Economic theory and anecdotal evidence suggest that the absence of formal contract enforcement increases systemic, or market-based, violence in illegal markets. Lack of substantial variation in market legality has prevented empirical evaluation of the strength of this association. Using a state-level panel of age-specific homicide rates between 1900 and 1940, I demonstrate that criminalization of alcohol markets led to a compression of the age distribution of homicide victims. Specifically, homicide rates for individuals between the ages of 20 and 30 increased relative to homicide rates for individuals under 20 and over 30. The compression of the age distribution of homicide victims was most evident in northern states and in states with large immigrant and urban populations. Using modern homicide data, I show that this age specific change in homicide rates is consistent with an increase in systemic violence, supporting the argument that the temperance movement contributed to the rise of organized crime in the United States. Banning the commercial sale of alcohol appears to have had a protective effect for children and mature adults, but this came at the expense of increasing the rate of violence among young adults.

This paper reviews some of the major claims in Robert Gordon's Rise and Fall of American Growth. His argument that growth of conventional real GDP per person is well below that of real living standards is accepted. It is shown that adding an imputation to GDP for reductions in mortality raises growth substantially, especially between 1929 and 1950. Gordon is also right that total factor productivity growth peaked in the second and third quarters of the twentieth century but his claim that there was a “great leap forward” in the 1940s, stimulated by World War 2, is not persuasive.

An avid reader of history will be quite familiar with the rich, emotive narratives detailing the tragic decline and ultimate fall of once mighty civilizations; Rome succumbing to barbarian hordes, Alexander of Macedon’s and Chinggis Khan’s spear-won empires splitting into warring factions, and the demise of the great Inca or Maya civilizations are just a few such examples. On the other side of the stacks, similarly grandiose narratives document some group’s incredible growth and spread taking over vast territories and populations. These tell typically of societies coming to dominate a region, often in the face of overwhelming odds and tribulation or through some precocious development of a key technology or strategy that later becomes widespread. Here, I take stock of previous approaches to studying function – from growth and development to crisis and collapse to resilience – and ask what is the most fruitful lens with which to view fluctuations in how societies function and change over time, as this review essay attempts to accomplish.

ABSTRACT Historians have characterized the nineteenth-century American temperance movement as one induced by white evangelicals eager to safeguard national prosperity. Often framed as a means through which to control racial and religious minorities, the role of Black Americans as agents of temperance has been largely overlooked. This essay departs from the white-centric narrative by examining the Black American perception of abstinence from alcohol. It delineates the multifaceted evolution of Black temperance to reveal the ardent promotion of the movement by Black men and women alike. In doing so, this work simultaneously challenges the prevailing discourse on the temperance movement as a white-led, and Black activism as male-dominated.

This paper presents evidence on a rise and fall in income inequality in Chile during the past two decades. We show that income inequality rises from 1990 to 2000 and then falls from 2000 to 2011. We perform simple but informative decompositions to figure out the contributing factors behind that dissimilarity in the behavior of inequality across those two subperiods. Our results are consistent with a story in which economic growth increases the demand for more educated workers, initially increasing inequality. However, those higher returns to education encourage agents to invest in higher education, producing a subsequent human capital deepening that reduces inequality at later stages of the development process.

The net impact of market legality on crime is ambiguous if consumption of the illegally traded good causes violence. With modern crime data, I show that drug control policy that increases market-based violence while reducing violence associated with intoxication raises homicide rates for individuals in their 20s relative to older and younger people. Using a state-level panel of age-specific homicides from 1900 to 1940, when many states and eventually the federal government criminalized alcohol markets, I demonstrate that the spread of the temperance movement similarly compressed the age distribution of homicide victims, primarily in northern, urban states with large immigrant populations.

This research deals with the ups and downs in the socio-economic development of Pakistan in light of the economic theory of IbnKhaldun (1332-1406 AD). He evaluated dynamics and multidisciplinary approach that how the interconnected relationship of social and economic factors leads to ascend and descend the nations. His opinion, immorality, injustice and many other social evils are the indicators of unstable development, which caused fall of society. Like opinion of Khaldun, the researcher analysed number of factors which are responsible for rising and falling the socio-economic situations of Pakistan. Further, the consequences of the slow growth, poverty, lack of good governance, sectarianism and poor law and order situation have also pointed out. This paper focusses on those social, political and economic indicators which are directly or indirectly influence the rise and fall of socio-economic development in Pakistan. If Khaldun’s theory of economic development of nations applied, it will lead to the rise of society, because social and political stability is a good omen for development. This paper analysed the Khaldun’s economic model and compare it with socio-economic situation of Pakistan.

Aim: This is the first of a two part paper that illustrates how cognitive-behavioral factors, the disregard of prior epidemiological data, and misfortunate timing contributed to the failure of National Prohibition in the United States. Methods: This first paper gives a detailed historical and cultural review of the early colonial, the post-revolutionary war, pre-civil war, and post-Civil-War, drinking patterns in the United States. It addresses the origins of the temperance movement, its evolution into a prohibition movement, and the post–civil war, prohibition in Kansas. Findings: Attribution theory shows a cognitive bias in the early 19th century temperance and late 19th century prohibition thinking. Scapegoat theory pointed out that the 19th century reformers targeted alcohol itself as the main source of social suffering and, by and large, neglected the context in which it was consumed. Conclusion: Nineteenth century attribution bias, cognitive errors, and failure to evaluate prior experience set the stage for 20th century, National Prohibition, a disastrous, preventive intervention.

Dawley S., Marshall N., Pike A., Pollard J. and Tomaney J. Continuity and evolution in an old industrial region: the labour market dynamics of the rise and fall of Northern Rock, Regional Studies. The Northern Rock mortgage bank was a high-profile casualty of the credit crunch in 2007. An evolutionary geographical political economy approach demonstrates that Northern Rock's growth and decline was shaped by its location in an old industrial region, and echoes the historical position of the peripheral region in the spatial division of labour. A longitudinal investigation focuses on the labour market dynamics of Northern Rock's rapid growth and decline on the North East of England. The Northern Rock case highlights the enduring occupational structure of the region's labour market, and shows how older industrial regions suffer from a process of ‘occupational disadvantage’ that restricts their ability to adapt to economic change.

In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from forty-five to seventy-two years. Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Gordon challenges the view that economic growth can or will continue unabated, and he demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 can't be repeated. He contends that the nation's productivity growth, which has already slowed to a crawl, will be further held back by the vexing headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government. Gordon warns that the younger generation may be the first in American history that fails to exceed their parents' standard of living, and that rather than depend on the great advances of the past, we must find new solutions to overcome the challenges facing us. A critical voice in the debates over economic stagnation, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.