Search

How did the emerging market for land in the 19th century influence land distribution in East Prussia? And how did land markets respond to the emergence of financial institutions that relied on land as collateral but also affected the ease and speed of land transfer?

The authors of this article demonstrate best practices for creating belonging in economics, which allows diverse students to feel respected and accepted within the discipline. Opportunities to connect with economics allow students to understand and be empowered by the value they add to the classroom. The suggested practices thus include providing students with ample opportunities to apply their economics knowledge to their own personal experiences and giving them the support that sustains interest in and a connection with economics. Introductory classroom practices that are most useful for new instructors of economics (Level I activities) are presented, followed by a discussion of the various ways that new instructors can build out these practices in future iterations of their courses (Level II activities). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document the outbreak of a trade war after the United States adopted the Smoot-Hawley tariff in June 1930. U.S. trade partners initially protested, with many eventually choosing to retaliate with tariffs. Using a new quarterly dataset on bilateral trade for ninety-nine countries, we show that U.S. exports to retaliators fell by 28%–32%. Using a second new dataset on U.S. exports at the product level, we find that the most important U.S. exports to retaliating markets were particularly affected, suggesting a possible mechanism whereby the United States was targeted despite most-favoured-nation obligations. The retaliators' welfare gains from trade fell by 8%–16%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of the Knightly Stade Credit Cooperative (Ritterschaftliches Kreditinstitut Stade) from 1825 to 1845. The Stade Credit Cooperative provides an interesting example of the supply of credit to the first estate. By identifying borrowers and lenders both in the private credit market before the establishment of the Cooperative as well as of the Cooperative, this study adds to our understanding of the development of formal credit markets, and demonstrates how a credit cooperative replaced an informal peer-to-peer credit network. The Stade Cooperative also shows how the concept of the Prussian Landschaften (cooperative mortgage credit banks) was spread and adapted beyond Prussia and provided the key institutional learning for the establishment of other credit cooperatives throughout German states in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did the emerging market for land in the 19th century influence land distribution in East Prussia? And how did land markets respond to the emergence of financial institutions that relied on land as collateral but also affected the ease and speed of land transfer? Focusing on the example of a specific financial institution – the East Prussian Landschaft – this paper empirically tests the hypothesis that the Landschaft credit institutes, through their provision of privileged credit, enabled noble estates to expand their landholdings. It also tests whether the existence of Landschaft-credit helped noble estates to remain in the hands of nobles and halted estate sales to the emerging bourgeoisie. The analysis combines several datasets on East Prussian landed estates in 1796, 1834 and 1882 and matches these with borrowing records of the East Prussian Landschaft from 1823 and 1829. The study finds that access to Landschaft-credit correlates positively with estate size over the 19th century, suggesting that the Landschaft credit institutes did play a role in ownership concentration. The results regarding the transfer of estates from the nobility to the bourgeoisie show a weaker link between Landschaft-credit and ownership status of estate holders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Fertilizer, Fiscal Crises, and the War of the Pacific," by Richard Sicotte, Catalina Vizcarra, and Kirsten Wandschneider is presented.