Did the Commons Make Medieval and Early Modern Rural Societies More Equitable? A Survey of Evidence from across Western Europe, 1300–1800

The view of the commons as archaic, ‘backward’ and ‘irrational’ institutions for the management of resources has now been revised in favour of a more positive one, for both past and present societies. Indeed, it is clear that the commons had multifarious ecological and economic benefits for both medieval and early modern rural societies in Western Europe. That being the case, many scholars have seen the increasing expropriation of the commons in the transition to the early modern period as a sign of increasing inequality characterizing pre‐industrial Europe, and many have lamented the loss of communal grazing privileges connected to processes such as land enclosure – pushing poor peasants into the ‘abyss’ with the removal of their final form of welfare. However, in this paper it is argued that the social distribution of the benefits to the commons were rarely, if ever, entirely equitable. In fact, in many historical contexts the benefits of the commons could also be highly restricted – crystallizing and entrenching stratifications themselves, and even serving as the ‘vehicle’ of further inequality. The expropriation of the commons did not necessarily make Western European rural societies any more unequal.     

Discussion of ‘The antecedents of the use of continuous auditing in the internal auditing context’

Gonzalez et al. (2012) apply the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT, Venkatesh et al., 2003) to the issue of adoption of continuous auditing (CA) by internal auditors. The authors make a very convincing case for the slow evolution of CA and propose that this can be explained by the four factors contained in the UTAUT as well as annual sales and voluntariness of use. They find, in their revised model, that effort expectancy and social influence directly impact intentions to use the technology, while performance expectancy is moderated by annual sales and social influence is moderated by voluntariness of use. Interestingly, the authors also identify geographical differences in these influences. I offer commentary on these findings and suggest avenues for future research in the domain of technology adoption and use in accounting.     

Patient empowerment strategies for a safety net

The Milwaukee County General Assistance Medical Program implemented strategies to improve the delivery of care to its patients that include patient education and a Nurse Telephone Line. The partnership between a county-funded program and an academic health center has been very productive and resulted in improvements to the program that benefit underserved patients. The outcomes of these educational strategies are described.     

Transfer Pricing for Corporate Treasury in the Multinational Enterprise

Intercompany financing transactions are becoming increasingly important to multinational enterprises (MNEs) as they expand internationally. Corporate treasurers of MNEs have many responsibilities, including the management of international capital structure and cost of capital, the financing of cross‐border acquisitions, foreign direct investment, international capital budgeting and cash management, management of foreign exchange and transactional risk, and port‐folio and investment management. This article focuses on a corporate function, transfer pricing, that is potentially relevant to each of these activities. Whenever a payment crosses borders in a treasury context—whether to provide a loan, purchase a receivable, provide a guarantee, sweep cash, factor a receivable, provide a hedge or insurance product—a transfer pricing issue is present. Transfer pricing is often viewed as a taxation issue and thus the responsibility of the corporate tax department. This article challenges that view, and makes the case that an integrated, multi‐functional approach to MNE treasury planning in the context of transfer pricing can be an important component in improving the efficiency of cross‐border financial management. The paper uses conceptual and empirical information as well as numerical examples to illustrate relevant tax and transfer pricing concepts for policy planners and others responsible for MNE treasury and tax planning.