Economic History Commons^™

What, Exactly, Is Surveillance Pricing?, Kaylina Stroud

McNair Summer Research Program

Surveillance pricing is a method of price discrimination in which firms use personal data to set individualized prices. While this practice is often criticized on grounds of privacy, unfairness, or exploitation, these objections do not fully explain what is morally objectionable about surveillance pricing. This paper examines surveillance pricing through the lenses of price discrimination, market competition, efficiency, exploitation, and deception. I argue that surveillance pricing is not inherently unethical merely because it results in different consumers paying different prices for the same product. Nor is it necessarily objectionable when it promotes mutually beneficial exchanges and efficient market outcomes. The …

Converting The Social Security Trust Fund Into A Sovereign Wealth Fund: A Proposal To Secure The Future, Keanu Moore

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis proposes the conversion of the Social Security Trust Fund into a sovereign wealth fund (SWF), paired with the phased creation of a mandatory retirement savings system for all working-age Americans. In response to forecasts projecting Trust Fund depletion by 2034, the proposed portfolio shift would diversify assets beyond U.S. Treasuries into global equities, real estate, alternatives, and fixed income, with the goal of enhancing long-term returns while remaining passively managed. While this reform would extend the Fund’s solvency, it is not, on its own, a permanent fix. To ensure structural sustainability beyond the exhaustion date, the thesis proposes …

The Economics Of Accountability: Learning From German Holocaust Reparations, Grace I. Gates

Scripps Senior Theses

Drawing on microdata from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe, this study compares European Holocaust survivors who received reparations with similar Europeans who did not. It finds that, decades on, recipients are not systematically better or worse off on core outcomes like life satisfaction, savings, and debt. This is consistent with the argument that reparations restore parity rather than create new advantages. Where differences emerge, they point to stabilization in more vulnerable settings (e.g., lower likelihood of high debt in parts of Eastern Europe). The main takeaway from effective reparations is applicable to the United States debate: …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Constructing A State: Canals And The Transformation Of The Economy, Politics, And Finance In Nineteenth-Century New York, Youwei Xing

All Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays in economic history, unified by a focus on one of America's earliest transportation infrastructures, the canal system, in nineteenth-century New York. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the state's transformation: its economy, politics, and finance, each of which helped construct New York as the Empire State.

The first chapter studies the economic impact of canals on economic modernization from three aspects: sectoral transition, urbanization, and banking development. Contrary to much of the modern literature finds transportation infrastructure leads to decentralization, I find the opposite-evidence of centralization. Specially: (1) canal towns experienced a transition …

The Evolution Of Schooling: From Industrial Obedience To Techno-Autonomy, Seb Taylor, Ron Roberts Ii

Digital Laboratory: Publisher of Internet Journal

This paper examines the enduring architecture of the American education system as a mechanism designed for compliance, not creativity. Rooted in 19th-century industrial logic, the structure of schooling, its physical design, time constraints, and assessment methods, has remained largely static despite seismic cultural and technological shifts. Through historical analysis and contemporary critique, this work interrogates the persistence of standardized methods, institutional prestige, and top-down instruction as barriers to meaningful learning and value creation. Drawing from interdisciplinary research and live case studies, including Alpha School’s AI-powered, mastery-based model, the paper advances the concept of techno-education: a student-centered paradigm informed by feedback …

Borders And Burdens: Three Essays On Inter-Jurisdictional Tax Policy In America, Benjamin Jaros

All Dissertations

Individuals, firms, and governments make decisions about the tradeoffs of different tax policies at jurisdictional borders, such as those between states, nations, or local governments; those choices shape the burden of taxation. This dissertation examines the effects of three distinct changes in tax policy: for state corporate income tax apportionment, colonial tobacco tariffs, and tax abatements for data centers. Chapter 1 examines how changes to the corporate income tax base formula affect state tax revenues. Chapter 2 analyzes how colonial era export and import tariffs on tobacco impacted trade volumes, raised revenue, and the distribution of the tax burden between …

The Formation Of The American League In Baseball; Changes In American Society And Culture That Contributed To The Demand For More Baseball In The Late 19th Century, Shawn M. Smith

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The second professional major league (the American League) in baseball came about in response to the demand for more baseball entertainment due to the increased amount of leisure time Americans had in the late-19th century as society started the shift from an agricultural based lifestyle to a culture who worked predominantly in factory work.

The culture and society of the day changed drastically due to changing economic conditions of the time period. Due to monumental changes in industry, the vast majority of the population had shifted from working in an agrarian society to working in factories as a result of …

When Consumers See It Coming: How Anticipation Affects The Domestic Cost Of Tariffs, Pierce D. Sanderson

CMC Senior Theses

Tariffs implemented by President Trump in 2018 were unexpected and significant, incurring large costs to U.S. consumers. This study examines the effect of tariff anticipation on price, quantity, and value effect on imports in the United States. Specifically, it focuses on tariffs implemented during Obama’s second term in office from 2012 to 2016 on the automotive, technology, and manufacturing industries. The findings present a significant divergence from the literature on the effects of 2018 tariffs, finding a near full pass-through of tariffs to foreign exporter prices rather than U.S. consumers. Specifically, a one percent increase in tariffs resulted in a …

Lessons Learned: Karl-Philipp Wojick, Maryann Haggerty

Journal of Financial Crises

Karl-Philipp Wojcik is the general counsel of the European Union’s Single Resolution Board (SRB), the central resolution authority within the European Commission (EC) banking union. The banking union, which as of January 1, 2023, encompasses the 20 eurozone countries, along with Bulgaria, was established as part of the financial system reforms stemming from the Global Financial Crisis and the ensuing European sovereign debt crisis. The SRB’s stated mission is to ensure orderly resolution of failing banks, protect taxpayers from state bailouts, and promote financial stability. Wojcik became SRB general counsel in November 2020. Previously, he was a member of the …

Lessons Learned: Subba Rao Duvvuri, Salil Gupta

Journal of Financial Crises

Subba Rao Duvvuri served as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for five years (2008–13). Before that, he was finance secretary to the government of India (2007–08), and secretary to the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2005–07). With a career spanning 35 years in the Indian Administrative Services, Duvvuri has held various positions at the state level in the government of Andhra Pradesh, and at the central government of India. Duvvuri was previously lead economist at the World Bank (1999–2004) and, after 2013, served as a visiting fellow at the National University of Singapore and the University of …

Lessons Learned: Calvin Mitchell Iii, Mercedes Cardona

Journal of Financial Crises

Calvin Mitchell III served as executive vice president of the communications group within the executive office of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) during the Global Financial Crisis. In 2008, Mitchell was tapped by Timothy Geithner, who was then FRBNY president, to head a new group charged with expanding the communications and community affairs functions. Mitchell left the FRBNY in 2009 for the private sector and returned to government in 2021 as assistant secretary for public affairs in the US Treasury Department.

International Monetary Fund: Special Drawing Rights Allocations, 2009, Ikbal S. Ahluwalia, Owen Heaphy, Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

Despite efforts by the world’s major economies to address stresses in the global financial system, by early 2009, the Global Financial Crisis caused developing and lower-income countries to experience shortages of the major reserve currencies. In August 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) distributed a general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of unprecedented size—totaling USD 250 billion (SDR 161.3 billion)—to all member countries in an effort to address these issues and provide liquidity to the world’s economies. In September 2009, it also distributed a special “catch-up” allocation of USD 33 billion in SDRs (SDR 21.5 billion) to eligible members …

Lessons Learned: Jason Cave, Vincient Arnold, Greg Feldberg

Journal of Financial Crises

Jason Cave was the senior adviser to the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2008 to 2011 and the deputy director of the Division of Complex Financial Institutions at the FDIC from 2011 to 2013. This Lessons Learned summary is based on an interview with Cave held on April 8, 2024. During the interview, Cave discussed the so-called ring-fencing arrangements planned, considered, or executed between various agencies of the US government—the Federal Reserve, Department of the Treasury, and FDIC—and three banks: Wachovia, Citigroup, and Bank of America. These arrangements, sometimes referred to as wraps or risk shields, …

International Monetary Fund: Short-Term Liquidity Line, 2020, Carey K. Mott, Léo Brougher

Journal of Financial Crises

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread in March 2020, global financial conditions tightened considerably. In response, global reserve currency-issuing countries extended bilateral swap lines to select countries. Strong demand for US dollar liquidity among emerging markets led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to introduce the Short-Term Liquidity Line (SLL) on April 15, 2020. The SLL functioned as a swap lending facility. Unlike other IMF liquidity tools, the SLL was a revolving credit line that allowed countries to repeatedly draw funds and make repayments, with each repayment restoring access up to the approved limit across SLL arrangements. Its purpose was to enable …

International Monetary Fund: Foreign Exchange Liquidity Through The Special Drawing Rights Allocation, 2021, Vincient Arnold

Journal of Financial Crises

The official response to the COVID-19 pandemic was costly for governments, particularly those in developing economies with significant existing external debt. On August 2, 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced in a press release the allocation of SDR 456 billion (USD 650 billion) in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to “address the long-term global need for reserves, build confidence, and foster the resilience and stability of the global economy.” The COVID-19 allocation was a form of unconditional (or “concessional”) liquidity to IMF member nations, similar to a capital injection or grant. It was the fourth-ever general allocation and the largest …

Striking A Balance: Market Shock & Responses In Automotive Components Manufacturing, Emma Lane Mcgahey

All Theses

This thesis examines the effects of extreme market shocks on supply chain dynamics within the automotive industry. Through an analysis of demand data from an automotive manufacturer to its component suppliers (January 2018 to May 2024), the study investigates the relationship between market shocks and supply chain responses, providing insights into how auto components inventory management handles downstream responses to market shocks. With supporting public data—from FRED, BLS, and the U.S. Census Bureau resources—we explore two primary relationships: the impact of market shocks on the Average Standard Deviation of Demand (SDO) and the effect of demand variability on expedited pricing …

Lessons Learned: Martín Redrado, Vincient Arnold

Journal of Financial Crises

Martín Redrado was appointed president of the Central Bank of Argentina by President Néstor Kirchner in 2004 and oversaw measures to manage the external shocks of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–09. He resigned in 2010 after President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner tried to remove him over a dispute regarding the use of the bank’s reserves to fund the government. After leaving the bank, Redrado authored the book No Reserve: The Limit of Absolute Power, which argues against the danger of mixing politics and economics. He is currently a director of the think tank Fundación Capital and most recently was …

Lessons Learned: Alfred Dellibovi, Maryanne Chute Lynch, Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

The Yale Program on Financial Stability (YPFS) interviewed Alfred DelliBovi about his tenure as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York leading up to and during the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–09 (GFC). The Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) played a critical and unexpected lending role for their member banks at the start of the crisis. DelliBovi remained in his position for 21 years, until 2014. Before moving to the FHLB, DelliBovi had served as deputy secretary at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 1989 to 1992, in …

Policy Note | Discount Window Stigma: What's Design Got To Do With It?, Susan Mclaughlin

Journal of Financial Crises

This article utilizes discount window transaction data, which the Federal Reserve began disclosing in 2010, to assess how the Fed’s 2003 redesign of the discount window has affected banks’ use of the window. The data show that while the discount window remains stigmatized and relatively little used outside periods of funding market stress, secondary credit has at times played a role in supporting bank recovery and resolution, as envisioned by the 2003 redesign. This development raises a policy question: has the two-tiered design of the discount window implemented in 2003, in which a lending facility for sound banks operates alongside …

Policy Note | Weekly Fed Report Still Drives Discount Window Stigma, Steven Kelly

Journal of Financial Crises

As banking regulators work to destigmatize the Federal Reserve’s discount window—and fervently so since the 2023 banking crisis—they’ve pointed to several potentially fruitful policy routes. These have included supervisory improvements, regulatory changes, and operational enhancements by both the banks and the Fed. Left off the menu so far have been changes to the Fed’s weekly publications that reveal up-to-date discount window borrowing data by regional geography. Reforms following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009 have made mandatory the disclosure of discount window borrowers on a two-year lag—higher transparency than previously when no disclosure was required. However, bigger banks, such as …

Russia: Otkritie Bank Restructuring, 2017, Benjamin Hoffner

Journal of Financial Crises

In July and August 2017, Otkritie Bank, Russia’s largest privately owned bank, experienced a deposit run related to concerns over Otkritie’s recent acquisitions. The run prompted Otkritie’s shareholders to approach the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) for assistance. On August 29, 2017, the CBR announced a rescue plan for Otkritie. In it, the CBR pledged to become Otkritie’s main investor using a newly created resolution mechanism wherein the CBR would take at least a 75% equity stake using funds from the Fund for Banking Sector Consolidation, a subdivision of the CBR. The CBR simultaneously appointed a provisional administration, composed of …

United States: Citigroup Capital Injection, 2008, Benjamin Hoffner, Vincient Arnold

Journal of Financial Crises

During the first three weeks of November 2008, Citigroup’s stock price dropped almost 80%, and its credit default swap spreads spiked as the market lost confidence in the bank’s ability to honor its commitments. Counterparties pulled away, and regulators determined Citi’s failure would constitute a systemic risk. On November 23, 2008, the Treasury, Federal Reserve Board, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a package of measures to rescue Citi, which included an Asset Guarantee Program (AGP) to cover $306 billion in Citi’s assets and an ad hoc capital injection—the Targeted Investment Program (TIP). Under the guarantee, Citi would absorb the …

United States: Bank Of America Capital Injection, 2009, Benjamin Hoffner, Vincient Arnold

Journal of Financial Crises

On September 15, 2008, Bank of America (BofA) announced a merger with the investment bank Merrill Lynch. In December, BofA learned that Merrill Lynch had experienced large, unexpected losses amounting to $15.5 billion during the fourth quarter of 2008. In light of these losses, BofA’s CEO informed the US Treasury secretary and Federal Reserve chairman that BofA intended to invoke the material adverse change clause of the merger agreement, allowing for a renegotiation of, or escape from, the merger. Officials at the Fed and Treasury warned BofA that a failure of the merger would have adverse consequences for BofA and …

Switzerland: Schweizerische Volksbank Capital Injection, 1933, Anmol Makhija

Journal of Financial Crises

Schweizerische Volksbank, or Swiss People’s Bank, grew to be the second-largest bank in Switzerland by 1930, when its balance sheet peaked at 1.7 billion Swiss francs (CHF). Beginning in 1929, nonperforming assets weighed on Volksbank’s profitability. By 1933, the bank faced losses on CHF 118.5 million in assets, representing approximately 10% of total assets. The government provided liquidity in the form of loans and deposits to Volksbank in 1931 and again in 1933 until it could finalize a capital injection. In 1933, the government determined that Volksbank was too important to the national economy to allow its failure. As owners …

Switzerland: Ubs Capital Injection, 2008, Anmol Makhija

Journal of Financial Crises

UBS, the eighth-largest bank in the world and the largest bank in Switzerland in 2008, incurred write-downs totaling USD 50 billion during the Global Financial Crisis, mostly on exposures to securities linked to US subprime mortgages. On October 16, 2008, the Swiss Federal Council announced that the government would subscribe to CHF 6 billion (USD 5.3 billion) of mandatory convertible notes (MCNs) issued by UBS to restore confidence in the bank and the financial system. UBS agreed to use the government’s capital to fund the equity for a special purpose vehicle, StabFund, that the central bank created to take over …

Spain: Caja De Ahorros Castilla–La Mancha Capital Injection, 2009, Lakshimi Swaminathan, Vincient Arnold

Journal of Financial Crises

Caja de Ahorros Castilla–La Mancha (CCM) was a small Spanish savings bank with just 1% market share in deposits and loans. Following years of rapid credit expansion in the real estate sector and reliance on wholesale funding markets to carry out its operations between 2000 and 2008, CCM found itself on the brink of insolvency in early 2009, with a Tier 1 capital ratio of just 1.3%, compared with the 8% regulators required. The authorities placed the bank under administration in 2009. Consequently, the Spanish Savings Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund (Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos de Ahorros, or FGD) agreed …

Portugal: Banco Espírito Santo Capital Injection, 2014, Salil Gupta, Shavonda Brandon

Journal of Financial Crises

Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was the second-largest private bank in Portugal in 2014, with assets of EUR 80 billion (USD 81 billion). A capital increase of EUR 1.1 billion to the BES was concluded on market terms in June 2014. The Bank of Portugal (BOP) adopted a resolution measure for BES on August 3, 2014, to safeguard financial stability by protecting all depositors and ensuring continuation of operating activities of the bank. The Portuguese Resolution Fund provided equity capital of EUR 4.9 billion to a bridge bank, Novo Banco, with 100% public ownership and the expectation of sale to private …

Russia: Otkritie Bank Capital Injection, 2017, Benjamin Hoffner

Journal of Financial Crises

In July and August 2017, Otkritie Bank, Russia’s largest privately owned bank, experienced a deposit run related to concerns over recent acquisitions, including a large, troubled bank and insurance company. The run prompted Otkritie’s shareholders to ask the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) for assistance, which the CBR announced on August 29, 2017. In the announcement and subsequent press interviews, the CBR pledged to become Otkritie’s main investor using a newly created resolution mechanism wherein the CBR would take at least a 75% equity stake using funds from the Fund for Banking Sector Consolidation (FBSC), a subsidiary of the CBR. …

Latvia: Parex Bank Capital Injection, 2008, Bailey Decker

Journal of Financial Crises

Heading into the Global Financial Crisis, JSC Parex banka was Latvia’s second-largest bank in terms of assets, comprising 13.8% of total assets in the Latvian banking sector. In autumn 2008, Parex faced a capital shortfall owing to massive credit and market losses in addition to increasing liquidity problems and deposit runs of 240 million Latvian lats (LVL; USD 428.6 million). Parex’s capital adequacy ratio fell below the regulatory minimum of 8% on October 28, 2008. Parex had two senior syndicated loans maturing in February and June 2009, totaling EUR 775 million (USD 992 million). Latvian authorities doubted that Parex would …