Divisia price and quantity indices: 80 years after

This paper reviews and extends the theory of price and quantity indices which are defined as line integrals, the two types being those of Divisia and Montgomery. The properties of these indices are systematically explored, whereby in particular attention is paid to the path-(in)dependency issue. Two sections discuss the problem of how to approximate the line integral indices when only data at discrete points of time are available. It appears that every bilateral index can be conceived as the outcome of a line integral index over a particular curve in price–quantity space. The classical position is that chained bilateral indices are rationalized by Divisia indices. This rationalization is only interesting when the Divisia indices themselves possess a proper foundation in economic theory. The final sections are therefore devoted to the role played by the Divisia indices in micro-economic theory.     

From Civil War to Civil Rights

Summary

Alabama sold its Old South heritage by commemorating the Confederacy and celebrating the wealth produced by slave labor through pilgrimages. Yet in the 1980s, the state cut a new course by marketing African-American heritage and the sites of civil rights conflicts. Joining other groups in memorializing the movement, Alabama successfully commodified its controversial past as heritage tourism. Ironically, Governor George Wallace initiated the marketing strategy to alter Alabama's negative image. Selma captured the idea with its “From Civil War to Civil Rights” advertising campaign. The juxtaposition of apparently incongruous events points not only to the mixed motivations behind heritage tourism but also to the potential that exists as the public engages and confronts contested pasts.     

Implications of a world system hypothesis

This paper explores in an informal way four categories of problems and questions raised by accepting the thesis that the world is a single system. Expressed as an hypothesis guiding world modeling and simulation studies, this whole system outlook underlies Forrester, et al. and Levy-Pascal's appeal to cyclical theories of large sociopolitical and economic change. Arguments are given to show that a world system hypothesis is warranted, but not yet fully understood in terms of the consequences which follow from it. The paper concludes by briefly discussing the question of systemic self-organization at the world level, the problem of finding appropriate measures and indices for such large-scale systems, the possible usefulness of a structuralist approach to world modeling, and finally, the issue of relative degrees of human control over large-scale events. The question is raised as to whether long-range planning in an actual world system may be inappropriate in that context.