ABSTRACT: Using a newly constructed dataset on the quantities and prices of African commodities over the long 18th century this paper provides new insights into the changing nature of the non-slave trade with West Africa in the era before the abolition Continue reading “Working Paper: Commodities, Prices and Risk”
ABSTRACT: Extensive research has demonstrated that female labour force participation (FLFP) in Western Europe decreased during the second half of the nineteenth century. During this period, in the Netherlands, FLFP was even lower than in surrounding countries Continue reading “Working Paper: Before she said “I do””
ABSTRACT: We develop new aggregate and sectoral Total Factor Productivity (TFP) estimates for the United States between 1899 and 1941 through better coverage of sectors and better measured labor quality, and show TFP-growth was lower than previously thought, broadly based across sectors Continue reading “Working Paper: A Vision of the Growth Process in a Technologically Progressive Economy”
ABSTRACT: This is the first study to present a unified quantitative account of African commodity trade in the long 19th century from the zenith of the Atlantic slave trade (1790s) to the eve of World War II (1939). Drawing evidence from a new dataset Continue reading “Working Paper: An Economic Rationale for the African Scramble”
ABSTRACT: This paper offers a direct industry-of-origin benchmark for the United States and the United Kingdom around 1910. The industry-of-origin approach allows for a disaggregation of international productivity differentials Continue reading “Working Paper: Taking Over”
ABSTRACT: America’s lead over Europe in manufacturing productivity from the late nineteenth century onwards has often been contributed to differences in initial conditions, trapping Europe in a relatively declining, labor-intensive and low-productive technological path. In this paper, I reassess the productivity dynamics in British manufacturing Continue reading “Working Paper: The Great Escape”
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a new benchmark of output and relative prices (PPPs) for agriculture, mining and five manufacturing branches in the US, UK, France and the Netherlands around 1910. Continue reading “Working Paper: Comparing Productivity in the Netherlands, France, UK and US, ca. 1910”
ABSTRACT: The manufacturing productivity gap between the U.S. and the U.K. became much larger during the interwar period than existing estimates suggest. This paper presents a new estimate based on real value added and hours worked. Continue reading “Working Paper: A Comparison of Real Output and Productivity for British and American Manufacturing in 1935”
Pieter (Jop) WOLTJER 