Gender inequality and occupational segregation in white collar-jobs in the early “quiet revolution”: new evidence from the wages of Swedish teachers (c. 1890)

Authors: Gabriele Cappelli (University of Siena) and Johannes Westberg (University of Groningen) How do gender inequality and occupational segregation play out in white-collar occupations in a developing economy? We contribute to answering this research question in economic history by focusing on Swedish teachers in the late 19th century. Indeed, most existing research on occupational segregation […]

Numeracy and the legacy of slavery: age-heaping in the Danish West Indies before and after emancipation from slavery, 1780s–1880s

Authors: Klas Rönnbäck, Stefania Galli, and Dimitrios Theodoridis It is widely recognized that the education and learning of the population is a vital requirement for the socio-economic development of a society. Historically, one key barrier for such development was the institution of slavery. Many slave societies were characterized by outright prohibitions against the education of […]

Does Speculation Increase Volatility in Grain Futures Markets? Evidence from the Interwar Chicago Board of Trade

Authors: Elissa A.M. Iorgulescu (University of Hohenheim) and Alexander Pütz (University of Münster) In recent years, rising food prices and volatile commodity markets have reignited debates about speculation in food commodities. Headlines blaming speculators for betting on food prices are not new; they echo concerns voiced over centuries, dating back to the earliest days of […]

To heap or not to heap, that is the question

Authors: Christopher L. Colvin (@ClioChris), Stuart Henderson and Eoin McLaughlin (@eoinaldo) Dozens of papers are published every year that take some source of historical age data and then infer human capital from anomalies in its distribution. Finding new demographic data and applying the now-standard age heaping toolkit has become something of an industry. So long […]

To Block or Not: Why the British Ruling Elite Enabled the Industrial Revolution during the 18th Century

Author: Emrah Gülsunar Twitter: @GulsunarEng For centuries before the Industrial Revolution, ruling elites used their political power to block or constrain technological and economic development in many countries from China to Europe with motivations to protect their power, keep economic rents, or avoid social disturbances. Accordingly, it was possible for the British ruling elite to […]

Coffee tastes bitter: education and the coffee economy in Colombia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Authors: María José Fuentes-Vásquez and Irina España-Eljaiek Read the full paper here The flip side of the story: agrarian commodity production and educational demand Agrarian commodity production usually affects the supply of schooling since this economic structure facilitates the concentration of power in a minority elite that restricts the educational provision to preserve the status […]

Risk Management in Traditional Agriculture: Intercropping in Italian Wine Production

Authors: Giovanni Federico and Pablo Martinelli Lasheras Read the full paper here What has to do the exposure to Barbary Pirate raids in Early Modern Italy with vine-planting techniques in the early 20th century? You will learn it by reading this short entry. In a recent paper, Giovanni Federico (New York University Abu Dhabi- NYUAD) […]