Increasing returns to scale in the towns of early Tudor England

Abstract

Urban agglomeration economies make cities central to theories of modern economic growth. There is historical evidence for the presence of Smithian growth and agglomeration effects in English towns c.1450-1670, but seminal assessments deny the presence of agglomeration effects and productivity gains to Early Modern English towns. This study evaluates the presence of increasing returns to scale (IRS) in aggregate urban economic outputs—the empirical signature of feedbacks between Smithian growth and agglomeration effects—among the towns of 16th century England. To do so, we test a model from settlement scaling theory against the 1524/5 Lay Subsidy returns. Analysis of these data indicates that Tudor towns exhibited IRS—a finding that is robust to alternative interpretations of the data. IRS holds even for the smallest towns in our sample, suggesting the absence of town size thresholds for the emergence of agglomeration effects. Spatial patterning of scaling residuals further suggests regional demand-side interactions with Smithian-agglomeration feedbacks. These findings suggest the presence of agglomeration effects and Smithian growth in pre-industrial English towns. This begs us to reconsider the economic performance of Early Modern English towns, and suggests that the qualitative economic dynamics of contemporary cities may be applicable to premodern settlements in general.     

Geography of contestation: A study on the Yellow Vest movement and the rise of populism in France

The rise of a geography of discontent highlighted in recent studies points to a strong association between voting for populist parties and territories with socioeconomic difficulties. While discontent has primarily been addressed through the analysis of populist votes, we provide additional elements of analysis by comparing these populist votes to the Yellow Vest movement, and we distinguish the populist votes coming from the far-left party from those coming from the far-right party. Our results show that the Yellow Vest movement cannot be confused with French populist supporters and that their sensitivity to territorial dimensions also differs from that of the latter, especially in terms of access to public services. Their behavior highlights that the geography of protest takes multiple shapes and cannot be reduced to a simple opposition between urban and mostly rural or peripheral areas. This raises serious concerns about the dynamics of territories and the deleterious effects of metropolization and the closure of public services in peri-urban and rural territories that are not specific to France.     

A new,extraordinary ‘damselfly-like’ Odonatoptera from the Pennsylvanian of the Avion locality in Pas-de-Calais,France (Insecta: ‘Exopterygota’)

Nel, A., Roques, P., Prokop, J., & Garrouste, R., 11 September 2018. A new, extraordinary ‘damselfly-like’ Odonatoptera from the Pennsylvanian of the Avion locality in Pas-de-Calais, France (Insecta: ‘Exopterygota’). Alcheringa 43, 241–245. ISSN 0311-5518.

Enigmaptera magnifica gen. et sp. nov., type genus and species of the new odonatopteran family Enigmapteridae, is described from the Moscovian of Avion (northern France). It is the sister group of the major clade Neodonatoptera, placed together in the new clade Paneodonatoptera. Its wing venation has characters never found in other Odonatoptera. It is a further case of convergent wing petiolation in this superorder. Enigmaptera magnifica, like the protozygopteran Jacquesoudardia magnifica from the same outcrop, probably lived like the extant damselflies along the shores of lakes and rivers, hunting the small insects found in the same deposits. These discoveries show that very small insects were significant elements of the entomofaunal diversity and trophic chains of the Late Carboniferous ecosystems.

Romain Garrouste [garroust@mnhn.fr] Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, 75005 Paris, France; Patrick Roques [patrick.roques93@wanadoo.fr] Allée des Myosotis, Neuilly sur Marne, F-93330, France.; Jakub Prokop [jprokop@natur.cuni.cz] Charles University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology, Vini?ná 7, CZ-128 44, Praha 2, Czech Republic.     

An Industrial-Archaeological Approach to the Mineral Loading Docks in Rande Strait,North-Western Spain

During the 20th century, the need for raw material promoted a commercial transportation trade of iron ores from the deposits in north-western Spain, where Vigo city was considered one of the most important ports. The global energy crisis in the 1970s, as well as the strong competition from other exporting countries, dented the prolific activity of companies dedicated to the extraction and trading of iron ore. The main goal of this article is the evaluation of one particular element of the mining and industrial heritage — two old mineral loading docks in Ría de Vigo in the Rande Strait, linking the municipalities of Redondela and Moaña. Their development as a tourist resource would add to the cultural and economic activities already developed in the area.     

Diplomacy in a Global Early Modernity: The Ambiguity of Sovereignty

Abstract

This is a concluding comment on the chapters of this special issue. After a discussion of the articles, we will take a closer look at the new view of European diplomacy and foreign relations. The historiographical change regarding early modern foreign relations has fundamentally altered the way we interpret the roles, the agencies and the loyalties of early modern envoys. Taking the conclusions of this research into account, we ask if diplomatic actors of the ancient regime differed distinctly from their Asian counterparts at all. Then, as a final point, we examine how fundamental changes in the Sattelzeit–particularly in Europe, but also in the context of global power relations–affected intercultural diplomacy.     

Testing Transferability: Quantitative Evaluation of Labor Market Area Definition Methods in Three Contrasting Countries

Sub-national economic policies increasingly use labor market areas (LMAs) rather than administrative areas for analysis and implementation. How a set of LMAs was defined influences the results of such analyses, and so accurate policy delivery needs appropriately defined LMAs. Multinational bodies need comparable LMA definitions in many countries, calling for a definition method that is transferable across national boundaries. This article applies quantitative metrics to evaluate LMAs defined in three contrasting countries by three methods that represent the main methodological approaches. The deductive approach—based on a center and hinterland—is too inflexible to deal with differing geographical circumstances and cannot cope with statistical zones that are very small, or do not respect settlement structure. The alternative inductive methods tested define appropriate LMAs in each country, with the newer method performing slightly better in statistical terms. The article also exemplifies the usefulness of the metrics for comparisons of alternative regionalizations.