In this volume a distinguished team of international contributors consider some of the central long-term issues raised by the problem of income distribution. The Kuznets curve--i.e. the notion that income distribution became increasingly unequal during the period of industrialization, and progressively less unequal during the twentieth century--lies at the center of much of the analysis, and its relevance is discussed in a wide-ranging series of articles covering the British, Belgian, German, Australian, Austrian and American experiences. This volume is the first in many years to take such a broad, comparative approach to income distribution, and makes an important and authoritative contribution to an area of perennial debate.

This book, the product of a unique international scholarly collaboration sponsored jointly by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Soviet Academy of Sciences, provides a comprehensive survey on international banking from 1870 to 1914. In that period international investment reached dimensions previously unknown, and the banking systems of the world achieved a degree of internationalization without precedent. The book's authors, twenty-five scholars from fifteen countries, are the acknowledged experts in their fields. They detail the origin and development of internationally oriented banks in each major country, and explain their role in foreign investment and industrial finance. They look at all areas of the world that were involved in international investment, either as investors, recipients of investment, or both. The definitive work on international banking from 1870 to 1914, this book will interest scholars and students in financial and banking history, bankers and economists in the finanical industry, and general historians.

Economic crime is, by definition, crime committed to gain profit within an otherwise legitimate business. Examples are illegal pollution, brand name infringement and tax evasion.

Most historical studies of child labour have tended to confirm a narrative which witnesses the gradual disappearance of child labour in Western Europe as politicians and social reformers introduced successive legislation, gradually removing children from the workplace. This approach fails to explain the return or continuance of child labour in many affluent European societies. Centuries of Child Labour explains changes in past child labour and attitudes to working children in a way that helps explain the continued survival of the practice from the seventeenth through to the late twentieth centuries. Centuries of Child Labour conveys a richer sense of child labour by comparing the experiences of the Northern European periphery to the paradigmatic cases of Britain,and France. The northern cases, drawing heavily on empirical evidence from Sweden, Finland and Russia, test received ideas of child labour, through comparisons with Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Presenting the children themselves as the main protagonists, rather than the law makers, industrialists and social commentators of the time, Marjatta Rahikainen provides fresh information and perspectives, offering revelations to readers familiar only with the situation in France and Britain.

Rhenish capitalism is an ideal-typical model of capitalism which is characterised by a bank-centered financing system, close economic ties between banks and companies, a balance of power between shareholders and management, and a social partnership between unions and employers. The West German economy of the 1950s to the 1980s is the prime example of that model of capitalism which contrasts with the liberal Anglo-Saxon forms of capitalism. In accordance with recent debates about Varieties of Capitalism, the authors argue that research on capitalism should pay more attention to change over time. The book also claims to put the firm into the centre of analysis. The empirical contributions uncover the differences between French and German corporate governance practices comparing two European automobile producers (VW and Renault), analyse legal debates and practices of corporate control in post-war Germany, show the tension between national corporate governance and increasing internationalisation by reference to four major West German producers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and fibres; and explore the opportunities encountered by German big banks vis-à-vis their customers from big industry. Furthermore, they show that coordinating culture in the supply relationship of the German automobile industry came under pressure at the end of the boom and stress the importance of communication processes as a basis for interest coordination in Rhenish capitalism. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Business History.