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Presents information related to several articles related to economics and statistics. Statistical discrepancies in the Great Britain national income estimates; Issues related to postal finance in the United States; Problems of time-stream evaluation.

This article presents abstracts of several papers about economics published in the March 1965 issue of the Economic Journal. In the article Problems of Planning for Economic Growth in a Mixed Economy, Robert Shone briefly outlined the planning developments in Great Britain since the National Economic Development Council was formed in March 1962. While in the article The Minimal Economy, Henry Smith examined what is involved in working out the implications of the assumption that economic activity is confined to minimizing the disutility involved in reaching a preconceived standard.

Presents a series of abstracts on various topics of economics and polity published in the May 1964 issue of the periodical 'Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science,' vol. 30. Benefits of restrictive trade practices in Great Britain; Importance of nationality in petroleum exploration in Western Canada; Overview of a linear programming estimate of changes in industrial input coefficients.

Presents information related to several articles on economics. Economic growth and productivity in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Japan in the post war period; Dividend policies of electric utility firms; Relationship between the quantity of materials imported by the United States and the level of industrial production and prices of imports.

Presents an overview of articles on economics published in volume 31 of January 1964 issue of the journal 'Manchester school,' in Great Britain. Description about regional variations in earnings of workers in the British engineering industry; Validity of the liquid asset theory as presented by Radcliffe Report in Great Britain; Receipt of various components of government revenue from road users in the country.

As war prosperity brought an end to the worst depression in history, there was general agreement that preparations should be made to prevent a similar disaster in the future. Even the wartime government of Great Britain, despite its basically conservative character, accepted as one of their primary postwar aims and responsibilities the maintenance of a high and stable level of employment in the 1944 White Paper on Employment Policy. In the U.S., the same movement led to the passage of the Employment Act of 1946, with its obligation to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. Although one of the things to be contained in the economic report provided for by the act is a review of economic conditions during the preceding year, there is nothing else in the act which specifies the period to which recommendations are to apply. But the author believes that most economists have from the start felt that the basic function of the council was to prevent serious depressions such as that which struck in 1929.

This article presents information on a study which analyzed the factors that shaped the mix of domestic and foreign investments in Great Britain. The questions to which this paper addressed itself have now, for the most part, been answered. The percentages of national income allocated to foreign and domestic investment do show a negative correlation for the period, but this correlation is not carried through to the amounts of home and foreign investment, either in money or real terms. Cairncross's approach offers an explanation of their relationship in that the short-run factorB of fluctuation seemed to be those that operated in the same manner on the two series, while long-run trends affected the two inversely. Although this model has more intuitive appeal than theoretical rigor, it does provide an adequate long-run function for both foreign and domestic investment.

Presents a series of abstracts on various topics of economics published in the May 1964 issue of the periodical 'The Manchester School.' Relationship between profitability and growth of firms in Great Britain; Studies of changes in industrial location within Great Britain; Description of a model to examine private savings in Great Britain.

In a recent paper, D. Gujarati (1972) examined registered unemployment and vacancies data for Great Britain 1958-1971. He reported that his empirical tests revealed a change in the unemployment--vacancies relationship (the UV curve) from 1966 (IV). This change was attributed to the introduction of the Redundancy Payments Act (1965) and the National Insurance Act (1966). This legislation, Gujarati felt, eased the financial pressure on an unemployed individual, allowing him to spend more time job-searching. A log-linear relationship between unemployment and vacancies was fitted up to 1966 (III): log U[sub t] = beta[sub 0] + beta[sub 1] log V[sub t] + beta[sub 2]t (1) where U = unemployment rate, V = vacancy rate and t = time. This UV curve was then extrapolated until 1971 (II) and the resultant predicted unemployment series was compared with the actual series. A "correcting factor" was computed to calculate "true" estimates of unemployment (i.e., what registered unemployment would have been, had the above legislation not been introduced). This note contains several comments which fall into two categories. The first concerns the specification of the UV curve and the statistical results obtained by Gujarati. The second concerns the economic interpretation of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gibrat's law of proportionate effect states that the proportional change in the size of a firm is independent of its absolute size. An implication of this is that large and small firms have the same average proportionate rates of growth. Earlier studies of the growth of firms up to the early 1950's have found evidence to support the law. This paper shows that during the last decade the law has ceased to operate and that now large firms are growing at a significantly faster proportional rate than small firms. Concentration has been increasing in industry over a long period, for much of which Gibrat's law with all its implications held. The fact that growth was found to be independent of absolute size was not in conflict but was, rather, an explanation of the trend. The finding that larger firms are now the fastest growing suggests concentration is increasing at an even greater rate than when the law held. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses several issues concerning economics and industries. Agricultural laws and legislation in the U.S.; Problems concerning building guilds in Great Britain; Implications on economics.

The article presents data on the social composition of the Royal Economic Society (R.E.S.) in Great Britain from 1890 to 1960 by analyzing a 10 per cent sample of home-based members in selected years throughout the period since the society's foundation in 1890. The R.E.S. membership lists include the names of many subscribers who possess no serious claims to be regarded as professional economists by any normal definition of those terms. Nevertheless, throughout its long life the society's ranks have included the great majority of British professional economists as well as many serious amateur students of the subject and the occupational statistics provide some basis for judging the relative importance of the two categories. The R.E.S. data provided in the paper provides only limited and indirect evidence of this newer type of professionalization, though it is compatible with it. The strongest common link among Fellows of the Society was their subscription to "The Economic Journal," a periodical coverage in 1960 than in the 1890s and although subscribers are not necessarily readers, the subscription lists obviously provide important insights into the journal's audience.

Presents a series of abstracts on various topics of economics published in the June 1964 issue of the journal 'The Economic Journal.' Comparison of economic growth among various countries of western Europe and North America; Examination of various propositions related to supply of money; Interdependence of the yield of profits tax and payout ratio for the period of 1949-61 in Great Britain.

Presents information related to several articles in economics. Quantitative approach to medieval population change; Ideological factors in specie resumption and treasury policy in the United States; Economic growth of Great Britain.

This paper is concerned with the extent to which the model of a competitive labour market may be held to be relevant in a consideration of the demand and supply of highly specialized manpower, such as professional engineers and scientists. It is striking that up to the present time the Government Appointed Committee on Manpower Resources for Science and Technology, in all its wide ranging discussions, and recommendations for an increased supply of scientific manpower, have hardly examined the workings of the labour market for this type of manpower in Britain. The alleged ‘shortage’ of scientists and engineers, we are told almost daily by some distinguished figure from the academic or professional engineering world, will lead to all sorts of dire consequences. The available statistical data on the relative earnings of engineers will be examined and in the light of this some of the findings of the Committee on Manpower Resources for Science and Technology will be briefly assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the growth of labor union membership in Great Britain. Membership in labor unions is considered in the study as if it were an asset in the portfolio of the working man which is expected to yield services for consumption. It is said that such an approach allows analysis of the union membership growth with various conventional tools of economic theory. The findings of the study suggests that the demand for labor union services is relatively insensitive to price and union dues might be increased without effects on the size of membership.

The article presents an exploration into the financial conditions of the housing market in Great Britain throughout the first half of the 20th century. The parallels between the housing crisis being addressed in the 1950s and that of the post-World War I era are outlined, with additional data examining the interim period between the wars. An overview of statistical data is provided for housing materials and labor costs through the various time frames. Additional mention is given to the market forces which led to recovery, including private enterprise growth, local authority housing contracts, and other government subsidies.

The article measures the effect of public finance during the period 1793-1815 on the rate and direction of Great Britain's economic development. It explores the country's involvement in war during the period. One aspect of the war which has intermittently attracted economists" attention from the time of the "bullionist" controversy is the effect of the expedients that were adopted in the field of public finance. The article describes the sources of data which economic historian can use to be able to fairly measure the effect of the country's finance on the rate and direction of economic growth. An analysis on the economic indicators during the period is presented.

The article presents the author's reply pertaining to capital supply and national well-being. Referring to Mr. Keirstead's questions, Snyder remarks that they are derived from a widespread belief that Great Britain's "periodic break-downs" are "inherent" in the present capitalistic system. So the evidence that has been building up in the last 15 years seems to portray an inherent stability and persistence of industrial growth unimagined by most economic and socialistic writers. The forces "inherent" in industry seem admirably adapted to maintain such an equilibrium as Professor Cannon depicts in the human body. It seems only when the body economic is invaded by "infection," such as credit inflation, speculation and booms, that breakdowns occur. Snyder adds that in another 10 or 20 years it is possible that the Soviet experiment will reveal much. But it still may remain open whether the drastic methods it has employed would be feasible in a highly developed industrialized system like in the United States or Great Britain. The capitalistic system has been in a continuous process of transformation and development, pretty much ever since its latest phase began 150 years ago with the introduction of the steam engine and the coming of the Power Age. Snyder predicts that cooperative kind of socialism would be perhaps far more efficient and beneficent than most of its critics can believe.

The purpose of this article is to explore some of the relationships between educational planning and manpower planning.[1] It is frequently argued that the expansion of the educational system should be based on detailed forecasts of the educated manpower that will be required in a growing economy. My emphasis is somewhat different: it is that manpower forecasts in a developed country like Great Britain must take account of the likely expansion of education. The basic argument will involve four variables: demand and supply in "the education market", and demand and supply in the labour market. All of these are policy-variables, in the sense that they are subject to a measure of control by the public authorities. But only one of them, supply in the education market, is a policy-variable pure and simple, and some of them--demand in the labour market is an example--can only be influenced by the State to a limited degree. It is precisely this which creates problems for both educational planning and manpower planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has made it increasingly difficult to agree with the type of view expressed by J. M. Keynes when he wrote: "... Ricardo conquered England as completely as the Holy Inquisition conquered Spain. Not only was his theory accepted by the city, by statesmen and by the academic world. But controversy ceased; the other point of view completely disappeared; it ceased to be discussed. The great puzzle of Effective Demand with which Malthus had wrestled vanished from economic literature ".[1] There has been a growing awareness that, during the early decades of the nineteenth century, critical voices were repeatedly raised against the validity of Say's law, its acceptance by the Ricardians, and their dismissal of the problem of effective demand. However, as yet it is not widely recognised that a significant portion of this opposition was provided by certain of the leading British quarterlies and monthlies of the period. Hence, as a contribution to a more balanced understanding of the economic thought of those years, this article is designed as a survey of the scope of the attack on the above-mentioned aspects of Ricardian thought in a number of the influential periodicals during each of the three decades from 1820 onwards.[2]
In summary, it can be seen that, rather than exciting general approbation, the views of Say and Ricardo were subject to vigorous and not unintelligent criticism in influential journals. Defensive action was undertaken in the Edinburgh Review and, to some extent, the Westminster Review: but these eventually deferred to the weight of mounting opposition.[4] Of the contributions surveyed, those by David Robinson, Thomas Malthus, G. P. Scrope, James Lawson, and the unknown
1 Op. cit., pp. 92 and 100. 2 Vol. VIII, July 1848, p. 416. 3 Op. cit., pp. 418-9. 4 Although they appear to have made no contribution to the effective demand controversy, it should be mentioned that Taits Edinburgh Magazine and the London Magazine were for a... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the role of professional journals on development of economic ideas in Great Britain. The first half of the century was the era of the reviews, and starting with the Byronic success of the Edinburgh in 1802 they were for many years the most important feature of English periodical literature. Four of these reviews, the Edinburgh Review, the Quarterly Review, the Westminster Review, and Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine--not strictly a review, as it published many items that were not reviews, but dealt with much the same field--stand out above the others from almost any point of view, and certainly from the point of view of the economist. Among the periodicals read by the educated man, they had, year in and year out, the largest circulation and the greatest influence. Ten other reviews started between 1827 and 1850. None of these had the influence of the four major ones, and six had ceased publication by 1850. Further study of the Edinburgh and of the other reviews has strengthened and broadened this feeling. After 1824 the Westminster rendered much the same service for the middle-class reformers and the intellectual radicals as did the Edinburgh for the gentry. The role of the Quarterly and of Blackwood's was less direct, but their continual criticism of the theories and of the policy proposals of political economists at least made the opponents of economic change familiar with the new forces at large in the field of thought and policy.

A number of the issues raised by Godwin in his Enquiry Concerning Political Justice recur in subdued form in Of Population. These are issues that Malthus himself considered only to interpret them differently. Most outstanding of the points of difference between the two were: (1) the augmentability of the food supply, which Malthus put far below Godwin's estimate; (2) the rate of growth of population which Godwin believed to be negligible and Malthus to be potentially great; (3) man's disposition to control his numbers when necessary, regarding which Godwin was much more optimistic than Malthus; (4) the interpretation each put upon the constraining role of institutions. The two men had more in common than is usually assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines reasons behind unemployment problem since World War II in Great Britain. Effect of Keynesian revolution on employment; Comparison between post-war period and inter-war period employment; Factor affecting demand of employment in the post-war period.

This article presents reasons for the long delay in the adoption of marginal utility analysis by British political economy. Professor Emil Kauder claims that the hegemony of the labor cost theory in British thought in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was due to the power and prestige of Calvinist religious theory. He said that the members of the Italian-French subjective value school were Catholics and the defenders of the cost theory of value were Protestants. Secondly, he believes that early nineteenth century formulations of utility were hindered by the strong foundations of Ricardian labor theory in academic circles where utility advocates were unable to exert sufficient influence to gain acceptance for their ideas. Britain was the first country to face the problems of transition from a "natural" economy to one in which exchange and the division of labor were dominant. In the process of industrial development, a theory of production and the search for an objective theory of value were necessary preliminaries to the solution of problems which called for policy recommendations.

The article reviews the nationalization program in Great Britain. The author argues that the governments' nationalization program advocates socialist ideals. He claims that social ownership of the means of production and the centralized planning of the economic system are fundamental socialist principles. He divides supporters of nationalization into two schools of thought: socialists and liberals. He stress that the ideas on nationalization between these two schools of thought differ in theory and practice. He stresses that the socialists' approach is vague on notions of social welfare,but the liberals' approach is fairly precise on notions of economic efficiency.

The article presents information on a research related to debts of certain countries who involved in the World War I. The data of nine countries including Great Britain, the U.S., France and Italy were analyzed, which show that after more than four years of war, total debts of these nations aggregated 236 billion dollars as compared with the data in the beginning of the war. In the U.S., the total disbursements from March 1, 1917, to January 31, 1919 were $26,620,334,804 that include loans to foreign governments. In Great Britain, first year of the war showed a decline in the ratio of net receipts from taxation to total expenditures indicating a rise in government spending.

There is a growing trend of thought, especially prominent in Great Britain, that economic salvation after the war must be sought in state control. The main current of this opinion flows from many springs: the failure of free enterprise to maintain a reasonable level of employment between the two wars; the debacle of the thirties; the rending of the illusion that competition and sell-interest will secure a desirable adjustment of supply to demand and an effective tendency toward full employment; the recognition of pervasive market imperfections and wastes; and a complete system of war-born direct controls, which public inertia, fear of the future, the vested interests of those in control and conviction as to benefits of a planned economy now conspire to project into the post-war. These, and similar influences, have produced in Great Britain Employment Policy and Organization of Industry after the War. Employment Policy and Organization of Industry after the War is essentially a policy statement, a compilation of ideas and suggestions for a new advance in the control and organization of national resources.

Presents information related to several articles related to economics. Information related to Anglo-Portuguese trade from 1700-1770; Tea trade in Great Britain from 1784-1793; Factory discipline in the industrial revolution; Marriage and population growth in Ireland from 1750-1845.

Presents information related to several abstracts on economics published in the September 1962 issue of the journal 'The Economic Journal.' Earnings in industries of the Great Britain from 1948-59; Sensitivity of the yield of personal income tax in the Great Britain; Credit expansion in an open economy; Balanced and unbalanced growth in underdeveloped countries.

The article focuses on the railways and economic growth in England and Wales. The article refers from the book "New Economic History," by Gary Hawke written in and about the United Kingdom. Several chapters in the book are devoted to the developments of input and output measures, and these are used to compute an index of total factor productivity for the years 1840-1890. The pricing policy of railroads is studied, estimates of the iron-demand generated in construction calculated, the cyclical impact of railroad expenditures described, and possible benefits external to the railroad users discussed. The heart of the book is the calculation of the social savings generated by British railroads over the period 1840-1870, with particular attention paid to the year 1865. The savings in resources attributable to shifting from one mode to another then depends upon the elasticity of the demand for transport services, the cost per ton-mile of shipping by non-railroad means (canals, roads, etc.) and the cost per ton-mile of shipping by railroads.

The process whereby innovations diffuse throughout an economy or throughout the world has interested many people at many times. One of the more intriguing examples of this process is the spread of the use of coke to make pig iron, which has interested investigators because of two seemingly incompatible properties. The use of coke in the blast furnace was one of the enabling innovations of the industrial revolution in Britain, and it played a similarly important role in the industrialization of many, if not all, other industrializing countries in the nineteenth century. Despite this importance, however, the spread of coke was not rapid, there was often a delay of as much as a half a century in the spread of this innovation from Britain to other countries. This article is based on economist Louis C. Hunter's masterful analysis and suggest some alterations in his hypothesis about the antebellum iron industry. This discussion has been concerned with changes in the production of pig iron and has discussed that part of the iron industry that made this material.

To make an appraisal, it is first necessary to have some standard by which an evaluation can be made; in this case a satisfactory definition of economic progress. Beyond the definition of a standard, an appraisal involves the application of yardsticks which can be used to measure achievement or lack of achievement in terms of the accepted standard. Progress means movement toward some particular goal or objective. The difficulty comes in the selection of the goal. Goals are determined by philosophical and ethical considerations and in the final analysis are based upon group or individual preferences. There is no appeal beyond the point of the statement of such preferences. No one can prove by an appeal to logic the superiority of one preference over another. For one thing, a failure to understand the relative nature of individual and social goals accounts for a considerable amount of confusion which arises over the meaning and content of progress. As the attitude of many Americans toward the economic depression in Great Britain demonstrates, there can be sharp differences in the interpretation of progress and the means of obtaining it even between two countries that share a common cultural heritage.

During capitalism's relatively brief history, there have been a number of periods when attempts at revaluation have been made. One hundred years ago, following economic depression in Great Britain and amidst the alarms and excursions of Chartism at home and revolution abroad, authors looked at the new industrialism then emerging and found it seriously wanting. The values employed at that time were not economic but moral and social; the condition of England was so deplorable that new attitudes and public policies were urgently required to transform it. All this at the dawn of a new era: when innovation was to move into the railroading, shipbuilding and machine-tool industries; when the savings of Great Britain were to flow so impressively across the channel and overseas to accelerate the industrial revolutions of Western Europe, the United States, and the dominions; when life expectation, real wages, popular education-all signs of improving welfare-were to begin their upward climbs. This is curious, for in the United States, notably, it is possible to talk of capitalism and its achievements or shortcomings. American economic institutions developed wholly in a capitalist climate. There never existed any vestigial traces of feudalism or mercantilism to complicate and confuse growth and attitudes.

The article examines the political economic thoughts of economist Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill, the author of the book "Principles of Political Economy." The author discusses the fundamental law reforms that happened in Great Britain during the 18th century, believed to have spawned from the influence of Bentham's economic philosophies. With regards to Mill, the author asserts that Bentham's influence on the author is greatest in the issue of laissez-faire or the economic role of government. The author also analyzes the grounds for Bentham's general rule against governmental activity.

Focuses on the implications of the British Navigation Acts in Great Britain to commercial policy and the colonial growth efforts. Examination on the advantages and disadvantages of the regulation in terms of market prices and the pattern of trade; Impact of financial differences in income to colonial welfare.

The article focuses on the reports of Heyworth Committee concerned with teaching and research in economics in Great Britain. In 1962-63 the Committee estimates that in all about £5 million was being spent on research in social sciences. Of this, about £2.9 million was financing university research. About £0.6 million was financing independent non-university research institutes. The research organizations of the government absorbed about £10 million. Official support of research in dependent overseas territories, work in technical colleges and by various other bodies and individuals absorbed the final £0.5 million. Of this total, possibly as much as £10 million may have been going to university and institute research in economics, including the research time of teachers. The Committee proposed that 400 awards for postgraduate research and advanced-course studentship should be made in 1965-66 as against about 220 in 1964. It also recommended the creation of 20 research fellowships.

A list of documents, reports, and legislation related to economics is presented. The United States Tariff Commission has continued its publication of "Imports Into the United States for Consumption by Countries." The Division of Labor Standards of the federal Department of Labor has published Bulletin No. 11, a study of "British Factory Inspection: A Century of Progress in Administration of Labor Laws," by J. B. Andrews. The Hearings on Tax Evasion and Avoidance before the Joint Committee on Tax Evasion and Avoidance of the 75th Congress have been printed in four parts.