This paper empirically investigates why, between 800 and 1800, the urban center of gravity moved from the Islamic world to Europe. Using a large new city-specific data set covering Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, we unravel the role of geography and institutions in determining...

In last six decades political analysts, scholars and statesmen have mainly analyzed and focused on the political dimensions of the Kashmir problem. However, unfortunately much important economic dimensions of the problem have received less attention or have been somewhat deliberately neglected....

Biofuels are prominent in current discussion both as a solution to problems and as a creator of problems. They have promise as a substitute for fossil fuels, particularly for petroleum as the raw material for transportation fuel. But biofuels also have pitfalls, especially when produced at a...

The paper analyzes Eli Heckscher's dual nature: as both an economist and an economic historian. Emphasis is put on his insistence on the use of economic theory in economic historic analysis, as manifested in a large number of publications throughout his life; and Heckscher's practical employment...

The notion of a 'Historical School' is burdened with numerous vague associations and overlapping uses leaving it wanting as a useful rubric of more specific research. To overcome this state of affairs, the article seeks to define and characterize the specific attributes of a historical political...

The process of European economic integration slackened in the 1960s. National markets for goods, most services and labour were not being integrated because they were not really being liberalised. The exception to this rule was financial services, one of which - the sale of long-term corporate...

Price volatility, reflecting the ability to absorb exogenous supply- or demand shocks, is an important dimension of market performance. In this paper we present a model to study the factors determining the price volatility of markets of basic foodstuffs in pre industrial societies. This model is...

This paper demonstrates that the current economic crisis has its roots in the evolution of the global economy during the 1960s. The gradual increase of US debt from the 1960s accompanied by the deficit in the US trade balance due to international competition from EU, Japan, and later from China...

The paper reminds of Erich Preiser (1900-1967), the famous German political economist and admired academic teacher. This article, firstly develops Preiser's assessment of the future of the market economy. Secondly, it looks at his view on the issue how close economic theory may come to reality,...

Douglass North is a pivotal figure in the development of the 'new' economic history as well as the 'new' institutional economics. However, the relationship between these two aspects of his thinking remains undeveloped in previous critical assessments of North's work. The relationship is...