Book briefs

G Antonelli and A Quadrio‐Curzio (eds) The agro‐technological system towards 2000 North Holland.

W J Baumol Superfairness: Applications and theory The MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1986

E Boonzaier and J Sharp (eds) South African keywords: The uses and abuses of political concepts David Philip, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1988

C Bryant (ed) Poverty, policy, and food security in Southern Africa Lynne Rienner Publishers. Boulder, Colorado, 1988

J Butler. R Elphick and D Welsh (eds) Democratic liberalism in South Africa: Its history and prospect David Philip, Cape Town and Johannesburg. 1987

D P Chaudhri and A J Dasgupta Agriculture and the development process: a study of Punjab Croom Helm, London, 1985

R Cohen (ed) Satisfying Africa's food needs: Food production and commercialization in African agriculture Lynne Rienner Publishers. Boulder/London, 1988

J M Conrad and C W Clark Natural resource economics: Notes and problems Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987

D E Janvry and K Subbarao Agricultural price policy and income distribution in India Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1986     

Book briefs

B Eichengreen (ed) The gold standard in theory and history Methuen, New York and London, 1985

F Ellis Peasant economics: Farm households and agrarian development Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988

G Feder, T Onchan, T Chalamwong & C Hongladarom Land policies and farm productivity in Thailand (Published for the World Bank). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1988.

C Ford Runge (ed) The future of the North American granary: Politics, economics, and resource constraints in North American agriculture Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, 1986     

Origin and rise of the crofter problem in Finland

Abstract

Crofters (Swedish torpare, Finnish torppari) are in Finland and Sweden the peasants whose principal means of subsistence derived from the cultivation of some small part, held in tenancy, of an estate. The crofter paid the bulk of his rent by putting in so many days work on the parent farm.     

Demographic Aspects of Urbanization in Korea

Abstract

This study analysed the location selection determinants of Korean foreign direct investment (KFDI) from the perspectives of OLI paradigm and resource- and knowledge-based views. The study involved a sample of 1911 Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their 3095 foreign subsidiaries during the period of 1999–2004. Specifically, the study compared the differences of foreign direct investment (FDI) location decisions (1) between less-developed and developed countries (LDCs and DCs) and (2) between chaebols and non-chaebols. The results showed that the partitioned sample model of chaebols versus non-chaebols was found to have more detailed effects on the location decision between the two regions than the combined full sample model. In addition, the results showed that there are clear, effectual differences for subsidiary scale and prior host country experience between chaebols and non-chaebols.     

Two Norwegian agricultural anniversaries

Abstract

Several important agricultural anniversaries were celebrated in Norway in 1959, among them the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Norwegian Royal Agricultural Society (Det kgl. Selskap for Norges Vel), and the centenary of the Land Consolidation Authority (Fordskifteverket, as the body is now called, or Utskiftningsvesenet, as it was called up to 1950).     

Book briefs

Eastern Cape publication

Institute of Social and Economic Research

Development issues in the Eastern Cape: A review and assessment Working Paper 25, University of Rhodes, 1986, 96 pp. R5.

Richard N Langlois (ed)

Economics as a process ‘Essays in the New Institutional Economics’, Cambridge University Press, London, 1986, xi + 262 pp, R87,70

Paul Collier, Samir Radwan and Samuel Wangwe with Albert Wagner

Labour and poverty in rural Tanzania ‘Ujamaa and Rural Development in the United Republic of Tanzania’, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986, vii + 143 pp, £17,50

Allen Buchanan

Ethics, efficiency, and the market Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1985, xi + 135 pp, £15,00     

The theories of ‘stages of growth’

Abstract

The idea of a ‘virtuous circle’ has always been implied in the theories of ‘stages of growth’, though never systematically demonstrated, We are here concerned with two aspects of these theories: (1) the implied theory of circular causation with cumulative effects; (2) the implicit systematic biases. The biases operate through the selection of strategic factors on which interest is focussed and of assumptions concerning their role in historical processes. This selection of strategic factors and of assumptions about their role remains essentially a priori, however much illustrative material is amassed. It never is—and, in this teleological approach, it never can be—empirically verified or refuted. A fundamental preconception is, moreover, the similarity of evolution in different countries at different historical periods; this is why these theories can be used, and are used, for prediction. But similarity depends on the level of abstraction and the choice of features compared. Such comparisons can be refuted only by demonstrating that other principles of selection and comparison are equally possible—and, of course, ex post, that the predictions do not come true.     

Gösta Bagge's American lessons

Abstract

Gösta Bagge, then 21 years of age, took his fil.kand. (first degree) examination at Uppsala University in January 1904. He travelled to the United States in the autumn of the same year to undertake research studies in political economy, history and political science at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. That the choice fell on Johns Hopkins was due primarily to his having a sister who lived in the city.¹     

The Swedish iron industry during the First World War and the Post-War depression

Abstract

In a paper read at the annual meeting of Jernkontoret (The Swedish Ironmasters' Association) in 1912 Professor E. F. Heckscher gave an estimate of the proportion of the total annual outpout of the Swedish iron industry which was exported. Including material entering into the exports of steelusing industries, it was estimated at 65–70 %. Assuming this to be correct, then only the saw-milling and paper- and pulp-making industries were at that time more dependent upon foreign markets than the iron industry. ¹ Jernkontorets Annaler (hereafter cited JKA) 1912. p. 183 ff. Cf. E. F. Heckscher, Svenska produktionsproblem, p. 107 and JKA 1919, pp. 181–202.      

A survey of the public records system in Sweden

Abstract

The public records system in Sweden consists of the National Archives (Riksarkivet) in Stockholm, the provincial archives (landsarkiv) at Lund, Uppsala, Vadstena, Gothenburg and Härnösand, the county archives (länsarkiv) at Visby and Ostersund and the municipal archives (stadsarkiv) of Stockholm and Malmö, the National Archives being the supreme authority for this system. The military archives system has its own authority: the Royal Archives of the Army and Navy (Krigsarkivet) in Stockholm. Some of the central administrative boards (centrala ämbetsverk) have also archives administered by their own staff, e.g. the Royal Survey Board (Lantmäteristyrelsen) and the Central Bureau of Statistics (Statistiska Centralbyran). There are, of course, also a great number of private archives outside the public records system, e.g. the archives of the Royal Family (Bernadotteska familjearkivet) in the Royal Palace in Stockholm and the archives of the de la Gardie Family kept in Lund University Library. With the two exceptions mentioned above (Stockholm and Malmö) the municipal archives are also regarded as private and so are, of course, the business archives the most important of which are those of Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB, Falun, Holmens Bruks AB, Norrköping, Uddeholms AB, Uddeholm, and Svenska Gellulosa AB, Sundsvall.     

Mark och människor. Befolkning och försörjnings-resurser i väslra Småland 1800–1850

Abstract

This dissertation is chiefly about land reclamation, redistribution of holdings and population change in two south Swedish län (counties)—Jönköping and Kronoberg—during the period 1800-1850. These were wooded areas with relatively little arable land, their economy being supplemented by cattle farming, handicraft production for the market, and forestry. Selfsufficient farms predominated, but increasing integration into the market economy provided the background to the changes described by Karlsson.     

Trade uncertainty and specialization. Social versus private planning

Summary A small trading economy which produces and trades an arbitrary, but finite, number of goods and faces given terms of trade in combination with an uncertain volume of trade is studied. An exogenous probability of trade disruption forces both public and private decision-makers to specialize to a lesser extent in accordance with their comparative advantage. A unique optimal point of production exists for each probability of trade disruption. A private competitive economy will not produce at this point: it produces too much of the good with a comparative advantage.Notation C ² class of twice continuously differentiable functions - C _i consumption of goodi - f free-trade utility function - g autarky utility function - p international relative price of goody - p _d domestic relative price of goody - Q solution set of - U utility function - U marginal utility of goodi - U _x marginal utilities of lastn goods - x goodx - x ^* autarky production of goodx - x free-trade production of goodx - x _pr private production of goodx - x ₀ optimal production of goodx - x _m maximal production of goodx - y goody - Y income function - private economy equilibrium function - difference function - production possibility function - _x derivative of - probability that free trade occurs - indirect utility function - solution function to optimality problem - c consumption vector - p relative price vector - x goods vector - t transpose - R ₊ ⁿ n-dimensional positive orthant This article communicates the opinion of the author. The views expressed herein are not necessarily shared by his employer.Comments by Willem Buiter, Casper de Vries and participants at the Buiter Workshop Series at the University of Groningen (May 1989) were very useful.     

The German Hanse and Bergen – new perspectives on an old subject

Abstract

The Hanseatic League and her kontors (trading posts) were an integral part of the medieval trade system in Northern Europe. Hanse merchants dominated many markets in this region and managed to maintain a monopoly-like role in towns like Novgorod and Bergen for many centuries. Consequently, one focus of historical research about the Hanseatic League lay on the mechanisms that enabled the Hanse merchants to keep that strong of a position for such a long time.

This article is part of the discussion about this topic. Based on Lübeck merchants with business interest in the Norwegian town of Bergen, the so-called Bergenfahrers (Bergen travellers), it will give new insights into the Hansards' economical and social organization. The three main points are (a) the integration of the Bergen market in the Hanseatic trade network as an intermediary trading place on the vivid East–West route of Hanse trade; (b) the importance of the Bergenfahrers within the Hanse merchants' economical, social and political networks; and (c) the structure of the Bergenfahrers network patterns in the late Middle Ages.

In addition to new insights into the important role of Bergen and the Bergenfahrers within Lübeck's and the other Wendish Hanse towns' trading system, this articles provides further proof for the usefulness of the methods of Social Network Analysis in medieval economic research.     

Technological Progress and Youth Employment in South Korea

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the extent to which technology progress and youth employment are related. In doing so, we divide workers into two groups – young workers and old (prime-aged) workers - and then estimate the elasticity of substitution between (physical) capital and workers à la Jaimovich et al. (2013. “The Demand for Youth: Explaining Age Differences in the Volatility of Hours.” American Economic Review 103 (7): 3022–3044) by using the Korean labour market data between 2000 and 2014. Our findings indicate that the elasticity of substitution is greater (or at least not smaller) for young workers than for old workers.     

The distribution of wealth in Finland in 1800

Abstract

In the year 1800 a capital levy was imposed by the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament), and in connection with this levy a property valuation was made which affords a unique cross-section of the distribution of property among the different districts, occupational sections, and families in Finland and Sweden.     

Rejoinder to sture martinius on peasant destinies

Abstract

1. I wrote ² Gadd, op. cit. p. 190, (it.ad.) that “many of Martinius' conclusions appear to be based on insufficient evidence”, not “findings”, as in Martinius' rendering. Conclusions are dependant not only on evidence but also on logic.     

The economic and social position of peasant freeholders in late seventeenth-century Denmark

Abstract

The overwhelming majority of Danish peasants in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were tenants on crown or privately owned estates. Thus they were directly affected by the consolidation of a seigneurial system which had emerged well before the seventeenth century but had become more firmly entrenched when the absolute monarchy in Denmark, established in 1660, began the alienation of the crown estates. However, the small minority of peasants known as freeholders (selvejere or jordegne bønder) did not entirely disappear, although their position was becoming increasingly uncertain.1 It is the aim of this article to define this small group, assess the economic and social implications of their position, and attempt to clarify the nature of peasant ownership of land in Denmark in the late seventeenth century.     

Sweden's first bank-notes

Abstract

Sweden's first bank, Stockholms Banco, began to function in 1657. Its name is familiar among economic historians because it was the first bank in Europe to issue bank-notes in the modern sense of the word. It is exactly three hundred years since this issue began, and to celebrate the jubilee the Riksbank (Bank of Sweden) has published a work on the first Swedish bank-notes; its author IS Aleksandrs Platbārzdis of the Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm. The book is beautifully produced and richly illustrated.     

Japanese Company’s Cultural Shift for Gender Equality at Work

Abstract

The article provides an overview of Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s womanomics policy for gender equality (GD), and poses a question as to why despite a large amount of GD initiatives, Japan’s GD progress has been painfully slow. It then introduces an ethnography of the GD implementation by a Japanese multinational firm (2013–2017). It analyzes the firm’s pedagogical effort to correct the unconscious cultural bias to retool the existing habitus of managers and employees. The firm’s cultural strategies parallel its human resources (HR) reforms in its attempt to change organizational norms regarding how corporate men and women should work. Deploying theoretical perspectives of cultural neuroscience, semiotics, learning theory and interpretive anthropology, the author then identifies seven strategic foci for this firm’s cultural transformation, and terms this habitus-shifting program as MRS-PARC: M?=?magical messages and messengers; R?=?rites of passage and rituals; S?=?signs and symbols; P?=?rewarding and punishing task performances; A?=?clarifying alternatives and affordance; R?=?dealing with unexpected results, resistance and rear guards; and C?=?communication, complexity and continuity. Once MRS-PARC starts, corporate social drama and critical incidents lead the observer to the nexus of symbolic resistance and representation that in turn helps clarify how to modify the existing accommodation-and-redress mechanism for reform. MRS-PARC offers an empirically derived, action-oriented, process-based, analysis for those interested in moderating the people’s referential frameworks and cognitive/emotional orientations for organizational transformation.     

Swedish shipping with the Netherlands in the second half of the eighteenth century

Abstract

In March 1792 the Amsterdams Galley of 90 lasts (ca. 180 metric tons), commanded by Captain Henrik Melle Feddes of Stockholm, left for Amsterdam. It carried 260 shippounds (à 136 kg) of bar iron, 900 barrels of tar, 240 barrels of pitch and 42 shippounds of alum. Five Stockholm merchants were responsible for the cargo, which was valued at 2,374 Swedish rix-dollars. The ship was registered as having arrived in Amsterdam on 6 July 1792. The Dutch customs officers determined its lastage as 126 gross and 82 net, but registered no further details about its cargo.