacGregor
Author-X-Name-First: Agata
Author-X-Name-Last: MacGregor
Title: Insurance of Politically Motivated Risks Including Terrorism: The Case of South Africa
Abstract:
By world standards, South Africa’s experience with insurance of politically motivated risks, including terrorism, qualifies it as a leader in the area. In the late 1970s, the volatile political climate of the apartheid era forced the private insurance market to establish the South African Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria), backed by the government, to insure damage caused by politically motivated acts, including terrorism. Since then, Sasria has developed into a key strategic institution. Yet academic literature on insurance of politically-motivated risks, riot, strike and terrorism in South Africa is sparse, despite its increasing significance in a world where terrorism is on the increase. This article attempts to fill this literature gap by firstly tracing the developments leading to the formation of Sasria, then examining the evolution of Sasria to where it is today.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 277-302
Issue: 2-3
Volume: 31
Year: 2016
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2016.1180957
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2016.1180957
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:31:y:2016:i:2-3:p:277-302
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Emmanuel Akyeampong
Author-X-Name-First: Emmanuel
Author-X-Name-Last: Akyeampong
Author-Name: Hippolyte Fofack
Author-X-Name-First: Hippolyte
Author-X-Name-Last: Fofack
Title: Special issue on ‘Africa and China: Emerging patterns of engagement’
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 251-258
Issue: 3
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1684691
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1684691
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:3:p:251-258
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Austin Strange
Author-X-Name-First: Austin
Author-X-Name-Last: Strange
Title: Seven decades of Chinese state financing in Africa: Tempering current debates
Abstract:
Fierce debate persists among policymakers and researchers about the nature and consequences of overseas Chinese state financing. Developing countries in Africa are a major focus of this controversy. However, popular accounts are often devoid of historical context, and instead emphasize China’s emergence as a prominent aid donor since 2000. This article combines evidence on historical and contemporary Chinese development projects to revisit popular claims about the motives and effects of Chinese government financing in Africa. I delineate Chinese development finance to Africa into four periods largely based on China’s own development trajectory: the early years; revolutionary diplomacy; post-reform, commercially oriented development; and the current period of global engagement. I then revisit three controversial narratives about Chinese development finance to Africa: the ‘rogue donor’ label; the socioeconomic and political consequences for African societies; and potential debt risks for African governments. In doing so, I also review recent evidence using the data discussed in this article. On balance, incorporating historical and recent evidence on Chinese state financing produces a mixed outlook with reasons for both optimism and concern. This contrasts with popular, highly opinionated views on Chinese financing that often extrapolate specific episodes into continent-wide narratives.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 259-279
Issue: 3
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1618183
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1618183
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:3:p:259-279
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Yuan Wang
Author-X-Name-First: Yuan
Author-X-Name-Last: Wang
Author-Name: Uwe Wissenbach
Author-X-Name-First: Uwe
Author-X-Name-Last: Wissenbach
Title: Clientelism at work? A case study of Kenyan Standard Gauge Railway project
Abstract:
Through investigating Kenya’s newly launched Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project, this article explores the impact of clientelism on mega-infrastructure projects. This research traces the initiation and implementation of this Chinese-financed and -constructed railway in Kenya, based on over 100 interviews and triangulated with media and policy reports on SGR. We argue that clientelism had mixed effects on holding project management and the government accountable, conditional on the inclusiveness of the patron–client network. In areas where local people and businesses were included in the patronage system, for instance as constituents or trade union members, the patron–client networks held the project management accountable. The patronage system was conducive to corruption and oligopoly when the system only included elites and excluded citizens/businesses. In most situations we found that China has played a less influential role in the politics around the construction management than is generally assumed. This paper provides new evidence to the debate around clientelism and development in Kenya, and the conditions when patronage systems work for and against accountability. Moreover, this research advances the ‘African agency’ position in Sino-African relations literature by showing not only whether but also how Kenyan actors exercise their agency in interaction with Chinese counterparts.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 280-299
Issue: 3
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1678026
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1678026
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:3:p:280-299
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Liang Xu
Author-X-Name-First: Liang
Author-X-Name-Last: Xu
Title: Factory, family, and industrial frontier: A socioeconomic study of Chinese clothing firms in Newcastle, South Africa
Abstract:
This paper examines ethnic Chinese garment production and Zulu women workers in Newcastle, South Africa - a former border town between white South Africa and the black KwaZulu homeland. The established scholarship, while providing useful explanations for the arrival of ethnic Chinese clothing factories and offering valid critiques of South Africa's industrial policies, pays little attention either to Chinese business practices or their long-term impact on Zulu women workers' lives. Using both archival and ethnographic evidence, this paper argues that in response to harsh business and socioeconomic conditions, both the ethnic Chinese industrialists and Zulu women workers have creatively utilized and reshaped existing familial arrangements to operate factories and maintain stability as a workforce. It highlights the ways in which capitalist production transplants, adapts, and refashions its material and cultural forms on the frontier. In many ways, Chinese industrialists and Zulu women are not passive products but active shapers of the industrial frontier.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 300-319
Issue: 3
Volume: 34
Year: 2019
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1669442
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1669442
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:3:p:300-319
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Grietjie Verhoef
Author-X-Name-First: Grietjie
Author-X-Name-Last: Verhoef
Title: Frank Stuart Jones, 29 March 1933–19 October 2019
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-2
Issue: 1
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1711620
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1711620
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:1:p:1-2
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Suresh Naidu
Author-X-Name-First: Suresh
Author-X-Name-Last: Naidu
Title: American slavery and labour market power
Abstract:
In this article I discuss the micro-economics of American slavery in light of recent research on monopsonistic labour markets. I argue that the defining characteristic of coerced labour, the threat of violence to prevent voluntary quits from a job, can be helpfully understood by contrasting it with free labour markets that are riven with imperfect competition and agency problems. American slavery looks closer to the textbook competitive model of labour markets than does free labour.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 3-22
Issue: 1
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1734312
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1734312
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:1:p:3-22
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tahir Andrabi
Author-X-Name-First: Tahir
Author-X-Name-Last: Andrabi
Author-Name: Sheetal Bharat
Author-X-Name-First: Sheetal
Author-X-Name-Last: Bharat
Author-Name: Michael Kuehlwein
Author-X-Name-First: Michael
Author-X-Name-Last: Kuehlwein
Title: Post offices and British Indian grain price convergence
Abstract:
There is a large literature on the impact of railways on price convergence. Ignored, however, is the role of another potentially important network: post offices. By providing timely information on arbitrage and trade opportunities, post offices could also contribute to market integration. This paper tests that proposition in the context of British Indian grain markets. Rice and wheat markets in colonial India saw a broad convergence in prices during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Research suggests that railways mattered, but are capable of explaining only some of that convergence. This paper tests whether the spread of post offices also contributed to that price convergence. We find that it did, though the effects shrink in the presence of railways. Estimates suggest that between 1881 and 1911, post office growth reduced price dispersion by 20–24% of the total decline in Indian grain price dispersion. The precise mechanism through which these effects operate, however, is less clear.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 23-49
Issue: 1
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1633304
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1633304
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:1:p:23-49
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Kenneth Button
Author-X-Name-First: Kenneth
Author-X-Name-Last: Button
Title: Common markets and the decolonization of ‘British Africa’: The role of economics and economists
Abstract:
To facilitate an organized withdrawal from its African territories in the 1960s, the UK authorities undertook studies of the economic potential of each. What has been little studied is the nature and impacts of these exercises on subsequent policy. This paper looks at two such studies that examined ways existing ‘common markets’ in East and Central Africa could be retained after independence, and further developed. The institutions and structures governing the territories differed, one a common market and the other a fuller federation, as did the bodies conducting the analysis, one an official commission requiring public recommendations, and the other an advisory group to a senior government minister. The paper offers insights as to the way economists viewed common markets at the time, how they sought to quantify their economic benefits, and the ways in which these benefits were distributed across member states. It also considers the types of economic policy recommendations that were made and the reaction of the British authorities and the colonial politicians to them.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 50-70
Issue: 1
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 1
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1669443
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1669443
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:1:p:50-70
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ebes Esho
Author-X-Name-First: Ebes
Author-X-Name-Last: Esho
Author-Name: Grietjie Verhoef
Author-X-Name-First: Grietjie
Author-X-Name-Last: Verhoef
Title: Beyond national markets: The case of emerging African multinationals
Abstract:
Findings from research on emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) have posed some intriguing questions to scholars. While some of the questions are easy to explain through the lens of extant theories, others are more complex. Research on African multinationals is limited and being only a recent phenomenon, historical accounts of their internationalization is scarce. Early findings suggest that African firms exhibit distinct internationalization behaviour from other EMNEs. However, are EMNEs from Africa and their internationalization behaviour unique? This paper expounds the internationalization of three nascent African multinationals through the lens of extant theories and finds that multiple theories converge to explain their internationalization. Their distinct paths to internationalization come from their independent efforts in navigating Africa's diverse, and sometimes extreme, contextual challenges and opportunities. Alongside the global orientation of founders that originates from their education and experience, relationships from founders’ networks also play a dominant role in the internationalization process of African EMNEs. The conditions for business, especially for internationalization, in Africa are unique, and sometimes extreme. Institutional voids and informal markets, for example, are pervasive and huge. However, the African context enables a nuanced understanding of extant theories and the linkages between theories in explaining internationalization of EMNEs.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 71-97
Issue: 2
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 7
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1757425
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1757425
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:2:p:71-97
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Calumet Links
Author-X-Name-First: Calumet
Author-X-Name-Last: Links
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Author-Name: Erik Green
Author-X-Name-First: Erik
Author-X-Name-Last: Green
Title: The substitutability of slaves: Evidence from the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony
Abstract:
The substitutability of the economic institution of slave labour has often been assumed as a given. Apart from some capital investment to retrain slaves for a different task, essentially their labour could be substituted for any other form of labour. This paper questions that assumption by using a longitudinal study of the Graaff-Reinet district on the eastern frontier of South Africa’s Cape Colony. We calculate the Hicksian elasticity of complementarity coefficients for each year of a 22-year combination of cross-sectional tax datasets (1805–1828) to test whether slave labour was substitutable for other forms of labour. We find that slave labour, indigenous labour and settler family labour were not substitutable over the period of the study. This lends credence to the finding that slave and family labour were two different inputs in agricultural production. Indigenous khoe labour and slave labour remain complements throughout the period of the study even when khoe labour becomes scarce after the frontier conflicts. We argue that the non-substitutability of slave labour was due to the settlers’ need to acquire labourers with location-specific skills such as the indigenous khoe, and that slaves may have served a purpose other than as a source of unskilled labour, such as for artisan skills or for collateral.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 98-122
Issue: 2
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 7
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1669444
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1669444
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:2:p:98-122
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Klas Rönnbäck
Author-X-Name-First: Klas
Author-X-Name-Last: Rönnbäck
Title: The business of barter on the pre-colonial Gold Coast
Abstract:
Trade on the Gold Coast in the eighteenth century was dominated by non-monetized barter trade. In this paper, a large dataset of barter transactions are used to study the social embeddedness of the trade. The data shows that prestige goods such as alcohol to a disproportionate degree were exchanged for other prestige goods such as gold. Guns – but also cheaper types of textiles – were to a disproportionate degree exchanged for slaves in particular. The evidence thus helps to shed light on the social valuation of various imported commodities on the Gold Coast at this time.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 123-142
Issue: 2
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 7
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1694408
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1694408
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:2:p:123-142
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Rebecca Simson
Author-X-Name-First: Rebecca
Author-X-Name-Last: Simson
Title: Statistical sources and African post-colonial economic history: Notes from the (digital) archives
Abstract:
While interest in African economic history has grown rapidly in recent years, the continent’s post-colonial past remains understudied. This is at least in part because of the decline and fragmentation in the publication of economic statistics after decolonization, which has limited the type and breadth of quantitative analysis that can be undertaken. Nonetheless, this note argues that there are comparatively untapped post-colonial data sources that could enrich the study of the continent's economic history. The note surveys some of these sources and data repositories and provides advice, based on the author’s own experiences, on how to utilize them.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 143-154
Issue: 2
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 7
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1671187
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2019.1671187
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:2:p:143-154
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Carles Brasó Broggi
Author-X-Name-First: Carles Brasó
Author-X-Name-Last: Broggi
Author-Name: Jixia Ge
Author-X-Name-First: Jixia
Author-X-Name-Last: Ge
Title: Planning China’s future: Liu Guojun's conception of China’s post-war economic recovery
Abstract:
Liu Guojun was a Chinese capitalist who owned textile mills in Republican China. During the war against Japan, his enterprises survived in several cities while he wrote essays about the prospects of China’s economic recovery. He developed a fine sense of the post-war world economy and participated in discussions about China’s economic development. In 1949 he decided to stay in the People’s Republic of China, continuing with his work in the textile business and entering the political administration of Jiangsu and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. During this transitional period, he wrote an economic plan for the development of China’s textile industry, specifying how this industry should nurture other economic sectors and help to improve both the standards of living and the education of the Chinese people. This article aims to discuss China’s late economic development through Liu Guojun’s publications and writings that have recently been available to scholars. The article suggests that Liu Guojun anticipated some key factors that drove China’s economic reform to succeed in 1978, such as the importance of light industries, given the resource endowments of the country and the situation of the post-war economic recovery.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 155-170
Issue: 3
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1762172
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1762172
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:3:p:155-170
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Abel Gwaindepi
Author-X-Name-First: Abel
Author-X-Name-Last: Gwaindepi
Author-Name: Krige Siebrits
Author-X-Name-First: Krige
Author-X-Name-Last: Siebrits
Title: ‘Hit your man where you can’: Taxation strategies in the face of resistance at the British Cape Colony, c.1820 to 1910
Abstract:
The topic of this article is the development of the tax system of the Cape Colony from 1820 to 1910. This period was crucial for the introduction and diffusion of modern taxes, and the Cape constitutes an important case as the prime settler-colony in Africa. The article uses a new tax dataset and evidence from official documents to trace and explain the Colony’s growing revenue problems during this period. It shows that few changes were made to the tax system from the annexation of diamond fields in 1877 until the end of the South African War in 1902 and that the public coffers mainly benefitted indirectly from the Colony’s increased prosperity via railway earnings. This, it is argued, largely reflected the success of efforts by the mining industry to block the introduction of new taxes. The article emphasizes the unusual form of this resistance: instead of undertaking conventional lobbying activities, industry representatives obtained positions of policymaking authority in the Cape Colony’s then still immature system of democratic institutions. Hence, it draws on the experience of the Cape to show that immature democratic institutions can hamper fiscal capacity-building.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 171-194
Issue: 3
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1791699
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1791699
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:3:p:171-194
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Avni Önder Hanedar
Author-X-Name-First: Avni Önder
Author-X-Name-Last: Hanedar
Author-Name: Sezgin Uysal
Author-X-Name-First: Sezgin
Author-X-Name-Last: Uysal
Title: Transportation infrastructure and economic growth in a dissolving country: (Ir)relevance of railroads in the Ottoman Empire
Abstract:
In the nineteenth century, railroads brought a substantial shift in trade and production worldwide. While this motivated underdeveloped economies to massively invest in this transportation technology, the literature on the impact of railroads includes mixed findings from a historical perspective. Using a new dataset on the population of judicial districts and railroads in the Ottoman Empire between 1881 and 1914, we examine the relationship between railroad access and economic growth in the local economies of a developing and little-known country on the eve of the First World War. Our empirical results confirm the population size expansion in the areas affected by railroads. This impact could be connected with economic growth in the Ottoman Empire, leading to higher employment opportunities and fertility rates, based on the arguments of historical research. To deal with endogeneity problems, we use an instrumental variable (IV) strategy. Our 2SLS results also indicate the presence of causality from access to railroads to population growth. The paper contributes to the previous literature by offering new empirical insights on the long debated topic about how transformation of transport networks induced economic growth in an agricultural economy facing drastic changes during the first globalization boom.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 195-215
Issue: 3
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 9
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1757424
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1757424
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:3:p:195-215
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Masataka Setobayashi
Author-X-Name-First: Masataka
Author-X-Name-Last: Setobayashi
Title: The emergence and resolution of a quality problem in the Chinese tung oil market 1890 to 1937
Abstract:
China experienced modern economic growth from 1890 to 1937. The expansion of foreign trade contributed to this economic growth. However, beginning at the end of the nineteenth century, dishonest practices, such as product adulteration, had been found in various transactions in China. In particular, adulteration was often a problem in the exports of goods from China. This article considers the reasons behind the emergence and resolution of a quality problem in the Chinese tung oil export market in the middle Yangtze Valley from the 1890s to the mid-1930s. Impure oil was customarily traded among Chinese in tung oil transactions; however, foreign merchants expected pure oil, which resulted in confusion in the market and a loss of business. Therefore, as the mixed oil problem became increasingly serious, market participants tried to create institutions to prevent adulteration. However, the formal institutions were not sufficient to resolve the problem until the 1930s. In China, the function of informal institutions complemented the imperfect functions of the formal institutions. More importantly, the institutionalization in the 1930s, which was associated to the Great Depression, was based on gradual change until the 1920s. Consequently, the quality problem headed toward a resolution in the 1930s.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 216-236
Issue: 3
Volume: 35
Year: 2020
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1808457
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1808457
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:35:y:2020:i:3:p:216-236
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Sédi-Anne Boukaka
Author-X-Name-First: Sédi-Anne
Author-X-Name-Last: Boukaka
Author-Name: Giulia Mancini
Author-X-Name-First: Giulia
Author-X-Name-Last: Mancini
Author-Name: Giovanni Vecchi
Author-X-Name-First: Giovanni
Author-X-Name-Last: Vecchi
Title: Poverty and inequality in Francophone Africa, 1960s–2010s
Abstract:
The paper provides first generation estimates of poverty and inequality rates for three countries in Francophone Africa – Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Gabon – in the aftermath of independence. Sources – a large collection of historical household budgets – are new, as is the method that allows to connect historical sources to modern household budget surveys, and to deliver nationally representative estimates. The second part of the paper identifies the trend of poverty and inequality in Côte d’Ivoire for the years 1965 to 2015: mean income growth failed to reduce poverty during the 15 years of economic boom post-independence (1965–1979) because of increasing inequality. Conversely, in the following period (1979–2015) poverty changes are mostly guided by the evolution of growth.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-29
Issue: 1
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1855974
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1855974
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:1:p:1-29
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Vladimir Chlouba
Author-X-Name-First: Vladimir
Author-X-Name-Last: Chlouba
Author-Name: Jianzi He
Author-X-Name-First: Jianzi
Author-X-Name-Last: He
Title: Colonial legacy, private property, and rural development: Evidence from Namibian countryside
Abstract:
Does the legacy of direct colonial rule, through its impact on property rights security, affect rural development in Africa? Although mainstream economic theory links secure property rights to development, extant micro-level evidence from the continent remains mixed. We take advantage of a natural experiment in Namibia, exploiting as-if random application of direct colonial rule that later affected property rights security. Using detailed census data and matching on underlying climatic conditions, we find evidence of more commercialized agricultural cultivation in directly ruled areas. We relate this finding to differing tenure regimes. In formerly indirectly ruled areas where land is still allocated by traditional elites, own-account agricultural activity for the market and living standards lag behind formerly directly ruled regions. Our work has direct implications for students of colonial legacies and land tenure regimes.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 30-56
Issue: 1
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1858049
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1858049
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:1:p:30-56
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Carolina Román
Author-X-Name-First: Carolina
Author-X-Name-Last: Román
Author-Name: Henry Willebald
Author-X-Name-First: Henry
Author-X-Name-Last: Willebald
Title: Structural change in a small natural resource intensive economy: Switching between diversification and re-primarization, Uruguay, 1870–2017
Abstract:
The increasing interest in economic diversification, technological sophistication, and production specialization again places structural change at the centre of the economic development theory. However, efforts to measure structural change from a long-run perspective remain scarce. We aim to fill this gap using a synthetic indicator that represents the dynamics of structural change in the long-run and allows us to identify different development patterns. We calculate this indicator including information on 13 production sectors, for a small natural-resource intensive economy (Uruguay), from 1870 to 2017. Our results adequately describe the development patterns that, according to the literature, characterize Uruguayan economic history. In the long run, economic growth causes structural change; only during the First Globalization period the opposite relation prevailed. The decline of the index – which indicates ‘backward movements’ in the production structure – is found in periods of economic crisis and downturn cycles. This dynamics reflects critical time periods associated with the (relative) primarization of the economy. In other words, near to each crisis episode, the economy reacted by going back to primary production probably due to the search for traditional comparative advantages or because in such negative phases the weakest and most exposed sectors were those other than agriculture.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 57-81
Issue: 1
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1878457
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1878457
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:1:p:57-81
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Joseph Keneck Massil
Author-X-Name-First: Joseph
Author-X-Name-Last: Keneck Massil
Author-Name: Sophie Harnay
Author-X-Name-First: Sophie
Author-X-Name-Last: Harnay
Title: Parliamentary experience and contemporary democracy in Africa: A Northian view
Abstract:
In a series of pioneering works, Douglass North argues that the institutional innovations taking place in seventeenth-century England as a consequence of a modification of the balance of power between the Parliament and the Crown provided the conditions not only for economic growth, but also for the development of democratic institutions later on. Our article extends his analysis to the study of parliaments in African countries before and after independence. We find that countries in which parliaments were established prior to independence are more likely to have efficient democratic institutions today. We define a variable of interest, ‘parliamentary experience at independence’, and estimate its effect on a democracy index. Several sensitivity and robustness tests confirm our results that parliamentary experience at the time of independence is a determinant of democracy in African countries today. This corroborates North’s idea that history and institutions do matter.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 82-115
Issue: 1
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2020.1830758
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2020.1830758
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:1:p:82-115
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Barry Eichengreen
Author-X-Name-First: Barry
Author-X-Name-Last: Eichengreen
Title: Gold and South Africa’s Great Depression
Abstract:
In this paper I seek to understand the roots of South African macroeconomic outperformance since 1929 and whether it can be reconciled with what I have described as conventional wisdom about recovery from the Depression. Unsurprisingly, I find a way of fitting South Africa into that story. In addition, I try to understand better why, if going off the gold standard was so beneficial, indeed even more beneficial for South Africa than for other countries, it was so strongly resisted.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 175-193
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1891879
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1891879
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:175-193
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Title: Macroeconomic history in South Africa: The South African Reserve Bank centennial special issue
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 117-121
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1930709
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1930709
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:117-121
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Cobus Vermeulen
Author-X-Name-First: Cobus
Author-X-Name-Last: Vermeulen
Title: One hundred years of private shareholding in the South African Reserve Bank
Abstract:
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is one of only nine central banks around the world with private shareholders. This paper contributes to the understanding of this ownership arrangement by outlining the history and evolution of private shareholding in the SARB since its inception in 1921 to the present day. It considers the reasons for shares having been issued to establish the SARB, and changes in legislation which influenced the SARB’s ownership structure and the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, shareholders and shareholder-elected directors. It also considers some earlier calls for the SARB to be nationalized. The historical overview shows that executive power has always rested with government appointees, while the government has gradually gained more control – relative to private shareholders – over the Board. This paper also confirms that – with respect to monetary policy – ownership of the SARB is purely notional. The SARB’s policy goals and executive powers are derived directly from the government and the Constitution, and neither the shareholders nor the directors appointed by shareholders have a say in the SARB’s mandate, its policy goals, or the conduct of monetary policy. The role of shareholders is limited to matters of corporate governance only.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 245-263
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1923399
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1923399
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:245-263
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Mariusz Lukasiewicz
Author-X-Name-First: Mariusz
Author-X-Name-Last: Lukasiewicz
Title: Bourses, banks, and Boers: Johannesburg’s French connections and the Paris Krach of 1895
Abstract:
The 1894/5 Paris boom in South African mining securities set forth the ultimate test of financial resilience for the South African Republic’s mining and financial sectors. The financial crash in Paris that halted the international boom in October 1895 exposed the globalized nature of markets for South African mining securities and their impact on colonial politics in southern Africa. This article reconsiders and qualifies the economic, financial, and political connections between South African gold mining and the Parisian capital market for the period 1887 to 1895. The Paris Bourse and its complimentary coulisse became the new loci of the South African mining market that ultimately crashed after the intervention of Johannesburg’s capital elites. Crucially for the future of the South African Republic, the Paris Krach set out the political circumstances for a direct confrontation between Johannesburg’s mining capital, British imperialism and President Kruger’s republicanism. Exposing new primary material gathered at the Archives Diplomatiques in Paris, the Paribas Group in Paris, the Central Archival Repository in Pretoria and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in Sandton, this article examines the globalization of South African securities, concluding the investigation with an analysis of the financial and political ramifications of the 1895 Paris Krach.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 124-148
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1882298
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1882298
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:124-148
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Gideon du Rand
Author-X-Name-First: Gideon
Author-X-Name-Last: du Rand
Author-Name: Ruan Erasmus
Author-X-Name-First: Ruan
Author-X-Name-Last: Erasmus
Author-Name: Hylton Hollander
Author-X-Name-First: Hylton
Author-X-Name-Last: Hollander
Author-Name: Monique Reid
Author-X-Name-First: Monique
Author-X-Name-Last: Reid
Author-Name: Dawie van Lill
Author-X-Name-First: Dawie
Author-X-Name-Last: van Lill
Title: The evolution of central bank communication as experienced by the South Africa Reserve Bank
Abstract:
Communication has evolved into a cornerstone of central bank design and policy implementation. The South African Reserve Bank has been proactive in this regard as well – most notably with the adoption of inflation targeting in 2001. Using novel text-mining techniques, we evaluate the communication of the SARB, as presented via public speeches and monetary policy committee (MPC) statements, in the context of historical developments from 1994 to 2020. Our analysis focuses on the volume, complexity, scope, and sentiment of communication. We conclude that MPC statements are consistently and narrowly focused on the mandate, whereas speeches capture more detail about how the thinking of SARB policy makers evolves over time. In both cases, communication serves as a channel to reduce uncertainty and build credibility in the public domain.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 282-312
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1925106
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1925106
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:282-312
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bradley Bordiss
Author-X-Name-First: Bradley
Author-X-Name-Last: Bordiss
Author-Name: Jannie Rossouw
Author-X-Name-First: Jannie
Author-X-Name-Last: Rossouw
Title: Professor Vishnu Padayachee, 1952–2021
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 122-123
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1940490
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1940490
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:122-123
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bradley Bordiss
Author-X-Name-First: Bradley
Author-X-Name-Last: Bordiss
Author-Name: Vishnu Padayachee
Author-X-Name-First: Vishnu
Author-X-Name-Last: Padayachee
Author-Name: Jannie Rossouw
Author-X-Name-First: Jannie
Author-X-Name-Last: Rossouw
Title: Two of the most eventful years in the history of the South African Reserve Bank: William Henry Clegg and Johannes Postmus and the 1931–1932 crisis
Abstract:
The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) was created as a result of an earlier gold standard monetary crisis that unfolded after World War I. From 1919, South Africa nominally maintained the gold standard, but not the conversion of banknotes into gold.This article seeks to discuss the SARB's views on the gold standard controversy, and to highlight the different attitudes of the first two governors, Clegg and Postmus, attitudes that have not previously been examined in the literature. It will also discuss the way in which the Bank of England misled Clegg, and how the views expressed privately differed from those in the SARB's Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) documentation.This paper considers the irony that Clegg was selected from the ranks of the Bank of England and was loyal to Threadneedle Street, but defended a monetary policy which aided one of the biggest constituencies of the Afrikaner Nationalist Party – Afrikaner farmers. By contrast, Postmus was previously at the Nederlandsche Bankvoor Zuid-Afrika, and supported the National Party position that South Africa should return to, and remain on, a gold standard independent of Britain. Despite this, Postmus's policy turned out to be disastrous for the mostly Afrikaner farmers affected by the 1931–1932 crisis.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 194-212
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1927697
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1927697
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:194-212
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Christie Swanepoel
Author-X-Name-First: Christie
Author-X-Name-Last: Swanepoel
Author-Name: Philip T. Fliers
Author-X-Name-First: Philip T.
Author-X-Name-Last: Fliers
Title: The fuel of unparalleled recovery: Monetary policy in South Africa between 1925 and 1936
Abstract:
The newly established South African Reserve Bank (SARB) was tasked to protect the currency by navigating the interwar gold standard, and, from March 1933, maintaining parity with the Pound Sterling. We find that South Africa’s exit from gold secured an unparalleled and rapid recovery from the Great Depression. South Africa’s exit was accompanied by an inextricable link of the SARB’s policy rate to the interest rate set by the Bank of England (BoE). This sacrifice of independent monetary policy allowed the SARB to fix the country’s exchange rate without impeding the flow of gold to London. The SARB fuelled the economy by reducing its policy rates and accumulating gold. Had South Africa not devalued, the country would have suffered a severe depression and persistent deflation. An alternative to the devaluation was for the SARB to pursue a cheap money strategy. By setting interest rates historically low, we find that South Africa could have achieved higher levels of economic growth, at the cost of higher inflation. Ultimately, South Africa’s unparalleled recovery can be ascribed to the devaluation; however the change in the SARB monetary policy and the bank’s control over the gold markets were of paramount importance.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 213-244
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1945436
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1945436
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:213-244
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lloyd Melusi Maphosa
Author-X-Name-First: Lloyd Melusi
Author-X-Name-Last: Maphosa
Author-Name: Anton Ehlers
Author-X-Name-First: Anton
Author-X-Name-Last: Ehlers
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Author-Name: Edward M. Kerby
Author-X-Name-First: Edward M.
Author-X-Name-Last: Kerby
Title: The growth and diversity of the Cape private capital market, 1892–1902
Abstract:
The adoption of limited liability in the nineteenth century is considered to have boosted economic growth and expanded capital markets in Europe and North America. Despite similar legal changes in frontier markets such as South Africa, very few attempts have been made to analyse the economic effects thereof. After the Cape Joint Stock Company Act No. 25 of 1892 there was an upsurge in new joint stock companies in the Cape Colony, but little is known about the people who financed them. This study is an enquiry into who they were. Using a list of 6883 shareholders from 263 companies, we show that the Cape’s sources of private capital were a diverse group of people. Unlike previous studies, we find that most capital came from the middle class at the Cape and very little from foreign investors. The paper contributes to our understanding of early financial developments on the frontier and the evolution of capitalism at the Cape. It also contributes broadly to the economic and business history of the late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Cape.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 149-174
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1943347
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1943347
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:149-174
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Roy Havemann
Author-X-Name-First: Roy
Author-X-Name-Last: Havemann
Title: The South African small banks’ crisis of 2002/3
Abstract:
Following the collapse of Saambou bank in February 2002, contagion rapidly spread amongst South African small and medium-sized banks. By the end of 2003, half of the country’s banks had deregistered. The paper constructs a unique monthly bank-level data set to show that the banks that failed were those with short-term liabilities from other financial institutions. An initial delay in providing liquidity to solvent banks in distress and raising interest rates may have exacerbated the crisis. The need for prompt, swift action echoes lessons from banking panics throughout history.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 313-338
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1943348
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1943348
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:313-338
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Hylton Hollander
Author-X-Name-First: Hylton
Author-X-Name-Last: Hollander
Author-Name: Roy Havemann
Author-X-Name-First: Roy
Author-X-Name-Last: Havemann
Title: South Africa’s 2003–2013 credit boom and bust: Lessons for macroprudential policy
Abstract:
We evaluate South African financial stability policy from 2003 to 2013 – the country’s most significant credit boom and bust cycle. This cycle overlapped with both rising bank capital adequacy ratios and the global financial crisis of 2007/8. We use a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to identify South African Reserve Bank (SARB) interventions and run counterfactual policy scenarios. We document two instances of policy inaction. Our counterfactual scenarios suggest that, with the benefit of hindsight, the SARB took the correct steps to raise capital requirements during the credit boom, but could have persisted with raising capital requirements for longer (past 2004), and could have adopted a looser policy stance after the global financial crisis to mitigate the credit bust. Our findings reaffirm the importance of counter-cyclical action, the usefulness of bank capital as a buffer against unexpected shocks to build financial sector resilience, and the need for independent but close coordination between monetary and macroprudential policy. In addition, because of structural differences between household and firm credit, the SARB should consider buttressing the uniform countercyclical capital buffer with sector-specific capital requirements.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 339-365
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1938532
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1938532
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:339-365
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ellen Feingold
Author-X-Name-First: Ellen
Author-X-Name-Last: Feingold
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Author-Name: Leigh Gardner
Author-X-Name-First: Leigh
Author-X-Name-Last: Gardner
Title: A tale of paper and gold: The material history of money in South Africa
Abstract:
This paper uses the South African objects in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian to tell a new material history of money in South Africa. In other parts of the continent, research about the currencies in use and how these changed over time have offered a new perspective on the impact of colonialism, commercialization, and the rise of state capacity. South Africa, and southern Africa more generally, has remained on the periphery of these debates. This paper begins to fill this gap. It shows that even in Africa’s most financially developed region, the process of establishing a stable national currency was long and halting, reflecting struggles over South Africa’s relationship with the global economy and the rise and fall of apartheid.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 264-281
Issue: 2
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1926232
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1926232
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:2:p:264-281
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Joyce Burnette
Author-X-Name-First: Joyce
Author-X-Name-Last: Burnette
Title: Why we shouldn’t measure women’s labour force participation in pre-industrial countries
Abstract:
Labour force participation was designed to measure contemporary labour markets, and does a poor job of measuring work, particularly women’s work, in the past. When we measure labour force participation we ignore production for household use, ignore differences in the intensity of work, and assume a continuity of employment that did not characterize most historical work. Therefore, I suggest that we should not use labour force participation to measure women’s work outside of modern, industrialized societies.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 422-427
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1929602
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1929602
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:422-427
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Maria Eugénia Mata
Author-X-Name-First: Maria Eugénia
Author-X-Name-Last: Mata
Author-Name: Luís Catela Nunes
Author-X-Name-First: Luís Catela
Author-X-Name-Last: Nunes
Author-Name: Mário Roldão
Author-X-Name-First: Mário
Author-X-Name-Last: Roldão
Title: The Portuguese escudo area in Africa and its lessons for monetary unions
Abstract:
The beginnings of the Portuguese Escudo Monetary Zone (EMZ) in 1961, to promote the economic integration of Portugal and its empire, coincide in time with Mundell’s seminal paper about optimum currency areas. If non-optimality was the cause of the EMZ’s demise, this would suggest that monetary unions are fragile achievements, with little prospect for survival. The EMZ turned out to be a short-lived experiment, with Angola and Mozambique building up large cumulative deficit positions offset by the sizeable cumulative surpluses of the mainland. A cobweb model using monthly observations for macroeconomic variables of these two territories describes a time divergent process caused by structural imbalances, as well as by the loan granting system. The EMZ was not an optimum currency area and was not sustainable in the long run. This is an historical experiment that is not without interest for the study of other monetary areas.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 392-421
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1890579
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1890579
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:392-421
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Prince Young Aboagye
Author-X-Name-First: Prince Young
Author-X-Name-Last: Aboagye
Title: Inequality of education in colonial Ghana: European influences and African responses
Abstract:
How and why did African households under colonial rule make the decision to educate their children or not, and how did this micro-level decision making affect the diffusion of education in colonial Ghana? This paper addresses these questions and shows that many households were reluctant to enrol their children in school because the costs of colonial education were prohibitive, and the benefits were limited. Unemployment of school leavers was a major social problem throughout the colonial era and returns to education did not justify investments in education. The demand for education was relatively high in areas where the demand for skilled labour was high, and from the late 1930s when there were growing pay-offs to colonial education. Overall, the paper points to the need to examine interactions between supply and demand factors in order to understand variations in human capital accumulation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 367-391
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1921571
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1921571
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:367-391
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ushehwedu Kufakurinani
Author-X-Name-First: Ushehwedu
Author-X-Name-Last: Kufakurinani
Title: Gender and settler labour markets: The marriage bar in colonial Zimbabwe
Abstract:
This paper discusses the marriage bar in Southern Rhodesia’s labour market. It extends the analysis of the marriage bar. Over and above restrictions to enter the labour market, white women in colonial Zimbabwe, over time, also faced restrictions in terms of their conditions of service once they had entered the market. Married women, for example, were not permitted into permanent employment and, therefore, did not enjoy the benefits associated with fixed establishment. Married white women also had limited opportunities for promotion. Various justifications were proffered to maintain this status quo. However, by and large, hegemonic patriarchies played an important role in entrenching the domestic ideology that fuelled the marriage bar in its various forms. As the paper demonstrates, the marriage bar did not go unchallenged and, in 1971, married women’s restrictions regarding permanent employment were lifted. Of course, these legalistic undertakings were not always immediately reflected in practice partly because perceptions about married white women as primarily mothers and wives lingered on.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 439-444
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1929611
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1929611
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:439-444
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Carlos Marichal
Author-X-Name-First: Carlos
Author-X-Name-Last: Marichal
Author-Name: Guillermo Barragán
Author-X-Name-First: Guillermo
Author-X-Name-Last: Barragán
Title: New perspectives and sources of the history of banking in Latin America and Spain, nineteenth to twentieth centuries
Abstract:
The banking history of Latin America and Spain has emerged as a quite active field for comparative research in economics and history. To show the recent liveliness in the field and the many new sources available, the article begins with two sections that provide an overview of the banking history of many countries, as well as bibliographies and references to essential historical documents. Subsequently we present a new web page, hbancaria.org, which contains a bibliography, data, and information on primary sources, researchers, digital collections, and projects related to the field. One of the main objectives of this type of project is to promote discussion among specialists and share information through formats and technologies currently available.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 451-463
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1917988
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1917988
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:451-463
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jane Humphries
Author-X-Name-First: Jane
Author-X-Name-Last: Humphries
Author-Name: Benjamin Schneider
Author-X-Name-First: Benjamin
Author-X-Name-Last: Schneider
Title: Gender equality, growth, and how a technological trap destroyed female work
Abstract:
Development economists have long studied the relationship between gender equality and economic growth. More recently, economic historians have taken an overdue interest. We sketch the pathways within the development literature that have been hypothesized as linking equality for women to rising incomes, and the reverse channels – from higher incomes to equality. We describe how the European Marriage Pattern literature applies these mechanisms, and we highlight problems with the claimed link between equality and growth. We then explain how a crucial example of technological unemployment for women – the destruction of hand spinning during the British Industrial Revolution – contributed to the emergence of the male breadwinner family. We show how this family structure created household relationships that play into the development pathways, and outline its persistent effects into the twenty-first century.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 428-438
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1929606
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1929606
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:428-438
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Amy Rommelspacher
Author-X-Name-First: Amy
Author-X-Name-Last: Rommelspacher
Title: Restating the case for women’s history in South Africa
Abstract:
In the West, women’s history arose amidst the women’s movements of the 1970s. In developing regions such as South Africa, however, the process was delayed and early interest in women was expressed by anthropologists and sociologists. In developing regions, researching, writing, and consuming history is a luxury. This puts more pressure on choosing what to research and write about. This essay focuses on the value of studying women’s history. While the subject is no longer neglected in South Africa, there are areas of women’s history that have been overlooked. Interdisciplinary methods and innovative use of source material could provide the opportunity to study hidden aspects of women’s lives that have been overlooked. These new approaches can challenge past assumptions and shed light on new questions.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 445-450
Issue: 3
Volume: 36
Year: 2021
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1929615
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1929615
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:36:y:2021:i:3:p:445-450
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Tom Westland
Author-X-Name-First: Tom
Author-X-Name-Last: Westland
Title: How accurate are the prices in the British colonial Blue Books?
Abstract:
Despite the widespread use of the British colonial Blue Books as a statistical source, there has been little investigation of their reliability. This article compares retail price reports in the Blue Books with annual averages constructed from weekly market reports published in four colonial African newspapers. It finds that the Blue Books can sometimes be an unreliable guide to staple prices, with the median error in the order of 25%, though some series are reasonably accurate and some are very inaccurate. Estimating annual averages was complicated by high price volatility and seasonality. In a simulation, the article shows that colonial officials would have usually needed to gather price quotations reasonably frequently in order to be likely to obtain accurate annual averages. A new effort to find non-official sources for prices, especially for staples, and for the early colonial period, would help to refine estimates of living standards and agricultural market dynamics in colonial Africa.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 75-99
Issue: 1
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1959314
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1959314
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:1:p:75-99
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bastian Becker
Author-X-Name-First: Bastian
Author-X-Name-Last: Becker
Title: The colonial struggle over polygamy: Consequences for educational expansion in sub-Saharan Africa
Abstract:
Christian missions in colonial Africa have contributed significantly to the expansion of formal education and thereby shaped the continent’s long-term economic and political development. This paper breaks new ground by showing that this process depended on local demand for education. It is argued that disagreements over norms, and in particular the struggle over polygamy, which resulted from missions’ insistence on monogamy in traditionally polygamous areas, lowered African demand for education. Analyses of geocoded data from historical and contemporary sources, covering most of sub-Saharan Africa, show that the struggle is associated with worse educational outcomes today. Effects are not limited to formal attainments but carry over to informal outcomes, in particular literacy. The findings attest to considerable heterogeneity in missionary legacies and suggest that local conditions should be given greater consideration in future studies on the long-term consequences of colonial-era interventions.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 27-49
Issue: 1
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1940946
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1940946
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:1:p:27-49
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Montserrat López Jerez
Author-X-Name-First: Montserrat
Author-X-Name-Last: López Jerez
Title: Factor endowments, vent for surplus and involutionary process in rural developing economies
Abstract:
This article seeks to provide a new analytical framework based on factor endowments to understand growth in rural economies without structural transformation. More concretely, it explores the variation in farmers’ ability to respond to new commercial opportunities. To complement the extensive literature on the economic and institutional effects of factor endowments, this paper revisits two influential yet controversial theories: Mark Elvin’s high-level equilibrium trap for areas with high population densities in a closed arable frontier, and Hla Myint’s vent for surplus for areas with surpluses of land and labour. We argue that these become more operational if reinterpreted by Boserupian land intensification processes. By lifting the neo-classical constraints on factor relationships, this paper contributes by exploring the mechanisms by which factor endowments might preclude the transformation. Understanding the different dynamics of cultivation in relation to land and labour use, technological choices, saving capacity, and potential linkages to industrialization becomes of even greater significance as these areas may be found within the same countries at a given time.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 50-74
Issue: 1
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1957825
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1957825
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:1:p:50-74
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza
Author-X-Name-First: Bruno Gabriel
Author-X-Name-Last: Witzel de Souza
Title: Precedents of mass migration: Policies, occupations, and the sorting of foreigners in São Paulo, Brazil (1872)
Abstract:
This paper studies the distribution of foreigners across counties of the province of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1872. The analysis stresses the historical importance of policies that fostered immigration in the nineteenth century by discussing the two main migratory strategies pursued in Brazil by the 1870s, namely the recruitment of foreign bonded labourers to the plantations and of settlers to rural colonies. The empirical approach studies the sorting of foreigners according to the economic, institutional, demographic, and geographic characteristics of the counties. Results show that the number of foreigners in 1872 was positively correlated with the ease of access to a region and with contemporaneous immigrant networks. The number of foreigners in 1872 also correlated negatively with the free, non-white, population, suggesting a degree of substitutability in local labour markets in a period before mass immigration to the region. Finally, the economic structure of the counties influenced the allocation of foreigners. Agricultural employment was associated with less immigrants, while manufacturing and trade-related activities were linked with a larger number of foreigners.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-26
Issue: 1
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1911637
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1911637
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:1:p:1-26
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Luis Felipe Zegarra
Author-X-Name-First: Luis Felipe
Author-X-Name-Last: Zegarra
Title: Borrower income and loan rates in the credit market of Lima
Abstract:
I analyse the effect of borrower income on loan rates in the credit market of Lima in 1840–65. I show that borrower income had a negative effect on interest rates. Borrower income influenced interest rates mostly through the impact on loan sizes: richer borrowers received larger loans and larger loans were associated with lower loan rates. The results are consistent with the influence of economies of scale on lending and differences in risk between large and small borrowers.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 147-169
Issue: 2
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1962705
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1962705
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:2:p:147-169
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Toyomu Masaki
Author-X-Name-First: Toyomu
Author-X-Name-Last: Masaki
Title: Indian guinée cloth, West Africa, and the French colonial empire 1826–1925: Colonialism and imperialism as agents of globalization
Abstract:
This study focuses on the global trade of guinée cloth mainly produced in French India and exported to French West Africa from 1826 to 1925. The article first re-examines the guinée cloth and its role in the western Sahel. Second, it argues that the guinée produced in the French factories established in French India was costly but of poor quality. Consequently, a similar type of cloth made in Europe began replacing the guinée in the Senegalese market in the late nineteenth century. Therefore, the producers of the guinée in the French empire supported protective measures, although merchants and relevant governments did not always share this opinion. Furthermore, the unstable political climate of the early French Third Republic promoted frequent changes in the trade policy on guinée cloth. Consequently, in addition to the traditional route from Saint Louis, Senegal, the article demonstrates that the export of Indian guinée began through more protected routes in northern Africa and was then distributed within the wider region of West Africa. Even the Méline Tariff opened the guinée producers in French India to new markets. Through the guinée cloth trade, this study demonstrates how colonialism and imperialism could lead to globalization.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 101-127
Issue: 2
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1985454
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1985454
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:2:p:101-127
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Nikita Lychakov
Author-X-Name-First: Nikita
Author-X-Name-Last: Lychakov
Author-Name: Dmitrii Saprykin
Author-X-Name-First: Dmitrii
Author-X-Name-Last: Saprykin
Author-Name: Nadia Vanteeva
Author-X-Name-First: Nadia
Author-X-Name-Last: Vanteeva
Title: Comparative labour productivity in British and Russian manufacturing, circa 1908
Abstract:
Using data from official manufacturing censuses, we compare labour productivity in the UK and the Russian Empire around 1908 in the industries in which medium- and large-size enterprises predominated. We find that Russia’s labour productivity was 75.3 or 57.4% of the British level, depending on whether we include or exclude Russia’s large and highly productive spirits industry. Russia’s productivity was between France’s and the Netherlands’, if we include the spirits industry; and between the Netherlands’ and Italy’s, if we exclude it. We find that the majority of Russian industries underperformed the British ones. However, some of the industries that had been established or modernized during the state-induced industrialization policies of the 1890s, including the metallurgy in the Southern industrial region, iron and steel tubes, railway carriages, and butter and cheese, performed on a par with or close to their British counterparts. The remaining modernized industries, including spirits, tobacco, and petrochemical sectors, outperformed their British equivalents. Our findings suggest that although Russia’s aggregate labour productivity lagged behind the UK’s, Russia’s modernized industries achieved, and in some cases surpassed, the productivity level of their British counterparts.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 170-200
Issue: 2
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.2009797
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.2009797
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:2:p:170-200
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Francisco J. Marco-Gracia
Author-X-Name-First: Francisco J.
Author-X-Name-Last: Marco-Gracia
Author-Name: Johan Fourie
Author-X-Name-First: Johan
Author-X-Name-Last: Fourie
Title: The missing boys: Understanding the unbalanced sex ratio in South Africa, 1894–2011
Abstract:
At the beginning of the twentieth century in South Africa, the sex ratio for black children under five years was one of the lowest ever recorded. Sex ratios also differed markedly by racial group. Those for white children remained almost invariable, with more boys than girls, while black children had a clear majority of girls, a situation that the literature has almost completely overlooked. The reasons are still not completely clear. Although sex ratios at birth show more births of boys than girls, boys’ mortality was higher than girls’ mortality. Why boys’ mortality was so high and why, as a consequence, the twentieth-century under-five sex ratio for black children was so skewed towards girls, a ratio much lower, for example, than the sex ratios of pre-industrial European countries, remains unanswered. We suggest several possible explanations. The most likely explanation, we argue, was a preference for girls.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 128-146
Issue: 2
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.1987212
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.1987212
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:2:p:128-146
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2025046_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Manuel Llorca-Jaña
Author-X-Name-First: Manuel
Author-X-Name-Last: Llorca-Jaña
Author-Name: Javier Rivas
Author-X-Name-First: Javier
Author-X-Name-Last: Rivas
Author-Name: Ignacio Pérez
Author-X-Name-First: Ignacio
Author-X-Name-Last: Pérez
Author-Name: Juan Navarrete-Montalvo
Author-X-Name-First: Juan
Author-X-Name-Last: Navarrete-Montalvo
Title: Human capital in Chile: The development of numeracy during the last 250 years
Abstract:
This paper studies the evolution of numeracy in Chile for cohorts born from the 1780s to the 1970s, providing a new series of this important indicator of human capital, essential to promote economic growth. This is the longest series currently available of any human capital indicator for Chile. It shows that numeracy was very low until the early twentieth century but that, contrary to traditional interpretations, it increased gradually from the 1780s (well before the promulgation of the primary instruction law of 1860), until full basic numeracy skills were achieved by the mid-twentieth century. This transition was completed some 3–4 decades after parallel developments occurred in the leading countries of the region and some 120 years behind the most developed areas of Europe. This development was characterized by high gender numeracy inequality until the first decades of the twentieth century, as well as by a pronounced regional inequality. However, there was a quick process of convergence across provinces, completed at the same time as gender inequality was reduced. Our numeracy data is also consistent with alternative human capital indicators such as literacy and schooling, and we provide a set of explanations about why they all improved, and their timing.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 227-256
Issue: 3
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.2025046
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.2025046
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:3:p:227-256
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2075723_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: María Inés Moraes
Author-X-Name-First: María Inés
Author-X-Name-Last: Moraes
Author-Name: Rebeca Riella
Author-X-Name-First: Rebeca
Author-X-Name-Last: Riella
Author-Name: Carolina Vicario
Author-X-Name-First: Carolina
Author-X-Name-Last: Vicario
Author-Name: Pablo Marmissolle
Author-X-Name-First: Pablo
Author-X-Name-Last: Marmissolle
Title: Wealth inequality in colonial Hispanic-America: Montevideo in the late eighteenth century
Abstract:
There has recently been renewed interest among economic historians in preindustrial inequality, but there are still few case studies on wealth inequality in preindustrial Latin America, particularly involving colonial Spanish America before 1820. This paper presents a study of wealth inequality in Montevideo, an area of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, in the late colonial period. This work addresses the level of wealth inequality, the composition of wealth, and its relationship with social structure in Montevideo in the late eighteenth century. It uses a data set of probate inventories and population records as its main sources, estimating a Gini index, presenting a stylized picture of the social structure, and analysing the differences in wealth between social groups in 1772–3. The main finding is that wealth inequality in Montevideo was similar to that in the English colonies of North America in 1774 and was lower than that in preindustrial economies in Europe in the same time period. Although most of this society was made up of a relatively wealthy middle class, some important assets were strongly concentrated among the elite.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 288-314
Issue: 3
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2075723
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2075723
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:3:p:288-314
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2058926_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Atsushi Kobayashi
Author-X-Name-First: Atsushi
Author-X-Name-Last: Kobayashi
Title: Market integration via entrepôt: Southeast Asia's rice trade, 1828–1870
Abstract:
While scholars have disclosed the pre-1870 intercontinental market integration between Europe and Asia, the contemporaneous intra-Asian international market has been assumed fragmentary. Contrary to this prevailing view, this study demonstrates that Southeast Asia's international rice market was in a process of integration from the 1830s onwards, with a dynamic shift in market linkages and efficiency via Singapore. Specifically, an estimation of coefficient of variation demonstrates long-run price convergence in Java, Singapore, and Southern China from the 1830s until 1872. Moreover, according to temporal variations of transaction costs and adjustment speed estimated using a Threshold Autoregressive model, direct market integration between Java and China shifted to indirect integration based on Singapore's intermediary function after the mid-1840s; market efficiency steadily improved through speedier information transmission while adapting to changing market linkages. This study suggests that rather than Western-led trade liberalizations, Singapore's entrepôt function significantly contributed to the post-1830s progress of Southeast Asia's rice market integration.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 201-226
Issue: 3
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2058926
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2058926
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:3:p:201-226
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2103306_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Dozie Okoye
Author-X-Name-First: Dozie
Author-X-Name-Last: Okoye
Title: Historical Christian missions and African societies today: Perspectives from economic history
Abstract:
Christian missionaries spread across the African continent in the early twentieth century following the expansion of colonial control, and invested in various areas of African societies in order to gain converts. This paper describes the recent literature in economic history that attempts to document and estimate the long-run impacts of Christian missions, including outstanding issues in the literature. The paper summarizes recent studies that attempt to tackle these issues. One conclusion is that more micro data is needed on the evolution of African societies as a result of missionary activities in order to fully document the mechanisms behind the long-run impact of missions.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 315-332
Issue: 3
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2103306
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2103306
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:3:p:315-332
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2067747_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Ángel Luis González-Esteban
Author-X-Name-First: Ángel Luis
Author-X-Name-Last: González-Esteban
Author-Name: Elisa Botella-Rodríguez
Author-X-Name-First: Elisa
Author-X-Name-Last: Botella-Rodríguez
Title: The agricultural productivity gap: A global vision
Abstract:
Productivity in agriculture tends to grow slower than in other sectors. This is a stylized fact that has resulted in a persistent productivity gap, generalized over time and across countries. This paper explores the evolution of this gap from an international perspective, identifying patterns in both developed and developing countries. Empirical regularities are discussed in the light of a literature review on the causes of the gap and its socio-economic effects. Reflections on the nature of the productivity gap often merge with considerations on its social implications and on the policies that should be implemented to deal with it. We refer to this wider political economy issue as the ‘farm problem’, and argue that it has not been given a satisfactory solution, neither in rich nor in developing countries. Although in some industrialized countries the discharging of the countryside has acted as a major source of convergence, there has not been a general reduction in the productivity gap between agriculture and the rest of the economy worldwide, nor are there compelling reasons to assume that this will happen in the future.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 257-287
Issue: 3
Volume: 37
Year: 2022
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2067747
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2067747
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:37:y:2022:i:3:p:257-287
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2106211_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Patricia Funjika
Author-X-Name-First: Patricia
Author-X-Name-Last: Funjika
Title: Historical African ethnic class stratification systems and intergenerational transmission of education
Abstract:
This paper examines the role of precolonial class inequality systems in the intergenerational transmission of education processes amongst ethnic groups in Africa. Using ethnographic and household survey data from six African countries and grouping ethnic groups by the historical class system that existed within them, I observe variations in intergenerational persistence between them with varying levels of significance in the different countries included. The findings suggest that understanding intergenerational mobility within African countries should take into account the different historical ethnic group characteristics, although the mobility process does not evolve uniformly across countries. Country-specific colonial administrative systems and the immediate post-independence education policies are critical factors that also need to be taken into account to understand the changes in education-based intergenerational persistence from the precolonial to the contemporary period.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 89-116
Issue: 1
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2106211
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2106211
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:1:p:89-116
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2057294_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Jacob Ferrell
Author-X-Name-First: Jacob
Author-X-Name-Last: Ferrell
Author-Name: Joel Wainwright
Author-X-Name-First: Joel
Author-X-Name-Last: Wainwright
Title: The political economy of development in Belize under the People’s United Party
Abstract:
The former British colony of Belize faces serious economic problems today, reflecting a collapse in tourism following COVID-19. To account for this fragility, a return to economic history is needed. We focus on two critical periods. First, we examine why the Belizean state was unable to form a developmental state in the period of the anticolonial movement and self-government (the 1950s–1960s). Particular attention is given to George Price, leader of the anti-colonial People’s United Party (PUP) and ‘father of the country’. Second, turning to the post-colonial period, we examine one experimental chapter that lasted roughly a decade (1998–2007) when a coherent state-led economic strategy was pursued. During both periods the PUP-led state sought to reorganize development strategy along progressive lines, but failed to deliver. Because capital was almost completely foreign dominated, the fledgling Belizean developmental state could not discipline capital toward developmental alignment.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 65-88
Issue: 1
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2057294
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2057294
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:1:p:65-88
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2024073_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Stefania Galli
Author-X-Name-First: Stefania
Author-X-Name-Last: Galli
Author-Name: Dimitrios Theodoridis
Author-X-Name-First: Dimitrios
Author-X-Name-Last: Theodoridis
Author-Name: Klas Rönnbäck
Author-X-Name-First: Klas
Author-X-Name-Last: Rönnbäck
Title: Economic inequality in Latin America and Africa, 1650 to 1950: Can a comparison of historical trajectories help to understand underdevelopment?
Abstract:
The present article provides a comparative review of historical economic inequality in the two most unequal regions of the world, namely Latin America and Africa. This contribution examines novel studies that provide quantitative estimates of income and/or wealth inequality in the two continents in terms of sources, methods, results and interpretations, focusing on the period 1650 to 1950. The article shows that although scholars in the two regions have often employed similar methodologies, their results are far from conforming to a uniform pattern. The present review highlights how scholars of Latin America and Africa tend to remain geographically isolated, failing to capture the learning opportunities stemming from the work of their continental counterparts in terms of both sources and methods.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 41-64
Issue: 1
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2021.2024073
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2021.2024073
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:1:p:41-64
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2082407_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20220907T060133 git hash: 85d61bd949
Author-Name: Marcin Wroński
Author-X-Name-First: Marcin
Author-X-Name-Last: Wroński
Title: Wealth inequality in interwar Poland
Abstract:
In 1923 Poland introduced an extraordinary wealth tax. I have used internal statistics of the Ministry of the Treasury to estimate wealth inequality in interwar Poland. This data source was not previously used by researchers. There are no estimates of wealth inequality in interwar Poland available in the literature. According to my estimates, the top 0.01% of wealth owners controlled 14.8% of total private wealth. The wealth share of the top 1% stood at 37.5%. The top decile owned 60.7% of total private wealth. Wealth inequality varied strongly by region. A comparison of wealth inequality in Poland with wealth inequality in other European countries in the interwar period yields a diverse picture. The wealth share of the top 0.01% was the highest in Europe, the wealth share of the top 1% was in the middle of the European ranking, and the wealth share of the top 10% was almost the lowest in Europe. The small elite of super-rich (0.01%) controlled a higher share of national wealth than their European peers, but the wealth share of the rest of the top decile was relatively low. The unequal development of former partitions may partially explain the very high top wealth shares.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-40
Issue: 1
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2082407
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2082407
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:1:p:1-40
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2150162_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Dácil Juif
Author-X-Name-First: Dácil
Author-X-Name-Last: Juif
Author-Name: Sergio Garrido
Author-X-Name-First: Sergio
Author-X-Name-Last: Garrido
Title: Living standards of copper mine labour in Chile and the Central African Copperbelt compared, 1920s to 1960s
Abstract:
Large-scale copper mining has been the main industry in Chile and the countries conforming the Central African Copperbelt for about one century. While a relatively extensive social science literature exists on the mostly adverse macroeconomic and institutional effects of a high reliance on mineral exports and revenues, we address the effects on the labour force employed by this industry. We perform a novel inter-continental – as well as dynamic-historical – comparative assessment of the living standards of the domestic copper mineworkers in the three countries from ca1920 to ca1960. There are important similarities and disparities in levels and trends of real wages and other welfare provisions. In explaining the gap across continents, we discuss labour shortage and labour provision, productivity, and mobilization. We also highlight the underlying role of colonialism in determining the inter-continental differences. Copper miners are further found to have been better paid than other workers in all three countries.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 117-150
Issue: 2
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2150162
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2150162
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:2:p:117-150
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2176842_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Cecilia Lara
Author-X-Name-First: Cecilia
Author-X-Name-Last: Lara
Title: Manufacturing convergence in the Southern Cone: New evidence for the industrialization period
Abstract:
The objective of this paper is, on the basis of new evidence, to contribute to the analysis of the performance of the manufacturing industries in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay during the state-led industrialization period and in comparison with a developed country. Specifically, this paper estimates the productivity gap between Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay relative to the United States in order to reveal whether convergence took place at the industry level. The results identify changes within the industrial sector in the three Latin American countries. In short, manufacturing in Brazil achieved substantial changes, which were reflected in favourable structural change and manufacturing convergence. Moreover, manufacturing convergence accelerated in Brazil in the 1960s, when the development model based on industrialization deepened. Structural transformation was weak in Uruguay and mild in Chile, and the ability to reduce technological gaps was limited to industries based on natural resources with medium and high levels of industrial protection. The latter must also be linked to the different pace of industrialization in these two countries, especially in Uruguay, where the industrializing impulse was exhausted very early on.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 173-197
Issue: 2
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2176842
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2176842
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:2:p:173-197
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2099371_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Tirthankar Roy
Author-X-Name-First: Tirthankar
Author-X-Name-Last: Roy
Title: The development of the arid tropics: Lessons for economic history
Abstract:
For centuries, the world’s tropical regions have been poorer than the temperate-zone countries. Does tropicality make the struggle for economic development harder? What do people caught up in the struggle do? The paper defines ‘tropicality’ as the combination of aridity and seasonal rainfall, and in turn, high inter- and intra-year variability in moisture influx. In the past, this condition would generate a variety of adaptive strategies such as migration and transhumance. In the twentieth century, the response pattern changed from adapting to moisture supply towards control of moisture supply. This process unleashed conflict and environmental stress in the vulnerable geography of the semi-arid tropics.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 151-172
Issue: 2
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2022.2099371
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2022.2099371
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:2:p:151-172
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2179458_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Damian Bębnowski
Author-X-Name-First: Damian
Author-X-Name-Last: Bębnowski
Title: On Polish economic historiography in exile, 1945–1989
Abstract:
This paper studies the main directions of development of Polish economic historiography in the country and in exile (in Great Britain and the United States) between 1945 and 1989. The analysis focuses on Polish economic history under various conditions (especially political ones) and the characteristics of selected research in exile (by Stanisław Swianiewicz, Władysław Wielhorski, Paweł Zaremba, Piotr Wojtowicz, Alfred Zauberman, Stanisław Kościałkowski, and Feliks Gross). The current literature focuses on the achievements of researchers in the country, while exile economic historiography is still marginalized. I analyse representative works of Polish researchers, comparing their issues and the methods used. It turns out that home economic historiography flourished, even under ideological constraints.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 198-214
Issue: 2
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 05
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2179458
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2179458
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:2:p:198-214
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2243035_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza
Author-X-Name-First: Bruno Gabriel
Author-X-Name-Last: Witzel de Souza
Title: Like the swing of the pendulum: The history of government-sponsored rural settlements in São Paulo, Brazil (1820s–1920s)
Abstract:
This paper studies the history of government-sponsored rural settlements in the province/state of São Paulo, Brazil, as a pendular movement, whose points of reversion depended on the interests of a landowning elite to obtain labour for newly expanding plantations from the 1820s to the 1920s. Faltering infrastructure and ill-defined property rights over public lands were persistent constraints to the development of such rural settlements. Part of this failure can be attributed to a lack of State capacity and part to the opposition of plantation owners to the settling of independent smallholdings. The paper complements this historical-institutional analysis with a quantitative description of such settlements in 1898–1920. These late government-sponsored rural settlements showed the potential to grow in demographic and economic terms and had an overall demographic and occupational composition well aligned with the goal of creating a family-based peasantry. However, there were enormous heterogeneities in ethno-linguistic composition, educational attainment, and economic prosperity between and within such rural settlements, which point to idiosyncratic features that should be taken into account in future research assessing the short- and long-run effects of immigration and settlement policies in Brazil.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 305-334
Issue: 3
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2243035
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2243035
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:3:p:305-334
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2209285_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Shimaa Hatab
Author-X-Name-First: Shimaa
Author-X-Name-Last: Hatab
Title: Political economy of development in the Arab republics: The state and socio-economic coalitions
Abstract:
The question of socio-economic underdevelopment in the Arab region has been a perennial theme in development studies. While some scholars highlight the long durée effect of the Ottoman institutional legacy, others place the blame on the legacy of exploitation and expropriation of the colonial practices in the region. The article reaches beyond the two accounts (albeit departing from the colonial economic basis) and brings out the agency of the post-colonial elites who altered the socio-economic foundation of the political class and transformed processes of capital accumulation and labour commodification. I argue that the processes of state-building accompanied by social engineering measures represented a ‘critical juncture’ that impinged on state autonomy and its bureaucratic capacity and left an indelible imprint on development strategies. The article unpacks three mechanisms that proved consequential for economic policy outcomes: (1) the degree of elite autonomy to formulate policies, (2) the power of social classes to contest economic policies, and (3) the capacity of state bureaucracy to implement policies and allocate resources. A critical political economy perspective, that reaches beyond the reification of the state and examines the interaction between ‘elite deals’ and ‘social bargains’, offers a nuanced account for varied development records across the region.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 281-304
Issue: 3
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2209285
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2209285
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:3:p:281-304
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2213400_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Herbert S. Klein
Author-X-Name-First: Herbert S.
Author-X-Name-Last: Klein
Author-Name: Francisco Vidal Luna
Author-X-Name-First: Francisco Vidal
Author-X-Name-Last: Luna
Title: The emergence of Brazil as a major world sugar and ethanol producer
Abstract:
The production and export of sugar defined the colonial history of Brazil. It was here that the first modern slave based plantation system was created in America. Up through the end of the 17th century it was the dominant Atlantic producer of sugar. Although production continued to grow it was replaced in world markets in the 18th century by West Indian growers and was late to modernize in the 19th and early 20th century. Yet today it is once again the world's dominant producer of sugar and the second largest producer of ethanol. How and why these changes occurred is the theme of this essay in which we explore the rise of the modern sugar and ethanol industries in Brazil.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 256-280
Issue: 3
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2213400
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2213400
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:3:p:256-280
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2209284_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Arlinde C.E. Vrooman
Author-X-Name-First: Arlinde C.E.
Author-X-Name-Last: Vrooman
Title: The development of colonial health care provision in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire: ca. 1900–55
Abstract:
Colonial administrations introduced various social infrastructures in Africa. This paper analyses and compares the development of colonial governments' health care provision and policies in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire from circa 1900 to 1955. Using qualitative and quantitative information from colonial reports, a new dataset captures the development of four factors relevant to these aims: health care expenditures, health care facilities, medical staff, and patients. Deflated health care expenditures per capita were found to be higher in Ghana than in Côte d’Ivoire in almost all years. The number of health care facilities per capita was larger in Côte d’Ivoire than in Ghana, and facilities were more geographically dispersed. Ghana had a lower number of medical staff per capita than Côte d’Ivoire as of the 1920s. Medical staff from Côte d’Ivoire formed the majority of the staff base as early as the mid-1910s. Finally, the analysis shows that the number of patients treated in health care facilities in Ghana was low until the 1920s, and took off as more facilities became available during the 1940s. These findings provide evidence that even two countries that are relatively similar (apart from their colonial history) can have different colonial health care trajectories.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 215-255
Issue: 3
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2209284
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2209284
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:3:p:215-255
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2188438_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20230119T200553 git hash: 724830af20
Author-Name: Javier E. Rodríguez Weber
Author-X-Name-First: Javier E.
Author-X-Name-Last: Rodríguez Weber
Title: Top incomes and the ruling class in Latin American history. Some theoretical and methodological challenges
Abstract:
Recent studies on income inequality have some characteristics that differentiate them from their earlier counterparts. The spotlight on high incomes has illuminated a new angle from which to view income inequality. Because estimates of top income shares can be used as a proxy for power inequality, they can enrich our comprehension of the role of the elite in Latin America’s economic development. However, scholars interested in studying the history of economic inequality in Latin America face certain methodological and theoretical problems of their own: (1) because food and other commodities such as minerals represent the lion’s share of exported goods in Latin America, cycles in commodity prices have shaped the region’s economic history. Thus, the crux of income inequality in Latin America is who becomes richer and who becomes poorer when exports prices rise and fall; and (2) the sort of fiscal statistics typically used capture only a few countries and sometimes only limited periods. Thus, as I argue, scholars should use dynamic social tables to produce new information. I exemplify both points with a historical analysis of three Latin American countries: Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 335-352
Issue: 3
Volume: 38
Year: 2023
Month: 09
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2188438
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2188438
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:38:y:2023:i:3:p:335-352
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2220076_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20231214T103247 git hash: d7a2cb0857
Author-Name: Daniel Castillo Hidalgo
Author-X-Name-First: Daniel
Author-X-Name-Last: Castillo Hidalgo
Title: The colonial gap: An analysis of income distribution in the Port of Dakar, 1911–1940
Abstract:
This study presents new empirical evidence on the structure of income of African workers in the Port of Dakar between 1911 and 1940. It provides a systematic series of public wages earned by the African and European workforce in a colonial seaport. This series includes income structure by skill tier of public employees and labourers employed at the port. Did wage structure evolve according to relative increases in human capital accumulation in this major colonial seaport? In this investigation, I use data collected from the annual budgets of the port to seek explanations for the structural differences in income in three consecutive decades between 1911 and 1940. I found that the skill premium between highly skilled and unskilled African workers was 3.8 on average during the period analysed. Moreover, the skill premium between mid-skilled and unskilled workers is estimated to be 2.7. Furthermore, top and senior European staff (less than 10% of the staff) accounted for 36% of the overall income. I provide quantitative evidence on how colonial allowances were the key element that contributed to the increasing income gap between European and African workers in similar job categories.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 1-27
Issue: 1
Volume: 39
Year: 2024
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2220076
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2220076
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:39:y:2024:i:1:p:1-27
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2220075_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20231214T103247 git hash: d7a2cb0857
Author-Name: Andrew Schein
Author-X-Name-First: Andrew
Author-X-Name-Last: Schein
Title: The economic response of the Israeli government to a rapid influx of immigrants by the founding of the state, 1948–1953: Expansionary fiscal policy and rationing
Abstract:
Israel was founded in 1948, and immediately afterwards, numerous immigrants came to the country. The Israeli government decided to provide provisions to these immigrants, along with trying to develop the country and investing in the military. This fiscal expansion was funded by seigniorage, and the government attempted to restrain inflation by imposing price controls and rationing food and other consumer goods. This policy failed to stop inflation, and there were persistent shortages of many goods in the country, except for bread which was not rationed. There were even shortages of eggs, which were all produced domestically and whose output increased on a per capita basis by more than 250% in comparison to the number of eggs produced prior to the founding of the state. This indicates that the shortages in the stores were due to the rationing. The shortages led to a flourishing black market, and a reduction in consumer welfare. The rationing made a difficult situation worse and the government began to end the rationing in 1952.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 28-48
Issue: 1
Volume: 39
Year: 2024
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2220075
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2220075
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:39:y:2024:i:1:p:28-48
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2243036_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20231214T103247 git hash: d7a2cb0857
Author-Name: Michael Chanda Chiseni
Author-X-Name-First: Michael Chanda
Author-X-Name-Last: Chiseni
Title: The sins of the church: The long-term impacts of Christian missionary praxis on HIV and sexual behaviour in Zambia
Abstract:
This study examines the long-term effect of Christian missionary exposure on HIV infection and related sexual behaviour in Zambia. I use distance to a historical missionary church and health facility as proxies for missionary exposure. I constructed a geocoded data set combining information on the historical locations of churches and missionary health centres with contemporary individual-level data. I find that individuals who live close to a historical missionary church have a higher likelihood of being infected with HIV. I find no significant effect of proximity to a missionary health centre on HIV. Considering that heterosexual transmission is the main channel of HIV transmission in Zambia, I analyse the effect of missionary exposure on sexual behaviour. The following patterns emerge: individuals who live close to a Protestant church are less likely to engage in premarital sexual abstinence; they also have their first sexual encounter at an earlier age, with the effect being stronger for men than women. Living near a Catholic church is associated with having a higher number of sexual partners.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 49-81
Issue: 1
Volume: 39
Year: 2024
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2243036
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2243036
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:39:y:2024:i:1:p:49-81
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
# input file: REHD_A_2243034_J.xml processed with: repec_from_jats12.xsl darts-xml-transformations-20231214T103247 git hash: d7a2cb0857
Author-Name: Pedro Vaz Goulart
Author-X-Name-First: Pedro Vaz
Author-X-Name-Last: Goulart
Title: Child labour, Africa’s colonial system, and coercion: The case of the Portuguese colonies, 1870–1975
Abstract:
Labour studies in the African colonial period are facing a revival, but literature on the role and working conditions of children remains over-generalized. At the same time, child labour has played a central role in economic activities in Africa, and it still does. This article contributes to filling this gap by studying Portuguese colonial Africa as a narrative of tension between labour market forces, public policy, and (limited) agency of children. Labour scarcity facing demand hikes contributed to the increased use of children for labour in the colonial period. We contribute to the history of African labour by compiling data on the – until now – largely neglected use of child labour in mining and agriculture in the Portuguese African colonies. We find children were used to support adults or, with less agency, simply replaced (often forced) adult labour in plantations, mining, and other activities abandoned by adults. (Promised) wage differentials, taxes, forced labour, pass systems, and forced cultivation schemes acted as (dis)incentives to labour migration. Intra and inter-country movement of large numbers of adult labourers stimulated the demand for child labour.
Journal: Economic History of Developing Regions
Pages: 82-104
Issue: 1
Volume: 39
Year: 2024
Month: 01
X-DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2023.2243034
File-URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20780389.2023.2243034
File-Format: text/html
File-Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:39:y:2024:i:1:p:82-104