Pianos for the people: the manufacture, marketing and sale of pianos as consumer durables, 1850-1914

During the second half of the nineteenth century, British society experienced a rise in real incomes and a change in its composition, with the expansion of the middle classes. These two factors led to a consumer revolution, with a growing, but still segmented, demand for household goods that could express status and aspiration. At the same time technological changes and new ways of marketing and selling goods made these goods more affordable. This paper analyzes these themes and the process of mediation that took place between producers, retailers, and consumers, by looking at the most culturally symbolic of nineteenth century consumer goods, the piano.

To what extent are EU steel companies susceptible to competitive loss due to climate policy?

In recognition of their competitive vulnerability, a set of special rules have been devised for managing sectors such as steel and cement within the EU ETS. These rules basically seek to set sector specific performance benchmarks and reward top performers. However, the steel sector as a whole will receive the vast majority of its allowances for free in Phase III. Perceptions of competitive vulnerability have been largely based on inherently hypothetical analyses which rely heavily on counterfactual scenario and abatement cost estimates often provided by firms themselves. This paper diverges from these approaches by providing a qualitative assessment of the two key reasons underpinning the competitive vulnerability argument of the EU Steel Companies based on interviews and case study involving the three largest producers of steel within the EU – AcerlorMittal, Corus, and ThyssenKrupp. We find that these arguments provide only partial and weak justifications for competitive loss and discriminatory treatment in the EUETS. This strategy is difficult to counter by governments due to information asymmetry; and it appears to have proved very successful insofar as it has helped the industry to achieve free allocation in Phases I-III of EU ETS by playing up the risk of carbon leakage.

Economic rationale for interventions to control livestock disease

Disease in farm animals has significant economic impacts on livestock production and incurs substantial costs for societies. Impacts affect not only livestock farms and the livestock industries but also sectors outside of farming. Important negative externalities of livestock disease include impacts on the health of other producers’ livestock, on human health, and on animal welfare. Good disease risk management/biosecurity and good animal welfare are public goods. Not taking account of these externality and public good aspects can lead to a misallocation of resources for livestock disease control. In such instances, there may be a strong case for government or other authority to intervene to ensure a better use of resources. There are a number of policy instruments that can be implemented for this purpose. One potential instrument is a Farm Animal Health and Welfare Stewardship Scheme funded under Pillar II of the CAP. A number of countries have public–private partnership cost-sharing schemes that aim to share appropriately both responsibilities and costs of epidemic livestock disease. There is a strong future agenda for appropriate intervention by governments in the management of livestock disease risks, including responsibility and cost sharing for livestock disease control, within the European Union and elsewhere.

Famines without shortages

We present a model that describes features common to many famines: (i) a famine may occur without a substantial decline in aggregate food availability; (ii) famines often have a very uneven impact on different groups of population; and (iii) expectations about future food markets affect current market behaviour and result in starvation for certain groups of population. We consider an exchange economy with two types of agents, food producers and non-food producers. An agent starves if his consumption of food falls below the minimum subsistence level. We show that non-food producers are more vulnerable to starvation than food producers, and may fail to survive even when the aggregate amount of food in the economy is enough to guarantee survival of all agents. In an economy with government procurement and public distribution, we show that the government policy may become unsustainable if the food producers condition their expectations about future public sales on current public stock level.

Demand, supply and willingness-to-pay for extension services in an emerging-market setting

Although it may be wholly inappropriate to generalize, the most important resource available to a subsistence household is the total amount of time that its members have available to spend in productive enterprises. In this context, services that minimize the time that it takes to perform productive activities are valuable to the household. Consequently the household is willing to relinquish quantities of other resources in exchange for quantities of the time-saving service. These simple observations motivate a search for the values that subsistence households place on time-saving services. This search is especially important when it is realized that extension services promote productivity, enhance the surplus-generating potential of the household and can, as a consequence, promote immersion into markets that are currently constrained by thinness and instability. In this capacity, extension visitation has the potential to overcome one of the principal impediments to economic development, namely lack of density of market participation. In this article, we consider this issue in the context of a rich data set on milk-market participation by small-holder dairy producers in the Ethiopian highlands.

Excise taxes and commodity promotion bayesian retrieval of the optimum

This article shows how the solution to the promotion problem—the problem of locating the optimal level of advertising in a downstream market—can be derived simply, empirically, and robustly through the application of some simple calculus and Bayesian econometrics. We derive the complete distribution of the level of promotion that maximizes producer surplus and generate recommendations about patterns as well as levels of expenditure that increase net returns. The theory and methods are applied to quarterly series (1978:2S1988:4) on red meats promotion by the Australian Meat and Live-Stock Corporation. A slightly different pattern of expenditure would have profited lamb producers

Adoption of certified organic production: evidence from Mexico

Adoption of organic production and subsequent entry into the organic market is examined using Mexican avocado producers as a case study. Probit analysis of a sample of 183 small-scale (<15ha) producers from Michoacán suggests that adoption is positively influenced by management and economic factors (e.g. production costs per hectare and making inputs), but also by social factors (e.g. membership of a producers’ association). Experience in agriculture has a significant but negative effect. Effective policy design must be therefore be aware of both the economic and social complexities surrounding adoption decisions.

A vision for attaining food security

Food is fundamental to human wellbeing and development. Increased food production remains a cornerstone strategy in the effort to alleviate global food insecurity. But despite the fact that global food production over the past half century has kept ahead of demand, today around one billion people do not have enough to eat, and a further billion lack adequate nutrition. Food insecurity is facing mounting supply-side and demand-side pressures; key among these are climate change, urbanisation, globalisation, population increases, disease, as well as a number of other factors that are changing patterns of food consumption. Many of the challenges to equitable food access are concentrated in developing countries where environmental pressures including climate change, population growth and other socio-economic issues are concentrated. Together these factors impede people's access to sufficient, nutritious food; chiefly through affecting livelihoods, income and food prices. Food security and human development go hand in hand, and their outcomes are co-determined to a significant degree. The challenge of food security is multi-scalar and cross-sector in nature. Addressing it will require the work of diverse actors to bring sustained improvements inhuman development and to reduce pressure on the environment. Unless there is investment in future food systems that are similarly cross-level, cross-scale and cross-sector, sustained improvements in human wellbeing together with reduced environmental risks and scarcities will not be achieved. This paper reviews current thinking, and outlines these challenges. It suggests that essential elements in a successfully adaptive and proactive food system include: learning through connectivity between scales to local experience and technologies high levels of interaction between diverse actors and sectors ranging from primary producers to retailers and consumers, and use of frontier technologies.

Fit for policy? Some evidence on the application of development viability models in the UK planning system

This paper investigates the application and use of development viability models in the formation of planning policies in the UK. Particular attention is paid to three key areas; the assumed development scheme in development viability models, the use of forecasts and the debate concerning Threshold Land Value. The empirical section reports on the results of an interview survey involving the main producers of development viability models and appraisals. It is concluded that, although development viability models have intrinsic limitations associated with model composition and input uncertainties, the most significant limitations are related to the ways that they have been adapted for use in the planning system. In addition, it is suggested that the contested nature of Threshold Land Value is an example of calculative practices providing a façade of technocratic rationality in the planning system.

The Life of Galileo and Brechtian television drama

Bertolt Brecht's dramaturgy was as influential upon the development of British drama on television between the 1950s and the 1970s as it was in the theatre. His influence was made manifest through the work of writers, directors and producers such as Tony Garnett, Ken Loach, John McGrath and Dennis Potter, whose attempts to create original Brechtian forms of television drama were reflected in the frequent reference to Brecht in contemporary debate concerning the political and aesthetic direction and value of television drama. While this discussion has been framed thus far around how Brechtian techniques and theory were applied to the newer media of television, this article examines these arguments from another perspective. Through detailed analysis of a 1964 BBC production of The Life of Galileo, I assess how the primary, canonical sources of Brecht's stage plays were realised on television during this period, locating Brecht's drama in the wider context of British television drama in general during the 1960s and 1970s. I pay particular attention to the use of the television studio as a site that could replicate or reinvent the theatrical space of the stage, and the responsiveness of the television audience towards Brechtian dramaturgy.

Climate change policy and business climate strategies: EU cement companies' response to climate change and barriers against action

The paper provides a descriptive analysis of the carbon management activities of the cement industry in Europe based on a study involving the four largest producers of cement in the world. Based on this analysis, the paper explores the relationship between managerial perception and strategy with particular focus on the impact of government regulation and competitive dynamics. The research is based on extensive documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with senior managers from the four companies who have been responsible for and/or involved in the development of climate change strategies. We find that whilst the cement industry has embraced climate change and the need for action, their remains much scope for action in their carbon management activities with current effort concentration on hedging practices and win-win efficiency programs. Managers perceive that inadequate and unfavourable regulatory structure is the key barrier against more action to achieve emission reduction within the industry. EU Cement companies are also shifting their CO2 emissions to less developed countries of the South.

Pesticide-handling practices of smallholder coffee farmers in Eastern Jamaica

Pesticide use among smallholder coffee producers in Jamaica has been associated with significant occupational health effects. Research on pesticide handling practices, however, has been scarce, especially in eastern Jamaica. This explorative study aims at filling this gap and provides a first basis to develop effective interventions to promote a safer pesticide use. A random sample of 81 coffee farmers was surveyed. The majority of farmers reported to suffer from at least one health symptom associated with pesticide handling, but safety practices were scarcely adopted. There was also the risk that other household members and the wider local community are exposed to pesticides. The lack of training on pesticide management, the role of health services and the cost for protective equipment seemed to be the most significant factors that influence current pesticide handling practices in eastern Jamaica. Further research is recommended to develop a systemic understanding of farmer’s behaviour to provide a more solid basis for the development of future intervention programmes.

TRY: a global database of plant traits

Plant traits – the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants and their organs – determine how primary producers respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, influence ecosystem processes and services and provide a link from species richness to ecosystem functional diversity. Trait data thus represent the raw material for a wide range of research from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology to biogeography. Here we present the global database initiative named TRY, which has united a wide range of the plant trait research community worldwide and gained an unprecedented buy-in of trait data: so far 93 trait databases have been contributed. The data repository currently contains almost three million trait entries for 69 000 out of the world's 300 000 plant species, with a focus on 52 groups of traits characterizing the vegetative and regeneration stages of the plant life cycle, including growth, dispersal, establishment and persistence. A first data analysis shows that most plant traits are approximately log-normally distributed, with widely differing ranges of variation across traits. Most trait variation is between species (interspecific), but significant intraspecific variation is also documented, up to 40% of the overall variation. Plant functional types (PFTs), as commonly used in vegetation models, capture a substantial fraction of the observed variation – but for several traits most variation occurs within PFTs, up to 75% of the overall variation. In the context of vegetation models these traits would better be represented by state variables rather than fixed parameter values. The improved availability of plant trait data in the unified global database is expected to support a paradigm shift from species to trait-based ecology, offer new opportunities for synthetic plant trait research and enable a more realistic and empirically grounded representation of terrestrial vegetation in Earth system models.

The GODAE high resolution sea surface temperature pilot project

Sea surface temperature (SST) measurements are required by operational ocean and atmospheric forecasting systems to constrain modeled upper ocean circulation and thermal structure. The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) High Resolution SST Pilot Project (GHRSST-PP) was initiated to address these needs by coordinating the provision of accurate, high-resolution, SST products for the global domain. The pilot project is now complete, but activities continue within the Group for High Resolution SST (GHRSST). The pilot project focused on harmonizing diverse satellite and in situ data streams that were indexed, processed, quality controlled, analyzed, and documented within a Regional/Global Task Sharing (R/GTS) framework implemented in an internationally distributed manner. Data with meaningful error estimates developed within GHRSST are provided by services within R/GTS. Currently, several terabytes of data are processed at international centers daily, creating more than 25 gigabytes of product. Ensemble SST analyses together with anomaly SST outputs are generated each day, providing confidence in SST analyses via diagnostic outputs. Diagnostic data sets are generated and Web interfaces are provided to monitor the quality of observation and analysis products. GHRSST research and development projects continue to tackle problems of instrument calibration, algorithm development, diurnal variability, skin temperature deviation, and validation/verification of GHRSST products. GHRSST also works closely with applications and users, providing a forum for discussion and feedback between SST users and producers on a regular basis. All data within the GHRSST R/GTS framework are freely available. This paper reviews the progress of GHRSST-PP, highlighting achievements that have been fundamental to the success of the pilot project.

Inside the black box: unravelling the development viability appraisal process

Over the last decade issues related to the financial viability of development have become increasingly important to the English planning system. As part of a wider shift towards the compartmentalisation of planning tasks, expert consultants are required to quantify, in an attempt to rationalise, planning decisions in terms of economic ‘viability’. Often with a particular focus on planning obligations, the results of development viability modelling have emerged as a key part of the evidence base used in site-specific negotiations and in planning policy formation. Focussing on the role of clients and other stakeholders, this paper investigates how development viability is tested in practice. It draws together literature on the role of calculative practices in policy formation, client feedback and influence in real estate appraisals and stakeholder engagement and consultation in the planning literature to critically evaluate the role of clients and other interest groups in influencing the production and use of development viability appraisal models. The paper draws upon semi-structured interviews with the main producers of development viability appraisals to conclude that, whilst appraisals have the potential to be biased by client and stakeholder interests, there are important controlling influences on potential opportunistic behaviour. One such control is local authorities’ weak understanding of development viability appraisal techniques which limits their capacity to question the outputs of appraisal models. However, this also is of concern given that viability is now a central feature of the town planning system.