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Economic History Seminars 2024-25

Spring Term 2024-25

Spring Term seminars are in KSW.G.01 (Kingsway), 4-5.30pm.

8 May

  • Pamfili Antipa (LSE)
  • Can the Market Price State-Contingent Government Debt? Evidence from the British Perpetuities Market, 1797-1805

    Abstract:
    At the darkest hour of the French Revolutionary Wars, the British government issued an unusual form of perpetuity, known as the "Loyalty Loan". This debt security embedded two redemption options—a call owned by the government and a put in the hands of bondholders—with lockup periods that made the attached cashflows explicitly contingent on the unfolding of the military conflict. Using daily price data for Loyalty and other perpetuities, we extract the market value of embedded options between the bond issue and the exercise of their put by bondholders. We test for possible violations of no-arbitrage conditions, develop an ad hoc valuation model to assess historical prices and exercise decisions, and back out contemporary beliefs regarding the arrival of peace and the resumption of war. Our analysis reveals substantial under-pricing of this highly contingent debt instrument.

5 June

  • Michiel de Haas (Wageningen)
  • Commodity dependence and food prices in East Africa since the Great Depression

    Abstract:
    African economies are characterized by persistent dependency on the export of raw materials, including agricultural commodities such as coffee and tea. We analyze an important but understudied consequence of this dependency in the context of East Africa: rising food prices. Drawing on a new dataset of historical food prices in 120 locations (1900-2020), we show that maize prices soared from far below, to well above world market levels, contributing to the debt and food crisis of the 1980s. We argue that (post)colonial food policy in the region was not characterized by ‘urban bias’, which would imply low prices for urban consumers. Instead, governments prioritized maize self-sufficiency and price stability, while prices shifted upwards, especially in times of export commodity booms.

19 June

  • Juan Carmona (Universidad Carlos III)
  • Costs and Barriers to Rural Property Rights Formalization: Spain, 1845–1935