Thomas J. Watson and the Business-Government Relationship, 1933-1956

The precise nature of the relationship between the Americanbusiness community and the New Deal has been a lively topicof debate in recent years. This article looks at an importantfigure and firm in that relationship (Thomas J. Watson of IBM)to increase our understanding of it. This article focuses chronologicallyon the period from the early 1930s through the mid-1950s, whenNew-Deal-era public policy innovations were most influential.The overall picture that emerges from this study of the U.S.business-government relationship during those years is one ofbusiness accommodation of major changes in social conditionsand public policies rather than a view of business as the primaryleader of change.     

John V. C. Nye. War, Wine, and Taxes: The Political Economy of Anglo-French Trade, 1689-1900

This is not a long book: an introduction and eight chaptersamounting to 120 pages with additional appendices. However,it eruditely covers and raises a wide variety of intriguingissues that give it far greater impact than the slim volumemight at first suggest. The book is fundamentally about challenging the assertion thatBritain was a free trader in the nineteenth century and wasa free trader when compared specifically with France. From theoutset, John Nye sets     

The New Political Economy of EU State Aid Policy

Despite its importance and singularity, the EU’s state aid policy has attracted less scholarly attention than other elements of EU competition policy. Introducing the themes addressed by the special issue, this article briefly reviews the development of EU policy and highlights why the control of state aid matters. The Commission’s response to the current economic crisis notably in banking and the car industry is a key concern, but the interests of the special issue go far beyond. They include: the role of the European Commission in the development of EU policy, the politics of state aid, and a clash between models of capitalism. The special issue also examines the impact of EU policy. It investigates how EU state aid decisions affect not only industrial policy at the national level (and therefore at the EU level), but the welfare state and territorial relations within federal member states, the external implications of EU action and the strategies pursued by the Commission to limit any potential disadvantage to European firms, and the conflict between the EU’s expanding legal order and national.     

Robert Shogan. Backlash: The Killing of the New Deal

The title of this book, bringing to mind several recent politicalpolemics, might lead one to expect an indictment of recent presidentialadministrations for attempting to dismantle cherished New Dealprograms. Robert Shogan has a different "killing of the NewDeal" in mind, however, namely that of the New Deal's zeitgeistof policy activism and "bold, persistent experimentation." ByAugust 1935, virtually all of the landmark New Deal programshad been enacted, and Franklin D. Roosevelt himself declaredthat     

The Political Economy of Distribution Systems:

The policital economy paradigm is a unifying framework that has fostered a richer understanding of distribution systems. Dahlstrom and Dwyer (1992) recently outlined theoretical developments and empirical trends within the internal polity and economy of marketing channels. In this follow-up article a network approach supports the development of illustrative propositions to advance simultaneous assessment of the political and economic components of multiparty exchange systems.     

Effective Public Relations. Cutlip,Scott M., and Allen H. Center. 5th Edition. Englewood Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1978

Abstract

ADSPLIT is a computer-based, interactive, marketing model which optimally allocates a specified corporate promotional budget among individual brands competing for limited resources. The model requires either (a) regression-based response function coefficients based on historical data, or (b) judgments on what sales should be for different values of price and advertising expenditure for the brands, which the program then uses to estimate the function parameters. The advertising-sales response function is modeled through a flexible form that allows both concave and S-shaped relationships, while sales are related to price through a constant elasticity (Cobb-Douglas) function. The model uses the estimated or input functions to compute the optimal budget allocation for the brands, given an upper bound for the total promotional expenditures and upper- and lower-budget bounds for every brand, using nonlinear optimization heuristics. Optimal prices for the brands are also computed.     

The Political Economy of Distribution Systems:

The political economy paradigm is a unifying framework that has fostered a richer understanding of distribution systems. This essay outlines theoretical developments and empirical trends within the internal polity and economy of marketing channels. Directions for research are outlined.     

Daniel Lederman. The Political Economy of Protection: Theory and the Chilean Experience. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2005. ix + 191 pp. ISBN 0-8047-4917-5, $55.00.

To anyone teaching the political economy of protection, Chilemust be among the closest "natural" experiments around. Thisbook provides a rich and very informative interpretation ofChilean trade policies that covers the period 1810–2000. Chapter 1 reviews the contributions by economists and politicalscientists to the public choice approach to the determinantsof protection. Contributions by the economics and politicalscience literature are grafted to a supply-demand frameworkof protection, with much of the discussion focusing on     

Newsom,Doug and Alan Scott. This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1976

Abstract

The use of music and lyrics in commercials run in the United States is compared with their use in commercials run in the Dominican Republic (D.R.). The authors briefly review present theoretical perspectives on the role of music in advertising and address the need to conceptualize music as a culturally situated variable. They discuss the structure of Dominican TV media and examine the influence of U.S. media culture in the D.R., then develop a set of propositions about cross-cultural differences in the extensiveness of music and lyrics in commercials, the style of music used, and the product meanings conveyed in lyrics. The propositions are tested in a content analysis of commercials. The findings support the propositions and indicate a need for sociological and interpretive approaches to the study of the role of music in advertising.     

Virtuous Individuals, Organizations and Political Economy: A New Age Theological Alternative to Capitalism

With the dramatic collapse of bureaucratic dictatorial socialism, Business Ethicists need an antithesis to capitalism to enrich our reformist writings. Reliance on self-regulation and requesting that business executives behave in a socially responsible manner are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for creating a "good society." The purpose of this article is to introduce readers to the works of two new age theologians – Neale Donald Walsch and Reverend Sun Myung Moon – who offer an alternative vision and paradigm for understanding business and society relationships. They provide unique insights about economics, organizational structures and policies, and individual attitudes and behaviors necessary for creating an ethical society. Pertinent economic and organizational concepts emanating from their writings include mission statements and codes of ethics; meaningful and joyful work; autonomy and self-management; workplace diversity; parentism and participatory management; stakeholder governance boards; democratic social capitalismwith upper and lower income limits; and the principle ofvisibility. Work should support family units and individualgrowth and development, not supersede or destroy them.     

Alan Lawson. A Commonwealth of Hope: The New Deal Response to Crisis

The title of Alan Lawson's new book, A Commonwealth of Hope:The New Deal Response to Crisis, arises from his view that thetremendous intellectual and social ferment of the late nineteenthand early twentieth centuries had a far more formative influenceon the architects of the 1930s New Deal than has been acknowledged.During the earlier era the term "commonwealth" was used to describe"the ideal American society by those with a hopeful vision ofAmerica's governing prospects" (xi). The bounty produced by     

Werner Abelshauser. The Dynamics of German Industry: Germany's Path toward the New Economy and the American Challenge. New York: Berghahn Books, 2005. vii + 168 pp. ISBN 1-84545-072-8, $45.00.

Werner Abelshauser is a professor of economic history at theUniversity of Bielefeld. He has written about Germany’seconomic history since 1870, with specific studies concerningKrupp between 1933 and 1951, BASF since 1952, and Germany’seconomic history since World War II. Part of a series devotedto historiography, this volume grew out of     

AnnaLee Saxenian. The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2006. 424 pp. ISBN 0-674-02201-7, $27.95 (paper).

This book considers a fascinating aspect of new technology businessesand the network economies that support their development. Essentially,it is about the movement of technically skilled professionalswho have been drawn into the commercial environment of SiliconValley and their subsequent technology transfer relationshipwith the part of the world from which they were originally drawn.To use the phraseology of the book, this is about "brain circulation"as opposed to     

The Political Economy of Basle II: The Costs for Poor Countries

The financial crises of the 1990s triggered many changes to the design of the international financial system. We use the formulation of the new Basle capital accord for banks (B‐II) to illustrate that, while much affected, developing countries have had very little influence on this so‐called new international financial architecture. We argue that B‐II has been formulated largely to serve the interests of powerful market players, with developing countries being left out. At the same time, we demonstrate that B‐II is likely to raise the costs and reduce the supply of external financing for developing countries in particular. Furthermore, and importantly, B‐II may well increase the pro‐cyclicality of external financing, an unfortunate outcome given that developing countries already face much volatility in terms of capital flows. Overall, while B‐II may indeed compensate for a range of weaknesses of Basle I, the exclusionary policy process and costs which B‐II imposes on developing countries require a re‐think of the way in which crucial elements of financial governance, such as the Basle capital accords, are developed and implemented.     

The Suez Company's Concession in Egypt, 1854-1956: Modern Infrastructure and Local Economic Development

For over a century in Egypt, the Suez Canal Company reflectedthe role of the concession in European economic expansion overseas.Concession was a European business practice widespread in Egypt;it was an institution inherited from a system of privilegesfor Europeans since the Middle Ages. It promised a way for Egyptto adopt modern infrastructures and receive needed Europeanhelp for digging the canal. The results of the Suez Companyare indisputable: the desert of the Suez Isthmus became a livelyeconomic region with active ports, growing cities, and an expandinglabor force. And the region was linked to the rest of the countryby a new road network. At the same time, however, the concessionsystem denied Egypt full benefit of this infrastructure. Thecanal served the financial and strategic interests of the company,not the interests of the local economy. This outcome embodiedall the contradictions of the concession system: on the onehand, concessions were a necessity for modern infrastructuredevelopment in Egypt; on the other, they were a hindrance tofurther national economic development.     

Kathleen Thelen. How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2004. xv + 333 pp. ISBN 0-521-83768-5, $75.00 (cloth); ISBN 0-521-54674-5, $29.99 (paper).

Kathleen Thelen has written an incredibly fascinating book thatshould be obligatory reading for anyone interested in the historyof skill formation or the evolution of institutions in general.For those working on the "varieties of capitalism," path-dependency,punctured equilibrium, or historical institutionalism, thistext should feature prominently in their work. Thelen’sgoal in this book is to discover why Germany, Britain, the UnitedStates, and Japan pursued different "paths" of skill formation.She traces the origin of each path