City Traders Research Articles

КИЇВСЬКИЙ КОНТРАКТОВИЙ ЯРМАРОК НАПРИКІНЦІ XVIII – НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХ ст.

The article analyzes the role of the largest contract fair in the socio-economic development of Kyiv and Ukraine. The relevance is determined by the state of the historiographical situation regarding the socio-economic development of commodity-money relations that arose on the basis of an artificially created important trading area in Kyiv and dominate modern pro-European perspectives. The authors present the key concept of «contract fair» as a trading area for commodity-money and exchange relations. Based on the collected factual material, the main factors of the contract fair’s impact on the socio-economic development of Kyiv, as well as the conscious perception/understanding of reality by the population, the inclusion of Kyiv residents, Ukrainians and visitors in the life of the city, and changes in its infrastructure are highlighted. It is proved that an important element of Kyiv’s use in the socio-economic development of the Right Bank of Ukraine is its convenient geographical location. Kyiv was an important administrative unit of Ukraine in the historical period studied by the authors. Its status has been preserved to this day. The convenient location of the city and the interest of the Kyiv administration in developing trade relations contributed to the expansion of international relations between city traders and foreign trade institutions. The Russian Empire and Napoleon also had mixed interests in using Kyiv to their advantage. For the Russian Empire, it was an important strategic outpost in the Southwestern region, which served as a military base for Russia’s expansion to the south against Turkey; the spiritual center of East Slavic Orthodoxy. For Napoleon, it was an important military strategic direction. The socio-economic role of the contract fair is important for the development of interethnic trade and monetary relations and the further development of Kyiv. The presented scientific conclusions and generalizations are based on the study of archival materials, sources and literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

A Rejoinder to Matthew Paterson and Peter Newell

I regret that Paterson and Newell have not been able to benefit more from my review essay. While it may be optimistic to assume that the problem is merely the lack of clarity of my writing, let me try to restate, in different terms, some of the difficulties their book runs up against. As I explained in the essay, Climate Capitalism is based on a fundamental error: the assumption that carbon markets help keep fossil fuels in the ground rather than encourage, even accelerate, their continued exploitation. This error — which is shared by a number of other academic and activist observers — invalidates all of the book’s substantive theses. In particular, the error makes nonsense of the claim that carbon markets can ‘enrol powerful factions of capital in a project of decarbonization’. Carbon markets are not about decarbonization; therefore they cannot enrol any faction of capital in decarbonization. On the contrary, in addition to engendering a welter of other disparate effects, they help the most fossil-dependent parts of the industrial structure avoid decarbonization, while interfering with other measures that would foster it. This error also fatally undermines Paterson and Newell’s claim that carbon markets are capable of mediating a hegemonic ‘coalition’ that could ‘sustain the legitimacy of policies aimed towards . . . “leaving the oil in the soil”’ by bringing together environmentalists and grassroots activists with city traders, financiers, asset managers, carbon project developers, auditors and so on. If carbon markets function in a way that sustains, even deepens, the fossil-fuel economy, then movements working to leave the oil in the soil, as well as others disadvantaged by fossil fuel dependence, are unlikely to be enthusiastic about joining a coalition under their banner. Following the widespread discrediting of carbon markets over the past decade, why do Paterson and Newell believe that they can aid in decarbonization? A survey of their published writings suggests that they rely principally on the following argument:

Pound for pound champions: the myth of the Blitz spirit in British newspaper discourses of the City and economy after the 7 July bombings

This paper analyses the myth of the Blitz spirit in British newspaper discourses of the City and economy after the London bombings on 7 July 2005. The Blitz spirit is a popular story of Britain during the Second World War, uniting together with defiance and resilience to overcome the threat of invasion from Nazi Germany. Through Barthes’ model of myth, this paper discusses the myth of the Blitz spirit in memories of wartime London. A critical discourse analysis then explores the ideological impact of Blitz spirit discourses in hyperbolised coverage of City traders and the economy in 2005. I argue that the ideological complexities of Western economics and the free market were suppressed by a myth that sought to bind social classes together through evocations of British, wartime solidarity and defiance. But, this paper also argues that Blitz spirit evocations among City traders were contradicted by discourses that discussed British citizens as consumers through anxieties about the economy after the bombings.

Private Credit in Eighteenth-Century New York City: The Mayor’s Court Papers, 1681-1776

This article considers eighteenth-century urban credit and its relationship to social context and commerce from the perspective offered by two thousand private credit agreements preserved in complaints filed to initiate suits in the New York City Mayor’s Court from the late seventeenth century to the eve of the American Revolution. The complaints cover the gamut of urban colonial commerce, from mundane local exchanges to ambitious and high-value ventures aimed at overseas markets. Some of the complaints run to as many as seventeen pages, but many are cast in formulaic terms over two or three manuscript sheets. The loss of most of the city’s eighteenth-century tax records make it difficult to produce a comprehensive assessment of the litigants’ social and economic status. But the patterns that do emerge from the aggregate glimpses of everyday practice give some sense of the city’s distinctive credit market. Previous studies of neighbouring colonies have noted the increasing use of paper instruments and a shift to restrictive common law pleading in debt which, it is argued, provided creditors with greater commercial certainty and confidence and thereby nurtured the expansion of trade. However, in New York the complaints indicate that city traders retained a preference for dealing on account and presented their suits in the more flexible common law form of assumpsit, casting the city’s economic and legal change in a different light. What we can glimpse of the practices and procedures associated with different forms of borrowing, indicate a local market that depended on inter-related household exchange and a commercial rationale that balanced considerations of profit with wider but cautiously-reckoned social obligations. For example, comparing the usual repayment terms available in the city with those offered wealthier borrowers, and the credit agreed between two upriver fur dealers and their Native American partners, reveals the city’s credit market as a relatively conservative provider of support for residents and the able-bodied, thereby ensuring minimal public out-relief, which offered limited opportunities for investment and social mobility, even for those from within local circles.

Emporios transpacíficos: Comerciantes mexicanos en Manila, 1710 – 1815

Emporios transpacíficos: Comerciantes mexicanos en Manila, 1710 – 1815

Syringe Disposal Bins: The Outcomes of a Free Trial for City Traders in an Inner-City Municipality Australia

Community responses toward discarded syringes have the potential to threaten the sustainability of harm reduction interventions. Many retailers in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia, have expressed concern about drug use and the associated discarded syringes. The Melbourne City Council has responded to these concerns through a variety of strategies. One such strategy was a 6-month free trial of syringe bins for businesses (2003–2004). The MCC commissioned an external evaluation of the trial. Eighteen business representatives and six key informants undertook semistructured interviews to monitor issues arising throughout the trial. Syringe disposal bins are a useful option for facilitating appropriate syringe disposal; 11 of the 13 businesses that participated in the trial continued with the maintenance of the syringe disposal bins beyond the free trial period.

Are risk preferences consistent?: The influence of decision domain and personality

This paper examines the consistency of risk preferences across three decision domains important in most people’s lives: work, health and personal finance. We consider the degree to which the five factor model of personality and a range of factors that influence risk-related decision-making (perceived risk, framing, emotions and cost–benefit analysis) impact upon cross-domain consistency. Data were gathered from a sample of participants for whom approaches to risk were likely to vary (academics, chess players, firefighters, mountaineers and City traders). The results showed that participants could be categorised into two groups: those who were consistent in their risk preferences in three decision domains, and those who were inconsistent or domain-specific. The consistent group was significantly lower on neuroticism and higher on agreeableness and conscientiousness with a less variable approach to weighing up the costs and benefits of taking risks than the inconsistent group. The majority of the consistent group was risk averse. When the domain-specific risk preferences of the inconsistent group were examined, data showed that different combinations of personality and decision-making factors predicted risk preferences within each domain.

The Darwinian shakeout in financial services—an interim report

This article describes the dramatic changes which have taken place in leading banks, insurance companies and building societies during the financial services revolution which has completely restructured the industry, transformed levels of productivity, multiplied the returns to shareholders, senior executives, fund managers and city traders and left hundreds of thousands of people unemployed or prematurely retired.

Regional Tensions in the Russo-Chinese Rapprochement

Research Article| June 01 1995 Regional Tensions in the Russo-Chinese Rapprochement James Clay Moltz James Clay Moltz Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1995) 35 (6): 511–527. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645706 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation James Clay Moltz; Regional Tensions in the Russo-Chinese Rapprochement. Asian Survey 1 June 1995; 35 (6): 511–527. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645706 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1995 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

A Glasgow Tobacco Merchant during the American War of Independence: Alexander Speirs of Elderslie, 1775 to 1781

hrough most of the eighteenth century the commerce of Glasgow was dominated by the importation of tobacco from Britain's North American colonies and its sale to European customers. Indeed, in the decade before the outbreak of the American War of Independence in I775, the city's apparent dependence on this lucrative trade increased. Manufactories found their main outlet in the Atlantic market; the vast proportion of Glasgow's shipping was engaged in the tobacco trade, and almost all of the more opulent merchants of the town had a financial stake in its success.' The consequent vulnerability of Glasgow's economic structure was exacerbated by the huge sums owed the city's traders by Virginia and Maryland planters. As commerce expanded, debt mounted, and on the eve of the American Revolution the total was estimated at /I,366,085 sterling.2 When hostilities broke out in I775, tobacco imports shrivelled rapidly until, by I780, the trade was operating at about 6 percent of prewar levels. Debts remained uncollected and a major credit crisis developed in I778.' In spite of this apparently disastrous series of events, recent studies have emphasized the resiliency of the merchants and have minimized the effect of