The debates on the representative firm and increasing returns: Then and now

The paper reviews the debates on the representative firm and increasing returns which were initiated by Claphamís ìEmpty economic boxesî in 1922 and completed in the March 1930 symposium edited by Keynes in the Economic Journal with contributions by D.H. Robertson, G.F. Shove and P. Sraffa. The debates centred around the link between theory and reality and the compatibility of competitive price theory with increasing returns. These particular issues have surfaced again in the development of neoclassical endogenous growth theory from the 1980s on. We argue that the criticisms raised by Young and Sraffa in the 1920s are especially relevant for the new developments.

Becker on Ewald on Foucault on Becker : American Neoliberalism and Michel Foucault\u27s 1979 \u3ci\u3eBirth of Biopolitics\u3c/i\u3e Lectures

In a series of lectures delivered in 1979 at the Collège de France under the title The Birth of Biopolitics, Michel Foucault conducted a close reading of Gary Becker’s writings on human capital and on crime and punishment, within the context of an elaboration and critique of American neoliberalism. Foucault was assisted at the time, at the Collège de France, by François Ewald. Since then, there has been ongoing debate over Foucault’s views about neoliberalism. In this historic meeting at the University of Chicago between Professors Becker and Ewald, Professor Ewald presents a framework to understand Foucault’s writings on Becker; Professor Bernard Harcourt offers a different reading of Foucault’s views on neoliberalism; and Professor Becker responds to Foucault’s lectures and to possible critical readings of his work on human capital. Apology or critique – that is the motivating question in this rich encounter between contemporary French philosophy and American economic theory

Becker and Foucault on Crime and Punishment – A Conversation with Gary Becker, François Ewald, and Bernard Harcourt: The Second Session

In his 1979 lectures at the Collège de France, The Birth of Biopolitics, Michel Foucault discussed and analyzed Gary Becker’s economic theory of crime and punishment, originally published in The Journal of Political Economy in 1968 under the title “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach.” In this historic, second encounter at the University of Chicago, Gary Becker responds to Foucault’s lectures and possible critical readings of his writings on crime and punishment, in conversation with Professors François Ewald (who was, at the time in 1979, Foucault’s assistant at the Collège and one of Foucault’s closest interlocutors) and Bernard Harcourt (a punishment theorist and an editor of Foucault’s lectures). The rich encounter explores potential overlaps, complementarities, and conflicts between Foucault’s theoretical work on punishment (both in Birth of Biopolitics and Discipline and Punish) and Becker’s economic theory of crime, builds on the previous confrontation over American neoliberalism, and provides a bridge between contemporary French philosophy and American economic theory

Syndromic surveillance to assess the potential public health impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash plume across the United Kingdom, April 2010

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted on 14 April 2010 emitting a volcanic ash plume that spread across the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. The Health Protection Agency and Health Protection Scotland used existing syndromic surveillance systems to monitor community health during the incident: there were no particularly unusual increases in any of the monitored conditions. This incident has again demonstrated the use of syndromic surveillance systems for monitoring community health in real time

Looking age-appropriate while growing old gracefully: A qualitative study of ageing and body image among older adults

© SAGE Publications. Body dissatisfaction can be significantly detrimental to wellbeing. Little is known about older adults' body image, despite the fact that ageing causes unique bodily changes and that sociocultural pressures to resist these changes abound. We conducted six focus groups with a UK community sample of White British and South Asian older adults aged 65-92 years. Thematic analysis highlighted four themes: appearance indicates capability and identity; physical ability trumps appearance; felt pressures to age 'gracefully' while resisting appearance changes; and gender and cultural differences. These findings suggest that older adults' body image can have important implications for their wellbeing and merits researchers' attention

Internal governance of the IETF, W3C and IEEE: structure, decision-making and internationalisation

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via the ISBN and DOI in this recordNOTE: the title of the author accepted manuscript available in this record is slightly different from the chapter published onlineChapter 3 explains the internal organization of SDOs. It outlines the four main layers which make up the Internet and focuses on the principal SDOs associated with them: the IETF, W3C, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and IEEE, analysing their governance structures and most salient areas of work. Standards are important for interoperability and to prevent lock-in to single company technology. SDOs enable a wider technical community to scrutinize proposals for errors and security. Nonetheless, procedures for decision-making are complex and often opaque. The chapter explores decision-making in a governance context. It charts the evolution of each SDO, and its main purpose, functions, and central decision-making processes. It highlights the differences as well as the degree of synergy and collaboration between each and then explains how procedures vary between the different fora and how moving goalposts and high barriers to entry make it difficult for civil society to participate.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Chemical immobilization of adult female Weddell seals with tiletamine and zolazepam: effects of age, condition and stage of lactation

BACKGROUND: Chemical immobilization of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) has previously been, for the most part, problematic and this has been mainly attributed to the type of immobilizing agent used. In addition to individual sensitivity, physiological status may play an important role. We investigated the use of the intravenous administration of a 1:1 mixture of tiletamine and zolazepam (Telazol(®)) to immobilize adult females at different points during a physiologically demanding 5–6 week lactation period. We also compared performance between IV and IM injection of the same mixture. RESULTS: The tiletamine:zolazepam mixture administered intravenously was an effective method for immobilization with no fatalities or pronounced apnoeas in 106 procedures; however, there was a 25 % (one animal in four) mortality rate with intramuscular administration. Induction time was slightly longer for females at the end of lactation (54.9 ± 2.3 seconds) than at post-parturition (48.2 ± 2.9 seconds). In addition, the number of previous captures had a positive effect on induction time. There was no evidence for effects due to age, condition (total body lipid), stage of lactation or number of captures on recovery time. CONCLUSION: We suggest that intravenous administration of tiletamine and zolazepam is an effective and safe immobilizing agent for female Weddell seals. Although individual traits could not explain variation in recovery time, we suggest careful monitoring of recovery times during longitudinal studies (> 2 captures). We show that physiological pressures do not substantially affect response to chemical immobilization with this mixture; however, consideration must be taken for differences that may exist for immobilization of adult males and juveniles. Nevertheless, we recommend a mass-specific dose of 0.50 – 0.65 mg/kg for future procedures with adult female Weddell seals and a starting dose of 0.50 mg/kg for other age classes and other phocid seals

A practical approach to addressing barriers to national climate adaptation policy in the UK

Climate adaptation policy in the UK is ineffective and fails to address the many barriers to implementing adaptation in practice. As climate change impacts are increasing, there is an urgent need to address these barriers. Focusing on England, this policy brief provides a practical approach to systematically understand and address these barriers for policymakers and practitioners who operationalise national adaptation policy