Gregory King and the economic structure of early modern England: an input–output table for 1688

This article presents an input–output table for England and Wales for the year 1688 which is based on the extensive dataset compiled by Gregory King in the 1690s, together with other contemporary and modern material relating to the end of the seventeenth century. As well as showing the inter‐relationships between the different parts of the economy, the data in the table can be used to compute national income and the shares of different sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and services in total value added. Further, the approach used to compile the table provides a way to subject King's data to as much independent assessment as is possible given alternative sources of information. Sensitivity analysis is used to assess the impact on national income and sector shares of alternative estimates of the grain harvest, metal manufacture, and service sector output.     

Class structure and inequality during the industrial revolution: lessons from England's social tables, 1688–1867

This article measures the size and incomes of six major social classes across the industrial revolution using social tables for England and Wales in 1688, 1759, 1798, 1846, and 1867. Lindert and Williamson famously revised these tables, and this article extends their work in three directions. First, servants are removed from middle‐ and upper‐class households in the tables of King, Massie, and Colquhoun and tallied separately. Second, estimates are made for the same tables of the number and incomes of women and children employed in the various occupations, and, third, incomes are broken down into rents, profits, and employment income. These extensions to the tables allow variables to be computed that can be checked against independent estimates as a validation exercise. The tables are retabulated in a standardized set of six social groups to highlight the changing structure of society across the industrial revolution. Gini coefficients are computed from the social tables to measure inequality. These measures confirm that Britain traversed a ‘Kuznets curve’ in this period. Changes in overall inequality are related to the changing fortunes of the major social classes.     

Market structure and the coal cartel in early nineteenth‐century England1

Using counterfactual competitive prices, the effect of the north‐east coal cartel on prices is estimated at 13–17 per cent between 1816 and 1845. Non‐cartel producers were highly responsive to price changes, and their threat to the cartel was made credible by market integration facilitated by canals. The spread of railways had little impact on the cartel's market power. Highly inelastic demand and responsive supply from other regions meant that deadweight losses from the cartel were insignificant throughout this period.     

产业结构调整和社会就业

随着科学技术的发展,社会生产力的提高,社会产业结构必然会发生变化,这必然会导致就业结构的调整.因此,目前我国解决就业问题最重要的途径就是要完善市场经济体制,引导广大劳动者顺应社会就业结构调整的趋势,以市场为导向寻找就业门路.     

Population age structure and the size of social security

"This paper uses a general overlapping generations model to analyze social security. Rather than focusing on intertemporal price and income considerations, however, the paper focuses on the effect of contemporaneous (same period) prices and income. The analysis shows that the old-age dependency ratio acts as a shadow price for old-age benefits. With this new shadow price, the equilibrium price and quantity of social security benefits and the level of the payroll tax rate are determined in a demand-supply framework with individual utility maximization. Three explicit demand functions (intergenerational contracts) are analyzed. The model is tested using [U.S.] time series data for the social security Old-Age and Survivors (OASI) program."     

Usury legislation,cash, and credit: the development of the female investor in the late Tudor and Stuart periods1

This article uses testamentary evidence from Lincoln diocesan court between the 1570s and the 1690s to examine links between inheritance, a rise in money‐lending amongst single women, and an increase in the proportion of women that never married. Two trends emerge: first, more fathers after the 1570s chose to bequeath cash to their daughters; second, they were more likely to restrict access to this portion by age rather than marriage. Assisted by a softening of attitudes towards interest‐bearing lending, these changes offered some single women a measure of financial independence that may have impacted on their marriage decisions.     

Baking for the common good: a reassessment of the assize of bread in Medieval England1

This article reassesses the structure of the assize of bread and its relevance for bakers and consumers in late medieval England. It has long been thought that the laws governing the manufacture and sale of bread, although adhering to a logical relationship between weight and price, were nevertheless ill‐considered in formulation, calculation, and enactment and did not, in reality, provide the stable allowance recommended for bakers. By examining the economic and moral ideology underlying the assize of bread it is possible to demonstrate that legislators were actually employing a rationale that best fitted contemporary circumstances and retail practices. There nevertheless remained one fundamental flaw in its construction, which was to have implications for its enforcement.     

The nature of local area social exclusion in England and the role of the labour market

The creation of the Social Exclusion Unit by the present governmentin 1997 is just one example of the increased desire by bothacademics and policy-makers to understand more about the factorsthat lead to individuals and communities becoming excluded frommainstream society. Of the many aspects of social exclusionwhich have featured in recent debate, this article focuses ontwo. The first is to describe the nature and the extent of socialexclusion in the areas in which it is concentrated in the UnitedKingdom. The second is to examine the role that labour-marketfactors play in creating, reducing, or sustaining geographicalconcentrations of social exclusion. The article draws upon theresults of social surveys conducted in deprived areas and discussesthe arguments for tackling local concentrations of social exclusionthrough area-based initiatives.     

Proposed changes to the value added tax: implications for tax revenue and price distortions

This paper examines changes to the value added tax (VAT) system proposed recently by the Indonesian Ministry of Finance-in particular that the exemptions for certain sectors be ended. Using the input-output relationships in the economy as a basis, it analyses the implications of these changes for tax revenue and for price distortions. It also considers other feasible changes to the VAT exemptions that could be advantageous. The paper concludes that the estimated revenue impacts of the proposed changes are small relative to the apparent scope for revenue increases from improved administration of the system as it stands.     

Transition on the spot: Historicity, social structure, and institutional change

Why do some countries in transition perform quite well while others still struggle with institutional reform, experiencing economic hardship and political disintegration? This paper suggests that this question can only be answered if the processes behind institutional change are well understood. Within the framework of a micro-macro model, it will be argued that historic experience shapes both mental models and the effectiveness of social learning. The historicity of economic development is behind differing development paths. Moreover, it will be shown that understanding the forces that bring about institutional change allows the political advisor to suggest strategies better adapted to the specific needs of different countries than the strategies currently employed. These findings will be applied to the problem of institutional change in rural Russia where the failure of existing reform strategies is eminent.     

Rules and reality: quantifying the practice of apprenticeship in early modern England1

This article uses recently digitized samples of apprentices and masters in London and Bristol to quantify the practice of apprenticeship in the late seventeenth century. Apprenticeship appears much more fluid than is traditionally understood. Many apprentices did not complete their terms of indenture; late arrival and early departure from the master's household were widespread. Other apprentices appear to have been absent temporarily, returning to the master shortly before the end of their indenture. Regression analysis indicates that the patterns of presence and absence broadly reflect the resources and external opportunities available to apprentices.     

Age structure of the population in Belgium and social security

The effects of demographic aging and of various socioeconomic factors on the social security system in Belgium are explored. "Special attention is given to the impact of the ageing of the population on the pension problem. Based on a simple formula a series of percentages of taxation have been calculated as a function of shifts in the proportion of retired vs. active population and in the proportion of the average income vs. the average amount of pension. One of the conclusions is that the progressive ageing of the population will become the most significant factor in the growth of social expenditures."     

The price of the poor's words: social relations and the economics of deposing for one's ‘betters’ in early modern England

Historians of early modern England are aware that the legal testimony of poor, dependent, and subordinated individuals was regarded with suspicion. Contemporaries believed that labouring people would provide false evidence in return for ‘gifts’ or ‘rewards’. To what extent did such assumptions accurately reflect the processes whereby such witnesses came to depose for their ‘betters’? This article uses sixteenth‐ and early seventeenth‐century perjury and subornation suits from the court of Star Chamber to reconstruct labouring people's experiences and understandings of the politics of testimony. In explicating the structural and material factors that could militate against their deposing, override their reservations about doing so, and colour the contents of the depositions they gave, it makes two broader contributions to our understanding of the period. On the one hand, it presents a markedly more pessimistic account of the social relations involved in the increase in litigation. On the other, it reappraises a category of source—depositions—that historians have long regarded as providing singularly privileged access to the expressions of social groups that left little trace in the historical record.