Otto Mønsted and the early margarine industry:

Abstract

The story of the Danish margarine matador, Otto Mensied has not previously been researched in depth. This paper gives a short outline of the career of this international businessman. The main emphasis is on his involvement in the British market. The eclectic theory of foreign direct investment has recently been expanded to cover international networks or alliances. Using this framework we offer some explanation of the fact that Mensted's British operations for some time were a threat to the Dutch early movers, Gebr. Jurgens and Van den Bergh. Their first cooperation agreement of 1908 may be interpreted as a response to the threat of a superior alliance between Mensiea Ltd., its suppliers and its distribution channel.     

REVIEWS

World Trading Systems . A study of American and British Commercial Policies. By HENRY J. TASCA (International Institute of Intellectual co-operation, League of Nations, Paris, 1939.
" Walter Bagehot ." By W. IRVINE. (Longmans, Green & Co., Ltd. 1939.
Economic Problems of To-day . By W. A. LEWIS. (Longmans, Green & Co., Ltd. 1940.
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of Agricultural Economists . HUMPHREY MILFORD. (Oxford University Press, London.
Theory of the Just Price . By RUDOLF KAULLA. (Translated from German by Robert D. Hogg). (Allen and Unwin, London, 1940.
Economic Warfare . By PAUL EINZIG. (Published by Macmillan and Co. 1940.
The Conditions of Economic Progress . By COLIN CLARK. (Published by Macmillan & Co., Ltd 1940.     

REVIEWS

Essays in Monetary Theory . By D. H. ROBERTSON. (P. S. King & Son, Ltd., 1940.
Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs . Vol. 2: Problems of Economic Policy, 1918–1939, Part 1. By W. K. HANCOCK. (Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1940.
Netherlands India: A Study of Plural Economy . By J. S. Furnivall. Cambridge University Press, 1939.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 1945–1965. Twenty Years of International Monetary Co-operation. Three Volumes entitled: "Chronicle" (663 pages), "Analysis" (621 pages) and "Documents" (549 pages) published by the International Monetary Fund during 1969.
YOUNG, D. International Economics . Intertext Books, London,1969
PREST, A. R. (assisted by Norman Lee). Transport Economics in Developing Countries . London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969
RICHARDSON, HARRY W. Regional Economics . London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 1969
MILLS, GORDON. Introduction to Linear Algebra (for Social Scientists). George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1969
ARROW, KENNETH J. and SCITOVSKY, TIBOR (editors): Readings in Welfare Economics , American Economic Association-George Allen and Unwin, London
ROBSON, P. and LURY, D. A. (eds.): The Economies of Africa , George Allen & Unwin (1969)
WELLS, SIDNEY J. International Economics. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. , 1969
PONS, VALDO: Stanleyville: An African Urban Community under Belgian Administration pp. xxiv & 356. Published for the International African Institute by the Oxford University Press. 87.35
BURLEY, KEVIN: British Shipping and Australia 1920–1939. Cambridge University Press, 1968
DAGLI, VADILAL (Ed.). The Public Sector in India: A Survey.     

Some Evidence on the Relationship between Performance-Related Pay and the Shape of the Experience-Earnings Profile

We investigate the relationship between performance-related pay (PRP) and the shape of workers' experience-earnings profiles. In particular, we argue that the slope of the profile depends critically upon the degree of ‘equity’ held by workers in their enterprise as measured by the extent of PRP. The implication is that the slope of the profile for PRP workers falls between those of their zero-equity fixed-wage, and one hundred per cent equity self-employed, counterparts. Our empirical analysis of three British data sets, namely the British Social Attitudes Survey, the British Household Panel Survey, and the British Family Expenditure Survey, supports this prior.     

英国在西藏森巴战争中的态度剖析

1841~1842年,在英国对我国进行第一次鸦片战争期间,印度锡克王国辖下的一个封建土邦—查谟(森巴)裹胁拉达克、巴尔蒂斯坦等小邦悍然发动了对我国西藏的入侵。查谟(森巴)在近代印度史里充当了英国瓦解锡克王国的重要角色,因而成为英国殖民统治的重要工具,而森巴人对西藏阿里的入侵,也是在征得英国同意并表示"并无异议"的情况下进行的。就是说,森巴入侵西藏是"道格拉统治者对外扩张和英国对印、对华政策的必然结果"或者"亦即克什米尔的道格拉人在英国的唆使下,大举东犯,侵入我国阿里三围"。     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
"Problems of Transition" (University of Natal Press, pp. 285, R2.75), is the record, edited and revised by J. F. Holleman, Joan Knox, J. W. Mann and K. A. Heard
The Research Needs of the South African Textile Industry — A Techno-Economic Survey by D. G. Van der Walt
The Economies of Large-Scale Production in British Industry: An Introductory Study. By C. Pratten and R. M. Dean, in collaboration with A. Silderston.
Economic Analysis and Policy in Underdeveloped Countries. By P. T. Bauer. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
Statistical Year Book 1964. Compiled by the Bureau of Statistics
Multilateral Commercial Diplomacy: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and its Impact on National Commercial Policies and Techniques. By Gerard Curzon
Financial Intermediaries in India. By M. S. Joshi.
In the Common Interest — The Story of the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines     

工业化与英国妇女发展的再研究

19世纪40年代英国工业革命基本完成,这一进程给英国妇女的发展带来了机遇与挑战。工业化为英国妇女提供了投身社会化生产的环境,为妇女解放提供了前提,为女权运动的开展提供了良好的基础。但是,妇女就业的边缘化低层化,工作稳定性差,工作强度大报酬偏低等,都是妇女获得经济独立时付出的代价。     

Britain and the euro

Britain's possible entry into the Eurozone has proved highly controversial, both on economic and political grounds. The British government has set up a series of tests to be satisfied before entry. Besides being vaguely defined, these tests are time dependent. This paper attempts to evaluate the case for British entry on more general Optimal Currency Area criteria, and argues that the failure of some of these criteria would provide a logical explanation of the British reluctance to join.     

Britain, Butter, and European Integration, 1957–1964

Access to the British butter market was an important issue during British negotiations with continental Europe in the early 1960s. Commonwealth producers enjoyed preferential treatment under the terms of the Ottawa Agreement, and butter exports were of particular importance to New Zealand. This article explains how Britain attempted to safeguard New Zealand's trade while conforming to Europe's agricultural policy. When British/European negotiations collapsed in 1963, attention switched to the need to make dairy concessions to Denmark in order to speed up tariff reductions in EFTA. Commonwealth butter suppliers faced an increasingly uncertain future, and New Zealanders lived to regret their economic dependence on the British market.     

The Euro and Other Major Currencies Floating Against the U.S. Dollar

This paper discusses the interdependent effects of conditional volatilities in returns of the Euro and other major currencies against U.S. dollar exchange rates (spot rates) since the launch of the Euro, using, for this purpose, the daily data and dynamic conditional correlation (DCC)–GARCH model with country-specific effects. The following conclusions are drawn: there are volatility spillovers (contemporaneous and lagged) in the Euro, Yen, and British pound, the degree of the correlation is high between the Euro and British pound against the U.S. dollar, there is a very strong association between the ECB Euro reference rate (fixing rates) and U.S.-traded spot rates, and finally, the impulse-response of volatility (after the accession of new Member States to the European Union) rapidly diminishes in the spot markets, indicating a short-run dynamic effect.     

Transatlantic steerage fares,British and Irish migration,and return migration, 1815–60

This article argues that the massive increase in transatlantic British and Irish emigration after 1840 was enabled by declining fares and ocean travel costs. New series of transatlantic steerage fares drawn from the unique Cope Line records at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) show westward fares fell rapidly from 1830. Adjusted for British and US manual wages, westward travel costs, including provisions, almost halved between 1847 and 1851–3, when Irish migration peaked. Hence although the Irish had to leave Ireland, they might not otherwise have gone so extensively to North America. Eastward travel costs also fell after 1830, encouraging an unexpectedly large return migration to Britain in the late1850s, and maybe earlier.     

The diffusion and impact of the corporation in 1910

With new and comprehensive data on the international spread of listed and unlisted corporations before the First World War, this article shows the prominence of common law and Scandinavian civil law in the process. This association is interpreted as demonstrating the strong contribution of liberal (laissez‐faire) industrial stances. The findings confirm an extended version of Rajan and Zingales's hypothesis that trade and capital openness are necessary for companies to flourish. Despite the possibilities that companies were created for fraud and exploitation, countries using the corporate form more extensively before 1914 had higher GDP per capita. Through this process, the benefit of imperialism extended to British dominions, but not much, if at all, to British dependent colonies.     

British Capital and Merchandise Exports, 1870–1913: The Bilateral Case of New Zealand

The Ford thesis argued that there was a short‐term causal relationship between British overseas investment and British merchandise exports in the late nineteenth century. However, economic historians since Ford have found little empirical evidence in support of this argument. Using data on bilateral British lending, this article finds that such a relationship did exist, with British ex ante lending preceding merchandise exports by 2 years. A case study of New Zealand, which had an extraordinarily high share of Britain in its imports, reveals that the relationship was conditional upon the lending being allocated to social overhead capital.     

汤因比的历史研究与英国战后外交政策

作者从第二次世界大战前后英帝国的兴衰追踪分析汤因比的历史研究及其结论的变化,认为汤因比的学术生涯始终贯穿政治,其学术研究肩负着英国的特别文化使命,是为英国外交利益服务的。英国是第二次世界大战中的胜利者,同时也是被剥夺者:其海外利益不仅没有在战后得到有效保护,反而还遭到美国联手苏联的变相瓜分。第二次世界大战结束后,丘吉尔开始报复美国,用捧杀策略诱使美国与苏联、中国冲突并以此消耗并拖垮美国;与此同时还要借美国之手为欧洲收复在雅尔塔体制中失去的战略利益,使英国保留20世纪初、身披世界最强大帝国斗篷的骄傲。这些外交目的潜藏于汤因比历史研究之中且依稀可察。战场是最好的课堂,对手是最好的老师。英国人是盎格鲁-撒克逊民族中治理世界时间比较长的,其外交战略思维也是比较圆熟的。对此,我们要提高警惕,更要知己知彼,学习其中有效而我们尚不熟悉的治理世界的经验,为中国成长为一个世界性的大国做好准备。     

New Evidence on Unions and Plant Closings: Britain in the 1990s

In this paper, we exploit the longitudinal element of the 1990 and 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Surveys for Britain to investigate the effect of unionism on establishment closings. Contrary to both recent U.S. research and long-standing British work, we find a strong positive association between two measures of unionism—union recognition for collective bargaining purposes and union coverage—and plant closings. This association is robust to the inclusion of highly detailed industry controls but is driven by plants that are parts of multiestablishment entities. No such relationship obtains in the case of single-plant enterprises. In explaining our findings, we address their consistency with the widely perceived reduction in the “disadvantages of (British) unionism” in recent years.     

British exports and foreign tariffs: Insights from the Board of Trade's foreign tariff compilation for 1902

This research note contributes to the debate over whether British exports were elastic to foreign tariffs before the First World War. In doing so, this study is the first to make econometric use of the commodity- and country-disaggregated foreign tariff data that Britain's Board of Trade compiled for the year 1902. Contrary to previous literature, British exports were indeed elastic to foreign tariffs across a range of manufactured commodities, with a conservative estimate of the elasticity being 3.1, which is not low by modern standards. Counterfactually, if foreign countries had emulated Britain's policy of free trade in manufactures in 1902, a partial-equilibrium estimate is that British exports would have been 57 per cent higher. If the trade-liberalizing trend of the mid-nineteenth century persisted into the late-nineteenth century, then much of the late-Victorian deceleration of British exports would have been avoided.     

South Carolina indigo,European textiles,and the British Atlantic economy in the eighteenth century

Europe's indigo imports grew rapidly from the 1720s, but the mid‐century wars (1739–48, 1756–63) had a devastating effect on the European textile industries and hence on the indigo trade. Britain's indigo market, however, boomed in wartime on the bases of prize indigo captured from France and Spain and of indigo imported from South Carolina. The rise of South Carolina's trade from the mid‐1740s was not caused, as the historiography claims, by its monopoly of the British market—such a monopoly never existed—but because the depression in South Carolina's major staple, rice, compelled a remodelling of the South Carolina plantation system, which produced an elastic supply of indigo. Carolina indigo was blighted by a poor reputation, not, as is usually argued, because British merchants maligned unfairly its quality, but because Carolina planters failed to achieve consistent production standards. Carolina indigo nevertheless succeeded in displacing French and Spanish indigo in the British and in some continental markets, reflecting the demand for cheap dyestuffs from manufacturers of low‐cost textiles, the fastest‐growing sectors of the European textile industries at the onset of industrialization.     

Coal exports and British shipping, 1850–1913

We export of British coal was a major feature of late 19th-century ocean shipping. It has often been argued that British coal was key to the success of British shipping, but close examination raises doubts. Most British coal went to European ports where British ships carried a smaller proportion of the trade than they did in more distant trades. Shared costs between outward and homeward freights created an important relationship between coal freight rates and the freight rates on imports into northwestern Europe. In general, however, there seems to be little connection between Britain's shipping success and the export of coal.     

Trade, empire, and the fiscal context of imperial business during decolonization

Recent studies have shown convincingly that no 'neocolonialist' conspiracies were hatched to perpetuate British commercial dominance in the former colonies after independence, and that relations between individual firms and policy-makers were frequently troubled. In acknowledging the force of this general proposition, however, there is a risk of neglecting the still significant place of commercial considerations in state policy making. By relocating the relationship of trade and empire in the 1950s in an examination of a hitherto neglected dimension of British taxation policy, this article demonstrates that the Conservative government sought to assist British business with colonial interests at a time when these firms faced new uncertainties.