Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Paolo Paesani Author-Name: Annalisa Rosselli Title: The Case for a Supra-national Control on Commodities in the post WWII World: Novel Perspectives from FAO and Kaldor Archives Abstract: Commodity markets are characterized by high price volatility, inefficient resource allocation and the cyclical reappearance of excessive surpluses and shortages. Historically, these problems and their relevant socio-economic implications have been tackled by means of protectionist measures at the national level, with cartels among producers or, in some rare cases, with international agreements among producers and consumers of a single commodity. At the end of World War II, however, a number of ambitious projects were put forth by multilateral organizations and by individual economists. These projects (e.g. World Food Board, International Commodity Clearing House, International Commodity Reserve Currency) aimed at overcoming traditional commodity problems by means of supra-national institutions and the coordinated management of all the main commodities within a unified scheme capable of combining stable prices and abundant supplies. The goal of this paper is to reconstruct some of these proposals, their theoretical underpinnings and the debate they roused. In particular, we intend to focus on the role played by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and by the experts who were involved in its projects. While individual contributions by some economists belonging to this group of experts have been widely investigated in the literature, their reciprocal influences and the relevant intellectual and historical context have received much less attention. Recent important publications bearing on this question and the re-opening of FAO archives add new angles on and insights into this issue. Classification-JEL: B22, F02, N50, Q02 Keywords: Note: Pages:5-30 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51016&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001001 Number: 1 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Daniel Schiffman Title: Richard Kahn and Israeli Economic Policy, 1957 and 1962 Abstract: This paper documents Richard Kahn?s role as an unofficial advisor to the Israeli Government, using archival and published sources. In 1957, Kahn predicted that the European Economic Community (EEC) customs union would harm Israel?s trade and that the EEC would reject Israel?s application for Associate Membership. He proposed a major reform of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) that would significantly reduce real wage protection and move Israel closer to the Swedish wage system. In 1962, he took a neutral position regarding the sustainability of Israel?s international imbalances. He also criticized Israeli policymakers for overestimating the potential benefits of an Israel-EEC commercial agreement, and argued that the EEC would make reducing Israel?s trade deficit more difficult, even if the United Kingdom did not join. Ultimately, Israeli policymakers ignored Kahn?s advice: they continued to push for EEC Associate Membership and failed to adopt his proposal for COLA reform. In that sense, Kahn was unsuccessful as an advisor, but he was probably successful in the more limited sense of helping government officials attain greater clarity on economic issues. Classification-JEL: B31, B22 Keywords: Note: Pages:31-73 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51017&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001002 Number: 2 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: James Rising Title: Creating the Commons: Fisheries and the World Bank Abstract: World Bank fishery-development project reports offer a window into the intellectual history of the tragedy of the commons. This article focuses on the evolution of management priorities and the role of access restrictions between the first World Bank fishery project in 1963 and key policy briefs in the mid-1990s. Early projects reflect little awareness on the part of the World Bank of open-access problems or over-fishing, but demonstrate that some national agencies were engaged in active management and considered equity to be central concern. By the mid-1990s, a contemporary, economic understanding of commons problems and solutions had emerged, which forced a reinterpretation of the status of previous fishery projects and of the value of various management approaches. This evolution parallels changes in World Bank priorities and informs the dynamic between the World Bank, national institutions, and resource users. Classification-JEL: O13, Q22 Keywords: Note: Pages:75-95 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51018&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001003 Number: 3 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Ioannis A. Katselidis Title: From Beveridge to "Flexicurity": Old and Recent Labour Policies Abstract: The modern labour market policy of flexicurity has been adopted as a leitmotiv of the European employment strategy and the revised Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. This paper examines the two main influences behind the concept of flexicurity, namely the New Keynesian active labour market policies and the early ideas of William Beveridge. In particular, we contend that the flexicurity agenda originated from the New Keynesian employment policy agenda, which incorporates active measures for employment, aiming at both flexibility and security in the labour markets. These ideas and proposals can be traced back to William Beveridge?s work on labour market policy. Beveridge proposed a progressive and forward-looking labour policy, which combined flexibility and security together with active labour market measures, without disregarding the weaker labourers? groups (e.g. casual workers). Thus, the paper shows that his policy proposition resembles the modern policy concept of flexicurity in such a degree that we can characterize Beveridge as the precursor of the flexicurity phenomenon. Classification-JEL: B31, E12, J08 Keywords: Note: Pages:97-115 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51019&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001004 Number: 4 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Comitato di Redazione Title: Book reviews Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:117-150 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51020&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001005 Number: 5 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Tiziana Foresti Title: The First Dissemination of German Historicism in North-America: Further Evidence from Richard T. Ely?s Correspondence with Henry W. Farnam Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:151-158 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51021&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001006 Number: 6 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Alessandro Dafano Title: Reengineering the Confindustria Research Department: Guido Carli?s Chairmanship of the Italian Industrial Association (Confindustria) Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:159-162 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51022&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001007 Number: 7 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Lilia Costabile Title: Augusto Graziani (1933-2014) Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:163-168 Volume: 2014/1 Year: 2014 Issue:1 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=51023&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2014-001008 Number: 8