Beyond the personal–anonymous divide: agency relations in powers of attorney in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Powers of attorney are often interpreted as evidence of trust among the parties involved. We build a novel dataset of notarized powers of attorney, capturing a wide variety of agency relationships in four large French commercial cities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to test hypotheses on the relational basis of economic relationships. We find little support for the idea of a radical shift from personal to anonymous relationships during our period. Our results point to more nuanced transformations. The preference for proxies in the same occupation as the principal somewhat declined, while professional proxies emerged and principals used relational chains, especially involving notaries, to find proxies.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151849/1/ehr12784_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151849/2/ehr12784.pd

Rethinking European integration history in light of capitalism: the case of the long 1970s

This introduction outlines the possibilities and perspectives of an intertwining between European integration history and the history of capitalism. Although debates on capitalism have been making a comeback since the 2008 crisis, to date the concept of capitalism remains almost completely avoided by historians of European integration. This introduction thus conceptualizes ‘capitalism’ as a useful analytical tool that should be used by historians of European integration and proposes three major approaches for them to do so: first, by bringing the question of social conflict, integral to the concept of capitalism, into European integration history; second, by better conceptualizing the link between European governance, Europeanization and the globalization of capitalism; and thirdly by investigating the economic, political and ideological models or doctrines that underlie European cooperation, integration, policies and institutions. Finally, the introduction addresses the question of the analytical benefits of an encounter between capitalism and European integration history, focusing on the case of the 1970s. This allows us to qualify the idea of a clear-cut rupture, and better highlight how the shift of these years resulted from a complex bargaining that took place in part at the European level

International money markets: eurocurrencies

Eurocurrencies are international markets for short-term wholesale bank deposits and loans. They emerged in Western Europe in the late 1950s and rapidly reached a global scale. A Eurocurrency is a form of bank money: an unsecured short-term bank debt denominated in a currency (for instance, US dollars) but issued by banks operating offshore, in a geographical location or a legal space situated outside of the jurisdiction of the national authorities presiding over that currency (for instance, the Federal Reserve). In Eurocurrency markets, banks intermediate mainly between foreign residents. They borrow funds by "accepting" foreign currency deposits and lend foreign currency-denominated funds by "placing" deposits with other banks, by granting short-term loans or investing in other liquid assets. Historically, Eurodollars accounted for the largest share of Eurocurrencies, although other international currencies (Deutsche Marks, Japanese yens, and especially Euros since 1999) played an important role. Eurocurrency markets were a manifestation of financial integration and interdependence in a globalizing economy and performed critical functions in the distribution and creation of international liquidity. At the same time, their fast growth was a recurrent source of concerns for central bankers and policymakers due to their implications for macroeconomic policies and financial stability. This chapter analyzes different aspects of the historical development of Eurocurrency markets and their role in the international monetary and financial system. The first part discusses theoretical interpretations, presents estimates of markets' size, describes their structure, and explains the determinants of their growth. The second part analyzes the spread between Eurodollar rates and other US money market rates, the role of arbitrage, the evolution of risk factors, and the causes of historical episodes of stress and contagion in the interbank market. The last part discusses political economy issues, such as the role of governments and market forces in the emergence of Eurodollars in the 1950s and the failed attempts to impose multilateral controls on Eurocurrency markets in the 1970s

Radionuclides in fruit systems: Model prediction-experimental data intercomparison study

This paper presents results from an international exercise undertaken to test model predictions against an independent data set for the transfer of radioactivity to fruit. Six models with various structures and complexity participated in this exercise. Predictions from these models were compared against independent experimental measurements on the transfer of 134Cs and 85Sr via leaf-to-fruit and soil-to-fruit in strawberry plants after an acute release. Foliar contamination was carried out through wet deposition on the plant at two different growing stages, anthesis and ripening, while soil contamination was effected at anthesis only. In the case of foliar contamination, predicted values are within the same order of magnitude as the measured values for both radionuclides, while in the case of soil contamination models tend to under-predict by up to three orders of magnitude for 134Cs, while differences for 85Sr are lower. Performance of models against experimental data is discussed together with the lessons learned from this exercise. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Radioactive Iodine in the Atmosphere : from source term to dose Status of IRSN research

International audienceIn case of an accident release, radioactive iodine isotope dispersion into the environment is a problem of main concern due to possible human health impact. Authorized discharges result sometimes in measurablelevels of radioactive iodine releases into the atmosphere also contributing to public concerns and interrogation – even if at trace level. The half life of some radioiodine isotopes (8 days for 131I and 15 millions years for 129I) implies a possible dispersion into all compartments of the environment – from the troposphere to the terrestrial or marine biosphere and finally into the food chain – inducing potential human health effects. The major accidents of Chernobyl and Fukushima or even the recent iodine release events detected in Europe have shown that the knowledge of the radioative iodine distribution between its various chemical forms is still insufficently accurate to satisfactorily adress the public concerns.Research at IRSN on iodine dispersion in the atmospheric compartment is aimed to adress the major issues of this problematic : 1/ accurate source term evaluation for realistic dose assement, 2/ improved crisismanagement to better protect the public in case of radioactive iodine release into the atmosphere.To perform these evaluations, IRSN relies on modelling tools dedicated to the evaluation of the source term(ASTEC, PERSAN, ... codes), and to the prediction of its dispersion into the environment taking into account the health impact (C3X, SYMBIOSE and CONDOR tools). Modelling tools are also completed byradioactive iodine monitoring in the environnment (OPERA Air program covering the whole french territory) and mobile in vivo measurement units dedicated to the monitoring of exposed populations. The Software tools allow for an accurate dose assessment.In order to improve its expertise and knowledge on radio-iodine behaviour in the atmosphere, IRSN is currently sustaining large research efforts over 6 thematics covering all the aspects linked to this issue: source term evaluation, atmospheric dispersion modelling including the terrestrial and marine boundaries, development of more sensitive and accurate monitoring equipement, dosimetry tools (ICARE and MIODOSE) and upgrade of prophylaxis policies (PRIODAC research program). Improved understanding of radio-iodine dispersion in the atmosphere in terms of speciation and physical forms can be obtained by combining experimental studies and development of new modelling schemes. Model validation will be gained by facing fields measurements in case of routine iodine discharge (129I or 131I to some extent) or accidental/incidental situation. In this view, the development of new field monitoring devices capable of identifying the nature of iodine (gaseous vs particulate material and iodine speciation) is a challenging issue. At least, the dose evaluation operationnal tools and the iodine prophylaxis policy will benefit from the dispersion model improvement.The ability of the nuclear safety field community to accurately characterize radio-iodine dispersion, dose evaluation and progress in the use of countermeasures is thus of utmost importance. Such high accuracydata will help to better advise authorities and emergency crisis managers to improve the protection of the public if a severe nuclear power plant accident is to occu

Transfer of radionuclides to fruits: The activities of the biomass fruits working group

Given the potential radiological significance of the transfer of radionuclides to fruit, a Fruits Working Group was set up in 1997 within the framework of the Programme on BIOsphere Modelling and ASSessment (BIOMASS), promoted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in co-operation with the International Union of Radioecology (IUR). The aim of this working group was to improve understanding of the processes affecting the migration of radionuclides in fruit systems and to identify uncertainties associated with modelling the transfer of radionuclides to fruit. The main activities of the Fruits Working Group included : (i) a review of experimental, field and modelling information on the transfer of radionuclides to fruit ; (ii) a derivation of a fruit conceptual model ; (iii) a database of model parameters ; (iv) a collection of additional information from experimental studies ; (v) model intercomparison studies ; and (vi) a validation study. This paper presents an overview of the main activities and results