Suchergebnisse

With use of innovative proxies and new annual data, I demonstrate that relatively high legal capacity and regulatory activity of the early-modern Polish parliament, the Seym, was positively associated with deeper domestic commodity market integration. Conversely, the lack of effective law-making, caused by the right of a single delegate to discontinue the Seym's sessions, fostered market fragmentation. This indicates that early parliamentary regimes required legal capacity to harmonize domestic institutions and reduce the transaction costs. The Polish case suggests a hypothesis that the pre-1800 "Little Divergence" between European parliamentary regimes could be explained by differences in their governments' capacities.

With use of innovative proxies and new annual data, I demonstrate that relatively high legal capacity and regulatory activity of the early-modern Polish parliament was positively associated with deeper commodity market integration. Conversely, the lack of effective law-making, caused by the right of a single delegate to discontinue the parliamentary sessions, fostered market fragmentation. This indicates that early parliamentary regimes might have required legal capacity to harmonize domestic institutions and reduce the transaction costs. The Polish case suggests a hypothesis that the pre-1800 'Little Divergence' between European parliamentary regimes could potentially be partially explained by differences in their capacities.

Invited experts who study and teach economic history in American, Romanian, Swedish, and Ukrainian universities answer questions about the recent trends and perspectives in the economic history of Eastern Europe. They demonstrate how the relationship between history and other disciplines developed in Eastern European scholarship. They explain the reasons for the relatively underdeveloped scholarly community of the field in the region. Finally, they talk about the applicable theories and concepts which could challenge Gerschenkron's theoretical framework when discussing the history of economy and business in Eastern Europe. Authors mostly accept the suggested statement that the economic history of Eastern Europe is institutionally underdeveloped if compared with Western scholarship. At the same time, they see the situation as a good opportunity for the development of new research projects. The authors emphasize the necessity to "learn the language of other disciplines" as well as to develop skills in data analysis. They also point out that to explain the global economic transformations in history, working with archival sources and understanding the context are as important as the application of economic theories and quantitative analysis.