Economic restructuring and demographic growth: demystifying growth and development in Northern Song China, 960–1127

The Northern Song period (960–1127) has been recognized as one of the most important eras in China's economic and demographic history. This study investigates the key factors and mechanisms that led to economic restructuring and wealth generating to support a growing population. By revealing state‐led changes in the economy, it challenges some commonly circulated interpretations of the remarkable economic development and population growth in Northern Song China.     

Sir William Petty,Ireland, and the making of a political economist, 1653–871

This paper offers a reassessment of the origins and derivation of many of Sir William Petty's economic ideas, based on an analysis of his unpublished papers. Petty's archive makes clear what a large part Ireland played in his writings, and it is suggested that this preoccupation is essential to an appreciation of him as an economist. It also demonstrates the point that Petty was not principally a theorist but rather a practical political economist whose schemes for the enrichment of the king's dominions were inspired by the underdevelopment which he experienced at first hand in Ireland.     

The marginalist approach and the making of fuel policy in France and Britain, 1945–721

Focusing on the shift from coal to oil in the French and British economies between 1945 and 1972, this article analyses the influence of economists and economic concepts on fuel‐policy making in each economy. The framing of French fuel policy around marginalist principles from 1958 is examined, and the unusually direct influence of economists on policy making is ascribed to a mix of national security, industrial modernization, and political considerations.     

The factor income distribution in China: 1978–2007

This paper investigates changes in aggregate labor share in China during 1978 and 2007 with a particular focus on the 1995–2007 period during which official statistics report a drop of 12.45 percentage points in labor's share of national income (labor share). Our main findings are: (1) The reported fall in aggregate labor share is overstated. According to the official statistics released by the NBS (2007a), the labor share fell 5.25 percentage points from 2003 to 2004. However this dramatic decline, 42.16% of the total reported decline of the labor share from 1995 to 2007, is completely due to the changes in the way NBS break down the operating surplus state-owned and collective-owned farms and the mixed income of the owners of individual economy; (2) For the last three decades, two main forces have been driving shifts in the aggregate labor share: (i) structural transformation between the agriculture and non-agriculture sectors and (ii) shifts in the labor share within the industry sector; (3) From 1995 to 2003, these two effects are both negative and together drive down aggregate labor share by 5.48 percentage points. The structural change explains 61.31% of the decline and the remaining 38.69% of the decline is due to the changes in the labor share within sectors, primarily in the industry sector; (4) Labor share in agriculture is lower than labor share in services. Therefore, when the service sector grows relative to the agriculture sector in the economy, the aggregate labor share of income declines; and (5) Restructuring of the SOEs and expanded monopoly power are the main reasons for the decline of labor share within industry after 1998. Relative price shifts, the factor input ratio, and biased technological progress are all insignificant forces for this decline because the substitution between factors in the industry sector is nearly unit elastic.     

The imposed gift of Versailles: the fiscal effects of restricting the size of Germany's armed forces, 1924–9

Weimar's politicians used to attribute the continuous budget crises after the currency stabilization of 1923–4 to the burden put on the German economy by the Treaty of Versailles, in particular the reparation payments. This argument, which is still popular, neglects the fact that the restriction of the German military to 115,000 men relieved the German central budget considerably. In a counterfactual analysis we assess the savings in additional military costs and compare them to the reparation payments. Depending on the character of the foreign policy pursued by an unrestricted Germany, we find that the net effect of the Treaty's stipulations on the German central budgets was either much lower than hitherto thought or even positive. This finding gives support to the argument that Germany suffered from home‐made political failure even in the relatively stable period from 1924 to 1929.     

Smoking for taxes: the triumph of fiscal policy over health in postwar West Germany, 1945–551

In the postwar period, the West German tobacco industry faced several challenges, not least competition from smuggled Virginia cigarettes. This reflected the Americanization of smoking tastes and threatened domestic tax revenue. The popular preference for ‘American blend’ cigarettes also hindered trade with Greece and Turkey, suppliers of Oriental tobacco to German manufacturers. The proposed solution was tax cuts to stimulate demand for domestically produced cigarettes. These proposals antagonized welfare groups, who saw tax cuts as a threat to the health of the population. The ensuing debates and settlement shed new light on the liberal smoking policies of postwar West Germany.