Puerto Rico in the 1970s and 1980s: Crisis of the Development Model

In his institutional economic essay on "Taxation in Chicago and Philadelphia" (published in 1895) John R. Commons addresses property tax assessment. He demonstrates that the revenue is not just a question of the tax rate and the distribution of the tax burden but also one of constitutional requirements and how the taxes are assessed. His essay is reviewed with regard to his later work, subsequent Institutional Economics, and the social provisioning of the market for professional tax advice. The degree of liabilities is defining characteristics of the differences between the United States and Germany.     

Book production and the onset of modern economic growth

We provide a new data set on per capita book production as a proxy for advanced literacy skills, and assess this relative to other measures. While literacy proxies very basic skills, book production per capita is an indicator for more advanced capabilities. Growth theory suggests that human capital formation plays a significant role in creating the ‘wealth of nations.’ This study tests whether human capital formation has an impact on early-modern growth disparities. In contrast to some previous studies which denied the role of human capital as a crucial determinant of long-term growth, we confirm its importance.      

Commonalities and contradictions in HRM and performance research

This is an overview of what the authors believe to be every empirical research article into the linkages between HRM and performance published in pre‐eminent international refereed journals between 1994 and 2003. The analysis covers the design of the study, including the primary level of analysis and the identity of the respondents; the dominant theoretical framework(s) informing the article; how HRM is conceived and operationalised; how performance is conceived and operationalised; and which control and/or contingency variables are incorporated. Finally, the article examines how each study depicts the so‐called ‘black box’ stage between HRM and performance. It reports wide disparities in the treatment of these components, but also some welcome commonalities and indicative trends that point towards a gradual convergence on how future research into this complex relationship might usefully be conducted. The findings are compared with previous reviews of the literature. The analysis should illuminate the ongoing debate about the linkages between HRM and performance, and prove valuable for future research designs.     

关于城市物流的运营系统及其构成

城市物流的引入是为了应对全球范围内城市化和爆炸式增长的城市交通所带来的挑战。它提出了一系列措施,如通过整合运输、环境保护和经济增长等来提升城市货物流通效率,从而实现城市可持续发展战略。城市物流的运营系统包括城市运输领域的所有相关部分,并整合了所有的物流服务环节,如城市集运中心、最后一公里配送和逆向物流等。本文阐述了如何实施该运营系统,以全球领先的物流公司的大量实践说明其带来的益处。     

Industry and Labour: Class Struggle at Work and Monopoly Capitalism; Social Standing in America: New Dimensions of Class; Class Structure and Social Mobility in Poland

A very well-established economic literature maintains that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are inefficient as compared to privately owned ones (POEs). In this paper, I argue that SOEs' inefficiency is not due to state ownership per se, but is rather caused conditions other than ownership, to which SOEs often — though not necessarily always — relate. In particular, I focus on dynamic efficiency — specifically, the production of technological innovation — of SOEs in manufacturing industries, where SOEs should contend with POEs in a competitive environment. I suggest that targeted measures, which are aimed at increasing managers' commitment to long-term investment strategies and at reducing corruption and political interference — albeit complex and difficult to implement — can be much more (positively) impactful on long-run technical progress than the simple privatization of companies. This leaves room for exploration and implementation of policies that might reconcile state ownership and market competition in industrial sectors.     

智能电网——跨越兴奋,实现愿景

<正>"智能电网"是眼下一个热门词汇,它同可持续性、碳减排、可再生能源和下一代能源管理等说法联系在一起。这些拥有先进技术的网络被很多人追捧为改进电力供应的必要手段。虽然电网管理改进的切实收益是明显的,而且长期前景是光明的,但是欧洲的智能电网目前尚在起步阶段。欧洲国家如何才能跨越它们     

Agricultural specialization and height in ancient and medieval Europe

Land per capita was one important determinant of height in the Malthusian world 0 to 1800 A.D. A second factor was specialization in milk cattle agriculture. It had two positive effects on human stature: first, proximity to protein production resulted in a very low local shadow price of milk, as this important foodstuff could not be transported easily. Second, this low price resulted in a low inequality of nutritional status, whereas, for example, tradable pork contributed to nutritional inequality. For this study, we used a data set of more than two million animal bones to measure specialization in cattle and its impact on stature.