A historical irony in the making? State,private sector and land reform in the South African wine industry

This article traces the development of the land distribution policy of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) of South Africa. Despite the DLA ‘s political commitment to land reform by way of restitution, redistribution and tenure reform, to date no small‐scale wine farmers have been settled in South Africa by virtue of this policy. Three case studies describe how agricultural labourers have successfully gained access to this lucrative sector through private sector intervention. It is also argued that the small farm versus large farm debate masks the real opportunities for land reform in the wine industry.     

The impact of a change in exchange rate pass-through on U.S. imports

The Impact of a Change in Exchange Rate Pass-Through on U.S. Imports. - One import demand equation is specified that is potentially affected by a breakdown in pass-through and one that is not. From the difference in the forecasts of these two equations an upper-bound estimate is derived for the impact on U. S. non-oil imports of the breakdown in exchange rate pass-through during the 1980s. The empir-ical evidence suggests that exchange rate pass-through may have changed after 1985. Without this shift in pass-through U. S. non-oil imports may have been a maximum of 15 percent lower by 1990.     

Exports, imports and firm survival: first evidence for manufacturing enterprises in Germany

This paper investigates the links between firm survival and three types of international trade activities—exports, imports and two-way trade. It uses unique new representative data for manufacturing enterprises from Germany, one of the leading actors on the world market for goods. The paper contributes to the literature by providing the first evidence on the role of imports and two-way trading for firm survival in a highly developed country. The result indicate a strong positive link between firm survival on the one hand and imports and two-way trading on the other hand, while exporting alone does not play a role for exiting the market or not.     

Duplication without constraints: Álvarez‐Nogal and Chamley's analysis of debt policy under Philip II

Carlos Álvarez‐Nogal and Christophe Chamley recently published an article in the Economic History Review on ‘Debt policy under constraints: Philip II, the Cortes, and Genoese bankers’. In this note, we show that several claims in their article are very similar to earlier research results, published or circulated long before Álvarez‐Nogal and Chamley's original submission, by ourselves and other scholars (section I). These results are repeated without attribution or even mention of the earlier work. In addition, we show that what Álvarez‐Nogal and Chamley present as new quantitative insights are actually replications of earlier results of ours (section II). Finally, Álvarez‐Nogal and Chamley misrepresent our contributions, as well as those of several other scholars (section III).     

Welche Wachstumspotenziale lassen sich über das Arbeitsangebot erschließen?

Demographic change will lead to a shrinking and ageing population in Germany, resulting in a decrease in the labour force. The fundamental trend can be counteracted through net immigration and behavioural effects such as increasing labour market participation of females in the short and medium run, but is unlikely to be reversed in the long run. This paper shows that the average age of the labour force follows a linear trend since the late 1990s. Moreover, there has been a convergence of average age between male and female workers. In a long run perspective the age distribution has become less heterogeneous, as measured by the coefficient of variation. At the same time, the average length of schooling and training has increased significantly over the last 40 years, but at a slower pace in recent years. We discuss the consequences of these changes for economic growth.