Science Advising and Science Policy in Post-War West Germany: The example of the Deutscher Forschungsrat

The Deutscher Forschungsrat (GermanResearch Council) attempted to anchor scienceadvising and science policy in West Germanyafter the Second World War. Promoted by acircle of élite scientists, the councilaimed to establish institutions and mechanismscomparable to those in Great Britain, theUnited States, and other scientific powers.After a two-and-a-half year existence, iteventually failed. The reasons for its failure,some local, some global, display thedifficulties facing research policy in theearly years of the Federal Republic.     

The Numbers Makers: Fifty Years of Science and Technology Official Statistics

Official science and technology statistics arefifty years old. Among industrial countries,the forerunners were the United States, Canadaand Great Britain. This paper traces thedevelopment and the construction of S&Tstatistics in these three countries, and theirsubsequent standardization, mainly by theOECD, in the 1960s. It shows how military andscience policy needs drove the construction ofstatistics, until economic considerations cameto dominate their development. It alsodiscusses how statistics interacted withpolitics by way of studies that documentedgaps between OECD Member countries and betweenthe OECD and the USSR.     

英国圣保罗大教堂重建时期石材采运研究(1675-1710年)

基于历史档案资料,追述了伦敦大火后英国圣保罗大教堂重建时期石材采运的历史,揭示了各类石材的开采与运输方式、建造中引发的问题,并首次对石材的供应情况进行了定量分析,呈现了石材采运如何成为圣保罗大教堂的重建历时35年之久的主要原因之一。圣保罗大教堂的石材采运问题并非独特案例,同类型的石材在同时期其他建筑中曾被广泛运用,因此对研究那个时代的砖石建筑具有更普遍的参考意义。     

The Transformation of Agricultural Research in France: The Introduction of the American System

In 1916, French entomologist Paul Marchal published a seminal report on the contemporary state of agricultural research in the United States of America. His recommendations underlined the need for a close relationship between research and education, a factor vital to national survival in the aftermath of the Great War. This essay discusses the context of this report, and assesses its consequences for government policy towards agricultural research and education in France.     

Composition and technology of historical stuccoes coming from Grimani Palace in Venice (Italy)

Stucco samples moulded during a long period (from 1500 to 1700) were collected from Palazzo Grimani in Venice to study the binder and the working techniques. Three types of mixtures based on calcite and magnesite, on calcite, magnesite and gypsum and finally only on calcite were detected. The presence of magnesite in stuccoworks brings up questions about the employment of this substance, probably added to modify the workability and the aspect of the stuccoes.     

`But What is a Chemical Engineer?': Profiling the Membership of the British Institution of Chemical Engineers, 1922–1956

This paper examines the membership of the professionalassociation of chemical engineering in Britain – the Institutionof Chemical Engineers – during its first three decades. Usingcollective methods of biography, it explores how long it took forclear boundaries to develop between this membership and the widerchemical community. Delineation was linked to the development ofan academic discipline. This paper argues that the indeterminateconstituency of the IChemE delayed growth, but allowed it to playa key role in shaping the development of the new profession.     

The impact of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Droit de Suite</Emphasis> in the UK: an empirical analysis

The Droit de Suite, known in the UK as Artists’ Resale Rights, provides an artist with the inalienable right to receive a royalty based on the resale price of an original work of art. This paper provides an empirical analysis of actual changes in the UK auction market for art that is newly subject to the Droit de Suite (DDS) because of a change in law. All changes are measured relative to changes for art not subject to the DDS and relative to changes in the auction markets for art in countries where there has been no change in law. We do a difference-in-difference analysis, differencing price growth and sales growth across market segments and across countries over the period 1993–2007. Our results suggest that the introduction of the DDS has not had a consistent negative impact on the UK art auction market during the period of study.     

Estimating the real growth effects of blockbuster art exhibits: A time series approach

This paper addresses the evaluation of real growth forecasts made by impact studies. Intervention analysis is used to estimate the ex post impact of blockbuster exhibits on economic growth in Jackson, Mississippi (chosen because state and local governments provide regular subsidies to finance the exhibitions). Non-farm employment measures real economic growth and dummy variables capture the occurrence of the exhibitions. Univariate time series techniques identify and estimate a stationary process after filtering the data for seasonal and cyclical effects. The analysis estimates the short run impact on Jackson’s filtered employment series due to the blockbuster exhibitions as approximately 700 jobs.     

The Role of Competition in the Rise of Baroque and Renaissance Music

Section 1 introduces the hypothesis that competition among neighboring states may favor cultural innovation, and it surveys the available quantitative evidence. Section 2 starts from the assumption that European instrumental music had its breakthrough during the Baroque era and that the most famous composers came from the two countries characterized by the highest degree of political fragmentation: Italy and Germany. It suggests that political fragmentation has promoted musical composition and performance in several ways. The average duration of employment is proposed as a proxy for competition on the demand side. Section 3 shows that the most famous Italian and German composers of the Baroque period changed their employers significantly more often than their French and British counterparts did. Moreover, the Reformation led to musical competition between the Catholic and Protestant churches. Section 4 argues that competition for composers has also been important in other periods of European history – including competition between the Church and the courts. It shows that composers moved no less in the Renaissance than in the Baroque. Section 5 raises the question whether European music may also be said to express a competitive spirit. JEL classification: Z11     

Urban Planning and the Spaces of Democracy: New York of the Great Depression in 42nd Street,Dead End,and The City

Abstract

Three New York films of the Great Depression and its aftermath, 42nd Street (1932, Lloyd Bacon), Dead End (1937, William Wyler), and The City (1939, Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke), embodied a new political aesthetics in screening urban democratic spaces during moments of social breakdown. This article draws from urban and cinema studies, as well as from social and cultural theory (Lefebvre, Benjamin, Kracauer), to show how these films contributed to a discourse of urban planning and cinematic democratic aesthetics on the possibility of an egalitarian, inclusive, participatory community in diverse city spaces. The article argues that the reshaping of this cultural discourse, through the films’ emphasis on the conflicting material domains of the skyline and the slum, came at the cost of undermining the metropolis and, in The City, of limiting the urban spaces of democracy.     

Commonwealth Students in the United Kingdom, 1940–1960: Student Welfare and World Status

Between 1940 and 1960, the British Government became increasingly concerned with the welfare of students coming to Britain from the dependent territories of the Commonwealth. The reasons were political, cultural, and economic. This essay traces the transition of official attitudes, from modest promotion to active policy. With the coming ‘end of Empire’, Britain chose a role that combined cooperation with the Commonwealth with future membership in the European community.     

中国城市管理工作方针的演变与发展趋势

中华人民共和国成立以来,党和政府十分重视城市管理工作,伴随着城市建设和发展的需要,根据不同历史时期城市管理工作的形势和任务的不同,采取了不同的城市管理体制,确定了相应的城市管理方针政策.城市管理体制是建立在经济体制基础上的,与经济体制和政府职能相适应.有什么样的经济体制,就有什么样的城市管理体制.根据1949年以来不同...     

Value-Laden Science: Jan Burgers and Scientific Politics in the Netherlands

The political engagement of scientists is not necessarily left-wing, and even when it is, it can take widely varying forms. This is illustrated by the specific character of Dutch scientific activism in the 1930s and 40s, which took shape in a society where ‘pillarized’ social divisions were more important than horizontal class structure. This paper examines how, within this context, the Delft physicist Jan Burgers developed a version of scientific politics, built on a philosophy of value-laden science.

寻找孟姜女故里

中国四大民间传说之一的孟姜女故事家喻户晓,脍炙人口。优美的《孟姜女》小调到处传唱,小调旋律中人们熟悉了孟姜女、范杞梁、秦始皇。孟姜女的忠贞爱情故事,早在国人的记忆中定格,且根深蒂固。     

Assessing Quality in Cultural Goods: The Hedonic Value of Originality in Rembrandt's Prints

The definition of quality, and its consistent assessment, is a fundamental issue when dealing with collectibles. We analyze how originality is priced by the market. The market for prints by Rembrandt is considered. An original database has been built including almost 5,000 transactions in the international auction market during the period 1985–1998. The data allow us to control for many different characteristics (market, aesthetic, originality, authenticity, rarity, art history, techniques, conservation, etc.). The concept of “state” is used to measure originality. In printmaking a state is defined as the artist's creative phase, which occurs on the plate before inking and printing. We test whether (non-original) posthumous states are sold at prices lower than Rembrandt's own (original) states. The implicit price associated with the state has been found to significantly decrease if the state was later printed by someone else when it was no longer the master's intervention on the plate. Furthermore, a decreasing value among subsequent original states has proved to positively account for Rembrandt's direct invention. JEL classification: Z11, D46, C52     

The Sculpture Market: An Adjacent Year Regression Index

This paper analyses the performance of an investment in sculpture during theperiod 1987–1995 by applying the hedonic price technique with time dummyvariables to a sample of over 27,000 sales at auctions. The main finding isthat the adjacent year price index differs substantially between theinexpensive/middle portfolio and the expensive portfolio. The first showsthe existence of a boom period until 1990, followed by a non boom period. Bycontrast, the return of an investment in the expensive portfolio performedsomewhat better during the period analysed, with the only fall in the priceindex in 1990 and 1991.     

The role of cultural heritage in attracting skilled individuals

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by built heritages and cultural environments, alongside other locational factors, in explaining the growth of human capital in Sweden. We distinguish between urban, natural and cultural qualities as different sources of regional attractiveness and estimate their influence on the observed growth of individuals with at least three years of higher education during 2001–2010. Neighborhood-level data are used, and unobserved heterogeneity and spatial dependencies are modeled by employing random effects estimations and an instrumental variable approach. Our findings indicate that the local supply of built heritages and cultural environments explain a significant part of human capital growth in Sweden. Results suggest that these types of cultural heritages are important place-based resources with a potential to contribute to improved regional attractiveness and growth.     

Economic impacts of cultural heritage – Research and perspectives

Investment in cultural heritage (and other forms of culture) are often claimed to be beneficial for a local economy, not only in terms of cultural consumption, but also in the form of increased employment and income. This article addresses some methodological questions regarding economic impact studies of investments in cultural heritage projects. Different types of direct and indirect impacts are being discussed, especially how these can be calculated. We also give a short overview over some studies of economic impact of different cultural and/or tourism activities, and the pros and cons of these studies. In a study of the Norwegian town of Røros, we find that tourism related to the cultural heritages in the region contribute some 7 per cent to overall employment and income.     

青年发展型城市试点实施路径研究

青年是支撑城市发展的重要主力,城市是承载青年发展的关键载体,青年发展的质量决定了城市的未来。满足新时代青年的新需求,是“十四五”时期城市和青年高质量发展的共同内涵。《中长期青年发展规划(2016—2025)》首次提出要在全国培育“青年发展型城市”,并在地方城市推进试点。在梳理首批7个试点城市规划、实践的基础上,结合《中长期青年发展规划》对新时期城市青年发展的核心要求,从思想政治、体制机制、人才教育、就业创业、社会参与、规划实施、文化生活、服务保障等方面归纳并总结出8条促进青年发展的实施路径。这些实施路径能够较好地识别“十四五”青年的新需求,对于我国地方城市政府开展青年发展型城市的能力建设有参考价值。     

The Joint Establishment of the World Federation of Scientific Workers and of UNESCO After World War II

The World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFScW) and UNESCO share roots in the Social Relations of Science (SRS) movements and in the Franco-British scientific relations which developed in the 1930s. In this historical context (the Great Depression, the rise of Fascism and the Nazi use of science, the social and intellectual fascination for the USSR), a new model of scientific internationalism emerged, where science and politics mixed. Many progressive scientists were involved in the war efforts against Nazism, and tried to prolong their international commitments into peacetime. They contributed to the establishment of the WFScW and of UNESCO in 1945–1946. Neither the WFScW nor UNESCO succeeded in achieving their initial aims. Another world emerged from the immediate post-war years, but it was not the world fancied by the progressive scientists from the mould of scientific internationalism. The aim of this article is to follow the path from the Franco-British networks towards the establishment of the WFScW and UNESCO; from an ideological scientific internationalism towards practical projects. It is to understand how these two bodies came to embody two different scientific internationalisms during the Cold War.