Migration Under Uncertainty: “Try Your Luck” or “Wait and See”

Two types of uncertainty enter into the migration decision. First, current conditions in the destination region may not be observable. Second, the future evolution of conditions in both the origin and destination regions may be unknown. The first type of uncertainty can encourage speculative or “try your luck” migration, whereas uncertainty about the future acts in the opposite direction, deterring relocation. This paper presents a dynamic optimizing model of migration that incorporates both types of uncertainty. The model shows that in equilibrium uncertainty about the future is likely to be more important than uncertainty about present conditions in the decision to relocate.     

Masked Popery and Pyrrhonian Uncertainty: The Early Scottish Covenanters on Arminianism

In Jacobean and Caroline Scotland there was little Arminianism to be found, whether in its Remonstrant (Dutch) or Laudian (English) versions. Nevertheless, the representation of this teaching by a few Scottish divines, its more strenuous advocacy in England, and reports of its spread in Europe unnerved those who would lead the covenanting movement after 1638.
Arminianism represented a two-pronged threat to the Calvinist covenanting vision. Its attempt at moderation in the theological strife of the time approximated a compromise with, if not a surrender to, popery. But Arminianism also suffered from an identification with the scepticism then fermenting in European philosophy. The decay of a providential worldview undercut the national self-image of Scotland at the forefront of resurgent Reformed religion. The significance of free will threatened the individual's assurance of election. The loss of certainty about theological authority, accepting the individual's right to interpret the Bible and to express his views publicly, shattered the ideal of a religiously uniform society. Thus considered, the persistent interest in Arminianism provides a useful perspective on the mind of the covenanting movement.     

The unique decline of mortality in revolutionary France

This article seeks to draw historians' attention to a neglected reconstruction of the French population and its mortality rates developed by the Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques in the 1970s. The reconstruction shows a sharp decline in French mortality rates, beginning in the 1790s and continuing through the 1820s. This conflicts with recent historiography stressing the negative effects of the Revolution. This article contends that the reconstruction is plausible and that the French mortality decline was unique in Europe in this period. In turn, this suggests that the Revolution had a much more favorable impact than many historians would have us believe.     

FIBS in Archaeobotany: Functional Interpretation of Weed Floras in Relation to Husbandry Practices

The application of “FIBS” (Functional Interpretation of Botanical Surveys) to the interpretation of archaeobotanical weed floras, as evidence of past husbandry practices, is explored. To illustrate the potential of the approach, present-day cereal fields in N. Spain are analysed in terms of the functional attributes of the weed species represented in dry-farmed and irrigated fields. Functional attributes are identified which relate in predictable ways to the quality of plant growth and the severity of drought. These attributes are successful in discriminating dry-farmed and irrigated fields. This investigation opens up the way for more general application of the method in the archaeobotanical study of crop husbandry. FIBS (a) permits the “translation” of ecological information from one group of species to another, via functional attributes, and (b) through an understanding of the ecological processes involved, provides a potential mechanism for reconstructing extinct agricultural regimes for which modern analogues do not exist. This presents an alternative to the traditional use of ecological indices (which are open to circularity of interpretation) or phytosociological groupings (for which there may not have been exact parallels in the past). The relevance of particular functional attributes to husbandry methods other than irrigation now needs to be explored in order to develop the methodology for general application to archaeobotanical weed assemblages.     

Über den ursprung der voneinander abweichenden Strukturen der Munda- und Khmer-Nikobar-Sprachen

Vorbemerkung Da die Bezeichnung Mon-Khmer zweideutig ist - sie umfasst nämlich einmal nur die Mon-Khmer-Sprachen im engeren Sinne, also Mon, Khmer, Bahnar, Mnong usw., zum anderen aber diese Sprachen und die verwandten Gruppen Khasi, Nikobar, Palaung-Wa, Semang, Sakai und Jakud - sei hier vorgeschlagen, den Terminus Mon-Khmer nur noch im engeren Sinne zu verwenden und ihn im weiteren Sinne gegen die Bezeichnung Khmer-Nikobar einzutauschen, da dadurch Irrtümer vermieden und ausserdem die zu bezeichnenden Sprachgruppen besser charakterisiert werden als durch die zu einer Gruppe gehörenden Sprachen Mon und Khmer. Die gesamte Ostobergruppe der austroasiatischen Sprachen wird durch die beiden charakteristischen und wichtigen Sprachen, die alte Literatursprache Khmer und die besonders altertümliche Nikobar-Gruppe, wohl am besten repräsentiert. Die Bezeichnung Mon-Annam-Sprachen ist wegen des Übergangscharakters des Vietnamesischen abzulehnen. Die Khmer-Nikobar-Sprachen stehen also den Mundasprachen in Vorderindien gegenüber.     

Pālisamaya und Sanskritsamāja

Ohne Zusammenfassung