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作者：University College Dublin
摘要：Carefully constructed but fallible historical estimates of GDP and agricultural output inform our understanding of the preindustrial origins of economic growth. Here we review four recent attempts at estimating agricultural output and food availability in England and Wales at different points between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. We highlight their contrasting implications for trends in well-being and nutritional status over time. Building on these estimates, we propose our ow...
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作者：University of Oxford; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of Oxford
摘要：We examine the impact of the Great Depression on the share of votes for right-wing extremists in elections in the 1920s and 1930s. We confirm the existence of a link between political extremism and economic hard times as captured by growth or contraction of the economy. What mattered was not simply growth at the time of the election, but cumulative growth performance. The impact was greatest in countries with relatively short histories of democracy, with electoral systems that created low hurd...
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作者：Texas Tech University System; Texas Tech University
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作者：University of Munster
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作者：Carnegie Mellon University
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作者：Rowan University
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作者：University of California System; University of California Irvine; Claremont Colleges; Scripps College
摘要：Railways were integral to the development of the Indian economy before World War I. This article presents new estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) for railways from 1874 to 1912, which highlight the strong performance of this key industrial sector. Railway-industry TFP growth was substantial averaging 2.3 percent per year and generating a 2.7 percent social savings for the Indian economy. A combination of factors contributed to TFP growth including greater capacity utilization, technol...
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作者：University System of Ohio; Ohio State University; National Bureau of Economic Research
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作者：Autonomous University of Barcelona
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作者：Tulane University
摘要：When imported slaves were first sold in New Orleans, buyers were unaware of the slaves' unobservable characteristics. In time, the new owners learned more about their slaves and may have resold the lemons. Previous research suggests that buyers anticipated such adverse selection and reduced their bids for these slaves. Consequently, we should observe lower prices for resold slaves. We test this proposition by linking the sequential sales records of 568 slaves. Through a comparison of initial a...
