We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite nu... more We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite numeracy since the 6th century CE and describe its co-evolution with elite violence over this period. During the early medieval period, Western Europe had no advantage over the east, but the development of relative violence levels changed this. After implementing an instrumental variable strategy and a battery of robustness tests, we find a substantial relationship and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. The drastic increase in human capital since the High Middle Ages was at least partially due to declining violence.
Territorial State Capacity and Elite Violence from the 6th to the 19th century, 2021
We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate ... more We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate the role of the state in European violence between the 6 th and 19 th centuries. First, regicide is critically assessed as a proxy for interpersonal elite violence. Second, we propose 'territorial state capacity' as a measure of states being able to keep or even expand their territories. We find a negative correlation between the changes in territorial state capacity and the changes in elite violence. This could be interpreted in two ways, either that growing territorial state capacity enabled human society to reduce violence, or that a higher regicide rate resulted in lower territorial state capacity. Another possibility would be a bidirectional mechanism that resulted in a co-evolution of the two variables.
We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite nu... more We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite numeracy since the 6th century CE and describe its co-evolution with elite violence over this period. During the early medieval period, Western Europe had no advantage over the east, but the development of relative violence levels changed this. After implementing an instrumental variable strategy and a battery of robustness tests, we find a substantial relationship and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. The drastic increase in human capital since the High Middle Ages was at least partially due to declining violence.
European Journal of Political Economy, Dec 1, 2021
Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and inv... more Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate the role of the state in European violence between the 6th and 19th centuries. First, regicide is critically assessed as a proxy for interpersonal elite violence. Second, we propose ‘territorial state capacity’ as a measure of states being able to keep or even expand their territories. We find a negative correlation between the changes in territorial state capacity and the changes in elite violence. This could be interpreted in two ways, either that growing territorial state capacity enabled human society to reduce violence, or that a higher regicide rate resulted in lower territorial state capacity. Another possibility would be a bidirectional mechanism that resulted in a co-evolution of the two variables.
Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and inv... more Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate the role of the state in European violence between the 6th and 19th centuries. First, regicide is critically assessed as a proxy for interpersonal elite violence. Second, we propose ‘territorial state capacity’ as a measure of states being able to keep or even expand their territories. We find a negative correlation between the changes in territorial state capacity and the changes in elite violence. This could be interpreted in two ways, either that growing territorial state capacity enabled human society to reduce violence, or that a higher regicide rate resulted in lower territorial state capacity. Another possibility would be a bidirectional mechanism that resulted in a co-evolution of the two variables.
We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite nu... more We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite numeracy since the 6th century CE and describe its co-evolution with elite violence over this period. During the early medieval period, Western Europe had no advantage over the east, but the development of relative violence levels changed this. After implementing an instrumental variable strategy and a battery of robustness tests, we find a substantial relationship and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. The drastic increase in human capital since the High Middle Ages was at least partially due to declining violence.
The existence of persistence in unit trust returns and persistent outperformance in particular, a... more The existence of persistence in unit trust returns and persistent outperformance in particular, are thoroughly researched topics with most of the credible literature pointing toward the existence of short term persistence only. This paper makes use of a South African data set that is relatively free of survivorship bias and uses of Sharpe Ratios in order to adjust for risk. Thereafter, the potential for outperformance is assessed before using the so-called ‘Recursive Portfolio Approach’ to test for persistence. Though the prospects benchmark outperformance look marginal, this paper’s results are largely in line with what is seen in the literature as short term persistence is found for balanced, equity and fixed-income funds but not for property funds or ‘other’ funds. Though persistence is seen to diminish over longer investment horizons, it is consistently found to emerge as a more modern phenomenon among each asset class, arising as a significant feature since the early 2000s.
We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite nu... more We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite numeracy since the 6th century CE and describe its co-evolution with elite violence over this period. During the early medieval period, Western Europe had no advantage over the east, but the development of relative violence levels changed this. After implementing an instrumental variable strategy and a battery of robustness tests, we find a substantial relationship and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. The drastic increase in human capital since the High Middle Ages was at least partially due to declining violence.
Territorial State Capacity and Elite Violence from the 6th to the 19th century, 2021
We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate ... more We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate the role of the state in European violence between the 6 th and 19 th centuries. First, regicide is critically assessed as a proxy for interpersonal elite violence. Second, we propose 'territorial state capacity' as a measure of states being able to keep or even expand their territories. We find a negative correlation between the changes in territorial state capacity and the changes in elite violence. This could be interpreted in two ways, either that growing territorial state capacity enabled human society to reduce violence, or that a higher regicide rate resulted in lower territorial state capacity. Another possibility would be a bidirectional mechanism that resulted in a co-evolution of the two variables.
We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite nu... more We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite numeracy since the 6th century CE and describe its co-evolution with elite violence over this period. During the early medieval period, Western Europe had no advantage over the east, but the development of relative violence levels changed this. After implementing an instrumental variable strategy and a battery of robustness tests, we find a substantial relationship and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. The drastic increase in human capital since the High Middle Ages was at least partially due to declining violence.
European Journal of Political Economy, Dec 1, 2021
Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and inv... more Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate the role of the state in European violence between the 6th and 19th centuries. First, regicide is critically assessed as a proxy for interpersonal elite violence. Second, we propose ‘territorial state capacity’ as a measure of states being able to keep or even expand their territories. We find a negative correlation between the changes in territorial state capacity and the changes in elite violence. This could be interpreted in two ways, either that growing territorial state capacity enabled human society to reduce violence, or that a higher regicide rate resulted in lower territorial state capacity. Another possibility would be a bidirectional mechanism that resulted in a co-evolution of the two variables.
Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and inv... more Abstract We present new evidence for elite violence using regicide, the killing of kings, and investigate the role of the state in European violence between the 6th and 19th centuries. First, regicide is critically assessed as a proxy for interpersonal elite violence. Second, we propose ‘territorial state capacity’ as a measure of states being able to keep or even expand their territories. We find a negative correlation between the changes in territorial state capacity and the changes in elite violence. This could be interpreted in two ways, either that growing territorial state capacity enabled human society to reduce violence, or that a higher regicide rate resulted in lower territorial state capacity. Another possibility would be a bidirectional mechanism that resulted in a co-evolution of the two variables.
We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite nu... more We develop a new indicator for elite numeracy in order to investigate trends in European elite numeracy since the 6th century CE and describe its co-evolution with elite violence over this period. During the early medieval period, Western Europe had no advantage over the east, but the development of relative violence levels changed this. After implementing an instrumental variable strategy and a battery of robustness tests, we find a substantial relationship and conclude that violence had a detrimental impact on human capital formation. The drastic increase in human capital since the High Middle Ages was at least partially due to declining violence.
The existence of persistence in unit trust returns and persistent outperformance in particular, a... more The existence of persistence in unit trust returns and persistent outperformance in particular, are thoroughly researched topics with most of the credible literature pointing toward the existence of short term persistence only. This paper makes use of a South African data set that is relatively free of survivorship bias and uses of Sharpe Ratios in order to adjust for risk. Thereafter, the potential for outperformance is assessed before using the so-called ‘Recursive Portfolio Approach’ to test for persistence. Though the prospects benchmark outperformance look marginal, this paper’s results are largely in line with what is seen in the literature as short term persistence is found for balanced, equity and fixed-income funds but not for property funds or ‘other’ funds. Though persistence is seen to diminish over longer investment horizons, it is consistently found to emerge as a more modern phenomenon among each asset class, arising as a significant feature since the early 2000s.
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