Identifying the poor in the 1870s and 1880s1

Poverty lines devised throughout England and Wales in the 1870s and 1880s defined ‘the poor’, a new class not recognized by the poor law. This article provides an account of the poverty lines adopted, mainly by school boards, in about 40 different places; the context in which they were developed; and what has been retrieved of the reasons determining the adoption of specific poverty lines. In particular, it examines the principal controversies surrounding them, and the challenge they posed to the poor law; and, incidentally, compares them to the poverty lines proposed, many years later, by Booth and Rowntree.     

Some Obscurities in Indonesia's New National Accounts

Indonesia's national accounts are subject to regular revisions. Some of these revisions have resulted in different estimates of GDP on both the output and the expenditure side of the economy in overlapping years. Unfortunately, the explanations accompanying the published national accounts make it difficult to understand the exact reasons why this is so. This article explores the possible explanations. It also discusses the consequences of changes to the base year used in the calculation of constant price series. The paper draws attention to several new national accounting initiatives developed at Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency that underscore the Agency's advanced professionalism in national accounting. It concludes with a call for greater openness in explaining national accounting procedures.     

Black economic well-being since the 1950s

Conclusion Industrial cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh that once offered manufacturing jobs as a route to economic advancement no longer provide an economic environment conducive to long-run gains in black incomes. Faced with massive losses in blue-collar manufacturing jobs in the 1970s and 1980s — as well as growing local government fiscal difficulties — these cities are changing rapidly in character. Administration and management are more and more the dynamic, expanding sector, and the resultant demands for workers have been concentrated in the white-collar fields. Highly educated blacks benefit from these trends in job availability; the less educated lose ground economically. The swing between widespread progress (as in World War II) and widespread regression in relative economic status (as in the 1930s) was the traditional cyclical fate of the overall urban black population. Today the smaller white-collar group prospers while the larger blue-collar urban black work force is undermined, except in periods of labor shortage.     

The Nordic Countries' Trade Liberalisation in the 1950s: An introduction

Abstract

The fall of the Soviet Union re-awoke the interest in economic regime transformation. ¹ See for instance Dornbusch, R. et al (eds.), Postwar Economic Reconstruction and the Lessons for the East Today, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1993. How should liberated states navigate the complex and difficult transition from state controlled bilateralism to a market-oriented multilateralism? Liberalisation and structural adjustment could happen faster than the social institutions were capable of absorbing. Transnational economic integration brings returns and efficiency, but at the same time challenges the social and political institutions on which the economic transactions are based. Liberalisation of trade, capital and payments impose considerable constraints on the democracies' governments in their pursuit of national consensus, stability and prosperity. This topic is at the core of the globalisation debate, and formulated as a trilemma between economic integration, proper public economic management and national sovereignty. ² Lawrence, S.H., Reflections on managing Global Integration, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 23, 1999, 3–18.      

European trade liberalisation and the stillborn Nordic customs union in the 1950s

Abstract

Historical research on the aborted Nordic customs union of the 1950s has emphasised the conflicting commercial interests of the countries involved. This study identifies the common commercial interests that from 1954 committed governments to further progress in the customs union issue. It argues that increased frustration over the ‘hardening’ of the European commercial regime made the governments opt for a customs union to develop Nordic manufacturing industries.     

Economic history research in Sweden since the mid-1970s

Abstract

In the Swedish university system, economic history forms an independent subject falling within the faculty of social sciences. Professorships in the subject were established at Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Lund and Umeå between the end of the 1940s and the end of the 1960s. A second chair was established at Lund in 1988. Furthermore, resources have been increased step by step through the addition of other kinds of teaching and research services, including a lectureship at Örebro. Teachers from departments of economic history give tuition not only within the bounds of their own subject but also as components of lengthy courses of professional training, for example, for history teachers and economists. AU the departments in the subject provide research training leading to writing of dissertations in economic history. Most of them also offer a licentiate examination as an intermediate stage on the way.     

20世纪90年代以来的美国外贸政策--多层次与多侧面的一种审视

20世纪90年代以来的美国外贸表现，既与经济的强劲增长不相对称，亦与美国政府外贸政策举措不相协调，呈现了某种“强经济弱贸易”现象。本文以这一判断为出发点，分析了这10多年以来美国外贸政策的基本构架，就美国外贸政策之法律基础、目标与手段变化，进行了多侧面探索。     

Wage strikes in 1880s America: A test of the war of attrition model

By relating strike outcomes and durations to the value of the disputed wage change and to the cost to each side of continuing the strike, this paper tests the hypothesis that the war of attrition with asymmetric information model of strikes accurately describes the characteristics of strikes over wages in the United States in the early to middle part of the 1880s. That hypothesis is not rejected by linear, probit, or nonparametric kernel estimation. Specifically, variables that decrease a side’s cost of striking or increase its opponent’s cost are shown to increase its maximum holdout time, and vice versa, and strike duration increases with the value of the prize in dispute and with uncertainty about the outcome. Alternative game theoretic models of strikes—signaling and screening models, and models with ongoing negotiations—do not fit the data as well. We also explore why the strikes took the form of wars of attrition, and why later strikes did not. Our results have implications for modern union behavior in the face of globalization.     

90年代以后日本设备投资低迷的原因

日本泡沫经济破灭以后,设备投资长期低迷.我们分析宏观数据并提出三点假设,投资过剩调整,企业财务恶化以及信贷紧缩是影响设备投资低迷的重要原因.其次,我们使用制造业上市公司财务数据,证明了第一和第三条假设.文章指出,金融危机发生以后,金融机构的财务恶化比企业本身财务恶化对设备投资的影响更加显著.     

十八大以来党内监督的研究述评

党的十八大以来,党中央对党内监督的重视度不断提高,不断加强党内监督,推进从严治党.在党内监督中存在着监督意识不强和党内监督制度有待完善等问题.加强党内监督要提高从严治党的认识,同时要适应新的发展形势,制定并且大力推行党员领导干部权力清单制度、 针对领导干部这一"关键少数"的监督制度、 强化监督制度的实施和监督效能的发挥,保障普通党员履行监督的正当权利等一系列的实施措施.