Macrohistory Seminar – Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Cambridge). Was Domar Right? Serfdom and Factor Endowments in Bohemia.

Was Domar Right? Serfdom and Factor Endowments in Bohemia. Joint with Alexander Klein and Jeremy Edwards. Are institutions shaped by factor endowments? Labor-coercion institutions such as serfdom and slavery, which profoundly restricted economic growth, were ascribed by Domar to high land-labor ratios. But historical evidence appeared to refute this hypothesis. We...

Continue reading

Macrohistory Seminar – Yining Geng (University of Liverpool) Intergenerational Mobility in China across Space and Time

Intergenerational Mobility in China across Space and Time Inequality is an important issue in many countries, and intergenerational mobility is one of the key mechanisms for alleviating inequality. What drives mobility? Why do some areas generate higher rates of mobility than others? This paper has two objectives. First, using individual...

Continue reading

Macrohistory Seminar – Giacomo Gabbuti (University of Oxford) Inheritances and the concentration of personal wealth in Italy from Unification to the Great War (1862-1915)

Inheritances and the concentration of personal wealth in Italy from Unification to the Great War (1862-1915) In this paper, we estimate new series of wealth concentration for Italy during the so-called first globalisation, a time when inequality reached secular peaks in advanced economies, while Italy enjoyed a ‘benevolent’ industrial take-off....

Continue reading

Macrohistory Seminar – Anna Bindler (University of Gothenburg) The Persistence of the Criminal Justice Gender Gap: Evidence from 200 Years of Judicial Decisions

The Persistence of the Criminal Justice Gender Gap: Evidence from 200 Years of Judicial Decisions We document persistent gender gaps favoring females in jury convictions and judge sentences in nearly 200 years of London trials, which are unexplained by case characteristics. We find that three sharp changes in punishment severity...

Continue reading

Macrohistory Seminar – Jonathan Goupille-Lebret (ENS Lyon) Inequality and Redistribution in France, 1900-2018: Evidence from Post-Tax Distributional National Accounts

Inequality and Redistribution in France, 1900-2018: Evidence from Post-Tax Distributional National Accounts This paper presents post-tax Distributional National Accounts (DINA) for France. That is, we combine national accounts, tax and survey data in a comprehensive and consistent manner to build homogenous annual series on the post-tax, post-transfer distribution of national...

Continue reading

Macrohistory Seminar – Andrea Tesei (Queen Mary University of London). Technology Adoption and Access to Credit via Mobile Phones.

Technology Adoption and Access to Credit via Mobile Phones. Farmers in developing countries often lack access to timely and reliable information about modern technologies that are essential to improve agricultural productivity. The recent diffusion of mobile phones has the potential to overcome these barriers by making information available to those...

Continue reading

Macrohistory Seminar – Maëlys de la Rupelle (Université de Cergy-Pontoise). The Great Famine and Household Saving in China

The Great Famine and Household Saving in China The Great Famine in China (1959-1961) is one of the most dramatic tragedies in history, which may have long term consequences for economic behaviors of the Chinese population. In particular, we explore whether it continues to have impacts on household saving choices....

Continue reading