The Taxman Tools Up: An Event History Study of the Introduction of the Personal Income Tax in Western Europe, 1815 - 1941

The introduction of income taxation was a landmark in the development of the fiscal state in Western Europe and elsewhere. This paper presents an event history study of the adoption of the income tax in 11 Western European countries between 1815 and 1941. We find evidence that social learning, reductions in tax collection costs and to a lesser extend spending pressures played a significant role for the adoption decision. Surprisingly, we also find evidence that the extension of the franchise reduced the likelihood of adoption of the income tax

Workers of the world, unite! Franchise extensions and the threat of revolution in Europe, 1820-1938

This paper tests the hypothesis that the extension of the voting franchise was caused by the threat of revolution, as suggested by Acemoglu and Robinson (2000). We approximate the threat of revolution in a given country by revolutionary events happening in neighboring countries. We investigate the relationship between this new measure of the threat of revolution and measures of suffrage reform in two samples of European countries covering the period from 1820 to 1938. We find strong support for the ‘threat of revolution theory’. We also find some evidence that war triggered suffrage reform, whereas ‘modernization theory’ receives little support.The extension of the voting franchise; democracy; threat of revolution; suffrage

Local and global instabilities of flow in a flexible-walled channel

We consider laminar high-Reynolds-number flow through a long finite-length planar channel, where a segment of one wall is replaced by a massless membrane held under longitudinal tension. The flow is driven by a fixed pressure difference across the channel and is described using an integral form of the unsteady boundary-layer equations. The basic flow state, for which the channel has uniform width, exhibits static and oscillatory global instabilities, having distinct modal forms. In contrast, the corresponding local problem (neglecting boundary conditions associated with the rigid parts of the system) is found to be convectively, but not absolutely, unstable to small-amplitude disturbances in the absence of wall damping. We show how amplification of the primary global oscillatory instability can arise entirely from wave reflections with the rigid parts of the system, involving interacting travelling wave flutter and static-divergence modes that are convectively stable; alteration of the mean flow by oscillations makes the onset of this primary instability subcritical. We also show how distinct mechanisms of energy transfer differentiate the primary global mode from other modes of oscillatory instability

Workers of the World, Unite! Franchise Extensions and the Threat of Revolution in Europe, 1820-1938

This paper tests the hypothesis that the extension of the voting franchise was caused by the threat of revolution, as suggested by Acemoglu and Robinson [Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, 1167-1199, 2000]. We approximate the threat of revolution in a given country by revolutionary events happening in neighboring countries. We investigate the relationship between this new measure of the threat of revolution and measures of su¤rage reform in two samples of European countries covering the period from 1820 to 1938. We ?nd strong support for the 'threat of revolution theory'. We also ?nd some evidence that war triggered suffrage reform, whereas other theories of the extension of the franchise, including 'modernization theory', receive little support

Night rendering

Journal ArticleThe issues of realistically rendering naturally illuminated scenes at night are examined. This requires accurate models for moonlight, night skylight, and starlight. In addition, several issues in tone reproduction are discussed: eliminatiing high frequency information invisible to scotopic (night vision) observers; representing the flare lines around stars; determining the dominant hue for the displayed image. The lighting and tone reproduction are shown on a variety of models

Challenges to civil war research: introduction to the special issue on civil war and conflicts

Im Zeitraum zwischen 1945 und 1999 sind mehr als 130 Bürgerkriege geführt worden. Jedem von ihnen sind nicht weniger als 1000 Personen zum Opfer gefallen. Nach dem Ende der Systemkonfrontation sind mehrere Bürgerkriege ausgebrochen. Die praktische Relevanz des Themas macht das Phänomen zum Gegenstand von unterschiedlichen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen. Die Kooperation und der Ideenaustausch auf diesem Gebiet sind jedoch eine Seltenheit. Um die Zusammenarbeit der Forscher zu fördern, ist an der Universität in Süddänemark eine interdisziplinäre Tagung unter dem Titel 'Die Wurzeln von Bürgerkriegen und Konflikten und deren Einfluss auf die Transformationen des Staates und der Institutionen der Zivilgesellschaft' durchgeführt worden. Die Teilnehmer waren sich einig, dass der Bürgerkrieg als ein innerstaatlicher Konflikt konzipiert werden soll. Der Band dokumentiert die Beiträge der Tagung. (ICF

Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD or Fad?

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and phototherapy have recently been the subject of a great deal of interest in the psychiatric literature. First described in 1984 (I), SAD is now defined as a cyclic illness characterized by recurrent episodes of fall/winter depression alternating with periods of spring/summer euthymia (normal mood) or hypomania (mild elation and behavioral activation) (2) . Recent findings indicate that there may be at least two additional patterns of seasonal depressions, one characterized by annual summer depressions with euthyrnic, hypomanic or manic symptoms in the winter, and the other characterized by depressive episodes occurring in both winter and summer (3-6)