The evolution of the Hong Kong currency board during global exchange rate instability, 1967-1973

Hong Kong SAR is well known as one of the few economies to operate a form of currency board as the basis of its monetary system. This system arose out of colonial status and has been retained except for a period of floating from 1975-83 to the present day, with some amendments. This article explores the evolution of the Exchange Fund during a period of global exchange rate instability showing that the abandonment of the monetary anchor in 1975 was part of a series of innovations to the use of the Fund as the colonial government sought to manage the exchange rate risks posed by the collapse of the Bretton Woods system

The documentary evidence for Templar religion

The Templar Rule and statutes are also only of limited help when it comes to establishing what went on within the walls of Templar churches. The documentary evidence that captures the patchwork nature of Templar religion best is found in the Templar inventories drawn up, for the most part, shortly after the Templars’ arrests in 1307–1311. Historians working on the Templars’ Spanish inventories – especially Maria Vilar Bonet and, more recently, Sebastian Salvado – have already pointed out that Mass in Templar chapels and churches could be a colourful affair. An alb and amice made of golden velvet and embroidered with birds was found in the Templar church of Mary Magdalene in Bologna. To speak of a South-North or even Spanish-French divide in the material presentation of Templar religion may be a gross simplification of what was in any case a very complex religious and liturgical landscape

Aspects and problems of the Templars’ religious presence in Medieval Europe from the twelfth to the early fourteenth century

The medieval military orders were religious institutions whose members had professed to a life of combat and prayer that integrated them into a religious landscape exceedingly defined by diversity. And yet still very little is known about the military orders’ religious functions in the dioceses in which they held ecclesiastical possessions. By focusing on one military in particular, the Order of the Temple, this study aims to achieve two goals: first, to provide a critical overview of recent scholarship in the emerging field of military order (and especially Templar) religion, and second, to examine aspects Templar religious involvement in medieval society in general and the reactions of senior clergymen to the Templars’ religious engagement on parish level in particular. It argues that the Templars proved very keen on expanding their network of parish churches and that in so doing they proved willing to engage with the lay public on a much larger scale than has hitherto been believed

Letter from the Editor

A summary of the first issue of New and Dangerous Ideas

A study to determine if facts about drugs and drug therapy can be learned as effectively by a patient-centered approach as by classroom presentation

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 1959

The rise of Hong Kong and Tokyo as international financial centres after 1950

One of the most striking aspects of the 1960s and 1970s was the dramatic increase in the volume of international financial activity and the acceleration of the pace of financial innovation. Accompanying these two linked developments was the geographical dispersion of financial activity and the rise of new international financial centres. This paper examines this process in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Particular emphasis is placed on how the very different regulatory frameworks of these two cities affected their prospects and the different models of their emergence as IFCs. For Tokyo, the case of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank is used as an example of the nature of foreign bank activity. The paper concludes with some reflections on how the historical record informs our understanding of the performance of these two centres during the 1990s

Regulatory reform in an emerging stock market: the case of Hong Kong, 1945-86

Hong Kong is one of the world's top five international financial centres, but this is mainly due to banking activity in the territory. The stock exchange is relatively poorly developed, ranking only tenth by market capitalisation in 2002. In common with emerging stock markets in Asia and elsewhere, the Hong Kong exchange tended to be used as a speculative outlet for both small and large investors, which led to wide fluctuations in prices. This article explores how the development of the exchanges in the 1960s and 1970s, and the combination of self-regulation and poor external supervision contributed to weaknesses in the stock market in Hong Kong

The Inklings and King Arthur (2017), edited by Sørina Higgins

Book review by Gabriel Schenk of The Inklings and King Arthur (2017) ed, by Sørina Higgin