Journal•ISSN: 0022-0507
The Journal of Economic History
Cambridge University Press
About: The Journal of Economic History is an academic journal published by Cambridge University Press. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Politics. It has an ISSN identifier of 0022-0507. Over the lifetime, 5185 publications have been published receiving 122223 citations. The journal is also known as: Journal of Economic History & J. Econ. Hist..
Topics: Population, Politics, Productivity, Wage, Capital (economics)
Papers published on a yearly basis
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the evolution of the constitutional arrangements in seventeenth-century England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and argue that the new institutions allowed the government to commit credibly to upholding property rights.
Abstract: The article studies the evolution of the constitutional arrangements in seventeenth-century England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It focuses on the relationship between institutions and the behavior of the government and interprets the institutional changes on the basis of the goals of the winners—secure property rights, protection of their wealth, and the elimination of confiscatory government. We argue that the new institutions allowed the government to commit credibly to upholding property rights. Their success was remarkable, as the evidence from capital markets shows.
4,267 citations
TL;DR: The catch-up hypothesis holds that, in comparisons among countries, productivity growth rates tend to vary inversely with productivity levels as discussed by the authors, and the convergence of productivity levels implies the relative success of early leaders and latecomers.
Abstract: A widely entertained hypothesis holds that, in comparisons among countries, productivity growth rates tend to vary inversely with productivity levels. A century of experience in a group of presently industrialized countries supports this hypothesis and the convergence of productivity levels it implies. The rate of convergence, however, varied from period to period and showed marked strength only during the first quarter-century following World War II. The general process of convergence was also accompanied by dramatic shifts in countries' productivity rankings. The paper extends the simple catch-up hypothesis to rationalize the fluctuating strength of the process and explores the connections between convergence itself and the relative success of early leaders and latecomers.
3,370 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors argues that all that is needed to explain a given historical development is to indicate conditioning or causal factors, such as an increase in population or the supply of capital.
Abstract: Economic historians and economic theorists can make an interesting and socially valuable journey together, if they will. It would be an investigation into the sadly neglected area of economic change.As anyone familiar with the history of economic thought will immediately recognize, practically all the economists of the nineteenth century and many of the twentieth have believed uncritically that all that is needed to explain a given historical development is to indicate conditioning or causal factors, such as an increase in population or the supply of capital. But this is sufficient only in the rarest of cases.
1,509 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the economic institution utilized during the eleventh century to facilitate complex trade characterized by asymmetric information and limited legal contract enforceability, and employed the geniza documents to present the "coalition," an economic institution based upon a reputation mechanism utilized by Mediterranean traders to confront the organizational problem associated with the exchange relations between merchants and their overseas agents.
Abstract: This article examines the economic institution utilized during the eleventh century to facilitate complex trade characterized by asymmetric information and limited legal contract enforceability. The geniza documents are employed to present the "coalition," an economic institution based upon a reputation mechanism utilized by Mediterranean traders to confront the organizational problem associated with the exchange relations between merchants and their overseas agents. The theoretical framework explains many trade-related phenomena, especially why traders utilized specific forms of business association, and indicates the interrelations between social and economic institutions. M editerranean trade contributed much to the economic growth of southern Europe during the Middle Ages.' The spread of this trade depended, to a large extent, upon traders' ability to employ overseas agents or to let business associates function as overseas agents. The employment of overseas agents was vital during the Middle Ages, since goods were sold abroad only after being shipped to their destination.2 Since, absent contractual problems, a merchant can decrease cost by sending goods to an overseas agent rather than traveling with his goods, a large efficiency gain could potentially be achieved by employing overseas agents.3
1,176 citations
TL;DR: The authors view a social system as relying on techniques, rules, or customs to resolve conflicts that arise in the use of scarce resources rather than imagining that societies specify the particular uses to which resources will be put.
Abstract: Economics textbooks invariably describe the important economic choices that all societies must make by the following three questions: What goods are to be produced? How are these goods to be produced? Who is to get what is produced? This way of stating social choice problems is misleading. Economic organizations necessarily do resolve these issues in one fashion or another, but even the most centralized societies do not and cannot specify the answer to these questions in advance and in detail. It is more useful and nearer to the truth to view a social system as relying on techniques, rules, or customs to resolve conflicts that arise in the use of scarce resources rather than imagining that societies specify the particular uses to which resources will be put.
1,155 citations