Interview with Geoff Harcourt

Interview of Geoff Harcourt by Alan Macfarlane on 15 May 2007, lasts nearly two hours, edited by Sarah HarrisonInterview of Geoff Harcourt concerning the development of economics at Cambridge during the second half of the twentieth century, and Harcourt's life and wor

The Keynesian Revolution : a research school analysis

Various explanations have been put forward as to why the "Keynesian Revolution" occurred. Some of these point to the temporal relevance of the General Theory while others highlight the importance of more anecdotal evidence, such as Keynes's relations with the Cambridge "Circus". However, no systematic effort has been made to bring together these and other factors under one recognised framework of analysis. This thesis attempts to fill this gap by making use of a well-established tradition of work within the history of science literature devoted to identifying the factors which help to explain why certain research schools are successful and why others fail. This body of work is based primarily on the ideas of Jack Morrell and Gerald Geison. More specifically, Morrell and Geison make use of a combination of 14 intellectual, technical, institutional, psychological and financial factors which, they argue, help determine the relative performance of research schools. We apply the research school approach to the development very specifically of macroeconomics in the 1930s and 1940s. Our findings suggest that it does indeed provide a reasonably coherent explanation as to why the revolution in macroeconomics witnessed during this period was specifically labelled "Keynesian", this despite the fact that Keynes was far from being the only economist attempting to gain dominance for his ideas. Thus, as well as Keynes, we apply the same research school analysis to the cases of Hayek and Kalecki and use it to explain why they were overshadowed by Keynes. On a final note, although it is clear that Keynes independently possessed a number of the attributes necessary to establish a successful and sustainable research school, the thesis also identifies the theories and activities of Marshall as providing an important foundation from which Keynes was able to mount his own revolution.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Testing a key assumption of wildlife buffer zones: Is flight initiation distance a species-specific trait?

The distance at which animals flee an approaching predator is known as the 'flight initiation distance' (FID). Wildlife managers use FID to develop buffer zones to reduce human impacts on wildlife. Many variables have been demonstrated to influence FID leading one to question whether it can be viewed as a species-specific trait. We tested this critical assumption for developing buffer zones by experimentally approaching eight species of shorebirds found at six sites around Botany Bay, 15 km south of Sydney, Australia. Botany Bay encompasses a range of human impacted areas, from urban developments with high levels of human presence, through to National Parks and wildlife protection areas where human presence is significantly lower. We found that both species and site influenced the distance birds flew away from an approaching human. Importantly, however, there was no significant statistical interaction between site and species demonstrating that 'flighty' species were consistently flighty while more tolerant species were consistently tolerant. Taken together, these results suggest that FID can therefore be viewed as a species-specific trait for these shorebirds. The great variability in FID suggests that wildlife managers should be somewhat conservative in developing buffer zones, but they can use previously published FID data for a given species as guidelines for setting buffer zones.4 page(s

Defined benefit pension decline: the consequences for organizations and employees

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical and empirical pension literatures to question whether employers are likely to gain any competitive advantage from degrading or eliminating their employees’ defined benefit (DB) pensions. Design/methodology/approach – Critical literature review, bringing together and synthesizing the industrial relations, economics, social policy, and applied pensions literature. Findings – DB pension plans do deliver a number of potential performance benefits, most notably a decrease in turnover and establishment of longer-term employment relationships. However, benefits are more pronounced in some conditions than others, which are identified. Research limitations/implications – Most of the analysis of pension effects to date focuses primarily on DB plans. Yet, these are declining in significance. In the years ahead, more attention needs to be paid to the potential consequences of defined contribution plans and other types of pension. Practical implications – In re-evaluating DB pensions, firms have tended to focus on savings made through cost cutting. Yet, this approach tends to view a firm's people as an expense rather a potential asset. Attempts to abandon, modify, or otherwise reduce such schemes has the potential to save money in the short term, but the negative long-term consequences may be considerable, even if they are not yet obvious. Originality/value – This paper is topical in that it consolidates existing research evidence from a number of different bodies of literature to make a case for the retention of DB pension plans, when, in many contexts, they are being scaled back or discarded. It raises a number of important issues for reflection by practitioners, and highlights key agendas for future scholarly research. </jats:sec

Frequency and phenotype of circulating Valpha24/Vbeta11 double-positive natural killer T cells during hepatitis C virus infection

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are thought to be involved in innate responses against infection. We investigated one specific type of NKT cell, V24/Vß11 double positive, in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Lower frequencies of this population were detected in the blood of HCV PCR-positive patients than in controls. Unlike V24/Vß11 NKT cells found in blood, those in the liver appeared to be recently activated