Interdisciplinary and team research

As funds grow scarcer for research in Canada, the vulnerability of the social sciences and humanities to budget restrictions appears to be growing ever greater. This has been a matter of considerable concern both to the scholars in the disciplines themselves, and to the SSHRC. In the recent past, the CHA has voiced that concern in communications with the Council and in the pages of the CHA newsletter

Merchant Credit and the Informal Economy : Newfoundland, 1919-1929

Merchant credit systems and household production have usually been examined historically as two distinct entities which either bore no relationship to one another or else operated in opposition. This paper proposes instead that there has existed a somewhat unequal symbiosis between these two economic systems, not only in the early of settlement when labour was scarce, but also under conditions of abundant labour. It further suggests that merchant credit can fruitfully be regarded as the forerunner of state welfare systems insofar as both have provided the start-up capital for informal economies which, in their turn, then operate as an essential safety net for people living in marginal economies.On a toujours étudié séparément le système du crédit accordé par les marchands et la production dans la colonie, les considérant comme deux réalités distinctes qui sont sans relations entre elles, voire même opposées l'une à l'autre.Le présent article soutient, au contraire, qu'il y a une certaine symbiose entre ces deux réalités économiques, non seulement en période de colonisation alors que la main d'oeuvre est rare, mais même lorsque celle-ci est abondante. Il soutient même qu'on a raison de considérer que le crédit consenti par les marchands est l'Etat providence avant la lettre, les deux fournissant le capital nécessaire à des économies naissantes, lesquelles assurent, à leur tour, la sécurité aux populations isolées