Sweet business: quantifying the value added in the Bristish colonial sugar trade in the 18th Century

There has been a lot of research into the economic contribution of the periphery to European economic development during the early modern era. This paper estimates quantitatively the value added in the sugar trade from the Caribbean to Britain in the 18th century. The trade generated a value equivalent to around 1 per cent of British gross domestic product (GDP) by the early 18th century, growing to 4 per cent of GDP a century later. The results show that the sugar trade constituted a dynamic and rapidly growing part of the British economy, most importantly the tertiary sector.La contribución económica de la periferia hacia el desarrollo económico de Europa durante la Edad Moderna se ha investigado mucho. Este trabajo estima cuantitativamente el valor agregado en el comercio de azúcar desde el Caribe a Gran Bretaña en el siglo XVIII. El comercio generó un valor equivalente a alrededor del uno por ciento del PIB británico a principios del siglo XVIII, con un aumento de hasta el cuatro por ciento del PIB un siglo más tarde. Los resultados muestran que el comercio del azúcar constituyó un sector dinámico y de rápido crecimiento en la economía británica, más importante en el sector terciario

Land distribution and inequality in a black settler colony: the case of Sierra Leone, 1792–1831

Land distribution is considered to be one of the main contributors to inequality in pre-industrial societies. This article contributes to the debate on the origins of economic inequality in pre-industrial African societies by studying land inequality at a particularly early stage of African economic history. The research examines land distribution and inequality in land ownership among settlers in the Colony of Sierra Leone for three benchmark years over the first 40 years of its existence. The findings show that land inequality was low at the founding of the Colony but increased substantially over time. We suggest that this increase was enabled by a shift in the type of egalitarianism pursued by the colonial authorities, which was reflected in a change in the redistributive policy applied, which allowed later settlers to appropriate land more freely than had been previously possible

On the potential role of glutamate transport in mental fatigue

Mental fatigue, with decreased concentration capacity, is common in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, often appearing prior to other major mental or physical neurological symptoms. Mental fatigue also makes rehabilitation more difficult after a stroke, brain trauma, meningitis or encephalitis. As increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines are reported in these disorders, we wanted to explore whether or not proinflammatory cytokines could induce mental fatigue, and if so, by what mechanisms. It is well known that proinflammatory cytokines are increased in major depression, "sickness behavior" and sleep deprivation, which are all disorders associated with mental fatigue. Furthermore, an influence by specific proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1, on learning and memory capacities has been observed in several experimental systems. As glutamate signaling is crucial for information intake and processing within the brain, and due to the pivotal role for glutamate in brain metabolism, dynamic alterations in glutamate transmission could be of pathophysiological importance in mental fatigue. Based on this literature and observations from our own laboratory and others on the role of astroglial cells in the fine-tuning of glutamate neurotransmission we present the hypothesis that the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-1β and IL-6 could be involved in the pathophysiology of mental fatigue through their ability to attenuate the astroglial clearance of extracellular glutamate, their disintegration of the blood brain barrier, and effects on astroglial metabolism and metabolic supply for the neurons, thereby attenuating glutamate transmission. To test whether our hypothesis is valid or not, brain imaging techniques should be applied with the ability to register, over time and with increasing cognitive loading, the extracellular concentrations of glutamate and potassium (K(+)) in humans suffering from mental fatigue. At present, this is not possible for technical reasons. Therefore, more knowledge of neuronal-glial signaling in in vitro systems and animal experiments is important. In summary, we provide a hypothetic explanation for a general neurobiological mechanism, at the cellular level, behind one of our most common symptoms during neuroinflammation and other long-term disorders of brain function. Understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of mental fatigue could result in better treatment

An Artist\u27s Gift

Anita Burroughs-Price uses her muscial talent to provide comfort, solace and hope

Economic inequality in Latin America and Africa, 1650 to 1950: can a comparison of historical trajectories help to understand underdevelopment?

The present article provides a comparative review of historical economic inequality in the two most unequal regions of the world, namely Latin America and Africa. This contribution examines novel studies that provide quantitative estimates of income and/or wealth inequality in the two continents in terms of sources, methods, results and interpretations, focusing on the period 1650 to 1950. The article shows that although scholars in the two regions have often employed similar methodologies, their results are far from conforming to a uniform pattern. The present review highlights how scholars of Latin America and Africa tend to remain geographically isolated, failing to capture the learning opportunities stemming from the work of their continental counterparts in terms of both sources and methods

A colonial cash cow: the return on investments in British Malaya, 1889–1969

Historical rates of return on investments have received increasing scholarly attention in recent years. Much literature has focused especially on colonies, where institutions have been argued to facilitate severe exploitation. In the present study, we examine the return on investments in an Asian colony, British Malaya, from 1889 to 1969 for a large sample of companies. Our results suggest that the return on investments in Malaya might have been among the highest in the world during the period studied. Nevertheless, this finding fits badly with theories of imperial exploitation and can only to a limited extent be explained by a higher risk premium. Instead, we argue that the main driver of the very high return on investments in Malaya was rather the substantial rise in global market prices of the output of the two main sectors of the Malayan economy, rubber and tin. The way that the process of decolonization unfolded in Malaya did, furthermore, not lead to any major nationalization of foreign-held assets, and did thereby not disrupt the return on investment in the region in the same way as decolonization did to the return on investment in some other colonies