The Life and Times of J. Neville Keynes: A Beacon in the Tempest

Book reviewed
Phyllis Deane, The Life and Times of J. Neville Keynes: A Beacon in the Tempest. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2001. Pp. xvii + 313. ISBN: 1 84064 534 2. Hardback £69.00. Reviewed by Athol Fitzgibbons Griffith University     

The Big End of Town: Big Business and Corporate Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia

Book reviewed
Grant Fleming, David Merrett and Simon Ville, The Big End of Town: Big Business and Corporate Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. viii + 310. ISBN: 0 521 83311 6. Hardback $59.99. Reviewed by Leslie Hannah University of Tokyo     

The World Economy and National Economies in the Interwar Slump

Book reviewed
Theo Balderston, (ed.), The World Economy and National Economies in the Interwar Slump. Palgrave: Macmillan, 2003. Pp. xii + 226. ISBN: 0 333 73864 0. Hardback £55.00. Reviewed by W. R. Garside University of Otago     

Sail and Steam: Selected Maritime Writings of Yrjo Kauliainen

Book reviewed
Lars U. Scholl and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen, (compilers), Sail and Steam: Selected Maritime Writings of Yrjo Kauliainen. St John's, Newfoundland: International Maritime Economic History Association, 2004. Pp. xviii + 266, illustrations, tables. ISBN: 0 9730073 7 0. Paperback US$15.00. Reviewed by Gavin McLean Ministry for Culture & Heritage, Wellington     

Political Competition, Innovation and Growth in the History of Asian Civilizations

Book reviewed
Bernholz, Peter and Roland Vaubel, (eds.), Political Competition, Innovation and Growth in the History of Asian Civilizations. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2004. Pp. xii + 225. ISBN: 1 84376 919 0. Hardcover £59.95. Reviewed by Kent G. Deng London School of Economics     

Corporate Collapse. Accounting, Regulatory, and Ethical Failure

Book reviewed
Frank Clarke, Graeme Dean and Kyle Oliver, Corporate Collapse. Accounting, Regulatory, and Ethical Failure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, revised edition, 2003. Pp. xxviii + 383. ISBN: 0 521 53426 7. Paperback $49.95. Reviewed by Gordon Boyce Queensland University of Technology     

Currency, Credit and Commerce: Early Growth in Southeast Asia

Book reviewed
Peter J. Drake, Currency, Credit and Commerce: Early Growth in Southeast Asia. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004. Pp. 257, index. ISBN: 0 7546 3450 7. Hardcover £55.00. Reviewed by Howard Dick University of Melbourne     

The City and the Railway in Europe

Book reviewed
Ralf Roth and Marie-Noëlle Polino, (eds), The City and the Railway in Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. Pp. 324. ISBN: 0 7546 0766 6. Hardback £45.00. Reviewed by Gerald Crompton University of Kent     

The Economic Effects of Constitutions

Book reviewed
Torsten Perrson and Guido Tabellini, The Economic Effects of Constitutions. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003. Pp. 320. ISBN: 0 262 16219 9. Hardback US$35.00. Reviewed by Lewis Evans Victoria University of Wellington     

The Biographical Dictionary of British Economists

Book reviewed
Donald Rutherford, (editor-in-chief ), The Biographical Dictionary of British Economists. 2 volumes. London: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004. Pp. xxv, 1–621; 623–1330. ISBN: 1 84371 030 7. Hardback £350.00. Reviewed by Warren J. Samuels Michigan State University     

Governance, Regulation and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region

Book reviewed
Taktoshi Ito and Anne. O. Kreuger, (eds), Governance, Regulation and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region. Chicago and London: National Bureau of Economic Research and University of Chicago Press, 2004. Pp. 480. ISBN: 0 226 38679 1. Hardback US$95.00. Reviewed by Robert Millward University of Manchester     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed
David Blackbourn, The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany . London: Jonathan Cape, 2006. xxi + 466 pp. ISBN: 0 224 06071 6. Hardback £30.
Reviewed by Paul L. Robertson
University of Tasmania/University of Queensland
Beverley Kingston, A History of New South Wales . Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ix + 299 pp. ISBN: 0521541689. Paperback $A36.75.
Reviewed by Seamus O'Hanlon
Monash University
Graeme Morton, Boudien de Vries and R.J. Morris (eds), Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places: Class, Nation and Culture in Nineteenth Century Europe . Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. 220 pp. ISBN: 0 7546 5247 5. Hardback £55/US$ 99.95.
Reviewed by Ian Morley
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Paweł Bożyk, Globalization and the Transformation of Foreign Economic Policy . Aldershot, UK and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006. x + 262 pp. ISBN: 0 7546 4638 6. Hardback £55.00.
Reviewed by Jerry Mushin
Victoria University of Wellington
John Benson and Laura Ugolini (eds), Cultures of Selling: Perspectives on Consumption and Society Since 1700 . Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. xiv + 297 pp. ISBN: 10: 0 7546 5046 4. Hardback pound;45.00.
Reviewed by Helen Laurenson
University of Auckland     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed
Richard Perren, Taste, Trade and Technology: The Development of the International Meat Industry since 1840 . Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. xi + 285 pp. ISBN: 0754636488. Hardback £55.
Reviewed by Bernard Attard
University of Leicester
Brenda J. Buchanan (ed.), Gunpowder, Explosives, and the State. A Technological History . Ashgate: Aldershot, 2006. 425 pp. Illustrations, maps, and photographs. ISBN: 9780754652595. Hardback £55.
Reviewed by Gordon Boyce
The University of Newcastle, NSW
Man-Houng Lin, China Upside Down, Currency, Society, and Ideologies, 1808–1856 . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. xxi + 362 pp. ISBN: 0 674 02268 8. Hardback US$49.95.
Reviewed by Kent G. Deng
London School of Economics
Jari Ojala, Jari Eloranta, and Jukka Jalava (eds), The Road to Prosperity. An Economic History of Finland . Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2006. 434 pp. ISBN: 951 746 818 0. €40.
Reviewed by Svante Larsson
Göteborg University
Hazel Petrie, Chiefs of Industry: Maori Tribal Enterprise in Early Colonial New Zealand . Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2006. viii + 336 pp. ISBN: 9781869403768. Paperback NZ$50.
Reviewed by Jim McAloon
Lincoln University
David Edgerton, The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900 . London: Profile Books, 2007. 270 + xviii pp., illustrations. ISBN-13: 978 1861972965. Hardcover £18.99.
Reviewed by Paul L. Robertson
University of Tasmania
Paola Lanaro (ed.), At the Centre of the Old World: Trade and Manufacturing in Venice and the Venetian Mainland, 1400–1800 . Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2006. 412 pp. ISBN: 0 7727 2031 2. Paperback C$32.00.
Reviewed by Carolyn Sissoko
Occidental College     

Factor substitution and factor intensities in models with more factors than goods

This paper considers the commodity prices–factor prices relation in models with more factors than consumption goods. Under some simple factor substitutability assumptions, many results in the   n  ×  n   cases have counterparts in the   l  ×  n   cases. The proportional price changes of the "middle factors" will be trapped between those of the "extreme factors". A weak and a strong Stolper–Samuelson theorem can also be proven. If the numbers of goods and perfectly complementary factors are equal and the production functions have the nested constant elasticity of substitution form, two of the complementary factors would have the most extreme relative price changes, regardless of the factor intensities.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed
George Megalogenis, The Longest Decade . Melbourne: Scribe, 2006. 346 pp. ISBN: 1 920769 79 X. Paperback A$32.95. Reviewed by James Bennett University of Newcastle
Leonie V. Still, Corporate Elders –'Organisation Men' Look Back . Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 2006. 235 pp. ISBN: 1 920694 61 7. Paperback A$39.95. Reviewed by Peter Carroll University of Tasmania
William Coleman, Selwyn Cornish and Alf Hagger, Giblin's Platoon: The Trials and Triumphs of the Economist in Australian Public Life . Canberra: ANU E-Press, 2006. xv + 263 pp. ISBN (print): 1 920942 49 1. ISBN: 1 920942 50 5. A$24.95, free access online. Reviewed by Gary Hawke Victoria University of Wellington
Helen B. Laurenson, Going Up, Going Down: The Rise and Fall of the Department Store . Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2006 reprint (2005). 165 pp. ISBN: 86940 341 X. Paperback NZ$34.99. Reviewed by S.R.H. Jones University of Dundee
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Investment Report 2005: Transnational Corporations and the Internationalization of R&D . New York and Geneva: United Nations, 2005. xxxii + 332 pp. ISBN: 92 1 112667 3. US$75. Reviewed by Paul L. Robertson University of Tasmania/University of Queensland
Sandra J. Peart and David M. Levy, The 'Vanity of the Philosopher': From Equality to Hierarchy in post-Classical Economics . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. xviii + 323 pp. ISBN: 0 472 11496 4. Hardback US$40. Reviewed by John Singleton Victoria University of Wellington
Derek H. Aldcroft, Europe's Third World: The European Periphery in the Interwar Years . Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006. 217 pp. ISBN: 0 7546 0599 X. Hardback £50. Reviewed by Kirsten Wandschneider Middlebury College     

The Transformation of Australia's Population, 1970–2030

Book reviewed
Siew-Ean Khoo and Peter McDonald, (eds), The Transformation of Australia's Population, 1970–2030. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2003. Pp. xi + 302, index. ISBN: 0868405027. Paperback $49.95. Reviewed by Glenn Withers Australian National University     

On optimal growth models when the discount factor is near 1 or equal to 1

The aim of this paper is to fill the gap between intertemporal growth models when the discount factor is close to one and when it equals one. We show that the value function and the policy function are continuous with respect both to the discount factor, β, and the initial stock of capital,   x ₀  . We prove that the optimal policy   g ^β( x ₀)  is differentiable and that   Dg ^β( x ₀)  is continuous with respect to  (β, x ₀)  . As a by-product, a global turnpike result is proved.     

NIEMEYER, SCULLIN AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMISTS

This article revisits the Niemeyer mission to Australia in 1930 and shows how it facilitated the entry of local economists into the art of policy making. Until then the Scullin government had little regard for the worth of academic economists, a view shared by bankers and central bankers alike. With Niemeyer's dogmatic advice considered too draconian by a vacillating government, Australian economists, led by L. F. Giblin and D. B. Copland, were galvanised into providing a more palatable alternative. This advice eventually transformed into the Premiers' Plan which complemented the devaluation and wage cut, both of which had been implemented in January 1931. While the Plan in its entirety was deflationary it was a more equitable and imaginative blueprint than Niemeyer's.     

On uniform convergence of undiscounted optimal programs in the Mitra–Wan forestry model: The strictly concave case

In this paper, we show that the 1986 Mitra–Wan result establishing asymptotic convergence of maximal programs to the unique golden-rule forest in the case of undiscounted, strictly concave felicity functions can be strengthened, in the same setting, to the  uniform  asymptotic convergence of  optimal  programs to the unique golden-rule forest. We work with a notationally reformulated version of the model that may have independent interest.     

100 YEARS OF TARIFF PROTECTION IN AUSTRALIA

This paper presents time series of tariff rates in Australia from the time of Federation. As a preliminary to the construction of economy-wide series, it constructs series for three broadly representative goods throughout the 100 years: passenger motor vehicles, blankets, and beer. It then constructs two economy-wide series, one for all imports and another for dutiable imports only. It discusses the main events relating to turning points in the series and concludes with some applications.