Search

The article comments on the papers "The Changing Role of U.S. Banks in International Financing," by George H. Chittenden, "The International Money Market: Structure, Scope and Instruments," by Fred H. Klopstock, and "The Integration of European Capital Markets," by Oscar L. Altman, all published within the issue. The author looks at changes occurring in European capital markets, international money markets, and commercial bank lending. The movement toward better organized markets for long-term capital in Western Europe is discussed.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

The article presents a conference paper in response to another paper published in this same issue titled "Cost of the Marshall Plan to the United States," by Seymour E. Harris. The author notes that Harris may not have had the advantage of reading the 240 page report containing the U.S. President Harry Truman's proposals for European recovery. The author considers the role of financial measures in economic recovery, stabilization loans, and the validity of the cost estimates of the Plan.

The article presents a conference paper in response to another paper published in this same issue titled "What Can Europe Do For Itself?," by Calvin B. Hoover. The author agrees with Hoover's assessment and concern about the control of inflation in Europe and presents a solution that involves grants-in-aid which would allow the U.S. some control in controlling inflation through central banks. Discussion of trade barriers and price controls is also presented.

In asking the question, "what can Europe do for itself?" in recovering and rebuilding after World War II, the article presents a conference paper that addresses information from the "General Report of the Committee of European Economic Cooperation." The author summarizes the European position into one: increase production. The author considers whether the goals outlined are attainable and what that will mean, discussing food, coal, electrical power, oil refinement, and steel production.

A conference paper discussing the cost of the Marshall Plan to the U.S. is presented. The author notes the estimates given by the Committee on European Economic Cooperation (CEEC) for the Economic Recovery Program, which claim that the cost to the U.S. would be $22.4 billion. The author expresses concern that this estimate may be low. The author considers income and payments for European recovery, the Marshall Plan and inflation, inflation and commodity markets, and U.S. budgetary problems.

The paper reviews research findings from various European countries (including the author's own studies in Vienna) on intergenerational relations between parents and their grown-up children. Numerous data disprove certain important features of the classical theory of the isolated nuclear family in industrialized and urbanized society. Although, according to newer data, joint living is a minority pattern, effective interaction (economic support, help in both ways and mutual visiting) is frequent and emotionally important particularly to the elderly. ‘Intimacy—but at a distance—corresponds to wishes of both generations. A special section of the paper is dedicated to propositions for theoretical innovation in the problem area studied including, e.g., a criticism of role theory, a criticism of statements on family cohesion based on findings of help patterns only. The paper postulates an amalgamation of major aspects of social gerontology with a sociology of the family cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general absence of legal reserve requirements upon the reserves of non-U.S. banks offering dollar-denominated deposit facilities (hereafter Eurobanks) provides a unique opportunity for analysis of reserve determination by a fractional-reserve financial intermediary. This paper presents evidence that the reserve ratio in the Euro-dollar system is low and falling and is in fact determined by behavior which is consistent with the hypothesis that Euro-bank dollar deposits in U.S. commercial banks (excluding loans to home offices) are held as precautionary reserves. The demand for such loans to home offices largely determines their level. Since the theory of precautionary balances held by commercial banks is consistent only with the profit maximization principle of commercial banks' asset management, where commercial banks' responses to market forces determines portfolio behavior, we shall be concerned here primarily with the determination of Euro-banks demand deposit claims on U.S. commercial banks, exclusive of loans to home offices. Evidence reported below does in fact suggest that the behavior of liabilities to foreign branches of U.S. banks is not consistent with the profit maximization principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article expands upon the results derived in a paper by Patric Hendershott, "The Structure of International Interest Rates: The U.S. Treasury Bill Rate and the Eurodollar Deposit Rate," which appeared in the September, 1967 edition of the "Journal of Finance." In that paper Hendershott contended that the equilibrium Eurodollar rate is determined primarily by the three-month U.S. Treasury bill rate. The author of the current paper extends Hendershott's work by examining the impact on the Eurodollar rate of both foreign and short-term U.S. rates. His results are in agreement with Hendershott's.

The article comments on the papers "The Changing Role of U.S. Banks in International Financing," by George H. Chittenden, "The International Money Market: Structure, Scope and Instruments," by Fred H. Klopstock, and "The Integration of European Capital Markets," by Oscar L. Altman, all published within the issue. The author looks at changes occurring in European capital markets, international money markets, and commercial bank lending. The shortage of international liquidity is discussed. The author feels that broadened exchange controls among major countries are not as effective as simply remaining solvent.

The volume of literature on the credit-creating powers of the Euro-dollar market, although small, is growing. This paper contends that the stock of net Euro-dollar deposits (E[sub n]) can be expressed as the product of a Euro-dollar base (B) and a Euro-dollar multiplier (k). As in domestic models, the terms of the multiplier reflect asset choices of the sectors reflected by them. A parallel between the flow of funds within the Euro-dollar market and most domestic banking systems exists. Except that no single institution serves as a Euro-dollar central bank, the two systems are highly comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the collection of papers "Big Business and the State," edited by Raymond Vernon. This collection of papers composes an intensive examination of the changing relations between business and government in Europe. An able group of scholars wrote chapters on two dimensions of the subject: countries and industries. Each paper is in itself a useful study of the character of business firms, the objectives of the governments, and the manner in which they have pursued them. In his introductory chapter the author pulls together the main threads running through the papers into a composite picture of the evolution of business-government relations. Overall he sees an increasing similarity in the national policies of various governments toward their large enterprises, notably a growing tendency to use large national enterprises in an effort to solve specific problems as if they were agencies of the state. And there has been a related tendency to develop methods of governance that have reduced the role of the parliamentary process and elevated the role of specialized groups such as large enterprises and large unions. The increasing similarity does not, however, contribute to European integration, the efforts of the governments being as much directed to national objectives as ever.

This paper has a number of important objectives in the field of plant and company industrial relations, its primary focus being an examination of the German labor-management relationship as regulated by the 1952 and the recent 1972 Works Constitution Acts.[1] These Acts provide for the establishment and operation of a system of Works and Company Councils, and although the 1972 Act has largely replaced its predecessor, the provisions of the 1952 Act regulating the Supervisory Board system outside the coal, and the iron and steel industries still remain. This system of Supervisory Boards and the Works and Company Councils represent the most important cornerstones of worker participation in German industry. The possible extension of the Supervisory Board and European Works Council system across the European Economic Community could raise weighty political and industrial relations issues for Britain.
This paper considers the legislative provisions regarding the rights and powers of Works and Company Councils, including the co-decision-making rights in manpower and personnel policy, rights to effective consultation over production changes, the economic viability of the firm, intended changes in the organization, type, and location of the firm's productive activity, and labor's rights to involvement in the efficient running of the plant. The paper also considers the Economic Committee at company level, the role of the trade union in plant industrial relations affairs, an analysis of how the provisions of the 1952 Act have operated in practice and the likely effects of the 1972 Act on labor and management. An attempt will be made to draw relevant implications for the British industrial relations system with particular emphasis on the role of the shop steward: the purpose of such a comparison is to evaluate the possible benefits the British system of labor-management relations could derive from a formalization along German lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses several papers related to economic history of Italy, published in the several journals. In a short paper "La Polonia medievale tra occidente ed oriente europeo," by A. Giesztor, the author examines economic conditions of central Europe, particularly of Poland about A.D. 1000, with particular reference to agriculture. The author decides that Polish agriculture was well adapted for a variety of crops. The paper "La structure economique et sociale de I'etat de I'ordre teutonique en Prusse," sets out to analyse the role that the Teutonic Order had in the life of Prussia. With an indubitable political function the Order showed also its efficiency in the economic sector, revitalizing internal and external commerce to a degree, which the author describes as exceptional. In 1454 the insurrection put an end to its regime in most of the country. B. Geremek deals with the problem of the origins of pauperism in an essay "La popolazione marginale tra ii medioevo e I'eta moderna'." As is evident from the title, the author believes that the problem of pauperism was born in the period of the transformation of society that occurred at the beginning of the modern era.

The article presents a list of articles, books, etc., used in cross-referencing the topic of 'Economic Relations.' Some of the articles, are: A Reappraisal of U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Policy, Nepal's Recent Trade Policy, The Coal Situation in Europe and Future Prospects, Leadership and Economic Growth, etc.

SUMMARY It is the purpose of the present paper to replace the traditional theory of industrial stages by a better model based on the criteria of capital and control. In constructing the new model we became aware of the fact it is necessary to distinguish between 'capital'-intensive and 'capital'-extensive industries and again within the latter between those which worked for local consumption and for the export trade, respectively. Only for the 'capital'-extensive industries working for the export trade something like stages in the industrial development can be discovered. In fact, the stage reached in these industries in the eighteenth century brought them organizationally close to the older 'capital'-intensive industries, so that for that period we subsume both under the head of protofactory. The protofactory of the model based on capital and control shows the essential characteristics of the factory, although in reality there were some elements distinguishing the protofactory from the full-fledged factory. In the second section of the paper we describe in detail the organizational features of the protofactory after clearing up the etymological confusion in that ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Der Beitrag zielt darauf ab, die traditionelle Theorie der industriellen Stufen durch ein auf den Kriterien ≪Kapital≫ und ≪KontroIle≫ basierendes, besseres Modell zu ersetzen. Beim Aufbau dieses neuen Modells zeigte sich die Notwendig-keit einer Unterscheidung zwischen kapitahntensiven und kapitalextensiven Industrien, welche letztere wiederum unterteilt werden mussen in solche, die fiir den einheimischen Verbrauch arbeiten, und solche, die fiir den Export produ-zieren. Nur fiir die im Export tatigen kapitalextensiven Industrien lasst sich so etwas wie Stadien der industriellen Entwicklung entdecken. In der Tat brachte das Stadium, welches diese Industrien im 18. Jahrhundert erreicht hatten, sie organisatorisch in enge Verbindung zu den alteren, kapitahntensiven Industrien, so dass fiir jene Periode beide unter dem Oberbegriff'Ur-Fabrik' (protofactory) zusammengefasst werden konnen. Das auf ≪Kapital≫ und ≪K.ontrolle≫ aufge-baute Modell der Urfabrik bringt wesentliche Merkmale der Fabrik zum Aus-druck, obwohl sich in Wirklichkeit die Urfabrik von der fliigge gewordenen Fabrik in einigen Punkten unterschied. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit werden die organisatorischen Grundziige der Urfabrik im Detail beschrieben; zuvor wird die in diesem Bereich herrschende etymologische Verwirrung geklart. Abschliessend wird gezeigt, dass weder der im organisatorischen Aufbau der Industrie tatige Geschaftsmann noch der zeit-genossische Okonom erfasst hatten, was sich vor ihren Augen abspielte. Es brauchte Jahrzehnte, bis der Industrielle die Notwendigkeit regelmassiger Ab-schreibungen erkannte, und der klassische Okonom lehrte noch lange die inverse Korrelation zwischen Lohn und Profit und die Vcrschiebbarkeit des Kapitals von Industrie zu Industrie, nachdem diese beidenfiir das putting-out system typischen Wesensziige mit dem Erscheinen der Urfabrik verschwunden waren. RÉSUMÉ Cet article a pour but, de remplacer la théorie traditionelle des stades industriels par un modèle meilleur, basé sur les critères de capital et de contrǒ1e. En construisant ce nouveau modèle, nous nous rendons compte de la nécessité, de distinguer entre industries intensives en capital et celles extensives en capital et ces dernieres de nouveau, en celles qui travaillent pour la consommation interne, et celles qui produisent pour l'exportation. C'est uniquement pour les industries extensives en capital produisant pour l'exportation, qu'on peut d^couvrir des soi-disants stades du developpement industriels. En fait, le stade atteint dans ces industries au dix-huitieme siecle les amenait du point de vue de I'organisation en relation étroite avec les industries plus vieilles et intensives en capital, de facon a ce que pour cette periode, les deux pouvaient ětre résumés sous le terme de ≪protofabrique≫. La protofabrique du modele, basee sur le capital et le contrdle met en relief les principales caracteristiques de l'usine, malgre que la protofabrique se distingue en realite en beaucoup de points de l'usine evoluée. Dans la deuxieme partie de cet article, les elements organisateurs de la protofabrique sont decrits en detail, apres avoir eclairci les confusions etymologiques. Finalement l'auteur montre, que ni le commercant actif dans le developpement organisateur de l'industrie, ni l'economiste classique contemporain ont saisi ce qui se deroulait devant leurs yeux. II a fallu des dixaines d'annees jusqu'a ce que I'industriel reconnaisse Futility d'amortisations regulieres, et l'econome classique enseignait encore longtemps la correlation inverse entre le salaire et le profit et Pajustement du capital d'une industrie a l'autre, malgre que ces deux faits typiques par le 'putting-out system', avaient disparu avec l'apparition de la protofabrique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about the biological control of Chondrilla juncea is presented. It presents the results of the detailed ecological study being made on C. juncea and the organisms attacking it in Mediterranean Europe, as a prelude to biological control introductions into Australia. Using a line transect method at the dense Chondrilla sites between Barcelona, Spain and Nice, France, observations have shown that the plant populations decline to a greater or lesser extent according to conditions.

Declines in private housing production during periods of credit restraint have been widely publicized in the United States. Four such downturns have been recorded in the past decade and a half--in 1955-57, 1959-60, 1965-66, and 1969-70. A variety of measures have been adopted or recommended during recent years in an effort to lessen the disproportionately heavy impact of credit restraint on the private housing sector. Other measures have been offered to minimize the need for, or reliance on, credit restraint. Credit-affected downturns in private housing starts or residential building permits, however, are far from endemic to the United States alone. They have taken place since the mid-1950's in Canada and certain West European countries as well. Canada has recorded four cases; Belgium and Switzerland each has had three, Germany and Great Britain two each, and Italy one. In most if not all of these cases, private residential construction has been affected more severely by credit restraint than other major branches of the economy. Omitted from discussion are still other cases, as in Sweden and France, where the scope of public involvement in the housing sector has minimized the analytical significance of "private" housing production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the varying accounting methods of Europe and the U.S. There has been a more definite effort in European countries to regulate accounting practice through direct legislation than in the U.S. However, leading corporations in the U.S. have financial statements that are clearer and more orderly than those of corporations in Europe despite a lack in regulatory legislation for accounting practices. The U.S. is making progress in regulating accounting practice with the regulations prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The article focuses on relation of religion and racial prejudice in Europe. In American studies on the relation between racial prejudice and religious behavior and values, the finding generally has been of a positive relationship. It has been found that on average, churchgoers in the country harbor more racial, ethnic and religious prejudice than do non-churchgoers. However, when researchers separate those whose religious orientation can be characterized as intrinsic or committed or those whose religious practice is very regular, the prejudice demonstrated by these groups is less than that of those more casual or conventional in their religious behavior and values. The present paper finds these patterns also in data from English and Dutch samples. The conclusion from this analysis is that there is a major sub-group in the population sampled who accept religious values, but who also accept prejudiced opinions. These individuals tend to be working-class Catholics. Religious involvement, particularly by Dutch Reformed and Re-reformed church members, is associated with neutrality in the area of prejudice. In Britain religious involvement is least and prejudice seems to be highest among members of the established Church of England.

This paper presents some empirical evidence, for Belgium, the Netherlands and France, on the so-called 'administrative inflation' hypothesis. The hypothesis might be defined as saying that price increases are higher in more concentrated industries, given positive changes in demand and costs. Empirically speaking, it implies that, for a cross-section of industries, wholesale-price changes are a positive function of concentration ratios, for given increases in demand and unit costs. Although any relevant evidence would be an interesting contribution to the present discussion about the Common Market's antitrust policy, the hypothesis has never been confronted-to my knowledge-with data from European Economic Community (E.E.C.) countries. The evidence presented in this paper is limited to the 1958-65 period, because of the difficulty in collecting comparable data form earlier years. As we were more familiar with Belgian data, Belgium was selected as a test case to detetmine the most appropriate empirical specification of the hypothesis. A few changes in Weiss's approach proved to be beneficial and are discussed in section it together with the data and results obtained for Belgium. In section III, results for the Netherlands are compared with the Belgian evidence on the basis of an analysis of covariance. Section IV introduces France while the last section draws some conclusions as to the validity of the hypothesis in a European framework.

The article reports on nationalism in United States. There are scores of new States in Asia and Africa that are trying to set up free societies. It is a "new birth of freedom" on a grand scale. It is in fact freedom's greatest test, for it involves the older free regimes of Europe and the United States. If truth counts over charity, then one must point out that the new States will fail, if not all, then all but a few. Some are already succumbing to the initial perils of liberty that the last paper of the Federalist warned Americans against: "anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious demagogue." The real wonder is in believing that national unity could ever arise in freedom among the many units that nowadays arrogate to themselves the name of nation. They are nations only to the map maker. Many are areas marked off only for colonial administrative convenience; some have dozens, even hundreds, of languages, several antagonistic religions; a still uncounted welter of tribes living in mutual ignorance or traditional war; and above all there stands the great gulf between the village primitive and the urban modern.

Comparative data on marital power structure for the United States, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia are discussed. Data on the United States and France show a positive association between husband's authority score and such variables as husband's educational status, occupational status, and income; data on Greece and Yugoslavia show a negative association on these variables. The contradictory findings are used to elaborate a ‘theory of resources in cultural context’—the distribution of marital power is seen to result from the interaction of (1) comparative resources of husband and wife and (2) cultural or subcultural expectations about the distribution of marital power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has been written from the standpoint of a student of political science (with an evident international bias). It has in no way been concerned with the question whether a European union would, or would not, bring prosperity to its populations, or whether it would be a good thing or not for Britain to join it. As a student I have sought an answer to two questions: What kind of political construction was a European union likely to be, and what would be its temper—for if, as I think, function determines structure, this also means that structure must affect practice. And therefore, in the second place, what would be its relevancy to the prospects for a general international system? Admittedly, to try to examine the 'European' idea thus is like trying to hold a line on a political rainbow with its many fleeting hues—a rainbow with one horizon among those who are clear that they were not seeking 'a new fatherland' and wanted Europe united that it may work the better for international union, and the opposite horizon falling in Dr. Hallstein's camp. For Dr. Hallstein is no less clear that they were after 'awakening a new European patriotism'; and that— while the old nations may be left to dream their national dreams (and after dismissing any idea of supplanting the national with the supranational as 'another illusion')—that 'perhaps it is true that only States can act politically. Then let us create the European State—or is Europe finally to abdicate?' If the aim is political union, a 'United States of Europe', Dr. Hallstein's picture, with all its tactical tergiversations, is clearly nearer the mark. Both lines of inquiry have led to the same point, that by its nature and tendency a political union must be nationalistic; and that as such it must impede, and may defeat, the great historic quest for a general system of peace and development. Under the pressures of a planned and radical social transformation it is bound to shape... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is beyond the scope of this paper to traverse all the reasons why the EEC proposals have not so far been seriously considered in the GATT or elsewhere. One important reason, however, is that although general objectives have been suggested, neither the French nor the EEC have yet attempted to elaborate in detail exactly what would be the content of an international agreement for any of the main products concerned. Until this is done it seems unlikely that any significant progress can be made towards establishing a reasonably clear basis of negotiation in the GATT about the terms on which trade in agricultural products is to be carried on. Even a demonstration, as a result of detailed study, that commodity agreements of the kind broadly outlined by the EEC are unlikely to be more satisfactory than the present position, would help to clear away much of the existing uncertainty. In this article I shall therefore attempt to continue the discussion by showing how the EEC ideas might be applied to trade in butter, long recognized as perhaps the most 'difficult' of all the temperate foodstuffs as regards liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sources of economic growth in Japan and in compare the results with those in the U. S. and Europe as studied by E. F. Denison. The method used by Denison is followed as far as possible. The character of this paper is of fact finding, and the interpretation of results or the originality of methodology is not dealt with here. The results may be summarized as follows. (1) Japan's growth rate is two times that of Europe and three times that of the United States. (2) The contributions of labor, capital, and the residual to economic growth are all higher for Japan than for the U. S. or Europe. (3) Factors which account for the higher contribution of labor to economic growth are (a) the higher rate of increase in employment, (b) less shortening of working hours, and (c) improved age and sex composition. (4) Factors which account for the higher contribution of capital to economic growth are a higher rate of increase in capital input and the high elasticity of production with respect in capital. (5) Other notable points include: (a) the contribution of education is lower for Japan; (b) the capital-labor ratio in Japan increased remarkably; (c) capital's share of national income is higher; and (d) 60% of Japan's economic growth is accounted for by the residual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the paper "An Economic Theory of the Growth of the Western World," by professors Douglas C. North and Robert Paul Thomas. The paper is related to European economic growth. The theory proposed by North and Thomas relies heavily upon three components. The first is a model for cyclical fluctuations in the pre-industrial economic life of Europe. This model defines the relative changes in the cost of land and labor as changes in population alter the ratio between the two. It incorporates the relative elasticities which have been found in the supply and demand curves for foodstuffs as opposed to those for raw materials and industrial products. North and Thomas then elaborate this last observation into the second major element of their model, a "theory of institutional change." The shifts in factor proportions so heightened the possibilities of profit from production for the market that they exceeded the costs of the institutional innovations needed to change the organization of production and distribution of income. The result was the steady introduction of "secondary" institutional changes such as enclosures, joint-stock companies, government support of certain guilds, and regulation of quality.

This article presents a list of papers related to economic history of Europe. Some of the papers are: "An early Garolingian Mint in the Low Gountries: Bona-Tiel," by M. Metcalf; "Financial Intermediaries and Economic Development, the Belgian Case," by R.J. Morrison; "Middeleeuwse sociale structuren. Enkele kanttekeningen,"by J. Mertems; "Dutch Theology, Trade and War: 1590-1610," by C. Bangs; and others.

One of scholar Karl Mannheim's most important conceptions, that of the free floating intelligentsia, can be seen as playing more a normative than a factual role in his thought. This is not to say that Mannheim regarded this construction as having no factual basis. Indeed, throughout his career he held that such a relatively classless stratum of intellectuals existed in the European society of his time. But Mannheim's evaluation of the role this stratum was equipped to play changed radically over the course of his sociological career. His most famous and most thoroughly discussed treatment of the intelligentsia was in a chapter on the possibilities of a scientific politics in the book "Ideology and Utopia." Here his tone was exceedingly optimistic, for he thought that the European intelligentsia might be the bearers of a tremendous political synthesis, a dynamic mediation between the left and right wings of the European political spectrum. In any event, this theme-the role of the socially unattached intelligentsia-will constitute the thread which ties together the various treatments Mannheim offered of intellectual strata generally. The approach of this paper will be broadly developmental, dividing Mannheim's writings into four basic stages. To begin with, there is the material Mannheim published before 1929. In this period, the intelligentsia is seen as relatively unimportant.

The article presents information on various conferences, meetings and papers published in several periodicals related to the rural sociology. In 1962 a Committee for International Co-operation in Rural Sociology was established jointly by the American Rural Sociological Society and the European Society for Rural Sociology. The founders of this rather informal organization were aware right from the beginning of their work that the Committee should be broadened to a world-wide scale as soon as possible. Among the first activities of the Committee was the preparation of the First World Congress for Rural Sociology which was held in August 1964 in Dijon, France. A seminar on peasantry in Birmingham will be held on April 26-27, 1965. This was the second meeting of this type under the chairmanship of R.E.F. Smith, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham. There were some 10 to 12 participants, mainly historians but also economists and sociologists, among whom two from continental Europe

The article discusses the role of rural organizations in a changing society. The ten papers on which this report is based give examples of the development of rural and agricultural organizations in different parts of Europe but the pattern of change seems to follow everywhere the same general trends. Two basic elements in all formal organizations, functional differentiation and coordination, are put to use in order to fulfill specific functions for the members of the organizations. As the ends to be attained and the functions to be carried out are related to the community or society at large, these organizations are true change agent systems. A pre-requisite for the existence and for the successful functioning of a voluntary organization is that its aims coincide with some joint or shared interest on the part of the members. In a rapidly changing society this basic prerequisite for the functioning of voluntary organizations is threatened, mainly because of the increasing functional differentiation in every aspect of human activity.

The article focuses on the paper "Current Trends in Organizational Change," by Noel M. Tichy. In this paper, the author presents a comparative analysis of the work of change agents, notably management consultants, in Europe and the Unite States. The author starts with a general discussion of the main types of change agents and their work in the United States. Four basic types are defined: The Outside Pressure type (OP) who works for change by bringing external pressure to bear, particularly in the area of corporate social responsibility; The People Change Technology type (PCT) who is concerned with how employees behave, considering such things as motivation and morale; The Analysis for the Top type (AFT) who focuses on the efficiency of systems of technology and organization typically with an operations research or technical background; and The Organization Development type (OD) who deals with interpersonal and group effectiveness in the context of the cultural system of the organization. The article also describes the U.S. approach briefly but the main attention is on a survey of the current European situation made by the author. He notes that AFTs are much more common in Europe than ODs.

The article presents information on the books related to Europe. The book "Electronics Industry in Europe," by Louis H. Whitehead, surveys English, German, and Dutch electronics industries. The book "France's Economic Rehabilitation" presents a description of economic reforms in France and some analysis of how long they may endure. The book "New Investment Incentives in France" contains a list of various benefits in investing in France and of special incentives offered by the French government to attract foreign investment. The book "France: Europe's Melting Pot" presents a survey of France's large immigrant population and how they live and adjust to their new country. The book "Expanding Ireland's Economy," by James Meenan, presents an analysis of Ireland's economic strengths, weaknesses, hopes and fears. The book "Spain Moves Toward Free Enterprise to Revive Her Dwindling Economy," by V.L. Horath, presents an analysis of Spain's present economic troubles and a report on present efforts to alleviate them.

The article presents information about the publication of the report of the Fourth Meeting of the ad hoc Working Party on Rural Sociological Problems in Europe, together with three of the papers presented at that meeting, in the journal "Sociologia Ruralis." The publication was a result of the cooperation between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the European Society for Rural Sociology.

The article reports on the 13th Seminar on Family Research and its focus on the family life cycle as a social system. The conference, organized by the International Sociological Association's Committee on Family Research and the Centre d'Ethnologie Francaise, was held in Paris, France in September 1973. Four themes prevailed: changes in family cycle in Europe since the 18th century, social stratification and urban-rural differences, family life cycle theory, and research methods in social science.

The recent spurt of scholarly interest in the emergence of new "States" and "nations" has given rise, on the one hand, to a renewed interest in the historical study of similar phenomena in older States and, on the other, to a considerable effort at formulating general theories and models which can provide guide-lines for an understanding of these phenomena. By and large the initiative for these efforts has come from North American and European scholars. More recently, scholars from the developing nations have also joined in this work. Subsequent co-operation between these two groups of scholars from differing historical backgrounds and socio-cultural contexts has led to a series of questions concerning (a) the relevance of prevailing conceptual frameworks for an explanation of variations in the behavior of social and political phenomena; (b) the empirical validity of these frame-works in different historical settings; (c) the methodological assumptions underlying the whole effort at general theory; and (d) basic issues of teleology and directionality, determinacy and choice, in comparative theory.

The article analyzes the relations of the oats Avena sativa variety Victory with serpentine soils and offers information on experiments conducted to investigate the response of plants to serpentine soils. Based on the article, A. sativa has been used to assesses the nutrient characteristics of serpentine soils because symptoms of common deficiencies for the species have been well documented. A study has shown that the oats presented nickel toxicity symptoms when grown in a serpentine soil in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The experiments were done to determine it edaphic serpentine ecotypes exist in Europe.

Concerns with seasonal changes in relative growth rate and its components, net assimilation rate and leaf area ratio in seedling material of Mediterranean and north European populations of grasses Lolium pernne, Dactylis glomerata and Festuca arundinacea. Climatic origins of grasses; Leaf development in the same populations of Lolium and Dactylis under contrasting light and temperature environments.

Examines the hypothesis that the formation of a free trade area in Europe tends to result in an increase in the instability of extra-area imports relative to intra-area imports. Relative changes in the instability of intra-area and extra-area imports; Effects of preferential tariff treatment on import instability.

Reveals the European experience with research on international organization. Funding for the Social Science Research Council which constituted the Committee on International Organization; Bureaucratic interpretation; Single representation of plural interests.

Focuses on the nature and prospects of European institutions. Factors hampering the process of European integration; Functions of European institutions; Organizational characteristic of the European Community and the Atlantic Alliance; Effect of the United States and France as a barrier to European unification.

Highlights the meeting of the European Weed Research Council in Oxford, England in April 1960. Excerpts from a report of the editor of the journal "Weed Research"; Activities of the committees of the European Weed Research Council.

The article focuses on business practices and commerce during medieval period in Europe. From the seventh century A.D. onwards, the Arabs not only extended their military conquests but also succeeded in developing long-distance trade and international commerce on a scale which surpassed anything known before. A host of new institutions and instruments of commerce therefore confronted the merchants of Venice, Gaeta, Amalfi, and Bari when, in the eighth century, they once more ventured across the sea in search of trade. Conditions in the Islamic world of that time were extraordinarily favourable to the rapid and unhindered growth of commerce. Among the Muslims, international trade was particularly stimulated by the pilgrimage to the holy places in Arabia, on which a great body of men converged each year from all over the world. The greatest contribution of the Muslim world to medieval economic life was the development of commercial methods based on writing and recording. From the eighth century on, the suftaja as a draft, which was sometimes also a true bill of exchange, came to play an ever more important part in economic life. Business no longer had to be transacted only in cash, nor was there further need for the risky and expensive transportation of large amounts of cash from place to place.

The article focuses on the essays included in the book "Population in History." It contains 27 contributions, nearly all by different authors; more than a third of these are on English demographic history, but France is also well represented, with others on Ireland, Scandinavia, Italy, Flanders, and North America. The methods of historical demography have recently been widened by the introduction of analysis based on the "reconstitution" of families from material contained in local records. In spite of considerable activity by demographic historians in the last decade, however, a state of impasse seems to have been reached in which existing techniques of historical demography no longer offer much hope of extending our understanding of the processes of demographic change in the pre-census period on the basis of the strictly limited supply of known statistical data. At last speculation based upon incomplete data is being replaced by reliable computations of all the essential variables in demographic change. This is, then, a very patchy book, a curious compound of scholarship and optimism, of real worth and questionable methodology.

This article presents an abstract for the paper "Regional Management Overseas," by Charles R. Williams. Some observers have concluded that an industrial products or technology-oriented company should utilize a regional- approach type of organization. A consumer goods company, on the other hand, is more involved with individual national marketing problems. When consumer product companies reach a size and geographic scope where marketing strategy must be coordinated on a Europe-wide basis, it is probably necessary to utilize an on-the-spot, well-informed senior regional management group.

The article presents a reference guide for Western Hemisphere. Names of publishers of books and the addresses of periodicals are provided to aid readers. Listings include only basic material, not news items or reports of transitory significance. "The Canadian and American Companies Developing Canada's Enormous Ore Resources," by John Lind, is a study of U.S. and Canadian iron resources and the exploitation of them. "Canada in World Affairs: From UN to NATO, 1946-1949," is the fifth volume in a series concerning Canada's participation in world affairs. "Power in New Brunswick," by W.A. Dixon, is a description of new power developments. "Canada's Economic Development, 1867-1953," by O.J. Firestone, is a history and analysis of Canada's economy. "Canada's Economic Prospects," by Simon Kuznets, is a review of the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects. In 1958 Economic Survey of Europe," included are studies of the relationship between economic expansion and balances of payments in Western European countries and consumption trends and structures in Europe.

American sociology is distinguished from British and continental European sociology by, among other things, a lack of interest in identifying and measuring social class, as distinct from social status. Indices of occupational prestige ratings have served as indices of social status. This article explicates the most popular American scale of occupational prestige ratings, and concludes that this index is not a plausible index either of the relative prestige of occupations or of social status, and furthermore, that such an index in principle is not obtainable. The errors of proponents of the scale lie in an idealistic theory of the social order and repetition of the classic mistake once committed, but now long avoided, by economists: aggregation of subjective evaluations. A well-known characteristic feature of American sociology, in contrast to British and continental European sociology, has been the absence of serious attempts to establish numerical indices of social class. Yet there have been a number of attempts to establish indices of what is variously known as social status or socio-economic status, mainly by means of polled verbal evaluations of occupations.

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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.)

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis 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.)