This paper test the hypothesis that capital market imperfections constrained the growth of British firms during the Industrial Revolution. Using data on the cost structure of a representative British cotton manufacturer during the 1798 to 1827 period, this paper shows that the scale of operation...

In this paper I combine long multi-country time series data for interest rates and stock returns with the institutional evidence for much earlier centuries amassed by economic historians to study the question of financial globalization and how it has altered since the late classical era. At...

Based on an original database, this paper provides an empirical study of Tsarist bond prices reactions after their repudiation by the Soviets. For the two years following the repudiation two striking features of a representative Tsarist bond traded in Paris are highlighted: first, the price...

This paper explores theoretically and empirically the link between Financial Liberalization (FL) and the banking crisis that often follow. We also investigate the proposition, classical in development economics, that FL should result in an increase in supply of funds to the real sector. To...

In this paper we attempt to identify the characteristics of banks that are most likely to be at the origin of a banking crisis following a financial liberalization (FL) process. We do this analysis in response to the observed fact that FL processes arse often followed by banking crisis that cost...

It is proposed to consider the business cycle as hysteresis loop with fluctuating limiting points. Concept is based on the Method of System Potential, (Proceedings of International System Dynamics Conference 2003, No.56) which describes dynamics of spontaniously arising Complex Systems as the...

It is proposed to consider the business cycle as hysteresis loop with fluctuating limiting points. Concept is based on the Method of System Potential, (Proceedings of International System Dynamics Conference 2003, No.56) which describes dynamics of spontaniously arising Complex Systems as the...

The paper finds empirical evidence on the ripple effect of sunspots on the interwar German economy. It identifies a sequence of negative shocks to expectations for the 1927 to 1932 period. The artificial economy predicts the 1928-1932 depression and a long boom from 1933 onwards. Overall, a...

The dramatic fall in output in eastern Europe in the 90s was a result of the institutional structure imposed by the state - taken here as exogenous - on the production process. Consider therefore an economic system where the state is promoting a policy of 'forced capital formation' to fund a...

We explore commons problems when agents have access to capital markets. The commons has a high intrinsic rate of return but its fruits cannot be secured by individual agents. Resources transferred to the capital market earn lower returns, but are secure. In a two period model, we assess the...