140 research outputs found
Voyage fait par ordre du roi en 1768, pour éprouver les montres marines inventées par M. Le Roy
No full text"The author (1748-1845) was the fourth generation of a family of Italian-French astronomers, all of whom were directors of the Paris observatory. This work depicts Le Roy's voyage to collect astronomical data, as well as information about St. Pierre and the French fishery off the coast of Newfoundland. Le Roy traveled from France to St. Pierre, returning via the coasts of Africa, Spain, and Portugal. In addition, Le Roy's chronometer, the prototype of the modern instrument, is described for the first time... Cassini also recounts in great detail the practice of catching and salting cod off the banks of Newfoundland." (Kahn catalogue.
Reply to comment by H. Hasegawa on "Evolution of Kelvin-Helmholtz activity on the dusk flank magnetopause"
No full textWe demonstrate, on experimental grounds, that the justifications for the comment by Hasegawa [2009], hereinafter
H09, on work done by Foullon et al. [2008], hereinafter F08, are not well founded
Socializing capital the rise of the large industrial corporation in America
No full textHere William Roy conducts a historical inquiry into the rise of the large publicly traded American corporation. Departing from the received wisdom, which sees the big, vertically integrated corporation as the result of technological development and market growth that required greater efficiency in larger scale firms, Roy focuses on political, social, and institutional processes governed by the dynamics of powerThe author shows how the corporation started as a quasi-public device used by governments to create and administer public services like turnpikes and canals and then how it germinated within a system of stock markets, brokerage houses, and investment banks into a mechanism for the organization of railroads. Finally, and most particularly, he analyzes its flowering into the realm of manufacturing, when at the turn of this century, many of the same giants that still dominate the American economic landscape were created. Thus, the corporation altered manufacturing entities so that they were each owned by many people instead of by single individuals as had previously been the cas
Evolution of Kelvin-Helmholtz activity on the dusk flank magnetopause
No full textOur purpose is to characterize the evolution of the magnetopause Kelvin-Helmholtz
(KH) wave activity with changes in thickness of the adjacent boundary layer,
geomagnetic latitude and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation. As the IMF
turns northward, wave activity may be generated at the dayside before propagating
down the tail, where the boundary layer is expected to support longer wavelengths. We
use two-point observations on the dusk magnetopause at low latitudes, from Geotail on
the dayside and Cluster tailward of the dusk terminator. We quantify the wavelength,
power, wavefront steepness and propagation direction at Cluster. An estimate of the
thickness of the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) is obtained by correlating normal
distances to the magnetopause, derived from two empirical solar-wind-driven models,
with a systematic relationship (the "transition parameter") found between the electron
number density and temperature; the correlation factor is used to infer the temporal
evolution of the thickness of the locally sampled layer. We find that wavelengths are
controlled by the IMF clock angle, as expected when generated by the KH mechanism
at the dayside, although amplitudes, wavefront steepness and propagation directions are
more closely correlated with the layer thickness. A survey of parameter space provides
evidence of the contribution of the KH mechanism to the widening of the electron LLBL
REJOINDER TO BOETTKE ON COASEAN ECONOMICS AND COMMUNISM
No full textIn the view of Boettke (1998), Coase (1960) casts lights of understanding in a myriad of fields, including, preeminently, property rights theory and the Soviet system of economics. The claim of the present author, in sharp contrast, is that this seminal article of Coase’s is a snare and a delusion. It has led economists down a mistaken path for lo this past half century, and Boettke (1998) is but one more unfortunate example of this.Ronald Coase; Communism; Central Planning; Property Rights
Romania's evolving legal framework for private sector development
No full textAs the economies of Central and Eastern Europe move from central planning and state ownership to market-driven development of private sector activity, they are undertaking comprehensive change in the"rules of the game", the legal framework for economic activity. The authors analyze the evolving legal framework for private sector development in Romania. The government has worked intensively in the last two years to create a legal framework for a market economy. It has adopted not only a new constitution but also extensive new legislation covering real and intellectual property, companies, and foreign investment. It has revived the pre-war civil code as a basis for contract law, and is moving to modernize its bankruptcy code. The only area surveyed in which little legal reform has occurred is antimonopoly law. Challenges remain in both law and practice. The broad principles of private ownership, free market exchange, and equal treatment of public and private firms are well recognized and have been largely achieved. But a tendency towards centralized, bureaucratic control remains in excessive requirements for approval and uneconomic limits on certain activities. Moreover, implementation will take a long time because there is little or no institutional framework for enforcement and dispute resolution. Developing a body of regulation and case practice will take time.Environmental Economics&Policies,National Governance,Legal Products,Banks&Banking Reform,Real&Intellectual Property Law
Stock market development and financial intermediaries : stylized facts
No full textWorld stock markets are booming. Between 1982 and 1993, stock market capitalization grew from 10 trillion, an average 15 percent a year. A disproportionate amount of this growth was in emerging stock markets, which rose from 3 percent of world stock markets capitalization to 14 percent in the same period. Yet there is little empirical evidence about how important stock markets are to long-term economic development. Economists have neither a common concept nor a common measure of stock market development, so we know little about how stock market development affects the rest of the financial system or how corporations finance themselves. The authors collected and compared many different indicators of stock market development using data on 41 countries from 1986 to 1993. Each indicator has statistical and conceptual shortcomings, so they used different measures of stock market size, liquidity, concentration, and volatility, of institutional development, and of international integration. Their goal: to summarize infromation about a variety of indicators for stock market development, in order to facilitate research into the links between stock markets, economic development, and corporate financing decisions. They highlight certain important correlations: (i) In the 41 countries they studied, there are enormous cross-country differences in the level of stock market development for each indicator. The ratio of market capitalization to the gross domestic product (GDP), for example, is greater than 1 in five countries and less than 0.10 in five others. (ii) There are intuitively appealing correlations among indicators. For example, big markets tend to be less volatile, more liquid, and less concentrated in a few stocks. Internationally integrated markets tend to be less volatile. And institutionally developed markets tend to be large and liquid. (iii) The three most developed markets are in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The most underdeveloped markets are in Colombia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, and Switzerland seem to have highly developed stock market, whereas Argentina, Greece, Pakistan and Turkey have underdeveloped in richer countries, but many markets commonly labeled"emerging"(for example, in Korea, Malaysia,and Thailand) are systematically more developed than markets commonly labeled"developed"(for example, in Australia, Canada, and many European countries). (iv) Between 1986 and 1993, some markets developed rapidly in size, liquidity, and international integration. Indonesia, Portugal, Turkey, and Venezuela experienced explosive development, for example. Case studies on the reasons for (and economic consequences of) this rapid development could yield valuable insights. (v) The level of stock market development is highly correlated with the development of banks, nonbank financial institutions (finance companies, mutual funds, brokerage houses), insurance companies, and private pension funds.Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access,Banks&Banking Reform
A fiscal needs approach to equalization transfers in a decentralized federation
No full textThe author reviews the conceptual basis for fiscal equalization transfers, analyzes the theoretical implications for optimal design of equalization transfers, and suggests quantitative approaches for assessing the fiscal needs of subnational governments and determining their entitlement to transfers. The author illustrates proposed methods using data for local and provincial Canadian governments. The proposed methods could be useful tools, he says, for undertaking systematic objective reviews of aggregate and sectoral public spending in developing countries. The author argues that in a decentralized federation, fiscal inefficiencies and inequities arise because of subnational governments'differing levels of ability to provide comparable public services at comparable tax rates. Fiscal equalization transfers that reduce or eliminate differentials in net fiscal benefits create a rare instance in economics when considerations of equity and efficiency coincide. These transfers must allow for differences in the spending needs and revenues-raising abilities of the various subnational governments. The author argues for a two-tiered approach to equalization. The first tier would be a federal responsibility to equalize the burden of federal taxes. The second tier would be an interprovincial equalization fund to be administered by the Council of Provincial Finance Ministers. It would entail a comprehensive equalization system that takes into account provincial spending needs. The standard of equalization would be negotiated.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Environmental Economics&Policies
Household enterprises in Vietnam : survival, growth, and living standards
No full textIn Vietnam almost a quarter of adults worked in nonfarm household enterprises in 1998. Based on household panel data from the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys of 1993 and 1998, the authors find some evidence that operating an enterprise leads to greater affluence. The data show that nonfarm household enterprises are most likely to be operated by urban households, by those with moderately good education, and by the children of proprietors. The authors were able to construct a panel of nonfarm household enterprises; 39 percent of enterprises operating in 1993 were still in business in 1998. Those in the (more affluent) south of the country were less likely to survive, as were smaller and younger businesses. A pattern emerges from the data. In poor areas the lack of education, credit, and effective demand limits the development of nonfarm household enterprises. In rich areas there is the attraction of wage labor. Nonfarm household enterprises are thus most important in the period of transition, when agriculture is declining in importance but before the formal sector becomes established. The authors expect these enterprises to continue to play a modest supporting role in fostering economic growth in Vietnam.Public Health Promotion,Housing&Human Habitats,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Microfinance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,Private Participation in Infrastructure,Microfinance
Hiatus or Hidden? The Problem of the Missing Scottish Upland Cursus Monuments
No full textThis paper explores the possibility of cursus monuments being located in upland locations in Britain. These rectangular enclosures date to the Early Neolithic, and are almost all known as cropmark sites in lowland river valley contexts. However, Loveday explores various examples where upland upstanding features such as field banks could have prehistoric origins and easily be misinterpreted. Evidence from three case-study areas in Scotland – Upper Strathearn and Strathtay, Nithsdale, and the Biggar Area – is covered in detail to suggest a context for, and likely location of, possible upland cursus monuments. This is then placed with an upland British context, and the chapter concludes with news of a recent discovery that vindicates the approach of the author.</p
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