Browsing by Subject "Wirtschaftsgeschichte"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

The geography of stock exchanges in Imperial Germany
(2014) Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Sibylle; Burhop, Carsten
23 Stock Exchanges were in operation in Germany in 1913. We provide new data about the number of listed firms, their market value, and the number of IPOs between 1897 and 1913 for all exchanges. We assess reasons why a firm opts to be listed at a certain exchange. Large firms tend to be listed and tend to go public at the Berlin Stock Exchange, while the regional stock exchanges were important hosts for small and medium-sized firms. Borders and distance affect listing decisions, suggesting that a patriotic home bias and asymmetric information between issuer and investors affected listing decisions.
The long shadow of history : roman legacy and economic development - evidence from the German limes
(2015) Wahl, Fabian
This paper contributes to the understanding of the long-run consequences of Roman rule on economic development. In ancient times, the area of contemporary Germany was divided into a Roman and non-Roman part. The study uses this division to test whether the formerly Roman part of Germany show a higher nightlight luminosity than the non-Roman part. This is done by using the Limes wall as geographical discontinuity in a regression discontinuity design framework. The results indicate that economic development—as measured by luminosity—is indeed significantly and robustly larger in the formerly Roman parts of Germany. The study identifies the persistence of the Roman road network until the present as an important factor causing this development advantage of the formerly Roman part of Germany both by fostering city growth and by allowing for a denser road network.
Trade and political institutions in late medieval European cities : origins and long-run consequences
(2016) Wahl, Fabian; Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Sibylle
The first part of the thesis establishes a link between medieval trade, agglomeration and contemporary regional development in ten European countries. It documents a significant positive relationship between involvement in medieval trade and regional economic development today. The analysis indicates that a long-lasting effect of medieval trade on contemporary regional development is transmitted via its effect on agglomeration and industry concentration. Further empirical analyses show that medieval trade positively influenced city development both during the medieval period and in the long run; they also reveal a robust connection between medieval city growth and contemporary regional agglomeration and industry concentration. This research highlights the long-run importance of medieval trade in shaping the development of cities as well as the contemporary spatial distribution of economic activity throughout Europe. Next, a new city-level data set on political institutions in pre-modern Europe is introduced. It comprises of three variables reporting the prevalence of the different existing types of participative political institutions between 800 and 1800 AD in 104 cities in the Holy Roman Empire. According to historical studies, the three included measures (guild participation in the city council, participative election procedures and the existence of institutionalized burgher representation) represent the universe of political institutions in cities in this era. Based on this data, the next chapter of the thesis investigates the origins of guild revolts and participation in the government of late medieval central European cities. It finds that structural factors, i.e. the prosperity of proto-industry and exogenous events like the agricultural crisis were factors triggering the revolts. Medieval trade cities had a lower probability of guild participation indicating that not economic prosperity per se is decisive but rather that formerly poor groups of citizens like craftsmen profited from the economic upswing. The study also finds evidence for the existence of spatial spillovers implying that strategic considerations played a role in the spread of the revolts. Finally, I investigate the effect of the rise of participative political institutions in late medieval central European cities on city development. The results show, that the enlargement of political participation is not always conducive to city development. The participation of guilds in the city council, for example had an overall neutral or negative effect. Furthermore, the effect of guild participation is declining over time, implying that this form of PPI is prone to institutional degeneration and increased rent-seeking. Election of city government by the citizens, in contrast, shows a stable and robustly positive effect on city development. Hence, the decisive point for more political participation being conducive for economic development is that the increase in participation is accompanied by increased accountability of the politicians and a politics that is oriented toward public welfare than the special interests of particular groups.