Revolutionary change and structural breaks: A time series analysis of wages and commodity prices in Britain 1264-1913

In this paper we empirically test the hypothesis that economic revolutions are associated with structural breaks in historical economic data. A simple test for structural breaks in economic time series is applied to British wage and price data from the medieval to the modern period. Evidence for structural change is found in nearly half of the series studied -- suggesting that structural breaks are an intrinsic feature of such historic data. Structural changes are most closely linked to the Commercial Revolution followed by the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, with changes linked to an underlying process of price stabilisation as measured by a decrease in the long-term level of volatility.historical economics; economic revolutions; structural breaks; price stabilisation

Evolution or revolution? a study of price and wage volatility in England, 1200-1900

Using annual data 1209-1914, this paper examines whether there are structural breaks in the movements of prices and wages that correspond to the major ‘revolutions’ identified in historical narratives. Econometric modelling of trend and volatility in prices and wages confirms the importance of the Commercial Revolution and the Glorious Revolution, but suggests that the Industrial Revolution may be better described in evolutionary terms. The evidence also points to a late medieval revolution at the time of the Good Parliament, shortly after the Black Death and just before the Peasant’s Revolt. This supports Britnell and Campbell’s commercialisation hypothesis - that the institutional pre-conditions for the Industrial Revolution began to develop at a very early date.Economic evolution; Economic revolution; Historical economics;

Addressing violence against children:A systematic review on interventions to accelerate the achievement of the UN sustainable development goal in Europe and Africa

Background: Violence against children (VAC) is a global public health issue. In the context of limited resources, the United Nations Development Programme has coined the concept of a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) accelerator for preventing and responding to VAC. An ‘accelerator’ is a provision that simultaneously leads to progress across multiple SDGs targets and goals. Objectives: This systematic review synthesizes the literature on violence prevention evaluation studies using robust methods according to the SDG accelerator framework for children aged 0–18 in Western Europe and Central and West Africa. It also provides a lens for analyzing research inequities between the global North and South, examining the challenges and differences undermining knowledge production across regions, particularly in research output. Method: We systematically searched 30 electronic databases and grey literature in English and French. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Results: Nine evaluation studies related to four SDG goals and ten targets were included in the analysis. As a result, no intervention was identified as an accelerator for children in West and Central Africa. In contrast, three promising interventions were identified as accelerators in Western Europe. Two school-based interventions reduce bullying, depression, and substance abuse and improve psychological well-being; and one home-based intervention reduces child abuse, the severity of neglect, and mental health problems and improves school attendance. Moreover, this review also uncovered a lack of research from the Global South that points to serious disadvantages for authors and institutions and global violence prevention efforts, as it hinders the flow of knowledge and innovative practices. Conclusions: The results highlight the need for future VAC prevention trials to integrate the SDG accelerators concept further. Additionally, more effort should be made to support scholars in the global South to address knowledge inequities and to enhance understanding of how accelerators work in different field settings and conditions. This effort will ensure that interventions accelerate SDG goals and impact the world's most vulnerable children.</p

Trade-offs within and between sexual traits in stalk-eyed flies (Diptera: Diopsidae)

The allocation of limited resources to competing body parts during development may affect both the absolute and relative sizes of physical traits, creating potentially dramatic consequences for the evolution of morphology. While negative correlations between the sizes of body parts ("trade-offs") arising from the distribution of finite resources have long been anticipated, empirical support is relatively rare. In this study, I use two related species of stalk-eyed flies that differ in morphology to investigate whether eye-span exaggeration results in trade-offs with other body parts. One species, &lt;em&gt;Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni&lt;/em&gt;, is sexually dimorphic, with males having exaggerated eye-span while the other, &lt;em&gt;C. quinqueguttata&lt;/em&gt;, is sexually monomorphic with both sexes having approximately equivalent and relatively unexaggerated eye-span. I utilize complementary approaches including artificial selection, application of exogenous juvenile hormone, and diet manipulation to alter the absolute and relative length of the eye-stalks in order to reveal correlated changes in other physical traits. The results of these experiments suggest that exaggerated eye-span in male &lt;em&gt;C. dalmanni&lt;/em&gt; is accompanied by a decrease in two other features of head morphology, eye-bulb size and eye-stalk width, as well as compromised testis growth and sperm production. No trade-offs were observed in females of either species or male &lt;em&gt;C. quinqueguttata&lt;/em&gt;. These results are consistent with hormonally-mediated trade-offs arising from the allocation of limited resources to an exaggerated trait and suggest that those trade-offs may act as costs of developing exaggerated eye-span

Revolutionary change and structural breaks: A time series analysis of wages and commodity prices in Britain 1264-1913

In this paper we empirically test the hypothesis that economic revolutions are associated with structural breaks in historical economic data. A simple test for structural breaks in economic time series is applied to British wage and price data from the medieval to the modern period. Evidence for structural change is found in nearly half of the series studied -- suggesting that structural breaks are an intrinsic feature of such historic data. Structural changes are most closely linked to the Commercial Revolution followed by the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, with changes linked to an underlying process of price stabilisation as measured by a decrease in the long-term level of volatility

Testing isosource : stable isotope analysis of a tropical fishery with diverse organic matter sources

Author Posting. © Ecological Society of America, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of Ecological Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecology 87 (2006): 326–333, doi:10.1890/05-0721.We sampled consumers and organic matter sources (mangrove litter, freshwater swamp-forest litter, seagrasses, seagrass epiphytes, and marine particulate organic matter [MPOM]) from four estuaries on Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia for stable isotope (δ13C and δ34S) analysis. Unique mixing solutions cannot be calculated in a dual-isotope, five-endmember scenario, so we tested IsoSource, a recently developed statistical procedure that calculates ranges in source contributions (i.e., minimum and maximum possible). Relatively high minimum contributions indicate significant sources, while low maxima indicate otherwise. Litter from the two forest types was isotopically distinguishable but had low average minimum contributions (0–8% for mangrove litter and 0% for swamp-forest litter among estuaries). Minimum contribution of MPOM was also low, averaging 0–13% among estuaries. Instead, local marine sources dominated contributions to consumers. Minimum contributions of seagrasses averaged 8–47% among estuaries (range 0–88% among species). Minimum contributions of seagrass epiphytes averaged 5–27% among estuaries (range 0–69% among species). IsoSource enabled inclusion of five organic matter sources in our dual-isotope analysis, ranking trophic importance as follows: seagrasses > seagrass epiphytes > MPOM > mangrove forest > freshwater swamp-forest. IsoSource is thus a useful step toward understanding which of multiple organic matter sources support food webs; more detailed work is necessary to identify unique solutions.This research was funded through a research joint venture agreement between the USDA and CMP at the University of Georgia