Comercio y comerciantes en América Latina colonial: Reflexión historiográfíca

Tráfico de Indias y política oceánica. By Fernando Bordejé Y Morencos. Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992. Pp. 341.

Relaciones económicas entre España y América hasta la independencia. By John R. Fisher. Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992. Pp. 280.

Las comunicaciones en América. By Secundino‐José Gutiérrez Alvarez. Madrid: MAPFRE, 1993. Pp. 424.

Piratas, bucaneros, filibusteros y corsarios en América. Perros, mendigos y otros malditos del mar. By Manuel Lucena Salmoral. Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992. Pp. 306.

El dinero americano y la política del imperio. By María Emelina Martín Acosta. Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992. Pp. 333.

Cargadores a Indias. By Julian B. Ruiz Rivera and Manuela Cristina García Bernal. Madrid: Mapfre, 1992. Pp. 395.     

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.     

Markov Models of Inertia and Dynamism on Two Contiguous Ohio Landscapes

This study examined landcover change during 1940–1988 in two contiguous landscapes of approximately 12,400 hectares in central Ohio, USA: an inertial till plain area and a more dynamic moraine area. Agriculture dominated both landscapes throughout, however, the cover of natural vegetation and urban-suburban development increased over time on the moraine while natural vegetation decreased and agriculture increased on the till plain. Markov process models for landcover change were constructed for three 14–17-year time intervals and for the entire forty-eight-year study period. Probabilities of self-replacement for agricultural lands (0.91–0.97) were higher and those for forests (0.54–0.65) lower than those reported for other landscapes. Predictions of landcover percentages for fifty years in the future were made using Markov process models derived from actual cover changes in 1940–1957, 1971–1988, and 1940–1988. All three models produced similar predictions for the inertial till plain area. In contrast, the three models' predictions differed considerably for the moraine area. Only the 1971–1988 transition matrix was sensitive to increases in urbanization and reforestation which began on the moraine in the 1970s. These results indicate that reliance on lengthy study intervals and net rates of change can obscure spatial and temporal patterns of landcover change that are caused by natural and socioeconomic factors operating on shorter time scales.     

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.