Road expansion and market integration in the Austrian low countries during the second half of the 18th century.

We analyse the integration of wheat markets across 18 towns in the Austrian Low Countries during the second half of the 18th century and the relationship with the rapidly expanding paved road network in this period. We use a switching regression approach (threshold cointegration) to study long-run and short-run integration of these markets, using monthly wheat prices. We find that throughout this period, markets were spatially interconnected. However, price margins adjust only slowly to long-term levels in response to local shocks. We also find that transaction costs are relatively high. The results suggest a complex market with regular trade flow reversals and periods of unprofitable trade between key markets. It is widely accepted in Belgian historiography that the construction of a paved road network caused a substantial reduction in transaction costs. Our research, however, indicates that distance, fixed costs or links by rivers and canals mainly influenced transaction costs, not the expansion of a paved road network. Two factors can account for this. First, the toll structure on paved roads discouraged bulk trade. Secondly, new private investment in inter-city grain trade that may have led to cuts in the trading costs, typically appeared to be absent in this period. However, adjustment speeds in markets are significantly affected by the existence of paved roads. Better communication and faster transport due to the road network resulted in faster arbitrage.

Road expansion and market integration in the Austrian low countries during the second half of the 18th century.

We analyse the integration of wheat markets across 18 towns in the Austrian Low Countries during the second half of the 18th century and the relationship with the rapidly expanding paved road network in this period. We use a switching regression approach (threshold cointegration) to study long-run and short-run integration of these markets, using monthly wheat prices. We find that throughout this period, markets were spatially interconnected. However, price margins adjust only slowly to long-term levels in response to local shocks. We also find that transaction costs are relatively high. The results suggest a complex market with regular trade flow reversals and periods of unprofitable trade between key markets. It is widely accepted in Belgian historiography that the construction of a paved road network caused a substantial reduction in transaction costs. Our research, however, indicates that distance, fixed costs or links by rivers and canals mainly influenced transaction costs, not the expansion of a paved road network. Two factors can account for this. First, the toll structure on paved roads discouraged bulk trade. Secondly, new private investment in inter-city grain trade that may have led to cuts in the trading costs, typically appeared to be absent in this period. However, adjustment speeds in markets are significantly affected by the existence of paved roads. Better communication and faster transport due to the road network resulted in faster arbitrageCountry; Integration; Market; Market integration;

The Croatian-Slavonic Grenz (Border) Hussars’ Role in the Campaigns 1793–94 against the Revolutionary France or the history of the cavalry for the Wurmser Freikorps

A tanulmány az osztrák–stájer, vagy másként Wurmser-szabadcsapat lovasságának létrejöttét és eddig gyakorlatilag feltáratlan történetét tekinti át levéltári kutatások alapján. A rövid életű csapattest jelentőségét annak köszönheti, hogy ez tekinthető a későbbi Horvát–Szlavón határőr-huszárezred, vagyis a francia háborúk korában fennállt, egyetlen alapvetően délszláv etnikumú császári-királyi huszárezred előzményének. Jelen munka alapításától, 1793 elejétől kíséri nyomon a szabadcsapat lovasságának történetét egészen a gyalogságtól történő hivatalos leválásáig, 1794 végéig. A tanulmányban a hadműveletekben való részvétel ismertetésén túl az önálló csapattestté válás okai és folyamata, továbbá a tisztikar és az alakulat mindenkori parancsnokai is bemutatásra kerülnek

Periods in the Use of Euler-type Diagrams

Logicians commonly speak in a relatively undifferentiated way about pre-euler diagrams. The thesis of this paper, however, is that there were three periods in the early modern era in which euler-type diagrams (line diagrams as well as circle diagrams) were expansively used. Expansive periods are characterized by continuity, and regressive periods by discontinuity: While on the one hand an ongoing awareness of the use of euler-type diagrams occurred within an expansive period, after a subsequent phase of regression the entire knowledge about the systematic application and the history of euler-type diagrams was lost. I will argue that the first expansive period lasted from Vives (1531) to Alsted (1614). The second period began around 1660 with Weigel and ended in 1712 with lange. The third period of expansion started around 1760 with the works of Ploucquet, euler and lambert. Finally, it is shown that euler-type diagrams became popular in the debate about intuition which took place in the 1790s between leibnizians and Kantians. The article is thus limited to the historical periodization between 1530 and 1800

“Creatures of Mimic and Imitation”: The Liberty Tree, Black Elections, and the Politicization of African Ceremonial Space in Revolutionary Newport, Rhode Island

The article explains how African slaves changed the colonial space of 18th century Newport, Rhode Island by transporting and preserving cultural and political concepts and codes. African slaves who came directly to Newport frequently came from the Gold Coast and consisted of Mandingo, Mende, Ibo, Ashanti and Fante peoples. Although the city\u27s black population came from various regions and groups, its Africans could draw on a common cultural vocabulary that gave trees a sacred, and even cosmic, importance