3,512 research outputs found
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
No full textThe conventional interpretation of Adam Smith is that he is a prophet of commercialism. The liberal capitalist reading of Smith is consistent with the view that history culminates in commercial society. The first part of the article develops this optimistic interpretation of Smith's view of history. Smith implies that commercial society is the end of history because 1) it supplies the ends of nature that he identifies; 2) it is inevitable; and 3) it is permanent. The second part of the article shows that Smith has some dark moments in his writings where he seems to reject completely such teleological notions. In this more civic humanist mood he confesses that commercial society does not supply the ends of nature, nor is it inevitable, nor is it permanent. Both views exist in Smith and the commentator is forced to choose between passages in Smith's work in order to support a particular interpretation of the former's view of history.Political Economy,
Adam Smith and Roman Servitudes
No full textThis essay is a preprint of an article that appeared at: Tijdschrift voor Rechstsgeschiedenis, 72 (2004), 327–57.This essay discusses Adam Smith historical jurisprudence and his use of Roman law materials in his Lectures on Jurisprudence. It argues that Smith found it difficult to maintain his theory of legal development in the face of a highly developed body of Roman law literature
Upon Daedalian Wings of Paper Money: Adam Smith and the Crisis of 1772
No full textAdam Smith advocated laissez faire for most sectors of the economy, but he believed that banking and finance required several forms of regulation including usury laws and the prohibition of small-denomination bank notes. Smith’s support for banking regulation appears to have been a response to the shocks that hit the Scottish banking system during the time that he was composing the Wealth of Nations. The most important was the Crisis of 1772, which has been described as the first modern banking crisis faced by the Bank of England. It resembles the Crisis of 2008 in a number of striking ways. This paper describes the Crisis of 1772, the other shocks that hit the Scottish banking system, and the evolution of Smith’s views on the regulation of banking. It is based on Smith’s writings, the secondary sources, and a quantification of the new issues of Scottish bank notes during Smith’s era.
Adam Oehlenschläger
No full textThis is a short presentation of the main works of the Danish author Adam Oehlenschläger
High-performance Kerr quantum battery
No full textWe propose and investigate the performance of a hybrid quantum battery, the
so-called Kerr quantum battery, which consists of two interacting quantum
oscillators, i.e., the charger is a harmonic oscillator and the battery is an
anharmonic oscillator involving the Kerr nonlinearity. Such a setup creates
nonuniform spacing between energy levels of the quantum oscillator that
increases with the energy level. We find that the Kerr quantum battery can
store more energy than the qubit battery and reaches maximum stored energy
faster than the harmonic oscillator battery. In particular, the average
charging power of the Kerr quantum battery is larger than the qubit battery.
Furthermore, most of the stored energy in the Kerr quantum battery can be
extracted for work. All of the properties of the Kerr quantum battery are
controlled by the strength of nonlinearity, in which the enhancement of the
nonlinearity transforms the battery from a harmonic oscillator to a qubit.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, re-submitted to Appl. Phys. Let
The motion of point particles in curved spacetime
No full textThis review is concerned with the motion of a point scalar charge, a point electric charge, and a point mass in a specified background spacetime. In each of the three cases the particle produces a field that behaves as outgoing radiation in the wave zone, and therefore removes energy from the particle. In the near zone the field acts on the particle and gives rise to a self-force that prevents the particle from moving on a geodesic of the background spacetime. The field's action on the particle is difficult to calculate because of its singular nature: the field diverges at the position of the particle. But it is possible to isolate the field's singular part and show that it exerts no force on the particle. What remains after subtraction is a smooth field that is fully responsible for the self-force. The mathematical tools required to derive the equations of motion of a point scalar charge, a point electric charge, and a point mass in a specified background spacetime are developed here from scratch. The review begins with a discussion of the basic theory of bitensors. It then applies the theory to the construction of convenient coordinate systems to chart a neighbourhood of the particle's word line. It continues with a thorough discussion of Green's functions in curved spacetime. The review presents a detailed derivation of each of the three equations of motion. Because the notion of a point mass is problematic in general relativity, the review concludes with an alternative derivation of the equations of motion that applies to a small body of arbitrary internal structure
Policy-Induced Technology Adoption: Evidence from the U.S. Lead Phasedown
No full textThe theory of environmental regulation suggests that economic instruments, such as taxes and tradable permits, create more effective technology adoption incentives than conventional regulatory standards. We explore this issue for an important industry undergoing technological responses to a dramatic decrease in allowed pollution levels—the petroleum industry’s phasedown of lead in gasoline. Using a panel of refineries from 1971 to 1995, we provide some of the first direct evidence that alternative policies affect the pattern of adoption in expected ways. Importantly, we find that the tradable permit system used during the lead phasedown provided incentives for more efficient technology adoption decisions. Where environmentally appropriate, this suggests that flexible market-based regulation can achieve environmental goals while providing better incentives for technology diffusion.technology, adoption, diffusion, environment, regulation, lead, gasoline, tradable permit, incentive-based policy
Assessing the effects of chloride deicer applications on groundwater near the Siskiyou Pass, southwestern Oregon, July 2018-February 2021
No full textby Stephen B. Gingerich, Daniel R. Wise, and Adam J. Stonewall ; prepared in cooperation with Oregon Department of Transportation.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 33-35).Mode of access: Internet from the State Library of Oregon U.S. Government Publications Collection.Text in English
Spatial and temporal responses to an emissions trading system covering agriculture and forestry: simulation results from New Zealand
No full textThis paper presents the results of simulations using the integrated Land Use in Rural New Zealand model to analyse the effect of various New Zealand emissions trading scheme scenarios on land-use, emissions, and output in a temporally and spatially explicit manner.
It compares the impact of afforestation to the impact of other land-use change on net greenhouse gas emissions, and evaluates the importance of the forestry component of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) relative to the agricultural component. It also examine the effect of land-use change on the time profile of net emissions from the forestry sector. Projections for the mid-2020s suggest that under a comprehensive ETS, sequestration associated with new planting could be significant; it may approach 20 percent of national inventory agricultural emissions in 2008. Most of this is driven by the reward for forestry rather than a liability for agricultural emissions. Finally, it presents projections of future agricultural output under various policy scenarios.
Authored by Suzi Kerr, Simon Anastasiadis, Alex Olssen, William Power, Levente Tímár and Wei Zhang
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