journal: Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook

Open Access Published since June 15, 1960

Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook

ISSN: 2196-6842

Edited by: Dieter Ziegler

About this journal

Starting 2022, Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook will be transferred to Diamond Open Access on a year-by-year basis. All articles will thus immediately appear under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND. There will be no publication costs for the authors. The Open Access transformation is based on Subscribe-to-Open, an alternative model that enables the full Open Access transformation of journals through the continuation of existing subscriptions. The prerequisite for successful transformation is that subscriptions are continued to the same extent as before. The editors of Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook and the publisher De Gruyter would therefore like to thank all subscribers for their support, which has made the transformation to Open Access possible.

Since its foundation in 1960, the Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook has established itself as an internationally recognized journal of economic history with its own profile. This is particularly true since the journal's reorientation with regards to content and methodology after its refoundation in 1992 under an expanded editorial board.

The Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook is published semi-annually, each volume contains articles on a specific topic, reports and discussions on the current state of research and literature, and introduces new research projects. It is thus aimed not only at economic and social historians, but also at economists and social scientists as well as a broad circle of people interested in economic history. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review with at least two reviewers.

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Supplementary Materials

Topics

Volume 64 Issue 1

May 2023

Publicly Available April 15, 2023

Frontmatter

Page range: i-ii

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Abhandlungen

Open Access April 15, 2023

Introduction: Digital History

Ulrich Fritsche, Mark Spoerer

Page range: 1-7

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Abstract

New digital methods are currently enhancing the historian’s toolbox fundamentally. This thematic issue is a collection of papers discussing case studies in the fields of digitization, optical character recognition, distant reading, text mining, network analysis, and historical geographical information systems. The papers discuss opportunities and limitations in the application of digital methods in historical studies and point out fields of future applications.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Digitizing Carroll D. Wright’s “Hand and Machine Labor” Study

Jeremy Atack, Robert A. Margo, Paul W. Rhode

Page range: 9-30

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Abstract

We describe our digitization of a uniquely detailed study of 19 th century production methods assembled by the United States Department of Labor (1899). The staff spent five years collecting and assembling data on the production of hundreds of highly specific products (as well as some services) at the production operations level using traditional artisanal (“hand”) methods and by the (then) most modern “machine” methods, measuring productivity in terms of the time taken to complete a specific task or set of tasks. The data proved too complex and voluminous to use, except as a source of anecdotes, until now. We describe how we have made these invaluable data from the first industrial revolution tractable to modern analysis and how they might be used to provide insight and perspective into the effects of robotics and artificial intelligence on labor during the third industrial revolution.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Are Searches in OCR-generated Archives Trustworthy?

An Analysis of Digital Newspaper Archives

Jørgen Burchardt

Page range: 31-54

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Abstract

Digitised archives are revolutionary tools for research that, in a few seconds, generate results that earlier often took years to obtain. But do they provide all results for the terms searched for? The accuracy of searches was tested by performing sample searches of leading newspaper databases. The test revealed several weaknesses in the search process, including an average 18 percent error rate for single words in body text, and a far higher error rates for advertisements. Such high error rates encourage a critical look at the 20-year-old sector. Although these errors can be reduced by a re-digitation and with new improved OCR engines and new search algorithms, searches will nevertheless return manipulated results. In response, and to identify infringed bias and skewed representation, database owners need to provide thorough metadata to ensure source criticism.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Ordering ORDO: Capturing the Freiburg School’s Post-war Development through a Text Mining Analysis of its Yearbook (1948–2014)

Anselm Küsters

Page range: 55-109

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Abstract

Current research on the long-term influence of ordoliberal and neoliberal ideas is hampered by an overly static and generalised picture of the Freiburg School. To address this gap, the paper analyses all articles published in ORDO, the flagship journal of the Freiburg School, between 1948 and 2014. This makes it possible to distinguish three phases of post-war ordoliberalism, to identify personal continuities and breaks, and to summarise thematic, methodological, and conceptual developments. Since the analysis utilises text mining methods, such as keyword identification and Topic Modeling, and validates the results of distant reading with close reading and external data, the paper also highlights some general methodological insights for using Digital Humanities in the historical sciences.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Hidden Value: Provenance as a Source for Economic and Social History

Lynn Rother, Fabio Mariani, Max Koss

Page range: 111-142

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Abstract

Building on the extensive production of provenance data recently, this article explains how we can expand the purview of computational analysis in humanistic and social sciences by exploring how digital methods can be applied to provenances. Provenances document chains of events of ownership and socio-economic custody changes of artworks. They promise statistical and comparative insights into social and economic trends and networks. Such analyses, however, necessitate the transformation of provenances from their textual form into structured data. This article first explores some of the analytical avenues aggregate provenance data can offer for transdisciplinary historical research. It then explains in detail the use of deep learning to address natural language processing tasks for transforming provenance text into structured data, such as Sentence Boundary Detection and Span Categorization. To illustrate the potential of this pioneering approach, this article ends with two examples of preliminary analysis of structured provenance data.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Patterns of Everyday Exchange: Big Historical Data and the Case of the Basel Advertisement Paper, 1729–1844

Alexander Engel

Page range: 143-178

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Abstract

With concepts like the consumer revolution or the industrious revolution, the changing behaviour of private households in the 18 th and early 19 th centuries has become of great interest. The article suggests a new way to observe intentions and decisions, by utilizing a database of 850,000 classified ads from the Basel Avisblatt over a span of 116 years. Changes in food prices constantly altered the discretionary income of households, which forced budget-related decisions. By cross-correlating indicators of discretionary income with the changing number of different types of ads, patterns of utilizing the Avisblatt can be identified, and strategies to stabilize discretionary income deduced.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Geospatial Methods and the Premodern Economy: Mapping the Institutional Landscapes of Northern Europe, 1350–1650

Bart Holterman, Angela Huang

Page range: 179-212

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Abstract

The premodern European transport network was accompanied by a number of institutions that affected the transaction costs related to commercial travel, such as fairs, staple markets and toll stations. With digital techniques and big datasets, it is now possible to study these phenomena on a grand scale and to reveal patterns in supraregional economic exchange. Using the Viabundus dataset on premodern transport and mobility in northern Europe (13501650), this article explores the possibilities that such data offer for understanding large-scale economic activity. By employing GIS mapping for visualisation purposes and methods of network analysis such as the calculation of betweenness centrality, the data on fairs, staple markets and toll stations can help us understand the institutional structure of the premodern economy in which merchants operated.

Forschungs- und Literaturberichte

Open Access April 15, 2023

Die Statistik der Betriebsrente

Eine Analyse zur Quellenlage der betrieblichen Altersversorgung 1949–1985

Dorothee Mävers, Jonas Pieper

Page range: 213-262

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Abstract

This paper investigates the sources of information and their quality as accessible to the government of the Federal Republic of Germany when trying to assess the situation of company funded pensions between 1949 and 1985 for the Company Pension Act of 1974. By taking a closer look at multiple government surveys as well as official statistics, the paper shows that the government only had very little access to verifiable and detailed information on the matter and relied largely on estimates. There were no coherent sources of information, and none were set up after the Act came into effect. The trend of a growing distribution and extent of corporate retirement plans from the late 1940s to the 1980s as seen in the government surveys is congruent with our findings. Furthermore, the Company Pension Act strengthened this already growing trend.

Open Access April 15, 2023

Neoliberalismus: Über ein intellektuelles Missverständnis

Max Trecker

Page range: 263-297

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Abstract

The term neoliberalism is a faithful companion of current public debates. It often serves as a proxy for what is allegedly wrong with society. The term is used to criticize a perceived commodification of spheres of human existence that used to be shielded from a purely economic logic. Recently, the term neoliberalism has become the object of historical research. Its roots have been traced back as far as 1947 or 1918. I argue in this paper that historians have taken a methodologically questionable approach, by departing from the blurry concept of neoliberalism as it is perceived today and trying to trace it back in time as far as possible. Such an approach leads to severe contradictions as economists labelled ex-post as neoliberals were often opposed to neoliberalism as it is currently defined. It is methodologically more sound and analytically more rewarding to start the conception of the term with the economists who self-identified as neoliberals . This approach leads to a more coherent concept of neoliberalism that is better suited for further research and provides a clearer understanding of the history of economic thought in the interwar period and the first postwar years.

Volume 64 (2023)

Issue 1 Digital Methods in History Verantwortlich: Ulrich Fritsche und Mark Spoerer

Volume 63 (2022)

Volume 62 (2021)

Volume 61 (2020)

Volume 60 (2019)

Volume 59 (2018)

Volume 58 (2017)

Volume 57 (2016)

Volume 56 (2015)

Volume 55 (2014)

Volume 54 (2013)

Volume 53 (2012)

Volume 52 (2011)

Volume 51 (2010)

Volume 50 (2009)

Volume 49 (2008)

Volume 48 (2007)

Volume 47 (2006)

Volume 46 (2005)

Volume 45 (2004)

Volume 44 (2003)

Volume 43 (2002)

Volume 42 (2001)

Volume 41 (2000)

Volume 40 (1999)

Volume 39 (1998)

Volume 38 (1997)

Volume 37 (1996)

Volume 36 (1995)

Volume 35 (1994)

Volume 34 (1993)

Issue 2

Volume 33 (1992)

Volume 32 (1991)

Issue 1

Volume 31 (1990)

Volume 30 (1989)

Volume 29 (1988)

Volume 28 (1987)

Volume 27 (1986)

Volume 26 (1985)

Volume 25 (1984)

Volume 24 (1983)

Volume 23 (1982)

Volume 22 (1981)

Volume 21 (1980)

Volume 20 (1979)

Volume 19 (1978)

Volume 18 (1977)

Volume 17 (1976)

Volume 16 (1975)

Volume 15 (1974)

Volume 14 (1973)

Volume 13 (1972)

Volume 12 (1971)

Volume 11 (1970)

Volume 10 (1970)

Volume 9 (1968)

Volume 8 (1967)

Volume 7 (1966)

Volume 6 (1965)

Volume 5 (1964)

Volume 4 (1963)

Volume 3 (1962)

Volume 2 (1961)

Volume 1 (1960)

CiteScore	0.4
European Reference Index for the Humanities
SCImago Journal Rank	0.128
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.345

Submit

Submission of manuscripts

The Economic History Yearbook only publishes original manuscripts written in German or English; no translations. Manuscripts published in the Yearbook may not be published in other publications. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review with at least two reviewers.

Essay manuscripts may be sent directly to the Economic History Yearbook’s editorial team. Please send us your contribution as an email attachment (.doc or .rtf) to: redaktion-jwg@rub.de or on a CD-ROM with an accompanying identical hard copy to: Editorial Team, Economic History Yearbook, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Historisches Institut, Lehrstuhl für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensgeschichte, 44780 Bochum.

As well as your manuscript please send:

–– an English translation of the title (if the manuscript is in German)

–– an abstract of the contribution in English (if the manuscript is in German)

–– JEL-Classification/Keywords in English

–– a short profile of and address for the author

Format of the manuscript

The following sets out essential format guidelines. A comprehensive style guide is available for download in pdf format from www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de./jwg/ both in English and in German, or can be sent to you on request. Please direct any further questions regarding format to the editorial team at the following address and phone number: Nancy Bodden, Marie Luise Strohm-Georg, Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte/Redaktion, Tel.: +49 (0)234/32-24660, Fax: +49 (0)234/32-11464

Sections of the Economic History Yearbook originally written in German adhere to the new German spelling rules (Neue deutsche Rechtschreibung). Contributions should not exceed 50 manuscript pages in length (1.5 spacing, hyphenless justification), including illustrations, graphics and tables.

Footnotes should all be at the end of each respective page, indicated by superscript numbers at the end of the respective sentence.

All tables, graphics and illustrations should as a matter of principle be clearly put together and of a good resolution (a minimum of 300dpi for graphics). They should be preceded by a title and numbered consecutively. Print space should be no more than 131mm x 190mm. All tables, graphics and illustrations should also each be sent along with the manuscript as separate data.

Bibliographies should be compiled as follows: Authors’ first names should be abbreviated. First names, surnames and editors should be italicised; editors are identified by (Ed.) behind the name. Between the name of the author and the title a comma should be inserted; the main and subtitle should be separated by a full stop. A comma should separate the title and the place of publication, the year of publication should follow without any further punctuation marks. In each case only the first place of publication should be given.

For articles in periodicals the relevant volume or book should be denoted, not the year. Volume numbers should directly succeed the periodical title, with the year following after a comma. Consecutive citations of the same author can be denoted by ‘Ibid.’. When the title of a work is repeated it can be written in abbreviated form. The first reference to a title should be made using the full title; reference to the same source thereafter may be referred to in short. Internet sources should be given with the full internet address as well as the date it was last accessed.

Editorial

Editor in Chief:

Prof. Dr. Dieter Ziegler, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

Co-Editors:

Prof. Dr. Alexander Nützenadel, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany

Prof. Dr. Jochen Streb, University of Mannheim, Germany

Prof. Dr. Werner Plumpe, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Advisory Board:

Prof. Dr. Carsten Burhop, University of Bonn, Germany

Prof. Dr. Josef Ehmer, University of Vienna, Austria

Prof. Dr. Rainer Fremdling, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Timothy W. Guinnane, Yale University, USA

Prof. Dr. Markus Lampe, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

Prof. Dr. Sibylle Lehmann-Hasemeyer, University of Hohenheim, Germany

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Reith, University of Salzburg, Austria

Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn, Germany

Prof. Dr. Mark Spoerer, University of Regensburg, Germany

Prof. Dr. Hans-Michael Trautwein, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 2196-6842
Print ISSN: 0075-2800
Type: Journal
Languages: German, English
Publisher: Akademie Verlag
First published: June 15, 1960
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year