Gwynne Lewis
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198228950
- eISBN:
- 9780191678844
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198228950.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Economic History
This story in this is book is about one of the most dynamic entrepreneurs in modern French history. The book examines Pierre-François Tubeuf's contribution to the development of industry in France. ...
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This story in this is book is about one of the most dynamic entrepreneurs in modern French history. The book examines Pierre-François Tubeuf's contribution to the development of industry in France. The book explores the relationship between seigneurial, proto-industrial, and modern forms of capitalism in the Cévennes region of south-eastern France in the 18th century, and demonstrates the international scope of proto-industrialization. It unravels the complex problems associated with the impact of the French Revolution on the processes of modern French capitalism, and traces the responses of a wide variety of individuals, including Tubeuf and his greatest rival, the Maréchal de Castries. The book examines the epic struggle of these two powerful men for control of the rich coal mines of the region, and their legacy to succeeding generations.Less
This story in this is book is about one of the most dynamic entrepreneurs in modern French history. The book examines Pierre-François Tubeuf's contribution to the development of industry in France. The book explores the relationship between seigneurial, proto-industrial, and modern forms of capitalism in the Cévennes region of south-eastern France in the 18th century, and demonstrates the international scope of proto-industrialization. It unravels the complex problems associated with the impact of the French Revolution on the processes of modern French capitalism, and traces the responses of a wide variety of individuals, including Tubeuf and his greatest rival, the Maréchal de Castries. The book examines the epic struggle of these two powerful men for control of the rich coal mines of the region, and their legacy to succeeding generations.
James Taylor
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199695799
- eISBN:
- 9780191749520
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695799.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
Should businessmen who commit fraud go to prison? This question has been asked repeatedly since 2008; it was also raised in nineteenth-century Britain, when the spread of corporate capitalism created ...
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Should businessmen who commit fraud go to prison? This question has been asked repeatedly since 2008; it was also raised in nineteenth-century Britain, when the spread of corporate capitalism created enormous new opportunities for dishonesty. Historians have presented Victorian Britain as a haven for white-collar criminals, beneficiaries of a prejudiced criminal justice system which only dealt harshly with offences by the poor. This book challenges these beliefs. Based on an unparalleled sample of legal cases—many examined here for the first time—it presents a radical new interpretation of the relationship between capitalism and the law. Initially, there were no criminal sanctions against publishing false prospectuses, concealing losses in balance sheets, and even misappropriating company money. But parliament became convinced of the need to criminalize these practices to protect the culture of stock market investment on which mid-Victorian prosperity increasingly rested. Persuading judges to play along was harder, with many invoking the principle of caveat emptor to exonerate defendants. But by the end of the century, successful prosecutions of company executives were commonplace. These trials performed multiple functions. They stabilized confidence in times of crisis. They dramatized the class blindness of the law. And they were increasingly seen as essential as faith in a self-regulating economy ebbed. The criminalization of fraud therefore has far-reaching implications for our understanding of nineteenth-century Britain. It also has relevance today in light of the ongoing economic crisis and the issues it raises regarding business ethics and the role of the state.Less
Should businessmen who commit fraud go to prison? This question has been asked repeatedly since 2008; it was also raised in nineteenth-century Britain, when the spread of corporate capitalism created enormous new opportunities for dishonesty. Historians have presented Victorian Britain as a haven for white-collar criminals, beneficiaries of a prejudiced criminal justice system which only dealt harshly with offences by the poor. This book challenges these beliefs. Based on an unparalleled sample of legal cases—many examined here for the first time—it presents a radical new interpretation of the relationship between capitalism and the law. Initially, there were no criminal sanctions against publishing false prospectuses, concealing losses in balance sheets, and even misappropriating company money. But parliament became convinced of the need to criminalize these practices to protect the culture of stock market investment on which mid-Victorian prosperity increasingly rested. Persuading judges to play along was harder, with many invoking the principle of caveat emptor to exonerate defendants. But by the end of the century, successful prosecutions of company executives were commonplace. These trials performed multiple functions. They stabilized confidence in times of crisis. They dramatized the class blindness of the law. And they were increasingly seen as essential as faith in a self-regulating economy ebbed. The criminalization of fraud therefore has far-reaching implications for our understanding of nineteenth-century Britain. It also has relevance today in light of the ongoing economic crisis and the issues it raises regarding business ethics and the role of the state.
Avner Offer
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199216628
- eISBN:
- 9780191696015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216628.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, ...
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Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, addiction, mental instability, crime, obesity, inequality, economic insecurity, and declining trust. This book argues that well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies, because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve over different time ranges and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelty. The book's approach draws on economics and social science, makes use of the latest cognitive research, and provides a detailed and reasoned critique of modern consumer society, especially the assumption that freedom of choice necessarily maximizes individual and social well-being. The book falls into three parts. Part one analyzes the ways in which economic resources map on to human welfare, why choice is so intractable, and how commitment to people and institutions is sustained. It argues that choice is constrained by prior obligation and reciprocity. The second section then applies these conceptual arguments to comparative empirical studies of advertising, of eating and obesity, and of the production and acquisition of appliances and automobiles. Finally, in part three, the book investigates social and personal relations in the USA and Britain, including inter-personal regard, the rewards and reversals of status, the social and psychological costs of inequality, and the challenges posed to heterosexual love and to parenthood by the rise of affluence.Less
Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, addiction, mental instability, crime, obesity, inequality, economic insecurity, and declining trust. This book argues that well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies, because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve over different time ranges and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelty. The book's approach draws on economics and social science, makes use of the latest cognitive research, and provides a detailed and reasoned critique of modern consumer society, especially the assumption that freedom of choice necessarily maximizes individual and social well-being. The book falls into three parts. Part one analyzes the ways in which economic resources map on to human welfare, why choice is so intractable, and how commitment to people and institutions is sustained. It argues that choice is constrained by prior obligation and reciprocity. The second section then applies these conceptual arguments to comparative empirical studies of advertising, of eating and obesity, and of the production and acquisition of appliances and automobiles. Finally, in part three, the book investigates social and personal relations in the USA and Britain, including inter-personal regard, the rewards and reversals of status, the social and psychological costs of inequality, and the challenges posed to heterosexual love and to parenthood by the rise of affluence.
Jose Harris (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199260201
- eISBN:
- 9780191717352
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260201.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
This book explores the many different strands in the language of civil society from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Through a series of case-studies it investigates the applicability of the term to a ...
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This book explores the many different strands in the language of civil society from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Through a series of case-studies it investigates the applicability of the term to a wide range of historical settings. These include ‘state interference’, voluntary associations, economic decision-making, social and economic planning, the ‘bourgeois public sphere’, civil society in wartime, the ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ of women, and relations between the state, the voluntary sector, and individual citizens. The contributions suggest that the sharp distinction between civil society and the state, common in much continental thought, was of only limited application in a British context. They show how past understandings of the term were often very different from (even in some respects the exact opposite of) those held today, arguing that it makes more sense to understand civil society as a phenomenon that varies between different cultures and periods, rather than a universally applicable set of principles and procedures.Less
This book explores the many different strands in the language of civil society from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Through a series of case-studies it investigates the applicability of the term to a wide range of historical settings. These include ‘state interference’, voluntary associations, economic decision-making, social and economic planning, the ‘bourgeois public sphere’, civil society in wartime, the ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ of women, and relations between the state, the voluntary sector, and individual citizens. The contributions suggest that the sharp distinction between civil society and the state, common in much continental thought, was of only limited application in a British context. They show how past understandings of the term were often very different from (even in some respects the exact opposite of) those held today, arguing that it makes more sense to understand civil society as a phenomenon that varies between different cultures and periods, rather than a universally applicable set of principles and procedures.
Tirthankar Roy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198063780
- eISBN:
- 9780199080144
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198063780.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
This book chronicles how the concept of organizing people to serve economic ends emerged in early modern and colonial India. It examines rules of cooperation, why people decided to join forces, how ...
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This book chronicles how the concept of organizing people to serve economic ends emerged in early modern and colonial India. It examines rules of cooperation, why people decided to join forces, how disputes were settled, and how cooperative communities became increasingly unstable in more modern times. It focuses on five dimensions: actor, agent, time, purpose, and region. The leading actors are peasants, labourers, artisans, merchants/bankers, and the states. The rules of cooperation that formed inside communities of merchants and others were respected by the states. However, these rules would eventually become unstable due to the integration of India within a global-industrial economy and the introduction of a new rule of law in the old guise of ‘custom’. As a result, the endogamous guild, a kind of collective that used marriage rules to secure cooperative ties, became weaker, to be supplanted by other forms of organization. Collectives controlled property, managed resources, supplied training, and conducted negotiations. The regional angle is important because regions differed on the composition of enterprise, and globalization and colonialism unfolded unevenly across space. The book presents an economic history of institutional change in South Asia.Less
This book chronicles how the concept of organizing people to serve economic ends emerged in early modern and colonial India. It examines rules of cooperation, why people decided to join forces, how disputes were settled, and how cooperative communities became increasingly unstable in more modern times. It focuses on five dimensions: actor, agent, time, purpose, and region. The leading actors are peasants, labourers, artisans, merchants/bankers, and the states. The rules of cooperation that formed inside communities of merchants and others were respected by the states. However, these rules would eventually become unstable due to the integration of India within a global-industrial economy and the introduction of a new rule of law in the old guise of ‘custom’. As a result, the endogamous guild, a kind of collective that used marriage rules to secure cooperative ties, became weaker, to be supplanted by other forms of organization. Collectives controlled property, managed resources, supplied training, and conducted negotiations. The regional angle is important because regions differed on the composition of enterprise, and globalization and colonialism unfolded unevenly across space. The book presents an economic history of institutional change in South Asia.
Susan V. Spellman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199384273
- eISBN:
- 9780190495503
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199384273.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
This book overturns nostalgic stereotypes of antiquated storekeepers, suggesting that nineteenth- and early twentieth-century grocers were important but unsung innovators of business models and ...
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This book overturns nostalgic stereotypes of antiquated storekeepers, suggesting that nineteenth- and early twentieth-century grocers were important but unsung innovators of business models and retail technologies that fostered the rise of contemporary retailing. They wrestled with fundamental changes in the structures of retailing and commercial capitalism, including the development of mass production, distribution, and marketing; the growth of regional and national markets; the emergence of new organizational and business methods; and the introduction of retail technologies such as the cash register. Yet today we know very little about the considerable achievements of small businessmen and their corner stores and even less about their major contributions to the making of “modern” commercial enterprise in the United States. Combining the archival sources and storekeepers’ stories along with sales records, credit reports, and legislative efforts, the book explores how evolving commercial, legal, and social institutions changed the course and development of the grocery trade. This story is told through grocers’ eyes, illuminating the day-to-day problems, challenges, and tasks associated with running small businesses and showing how local retailers made possible a national grocery trade.Less
This book overturns nostalgic stereotypes of antiquated storekeepers, suggesting that nineteenth- and early twentieth-century grocers were important but unsung innovators of business models and retail technologies that fostered the rise of contemporary retailing. They wrestled with fundamental changes in the structures of retailing and commercial capitalism, including the development of mass production, distribution, and marketing; the growth of regional and national markets; the emergence of new organizational and business methods; and the introduction of retail technologies such as the cash register. Yet today we know very little about the considerable achievements of small businessmen and their corner stores and even less about their major contributions to the making of “modern” commercial enterprise in the United States. Combining the archival sources and storekeepers’ stories along with sales records, credit reports, and legislative efforts, the book explores how evolving commercial, legal, and social institutions changed the course and development of the grocery trade. This story is told through grocers’ eyes, illuminating the day-to-day problems, challenges, and tasks associated with running small businesses and showing how local retailers made possible a national grocery trade.
Christopher Dyer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199214242
- eISBN:
- 9780191740954
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214242.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
A wool merchant on the edge of the Cotswolds, John Heritage of Moreton in Marsh, traded between 1498 and 1520, and kept a record of his business in an account book. At this time commerce played a ...
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A wool merchant on the edge of the Cotswolds, John Heritage of Moreton in Marsh, traded between 1498 and 1520, and kept a record of his business in an account book. At this time commerce played a major role in English society, and although the wool trade was in decline, Heritage was still active in gathering wool from the producers and supplying the London merchants who sent it overseas. He was also making large profits from farming, by grazing large flocks of sheep and selling wool and animals. The general trends in society that are illuminated by this one trader include the importance of the enclosure movement, which enabled a small number of graziers and farmers to supply the market for wool and meat efficiently from specialized pastures. More important, however, were the large numbers of peasant producers who each sold relatively small quantities of wool, but cumulatively provided a high proportion of the surplus. Peasants could make a profit from the skilful management of the open fields which were attached to their villages, and this was not therefore just an age of rampant individualism. The village was still very active, and there were tensions between acquisitive individuals and the peasant communities, which could lead to the collapse of the village, but sometimes the encloser and grazier met with effective resistance.Less
A wool merchant on the edge of the Cotswolds, John Heritage of Moreton in Marsh, traded between 1498 and 1520, and kept a record of his business in an account book. At this time commerce played a major role in English society, and although the wool trade was in decline, Heritage was still active in gathering wool from the producers and supplying the London merchants who sent it overseas. He was also making large profits from farming, by grazing large flocks of sheep and selling wool and animals. The general trends in society that are illuminated by this one trader include the importance of the enclosure movement, which enabled a small number of graziers and farmers to supply the market for wool and meat efficiently from specialized pastures. More important, however, were the large numbers of peasant producers who each sold relatively small quantities of wool, but cumulatively provided a high proportion of the surplus. Peasants could make a profit from the skilful management of the open fields which were attached to their villages, and this was not therefore just an age of rampant individualism. The village was still very active, and there were tensions between acquisitive individuals and the peasant communities, which could lead to the collapse of the village, but sometimes the encloser and grazier met with effective resistance.
William J. Ashworth
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199259212
- eISBN:
- 9780191717918
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259212.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
This book traces the growth of customs and excise, and their integral role in shaping the framework of industrial England; including state power, technical advance, and the evolution of a consumer ...
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This book traces the growth of customs and excise, and their integral role in shaping the framework of industrial England; including state power, technical advance, and the evolution of a consumer society. Central to this structure was the development of two economies — one legal and one illicit. If there was a unique English pathway of industrialization, it was less a distinct entrepreneurial and techno-centric culture, than one predominantly defined within an institutional framework spearheaded by the excise and a wall of tariffs. This process reached its peak by the end of the 1770s. The structure then quickly started to crumble under the weight of the fiscal-military state, and Pitt's calculated policy of concentrating industrial policy around cotton, potteries, and iron — at the expense of other taxed industries. The breakthrough of the new political economy was the erosion of the illicit economy; the smugglers' free trade now became the state's most powerful weapon in the war against non-legal trade. If at the beginning of the period covered by this book state administration was predominantly deregulated and industry regulated, by the close the reverse was the case.Less
This book traces the growth of customs and excise, and their integral role in shaping the framework of industrial England; including state power, technical advance, and the evolution of a consumer society. Central to this structure was the development of two economies — one legal and one illicit. If there was a unique English pathway of industrialization, it was less a distinct entrepreneurial and techno-centric culture, than one predominantly defined within an institutional framework spearheaded by the excise and a wall of tariffs. This process reached its peak by the end of the 1770s. The structure then quickly started to crumble under the weight of the fiscal-military state, and Pitt's calculated policy of concentrating industrial policy around cotton, potteries, and iron — at the expense of other taxed industries. The breakthrough of the new political economy was the erosion of the illicit economy; the smugglers' free trade now became the state's most powerful weapon in the war against non-legal trade. If at the beginning of the period covered by this book state administration was predominantly deregulated and industry regulated, by the close the reverse was the case.
Jonathan I. Israel
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198211396
- eISBN:
- 9780191678196
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198211396.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Economic History
Despite its small size and population, the Dutch Republic functioned as the hub of world trade, shipping, and finance for nearly two centuries. This is the first detailed account of that hegemony ...
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Despite its small size and population, the Dutch Republic functioned as the hub of world trade, shipping, and finance for nearly two centuries. This is the first detailed account of that hegemony from its sixteenth-century origins to the final collapse of the Dutch trading system in the eighteenth century.Less
Despite its small size and population, the Dutch Republic functioned as the hub of world trade, shipping, and finance for nearly two centuries. This is the first detailed account of that hegemony from its sixteenth-century origins to the final collapse of the Dutch trading system in the eighteenth century.
Christian Leitz
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206453
- eISBN:
- 9780191677137
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206453.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Economic History
This is the first study of the economic relationship between Nazi Germany and Franco's Spain, between the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Second World War. It demonstrates how, ...
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This is the first study of the economic relationship between Nazi Germany and Franco's Spain, between the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Second World War. It demonstrates how, during the Spanish Civil War, the Nazi regime helped General Franco to victory, but at the same time tried to turn Spain into an economic colony. Despite the involved techniques employed by the Nazis to control German trade with Spain—and determined efforts to influence the Spanish mining industry—the Germans were never able to intimidate Franco into completely surrendering control of his national assets. The German situation was weakened in September 1939, when the war against Britain and France effectively cut Spain off from the Third Reich. This book is based on documents in German and Spanish as well as British and American archives.Less
This is the first study of the economic relationship between Nazi Germany and Franco's Spain, between the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the end of the Second World War. It demonstrates how, during the Spanish Civil War, the Nazi regime helped General Franco to victory, but at the same time tried to turn Spain into an economic colony. Despite the involved techniques employed by the Nazis to control German trade with Spain—and determined efforts to influence the Spanish mining industry—the Germans were never able to intimidate Franco into completely surrendering control of his national assets. The German situation was weakened in September 1939, when the war against Britain and France effectively cut Spain off from the Third Reich. This book is based on documents in German and Spanish as well as British and American archives.
Justice and Legitimacy in Upbringing
Clausewitz's Puzzle
International Legitimacy and World Society
Levelling the Playing Field
Multicultural Nationalism
The Politics of Public Service Bargains
Corporate Governance, Competition, and Political Parties
Citizenship and the Environment
New Labour at the Centre
