Housing and the cost of living in early modern Toledo

Data on housing costs and rental markets for the early modern period are notoriously scarce. Using a new database of rent paid on 183 properties belonging to the Cathedral Chapter of Toledo between 1489 and 1600, we reconstruct housing costs for various social groups and trace the effect of exogenous shocks on the rental market using hedonic techniques. We document a well-functioning market that responded swiftly and predictably to exogenous shocks. We then explore the impact of adding rent to early modern price indices and estimates of living standards. Price indices show a moderate effect. The addition of rent reduces the gap between Toledo and two northern European locations by up to 9.5%.     

The macroeconomic impact of AIDS in Malawi: a dualistic,labour surplus economy

This paper simulates the macroeconomic effects of the AIDS epidemic in Malawi. This is done by using Bulatao's (1990) predictions of the disease's demographic impact in a dual-economy macro model. The with-AIDS scenario is compared with a counterfactual no-AIDS scenario to assess the impact of the disease if it spreads unchecked. The results suggest that by the year 2010, Malawian real GDP could be as much as 10% smaller than it would have been in the absence of the AIDS epidemic. The impact on per capita income is smaller, ranging from 0% to 3% lower than it would have been in the no-AIDS case by 2010.     

The early modern great divergence: wages,prices and economic development in Europe and Asia, 1500–18001

Contrary to the claims of Pomeranz, Parthasarathi, and other ‘world historians’, the prosperous parts of Asia between 1500 and 1800 look similar to the stagnating southern, central, and eastern parts of Europe rather than the developing north‐western parts. In the advanced parts of India and China, grain wages were comparable to those in north‐western Europe, but silver wages, which conferred purchasing power over tradable goods and services, were substantially lower. The high silver wages of north‐western Europe were not simply a monetary phenomenon, but reflected high productivity in the tradable sector. The ‘great divergence’ between Europe and Asia was already well underway before 1800.     

Government budget,public-sector wages and capital taxes in a small open economy: A Hong Kong case

This paper examines the welfare implications of adjustments in public-sector wages and capital tax rates for a small open economy in a general equilibrium setting. The individually and jointly optimal wage and tax policies are derived and interpreted. Facing reductions in land sales and falls in foreign interest rates, a cut in public workers' pay is needed to make their wage comparable to the private sector and a hike in capital taxes is recommended for a budgetary consideration. Using a computable general equilibrium model for Hong Kong, we numerically evaluate the various optimal policies which not only confirm the theoretical results but also provide quantitative estimates of the optimal policy variables.     

Pieces of eight,pieces of eight: seamen's earnings and the venture economy of early modern seafaring†

Historians have generally argued that between the medieval period and the eighteenth century seafarers transformed from collaborative adventurers with a share in their vessel to the first international wage‐earning proletariat. This interpretation has drawn upon relatively limited statistical analysis of mariners’ wages, and underestimates the variety of seafarers’ remuneration and economic activities besides wages themselves. This article undertakes a more sustained analysis of seventeenth‐century wage data drawn from the papers of the English High Court of Admiralty, and uses the same evidence to examine other forms of income, both customary payments as part of shipping, and small‐scale trade. Seafarers of all ranks carried their own commodities on all shipping routes, offering an opportunity to increase their income considerably. This evidence confirms that the maritime labour market was hierarchical, and that very often seafarers were poor labourers facing economic insecurity of many kinds. However, it refines the previous interpretation by emphasizing the presence of skilled workers even among the lower levels of this labour market, and by introducing a new dimension to mariners’ economic agency: they were not simply wage‐workers, but also independent participants in a venture economy.     

Three approaches to knowledge management in the course of transformation of a modern economy

The authors analyze the Western, resource-based, and Japanese approaches to knowledge management, based on the management of knowledge generation and utilization, and present an approach of their own, which they deem adequate to Russian conditions and which allows for the high degree of self-organization existing in research groups. The development of organizational knowledge management systems requires new forms of interaction between companies and business schools. This paper looks at various stages of this interaction, including individual training of owners, preparation of manager teams, corporate universities, consultancy, as well as their place in organizational knowledge management.     

Rickman revisited: the population growth rates of English counties in the early modern period1

In the 1830s, Rickman, who had supervised the taking of the first four censuses, secured additional returns of baptisms, burials, and marriages from all Anglican incumbents whose registers began early. He made use of the returns to produce new estimates of the population of each county from the sixteenth century onwards. His estimates were published in the 1841 census after his death and have been very widely quoted ever since. This article presents new county estimates, taking advantage of the fact that it is now possible to avoid some of the logical difficulties that Rickman encountered because independent estimates of national population totals are now available.     

Output fluctuations with bargained wages and a competitive tradeable goods sector in the economy: Empirical estimates for the group of five, 1970.1 — 1985.4

Zusammenfassung Produktionsschwankungen bei ausgehandelten L?hnen und einem Wettbewerbssektor mit handelbaren Gütern. Empirische Befunde für die Fünfergruppe von Industriel?ndern für die Periode 1970–1985. — Der Verfasser untersucht die Beziehungen zwischen Lohnanpassung, Wettbewerbsf?higkeit, Fiskalpolitik und den Fluktuationen der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Produktion in den fünf wichtigsten Industrienationen vom ersten Quartal 1970 bis zum vierten Quartal 1985. Das von ihm benutzte Modell hat zwei besondere Merkmale: (i) unterschieden wird zwischen dem Sektor der handelbaren und dem der nicht handelbaren Güter; (ii) die L?hne sind das Ergebnis von Verhandlungen in dem Sektor, in dem Wettbewerb herrscht und in dem es handelbare Güter gibt. Als Ergebnis zeigen sich erhebliche Unterschiede zwischen den L?ndern — nicht nur bei den Gleichgewichtswerten, sondern auch bei den kurzfristigen Anpassungen.

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Resumen Fluctuaciones de la production en una economía con salarios negociados y un sector comercial competitivo: estimaciones empíricas para el Grupo de los Cinco 1970:I-1985:IV. — En este trabajo se investiga las relaciones entre ajuste salarial, competitividad, politica fiscal y fluctuaciones agregadas en las economías industriales más importantes durante el periodo 1970–1985. El modelo utilizado exhibe dos caracteristicas particulares: (a) la distinción entre bienes comerciados y bienes no comerciados y (b) negociaciones salariales que tienen lugar en el sector competitivo de bienes comerciados. Los resultados revelan diferencias substanciales entre los países, no sólo en sus relaciones de equilibrio, sino también en sus ajustes de corto plazo.

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Résumé Fluctuations de l’output dans une économie aux salaires négociés et au secteur compétitif des biens commerciaux: estimations empiriques pour le Groupe de Cinq, 1970:I à 1985:IV. — Dans cette étude l’auteur analyse les relations entre l’ajustement des salaires, la compétitivité, la politique fiscale et les fluctuations de production dans les économies industrialisées les plus importantes pendant la période 1970 à 1985. Le modèle a deux caractéristiques particuliers: (i) la distinction entre un secteur commercial et un secteur non-commercial, et (ii) la négociation des salaires qui a lieu au secteur compétitif des biens commerciaux. Les résultats rélèvent des différences substantielles entre les pays et pas seulement concernant les relations d’équilibre, mais aussi concernant leurs ajustements à court terme.

     

The transition to an advanced organic economy: half a millennium of English agriculture1

All organic economies were subject to constraints upon growth for reasons familiar to the classical economists, but their relative success in coping with these constraints differed substantially. This is visible both when comparing different areas at the same point in time and when comparing the circumstances of a given economy at different points in time. In this article the state of the English economy in 1300 is compared with its state in 1800. At the former date the balance between output and population was unfavourable. A run of poor harvests spelled grave and widespread suffering. Five hundred years later this had ceased to be true. The particular focus of the article is upon the significance of a rising level of productivity per head in agriculture, not simply in supplying food but in providing the raw materials and energy needed if industry and transport were to expand. In the circumstances of an organic economy both were heavily dependent upon the ‘surplus’ made available by a productive agriculture after meeting the needs of the population for food.