bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Geochemistry of rare earth elements in the modern sediments of Amur Bay (the Japan/East Sea)
Authors: Aksentov K.I. , Sattarova V.V.
Published: August 2016

The distribution of REE in the bottom sediments of Amur Bay accumulated over the last 100 years was studied, and the REE contents were evaluated. The REE contents normalized to North American Shale Composite (NASC) show a negative Ce anomaly and a predominance of LREE and MREE. The inflow and accumulation of REE in the bottom sediments are influenced mainly by natural sources, whereas their dependence on anthropogenic factors is minimal.
Paleoseismological and archaeoseismological data from the western Alabash–Konurolen intramontane basin (southern Lake Issyk Kul area,Kyrgyzstan)
Authors: Deev E.V. , Turova I.V. , Korzhenkov A.M. , Luzhansky D.V. , Gladkov A.S. , Rodkin M.V. , Abdieva S.V. , Mažeika J.V. , Rogozhin E.A. , Fortuna A.B. , Muraliev A.M. , Charimov T.A. , Yudakhin A.S.
Published: August 2016

Paleoseismological and archaeoseismological studies have furnished proof that the northern border of the Alabash–Konurolen basin is thrusting over the basin sediments. The sediments store a record of two earthquakes that occurred between 8400 and 7300 yr BP and presumably in the 16th century. The minimum magnitude of the latter earthquake was estimated, based on the length (2.3 km) of the fault scarp it produced and the amount of displacement (0.4 m) on the respective reverse plane, to range within 6.6–6.8. The older event was of about the same minimum magnitude. The results call for a revision of the existing seismic risk division of Kyrgyzstan that places the Alabash–Konurolen basin into a zone of M ≤ 6.5 seismicity.
Commemorating John F. MacDonald and the Art of Being a Mentor
Authors: Jackson Michael F. , Prado Vania F. , Prado Marco A. M.
Published: August 2016

John F. MacDonald was a close friend and mentor whose life was ended far too soon on April 22, 2014. To those who knew him, John was an endearing blend of fiery Scotsman, compassionate socialist, dedicated family man, and tireless investigator. Those close to him valued his loyalty and friendship, relished his biting wit, and puzzled at his self-deprecating manner. His career spanned a remarkable period of discovery from the early identification of excitatory amino acid, to the molecular cloning and characterization of glutamate receptors and the elucidation of mechanisms responsible for regulating their function. A true pioneer in each of these areas, John’s research has had a lasting impact on our understanding of excitatory synaptic transmission and its plasticity. Our intent in commemorating John’s work is to focus on some notable discoveries that highlight the impact and innovative aspects of John’s work. In doing so, we also wish to highlight just how greatly our understanding of the glutamate transmitter systems has advanced since the late 1970s, when John first launched his independent neuroscience career.
“As a Mexican I Feel It’s My Duty:” Citizenship, Censorship, and the Campaign Against Derogatory Films in Mexico, 1922–1930
Authors: Serna Laura I.
Published: August 2016

In June of 1930, Dr. J. M. Puig Casauranc, who held the post of Jefe del Departamento del Distrito Federal (a post then somewhat akin to mayor) received a lengthy letter from theConfederación de Sociedades Mexicanasin Los Angeles, California. The letter asked Dr. Puig if a Committee for the Supervision of Film could be constituted in Los Angeles, a committee to be made up of members of the Confederation and the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles. In their letter members of the Confederation’s steering committee displayed a clear understanding of the history of Mexico’s struggle to exert some control over the content of Hollywood films.
“Reelizing” Arab and Jewish Ethnicity in Mexican Film
Authors: Alfaro-Velcamp Theresa
Published: August 2016

As a historian of Mexican history who studies Middle Eastern immigrants to Mexico in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I have approached the topic of ethnic film with both trepidation and great interest. Attuned to the historiography of what and who is Mexican, I view the filmsEl baisano JalilandNovia que te veafor their representations of ethnic difference and suggestions of a multicultural Mexico. Here, I wish to explore how these films not only show the presence of immigrant groups in the cultural fabric of Mexico, but also how the films demonstrate that public discourses (via film) can enhance scholarly understanding of multiculturalism. My purpose is to make a discrete intervention in Mexican historiography by underscoring the importance of film in conceptualizing the dimensions of ethnic identity. I suggest that these films are rooted in a particular Mexican social context in which both Arab and Jewish immigrants have been able to manipulate the ambiguities of what it means to be Mexican.
Office Premiums for Policies for Children.
Authors: Fielder W. C.
Published: August 2016

The usual form of contract provides for the payment of the sum assured if the child survive the selected period with a death benefit of—

(a) A return of all the premiums paid, or

(b) A return of all the premiums paid accumulated at a low rate of interest, say, 2 %.

In view of the nature of the death benefit and the fact that the commission (usually 2½% of the premiums) and expenses are small, it is usual to ignore mortality and charge a premium based on interest only, the net 3 % rate being fairly common. Expenses and profit are derived from surplus interest. Sometimes a procuration fee of 10s. is payable, with renewal commission of 2½ %, and in such a case the question of adjusting the rates must be considered, particularly if the death benefit includes interest.
Some Distinctive Features of Collecting Friendly Societies.
Authors: Peters C. F.
Published: August 2016

The most convenient way of explaining the special features of Collecting Friendly Societies is, I think, by contrasting them with (I.) Other Friendly Societies, and (II.) Industrial Assurance Companies.

Under Section 8 of the Friendly Societies Act, 1896, a comprehensive list of the objects of Friendly Societies is given, but the Collecting Friendly Societies have practically limited their objects to Death Benefits and Endowments. This limitation is important, as it accounts to a large extent for the characteristic features of Collecting Societies.

In the Friendly Societies Act there is a provision that all expenses of administration are to be met entirely out of a separate Management Fund, but there is no restriction as to the amount of that fund nor how it is to be built up. All Friendly Societies are allowed to make their own arrangements in their rules.
The Contributory Pensions Act, 1925
Authors: Hocking W. S.
Published: August 2016

In reading the following remarks, three considerations should be clearly borne in mind.

Firstly, it has been necessary to describe some of the benefits valued, but this description in no way purports to be an authoritative interpretation of the Act, nor in fact could it be.

Secondly, any opinions expressed are entirely personal ones and have no official authority.

Thirdly, the examples given are merely specimens of the way in which official statistics may be used to obtain the required functions. Since each computation was part of an enormous mass of co-related calculations, it has not always been possible to divorce a particular problem from its context, and the examples must be taken neither as necessarily the best methods to apply in all circumstances nor indeed as being in all cases the methods adopted where actually the function in question was developed from another which was already available.
The Continuous Annuity Investigation
Authors: Oakley H. J. P.
Published: August 2016

The first investigation to be made on the continuous plan adopted by the Institute and Faculty has been that into the Annuity experience for the period immediately following the close of the investigation into the Mortality of Annuitants 1900-1920 (which traced the experience of individual annuities).

There were three very good reasons for this:—

(1) The investigation could proceed while data relating to Assured lives were being collected (the Continuous Annuity Experience dates from 1921 while the Assured lives will run only from 1924).

(2) Having obtained so recent an experience as that for the period 1900-1920, there was the opportunity to watch the trend of annuitant mortality without any material break.

(3) It acted as a “pilot” run before the more important venture into the Assured lives experience.
Industrial Assurance Profit Sharing
Authors: Spratling F. H.
Published: August 2016

The immense growth of Industrial Assurance in Great Britain during the last 80 years is a matter of common knowledge. A plain record of the technical developments which have from the first formed an unobtrusive background would make an interesting story. We should read of the great cost of financing expansion, of the prolonged and ultimately successful struggle to raise the reserves to a satisfactory actuarial standard, and finally, of surpluses sufficiently large to cause actuaries and others furiously to think in arriving at satisfactory methods of distributing them.

There is neither space nor time to tell the story here. We must begin by accepting the fact that relatively large surpluses are now commonly revealed on the valuation of Industrial Assurance funds and that various problems have to be solved in deciding upon the best methods to be adopted in dealing with them.
An outline of the theory of the ‘Analysis of Variance’
Authors: Vajda S.
Published: August 2016

It is intended in the following paragraphs to give an outline of a very general statistical method which originated in agricultural experimentation and which has since been used in many other fields, including that of mortality investigations. We will start with a special case, that of regression analysis involving only one independent variable. Well-known formulae will be developed with the aid of orthogonal polynomials and it will be shown how this tool can be used for generalizations. A new theorem referring to these polynomials, and its significance for the analysis of variance, will also be mentioned.
Sheppard's correction to the variance.
Authors: Finucan H. M.
Published: August 2016

The variance of a continuous frequency distribution is often calculated by concentrating the frequencies in intervals of widthhat the mid-points (videKendall,Advanced Theory of Statistics, Vol. 1, §3.16). Under certain conditions this approximation can be corrected by subtractingfrom the calculated variance. This note gives an interpretation in elementary terms of the ‘reason’ for such a correction.

We consider three distributions, all having the same frequency in any one of the intervals of widthh(Fig. 1):

C the original continuous distribution;

H where the frequency density is uniform within any one interval;

P where the frequency in an interval is concentrated at the mid-point.
The mathematics of non-life insurance.
Authors: Riebesell Paul
Published: August 2016

The organizing Committee of the Twelfth International Congress of Actuaries which was to have been held in Lucerne in 1940 did me the honour of suggesting that I should give a lecture on the development of insurance mathematics, particularly the mathematics of non-life insurance. Unfortunately the war prevented the Congress, but the individual articles were published in Zurich. Those which relate to the subject mentioned are to be found in Section I which includes papers intended to answer the following questions: ‘What hypotheses underlie actuarial science and to what extent can the applications of the theory of probability and of the theory of risk be justified? Should actuaries use these theories—particularly more recent developments—in practice? Are observations made on insurance data likely to confirm the theories of probability and of risk?’ The articles in this Section are concerned only to a slight degree with non-life insurance and in Prof. Jecklin's summary review he correctly points out that up to the present the mathematician has not generally concerned himself with non-life insurance. He writes: ‘Many problems, in particular those relating to the mathematics of non-life insurance, will be only of academic interest so long as it proves impossible to test the theory by means of appropriate statistical data. We must not forget that interesting and valuable though theory may be—permitting us as it does to study effects in a model form based on specific assumptions—yet for practical purposes (for instance when premiums and reserves are to be calculated mathematically according to the theory of probability and statistics) a mass of recent statistical data must be available.
Life office valuations with reference to a reversionary bonus system
Authors: Radley D. H.
Published: August 2016

The object of this paper is to attempt to evolve a theoretically correct method of valuing life policies in an office having a ‘level’ Compound Reversionary Bonus system. This method can then be used to examine the existing methods of valuation in detail, and also to trace the connexion between the existing methods. The theoretical method of valuation can be approached by a mathematical analysis on strictly theoretical lines. A Compound Reversionary Bonus method has been used in this paper, but similar principles can be applied in the case of a simple reversionary bonus method.

It is emphasized at this early stage that I am only concerned with the theory of valuations, and the practical points, such as legal requirements, presentation of valuation results and simplicity of valuation machinery, are not considered.
The Taxation of Annuity Funds.
Authors: Bayley G. V.
Published: August 2016

‘Income tax is another subject on which it is difficult for me to speak freely, but I cannot refrain from noting that the general taxation position, as it now affects life assurance and pensions business, has given rise to serious anomalies: …one has only to consider…that the terms quoted by offices for the purchase of life annuities vary to a quite remarkable extent, depending on the distribution of the company's business between various funds, as it exists at the moment, and the consequential incidence of tax;…’

(J.I.A.Vol.LXXV, p. 7.)

With these words Sir George Maddex, in his Presidential Address, directed our attention to the present system of taxation of annuity funds. M. E. Ogborn (1), on 27 October 1947, touched on the subject of uneven incidence of tax upon differing funds, and some uneasiness about the consequences was manifest in the discussion on that paper.

Much has been written in recent years upon the general subject of taxation of annuities. S. J. Rowland and F. H. Wales (2), A. H. Shrewsbury (3), and M. E. Ogborn (1) have fully described and commented upon the present method. Relatively little attention, however, has been devoted to the effects of the system upon annuity funds, probably because it is only recently that we have become aware of its full implications. There is some need therefore to review the consequences and to investigate more closely the actuarial problems which follow.

It is proposed here to analyse the effects of the system and, proceeding from some simple basic principles, to point to a method of solution of the actuarial problems connected with valuation, investment and the terms for new business and withdrawals.
Recent developments in Social Insurance
Authors: Hocking W. S.
Published: August 2016

In the following remarks I have attempted to approach my subject (necessarily in a somewhat random fashion) from a slightly different angle from that of Clarke's text-book. It must be understood that any opinions expressed are personal ones, and have no official authority.

All insurance has as its basic conception the pooling of risks, but whereas ordinary insurance is an individual contract, and steps are taken to ensure that the insured person is a reasonably healthy life when the policy is effected, social insurance brings under its cover the whole population of a country, or at any rate some more or less well-defined section of the population, and its concern is that the bad lives or heavy risks should gain protection equally with the healthy lives and lighter risks.
Some views on property investment
Authors: Wheeler A. C. , Wheeler K. A. C.
Published: August 2016

It was originally proposed that this paper should be entitled ‘Property Investment’, but it was found to be quite impossible to condense such a subject satisfactorily. Also, a paper was presented to the Society some eight years ago entitled ‘An Introduction to Property Investment’, by Lane and Leach (J.S.S. 5, 166). It is thought that the two papers can be read together with advantage. What has been done in this paper is to provide a series of statements and opinions with a view to provoking thought and discussion. Many points may be raised which have been left out. Much, no doubt, has been put in which is obvious and elementary.

We are concerned with Property Investment on a long-term basis, i.e. we are not concerned with speculation, namely, the quick purchase and re-sale of property to make a profit; furthermore, we are not concerned with House Purchase schemes. It must also be emphasized that this paper relates to England and Wales and not to Scotland. In the authors' view, basically sound property investment as distinct from owner occupation is very difficult indeed to achieve in Scotland, owing to rating complications, low yields, horizontal ownerships and other legal difficulties.
Statistical tests of random order
Authors: Daw R. H.
Published: August 2016

Given an ordered sequence consisting of fixed numbers ofA's andB's, it is sometimes necessary to test whether these letters occur in a random order. In particular situationsAandBmay represent positive and negative signs, heads and tails of a coin, defective and effective parts, wet and dry years, and so on. Many tests of randomness are available, but this note only deals with two of the possible tests. One of these tests is described by Johnson & Tetley in theirStatisticstext-book (vol. 2, p. 238), where the sequence of positive and negative signs of the deviations between actual and expected deaths in a mortality table graduation is investigated for randomness. However, it is not made plain in the official text-book exactly what aspect of randomness is being tested; it is hoped that this note will make the matter clear.

The situation to which both the tests described below are to be applied is as follows. Given fixed numbersn1ofA's andn2ofB's arranged in an ordered sequence, it is found that the particular sequence observed containsg1 groups of consecutiveA's andg2 groups of consecutiveB's.
Inland Revenue Statistics.
Authors: Beales R. E.
Published: August 2016

This is a subject which may seem a little remote from the normal run of discussions at these meetings. But with the increasing tendency for actuaries to take up posts in Government service, in industry and in commerce, in which official statistics are an everyday need, I hope that some of you, at least, will find it interesting to have this brief account of the work of a Government statistics division.

The Statistics Division forms part of the Secretaries' Office of the Board of Inland Revenue. Its primary function is to supply the Board with the figures which the Chancellor of the Exchequer needs for Budget purposes, i.e. estimates of the future yield of taxation at current levels and of the cost or yield of possible changes in rates and allowances. The whole of the year's work centres on those requirements, but in the course of it many figures useful for other purposes emerge or can be collected with little additional effort.
The British Actuary in the United States.
Authors: Miles D. H.
Published: August 2016

This paper was intended to be a further paper in the series that has been presented to the Students' Society featuring the work of the Actuary overseas. The first was T. R. Suttie's paper, ‘The Actuary in Canada’ (J.S.S.13, 199), and subsequent papers were by D. Drybrough, ‘Life Assurance in Australia’ (J.S.S.14, 1), and by de Smidt, Williams and Rodger, ‘The Actuary in South Africa’ (J.S.S.14, 348). In view of the fact that a number of British actuaries are now working in the United States, it was thought that a further paper might deal with the position there, despite the difference that in this case actuaries do not look to the Institute and the Faculty as the seats of learning, although Spurgeon's text-book was until recently an official text-book for the Society of Actuaries.
The Consulting Actuary in Canada.
Authors: Livsey F.
Published: August 2016

This paper is intended to give a fairly complete picture of the actuary in Canada when read in conjunction with T. R. Suttie's paper, ‘The Actuary in Canada’ (J.S.S.13, 199). Suttie concentrated on the life insurance business in his paper, and with this in mind, I shall refer mainly to consulting actuarial work.

Consulting practice in Canada is very similar to that in Great Britain, where the major part of the actuary's time is devoted to pension funds. The main differences are that Canadian consulting firms may advertise, and may also include insurance brokerage as part of their business provided that they hold the necessary licences. The small amount of friendly society work in Canada is handled by actuaries who specialize in such work, and there is no market in reversions or life interests.
New Life Offices in Australia
Authors: Kimber D. J. , Salmon I. L.
Published: August 2016

1.1. The principal field of work in which the actuary is engaged is still that of life assurance, and over the years the tremendous growth of life companies has necessitated the individual actuary specializing in one or other of the various branches of life assurance work. In this paper, the authors, each of whom is intimately concerned with the formation of a new life assurance organization, seek to examine many of the elements affecting a new office, and hope by so doing to present the problems as a whole rather than as the separate compartments in which many practising actuaries find themselves.
The Money Market
Authors: Parker P. W.
Published: August 2016

I use the expression ‘money market’ to describe those institutions in the City of London who are active in borrowing and lending money for short periods, from a single day to perhaps 5 years at the most. From being a tight circle centred on the Bank of England, the discount houses, and the clearing banks the money market has now grown to include, as active investors, public corporations, local authorities, merchant banks, overseas banks, hire-purchase companies, building societies, trustee savings banks and Lloyd's syndicates. In addition, institutions with long-term liabilities, such as insurance companies and pension funds, will occasionally have business to transact in short-dated securities, an example being the profitable employment of funds earmarked for the purchase of real property in a few months' time. In any event, it is worth while to remember that the long term consists of a series of short terms.
The Dutch Life Assurance Market
Authors: Wood C. H. R.
Published: August 2016

1. This paper is based upon experience derived and impressions gained from working as a foreigner in the Dutch life assurance market. The views expressed are essentially personal

2. In setting up a life assurance operation in a foreign country the factors to be considered are immensely complex and the decision to enter the market is merely the beginning of a long process of analysis and further decisions. In this paper I have made no attempt either to enumerate or to consider these factors. This is a descriptive paper and not an analytical one.

3. After a short historical review the broad elements which comprise the present Dutch market are discussed and finally I mention briefly what I see as some of the important trends and future possibilities for this market.
How the First French Railways Were Planned
Authors: Dunham Arthur L.
Published: August 2016

France is often described as the country that planned its network of railroads with the greatest care, wisely arranging for private construction and operation under control of the Government. She deserves criticism, it has been said, only because it took ten years to make these excellent arrangements. Yet most of the writers who have painted this rather attractive picture have not looked beyond the well-known books of Audiganne and Kaufmann, studies based chiefly upon collections of French statutes and legislative debates as well as the best known contemporary newspapers and literary reviews. Little attention has been paid to the Corps des ponts et chaussées, whose activities were far more important than the speeches of its director in the Chambers. Little concern has been given to the vital problem of obtaining the very large amounts of capital that were needed, or to the influence of the serious depression that began in 1837.
The Economic History of a Young Corporation
Authors: Clough S. B.
Published: August 2016

Economics, as it is frequently taught nowadays, consists largely of supply and demand curves. Within their graceful lines are contained the wisdom of the ages—the key to the past and the barometer of the future. If superimposed on one another, these curves have all the esthetic quality of dynamistic drawings. So completely have they dominated economic thinking that when a group of economists considered the possibility of founding an Economic History Association, their first impulse was to establish a demand curve. This was done, as Professor Heaton has intimated, by Miss Anne Bezanson, who canvassed the field. She discovered that four hundred people could be counted upon immediately to support a Journal of Economic History.
The Influence of Depression Upon American Opinion, 1857–1859
Authors: Rezneck Samuel
Published: August 2016

On August 26, 1857, just two days after the New York branchthe Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company suspended payment, of, theNew York Heraldpredicted that the financial difficulties then beginning were certain to acquire the proportions of a great crisis. It boasted, moreover, that it had foreseen and warned of this impending calamity for the preceding twelve months, but its warnings had been spurned. TheHerald'svaunted prescience perhaps stemmed chiefly from the long-standing prejudice of its publisher, James Gordon Bennett, against the operations of speculators in Wall Street. As early as 1854, when the speculative boom in railroad stocks was halted by a sharp decline of prices, theHeraldhad predicted the imminent approach of a crisis, one that would mark the end of the current “Fitful Spasmodic System” of American business. During the winter of 1854–1855 business stagnated, unemployment increased greatly, and there was considerable distress and popular unrest, especially in New York City. Here was an advance view, as it were, of the pattern of depression which was to develop in 1857.
Land Hunger and Nationalism in the Ukraine, 1905–1917
Authors: Weinstein H. R.
Published: August 2016

In the last decades of the Tsarist regime the eight provinces where, according to the census of 1897, Ukrainians predominated—Kiev, Podolia, Volhynia, Poltava, Chernigov, Kharkov, Kherson, and Ekaterinoslav—were largely rural. Less than one seventh of the population in these provinces inhabited urban centers. The rural population, moreover, coincided closely with the Ukrainian nationality: more than nine of every ten Ukrainians lived in the country districts, and most of these were classified as peasants. Since two out of every three of the urban residents were Russians or Jews, the limited number of Ukrainians dwelling among them tended to become absorbed into industries which provided a natural milieu for “Russification.” In the cultural conflict, “Ukrainian” became synonymous with 9peasant”; and the nickname for the Ukrainian—khokhol—has the same derogatory connotation as the Russian term muzhik, which evokes a picture of a shaggily bearded, unwashed, unkempt, illiterate country bumpkin.
Indentured Servants: New Light on Some of America's “First” Families
Authors: Smith Abbot Emerson
Published: August 2016

Among the commodities which could profitably be shipped to the English plantations in America, a parcel of human beings was not the least remunerative. The colonists demanded labor, and were willing to pay for it. For a hundred years after the founding of Virginia this demand was met by the transportation and sale of white indentured servants recruited in Great Britain and Ireland, and so great was the volume of this business that the servants made up about three quarters of all immigrants coming to the colonies south of New York. During the eighteenth century their exclusive sway was gradually disputed by German redemptioners and Negro slaves, yet indentured servants continued to play a vital part in colonial life and to form an important element in colonial trade. The progenitor of many a proud American family found himself landed upon these shores not so much on account of his desire to seek freedom as because his person could be advantageously exchanged for a quantity of tobacco, lumber, or sassafras root.
Early English Woodland and Waste
Authors: Neilson H.
Published: August 2016

Much labor has been spent upon the history of the cultivated and occupied lands of the medieval English village and the social life of its inhabitants, and as a result a fairly clear framework has been constructed into which alterations and additions may be fitted where necessary. This statement is not true of the great background of all early village life, of the activities concerned with the waste or unoccupied land lying outside fields and even village bounds, and either lying idle, or else used for pasture, estovers, and hunting. Modern students have been negligent of this side of the medieval countryside, being more engaged with the human interests of the village; and little allowance has been made for changes and developments occurring within decades or even centuries. The great history of common rights, an extremely important subject, has yet to be written. This paper has a few suggestions to make which might sometime be useful in a study of a very large field.
Keynes and Proudhon
Authors: Dillard Dudley
Published: August 2016

Since the beginning of the world-wide depression of the 1930's thewritings of J. M. Keynes have furnished the chief stimulus for serious discussion of economic policy and economic theory. There is implicit in the Keynesian position an interpretation of capitalism strikingly similar to that of P. J. Proudhon, the French socialist of the nineteenth century. Yet whatever similarities there are between the economic ideas of Keynes and Proudhon must be explained by time-separated reaction to more or less comparable problems. The only formal linkage between the two theorists would be their relations to Silvio Gesell, the stamped-money reformer. Keynes expresses admiration for the fundamentals of Gesell's work, and Gesell in turn avows himself a disciple of Proudhon. Keynes's agreement with Gesell is not confined to matters of technical theory, but extends also to the social premises of the work of that “strange, unduly neglected prophet…whose work contains flashes of deep insight and who only just failed to reach down to the essence of the matter.”He characterizes Gesell's work as “anti-Marxian socialism,” asserting that “the future will learn more from the spirit of Gesell than from that of Marx.” Since Marx made a bitter attack on Proudhon, and since Gesell declares himself a disciple of Proudhon, Keynes's references to the superiority of Gesell over Marx suggest important relations between Proudhon and Keynes.
Stephen Girard, Promoter of the Second Bank of the United States
Authors: Brown Kenneth L.
Published: August 2016

Although historians have described the role of Stephen Girard in the founding of the second Bank of the United States simply as that of a heavy investor in its stock, careful examination of the Girard papers and other recently discovered documents shows the usual account to be entirely inadequate. Actually Girard was one of the moving spirits of the Bank from the time of its inception in the minds of a small group of American financiers until the period of its mismanagement in 1818. Then, as chairman of the stockholders, he was largely influential in effecting the replacement of the reckless and incompetent Jones leadership with the sounder administrations of Langdon Cheves and Nicholas Biddle. Girard was a most important influence in the Bank's early history. He purchased a large amount of stock, contributed to the working out of the mechanics of operation, aided in obtaining specie from Baring Brothers & Company, London, helped determine the form and content of the charter, did yeoman service in the political battle preceding its founding, and struggled mightily, although in vain, to prevent the Bank's becoming a political football in an orgy of speculation.
Retardative Factors in French Economic Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Authors: Clough Shepard B.
Published: August 2016

All scientific research requires at its initial stage as precise a formulation of the problem under investigation as is possible to the human mind. In a study of retardative factors in French economic development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the need for clarifying the implications of the subject and of removing possible ambiguities is particularly urgent. By economic development is meant here an increasing amount of goods and services which are customarily exchanged for money. I am eliminating from consideration many of the intangibles of life, which are important and which the French may have in abundance, likejoie de vivre.
The Declining American Maritime Industries: An Unsolved Problem, 1860–1940
Authors: Hutchins John G. B.
Published: August 2016

The phenomenon of change lies at the core of economic and business history. Otherwise, in common with other branches of economics, we would be engaged in the dull task of describing and explaining the static state of the classical and neoclassical theorists. The historical economist deals with the field of dynamic economics on the largest possible scale. Furthermore, unlike the theorists of dynamic economics, he is under obligation to deal with actual situations as they have arisen, and to reach judgments in the light of all-important observable factors. This is a difficult assignment.
The Classical Economists and the Factory Acts
Authors: Walker Kenneth O.
Published: August 2016

Between 1815 and 1850, the economic policy of England was marked by several far-reaching reforms advocated by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and their disciples. Revision of monetary and banking policy, abandonment of the archaic Navigation Acts, and eventual repeal of the Corn Laws, all bear the unmistakable impress of the influence of the classical economists.
The Corporation and the Historian
Authors: Pargellis Stanley
Published: August 2016

It is a kind of report on progress I am making this afternoon. In the last year or so a few of us have talked a good deal with corporation executives about opening their past records to historians now, and putting them in places where they can serve historians for generations to come. We have had some success; we have met some obstacles. I want to report on both to this Association, whose interest in the matter is the same as mine.
Presidential Address: On the Economic Significance of Culture
Authors: Innis Harold A.
Published: August 2016

Edwin F. Gay, my predecessor, in the inaugural presidential address of this Association described the continuity of the history of economic history from Europe to North America as illustrated in his own work. As your second president I represent a later stage of this continuity, a student of Chester W. Wright who in turn was a student of Edwin Gay. I am in a sense one of Edwin Gay's grandsons. This, particularly as it appeals to my strong Scottish interest in genealogy, provides the only satisfactory explanation I have been able to find of the honor you have done me in appointing me his successor. For the same reason it is a source of satisfaction to me that my successor can be said to fill the intervening gap as one of Edwin Gay's sons.
Inner Asian Frontiers: Chinese and Russian Margins of Expansion
Authors: Lattimore Owen
Published: August 2016

The American tradition emphasizes the importance of sea power, especially the great age of sea power which began with Columbus and led first to the expansion of Spain and Portugal and then to the empire building of England, Holland, and France, and the development of North America. In America itself we are also familiar with the epic march across the continent to the Pacific, and the way in which the expanding frontier shaped, or at least strongly influenced, our society and our institutions, as expounded by Turner. Even our continental history, however, was initiated by the crossing of the Atlantic; and from then on even our period of most active continental expansion was never free of the influences and effects of sea power, sea-borne commerce, the investment of European capital, and acceleration of population growth by the immigration of Europeans.
The Decline of the Medici Bank
Authors: de Roover Raymond
Published: August 2016

The power of the Medici as a banking house, and their weakness also, become clearer when we examine the source of their funds. The main problem is whether the Medici bank operated mainly with the money invested by the partners or whether most of the operating capital was supplied from outside sources. It would be easy to settle this question if some balance sheets of the Medici bank were still available. As none have come down to us, another method of approach has to be used.
Government Finance on the Eve of the Civil War
Authors: Patterson Robert T.
Published: August 2016

Financially, the Federal Government was more poorly prepared for war in the early months of 1861 than it had been since its establishment. The financial policies of the government in the period preceding the war weakened its credit; and this, along with the urgency of the conflict, was to make short-term borrowing and the printing of paper money attractive but costly wartime expedients. Although the failure to finance the war on a sound basis cannot be ascribed merely to prewar financial conditions and policies, the stage was set by them. The regression to earlier methods of war finance began even before the war.
British Mercantilism and the Economic Development of the Thirteen Colonies
Authors: Nettels Curtis P.
Published: August 2016

Mercantilism is defined for this discussion as a policy of government that expressed in the economic sphere the spirit of nationalism that animated the growth of the national state in early modern times. The policy aimed to gain for the nation a high degree of security or self-sufficiency, especially as regards food supply, raw materials needed for essential industries, and the sinews of war. This end was to be achieved in large measure by means of an effective control over the external activities and resources upon which the nation was dependent. In turn, that urge impelled the mercantilists to prefer colonial dependencies to independent foreign countries in seeking sources of supply. If the state could not free itself completely from trade with foreign nations, it sought to control that trade in its own interest as much as possible. To realize such objectives, mercantilism embraced three subordinate and related policies. The Corn Laws fostered the nation's agriculture and aimed to realize the ideal of self-sufficiency as regards food supply. State aids to manufacturing industries, such as the protective tariff, sought to provide essential finished goods, including the sinews of war. The Navigation Acts were intended to assure that foreign trade would be carried on in such a way as to yield the maximum advantage to the state concerned.
Some Classical Economists, Laissez Faire, and the Factory Acts
Authors: Sorenson Lloyd R.
Published: August 2016

Until very recently scholars have been able to solve certain problems of historical interpretation to their own and presumably to their reader's satisfaction by merely uttering the magic words, “laissez faire.” Thus, much of what was done and most of what was not done, some of what was good and practically all of what was evil in nineteenth-century England and America have been accounted for by a facile reference to laissez faire. During the past few years, however, several studies have cast much doubt on the validity of this catchall interpretation. Laissez faire, it seems now, is a principle more easily imposed upon nineteenth-century data than found there; and in successive investigations supposed instances of this principle have dropped away one by one.
The Soviet Steel Industry
Authors: Clark M. Gardner
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the administrative organization and planning system of the typical large Soviet steel plant, and then show how the plant director carries out one of his essential functions both with the help of and in spite of the institutional framework within which he has to operate. Our attention will be focused primarily at the level of the individual firm, but in order to appreciate the problems of firm management we must first see how the individual enterprise fits into the all-pervading Soviet industrial bureaucracy.
The Labor Force at Waltham Watch during the Civil War Era
Authors: Gitelman H. M.
Published: August 2016

The Waltham system of labor force recruitment and treatment is well known to students of American economic history. Inaugurated by the Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1813, the system was widely copied in the establishment of New England textile villages for several decades. And, since the textile industry was the leading manufacturing activity in the United States until the Civil War, the Waltham system for a time formed the core of industrial relations in manufacturing.
Developments in the Scottish Pig Iron Trade, 1844–1848
Authors: Campbell R. H.
Published: August 2016

Between 1844 and 1848 the Scottish pig iron trade occupied a particularly important place not only in British but also in world economy. In 1830 Scotland produced only 37,000 tons of pig iron, or about 5 per cent of the total British output. By the mid-1840's it produced over 300,000 tons annually, or about 25 per cent of die British output. Of this increased output only one third was used in Scotland, while no less than one quarter left the United Kingdom for abroad. Such a rapid progress rested on peculiarly favorable geological and technical conditions.
Federal-State Financial Relations, 1790–1860
Authors: Trescott Paul B.
Published: August 2016

Financial relationships between the federal government and the states were a critical matter in the founding and early operations of the federal government under the Constitution, with the settlement of the Revolutionary War debt the object of chief concern. When the debt was ultimately secured, other matters arose to keep funds passing from one level of government to another. Some of these were of major political importance, while others involving substantial sums made little political impact, being less controversial.
Labor Unrest in England, 1910–1914
Authors: Sires Ronald V.
Published: August 2016

During the last four years before the outbreak of war in 1914 the people of England experienced an unprecedented combination of political strife and labor unrest. The struggle over the budget of 1909 had led to a constitutional crisis over the powers of the House of Lords in 1910–1911; suffragettes were resorting to obstructive and exasperating tactics to win the vote for women; the question of home rule almost resulted in civil war in North Ireland and brought what amounted to a threat of dereliction of duty by high military officers, who could not contemplate the use of force against the opponents of home rule; while the restlessness of labor brought a series of massive strikes in which the rank and file of workers often broke from the discipline of their leaders.
Soviet Industrial Growth—The Early Plan Period
Authors: Hunter Holland
Published: August 2016

The economic historian's concern with the changing institutions and processes of economic activity currently takes on added relevance in connection with world-wide interest in economic growth. Plans and programs for rapid industrialization abound, especially in economically underdeveloped areas. In this context, the example of Soviet industrialization, mysterious in its contours and awesome in its results, has attracted increasing scholarly attention.
Stamp Duties
Authors: Novotny Jan M.
Published: August 2016

J. van der Poel has just published The History of Netherlands' Revenue Stamps, 1624–1954. Mr. van der Poel is the director of the Netherlands Administration of Direct Taxes, Fees, and Excise and the Director of Netherlands' Tax Academy (Rijksbelastingsacademie) in Rotterdam, a civil service university for the highest grades of the Dutch fiscal service.
“New” and Traditional Approaches to Economic History and Their Interdependence
Authors: Redlich Fritz
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the various new or current approaches to economic history. In so doing I reluctantly use the now widely accepted terms “new” economic, or “econometric,” history considered by some authors as synonymous. In fact, however, there is both a broader and a narrower application of the phrase “new economic history.” In the broader sense, the term embraces the work of the various authors who have in common as their aim theoretically underpinned quantitative economic history; in the narrower, it refers only to what I shall call the “model builders.” Moreover the terminology seems to be in process of change.
Economic Base and Social Structure: The Northern Chesapeake in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Land Aubrey C.
Published: August 2016

The Maryland Gazette for 18 October 1749 carried an obituary of more than common interest:

On the Eleventh Instant Died, at his Seat on Wye River in Queen Anne's County, Richard Bennett, Esq. in the Eighty-third Year of his Age, generally lamented by all that knew him. As his great fortune enabled him to do much good, so (happily for many) his Inclination was equal to his Ability, to relieve the indigent and distressed, which he did very liberally, without regarding of what Party, Religion or Country, they were. As he was the greatest Trader in this Province, so great Numbers fell in his Debt, and a more merciful Creditor could not be, having never deprived the Widows or Orphans of his Debtors of a Support; and when what the Debtors left, was not sufficient for that purpose, frequently supply'd the deficiency. His long Experience and great Knowledge in Business, as well as his known Candor and generosity, occasion'd many to apply to him for Advice and Assistance, and none were ever disappointed of what was in his Power, and several by his means, extricated out of great Difficulties ….
A Balance of Payments for the Thirteen Colonies, 1768–1772: A Summary
Authors: Shepherd James
Published: August 2016

Any advance in our knowledge about the growth and development of the American colonial economy must first start with a balance-of-payments study. The trade of the thirteen colonies with other areas— principally Great Britain, Ireland, southern Europe, the Wine Islands, the West Indies, and Africa—certainly must have formed, together with the coastal trade between the colonies, a large share of the total market activity. My conclusions from such a study are that the description given of commodity trade by colonial historians has been accurate but that once services as well as goods are considered the picture changes to one where there are only small positive or negative balances remaining on current account for the various regions. As a result, I would conclude that long-term capital flows from Great Britain to the colonies were either small or nil during this period.