Did the Nationalist Government Manipulate the Chinese Bond Market? A Quantitative Perspective on Short-Term Price Fluctuations of Domestic Government Bonds, 1932–1934

Based on a newly constructed set of data, this paper offers a quantitative perspective on the Nationalist Government’s relations with China’s domestic bond markets during the period 1932–34. For all the recent revisionist scholarship on the achievements of Nationalist state-building, the perception of the Nationalist elite as corrupt is still widely accepted. In order to demonstrate the empirical potential of quantitative financial history, this paper tests one particular assertion: that members of the Nationalist elite manipulated the issue price of domestic government bonds in order to enrich themselves and their associates. We test this by calculating two price data correlations: that of a first sample of government bonds, all of them issued before 1932, and that of a second sample of government bonds, which includes bonds issued during the period under review. The price fluctuations of the first sample are correlated with each other to a much higher degree than those of the second sample. This indicates that the prices of bonds in the first sample were reacting similarly to the same range of influences, while the bonds issued during the period under review and included in the second sample were displaying individual price fluctuations. One possible explanation for this is that members of the Nationalist elite enriched themselves or their associates by issuing domestic government bonds at artificially low prices. In sum, the article illustrates both the potential and the limitations of quantitative history: it allows us to test and dismiss a precisely formulated hypothesis about Nationalist corruption, but it is only one possible way in which statistical analysis can be applied and does not cover the whole realm of state practices.     

Beteiligungshaushalte für informelle Siedlungen in Brasilien Das Beispiel Recife

Abstrakt In Brasilien fehlt Wohnraum für 33,9 Millionen Menschen. Landesweit besteht ein Defizit von 7,7 Millionen Wohnungen, davon 5,5 Millionen in den Ballungsr?umen. Arme und einkommensschwache Menschen sind bis heute weitgehend vom formalen Wohnungsmarkt ausgeschlossen. Im brasilianischen Recife wurde vor 19 Jahren ein st?dtisches Gesetz erlassen, das informelle Siedlungen anerkennt und den Bewohnern ein Bleiberecht garantiert. Das PREZEIS, der Plan zur Regulierung der Sonderzonen von besonderem sozialen Interesse, sieht auch einen Beteiligungshaushalt vor, in dem die Bewohner über Ma?nahmen zur Verbesserung ihrer Lebensbedingungen entscheiden. Anhand von drei Siedlungen wird dargestellt, welchen Beitrag das PREZEIS dort in der Vergangenheit leisten konnte und welche Verbesserungen eine Gesetzes?nderung bewirken k?nnte.     

The Archaeological Survey Project in Fatschenbrunn,Municipality of Oberaurach,Germany: A Case Study for the Reconstruction of Past Farming Regimes in the Late Medieval and Post-Medieval Era

This paper presents the preliminary results of a survey project which is being carried out in the small village of Fatschenbrunn, in Lower Franconia, Germany. The project combines archaeological, historical geographical, botanical, geological and pedological data to reconstruct the farming regimes and land use in the late medieval and post-medieval era. Although the project is still on-going, the collected data allows the formulation of hypotheses on the formation of fertile agricultural soils through long-term human intervention in the past.     

The MuseumsQuartier,Vienna: An Austrian Cultural Experiment

This paper focuses on an important Austrian development, which on closer examination enables consideration to be given to: (1) Austrian government cultural‐sector policy, ­practice and funding attitudes; (2) the nature of the structures, organisation, stakeholders, and legal relationships chosen to manage and market the MuseumsQuartier; (3) the tension between the individual autonomy of institutions and a state‐imposed umbrella organisation; (4) the characteristics of creativity in comparison with the requirements for conformity; and (5) the compatibility of facility and programming management. There is no pretence in providing a survey of museum cultural or creative quarters throughout the world or analysis of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that may be associated with this approach to urban regeneration. It is unashamedly a detailed analysis of a major cultural development, which may have value for the future management of similar projects. Perhaps more significantly it provides a useful insight into the Austrian approach to arts policy and management.     

Red deer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cervus elaphus</Emphasis>) skeleton from the Early Bronze Age pit at Brandýs (Czech Republic)

The finding of a male red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) skeleton at Brandýs nad Labem (Central Bohemia, Czech Republic) dated to the Únětice culture (Early Bronze Age), radiocarbon dated to 1881–1679 cal BC (P 93 %), unique in the region, was analysed archaeozoologically. The depositing of a whole, unbutchered and entirely undamaged, but curled up body of a stag in a relatively small pit dug into the bottom of a large storage pit undoubtedly had some kind of special meaning or significance. It is interpreted as the burial of a ritually sacrificed beast. The deer male aged 2.5–3 years, with a withers height ca 129 cm, was in good health and had well-developed antlers. The stag most probably died between January and April, probably more towards the spring, but exactly how it died is unclear. The ritual appears to have been quite complex since it included a fire at the bottom of the storage pit. Deposition in a place designed for storage could suggest a ceremony relating to a sacrifice for prosperity and a good harvest. Despite a lack of evidence for the use of deer in rituals and the symbolic sphere during the Bronze Age, deer burials and the symbolic significance of the stag are known from other archaeological cultures and ethnicities. Interestingly, the entire foreleg of a younger red deer (aged 4–7 months), an isolated humerus of another young fawn (0.5–2 months) and the remains of two dog puppies (3.5–4.5 months) were present in upper horizons of the storage pit, which could also have a special meaning.     

Seeking the State: Appropriating Bureaucratic Symbolism and Wealth in the Margins of Southeast Asia

Anthropological research on Southeast Asian states has contributed to understanding how local communities engage with states in their everyday lives. Two approaches drawing out the complexities of state‐society entanglement stand out. First is Foucault's idea that states possess the art‐of‐government. Through techniques such as mapping, census data, biometrics and so on, states are believed to achieve new levels of control over people, who are thus rendered as individual citizens. Second is Scott's idea that societies possess the art‐of‐not‐being‐governed. People, particularly in peripheral areas, seek to escape state control, for instance by sheltering in the hills and forests of Asia. In this article, we seek to identify and expand upon a literature which we see as emerging from the space opened between Foucault and Scott's work, to demonstrate the many creative and diverse ways that peripheral societies seek out states. In doing this we present a synthesis of diverse forms of entanglement to provide new insights into understanding relations between societies and states.     

Party development in the early decades of the Australian parliament: a new perspective

This study offers a new perspective on the development of political parties in the Australian House of Representatives. We analyse a data set of 3060 legislative votes to estimate how parties influenced the behaviour of 287 legislators who served in the first 12 parliaments (1901-31). We show that the socialisation of members and cohort replacement effects, as well as a decline in private member business and committee votes, explain why partisanship increased over time. Our results challenge two widely held beliefs about the organisation of political parties in the legislative arena and the Australian party system. First, the analysis demonstrates that the government’s ability to increase party discipline through control of the legislative agenda is limited when parliament is engaged in nation-building projects. Second, our study suggests that introducing restrictive parliamentary procedures played a role in consolidating Australia’s unique two-party system, which opposes Labor to the Liberal–National coalition.     

Vom Nutzen des Augenblicks für die Projekte der Wissenschaft

Using the Instant for the Projects of Science . Focusing on Bachelard's books L'Intuition de l'instant (1932) and La dialectique de la durée (1936), the paper deals with Bachelard's discontinuous and serial concept of time that is formulated against Henri Bergson's concept of duration. With a view to the philosophical concept of monadology, to the theory of relativity, and to the contemporary psychological and neurological research, the paper points to the significance of the instant for Bachelard's concept of temporality, for his desubjectified concept of the individual as well as his discontinuous concept of matter. Moreoever, the paper explores the discontinuous conception of temporality in Bachelard's epistemological writings. The paper argues that Bachelard's discontinuous concept of the specific temporality of science is based on a fundamental discontinuity of reality of both physical as well as psychological processes.