Institutions du travail et etat‐nation histoire d'un mariage à l'avenir incertain

Concepts of unemployment or of the labour market are not abstract, but develop from each society's own particular logic. Taking the examples of Germany and France at the end of the nineteenth century, it is possible to see how these concepts were constructed in specific national contexts, and how they were then used in practice. This analysis leads us to rethink current ideas about work and unemployment, and to ask what their future will be in a united Europe.     

X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS WITH SYNCHROTRON RADIATION ON THE INKS AND PAPERS OF INCUNABULA

Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analyses induced by white synchrotron radiation (SYXRF) have been performed on a page of the Gutenberg Bible and 21 other different single leaves printed in the years 1470 to 1500. Absolute elemental areal densities for the papers and the inks are reported. The known high Cu and Pb content in Gutenberg's ink is confirmed. The elemental compositions of the other inks, if measurable by XRF at all, are in general very low, governed only by a few additional elements and found to be not distinctive for a known printer. This will render an identification of the printer or printing offices by ink composition analysis in the period after 1470 difficult.     

THE LONG-RUN ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF FEDERAL,STATE, AND LOCAL FISCAL POLICIES IN METROPOLITAN AREAS*

ABSTRACT. This paper uses new estimates of metropolitan factor demand and output supply functions to study how federal, state, and local fiscal policies affect metropolitan economies. We illustrate our work with findings for ten metropolitan areas in five states for changes in state corporate income taxes, local property taxes, the federal corporate income tax, an investment tax credit, interest rates, public capital stocks, output prices, and tax and regulatory policies affecting gross wages. It is clear from these simulations that a policy that is nominally the same everywhere will have repercussions that vary widely across regions and cities.     

ZONE PRICING*

ABSTRACT. Our purpose is to study a spatial price policy often encountered in the real world, known as zone pricing. This price policy consists in determining simultaneously several delivered prices together with the geographical zones in which they apply. It is shown that zone pricing approximates perfect spatial price discrimination and that the firm's profit increases with the number of zones. Furthermore, the number of markets supplied by the firm rises with the number of zones. Finally, zone pricing is compared to other standard spatial price policies and possible extensions are discussed.     

Food Security in India: Measures,Norms and Issues

Although assessments by conventional macro measures show considerable improvement in food security in India, the levels of cereal consumption and calorie intake of even the general population are still below the normative threshold limits. This article brings out the dynamics of changes in institutional and production conditions and their implications for consumption patterns and food security at the micro level. The article uses empirical evidence to raise a number of issues, and calls for emphasis on investment in human capital by way of improvements in food and calorie intake for efficiency and economic growth.     

La forme est le fond la structuration des appareils statistiques nationaux (1800–1945)

The present paper surveys the discussions conducted by official statisticians regarding the ideal structure according to which a national data collection system should have been designed if it was to meet the challenges put up by the various transformation Western countries have undergone since the beginning of the 19th century. Arguments in favour of coordination, centralization, or decentralization have emerged for the first time in 1832 Britain, when the Statistical Bureau of the Board of Trade was created. Up to 1945, this debate went on, the industrial take-off, the economic crises, and the world wars all being occasions for its protagonists to put forward their preferred view. The perspective we take here is original in two respects: on the one hand, instead of confining ourselves to the major statistical systems (those of France, Britain, and the USA), we intend to evoke a large number of cases and, from this comparative standpoint, propose a general account of the drive towards centralization; on the other hand, instead of restraining our-selves to the 19th century, we cover the entire time-frame extending from 1800 to 1945.