Power politics and princely debts: why Germany's common currency failed, 1549–56†

Using new sources, this article examines how in the years around 1550 Charles V and the imperial estates came close to creating a common currency for the Holy Roman Empire. The article analyses whose interests prevailed in the negotiations and how, despite the resistance of some important actors, the Imperial diet of 1551 was able to unanimously agree on the currency bill. It also analyses why the common currency still failed: This was the case because of the desire of many princes to ease the repayment of their debts by establishing a bimetallic currency, and even more importantly because of Charles V's attempt to weaken the Elector of Saxony by undervaluing the taler. In this, Charles exploited the diet's implicit ex‐ante agreement with him to set the rates at which old money was allowed to continue in circulation. His manipulations provoked resistance, raised the costs of implementing the common currency, and caused its failure.     

Financial Reform Process in Kenya: 1989–96

The main objective in financial reform process is to create a suitable financial environment that will facilitate economic growth for the financially repressed economies. The sequencing and timing of the reform process is, however, imperative for the realization of positive results. For example, it is proposed that macro‐stability and economic growth must be achieved and sustained, for successful financial reform. In addition, the legal and regulatory framework should be strengthened and easily enforced. In Kenya, the reform process was implemented simultaneously with trade liberalization and the opening of the capital account, as a response to a realized need to promote domestic resource mobilization. However, the process was characterized by macroeconomic and financial instability, indicating `misses’ on the proposed sequencing process. As a result, experience with financial reform indicates minimal support of the theoretical expectation and shows secondary repression symptoms. Le processus de réforme financière a pour principal objectif d’instaurer un cadre financier propre à favoriser la croissance économique dans les pays aux dispositions financières contraignantes. Or, le choix du moment et l’enchaînement des mesures de réforme sont importants pour aboutir à des résultats positifs. Au Kenya, la réforme financière a été menée de front avec la libéralisation du commerce et l’ouverture du compte de capital. Toutefois, le processus de réforme a été caractérisé par l’instabilité macroéconomique, ce qui n’a pas permis de respecter l’échéancier prévu. Les résultats montrent que le schéma théorique n’a guère été suivi et présentent des signes d’une répression financière secondaire.     

The assessment: economics of transition in eastern and central Europe

This Assessment provides an overview of the stylized facts andthe underlying economic issues involved in transition, witha focus on the more successful reforming countries. Microeconomic,macroeconomic, and institutional factors interact. Particularemphasis is given to the initial output falls at the start ofreform, where it is suggested that a generalized price-raisingresponse by state enterprises to monetary tightness, liberalization,and devaluation was one of the main culprits. Trade liberalizationhas proved to be an extremely important and successful aspectof the strategies followed, but there are increasing dilemmasover exchange-rate policy at both the micro- and macroeconomiclevels. A partial solution is further progress with institutionaland, especially, banking-sector reform, but the policy conflictswill remain in an increasingly open and integrated internationalenvironment.     

The economic geography of race in the New World: Brazil, 1500–2000†

Race is a fundamental aspect of historical inequality and institutions, yet it is at times overlooked within the literature on comparative development in the Americas. This article investigates the nature of staple production in Brazil and attendant changes in the racial composition of 20 modern states from its discovery by the Portuguese to the present. The Indigenous population was surpassed by that of African descent in the north‐east, south‐east, and north, respectively, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; not until decades after the abolition of slavery did people of European heritage come to constitute a majority. These transitions were guided by the relative productivity, natural increase, and price of Native and African slaves, contingent on the extent of natural resource wealth (mineral deposits or land suitable for growing cash crops) and supply of free labour. In those areas where slavery was most profitable, a 1 per cent increase in the relative cost of Native labour raised the proportion of people of African ancestry by up to 2 per cent, depending on the measures of slave prices and racial classifications considered. This relationship is robust to changes in output prices or the populace of European descent, and alternative scenarios of aboriginal population decline.     

How the German crisis of 1931 swept across Europe: a comparative view from Stockholm†

According to conventional wisdom, the fall of the Swedish currency in September 1931 was caused by the sterling crisis. This article shows that the road towards devaluation began earlier and that financial linkages with Germany proved to be more important than Sweden's economic and monetary relations with Great Britain. It all started in late 1929 when the Swedish financier Ivar Kreuger gave a loan to the German government in exchange for the match monopoly, thus tying his business ventures to Germany's solvency. In addition, a part of this loan was financed by large US dollar credits from the two largest Swedish banks that, in turn, accumulated a sizeable foreign short‐term deficit. When in June 1931 the German fiscal crisis began to escalate, international investors ceased to consider Sweden a safe haven because they knew about the linkages between the German government, Kreuger, and the Swedish banking system. This downgrading, in combination with the foreign short‐term deficit of the banking sector, proved lethal for the reserve position of the Swedish central bank, once the international liquidity crisis in mid‐July 1931 erupted. The sterling crisis only put the final nail in the coffin.     

‘Voice’ and ‘exit’ in Japanese firms during the Second World War: Sanpo revisited*

During the Second World War, the Japanese government and private sector searched for and implemented new mechanisms for coordination and motivation. One of these was sangyo hokokukai (sanpo). The Sanpo unit was basically an organization of the employer and employees of each firm, which held meetings to moderate labour relations. As a result of government policy to promote sanpo units, around 70 per cent of the total workers in Japan were organized into sanpo units in the early 1940s. As the members of trades unions and the workers of the companies that had factory committees were only 7 per cent and 5 per cent of the total workers in 1936 respectively, sanpo was the first large‐scale mechanism for Japanese employees to have a voice. This article examines the role of sanpo, using prefecture‐level and firm‐level data, based on a framework integrating the ‘voice view’ of unionism and transaction cost economics. It was found that sanpo reduced the participation rate in labour disputes, and enhanced labour productivity at least for some of the time.     

Vampires to Skyhawks: Military Aircraft and Frigate Purchases by New Zealand, 1950–70

New Zealand’s relations with its main weapons suppliers, Britain and the United States of America, are analysed in this article. Until the 1960s, New Zealand’s armed services relied almost exclusively on British hardware. The Royal New Zealand Air Force and the army were converted to American equipment in the 1960s and early 1970s, but the Royal New Zealand Navy continued to purchase frigates from British yards. This article examines the interplay of financial, political, and operational considerations affecting major procurement decisions, like the acquisition of Skyhawk aircraft in the 1960s. Although the focus is policy, consideration is also given to relations between the New Zealand government and private defence contractors. New Zealand’s revealed objective was to maintain, at minimum possible cost, a force capable of taking part in joint operations with its principal allies.     

Corporatism, Trade Liberalization and Sectoral Responses: The Case of Venezuela, 1989–99

The Venezuelan manufacturing sector, unlike agriculture, cooperated with state’s efforts to liberalize trade in the 1990s, despite the economic costs it absorbed and the political opportunities to sabotage the reforms. This paper offers two explanations for this, which modify and conciliate traditional interest-based and corporatist theories of state-society relations. High levels of sectoral autonomy from the bureaucracy and political parties (and hence Congress), together with low levels of involvement in profit-making on the part of the associations representing the sector, encourage sectoral cooperation with costly and risky state policies. In addition, traditional corporatist instruments used by states—inducements and constraints—hurt rather than enhance state-sector cooperation.