bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Transcriptional reporters for genes activated by cell wall stress through a non‐catalytic mechanism involving Mpk1 and SBF
Authors: Kim Ki‐Young , Levin David E.
Published: May 2010

The Mpk1 MAP kinase of the cell wall integrity (CWI) signalling pathway induces transcription of the FKS2 gene in response to cell wall stress through a non‐catalytic mechanism that involves stable association of Mpk1 with the Swi4 transcription factor. This dimeric complex binds to a Swi4 recognition site in the FKS2 promoter. The Swi6 transcription factor is also required to bind this ternary complex for transcription initiation to ensue. In this context, the Mlp1 pseudokinase serves a redundant function with Mpk1. We have identified three additional genes, CHA1, YLR042c and YKR013w, that are induced by cell wall stress through the same mechanism. We report on the behaviour of several promoter–lacZ reporter plasmids designed to detect cell wall stress transcription through this pathway. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rapid Separating and Enrichment of 4,4′‐Dimethylsterols of Vegetable Oils by Solid‐Phase Extraction
Authors: Azadmard‐Damirchi Sodeif , Nemati Mahboob , Hesari Javad , Ansarin Masoud , Fathi‐Achachlouei Bahram
Published: May 2010

Phytosterols are separated into three classes: 4‐desmethylsterols, 4‐monomethylsterols and 4,4′‐dimethylsterols. 4,4′‐Dimethylsterols are used to detect vegetable oil adulteration and some compounds from this class can have anti‐inflammatory and anticancer properties. There are methods such as thin layer chromatography (TLC) and solid phase extraction (SPE) used to separate phytosterol classes from each other. However, in some cases, separation of all three classes is not required. In addition, TLC has some drawbacks such as low recovery and it is time consuming. An SPE method has previously been used, but it was necessary to use high volume of solvents with this method to avoid coelution of phytosterol classes. In this study, an SPE (silica, 1 g) method was developed to separate and enrich only 4,4′‐dimethylsterols from unsaponifiables of vegetable oil samples using 25 mL n‐hexane and diethyl ether (95:5, v:v). This method was applied to hazelnut and olive oils and results were compared with those of TLC and the previously developed SPE method. Recovery of 4,4′‐dimethylsterols was two times higher with the new SPE method compared with the TLC method. The newly developed SPE method generally gave a similar recovery compared with the previously developed SPE method. Moreover, the SPE method developed in this study has the advantage of using a 3.5 times lower volume of solvent than previously developed SPE methods. Because the newly developed SPE method has a single step requiring a low volume of solvents, it is rapid and simple, and can easily be used to detect olive oil adulteration with hazelnut oil and to analyze and quantify effective nutritional compounds in the 4,4′‐dimethylsterols class.
Does botulinum toxin A improve the walking pattern in children with idiopathic toe-walking?
Authors: Engström Pähr , Gutierrez-Farewik Elena M. , Bartonek Åsa , Tedroff Kristina , Orefelt Christina , Haglund-Åkerlind Yvonne
Published: May 2010

Background

Numerous recommendations have been made for treating idiopathic toe-walking (ITW), but the treatment results have been questioned. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether botulinum toxin A (BTX) improves the walking pattern in ITW as examined with 3-D gait analysis.

Participants and methods

A consecutive series of 15 children (aged 5–13 years) were enrolled in the study. The children underwent a 3-D gait analysis prior to treatment with a total of 6 units/kg bodyweight Botox® in the calf muscles and an exercise program. The gait analysis was repeated 3 weeks and 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment. A classification of toe-walking severity was made before treatment and after 12 months. The parents rated the perceived amount of toe-walking prior to treatment and 6 and 12 months after treatment.

Results

Eleven children completed the 12-month follow-up. The gait analysis results displayed a significant improvement, indicating decreased plantarflexion angle at initial contact and during swing phase and increased dorsiflexion angle during midstance at all post-treatment testing instances. According to the parents’ perception of toe-walking, 3/11 children followed for 12 months had ceased toe-walking completely, 4/11 decreased toe-walking, and 4/11 continued toe-walking. After 6–12 months, the toe-walking severity classification improved in 9 of the 14 children for whom data could be assessed.

Conclusions

A single injection of BTX in combination with an exercise program can improve the walking pattern in children with ITW seen at gait analysis, but the obvious goal of ceasing toe-walking is only occasionally reached.
Prevention of mental ill-health and suicide: Public health perspectives
Authors: Hoven C.W. , Mandell D.J. , Bertolote J.M.
Published: May 2010

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates for the year 2020, approximately 1.5 million people will commit suicide, and at least 10 times that many will make an attempt. This paper offers a brief overview of the current state of the epidemiology of suicide, a burgeoning public health problem. The information provided is based in large measure on reports of suicide mortality from 130/193 countries. In order to contextualize these data, this paper explores the contribution of both individual and sociocultural factors that influence suicidal behavior, from which much has been learned. Outlining the history of attempts by international and national organizations like WHO, United Nations, member states in the European community and other countries to regularize identification and suicide reporting procedures, this paper also demonstrates that serious knowledge gaps remain. Minimal requirements for successful evidence-based interventions are presented.
Minimal deviation adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix
Authors: Li Guiling , Jiang Wei , Gui Suiqi , Xu Congjian
Published: May 2010

Background

Precise preoperative diagnosis of minimal deviation adenocarcinoma (MDA) of the uterine cervix is often difficult because the histological features of MDA closely resemble those of normal cervical glands.

Objective

To review the developments in the diagnosis and treatment of MDA over the past 35 years.

Search strategy

We performed a meta‐analysis of all case reports published in the English and Chinese languages between 1975 and 2009 that included a histopathologic diagnosis of MDA. Pooled odds ratios and 95% CIs were calculated for comparisons and analyzed.

Results

The histopathologic diagnosis of MDA remains difficult and is currently based on antigen detection by immunohistochemistry. Cytologic assessment and routine biopsy have low detection rates for MDA. Cross‐sectional imaging techniques are helpful but a deep cervical biopsy or cervical conization is necessary for a definitive diagnosis. The mean survival is about 5 years for patients with stage I, 38.1 months for patients with stage II, 22.8 months for patients with stage III, and 5.4 months for patients with stage IV MDA.

Conclusion

Early diagnosis and treatment are key to improving prognosis and survival in patients with MDA.
A survey of the methods used in shelter and rescue programs to identify feral and frightened pet cats
Authors: Slater Margaret R. , Miller Katherine A. , Weiss Emily , Makolinski Kathleen V. , Weisbrot Lila A.M.
Published: May 2010

Despite the lack of validated methods for differentiating feral from frightened socialized cats upon intake to animal welfare agencies, these organizations must make handling and disposition decisions for millions of cats each year based on their presumed socialization status. We conducted a nationwide survey of feline welfare stakeholders to learn about methods used to evaluate and categorize incoming cats, amount of time cats are held before assessment, disposition options available, and the level of cooperation among welfare agencies to minimize euthanasia of ferals. A wide variety of assessment methods were described and only 15% of 555 respondents had written guidelines. Holding periods of 1–3 days were common, and cats deemed feral were often euthanased. About half the shelters transferred ferals to trap–neuter–return (TNR) programs at least occasionally. Results highlight the need for validated assessment methods to facilitate judicious holding and disposition decisions for unowned cats at time of intake.
K-theoretic exceptional collections at roots of unity
Authors: Polishchuk A.
Published: May 2010

Using cyclotomic specializations of equivariant K-theory with respect to a torus action we derive congruences for discrete invariants of exceptional objects in derived categories of coherent sheaves on a class of varieties that includes Grassmannians and smooth quadrics. For example, we prove that if , where the ni's are powers of a fixed prime number p, then the rank of an exceptional object on X is congruent to ±1 modulo p.
Effects of peanut processing on body weight and fasting plasma lipids
Authors: McKiernan Fiona , Lokko Phoebe , Kuevi Anna , Sales Regiane L. , Costa Neuza M. B. , Bressan Josefina , Alfenas Rita C. G. , Mattes Richard D.
Published: May 2010

Peanuts and peanut butter are commonly consumed as a snack, meal component and ingredient in various commercial products. Their consumption is associated with reduced CVD risk and they pose little threat to positive energy balance. However, questions have arisen as to whether product form (e.g. whole nutv.butter) and processing properties (e.g. roasting and adding flavours) may compromise their positive health effects. The present study investigated the effects of peanut form and processing on two CVD risk factors: fasting plasma lipids and body weight. One hundred and eighteen adults (forty-seven males and seventy-one females; age 29·2 (sd8·4) years; BMI 30·0 (sd4·5) kg/m2) from Brazil, Ghana and the United States were randomised to consume 56 g of raw unsalted (n23), roasted unsalted (n24), roasted salted (n23) or honey roasted (n24) peanuts, or peanut butter (n24) daily for 4 weeks. Peanut form and processing did not differentially affect body weight or fasting plasma lipid responses in the total sample. However, HDL-cholesterol increased significantly at the group level, and total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and TAG concentrations decreased significantly in individuals classified as having elevated fasting plasma lipids compared with those with normal fasting plasma lipids. These observations suggest that the processing attributes assessed in this trial do not compromise the lipid-lowering effects of peanuts, and do not negatively impact body weight. Further studies are warranted to determine the effects of form and processing on other health risk factors.
Effects of phytosterol ester-enriched low-fat milk on serum lipoprotein profile in mildly hypercholesterolaemic patients are not related to dietary cholesterol or saturated fat intake
Authors: Hernández-Mijares Antonio , Bañuls Celia , Rocha Milagros , Morillas Carlos , Martínez-Triguero María L. , Víctor Víctor M. , Lacomba Ramón , Alegría Amparo , Barberá Reyes , Farré Rosaura , Lagarda María Jesús
Published: May 2010

Phytosterols (PS) are recommended to reduce LDL-cholesterol. However, the influence of cholesterol and fat intake on the lipid-lowering effect of PS in mildly hypercholesterolaemia is unclear. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the efficacy of PS is related to the composition of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol intake. Additionally, serum carotenoid content was analysed to evaluate to what extent it was undermined by PS. This was a 3-month randomised, parallel trial with a three-arm design. Patients were divided into three groups: healthy diet (n24), healthy diet+PS (n31) and free diet+PS (n29), receiving 2 g/d of PS. Healthy and free diets were characterised by a daily ingestion of 6·8 % of saturated fat and 194·4 mg of cholesterol and 12·7 % of saturated fat and 268·1 mg of cholesterol, respectively. After PS therapy, patients receiving the healthy diet+PS or a free diet+PS exhibited a similar reduction in total cholesterol (6·7 and 5·5 %), LDL-cholesterol (9·6 and 7·0 %), non-HDL-cholesterol (12·2 and 8·9 %) and apo B-100/apo A-I ratio (11·5 and 11·6 %), respectively. In patients following the healthy diet, (β-carotene concentration rose by 26·9 %, whereas the β-carotene and lycopene levels dropped by 21·0 and 22·8 % in the group receiving the free diet+PS, respectively. No change was observed in carotenoid levels in healthy diet+PS group. In conclusion, the efficacy of PS in relation to lipoprotein profile is not influenced by saturated fat or dietary cholesterol intake, which confirms the positive effect of healthy diet therapy in improving the negative effects that PS exert on carotenoid levels.
Total fluid and specific beverage intake and mortality due to IHD and stroke in the Netherlands Cohort Study
Authors: Leurs Lina J. , Schouten Leo J. , Goldbohm R. Alexandra , van den Brandt Piet A.
Published: May 2010

Chronic mild dehydration has been associated with several diseases, including fatal IHD and stroke. It has been suggested that hydration through total fluid intake (or water) is inversely associated with IHD or stroke mortality. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between total fluid (and specific beverage) intake and IHD or stroke mortality in the Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS). In 1986, 120 852 participants aged 55–69 years were enrolled into the NLCS. Mortality data were collected over a 10-year follow-up period. Analysis was done through a case–cohort approach, and it was based on the subjects without a history of heart disease, stroke or diabetes at baseline. A total of 1789 IHD mortality cases and 708 stroke mortality cases occurred during the follow-up. Higher total fluid consumption was not associated with either IHD mortality or stroke mortality in men or women. When analysing specific beverages, a positive association between coffee consumption (increment 270 ml/d) and IHD mortality was observed in men (hazard ratio (HR) 1·09, 95 % CI 1·00, 1·18), while an inverse relationship was observed in women (HR: 0·88, 95 % CI 0·78, 1·00). For tea consumption (increment of 253 ml/d), an inverse relationship with IHD mortality was observed in men (HR: 0·91, 95 % CI 0·83, 1·00). No association with water intake was observed. In the study population, fresh water consumption was very low. In conclusion, total fluid intake was not associated with IHD or stroke mortality in either men or women. Coffee consumption was inversely associated with IHD mortality in women only, while a higher tea intake was associated with lower IHD mortality in men only.
British Investment in Argentina
Authors: Stone Irving
Published: May 2010

The September, 1971 issue of the Journal contained A. G. Ford's article, “British Investment in Argentina and Long Swings, 1880–1914.” For total U.K. overseas issues, Professor Ford used as his source, Matthew Simon, “The Pattern of New British Portfolio Foreign Investment 1865–1914,” which appeared in J. H. Adler, editor, Capital Movements and Economic Development.
The Profitability of the Nantes Slave Trade, 1783–1792
Authors: Stein Robert
Published: May 2010

“The town has that sign of prosperity of new buildings, which never deceives,” wrote Arthur Young of Nantes in 1788. In fact, on the eve of the Revolution, Nantes—the infamous ville des négriers (city of the slavers)—was one of the richest cities in France and one of the most important ports in the kingdom. For almost a century Nantes had been the capital of the French slave trade, and by 1789 local merchants were investing almost 10 million L (livres) annually in the trade. Yet, in spite of the general activity, Nantes traders were experiencing difficulties with their business. Although a few slavers managed to create vast fortunes almost overnight, problems in France, the colonies, and Africa meant that most traders had to struggle to obtain even modest profits, from slaving. During the last decade of the old regime investments in the slave trade were usually no more profitable than investments in offices or land, although the trade alone offered the possibility, however, remote, of quick, vast profits.
The 1789 Life Table of Edward Wigglesworth
Authors: Vinovskis Maris A.
Published: May 2010

Systematic demographic analysis of early America has been neglected until quite recently. As the interest in and need for demographic data on pre-1800 America have increased during the last five years, efforts have been made to remedy this situation.The most recent studies are utilizing such new techniques as family reconstitution to avoid the problems created by the lack of reliable census data and vital statistics. But these techniques yield results very slowly, and in any case their results are subject to methodological limitations that make it necessary to check them against larger aggregates. For these reasons we need to reexamine the usefulness and accuracy of earlier studies on colonial population that were based on aggregate data. Unfortunately, this latter task has not been adequately carried out during the recent burst of activity among demographers of early America.
The Determinants of Intercountry Differences in European Emigration: 1881–1900
Authors: Tomaske John A.
Published: May 2010

A distinctive feature of the nineteenth-century international economy was the mass movement of people out of Europe. Between 1840 and 1914 over forty million persons permanently left Europe and settled in the New World, Asiatic Russia and Oceana. In contrast with contemporary population transfers, nineteenth-century international migration occurred within an international political framework which placed few restrictions on geographic mobility. Within this institutional context there were substantial country by country differences in the participation of European populations. This article is concerned with the secular determinants of intercountry differences in emigration.
The Use of Simulation Techniques in Historical Analysis: Railroads versus Canals
Authors: Schaefer Donald , Weiss Thomas
Published: May 2010

One problem with which economic historians always contend, to which they usually give acknowledgment and with which they occasionally think they have dealt successfully, is that of the representativeness of their empirical answers. As Clapham said,

Every economic historian should, however, have acquired what might be called the statistical sense, the habit of asking in relation to any institution, policy, group or movement the questions: how large? how long? how often?how representative?
Economic Growth and the Consumption of Coal in Austria and Hungary 1831–1913
Authors: Gross Nachum T.
Published: May 2010

The scarcity of quantitative evidence on economic growth in the nineteenth century is a strong incentive for the use of representative indicators, instead of compound indexes or supplemented by them. Consumption series of coal, iron, and cotton are prominent candidates to serve this purpose, due to the central roles played by these materials in European industrialization. A further point in their favor is the relatively high availability and quality of mining and foreign trade statistics. The specific functions and link-ages of those three staples, however, were quite different, and thus their growth paths represent different aspects and processes. For the overall modernizing transformation of an economy, coal consumption evidently suggests itself as the best single indicator, at least until the end of the century. Its growth reflects the increasing output of industry, transportation, and even agriculture, inasmuch as they relied on coal for heat and/or for motive power. This means that coal stands for a broad cross-section of the economy, and furthermore, for a growing one. The substitution of mineral fuel for wood or charcoal and of steam for water power was not only the most general component of industrialization, in the wider sense of the term. It also was a prerequisite for the growth potential of firms and industries in many instances, among them such strategic sectors as iron and steel or overland transportation. Similarly, the introduction of steam engines was a characteristic of the innovating firm in agriculture and in land reclamation. On these grounds one would expect the growth of coal consumption to represent the pace of transition to modern economic growth, rather than the growth of industrial product only.
The Mechanization of Reaping and Mowing in American Agriculture, 1833–1870
Authors: Olmstead Alan L.
Published: May 2010

The successful demonstration of reaping machines by Obed Hussey and Cyrus McCormick in 1833 and 1834 inaugurated long series of events that eventually revolutionized the harvesting of small grains and grasses, drastically altering the lives and productivity of grain farmers. Given the ultimate success and widespread impact of the reaping machine, historians have long pondered why almost twenty years elapsed between the date when Obed Hussey sold his first machine in 1833 and the first wave of popular acceptance in the mid-1850's. Why did it take twenty years for a significant number of farmers to begin to exchange their cradles and scythes for reapers and mowers? What important economic and technological factors governed the initial diffusion of this invention? These are important historical questions, the answers to which can significantly influence our broader perceptions of the problem of technological diffusion.
Cattle Trailing in the Nineteenth Century: A Reply
Authors: Galenson David
Published: May 2010

In responding to Mr. Dennen, I welcome the opportunity to clarify several points that may have been misunderstood by the readers of this Journal. Mr. Dennen makes three main criticisms, which I will deal with in the order he raised them.
Current Directions in Economic History
Authors: Fogel Robert William
Published: May 2010

The Program Committee prepared for the thirty-first Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association in a somewhat unorthodox way. In recent years it has been the custom first to choose a central theme for the conference, and then to solicit only those papers which amplify the theme. This year the program committee decided to forego the attempt to produce a unified set of essays. Instead we wrote to approximately 250 members of the Association and other scholars in the United States and abroad, inviting suggestions for papers without preconditions as to topic, time period, or methodology. Over 150 papers were proposed, from which the committee chose 15. All but one of these are published here. Herbert Gutman's, “Marriage Licenses and Registers Among Freed Men and Women, 1865–1866: New Light on the Family and Household Conditions of Slaves and Free Blacks,” will be published at a later date.
An Economic Analysis of Indian Behavior in the North American Fur Trade
Authors: McManus John C.
Published: May 2010

This study of Indian behavior in the fur trade is offered more as a report of a study in progress than a completed piece of historical research. In fact, the research has barely begun. But in spite of its unfinished state, the tentative results of the work I have done to this point may be of some interest as an illustration of the way in which the recent revival of analytical interest in institutions may be used to develop an approach to the economic history of the fur trade.
Wealth Estimates for the New England Colonies about 1770
Authors: Jones Alice Hanson
Published: May 2010

The purpose of my studies is to estimate the total and per capita wealth of the thirteen colonies in the early 1770's and something of its composition and distribution. The estimates for New England presented here add another building block to the accumulating evidence that a rather high level of living was reached in the American colonies at the close of over 150 years of economic development. They also show that wealth was unequally distributed among the population in this transitionally commercial era, well before the onset of industrialism. They yield quantitative evidence as well on size of wealth in relation to such characteristics of wealth holders as their age and sex, occupations, urban or rural residence and testacy, that is whether or not they left a will at death.
Mortality Rates and Trends in Massachusetts Before 1860
Authors: Vinovskis Maris A.
Published: May 2010

The study of mortality rates and trends in the United States before 1860 has been rather unsystematic to date. Most scholars have been content to estimate the mortality rate at some point in time and only a few serious efforts have been made to ascertain the long-term trends in mortality. Particularly lacking are efforts to relate estimates of mortality in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to those of the nineteenth century. In addition, the few studies that have attempted to discuss long-term trends in American mortality have been forced to rely on estimates of mortality gathered from different sources and based on different techniques of analysis. Unfortunately, almost no efforts have been made to estimate possible biases introduced when comparing mortality data from different types of records.
The Cotton Industry of Northern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: 1150–1450
Authors: Mazzaoui Maureen Fennell
Published: May 2010

In studies of the late medieval economy, the dominant position of the textile industry has long been recognized. Since the opening decades of this century however, scholarly attention has been directed almost exclusively toward the luxury industries of silk and fine woolens, which involved a complex financial and commercial structure geared to the satisfaction of the needs and desires of a wealthy and select clientele. Relatively neglected is that branch of the textile industry devoted to the production of low-priced cotton cloth for popular consumption. This neglect is all the more surprising in view of a rich if somewhat dispersed documentation attesting to the importance of this industry in numerous towns of Northern Italy. The large-scale production of cotton cloth posed problems of financing and organization not unlike those of silk and wool and gave rise to similar entrepreneurial forms. At the same time a study of the organization of cotton manufacture provides a number of unique insights into aspects of economic organization in Northern Italy. In the period covered by this paper, the cotton manufacturing centers of this area formed a single production zone characterized by a high degree of economic interdependence and a marked tendency toward the standardization of products.
Comments on Papers by Hohenberg, Mendels, and Mazzaoui
Authors: Landes David , Thrupp Sylvia L. , Kessinger Tom G.
Published: May 2010

I shall confine my comments to the papers by Messrs. Mendels and Hohenberg, which lie within my period of interest and competence. First, regarding Mendels: I found this a very useful survey, wide-ranging in space and time, with very strong coverage of the literature. One of its many virtues is that it tries to grapple with some of the serious difficulties of analysis and explanation, especially in the statistical realm. Despite, or perhaps because of, these general merits, however, there are a number of points of detail that are open to criticism. Let me take these seriatim:
An Interpretation of American Imperialism
Authors: Zevin Robert
Published: May 2010

There are few words whose mere employment is capable of throwing American listeners into such paroxysms of righteous or offended indignation as the words “American imperialism.” This reaction is largely a reflection of the fact that “imperialism” is one of those words whose implicit domain of meaning is very large and even encompasses mutually contradictory elements as revealed by single user's notions of the world let alone different users' notions. In addition, the word conveys a strong connotation of ethically undesirable behavior to almost all users and readers.
The Unmaking of the Mediterranean Trade Hegemony: International Trade Rivalry and the Commercial Revolution
Authors: Rapp Richard T.
Published: May 2010

The shift in the locus of European trade from the markets of the Mediterranean to the North Atlantic overthrew a centuries old pattern of commerce and established the basis for the predominant role of North Atlantic Europe in the era of industrialization. While the expression “commercial revolution” no longer has quite the currency that it once enjoyed, students of the early modern economy have not been negligent about trying to understand the causes of the commercial shift. The impact of entrepreneurship andWeltanschauung, capital accumulation, technical innovation in shipping and industry, and the economic and political organization of nation-states have all received attention from students of the age.
Journal Publication Performance of Economic History Programs: 1960–1969 and 1970–1974
Authors: Niemi Albert W.
Published: May 2010

This paper reviews the output of journal publications by the twenty five leading economic history programs during the past fifteen years. At present, there are no formal ratings of the quality of economic history programs at the various academic institutions, but journal publications can serve as a partial indicator of quality. The Roose-Andersen ratings graduate programs provide separate rankings of economics and history programs, but this information may not be appropriate in evaluating economic history programs, and the ratings have not been updated since 1969. Journal publications are certainly not the only measure of quality academic institutions, but journals are regarded as the standard outlet for disseminating new research findings and expanding the frontiers of knowledge. Those institutions that have concentrated their publication efforts on books, textbooks, monographs, working papers, and other nonjournal forms of publication will of course be underrepresented by the procedures followed in this paper.
Some Considerations Relating to Property Rights in Man
Authors: Engerman Stanley L.
Published: May 2010

The existence of property rights affects the allocation and distribution of economic resources. The exclusive rights to ownership and control over assets leads to a different level and pattern of economic activity than would occur if these assets remained unowned or “common property.” While property rights are frequently subject to various constraints imposed by law or custom, within these bounds owners are free to use their resources to achieve their desired ends. Resources may be sold in an exchange of property rights, rented for a specified time period in exchange for some quid pro quo, or employed (or kept idle) by the owner himself. The owner's welfare function will include the income (or other utility) derived from use of the resource, while, for purposes of measuring national income, the final consumption of the entire population would be included.
Notes on Serfdom in Western and Eastern Europe
Authors: Kahan Arcadius
Published: May 2010

The purpose of the following observations on serfdom in Western and Eastern Europe is to call attention to some of the problems, in part methodological ones, that arise in attempts to analyze the system of serfdom as a social institution in space and time.
Sharecropping As An Understandable Market Response: The Post-Bellum South
Authors: Reid Joseph D.
Published: May 2010

On the eve of the Civil War southern per capita real income was eighty percent of northern. Treating slaves as property, real income per free southerner was four percent greater and growing at the same rate as its northern counterpart. Southern per capita income was but fifty-one percent of the national average in 1880, and only slowly began to relatively advance after 1900.
The Ex-Slave in the Post-Bellum South: A Study of the Economic Impact of Racism in a Market Environment
Authors: Ransom Roger L. , Sutch Richard
Published: May 2010

Immediately after the Civil War, southern landowners attempted to preserve the plantation system by offering to hire the newly freed ex-slaves on an annual contract for wages. However, serious problems soon developed. Foremost among these were difficulties engendered by views of white landlords and white overseers regarding the performance of the free black labor. Because they insisted that blacks were incapable of working productively without strict controls and corporal punishment, the landlords were convinced that only the workgang-overseer organization of the slave regime would be feasible. Many freedmen, quite naturally, were reluctant to work under conditions approximating those of slavery. Perhaps the landlord who would have preferred to hire wage labor might have succeeded had he been willing to offer higher wages. However, his views of black productivity inhibited him from doing so, and this approach was soon abandoned.
War and the Birth of the Nation State
Authors: Bean Richard
Published: May 2010

The rise of the nation-state is assigned by most historians a central role in the economic growth of Europe. Most recently Douglass North and Robert Thomas have argued that sustained economic growth was made possible only by institutional changes which, themselves, were a consequence of the rise of the nationstate. Thus it is clear that a complete model of the economic growth of Europe will have to account for the rise of the nation-state. That is.the humble task of this paper.
Corporate Farming in the United States
Authors: Raup Philip M.
Published: May 2010

Corporate farming is not new in the United States. The companies of “gentlemen adventurers” setting out in the seventeenth century to establish settlements in the New World were not corporations in a modern sense, but in organizational form and motivation they bear a striking resemblance to corporation farming ventures of recent decades. The twin lures of short-run profits and long-run capital gains have been major forces in shaping land use patterns and institutional structures throughout America's history. For over 300 years repeated efforts were made to use large scale organizational forms to reap these rewards in agriculture. Up to 1950 the record was one of almost consistent failure.
On the Persistence of Old Techniques: The Case of North American Wooden Shipbuilding
Authors: Harley C. K.
Published: May 2010

During the second half of the nineteenth century important technological changes in shipping and shipbuilding resulted in the practical disappearance of an important shipbuilding industry in North America and the concentration of most of the world's shipbuilding in Britain. This shift of shipbuilding activity was quite clearly the result of the adoption of metal in place of wood as the structural material in shipbuilding. The adoption of metal was a slow process and the old and new techniques coexisted for decades. By the mid-1850's, British shipbuilders had developed the building of iron ships to a routine process and further improved their techniques in the following decades, but wooden shipbuilding in North America remained an important industry until the mid-1880's.
Eighteenth-Century Shipping Tonnage Measurements
Authors: French Christopher J.
Published: May 2010

During the eighteenth century various methods existed for obtaining shipping tonnages; Most official records of shipping throughout this period record a vessel's “registered tonnage” which was the figure which appeared in the vessel's certificate of registration. This registered tonnage was less than a vessel's “measured tonnage.” The latter was the basis for building, buying, and selling vessels and was computed by means of a given formula. Registered tonnage was then estimated at roughly two thirds of measured tonnage and the figure rounded down to the nearest large whole number. This practice was encouraged by ships' captains and ship owners who wanted to minimize lighthouse and port duties that were based on tonnages. Thus only when the registration of measured tonnages became compulsory did shipping tonnages in the records become reasonably accurate.
Debt Peonage in the Cotton South After the Civil War
Authors: Ransom Roger L. , Sutch Richard
Published: May 2010

This condition of affairs in the South introduced a vast credit system whose tremendous evils and exorbitant exactions have brought poverty and bankruptcy to thousands of families. As a policy, it is vindictive in its subtle sophistry; as a system, it has crushed out all independence and reduced its victims to a coarse species of servile slavery.…
Embodiment, Disembodiment, Learning by Doing, and Returns to Scale in Nineteenth-Century Cotton Textiles
Authors: Williamson Jeffrey G.
Published: May 2010

As the key conveyance of nineteenth-century American industrialization and early experimentation with tariff policy, the antebellum textile sector has always received extensive attention by economic historians. In the past two decades, we have learned much about industrial financing, investment behavior, productivity growth, the nature of the production function, and the optimality of tariff policy, yet we remain ignorant still on some fundamental issues. One of these involves a better understanding of the equipment replacement decision under conditions of rapid growth, technological improvement, and variable tariff policies. But most importantly, the identification of sources of productivity improvement and their magnitude had remained inadequately understood until very recently with the appearance of Paul David's article in this Journal. David's important contribution applies aggregate production function analysis to textiles in an effort to isolate the determinants of labor productivity growth during the three decades preceding the Civil War. The model is neoclassical with a Cobb-Douglas specification, variable returns to scale, disembodied technical progress and with a learning variable explicitly introduced into the production function. David finds evidence of constant returns to scale, strong learning effects, high rates of disembodied technical progress, and improved labor quality, the latter sufficient to offset the alleged downward pressure on productivity attributable to a long-run decline in input (especially labor) utilization rates.
Toward a Reexamination of the Economic History of Tokugawa Japan, 1600–1867
Authors: Yamamura Kozo
Published: May 2010

Increasing our knowledge of Tokugawa economic history is important for a better understanding of the causes of the rapid Japanese industrialization which followed, but as yet no attempt has been made to provide a theoretical framework with which to analyze the Tokugawa economy. The cost of neglecting to work out a new economic history of Tokugawa Japan is high. Many Western historians, economic as well as others, continue to make use of findings and interpretations provided by Japanese economic historians, most of whom are Marxist in their ideological and methodological orientations. Presented with the force of ideological conviction and repeated in book after book, the Marxist view of Tokugawa economic history is so deeply rooted in Japanese literature that it can claim many followers who make use of its interpretations and views without suspecting the ideological and methodological framework upon which they rest. Another increasingly serious cost is that many of the research findings contributed recently by a few Western scholars and a small group of Japanese economic historians continue to remain disjointed findings in search of an analytical framework which can accommodate them into a meaningful whole.
White Population, Labor Force and Extensive Growth of the New England Economy in the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Anderson Terry L. , Thomas Robert Paul
Published: May 2010

Economic historians have always recognized the importance of changes in population to any investigation of economic growth or well-being. The payments to labor in every economy, even the highly industrialized modern economies, always constitute the bulk of national income when figured via the factor payments method. Hence what happens to the size and rate of compensation of the labor force is crucial to any economic history. With this in mind we present below new decade population and labor force estimates as a first step toward understanding the overall growth of seventeenth-century New England.
The Impact of a New Capital City: Madrid, Toledo, and New Castile, 1560-1660
Authors: Ringrose David
Published: May 2010

The economic development and decline of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Castile has been the subject of considerable research in the last few years, and it has long been assumed that the rise of Madrid played an important role in dislocating the economy of the region. Yet little direct attention has been paid to the actual processes whereby a distinctive type of urban growth, the development of a political capital, undermined the relationship between town and country which was the basis of the economic activity of sixteenth-century Castile. The rapid growth of Madrid, in fact, coincides with the equally spectacular decline of Toledo, the largest urban center in the region until 1600. The interaction between the two cities, and between the urban sector and the countryside, during the period of prolonged economic stress at the close of the sixteenth century, helps to explain the severity of the crisis which Spain experienced in the seventeenth century.
New Deal Activity and the States, 1933 to 1939
Authors: Reading Don C.
Published: May 2010

In the three months after his inauguration—the now famous 100 days—Franklin Roosevelt proposed a veritable barrage of programs that were passed by Congress—programs which were to have a profound effect on the American economy. From this beginning sprang forth the economic policy of the 1930's which was aimed at returning the nation to prosperity and changing its social and economic structure. The programs were directed toward specific as well as general problems and affected differently the various geographic areas of the nation.
Debt Peonage Re-examined
Authors: Brown William W. , Reynolds Morgan O.
Published: May 2010

In a recent Journal article Professors Ransom and Sutch (R & S) suggest “debt peonage” as a broad explanation for the course of southern economic development after the Civil War. They summarize their general thesis in the following three statements:

“(1) That because of the readjustments in agriculture and the difficulties in forming new banks under the banking laws, the South was unable to re-establish a viable network of commercial banks to serve her agricultural economy.
Differences in Regional Prices: The United States, 1851–1880
Authors: Coelho Philip R. P. , Shepherd James F.
Published: May 2010

The purpose of this paper is to examine cost-of-living differences among the various regions of the United States during a thirty-year interval of the nineteenth century. We do this by constructing regional price indexes for the years 1851–1880 using two different base years for pur calculations, 1860 and 1880. The results indicate that the cost of living differed substantially among regions, and specifically that it was lower in the American Midwest than in the East. Although one might have expected these differences among regions to narrow as regional and national markets developed and improved, we find no evidence that they did during this thirty-year period.
Agricultural Terms of Trade in Four Midwestern States, 1870–1900
Authors: Bowman John D. , Keehn Richard H.
Published: May 2010

From the end of the Civil War down to 1900, the American agricultural sector was subject to continuous political and social upheaval. While the South and Far West were a part of this movement, the heartland of protest remained in the Midwest. The traditional view has been that this unrest and protest was at least partially based on the worsening economic position of the farmer. Farmers complained of being exploited by moneylenders, victimized by railroads and other middlemen, cheated by speculators and faced with prices received falling faster than prices paid, thus reducing real purchasing power. This last view is put forth by Faulkner: “While the prices of farm commodities declined, those of manufactured products, dominated by monopoly practices, remained high or did not decline proportionally.”
Cotton Competition and the Post-Bellum Recovery of the American South
Authors: Wright Gavin
Published: May 2010

As evidence has accumulated on the prosperity of the American South under slavery prior to the Civil War, attention has turned to a search for explanations for the apparent stagnation of the southern economy after the Civil War. One class of explanations involves the argument that the South experienced special difficulties in recovering her place in the international cotton market during the late 1860's and 1870's. In one version of this hypothesis, the presence of “new” sources of supply, stimulated by the cotton famine of 1861–65, acted to displace American cotton in world markets during this period. A second version, recently proposed by Mark Aldrich, argues that appreciation of the dollar resulting from capital imports and northern economic expansion forced American cotton to compete with the rest of the world on unfavorable terms prior to the resumption of specie payments in 1879.
Railroads and the Equity Receivership: An Essay on Institutional Change
Authors: Martin Albro
Published: May 2010

“Mr. Jay Gould doth at this hour bestride the narrow Wall Street like a colossus. He is indeed the Autolycus of the western world. No pickpocket, either ancient or modern, has been more successful.” Such florid mixing of metaphors, even in the late Victorian era of railroad chaos, was rare for the financial editor of the staid LondonRailway Times. He had just read the plan by which the arch “robber baron” proposed to reorganize the wobbly, poorly integrated and ill-financed Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway that Gould had sought to build out of at least two dozen railroads between Kansas City and Detroit. The editor's indignation a few weeks earlier is not recorded, but it was doubtless monumental, for on May 28, 1884 Gould had successfully sent his lieutenants into a United States District Court in St. Louis with a brazen request for appointment of receivers for the Wabash, under a concept of receivership which broke nearly every important precept of this old branch of equity law.
The Social Rate of Return on Investment in Public Health, 1880–1910
Authors: Meeker Edward
Published: May 2010

The period 1880–1910 saw great improvement in the health of city dwellers. Life expectancy at birth for males in Boston rose from 37 in 1880 to 46 in 1910; in New York City it rose from 29 in 1880 to 45 in 1910. The improvement in the state of health came largely from a decline in the incidence of infectious disease. Recent studies have suggested that most of this decline is fairly attributable to improvements in the standard of living—especially as reflected in diets and housing—and, for cities, to new public health measures—especially the installation of sanitary sewers and the provision of central supplies of pure drinking water. Government installation of public health projects in the United States was a part of the “sanitation movement,” which began some time around 1880. During the thirty-year period 1880–1910 there was a rapid increase in the fraction of the urban population served by sanitary sewers and improved water systems. For example, in 1875 fewer than 30,000 urban citizens were supplied with filtered water. By 1910 the figure had risen to over 10,000,000. That the improved health resulting from these public health measures must have been regarded by its recipients as an increase in their well being is clear. What is not clear is whether the recipients of improved health would have been even better off if the resources used in constructing and maintaining public health projects had been put to alternative uses unrelated to health. In this article I shall estimate the social rates of return on the cumulated investments in public health projects as could have been perceived by their builders and show that it may have exceeded the market rate of return on capital by several times.