Rural Economies and Transitions to Capitalism: Germany and England Compared (c.1200–c.1800)

Based on a synthesis of the empirical scholarship on England and Germany, this paper demonstrates that in both regions, rural socio‐economic developments from c.1200 to c.1800 are similar: this period witnesses the rise to numerical predominance and growing economic significance of the ‘sub‐peasant classes’, which had a growing impact on the market as a result of their increasing market dependence, and from which – towards the end of the period – a rural proletariat emerged. Against the influential theory of Robert Brenner, it is argued that the period c.1200–c.1400 cannot really be categorized as ‘feudal’ according to Brenner's definition; and ‘agrarian capitalism’ does not adequately describe the socio‐economic system that obtained by the end of the sixteenth century. A genuine transition to capitalism is only evident from after c.1750, and can be found in Germany as well as in England; it is predicated both on ideological shifts and on the evolution of the rural proletariat, which is only found in large numbers by or after c.1800.     

The Coal Crisis in Appalachia: Agrarian Transformation,Commodity Frontiers and the Geographies of Capital

Capital's commodity frontiers strategy has at once woven together regional differences within an expanding world‐system and remade the productive and reproductive activities of humans and the rest of nature. The development of successive commodity frontiers gave way to long waves of economic expansion that have been pivotal to accelerating accumulation and transcending capital's recurrent crises. In short, commodity frontiers are constitutive of world‐ecological moments premised on booms and crises of accumulation. In this paper, I examine the coal commodity frontier in Appalachia, to illustrate the region's history as one of succeeding frontiers in and out of the region over the long twentieth century of American capitalism. I argue that the origin of Appalachia's coal frontier was decisively made through the nineteenth‐century agricultural revolution expressed outside of the region. Appalachia's full‐fledged development was an outcome of capital's under‐reproduction strategies. The crisis of the region's frontier turned on a lack of surplus from under‐reproduction strategies, competing coal basins, economic diversification and competing energy sources. I find that the commodity frontier concept not only illuminates regional political economies and ecologies of difference, but also explains the production of nature of historical capitalism.     

Mad women: gendered divisions in the Swedish advertising industry, 1930–2012

This article constitutes a first attempt to systematically map the presence of women in the greatly changing Swedish advertising industry since 1930. The overarching aim of the study is to analyse how the gendered divisions of labour and business changed in relation to both business structure and the overall labour market in Sweden. While we conclude that women constituted around 40–50% of the workforce over time, we see an increase in the shares of women in higher positions and in women who were self-employed and managers. This upturn, however, stabilised during the 1990s. We argue that the changes in gendered divisions of labour and business coincided with a fast-changing business structure. First, the old cartel broke down in the mid-1960s. Then, the number of firms increased quickly during the 1970s and 1980s, and the market share for the largest firms declined. This, in turn, meant new business opportunities for women at the same time as their overall labour market participation increased. The article stresses the importance of both acknowledging women’s presence in the industry development as well as the structures constituting gender divisions.     

“中国道路”的接续探索与时代价值

“中国道路”的发展“奇迹”引起了国内外专家学者热议,有赞誉,有指责;有肯定,也有否定,呈现出多种思考与议论。针对这些热议,需要坚持“历史与逻辑”相统一的辩证唯物主义立场来认识“中国道路”演化的系统性和必然性,进而领会“中国道路”的时代价值。“中国道路”创新和丰富了世界现代化发展模式。将“中国道路”的“历史起点和逻辑起点”放在宏观时空环境中来观察分析,以期深刻揭示选择走“中国道路”的必然性;同时秉持历史唯物主义基本立场和观点,坚决批判历史虚无主义,树立“道路自信”。     

我国家庭农场历史与发展探析

在叙述和分析家庭经营发展历史阶段的基础上,探究了家庭农场这一新型农业经营主体概念提出的背景和原因,接着对家庭农场规模、劳动力、收入、资金来源等进行了深入分析和探讨,找出家庭农场区别其他经营主体的几大特点.在家庭农场概念、特点的基础上,对目前家庭农场发展遇见的问题和困难进行了分析,并提出相应的解决建议.     

States and economic growth: Capacity and constraints

State capacity has become one of the most discussed concepts in development economics and political economy. In this survey we argue that the study of economic history provides vital insights into the process through which modern states have acquired ‘state capacity’. By evaluating the process of state building across a range of different countries in Europe and Asia, we are able to ‘decompress’ the relationship between state capacity and economic growth. Our analysis emphasizes the variegated nature of the state building process. We focus on recent research that helps to elucidate the mechanisms that relate state capacity to economic growth.     

20世纪前期买办职业收入分析

20世纪前期，买办的职业报酬制度达到成熟和完善。买办的职业收入主要由薪金和佣金构成，还有一部分被外商默许的暗中收入。佣金是多数买办的主要收入，是买办经纪人身份的体现；薪金是买办与外商雇佣关系的一种象征。买办收入的复杂挂还在于不同行业的买办收入来源不一，且差距较大。     

Rio plus Ten: Politics,Poverty, and Environment

The purpose of this paper is to contrast the work of Douglass North and Karl Polanyi regarding financial institutions associated in market economies. Both implicitly acknowledge the synergy between public and private financial markets, which can serve to solidify an alliance between wealth holders and the state, potentially at the expense of “sociery” at large. This alliance may stimulate growth, according to North, as well as impose the strain of the market, according to Polanyi. Taken together, these insights undercut the classical story of the neutral role of money, as well as the notion of a clear distinction between public and private, politics and markets.     

URBAN HISTORY AND THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIAN CITIES

Urban growth is a major theme in economic development and a policy imperative for developed countries that seek to create sustainable cities. We argue that the past weighs heavily on the ability of societies to sustainably manage urban environments. The policy implications of urban history are revealed in comparisons of cities across times and between places. The special issue presents some of the best recent work on the economic and social history of Australian cities. We aim to encourage historians to incorporate urban variables into studies of historical processes and to persuade policymakers to consider historical trends in their analysis.     

袁州政区变迁考论——兼对部分史籍相关记载的校勘

袁州作为地方行政单位始于隋开皇十一年（591）,至1912年被裁撤,其名称、隶属、治所和版图均少有变迁,体现出较强的稳定性。这主要是由于袁州的地理位置与外界往来较少造成的。今日宜春市的行政区划存在一定的不合理性,影响到了行政效率和行政区划的稳定性。中华书局点校本《元史》、《明史》、《元和郡县图志》和《读史方舆纪要》等史籍对古代袁州行政沿革的记载存在一些错误,逐一勘之。