TECHNICAL CHANGE AND PROFITS IN CANADIAN MANUFACTURING: A REGIONAL ANALYSIS

Manufacturing profitability and growth declined sharply in Canada between 1955 and 1984. The spatial extent of this decline has not previously been documented. This article examines manufacturing performance in six regions of Canada. The analysis reveals significant interregional performance differences that appear to be increasing. Two different types of inter-firm competition are identified in the article: competition in production and competition in the market. Empirical investigation reveals that changes in production conditions had a greater impact on regional profitability in five of the six regions studied. In the remaining region, poor market performance was the primary cause of the reduction in profits after 1955.
Au Canada la rentabilité et la croissance industrielle ont profondément diminué entre les années 1955 et 1984. L'ampleur spatiale de cette baisse n'a jamais été docu-mentée. Cette étude examine le comportement et les performances de fabrication dans six régions canadien-nes. De considérables différences inter-régionales, qui semblent toujours s'accentuer sont mises en évidence. Dans cette recherche, deux genres de concurrence entre les societes son identifiés: la concurrence dans la production, et la concurrence dans le marché. L'analyse empi-rique montre que certains changements dans les conditions de production ont eu un effet considérable sur la rentabilité régionale pour cinq des six régions en question. En ce qui concerne la dernière région, la baisse des profits a partir de 1955 est dûe essentiellement à la mauvaise performance du marché.     

Gender and the Family in Pre‐industrial Europe

P. Fleming, Family and Household in Medieval England A. Lynn Martin, Alcohol, Sex and Gender in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe N. J. Menuge (ed.), Medieval Women and the Law P. Skinner, Women in Medieval Italian Society, 500–1200 F. A. Underhill, For Her Good Estates: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh     

Anthropology,revolution, and development

Green, Edward C., ed. Practicing Development Anthropology. Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1986. xi + 283 pp. including tables, figures, and acknowledgements. $26.50 paper.

Banerjee, Diptendra, ed. Marxian Theory and the Third World. New Delhi/Beverly Hills/London: Sage Publications, 1985. 325 pp. including chapter references and list of contributors. No price.     

The Origins of American Expansion in Hawaii and Samoa, 1865–1900

From Nixon to Reagan, official US perceptions of West German trade with the Soviet Union (Osthandel) underwent a remarkable evolution. Despite initial skepticism, the Nixon and Ford administrations placed no major obstacles to West German–Soviet economic relations. Carter, however, changed the situation. His stance on human rights and economic sanctions against the Soviets for various developments - along with his belief that West Germany should follow the United States' lead - led Carter to ask Schmidt to curtail Osthandel, an action that contributed to Schmidt's notoriously poor relationship with the US President. Despite coming from a different political party, Reagan initially continued Carter's outlook on Osthandel. Yet rather than emphasize human rights, he publicly stressed Poland's self-determination as the reason to implement his aggressive policy to curb trade with the USSR, even though his advisers feared the strategic implications of greater German dependence on Soviet energy. Carter's and Reagan's early approaches were ineffective. Their actions, especially the latter's, strained US relations with Germany, the United States' most important ally in central Europe. Equally important, both Carter's and Reagan's policies undermined détente with Moscow. Because Nixon and Ford's approach to Osthandel harmed neither US–German relations nor US–Soviet relations, these presidents' responses had conspicuous advantages over succeeding administrations.