A rentier class? Milanese nobility and the economy in post-unification Italy

ABSTRACT

The Lombard nobility’s loss of political power after the Napoleonic Wars has led economic historians to overlook the persisting role of traditional elites in social and economic life. The aim of the paper is to reassess the contribution of the Milanese aristocracy to Italian economic development, providing new insights into the business behaviour of the nobility in northern Italian areas. The article presents some new findings on noblemen’s investments and enterprises related to agriculture, manufacturing, trade and banking. The research focuses on the decades following Italian political unification, a period in which noblemen increased their interest in the financial sector and joint-stock companies (transport, banking, new sectors and industries) as a result of the transformations induced by the Industrial Revolution and the agrarian crisis of the 1870s and 1880s. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be used to assess not only the number of individuals involved and the capital they invested in new ventures, but also their role in orienting, stimulating, managing or supporting entrepreneurial activities and their openness to collaboration with the members of the middle class. The analysis combines the deeds produced by four notaries, chosen on the basis of their contiguity to the Milanese aristocracy, the foundation’s deeds of the main companies established in the city, conserved in the House of Trade, and the information provided by other local and national institutions. The cross-referencing of this data suggests that the Milanese nobility maintained a prominent economic role well beyond Italian political unification, contributing to the modernization of the national economy despite the weaknesses and contradictions that marked this process.     

Circular cities: exploring local government strategies to facilitate a circular economy

ABSTRACT

Cities are growing rapidly, and the systems of production and consumption that support this growth are contributing to the depletion of natural resources and pollution of the environment. The circular economy model offers an alternative to the predominant take-make-dispose economic system. Local municipalities are seen to have the capacity to encourage sustainable development of the built environment. This paper aims to explore the role of strategic planning in facilitating a circular economy in urban settings. In particular, this research asks: How are local governments facilitating circular economy initiatives through strategic planning? What are the opportunities and barriers when applying circular economy principles through local strategic planning? The research approach used for this paper is a comparative case study of two international municipalities: the City of Melbourne, Australia and the City of Malmö, Sweden. Current strategic planning practice was examined with a focus on circular economy themes. The findings reveal that strategic urban planning can translate circular economy objectives into actions within specific urban areas, although barriers still exist to fully integrating the circular economy model.     

中日邦交正常化之前的"政经分离"与"政经不可分"之争

上世纪五、六十年代,日本政府在对华关系方面曾推行过“政经分离”政策。其核心是:政治台湾,经济大陆。即只承认台湾当局,不承认中华人民共和国。对此,中国政府提出了“政治三原则”和“政经不可分原则”,与日本方面旨在搞“两个中国”的图谋进行了针锋相对的斗争。在中日复交35年后的今天,“政经之争”早已不再是中日之间争论的焦点。但对如今时而“政冷经热”、时而“政经双冷”的中日关系来说,重温这段“政经之争”的历史,无疑具有特殊的意义。     

市场经济与社区建设

市场经济与枉区建设是一种相辅相成、相互促进、缺一不可的关系。市场经济的发展历程告诉我们,市场经济发展到一定历史阶段,需要一个强有力的市民社会的支持。否则,经济的发展是无法深入持久的。枉区建设是我国大规模深层次社会改革的起点,它为打遣中国的市民枉会提供了最好的平台和契机。市场经济改革为枉区建设提供不竭的动力资源和物质基础,社区建设则为市场经济提供强有力的社会保障;市场经济是枉区建设的逻辑前提,社区建设则是市场经济的必然结果。     

"一线两带"建设与关中城镇群的双向促进机制研究

如何提高关中城镇群竞争能力及区域经济发展活力.在分析“一线两带”建设和关中城镇群发展的现状后认为,高新技术产业和星火产业具有不同的产业形态,是从工业和农业两个层面实现关中区域经济一体化的重要支撑和发展动力.对于关中地区不同发展层面的城镇,宜采用不同的产业经济政策,促进关中城镇向组团式城镇群发展,为关中地区产业集群的发展和新的产业经济体系提供良好的发展平台.研究结论认为,要实现关中区域经济一体化,必须实现二元经济和二元社会的融合,需要建立产业协调机制、城市协调机制,构建区域内功能性组团式城市群,促进关中城乡经济一体化.“一线两带”建设与关中组团式城镇群建设,宜从产业集群和城镇两个层面进行整合,提升关中城市和经济社会的整体竞争能力.     

落实科学发展观统筹城乡经济发展

传统二元经济结构造成我国城乡失衡,必须按照以人为本,全面、协调、可持续发展观的要求,将城乡经济协调发展的短期政策调整和长效机制建设有机结合起来,走城乡协调发展、以工补农、以城带乡的发展之路。     

Cutmark systematics: Analyzing morphometrics and spatial patterning at Palangana

Cutmarks have played an important role in addressing whether our hominid ancestors were hunters or scavengers, describing ritual modification of human bone, defining the origin of metallurgy, and highlighting the diversity of prehistoric butchering behavior. The widespread occurrence of cutmarks on animal bones and their variability allows archaeologists to use this kind of evidence to address a broad range of questions. One goal in examining cutmark diversity is to identify diagnostic cutmarks of prehistoric butchering, processing, and consuming behaviors. Linking cutmarks to specific activities allows us to test fine-grained hypotheses concerning the nature of an archaeological site, and to do this a systematic method for addressing variability in both the appearance and anatomical position of cutmarks is essential. An analysis of caribou bones collected by Lewis Binford from the Palangana site in Alaska is used to build and test a diagnostic cutmark classification using their morphometric and spatial properties. This case study demonstrates that cutmarks can be used to simultaneously address large-scale anthropological questions and reveal intra-site behavioral variability in the archaeological record.     

The intellectual origins of Leninism, 1977

This essay is a general introduction to the special number on recent research on Atlantic history. While the topics here presented are diverse, most focusing on the first French Empire, particularly in North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the authors share several common themes: (1) In Africa and the Americas, they seek to view the question of the Empire as a series of contested, temporary, and uncertain alliances and collaborations, in which negotiation rather than submission was most often the basis of power relations; (2) In the realm of political economy in theory and practice, the authors refuse pre-established notions of an Atlantic “community” of commodities and merchants functioning within an Atlantic “system.” Instead, they focus on closed networks of merchants functioning within the dynamics of merchant capitalism. (3) The authors seek alternatives to traditional approaches focusing on the nation-state and its institutions. Instead, they examine communities and regions in the Atlantic that include social elites, such as, merchants, the nobility, the gentry, and intellectuals, as well as neglected native peoples and forgotten spaces such as Africa.     

真实性视角下乡村旅游经济可持续开发研究

作为推进新农村建设的重要经济力量,乡村旅游经济如何在快速发展过程中实现可持续竞争力的维持与提升已经成为地方政府经济管理过程中关注的焦点。本文基于对旅游真实性文献的回顾与分析,认为保持与宏扬真实性是旅游体验的根源与旅游开发的要义,据此,从多元层面,着重探讨了真实性在乡村可持续旅游经济开发中的作用机理,从真实性出发,有针对性地提出了促进乡村旅游经济发展的若干管理策略。     

国内外"低碳发展"研究进展及展望

随着工业化、城市化的深入发展,人类活动造成的能源安全与全球环境变化日益引起全球的广泛关注,以低消耗、低排放、低污染、高效益为特征"低碳"发展模式受到国际社会、政府、环境非政府组织(E-NGOs)等推崇,各界纷纷开展"低碳"的理论研究与实践探索.本文在简要概述"低碳"发展的时代背景的基础上,从理论研究与价值取向、宏观碳排放及驱动因素、低碳经济性与实现策略、微观碳排放与低碳生活方式、低碳城市发展与空间规划等5个方面对国内外的低碳研究进行回顾,并从理论与实践的关系、研究重点的差异、研究尺度的缺失、机制的探讨等方面进行评价,并展望未来的低碳研究-全面并力求反映现实的、面向未来与强调适应的、全球变化下不确定性的、追求品质与促进公平的低碳研究.