Search

This article talks about international trade in the period between 1862-1879, or the greenback period. F.W. Taussig, a professor, concluded in 1917 that with the U.S., which was using inconvertible paper money as monetary standard, borrowing heavily and continuously from Great Britain, which was using gold as basis, there will be increased sterling supply in New York and lowered cost, in U.S. paper, of imported commodities. The author noted that when both countries are on a gold basis, there will be an influx of gold from Great Britain in the U.S. and general prices will rise, while they fall in Great Britain. He concluded that the large borrowing operations of the U.S. in the 1860s was an important factor in the disturbance of the normal course of trade.

This article presents an abstract of the paper A Study of the Variety of Paper Sizes in the U.K., by M. N. Pherwani and S. Eilon. Case studies in the consumption of stationery paper revealed a wide variety of products and a pricing policy which does not penalize customers for ordering non-standard or odd sizes. Cost analysis by use of break-even charts is not applicable, owing to the difficulty of allocating fixed costs to the various products. The amount of scrap caused by cutting paper rolls to predetermined stationery sizes is suggested as an alternative criterion, and application of linear programming to scheduling of paper sizes is demonstrated. An overall saving to the industry of about 2 percent of produced material is estimated to be the result if scientific scheduling is adopted.

The article discusses the report and research papers published by the Great Britain Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations, pertaining to industrial relations. The Commission was set up on April 8, 1965 and reported in June 1968. In addition to its report, it published between June 1966 and May 1968 thirteen substantial research papers. The report is closely argued and its recommendations proceed logically from the argument. It begins with certain assumptions. Those who hoped to see the Commission indict the unions and impose legal restraints upon them have been disappointed. The Report as a whole is thus a consistent, restrained, dignified document concerned equally with realities and civilized standards. Reading the Report and the research papers, one is struck by the concordance between the approaches of the researchers and that of the Commission. The first part of the paper is mainly cast in the form of a lecture to management. The studies of Employers' Associations make one wonder why they were included in the terms of reference of the Commission. For occupational psychologists it could be the practical introduction to all those aspects of industry, which are left outside their syllabus.

Focuses on papers used in publishing in Great Britain in the 1600s. Watermark or sort designation of papers; Prices for quires and reams of paper.

This article focuses on the changing methods of government consultation in Great Britain. The method used in the first Green Paper of April 1967 was to invite public discussion on the memorandum which the Green Paper contained and which the Government had previously sent to the National Economic Development Council and the regional planning councils for their comments. In the nine Green Papers published by the Labour Government, five of them followed the pattern of the first Green Paper in inviting public discussion while policy was still in a formative stage. A comparison was made between the two Green Papers on reorganization of the national health service and the Consultative Document with a view to arriving at an understanding of the fundamental differences which exist between these two types of document. But there has been little, if any let-up in the production of Green Papers since the Conservative Government came to power.

There has been an ever-growing stream of books, pamphlets and articles on how to achieve and maintain employment, as of September 1944. It has become quite impossible for economists to read all these recipes, mainly because they all say more or less the same thing. They nearly all agree that the way to keep up the level of national employment is to keep up the level of national expenditure. In one way and another, national expenditure was permitted to increase in a number of countries, and some measure of recovery was achieved in the process. The reason for the recovery was not always understood, it was attributed to cheap money, an unbalanced budget, raising of tariffs, devaluation of the currency, increasing the general price level and so on, by the countries adopting these various measures. It was not realized that it was only in so far as the measures taken involved an increase in the total volume of spending in the country concerned that they could raise its level of employment at all and that in itself a rise in prices, far from promoting recovery, diminished the effect in stimulating employment of a given increase in spending. The article talks about the recent British government report on employment policy. There is nothing particularly novel about any of the measures recommended in the policy, nor do they involve any revolutionary change in economic practice or organization. What is new is, first, that the government there accept as one of their primary aims and responsibilities the maintenance of a high and stable level of employment and second, that the various measures proposed are commended as part of a single coherent plan.

Presents various econometric models of different countries. Problem of stabilization policy in underdeveloped countries; Productivity and comparative costs of Great Britain and the U.S. in international trade.

The article focuses on developments relevant to education in Great Britain as of October 1973. Nigel Grant, reader in education at the University of Edinburgh, joined the Editorial Board of "Comparative Education" magazine. The eight session of the Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education was held in June 1973, which focused on "The Educational Needs of the 16-19 Age Group." UNESCO released its latest publication "Present Problems in the Democratization of Secondary and Higher Education." The Schools Council and the Standing Conference on University Entrance published the Working Paper 46, entitled "16-19: Growth and Response, 2. Examination Structure" and Working Paper 47, "Preparation for Degree Courses."

This article discusses the tax credit scheme published in Great Britain in October 1972. Unlike some of the so-called negative income tax schemes in the U.S., the British scheme depends on using the normal income tax structure both to pay out cash and to collect revenue. Moreover, initial public and professional reaction has been favorable. The tax credit scheme has a double intention. It would give automatic help, through the tax system, to those with low incomes, and it would simplify the tax structure. Essentially, the scheme proposes to end the family allowance and family income supplement programs and to replace the various tax exemptions by a tax credit for nearly all taxpayers. A tax exemption for a child is of no value to a family if its income is already too low to pay a tax. This plan would give the family below the tax limit the cash equivalent of the exemption. The scheme would include: all employees who were earning more than £8 a week; all pensioners and widows receiving a widow's benefit; and all other recipients of the main national insurance benefits--sickness and unemployment. Altogether, they and their dependents would comprise over 90 percent of the population. Those in the scheme would be issued a credit card by the tax authorities, and they would present this card to their employer who would credit them. If the individual was a pensioner or on sick pay or unemployment benefits for longer than six weeks, the credit card would be transferred to the Social Security Department who would credit the individual with the appropriate amount in addition to his pension or benefit. All National Insurance benefits would be taxed at the same 30 percent rate, and all beneficiaries would receive the credit. At present, sickness and unemployment benefits are not taxed; pensions for the aged are.

Presents several labor research papers of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations in Great Britain. "The Role of Shop Stewards in British Industrial Relations"; "Disputes Procedures in British Industry"; "Industrial Sociology and Industrial Relations"; "Productivity Bargaining and Restrictive Labour Practices"; "Trade Union Structure and Government"; "Overtime Working in Britain."

The article outlines recommendations relating to the accurate use of the taxonomic aspects of ecological investigations, which are approved by the Council of the British Ecological Society. The Council hopes that the Flora and Edition which has been used in determining the taxonomic concepts and nomenclature followed in the paper should be stated by contributors to the "Journal of Ecology." The Council also encourages the preservation of material of all the taxonomic units, from each plant community described. Finally, the Council calls on contributors to state the herbarium or herbaria in which his specimens have been deposited.

According to a 1958 report by the Central Office of Information, the British public buys more newspapers per person than does the public of any other country in the world. In that year the 16 million families in Great Britain bought over 16 million national morning newspapers, about 2½ million London evening papers, about 27 million national Sunday papers, as well as huge quantities of weekly and monthly publications and over 9 million provincial morning and evening newspapers. There was then, and there is now, an enormous circulation of newspapers and magazines. Even so, the circulation figures for the national publications have, for several years, declined, as of September 1, 1961. By newspaper standards that decline is serious. It is serious because it means much more than a loss in revenue from sales or a declining service to readers. It means a loss in advertising revenue at a time when production costs are extremely high. It is understandable that the press should look for a cause. One of the things that pressmen and others have seen is that this period of decline coincided with a period in which the proportion of homes with television sets in them was still rapidly growing. This comparison constitutes part of the case for a fairly widespread view that television is responsible for declining circulation figures. This case has the support of an appealing argument that if people are spending their time watching television they will have less time for reading papers and that if papers go unread for a long period they will cease to be bought. This is, in fact, a large part of the case for suggesting that television is responsible.

This section presents a list of information resources on British labor history for the period 1954-1971.

The article presents a memorandum of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association on the Second Green Paper on the future of the National Health Service in Great Britain. The association aims to coordinate the National Health Service and the Local Government services and welcome the participation of legal professionals and consumers. Policies concerning the management are given more importance rather than the daily administration activities. Furthermore, a single authorities should be recognized in each areas of the Health Service, including the social work and medical services.

The article discusses the memorandum of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. It focuses on the green paper that indicates the administrative structure of the medical services in England and Wales. It is explained that any attempt to integrate the present tripartite administration into a single authority for a single community would be accepted by the Association, if satisfactory arrangements may be made that surpass the existing ones. Moreover, it should take responsibility for all the health functions of present local health authorities. Thus, it is stated that the unification of the tripartite structure of the National Health Service, by the development of Area Health Boards, are supported by them.

The article discusses the issues concerning the transport policy in Great Britain. The formation of transport policy has been and still is a confused world of ideology, interest, economics and several adjustment for political gain. A product of this complex system of interaction has been the Transport Holding Inc. The functions of the holding company are mainly concerned with investment business and the handling of the central pool of capital. The organization and structure of Transport Holding is presented. The company emerges as an interest group attempting to influence decision making, in a very similar way to the more commonly accepted private groups.

The article reports on issues related to the decision to produce hydrogen weapon and the recently issued Statement on Defense which have sparked a series of parliamentary debates on atomic weapons and their social effects in Great Britain. The Statement on Defense in 1955, which was published as White Paper, has laid out the government's views and policy on nuclear and conventional forces. The said Defense White Paper has brought the differences in the Labour party. A large minority, led by Aneurin Bevan, insists that hydrogen bomb should be used only as a last resource, and objects to the implications in the White Paper. The rest of the party are seen to have split among extreme pacifists. The Conservative party, on the other hand, accept the hydrogen bomb as a deterrent.

The article focuses on the press and public opinion in Great Britain, discussed at the Conference of the British Sociological Association in 1955. The first influence on the policy of a paper will be its tradition, which is a vital part of its goodwill as a business. Next important factor is the readership's character and the circulation. A paper that is read standing in the train, giving special attention to the interests of women, punters and filmgoers, will not have space to inform its readers adequately about foreign affairs. Third in the list of influences in a newspaper office comes the experience, educational background, sense of responsibility of the editor and his editorial staff. Whatever the policy of the paper, their special interests and bias will be reflected in it. The next factor to consider is contact with readers. The newspaper can influence the reader by a multitude of stories, ideas, recommendations and services. The reader can only refuse his pennies. Circulation is, of course, very important. Without it advertising dies, and the paper dies with it. But generally speaking, the paper's attitude in foreign affairs will be a secondary factor in the reader's choice of reading.

The article focuses on crew lists, agreements and official logs of the British empire from 1863 to 1913. As a result of negotiations during the last five years, the Memorial University has now acquired a collection of some 22, 500 boxes of shipping records which were previously stored at Hayes, Middlesex, England, under the custody of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen. These records are of two types, the Crew Lists and Agreements submitted by the masters of all merchant ships registered under the British Flag, and the Official Log Books of British Vessels. The Crew Lists, which form by far the greatest part of the collection, are basically the descendants of the ancient Muster Rolles submitted after 1730 by merchant captains. However, as a result of various pieces of legislation passed between 1835 and 1854, the method of recording and maintaining the agreements made between the captain and the crew was modified and improved, above all by the establishment of a registrar to supervise and have custody of the agreements once they had been signed. In 1854 the Merchant Shipping Act greatly improved the system of registering merchant vessels by allotting a distinct official number for every British merchant ship.

The article discusses the issues concerning the access to official papers in Great Britain. The Prime Minister stated that there is a reduction in the access to public documents from fifty to thirty years. The author presents several implications of the changes in policy in the conduct of research and teaching in public administration. Since the Prime Minister's statements in 1966, the Civil Service Department has been established and a major development in training under the direction of the new Civil Service College is under way. furthermore, the author presents the limitations to the access of public documents for training and academic purposes.

This section introduces a checklist that provides a comprehensive guide to the provincial newspaper press of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in Great Britain from 1893 to 1906. The first problem is to define an ILP newspaper. Newspapers have been included when it is certain that they were published by branches of the ILP or when it is reasonably certain that they were published in the interest of, and with the approval of, the local ILP. The overwhelming majority were published as the official organs of branches, but there are some doubtful cases. Neither the newspapers Pioneer nor the Socialist were actually published by the ILP but in each case the only socialist party or organization advertised in them was the local ILP and in the case of the Socialist, the paper and the local ILP shared the same address. Four were imprinted with the name of specific ILP branches, who had joined the scheme, and it must be assumed that the other two were also published on behalf of the local ILP branch. A number of local ILP newspapers may have escaped attention altogether. Whereas the majority of papers were periodicals, a small number were published for a specific purpose, such as an election, and there may have been many other similar ventures which did not attract the attention of librarians or the editors of other newspapers.

This article studies the image of the United States in the British Press. The author says that if the British press is accused of sensationalism or degeneration it is said to have been Americanized by a process of both good and bad general imitation. In a recent survey it was revealed that of some 520 representative and influential Britons, 410 relied upon the British press to keep them informed about the U.S. British school children's primary source was the cinema, which was apparently six times more effective than the next source, British newspapers. Student opinion was evenly divided on the statement, "British newspapers should print more news about the United States." America is more strongly represented in news-gathering agencies in Great Britain than Great Britain is in the United States. There are ten or more American papers and seven news services with offices in London, England. American crime receives more space than all the crime of all the rest of the world, and so does American sex-life.

This article focuses on parliamentary records in the custody of the House of Lords Record Office, which are relevant to the study of economic history of Great Britain. The records which are in the care of the Lords Record Office are the following: the archives of the House of Lords from 1497 onwards; a few, post-medieval House of Commons documents which survived in the fire of 1834 and a large proportion of the Commons records which have accumulated since that time. The sources for economic history which are to be found among these records fall into three main groups. First, those which related to the public business of both Houses and to proceedings on public Bills; second, the private Bill records of both Houses and lastly, a varied accumulation of papers laid on the Table of the House of Lords.

The basic hypothesis of this paper is that occupational group ties are stronger in Britain than in the United States. A number of test implications are inferred from this hypothesis and the relevant evidence on each of these, to be found in existing comparative studies, is presented. Occupations in the two countries are first compared as independent collectivities with respect to their autonomy, socialization, colleague relationships, deviance, and occupational identity. They are then considered within their normal organizational environment, and the differences between the two countries in the relationship between these occupational groups and the administration of the organization are compared. Three types of organization are distinguished: where one group forms a large majority, where two groups are approximately equal, and where one or more groups form a small minority. Some proposals are made for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of Part I of this paper is to place the contribution of Guttentag-Lindsay in historical perspective and in particular to relate the entire controversy concerning the uniqueness of commercial banks to the nineteenth century dispute regarding the uniqueness of the Bank of England. My objective will be accomplished primarily by showing how closely the Guttentag-Lindsay model parallels the framework used by Bagehot. Bagehot's objectives in Lombard Street (1873) were to disabuse the politicians and the financial community of the view that the Bank of England was not unique (i.e., that it was "like any other bank"), to show in what ways the Bank was unique, and to draw the implications of the Bank's uniqueness for Bank policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the application of Analogue Computers to the subject of Production Control and allied topics. A review is made of research applications of Analogue Computers to Economics, Operational Research and Production Control. The role of the Analogue Computer as applied to Production Control problems in British industry is also discussed. The probable course of future research and applications of analogue computation methods to problems occurring in Production Control is considered; a method of approach is proposed and an Analogue Inventory Policy Simulator described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the amount news space alloted to foreign news and the types, pattern and flow of foreign news disseminated by Arab daily newspapers. The study uses content analysis and quantitative analysis of sample newspaper. Results reveal that over 50% of the news in all papers is political and the U.S. as well as Russia are given the greatest amount of coverage, followed by China and Great Britain. It adds that the direction of Arab coverage of foreign news can be expalined by various criteria, such as the attitude of foreign country to the Arab-Israeli problem.

This paper reports on a study of the scientific output of British University chemists. The relationships between three different aspects of scientists' work (quantity, quality and industrial orientation) were examined, and whilst quantity and quality were highly correlated, industrial orientation appeared to represent a different dimension of research performance. Quality of output was the best Predictor of the recognition received by a chemist from the scientific community (in terms of medals, appointment to advisory committees, etc), his industrial involvement much the least good. It appears that a minority of British university chemists are oriented towards the industrial, rather than the basic research community in terms of their contributions and of their rewards. The influence of institutional affiliation upon recognition, for a given level of output, was examined. As in studies of American scientists, but in contrast to earlier work on British ones, institutional affiliation did appear to influence the recognition received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a meeting on freshwater ecology held at the Exeter, England-based University of Exeter from 3-7 July, 1964 and a meeting of the Tropical Group on patterns in dry tropical vegetation held in London, England-based Linnean Society on November 4, 1964. Series of papers presented at the meetings; Discussions on each paper; Participants of the meetings.

This article focuses on the British Press Inquiry. The importance of the media of mass communication for the successful functioning of democratic government has perhaps been more discussed in the U.S. than in Great Britain. The fact is that newspapers are bigger business in England than in any other country. The inter-relationship of the basic elements, circulation, advertising and revenue, is not essentially different from that in the press of the U.S., but certain conditions not existing in equal degree elsewhere have facilitated a concentration and grouping of ownership quite without precedent. The press of a nation of newspaper readers is evidently in for a thorough going-over. Between parliamentary sessions the Cabinet decided to leave the motion for an inquiry to open vote of the House of Commons. This, under the circumstances, assured an investigation, though it kept the Government skirts free in theory of the charge of interference with the press.

This article presents a discussion on the article 'The Communist Party in the Twenties," by L. J. MacFarlane. Kendall questioned whether there would have been no third International without Lenin. Prynn recalled J. T. Murphy's admiration of Russian discipline and intellectual-working-class alliance, contrasting them with the weaknesses in these respects in the groups that formed the C. P. G. B. Pelling drew attention to the Syndicalist and Guild Socialist ideas. Hunt stressed several points outside the speaker's terms of reference. Mrs. Cole thought the Russians had no alternative, in protecting their revolution, but to form the Comintern.

The article focuses on the White Paper: A Framework for Expansion--the ten year plan of the government for education in Great Britain. It hedges much of its planning by saying there is room for flexibility and many points still remain for decision. It is planned that the public expenditure on maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools will rise from 1475 million pounds in 1971 to 2,000 million pounds in 1981 at 1972 survey prices. This means an assumed growth rate of 3 per cent compared with two and half percent for the decade 1961-62 to 1971-72. Thus, the White Paper shifts the emphasis of public spending and it is important since the growth in numbers in primary and secondary education will ease off in the current decade. The commitment to universal nursery education, in-service education for teachers, improvements in staffing standards, the reduction in class sizes and the rapid acceleration in primary and secondary school improvements to buildings, are the hardcore objectives. The first 16 pages of the report deal with them.

This article presents abstracts of several papers published in the February 1965 issue of the journal Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. In the paper Notes on Public Investment Criteria in the United Kingdom, P. D. Henderson discussed the problem of devising a reasonable set of criteria for appraising public investment projects in Great Britain. While in the article The Absorption of Manpower by the Urban and Rural sectors of Brazil, Raouf Kahil examined the available data concerning urban and rural populations in Brazil and argues that the basis of a valid judgment of the job opportunities offered by the urban and rural sectors were cannot be seen.

This article features the history of The Railway Service Gazette and The Railway Review, two independent newspapers published in the late 1800s which represented the interests of railway workers in Great Britain. The appearance of the first number of The Railway Service Gazette on February 3, 1872 was the outcome of the commercial prosperity of the early 1870s and its impact on the railways. Between 1870 and 1871 railway receipts rose by over ten percent and shareholders' dividends mounted. Although the Gazette faithfully reported the decisions of the executive of a society and recorded branch activities, it reflected the views of provincial railwaymen's leaders, rather than the standpoint of the London, England-based officers of a union. Its policy, announced in its first issue, was to promote a fair and friendly understanding between employer and employed. Meanwhile, for twenty years The Railway Review remained the direct property of the union, but following a successful libel action against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in the summer of 1900, the executive decided to vest ownership in a specially created subsidiary, the King's Cross Publishing Co. Ltd, whose directorate was nominated by the union. For many years the union tried to run the Review on a shoestring. Until 1893 it avoided the expense of appointing a separate editor by adding editorial duties to the work of the already hard pressed general secretaries.

The author discusses the conflict over nationalization as an economic policy in London, England. The proposal for nationalization of the British industries is from White Paper titled "The Regeneration of British Industry," by the Labour Party. It is stated that the paper deals mainly with planning agreements of assistance between major companies. The author suggests that the concerned parties should be wise and informed in making decisions about the economy.

This paper utilizes information collected on more than eighty British companies and on about 800 senior managers working in them. It is in two parts. Part I starts by outlining problems involved in identifying influences on company performance. It then describes the sources of data analysed in the paper. The remainder of Part I examines the view that certain managerial and organizational attributes will tend to raise levels of performance whatever the type of company and its operating circumstances. Another approach takes the view that what makes for good performance is contingent upon the type of company and the prevailing situation. This is examined against our data in Part II of the paper. Part II concludes with an assessment of present knowledge on the managerial and organizational concomitants of company performance and the practical implications to be drawn from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section summarizes two papers on labor history that were presented in conferences in 1974. The paper, Why Some Do and Some Don't: Some Determinants of Radicalism Among British and American Coalminers, 1872-1924, described the conceptual framework for a long-range study of the differences in political behavior between the coal mining community in Great Britain and U.S., the point being to discover why it was, in the period just before and after the first world war, that the British coal miners abandoned their commitment to the Liberal Party and turned towards Labour, whereas the U.S. miners, despite strong comparable pressures for radicalization, continued to work within the framework of the existing two-party system. Meanwhile, the paper, Honourable Men and Degraded Slaves: A Comparative Study of Trade Unionism in Two Lanarkshire Mining Communities, 1841-1871, concerned with the interacting effect on the miners' unions of the rise of large iron companies as colliery operators, and the increasing numbers of Irish immigrants in the colliery labor forces. But these factors can only be evaluated within the wider context of a longer historical process, the polar points of which were the emancipation, at the end of the 18th century, of the Scots colliers from a state of serfdom, and the emergence, by the end of the 19th century, of a mining proletariat upon which was based modern, mass trade unionism.

Medical men in their handling of disease increasingly have recourse to "team-work." Various specialists each make their own diagnosis of the patient, and set out a corresponding course of treatment. It is for sociology (ill-equipped for the task though as yet it may be) to infuse the discussion and treatment of current ills with the quickening spirit of a synthetic science. As a modest contribution to such discussion of the Coal Crisis, the present studies are submitted, though of necessity preliminary and tentative. These studies open with a paper which attempts what may be called a sociological orientation of the Coal Question. Here the coal crisis is viewed as symptom of a deep-seated malady in the body politic. This introductory paper is followed by four others, which sample the manifold contributions to public welfare in general, and the coal question in particular, to be drawn from the physico-chemical sciences, from biology, and from the simpler aspects of social science. The Coal Crisis is but the concentrated expression, and virulent outbreak, of a crisis in Great Britain's national life.

This article presents a discussion on the article "The English Left Intelligentsia in the I930's," by Stuart Samuels. Saville disagreed with many statements and views presented: (a) They were out of perspective, as there was a long tradition of intellectual commitment; (b) Auden is over-emphasized; (c) The importance of the young left intellectuals outside the Communist Party; (d) Because of the crisis of the 193O's, Marxism was for the first time accepted in Universities: the Left Book Club reached much beyond the intellectuals. Wagner asserted that the Isherwood group, returning from Berlin, forgot that the artistic and literary public there was working-class, but not so in Britain. Samuels, in reply, asserted that the movement of the 192O's, especially in the Universities, was dead by 1927.

This article presents a discussion on the article "Ramsay MacDonald and the Labour Movement: Right-Left-Right," by C. L. Mowat. Jenkins thought that the MacDonald enigma was not so much the man himself, as the motives of the men who elevated him to leadership, since he fitted neither into the intellectual nor the trade-union wing of the Party. E. P. Thompson wished to go beyond the usual account of the rise of Socialism and the trade unions. Briggs agreed that MacDonald's ideas grew out of the revolt against Mid-Victorian conventions arising in the 188O's and 189O's, caught up in the discussions between Socialism and Individualism.

Copyright of Weed Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In general, it is also a fact that the existence of the effect has important real world policy implications only if its magnitude is sufficiently large. Partly in the same context, certain questions might be asked of the proper "identification'' of the wealth effect in past empirical studies. Most important, there is the matter of the proper liquid assets to be studied if one wishes to identify and, hence, measure correctly the workings of this influence and to avoid picking up some other mechanism. In fact, the existing studies are highly overaggregated and likely to misstate the empirical wealth effect; further, they use constructs which do not appear to correspond to the accepted theoretical versions. Even so, little comment has been induced in the literature; even Patinkin (1965), perhaps in a state of euphoria, only serves passing notice on these untidy efforts. There is one final area which this paper will undertake to fill. To date, there is no British test of the wealth effect. Accordingly, the data used to illuminate the more theoretical comments of the first parts of the paper will be British. The principal finding is that there is a significant--but small--observable short-run wealth effect in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the estimation of an econometric model designed to test the Modigliani-Miller (henceforth MM) hypothesis. The primary interest is not in the theoretical validity of the hypothesis. The major sources of theoretical disagreement with Modigliani and Miller arise from the key role they impute to the arbitrage process and the effect of leverage on the expected value of the returns to equity through the increased probability of bankruptcy. These issues have occasioned a number of important contributions in recent years (see especially [2] and [23]). The first section of the paper provides a skeletal outline of the MM hypothesis and discusses the problems of formulating an appropriate econometric model. In the second section an econometric model is developed, which, while drawing on the ideas of several
1 This study is part of a continuing program of research into company financial behavior financed by a grant from the Social Science Research Council. I am indebted to Mrs. Eileen Sutcliffe of the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of York, and Milton Chen of New York University for assistance with data collection and computer processing, and to the personnel of the SRC Atlas Computer, Chilton, the University of York Computer Center and the New York University School of Commerce Computer Center.
2 References in square brackets are listed on pp. 161-2, below.
3 In terms of the implicit aggregation procedures, the old Liquidity-Preference/ Loanable-Funds controversy has yet to be satisfactorily resolved.
different writers, has certain elements of originality in the way it seeks to incorporate growth and leverage. Finally, in the third section the results of the econometric tests are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the efficiency of the coal-fired steam-generated electricity in Great Britain, the U.S. and France in 1970. The authors selected this industry for close examination because it had experienced rapid technological progress, its output is homogeneous and the data available are comparatively good. They found that the average level and rate of growth of fuel productivity in Great Britain industry were less than in France and in the U.S. The authors were careful to state, however, that technological backwardness was not the only interpretation of this result. They were aware that partial productivity measures could be very misleading because the contribution of other inputs, particularly capital, is ignored. Furthermore, this paper shows that the percentage increase in output in Great Britain from 1949-63 was higher than that in France and in the U.S., while the percentage increase in capital, measured by generating capacity, was much lower than in France or the US. This difference could be interpreted as implying that the productivity of capital in Great Britain industry was rising relatively to that in France and in the U.S. and thus that the industry in Great Britain was technologically forward. However, there are other interpretations, because capital productivity is also a partial measure of productivity. Thus, this paper suggests that there is a need a measure of productivity which reflects the simultaneous influence of all inputs and output and a production function provides such a measure. This article also estimates production functions for this industry.

Information about several papers discussed at the exhibits sponsored by the British Ecological Society is presented. Topics include the purpose of land use mapping first as a record on maps of the actual and existing land use, and the Human Settlement and land use in Snowdonia against the background of vegetation ecology in the area. The meeting featured several speakers including Dr Woodhead, Dr Reynoldson, and Mr Le Cren.

The discussion of issues in labor economics has been characterized in the recent past by a re-introduction of economic analysis.[1] There remains, of course, among many labor economists a reluctance to apply the traditional tools of economic analysis to the labor market--either on the grounds that it is repugnant to consider labor as a commodity or that the notion of a market for labor is inappropriate.
It is the aim of this paper to examine the role of one particular economic institution viz. the fee charging employment agency. The role of fee charging agencies in the organization of the labor market is a subject which has received little rigorous analysis from economists. In one of the few papers dealing with this subject Jack W. Skeels has correctly observed that whereas 'few forms of business have evoked as much persistent controversy as the private employment agency and the literature explaining private agencies is scant and treatment by authors without strong bias is even more difficult to find. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses various papers on monetary policy, that were published in the May 1, 1953 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." Economist Harry G. Johnson has outlined very well the postwar monetary measures that have been taken by the government of Great Britain, particularly since the advent of the Conservative Government. The unpegging of the Treasury bill rate and the raising of Bank rate are clearly in accord with lime-established procedures. It is his belief that the qualitative controls which have been retained and in some instances strengthened, have been more effective in preventing an expansion of bank advances than have the quantitative measures. One of the economist comments on the idea of neutrality in monetary policy, as presented by economist Henry C. Wallich in one of his paper. The policy of pegged interest rates was obviously a policy of intervention or interference in the money market. There are a great many people to whom the idea of government intervention, even intervention by the monetary authority in the money market, is repulsive. So it must have seemed attractive and useful to describe the alternative policy as one of nonintervention, of allowing natural forces to work in the market-in short, as a policy of neutrality.

The article informs that the Royal Society of Great Britain has issued a significant "Fair Copying Declaration" on fair dealing in regard to copying from scientific periodicals, relating to its own publications but of considerable general importance as a statement in the general field of copyright. In the normal course of their work, scientists occasionally require for frequent reference, copies of particular papers appearing in scientific periodicals which are not readily available to them. The exemption from liability of the library, archives office, museum or information service herein provided shall extend to every officer, agent or employee of such organization in the making and delivery of such reproduction when acting within the scope of his authority of employment.

The article presents news updates from the field of sociology. Raymond E. Bassett, professor and chairman of the Department of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, died on December 5, 1956. Charles Spurgeon Johnson was born in Bristol, Virginia, on July 24, 1893 and died in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 27, 1956. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1918, he pursued graduate studies in sociology under Robert E. Park, Albion W. Small, W.I. Thomas, and later Ellsworth Fans. M.W. Hodges, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Great Britain, has been appointed for two years to Great Britain's Scientific Mission in Washington for liaison duties in the field of industrial management and social science research. The Fourth Interamerican Congress of Psychology by the Interarnerican Society of Psychology was held at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, from December 26-30, 1956. Luigi Sturzo Institute is holding a contest and offering a prize for a paper on sociology which the judges consider an effective contribution to this field of study both from the point of view of serious research and maturity of thought.