Questions tagged [economy]
Questions which concern the historical management, distribution, and usage of resources; why a particular resource, or state of production, occurred in a certain way. General economics questions are off-topic but may be welcome on our sister site Economics Stack Exchange.
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Why did Germany have so many important scientists and thinkers around the turn of the 20th century?
I got an impression that Germany at the turn of the 20th century had a lot of very important thinkers and scientists, who created foundation for lots of modern theories and philosophical concept. ...
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What were the largest European treasuries, in gold and silver, at the end of the Seven Years War?
From a related question, I'm now looking to compare the size of European treasuries as they existed at the end of the Seven Years War (1763).
I'm only interested in gold and silver that existed in ...
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At the end of the Seven Years War, what was the total amount of gold and silver in Britain?
The Seven Years War ended in 1763. At that time, how much gold and silver existed inside Britain?
This would include the British Treasury as well as any personal gold/silver of the nobility and ...
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Nazi-Germany unemployment?
It's said that the unemployment was virtually non-existent in Nazi Germany. What factors led to such a drastic reduction of unemployment?
Are there comparable examples of other industrial nations ...
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What was the rationale behind restrictions on camera ownership in post-war Germany?
According to the accepted answer to this question:
There are very few photographs from occupied Germany because it was illegal for Germans to own cameras and similar regulations were enforced to ...
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How does the cost-benefit relationship of owning a horse differ today from the Middle Ages or Early Industrial Revolution?
If I were to be gifted a horse nowadays, I would've been angry. I would have to spend a lot of money in its food, in a blacksmith for horseshoes, grooming, cleaning his box, the rent of his box, extra ...
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What was the price of a horse around 1750?
I'm looking for the average price of a horse, in British Pounds, around the year 1750. I'm interested in draft horses (they pull carts), not riding horses, but the difference in price between those ...
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Where can I get information used to make Soviet economic plans?
One kind of information used by Gosplan to create plans was a list of commodities and relationships between them, i.e. what things were required to produce other things.
I managed to find higher ...
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Why were the some "New Deal" programs cancelled in the beginning of WWII?
I was reading a textbook on U.S and the time period of WWII. I have read that the New Deal programs like Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, National Youth Administration. The ...
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Which country/empire was the dominant hegemon for the longest time? [closed]
Say the USA has been the worlds most dominant power for 75 years. Before that one could argue the British Empire during the Victorian era, approx 1810 to 1915, was the world dominant power. Other ...
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Compulsion for Germany to accept the Treaty of Versailles?
At first it is difficult to understand why Germany would have accepted the Treaty of Versailles.
The armistice had been agreed upon 11 November 1918 and was explicitly based on the terms of Wilson's ...
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How did South Korea become one of the most developed nations on Earth? [closed]
What I've learnt from South Korean history (roughly, from one of my liberal arts classes) is that because of their geographical disadvantage, they were invaded by China and Japan numerous times in the ...
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What is the equivalent buying power of one 1945 Reichsmark in 2016 Euros?
Inspired by this question How much is one 1945 German Mark to one 2016 Euro?, for example how many Reichsmark would I need to buy a loaf of bread and how many Euros compared to that?
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How can the value of older currencies be expressed in modern units? How is the conversion rate calculated? [duplicate]
We can pretty often read something like.. "He owned this sum of silver/gold which is equal to this sum of dollars in our time."
But how is this calculated? How can you know what a 1000 dollars was in ...
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Who was the richest person in the world at the start and end of WW2? [closed]
Who was the richest person in the world when the World war II started and when it ended? Was it the same person? If so, how did the war years affect his wealth?
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Why was slavery profitable in the Southern colonies and not New England?
Why didn't Colonists in New England import massive numbers of Slaves?
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Did the cost ineffectiveness the V2 and V1 rocket program actually matter to the Nazis? [closed]
I've been doing a fair bit of research about the V2 rockets lately, and frequently came across the comment that the V2 and V1 rocket program was hugely cost inefficient, but did it really matter to ...
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How did WWII change the GDPs of the great empires of the world?
According to wikipedia some of the greatest European empires seemed to peak in GDP in 1938. I assume that it was WWII that caused declines in the GDPs of these empires. If this indeed the case, then ...
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Apart from the obvious ones, what were a single free woman's job options in the U.S. in the end of the 18th Century? [closed]
Suppose she was thirty and still single. For one reason or another her parents could no longer support her. She could be:
a governess
a seamstress
a prostitute
a laundress
a housekeeper
a cook
...
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What major company bought all the paint of another company in the 20th century?
I read somewhere about a company that in a brilliant business hack, bought all the paint of another company, and sold it in what became a key moment in the company's history.
Was it Walmart in its ...
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What were the main causal forces leading to rise of fascist movement and fascist government in Germany? [closed]
The OP has a general impression that they might be
the economic depression
unemployment
the "stab in the back" idea
the treaty debt
the parliamentary deadlocks
the presence of disbanded army ...
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Effects of the Berlin Wall on modern-day Germany [closed]
The Berlin Wall had pretty strong effects on the German states at the time it was built, and right after it fell, but what are its continuing economic effects on contemporary Germany? I know there are ...
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Where did Japan get their oil during WWII?
To my understanding the United States was the largest exporter of oil to the Japanese prior to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese islands aren't known for their oil fields. It's also believed that the attacks ...
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How common were professional musicians before the advent of recorded music?
I was talking to some economist friends about the future of the music business if musicians couldn't earn any money outside of live performances and swag sales, and I proposed that we could use the ...
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What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?
Huge financing is required for wars. World War II was the largest-scale war in human history. Therefore, the large borrowing should have led to a rise in bond yields. Amazingly, bond yields dropped ...
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Did an English company famous for its hidden purpose in the 1720s ever reveal its undertaking?
The Wikipedia article for the South Sea Company says that: "Among the many companies to go public in 1720 is - famously - one that advertised itself as 'a company for carrying out an undertaking of ...
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Is there a historical reason for a pattern of worse technological standards beating out better ones? [closed]
Here are some examples of technological standards:
• Dvorak versus Qwerty keyboards. Qwerty won despite yielding lower word-per-minute rates of average users.
• Betamax vs VHS. VHS won despite the ...
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Why was a gold standard not stipulated in the U.S. Constitution? [closed]
It is a known fact that some of the founding fathers wanted to limit the power of the federal government.
I have heard it said on the History Channel that one of the ways they did this was by ...
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What was the price of basic foodstuff in 1930 Poland?
I'm working on a movie shot in Warsaw. The movie takes places in the 30s in Poland and we're currently searching for the prices of basic food during that time. Generally speaking, what was the price ...
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Where did the demand for textiles during the industrial revolution come from?
A lot of the technological developments in the early-ish industrial revolution in Britain were about increasing the rate and efficiency of textile manufacture. It's easy to find material about what ...
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How would prospective members join a medieval European guild?
On related lines,
1) How would a young person (young man) have selected a master with whom to apprentice? How did the matching up process work?
2) What motivated a master/practitioner to take on an ...
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Where did Hitler get the funds to invest in economic development programs such as the autobahn when the German economy was in a depression?
Where did Hitler get the funds to invest in economic revitalization programs such as the autobahn and weapons' production when the German economy was in a depression?
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What was used to pay taxes in Medieval England [closed]
Was coinage issued by the Kings (Queen) used to pay taxes in Medieval England?
If so were these silver or gold coins or base metal ?
And how did the use of tally sticks fit into the tax system
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According to game theory would Germany's post 1939 expansionism have provided the optimal economic benefits? [closed]
using Game theory only : Did implementation of economic polices pre 1939 reached a point that the optimal economical benefits would have been maintained/obtained by war? If no what were the game ...
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Did defeated countries pay their war bonds? [closed]
This related question approaches how beneficial war bonds were to US during WWII.
I would like to know what happen with war bonds when a country is defeated.
What did happen in similar experiences?
...
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What would be the GDP of the Roman Empire?
I understand that this particular question is hard to answer. However, do there exist any historical record to how much was the GDP of Rome at some period? If not, could you give me a speculation or a ...
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Did the increase of slavery in the US bring an end to indentured servitude?
In the development of the New World, indentured servitude was quite common for passage across the Atlantic. Did the increase in slavery in America, especially in Virginia and other similar ...
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Does the world become more prosperous when divided? [closed]
Matt Ridley in Rational Optimist says that countries are prosperous when divided due to competition among government. Countries are backward when united.
According to this theory, China advanced after ...
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Did Japan make a contribution to World War II way out of proportion to its nominal relative GDP? [closed]
I was surprised to read these 1938 figures (admittedly estimates) of 1938 GDP for the major combatants of World War II.
In round figures, the U.S. had $85 billion, the Germans $42 billion, Britain $...
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What were the names of the weapon manufacturers in France in the late 1700's
What were the names of the companies that manufactured hand weapons in France in the late 1700's and who were the most productive.
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Why did Britain decide to issue perpetual bonds during Napoleonic era?
Background A few years ago I was a student of an economic course about loans, debts, interests, NPV etc. The trainer mentioned "The UK took a loan to fund wars against Napoleon. This has no term, ...
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Paradigm change in power: from military to economic in Europe [closed]
It seems to me that the Middle-Ages/Renaissance observed a paradigm shift between the source of political power in Western Europe.
Indeed, in the High Middle-Ages, Kings were ruling surrounded by ...
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In exchange for forbidding strikes, did Napoleon guarantee high wages?
According to Wikipedia citing Frank McLynn, Napoleon, Pimlico 1998 Ch 21, p482, strikes were forbidden by Napoleon I in exchange for a guarantee by employers that wages would remain high.
How did ...
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How big was the IMF loan Britain received in the 1970's?
During the turbulent times of the 1970's, the United Kingdom had to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan to meet its obligations. The National Archives state that in September 1976, a ...
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Estimating gross domestic product in ancient times
I would like to estimate, to what extent the Roman republic (or different parts of it) were "agricultural".
Today, a common measure to the "agricultural-ness" of an economy is the gross domestic ...
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Were boycotts, divestment, and sanctions effective against apartheid?
In the 1980s there was a movement to use boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) to apply pressure on the apartheid regime in South Africa. These efforts included sports boycotts, refusal of some ...
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Employment statistics in Germany since mid-19th century [closed]
What is the most reliable source of employment statistics in Germany? I am interested in the time period starting from mid-19th century all the way to present days.
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Other than coffee and tobacco what major product became Cuba's source of wealth in the 18th century?
How did the Industrial Revolution affect the production of this commodity? What, if any, affect did the Great Depression have on the industry?
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How long did it take to build earth dikes with low-tech tools?
Let's say you're in charge of a group of laborers anywhere from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages.
Your job is to build a dike made of earth, a couple of meters high and presumably about the same width ...
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What did Central America export in the early 20th century other than coffee and bananas?
Coffee and bananas dominated the Central American economy after the turn of the century, accounting for 75% of the region's exports in 1930. Central America became very dependent on the fortune of ...
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