Global migration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: the unstoppable force of demography

Review of World Economics - This paper sheds light on the global migration patterns of the past 40 years, and produces migration projections for the 21st century. To do this, we build a simple...     

基于价值链理论的零售业服务链战略构建

在当前机遇与挑战并存的背景下,零售业发展急需理论创新。构建服务链战略是中国零售业发展的必然选择。文章在价值链理论的基础上,将顾客服务和顾客满意引入其中,构建了从供应商、中间商到消费者的完整的零售业服务链体系。     

Consumer revolution in north-western Germany: Material culture,global goods,and proto-industry in rural households in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries

Existing scholarship on the early modern consumer revolution postulates a dichotomy between the classic pioneering countries of England and the Netherlands and the remaining parts of Europe, which were more stagnant. We contribute to this literature by analysing probate inventories in a rural area in north-western Germany. We show that a closer look at these spaces, which had an intermediate level of development and integration into global markets, reveals a more gradual development and a discernible market evolution. Sumptuary laws may have somewhat slowed down the change in material culture in German regions, but the presence of towns and the proximity to the Netherlands had noticeably positive effects on consumer behaviour. The proto-industrial orientation of local economies proved to be particularly important, as it led to the granting of access to global markets, in addition to greater availability of cash. We observe a delayed diffusion of the new consumer culture in intermediate European regions and argue for a more gradual view of the European consumer revolution.     

Deal with it! The emergence and reversal of an agro-ecological crisis,Southern Sweden in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

The European Early Modern period provides examples of stagnating and even declining production and energy consumption per capita, which can be interpreted as indicators of an emerging crisis. With a focus on agriculture sector, some have suggested that the crisis was ‘conditional’ – meaning that a crisis can only be observed in some cases. This article investigates one such case, a village in Southern Sweden during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and investigates the mechanisms that mediate population growth to deteriorating living standards and environmental degradation. It provides new insights into the conditions of pre-industrial agriculture, particularly as regards the consequences of intensified demand pressure in ecologically fragile areas, and argues that human societies must be studied in tandem with their natural surroundings.     

Salesmen and the transformation of selling in Britain and the US in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries1

Was a ‘transformation of selling’ in the US between the 1880s and 1930 exceptional? Archives of three leading British consumer goods companies reveal that a comparable transformation in selling methods was effected through the changing role for salesmen. Unlike the explanation offered for the transformation in the US, developments in Britain cannot be explained by a structural model in which the dynamics are mass production, size, corporate structure, and strategy. Consumer theory based on product characteristics and consumer behaviour provides a superior explanation. The history of marketing by the British companies also justifies a challenge to the production‐driven interpretation of business development and corporate growth.     

Entrepreneurs,formalization of social ties,and trustbuilding in Europe (fourteenth to twentieth centuries)1

The establishment of trust is a key component of economic activity and social ties can make business dealings work better. However, we do not know much about how economic actors created new social ties deliberately in order to pursue their objectives. This article analyses the way in which merchants and entrepreneurs used specific rituals to establish formal social ties, with the intent of protecting their business relationships. It focuses on relational instruments that until now had been neglected, particularly godparenthood and marriage witnessing. It shows that formalization, ritualization, and publicity of ties were used by entrepreneurs to establish trust with their business associates, for example when information was asymmetric or when institutions were perceived as inefficient in guaranteeing mutual good behaviour. The analysis covers a long period, from the late middle ages to today. It pays particular attention to the consequences of the Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth. Contrary to the received wisdom, it suggests that formal social ties such as godparenthood continued to play an important role in economic activity during and after the industrial revolution. New databases on early modern Italy and nineteenth‐century France are used.     

中日韩FTA的建构及其对两岸经贸关系的影响

在东亚区域经济一体化不断加快的大背景下,中日韩FTA的协商全面启动。作为东亚最重要的三大经济体,中日韩FTA的协商将对东亚区域经济合作格局和全球经济发展带来较大的影响。中国台湾经济具有显著的浅碟形特征,对外贸易依赖度高,出口的一半以上集中于东亚地区,因此,中、日、韩FTA的进展必然对两岸经贸关系产生直接的冲击和影响。在这一情势下,进一步深化两岸产业合作、推进ECFA的后续协商,并在增强两岸互信的基础上积极参与东亚区域经济合作的进程已经成为台湾地区的应对之道和必然的选择。     

The reliability of the registration of births and deaths in Finland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Some examples

Abstract

Finland has an abundance of source materials for the study of historical demography. The best-known records are the two sets of tables: the census and mortality tables which were maintained by the parish clergy from 1749 onwards. These recorded the size of the population, to some extent its distribution, and the vital statistics of births, marriages and deaths. The various parish registers formed the basic material for these tables, and information about births and deaths was taken from the registers of births and deaths which exist for Finnish parishes in significant numbers after the Great Northern War (i.e. after 1721). Indeed, for some parishes such registers have survived from as early as the second half of the seventeenth century. Finland therefore has rich documentation available for research into fertility and mortality. However demographic research has previously concentrated upon the more accessible census data, while the registers of births and deaths have been relatively neglected.     

New evidence and new methods to measure human capital inequality before and during the industrial revolution: France and the US in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries

We explore pre‐ and early industrial inequality of numeracy using the age heaping method and anthropometric strategies. For France, we map differential numeracy between the upper and lower segments of a sample population for 26 regions during the seventeenth century. For the US, inequality of numeracy is estimated for 25 states during the 19th century. Testing the hypothesis of a negative impact of inequality on welfare growth, we find evidence that lower inequality increased industrial development in the US, whereas for France such an effect was only evident in interactions with political variables such as proximity to central government.     

海峡西岸经济区建设与两岸经贸合作

海峡西岸经济区战略有其深刻的产生背景与内涵。其目标是充分发挥福建地理区住优势，加速海峡两岸经济整合，最终促成海峡经济区的建立，使海峡经济区成为中国经济发展的一个重要增长极，成为台湾布局两岸经贸合作的一个重要枢纽或中介地。