Using SimBritain to Model the Geographical Impact of National Government Policies

In this article, we use a dynamic spatial microsimulation model of Britain for the analysis of the geographical impact of policies that have been implemented in Britain in the last 10 years. In particular, we show how spatial microsimulation can be used to estimate the geographical and socio-economic impact of the following policy developments: introduction of the minimum wage, winter fuel payments, working families tax credits, and new child and working credits. This analysis is carried out with the use of the SimBritain model , which is a product of a 3-year research project aimed at dynamically simulating urban and regional populations in Britain. SimBritain projections are based on a method that uses small area data from past Censuses of the British population in order to estimate small-area data for 2001, 2011, and 2021.     

Rural response to urban penetration: Baltimore and St Mary's County,Maryland, 1790–1840

Viewed from a city, urban penetration appeared to benefit the economy of a rural hinterland by expanding markets for a wide range of farm produce and by offering in return a wide variety of cheap consumer goods. From a rural viewpoint, cheap goods from cities took trade away from local craftsmen. The probate records of St Mary's County, Maryland, provide evidence for the effects of Baltimore's penetration into a tobacco-growing rural community during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As Baltimore expanded, farmers not only grew more tobacco but also began to supply the city with wheat. A prosperous and diversified agriculture supported millers, merchants and mariners. Up to 1820 an increasing number of young men were recruited as bay pilots, but the introduction of steamships drove sailing ships out of business. After 1820 not only did maritime employment decrease, but most craft industries declined. By 1833, the county's sole cotton mill closed and Baltimore's industrial supremacy was assured.     

Human guinea pigs? The history of the early oral contraceptive clinical trials

Abstract

Today it is estimated that over 100 million women worldwide have taken oral contraceptives since their first clinical trials in 1956. Despite their popularity, however, contraceptive pills have been under constant scrutiny for their safety since the time of their marketing. This paper considers the degree to which the pill was tested before it was introduced on to the market and challenges many assumptions that have been made about the use scientists made of women in its development. Examining the early testing of the pill, the paper makes clear that the success of the pill and its testing depended on the active co‐operation of the women who swallowed the tablet in its experimental stage. Far from being guinea‐pigs, women were thus active participants in the making of the pill.