In the Los Angeles Times Hector Tobar writes that "In "The Half Has Never Been Told," Baptist adds many new, stark and essential elements to that story. His most important achievement is to show us how the "dismal science" of economics served to make the lot of slaves even grimmer."
If Baptist were to do this it would be a nice trick. Thomas Carlyle was the one who named economics the dismal science. What did he find dismal about it? He thought it was dismal that economic theory did not provide support for slavery and that economists like John Stuart Mill supported emancipation.
I think there are a number of problems with Baptist's book, but I suspect this quote just reflects Tobar's ignorance.
This is a blog about economics, history, law and other things that interest me.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The truth about student debt
The Reality of Student Debt in the New York Times
"the share of income that young adults are devoting to loan repayment has remained fairly steady over the last two decades, according to data the Brookings Institutions is releasing on Tuesday. Only 7 percent of young-adult households with education debt have $50,000 or more of it. By contrast, 58 percent of such households have less than $10,000 in debt, and an additional 18 percent have between $10,000 and $20,000."
"the share of income that young adults are devoting to loan repayment has remained fairly steady over the last two decades, according to data the Brookings Institutions is releasing on Tuesday. Only 7 percent of young-adult households with education debt have $50,000 or more of it. By contrast, 58 percent of such households have less than $10,000 in debt, and an additional 18 percent have between $10,000 and $20,000."
Thursday, June 5, 2014
For what shall it profit a university if it shall gain AACSB accreditation and lose its own soul?
Mark Perry argues that the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is fueling the growth of fraudulent journals by demanding that faculty publish but giving no consideration to where they publish. I am starting believe that he is right.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Evergreen
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/28/evergreen-state-colleges-unusual-take-assessment
This sounds like a good idea, but I think the article might
be exaggerating how large a change this is. I graduated from Evergreen in 1984.
For each interdisciplinary program you had to write a self-evaluation and an
evaluation of the program and faculty, and the faculty member that you worked
with wrote an evaluation of you. Each of these evaluations was 2-4 pages.
Written evaluations and serious reflection have always been the norm at
Evergreen. I do, however, think this is a nice addition. It sounds like it asks
students to keep the big picture in mind. It also reminds me a bit of the plans
that my daughter had to do while she was at Bennington.
P.S. I looked at the Evergreen webpage, and it is great to see that Greeners still have the opportunity to work with Tom Rainey and Jeanne Hahn.
HT to Steve Greenlaw
HT to Steve Greenlaw
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Problems with Bitcoin
The New York Times reports that "On Monday night, a number of leading Bitcoin companies jointly announced that Mt. Gox, the largest exchange for most of Bitcoin’s existence, was planning to file for bankruptcy after months of technological problems and what appeared to have been a major theft. A document circulating widely in the Bitcoin world said the company had lost 744,000 Bitcoins in a theft that had gone unnoticed for years. That would be about 6 percent of the 12.4 million Bitcoins in circulation."
Monday, February 24, 2014
Economic History in the News
Gregory Clark of UC Davis describes the results of his recent research in the Sunday New York Times. He uses a large amount of evidence on family names and economic status o show that reversion to the mean takes place, but it takes a long time. I thought his story seemed pretty persuasive. On the other hand, at the end he concludes that adoption studies, "along with studies of correlations across various types of siblings (identical twins, fraternal twins, half siblings) suggest that genetics is the main carrier of social status." I don't find this conclusion nearly as persuasive. The problem with adoption studies is that adoptable children are not selected at random from the population, making it difficult to say how for results can be generalized. I would like to see more direct evidence that people do not treat people with high status names differently.
Business Women
The Washington Post ran a story this morning about a company called FlexProfessionals. The business helps professionals who have been out of the labor force return to the labor force. The founder has an MBA from Harvard. the business generated over $1 million in revenue last year. This is the photograph that went with the story. I did not find the photo online; consequently, this is a picture of the photograph I took with the camera attached to my computer. It struck me as odd that they would be portrayed sitting on the floor. I do not believe that I have ever seen articles about business men that show them sitting next to each on the floor.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Minimum Wages
This is from the Economist, suggesting, in response to Noah Smith, that micro is not the good economics. the author offers up the minimum wage as his example.
There are three things that both me about the article.
First, the author states that if you "ask any two economists – macro, micro, whatever – whether raising the minimum wage will reduce employment for the low skilled, and odds are you will get two answers." The link is to a survey of well known economists. Click on the link. The survey asked the economists to respond to this
"Question A: Raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour would make it noticeably harder for low-skilled workers to find employment." I have seen this survey cited several times. The actual question is almost never stated. To an economist the questions are actually quite different. The economists question is about the direction of change will it reduce employment or not? The actuial question was about the size of the change will it be "noticeably harder?" To an economist that is a question about the elasticity of demand not the sloe of the demand curve. Microeconomic theory alone does not make a prediction about the size of the change, whether it will be noticeably harder. That is an empirical question. with that in mind, look at the results of the survey. The most significant ting to note about the results is that none of the economists said that they strongly agree or strongly disagree, and about one quarter simply said they were uncertain. the rest were split between agree and disagree. In other words, when asked an empricial question which most of them had probably not conducted first hand research on, economists either replied "I don't know" or "my best guess is ...."
Second, it is not clear that this is a micro question. The survey and the Economist article seem to be talking about the aggregate amount of employment of low skilled workers. Not the employment in a particular market. I tell students the difference between micro and macro is that micro deals with particular markets and macro deals with aggregates.
Third, the time series data on the effects of the minimum wage on the employment of low skill workers (the direction of change) seems to be pretty consistent. The size of the change, whther it is noticeable, is not, however, very consistent.
Consider this graph from http://idiosyncraticwhisk.blogspot.com/2014/01/teen-employment-and-minimum-wage-60.html via Marginal Revolution
There are three things that both me about the article.
First, the author states that if you "ask any two economists – macro, micro, whatever – whether raising the minimum wage will reduce employment for the low skilled, and odds are you will get two answers." The link is to a survey of well known economists. Click on the link. The survey asked the economists to respond to this
"Question A: Raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour would make it noticeably harder for low-skilled workers to find employment." I have seen this survey cited several times. The actual question is almost never stated. To an economist the questions are actually quite different. The economists question is about the direction of change will it reduce employment or not? The actuial question was about the size of the change will it be "noticeably harder?" To an economist that is a question about the elasticity of demand not the sloe of the demand curve. Microeconomic theory alone does not make a prediction about the size of the change, whether it will be noticeably harder. That is an empirical question. with that in mind, look at the results of the survey. The most significant ting to note about the results is that none of the economists said that they strongly agree or strongly disagree, and about one quarter simply said they were uncertain. the rest were split between agree and disagree. In other words, when asked an empricial question which most of them had probably not conducted first hand research on, economists either replied "I don't know" or "my best guess is ...."
Second, it is not clear that this is a micro question. The survey and the Economist article seem to be talking about the aggregate amount of employment of low skilled workers. Not the employment in a particular market. I tell students the difference between micro and macro is that micro deals with particular markets and macro deals with aggregates.
Third, the time series data on the effects of the minimum wage on the employment of low skill workers (the direction of change) seems to be pretty consistent. The size of the change, whther it is noticeable, is not, however, very consistent.
Consider this graph from http://idiosyncraticwhisk.blogspot.com/2014/01/teen-employment-and-minimum-wage-60.html via Marginal Revolution
Monday, January 6, 2014
ASSA in Philadelphia
I got back from the ASSA meetings in Philadelphia last night. I had some excellent food. We'll have to go back to Alma de Cuba when its warmer and try their ceviche sampler. We took Mary's students Leanne Roncolato and Megan Fasules out to Serpico, which had a really nice tasting menu. And Pumpkin cemented its position as my favorite place to eat in Phildelphia. Also went to Saint John the Evangelist Friday night.
I also attended some great sessions. The economic history sesions (organized by the Cliometric Society and the Economic History Association) were all excellent and very well attended. The one in which my wife, Mary Eschelbach Hansen and her student, Megan Fasules, presented was packed and both Paul Solman and Matt Yglesias were there. Yglesias even tweeted one of the slides from Mary and Megan's presentation.
Cliometric
Society Sessions
Spatial
Allocation of Conflict, Individuals, and Economic Activity
January
3, 2014, 12:30 – 2:15 pm, Philadelphia Marriott, Meeting Room 406
Organizer:
John Murray (Rhodes College)
Chair:
Mary Hansen (American University)
Discussants:
John Brown (Clark University), Allison Shertzer (University of Pittsburgh), Hugh
Rockoff (Rutgers), Chris Vickers (Northwestern)
“Railroads
and the Regional Concentration of Industry in Germany 1846 to 1882,” Theresa
Gutberlet (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
“Segregation
(Forever?): Measuring the Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Segregation,”
John Parman (College of William and Mary) and Trevon Logan (Ohio State
University and NBER)
“Military
Conflict and the Economic Rise of Urban Europe,” Mark Dincecco (University of
Michigan) and Massimiliano Onorato (IMT Institute for Advanced Studies)
“Murder
and the Black Market: Prohibition’s Impact on Homicide Rates in American
Cities,” Brendan Livingston (???)
Enterprising
America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective
January
3, 2014, 2:30 – 4:30 pm, Philadelphia Marriott, Meeting Room 406
Organizer:
John Murray (Rhodes College)
Chair:
William Collins (Vanderbilt and NBER)
Discussants:
Carola Frydman (Boston University and NBER), William Collins (Vanderbilt and
NBER), Matt Jaremski (Colgate University and NBER)
“Corporate
Governance and the Establishment of Manufacturing Enterprises in New England,”
Eric Hilt, (Wellesley College and NBER)
“Economies
of Scale in Nineteenth Century American Manufacturing Revisited: A Resolution of
the Entrepreneurial Labor Input Problem,” Robert A. Margo (Boston University and
NBER)
“How
Does Governance Matter? An Examination of the Long-Term Evolution of Bank Boards
in the United States, 1800-1933,” Howard Bodenhorn (Clemson University and NBER)
and Eugene White (Rutgers University and NBER)
Technology
and Property Rights
January
4, 2014, 2:30 – 4:30 pm, Philadelphia Marriott, Meeting Room 406
Organizer:
John Murray (Rhodes College)
Chair:
David Mitch (University of Maryland-Baltimore County)
Discussants:
Lisa Cook (Michigan State), Carol Shiue (University of Colorado), Ahmed Rahman
(U.S. Naval Academy), Susan Wolcott (Binghamton University)
“Copyright
and the Diffusion of Classical Music,” Petra Moser (Stanford University) and
Jerry Lao (Stanford University)
“The
Great Divergence and the Economics of Printing,” Luis Angeles (University of
Glasgow)
“Turning
Points in Leadership: Shipping Technology in the Portuguese and Dutch Merchant
Empires,” Claudia Rei (Vanderbilt University)
“Industrial
development and technology adoption in late nineteenth century Japan,” John Tang
(Australia National University)
Economic
History Association Sessions
Poverty
from a Historical Viewpoint
January
4, 2014, 12:30 – 2:15 pm, Philadelphia Marriott, Meeting Room 307
Organizer:
Martha Bailey (University of Michigan)
Chair:
Robert Margo (Boston University)
Discussants:
Tom Vogl (Princeton), Robert Margo (Boston University), Melissa Thomasson (Miami
University – Ohio), Rob Gillezeau (New Democratic Party, Ontario Canada)
“Up
from Poverty? The 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery and the Long-run Distribution of
Wealth,” Joseph Ferrie (Northwestern University) and Hoyt Bleakley (University
of Chicago)
“The
Effects of Childhood Means-tested Cash Transfers on Mortality: Evidence from the
Mother’s Pension Programs,” Shari Eli (University of Toronto), Anna Aizer (Brown
University), Adriana Lleras-Muney (UCLA), and Joseph Ferrie (Northwestern
University)
“Interactions
between Social Insurance Programs: The Impact of Medicare on the Characteristics
of Petitioners for Bankruptcy,” Megan Lynn Fasules (American University) and
Mary Eschelbach Hansen (American University)
“Poverty
and Progress among Canadian Immigrants, 1911-1931,” Chris Minns (London School
of Economics), Kris Inwood (University of Guelph) and Fraser Summerfield
(University of Guelph)
Reception
hosted by the Cliometric Society
Saturday,
January 4th, 6:00-8:00 pm
Philadelphia
Marriott Downtown - Meeting Room 403
Banking
January
5, 2014, 10:15 am – 12:15 pm, Philadelphia Marriott, Meeting Room 307
Organizer:
Martha Bailey (University of Michigan)
Chair:
Hugh Rockoff (Rutgers)
Discussants:
Dominick Bartelme (UC Berkeley), Joshua Hausman (University of Michigan),
Jonathan Rose (Federal Reserve Board)
“American
Banking and the Transportation Revolution Before the Civil War,” Matthew
Jaremski (Colgate University), Jeremy Atack (Vanderbilt University), and Peter
Rousseau (Vanderbilt University)
“Central
Bank Credibility and Reputation: An Historical Exploration,” Pierre Siklos
(Wilfrid Laurier University) and Michael Bordo (Rutgers University)
“Financial
Liberalization and Bank Failures: The United States Free Banking Experience,"
Philipp Ager (University of Southern Denmark) and Fabrizio Spargoli (Erasmus
University)
Monday, December 16, 2013
More open access
I just received an email from the British Journal of Economics, Management and Trade. They are currently offering to publish papers for only $100. Maybe I've missed the boat in the online journal business; competition appears to be heating up.
This journal claims that
In order to maintain highest level of transparency and high standard of review, this journal presently follows highly respected and toughest Advanced OPEN peer-review system (ExampleLink1, Link2, Link3, Link4, Link5, Link6, Link7, Link8, Link9, Link10, etc.). We hope that you will appreciate this Advanced OPEN peer-review system, which is expected to give doubtless scholarly benefit and impact to the authors in long run. Additionally we strongly encourage and promote “Post-publication Peer review” by our comment section.
Doubtless scholarly benefit and impact in long run for only $100. Sounds like a great deal.
This journal claims that
In order to maintain highest level of transparency and high standard of review, this journal presently follows highly respected and toughest Advanced OPEN peer-review system (ExampleLink1, Link2, Link3, Link4, Link5, Link6, Link7, Link8, Link9, Link10, etc.). We hope that you will appreciate this Advanced OPEN peer-review system, which is expected to give doubtless scholarly benefit and impact to the authors in long run. Additionally we strongly encourage and promote “Post-publication Peer review” by our comment section.
Doubtless scholarly benefit and impact in long run for only $100. Sounds like a great deal.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Believe It Or Not: The Online Journal Business
This not a joke. I keep getting these emails, like the one below, encouraging me to publish in an online open access journal. This one comes from the Center for Promoting Ideas. Really, its named the Center for Promoting Ideas. They published 24 issues of this particular journal, the International Journal of Humanities and social Sciences, last year. I looked at one of the issues, and it appeared to contain about 40 articles. They charge authors $200 per article and publish six different journals. If you published 24 issues of 6 journals with 40 articles each, charging $200 to each author, you could bring in $1,152,000. Maybe I should get into the online journal business.
Their standards for peer review are clearly pretty rigorous. You have to submit by December 31 to get your paper in the January 31 issue.
Call for
Papers
International
Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS)
ISSN
2220-8488 (Print), 2221- 0989 (Online)
International
Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS)
is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed international journal published by
Center for Promoting Ideas, USA. The main objective of IJHSS is to
provide an intellectual platform for the international scholars. IJHSS aims to
promote interdisciplinary studies in humanities and social science and become
the leading journal in humanities and social science in the world.
The journal
publishes research papers in the fields of humanities and social science such
as anthropology, business studies, communication studies, corporate
governance ,criminology, cross-cultural
studies ,demography, development studies, economics, education, ethics,
geography, history, industrial
relations, information science, international
relations, law, linguistics, library science, media studies, methodology, philosophy, political science, population
Studies, psychology, public administration, sociology, social
welfare, linguistics ,literature, paralegal, performing arts (music, theatre
& dance), religious studies ,visual arts, women studies and so
on.
The
journal is published in both print and online versions.
The
journal is now indexed with and included in Cabell’s, Ulrich’s, DOAJ, Index
Copernicus International, EBSCO and Gale. Moreover the journal is under the
indexing process with ISI, ERIC, Econlit, Scopus and Journalseek.
IJHSS
publishes
original papers, review papers, conceptual framework, analytical and simulation
models, case studies, empirical research, technical notes, and book
reviews.
IJHSS
is inviting papers for Vol. 4 No. 1 which is scheduled to be published on January 31, 2014. Last date of submission: December 31, 2013.However, an
early submission will get preference in case of review and publication process.
With
thanks,
Dr.
J. Sabrina Mims-Cox
The
Chief Editor, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science
(IJHSS)
Thursday, December 12, 2013
- Meera K.
@MeeraKal3h @Austan_Goolsbee can you take my econ final for me tomorrow? It's micro, so you should be okay :)#PleaseAndThanks
Friday, December 6, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Economics and Science
In the New York times, Raj Chetty discusses the Nobel winners and economics as a science. It is much better than this silly essay by Alex Rosenberg and Tyler Curtain, in which they argue that economics is not a science because it can't make predictions and then sugges that "an economic approach had much to contribute to the design and creative management of such institutions. Fixing bad economic and political institutions (concentrations of power, collusions and monopolies), improving good ones (like the Fed’s open-market operations), designing new ones (like electromagnetic bandwidth auctions), in the private and public sectors, are all attainable tasks of economic theory." How will economic theory help you to fix, improve or create institutions if it does not make predictions about the results of those changes?
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Ronald Coase
Coase passed away.
Thanks to Doug North and Lee Benham, I was fortunate to see
Ronald Coase in person on several occasions. I remember the first time someone
asked him about the appropriate size of government. He said that it was a bit
like the 400 pound man who asked his doctor how much he should way. The doctor responded
“Well, less.”
Monday, September 2, 2013
Internship Information
Think Tanks
The Cato Institute
The Brookings Institution
The American Enterprise Institute
The Heritage Foundation
The Urban Institute
Center for American Progress
The Cato Institute
The Brookings Institution
The American Enterprise Institute
The Heritage Foundation
The Urban Institute
Center for American Progress
The Tax Foundation
Government
Council of Economic Advisors
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Economic Analysis
Congressional Budget Office
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Trade Commission
Business
BB &T
Geico
Government
Council of Economic Advisors
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Economic Analysis
Congressional Budget Office
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Trade Commission
Business
BB &T
Geico
Booz Allen
Hamilton
Development
First People’s Worldwide
Development
First People’s Worldwide
Monday, August 26, 2013
Another Loss
This has been a rough couple of months for Economic History and American History. I posted earlier this summer abou the death of Bob Fogel. Shortly after that, Edmund Morgan, author of American Slavery American Freedom: the Ordeal of Colonial Virginia and numerous other works, passed away. In July, Cynthia Taft Morris died. Along with Irma Adelman, Cynthia was a pioneer in the effort to measure institutions and institutional change. Then Pauline Maier. Maier is probably best known for American Scripture: The Making of the Declaration of Independence, but her paper on "The Revolutionary Origins of the American Corporation," William and Mary Quarterly (1993) has been widely cited in American economic history. Today I read that David Landes has passed away.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
More New History of Capitalism (aka lets just make stuff up)
Since the NY Times article on the New History of Captalism, I have been trying to catch up with the recent work in this field. Unfortunately, I was dissapointed by Jonathan Levy's Freaks of Fortune. I just started Julia Ott's When Wall Street Met Main Street. On the first page of the first chapter she declares that "Severe financial panics in 1873 and 1893 punctuated a prolonged economic depression, as prices, profits, per capita output and productivity growth fell steadily from 1873 to 1896." She does not provide the source for this statement. Most of it is not true. Prices fell, but real output per capita increased. Overall, the period was one of relatively rapid productivity growth.
This is a graph of real gdp per capita during the period in question.
Source:www.measuringworth.com
Per capita output did not fall steadily; it rose unsteadily.
This information is not hard to find.
This is a graph of real gdp per capita during the period in question.
Source:www.measuringworth.com
Per capita output did not fall steadily; it rose unsteadily.
This information is not hard to find.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wealth
The Washington Post has an article based on research at the St. Louis Fed, showing that net worth has not recovered from the recession. The article is titled Americans have rebuilt less than half the wealth lost to recession.
The article includes the following graph
Its not clear, however, that comparing wealth to the 2007 peak makes sense. Consider the following graph of net worth from 1990 to 2012
The two graphs are not directly comparable. The lower one shows net worth of all households and non-profit organizations in billions of dollars. It is not adjusted for inflation or the number of households. Nevertheless, it illustrates the problem with the first graph. The build up in wealth from 2002 to 2007 was clearly above the trend. why woulkd it be reasonable to expect a return to that lelvel of wealth rather than a return to the trend. The current levels of net worth appears consistent with the longer term trend.
The article includes the following graph
Its not clear, however, that comparing wealth to the 2007 peak makes sense. Consider the following graph of net worth from 1990 to 2012
The two graphs are not directly comparable. The lower one shows net worth of all households and non-profit organizations in billions of dollars. It is not adjusted for inflation or the number of households. Nevertheless, it illustrates the problem with the first graph. The build up in wealth from 2002 to 2007 was clearly above the trend. why woulkd it be reasonable to expect a return to that lelvel of wealth rather than a return to the trend. The current levels of net worth appears consistent with the longer term trend.
from http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2 |
Monday, May 27, 2013
Shame on the OAH: A Rant About Joanthan Levy's Freaks of Fortune
The Organization of American Historians recently presented Jonathan
Levy’s Freaks of Fortune with book three
awards. If this is as good as it gets in American history, the field is in a
sad state. The book is not great history; it is not even good history.
The premise of the book is that the history of “risk” as we
know it dates to the nineteenth century. He explains that “at the end of the eighteenth
century “risk” still simply referred to a commodity bought and sold in an
insurance contract. Outside long distance maritime trade risk had very little
meaning or use.” And by the end of the
nineteenth century “risk was in fact everywhere. Before that century of capitalist
transformation, however, it was not.” Before this capitalist transformation risk
did not mean “extreme peril, hazard or danger.” But the capitalist system that “thrives
off radical uncertainty” brought “the insecurity of the sea to the land.” This
is all fascinating. Unfortunately, it is also nonsense. The first American
dictionary, Noah Webster’s 1806 Compendious
Dictionary of the English Language, was much less extensive than his later
works but still included the word risk:
Risk, n. hazard, chance, danger
Risk, v.t. to hazard, expose to chance, endanger
A quick search of American Periodical Series Online can
provide examples of the use of “risk” outside a maritime context:
In 1789 and essay in Columbian Magazine notes that allowing
hay to lie out for several days before it is collected”subjects it very much to
the danger of getting rain, and thus runs a great risk of being made good for
little.” (Columbian Magazine July
1789)
Or, “The inconveniences of ridges high and crooked are so
many, that one would be tempted to apply a remedy and any risk.” (Christian Scholar’s and Farmer’s Magazine
July 1789)
The whole book is based on a premise that is nonsense and
easily shown to be so. Moreover, accepting the premise requires one to ignore
considerable research about how people, especially farmers, dealt with risk before
the nineteenth century.
Levy goes onto talk about things like the Farmers’ Loan and Security Company, which did not
exist. He may at least have been close this time; there was a Farmer’s Loan and Trust Company. Perhaps this is nitpicking, but
how could someone study the history of capitalism and not know about the
Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, one of the named parties in Pollock v. Farmers’
Loan and Trust Company, the 1895 case that ruled an income tax
unconstitutional.
I can’t say that there were not parts of the book that I
found interesting and enjoyable, but, overall, I found it to be deeply flawed.
It came nowhere near the standards that historians should aspire to. The members
of the OAH should be the ones most concerned that American history be based on
thorough, careful and critical consideration of the sources; they should
be the ones shouting that the emperor has no clothes when it is not. Instead, they have granted the emperor
three awards for the best robes.
Correction August 31. 2019 Mike Konczal pointed out to me that Levy referred to the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company as the Farmers' Loan and Security Trust Company not the Farmers' Loan and Security Company.
Correction August 31. 2019 Mike Konczal pointed out to me that Levy referred to the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company as the Farmers' Loan and Security Trust Company not the Farmers' Loan and Security Company.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
History of Capitalism
The New York Times examines the rise of courses focused on the history of capitalism.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Armen Alchian
Marginal Revolution and Organizations and Markets are reporting that Arment Alchian passed away. I'll never understand why he did not receive the Nobel Prize.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Financial Regulation and the Panic of 1907
My paper "Financial Regulation and the Panic of 1907" will be in the Winter 2013 Business History Review.
Here is the abstract
And here is an earlier version on SSRN
Sometimes Bad Things Happen to Good Trust Companies: A Reexamination of the Trust Company Panic of 1907
Here is the abstract
Previous studies of
the Panic of 1907 have argued that lax regulation enabled trust companies to
take excessive risks, leading to a loss of confidence and massive runs. These
studies have, however, given relatively little attention to the historical
development of trust companies. This
paper argues that a more historical perspective can lead to a better
understanding of the institutional framework and the actions of trust companies.
Depositors did not lose confidence because of inadequate regulation; depositors
lost confidence in specific trust companies because of false rumors, and
diversity among trust companies hindered cooperation to halt the Panic.
And here is an earlier version on SSRN
Sometimes Bad Things Happen to Good Trust Companies: A Reexamination of the Trust Company Panic of 1907
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