The wholesale and retail markets of London, 1660–1840

Markets and marketing are perennial themes in English economic and social history. Yet they remain largely unexplored in relation to London during a period of remarkable growth and change, the long eighteenth century. This article begins to fill that void, by surveying over 70 London produce markets that existed during the period, and identifying patterns in their collective development. It concludes that the physical market place, though ancient in origin, evolved through the ‘commercial revolution’ as a highly dynamic and diverse institution that played a significant role in London's distribution.     

香港与新加坡服务贸易比较及其与中国经济关系

从中国开放格局看,全面推进香港与内地服务贸易自由化是目前政策重点,与此同时东盟10+1也步入服务贸易自由化的阶段。未来,香港、新加坡服务贸易将共同在中国发挥重要作用。     

Slave prices,the African slave trade,and productivity in the Caribbean, 1674–18071

We draw wide‐ranging implications about slave productivity change by making use of newly collected data on the prices paid for nearly 230,000 slaves as they arrived in the Americas from Africa between 1674 and 1807. Prices for the product that most slaves were destined to produce‐sugar‐are also available. Together the comprehensive series allow us to derive annual measures of average slave productivity and to compare productivity trends across different sectors of the Caribbean. Average productivity rose throughout the Caribbean, and the pattern of average productivity change across regions was similar, indicating an open slave market. These averages mask sharp differences in the growth of demand for slaves among regions, as reflected by their slave populations. Between 1700 and 1790 the increase in demand ranged from 90 per cent in Barbados to 600 per cent in Jamaica and Cuba; while total factor productivity overall may have doubled. The slave trade accommodated the rising demand. It also served to offset population attrition among the slaves.     

The consumption of radio broadcast technologies in Hong Kong,c.1930–19601

This article uses previously under‐exploited quantitative and qualitative primary sources in Hong Kong, the US, and the UK to chronicle how radio broadcast technologies extended in a Less Developed Country. As incomes were rising and the price of radio receiving sets was falling, demand‐side forces were strong in Hong Kong. Yet, these forces alone cannot explain the pattern of diffusion observed. Innovations accelerated the take‐up of radios. The liberalization and de‐regulation of radio broadcasting provided pre‐requisites for these supply‐side shifts.     

香港、新加坡和上海国际金融中心的比较研究

本文以金融中心的功能定义为基准,以金融发展理论为基础,以金融系统功能分析为思路,对香港、新加坡和上海国际金融中心功能进行比较分析,探寻上海的比较优势和劣势。得出结论:从历史和现实来看,香港和新加坡在金融系统功能的诸多方面都超越上海,上海只是在商品期货方面处于领先地位;上海的最大优势之一是它和伦敦、纽约、东京一样有着强大的国家经济体作为后盾,近几年发展态势良好,有实现跨越式发展的能力:开放型、多功能是构建上海国际金融中心的趋势和方向。     

English and Scottish overseas trade, 1300–16001

This article compares English and Scottish exports, from 1300–1600, using existing statistical data from England and a new data set of Scottish exports. It shows that the significant English and Scottish wool trades collapsed at almost identical rates. However, while England shifted towards exporting woollen cloth, a similar move in Scotland was weak—because of the poor quality of cloth and the urban form of the industry. In the second half of the sixteenth century, as English exports stagnated, Scottish trade began to grow, especially new and less‐established commodities. This ‘recovery’ was based on the heavy depreciation of the Scottish currency.     

International bimetallism and silver absorption in Singapore, 1840–73

This study reveals the mechanism underlying the silver trade in Singapore during the third quarter of the nineteenth century by analysing banking business and bullion arbitrage. After 1849, the California Gold Rush induced gold depreciation and silver appreciation in Singapore's bullion market, and arbitrage profits for silver imports from Britain emerged. At the same time, the expansion of banking business by eastern exchange banks enhanced the connectivity of Singapore's exchange market with London, and enabled bullion arbitrage between the two distant cities. As a result, there was an influx of silver from Britain. In addition, Dutch silver, which was exported to Java by the Netherlands after 1854, flowed into Singapore due to the unfavourable exchange policy of the Dutch government.     

香港新加坡转型经验对深圳的启示

深圳提出加快建设现代化国际化先进城市的目标,香港、新加坡应成为重要参照系。深圳GDP超过新加坡、香港只是时间问题,但要实现经济、管理、制度现代化的全面超越则非易事,必须通过深化改革开放,加快经济社会的转型。     

香港与新加坡国际金融中心发展比较研究

香港和新加坡作为亚洲四小龙,都是亚洲区域重要的国际金融中心。二者在国际金融中心建设中的定位和发展战略,具有鲜明的特色和深刻的借鉴性。     

Foreign investment, trade and growth in the United Kingdom, 1870–1913

England will not be able to hold her own against the other nations by the mere sedulous practice of familiar process…. Her chief remaining advantage lies in that unapproached freedom of movement, that viability that gives her much of the strength without the cumbrousness and want of elasticity of a single huge firm extending over the entire land.     

Trade,the Staple Theory of Growth,and Fluctuations in Colonial Singapore, 1900–39

Our paper enquires into the nexus between trade, growth, and fluctuations in the British colony of Singapore during the early twentieth century. Hitherto, little quantitative economic history has been written on this great entrepôt of Southeast Asia due to a lack of data. We overcome this limitation by utilising the gross domestic product series recently constructed for the pre‐war period by Sugimoto. This comprehensive data set enables us to explore the relevance and applicability of the staple theory of export‐led growth to colonial Singapore through cliometric analyses. The results suggest that foreign trade had acted both as an engine of growth and a source of economic instability.     

R&;D,trade, and productivity growth in korean manufacturing

This paper investigates the effects of both R&D spillovers and trade patterns on productivity in Korean manufacturing, using industry-level data. The results show that domestic and foreign R&D capital stocks played an important R&D in improving the total factor productivity of Korean manufacturing. Moreover, productivity is higher in export industries and the more open industries, and the effects of foreign R&D capital are stronger in the industries with large import shares or large intra-industry trade shares. JEL no. F10, O32, O47.