Average wages are considerably lower in agriculture than in the other sectors. We document this fact for thirteen countries ranging from rich (Canada, U.S.) to poor (India, Indonesia). We develop a measure of human capital that accounts for the selection of workers with different unobserved...

Chapter 1: Panama, Supply Chain Security, and the Rise of Globalization -- Chapter 2: The Canal and American Ascendancy -- Chapter 3: A Success Story made in Panama -- Chapter 4: The Canal of Panama and the Natural Gas Revolution -- Chapter 5: Macro-Trends Impacting the Future of the Canal and...

We show that the creation of the first integrated pan-European transport network during Roman times influences economic integration over two millennia. Drawing on spatially highly disaggregated data on excavated Roman ceramics, we document that interregional trade was strongly influenced by...

This paper answers fundamental questions that have preoccupied modern economic thought since the 18th century. What is the aggregate real rate of return in the economy? Is it higher than the growth rate of the economy and, if so, by how much? Is there a tendency for returns to fall in the...

This paper studies external sovereign bonds as an asset class. We compile a new database of 220,000 monthly prices of foreign-currency government bonds traded in London and New York between 1815 (the Battle of Waterloo) and 2016, covering 91 countries. Our main insight is that, as in equity...

This book provides a critical analysis of visual images of British and international finance during the nineteenth century. Its focus is on the financiers themselves, contrasting the depiction of the respectable Merchant Princes with the less than perfect charlatans (white-collar criminals) who...

This book explores family economic decision-making in the United States from the nineteenth century through present day, specifically looking at the relationship between family resource allocation decisions and government policy. It examines how families have responded to incentives and...

“Donald Stabile provides a fascinating history of the economic and political debates leading up to, and following, the Employment Act of 1946. Contrary to common understanding, Stabile argues that there were strong tensions between New Dealers and Keynesians, including around their vision of...

‘This is essential reading for anybody interested in global history.’ -Professor Ugo Panizza, The Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland This illuminating book offers a compact survey and new interpretation of trends and policies in the US economy from the end of the nineteenth century to...

The publication of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America has kindled interest across disciplines to appraise the exceptional nature of U.S. activities. In general, however, all the published works have not focused their analyses from an economic point of view. While economics was for...