Kåre Lunden,Frå svartedauen til 17. mai: 1350–1814 [From the Black Death to the 17th of May 1350–1814], edited by R. Almås. Vol. 2. Norges landbrukshistorie (Oslo: Samlaget, 2002). 456 pp. ISBN 82-521-5584-7.

The French nobility offers the peculiar case of a category that in a very short period of time went from the envied position of unquestioned natural elite of the kingdom to complete political irrelevance, passing through outright detestation during the Revolution. The Revolution destroyed the political power of the nobility but it can hardly be argued that it destroyed the nobility itself. In fact, the French nobility managed to survive as a separate and significant category in French society. Even in the absence of actual political control, elements specific to the nobility remained strongly associated with the notion of elite in every regime that followed the Revolution. This paper reviews the status of the nobility before, during, and after the Revolution. It argues that, paradoxically, the nobility owes its survival in large part to a reconstructed mystique which grew more attractive as the aristocracy was losing its actual political power. Finally, images of profligacy and decadence, very popular in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, preserved the exceptionality of the French nobility which thus presents to the historian the case of a remarkably resilient elite.     

Reviews

AUSTRALIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS 1956–1960. Gordon Greenwood and Norman Harper (eds.). For the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1963. Pp. viii + 430. 63/‐.

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE POLICY 1951–1963: MAJOR INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS. Sir Alan Watt. A.N.U. Department of International Relations: Working Paper no. 4. 1964. Pp. ii + 92. 10/‐.

THE DEBATABLE ALLIANCE: AN ESSAY IN ANGLO‐AMERICAN RELATIONS. Coral Bell. R.I.I.A., Chatham House Essays, no. 3, 1964. Pp. 130, Australian price 14/3.

SOUTH AFRICA AND THE UNITED NATIONS: MYTH AND REALITY. R. B. Ballinger. Johannesburg, The South African Institute of International Affairs, 1963. Pp. 32. 32 cents.

THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE HIGH COMMISSION TERRITORIES. Lord Hailey. London, Oxford University Press. Pp. viii + 136. Australian price 29/9d.

APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA. New York, United Nations, 1963. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES. New York, United Nations, 1963. Pp. 84. $1.00. STUDY OF DISCRIMINATION IN THE MATTER OF POLITICAL RIGHTS. New York, United Nations, 1962. Pp. viii + 105. $1.50.

STERLING IN THE SIXTIES. Christopher MoMahon. R.I.I.A., Chatham House Essays no. 4. London, Oxford University Press, 1964. Pp. vi + 118. Australian price 14/3.

INTERNATIONAL LIQUIDITY. Ian Shannon. Melbourne, P. W. Cheshire, 1964. Pp. 143. 21/‐.

IMPERIALISM. THE STORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF A POLITICAL WORD, 1840–1860. R. Koebner and H. D. Schmidt. London, Cambridge University Press, 1964. Pp. xxvi + 432. £3/3/‐ stg.

SOCIALISM IN ONE COUNTRY 1924–1926. Volume Three, Parts I and II. E. H. Carr. London, Macmillan, 1964. Australian price 363/‐. THE RUSSIAN PEASANT MOVEMENT 1906–1917. Launcelot A. Owen. New York, Russell & Russell, 1963. $7.50.

THOUGHT AND BEHAVIOUR IN MODERN JAPANESE POLITICS. Mosao Maruyama. Edited by Ivan Morris. London, Oxford University Press, 1963. Pp. xx + 344. Australian price 68/‐.

THE CHINESE VIEW OF THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD. C. P. Fitzgerald. R.I.I.A., Chatham House Essay No. 1. London, Oxford University Press, 1964. Pp. 72. Australian price 10/‐.

COMMUNISM IN NORTH VIETNAM. P. J. Honey. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press, 1963. Pp. xvi + 207. $4.95.

SOUTH‐EAST ASIA: A SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. C. A. Fisher. London, Methuen, 1964. Pp. xix + 831. Maps. £4.4.0 sterling.

INDONESIA: PERSPECTIVES AND PROPOSALS FOR UNITED STATES ECONOMIC AID. Report to the President by the VS. Economic Survey Team to Indonesia. Yale University South East Asia Studies, 1963.

INDONESIA. Bruce Grant. Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1964. Pp. x + 190. 32/6d.     

AGGLOMERATION EXTERNALITIES,PRODUCTIVITY, AND TECHNICAL INEFFICIENCY*

ABSTRACT Agglomeration externalities can have positive effects on both the production possibility frontier and technical inefficiency of firms. Increased levels of localized knowledge spillovers and substitution of internal inputs with external inputs may lead to fewer errors in decision‐making and execution of production tasks, thus causing firms to become technically more efficient relative to the production frontier. When we estimate a stochastic frontier production model on a large panel of salmon aquaculture farms, we find econometric support for positive agglomeration externalities on both the production frontier and technical inefficiency.     

La prose metrique de l'ancienne historiographie romaine

In this attempt at an overall interpretation of Hadrian's poem (Büchner fr. 3) the author discusses the meaning of vagula and blandida in 1. 1 and puts a comma after vagula. He assesses in particular the two most disputed lines of the poem, 3 and 4, taking quae as an exclamation and adding some reasons for combining loca with pallidula rigida nudula. As to the marked use of diminutives ‐ 5 in as many lines ‐ the author sees no reason for giving them a uniform emotional meaning, but argues for grouping them into three categories according to the semantic value of the primitive involved. He discusses also how to read 1. 5 syntactically. In the last part of the study the aim is to show in what particular sense the poem can be reasonably taken as a product of the emperor's pen on his very deathbed.     

The Two-Wood Bow

The invention of long-range weapons has played an important role in the evolution of human culture. The evolution of the bow in particular has held a central position in this process. A reconstruction of the steps by which the bow evolved is therefore of considerable interest. In this process the use of two separate types of wood, the invention of strong glues, the evolution of stiff ends, which act as levers, and the discovery of the mechanical characteristics of horn and sinew are key technical innovations. Previous research has often focussed on the evolution of the horn bow, or the composite bow as it also is called. On the other hand, the type of bow that is typical of northern Asia, the two-wood bow, has attracted little interest. This paper treats the evolution of the bow in Scandinavia, with focus on the two-wood bow. To put the two-wood bow in perspective, archaeological records and rock-carvings are analysed. This study highlights some new aspects of the early evolution of the bow, where the two-wood bow is, for the first time, assigned an important role. It is classified as a distinct type, which, moreover, formed an important stage in the evolution of the bow.