Andrew Godley

Bromate Environmental Contamination: Review of Impact and Possible Treatment

Abstract Contamination of drinking water with bromate (BrO3 −) at levels ranging from 0.4 to 60 μ g L−1 may be found following ozonation of water containing background bromide (Br−). Based on rodent studies, bromate is classified as a “possible human” carcinogen, and drinking water standards of 10–25 μ g L−1 are now implemented in many countries. Bromate is highly soluble, stable in water, and difficult to remove using conventional treatment technologies. This has led to investigations into novel removal techniques, but many have not developed beyond laboratory trials. Analytical advances have recently led to detection of bromate contamination within both rivers and groundwater, which has provided an additional requirement for bromate remediation. This review summarizes bromate environmental characteristics and the regulatory situation, and outlines bromate remediation processes, including filtration, ultraviolet irradiation, catalysis, chemical reduction, activated carbon, and biodegradation. These techniques are evaluated for developmental progress in a potable water system and also for potential application within the natural water environment.

Jewish Immigrant Entrepreneurship in New York and London 1880–1914

The aim of this research is to use a controlgroup population, the East European Jewish immigrants, present in two differentlocations, the United States and Britain, to test for the economic effects ofassimilating British and American cultural values. Census and marriage recordsand other statistical sources were used to measure the supply ofentrepreneurship in the two populations. Jewish immigrants in New York were much more likely to move intoentrepreneurial occupations than those in London, and it is demonstrated thatthis was not due to any differences in their backgrounds. The structures of thetwo local immigrant economies in New York and London are compared and changesin the underlying demand and real profits paid for entrepreneurship areinvestigated. Because the immigrant culture emphasized a high degree of conformity,immigrants adopted their host cultural values quickly. This evidence of arelatively anti-entrepreneurial culture in Britain is considered in terms ofBritains 20th century economic performance. (LMH)

Priority research questions for the UK food system

The rise of food security up international political, societal and academic agendas has led to increasing interest in novel means of improving primary food production and reducing waste. There are however, also many ‘post-farm gate’ activities that are critical to food security, including processing, packaging, distributing, retailing, cooking and consuming. These activities all affect a range of important food security elements, notably availability, affordability and other aspects of access, nutrition and safety. Addressing the challenge of universal food security, in the context of a number of other policy goals (e.g. social, economic and environmental sustainability), is of keen interest to a range of UK stakeholders but requires an up-to-date evidence base and continuous innovation. An exercise was therefore conducted, under the auspices of the UK Global Food Security Programme, to identify priority research questions with a focus on the UK food system (though the outcomes may be broadly applicable to other developed nations). Emphasis was placed on incorporating a wide range of perspectives (‘world views’) from different stakeholder groups: policy, private sector, non-governmental organisations, advocacy groups and academia. A total of 456 individuals submitted 820 questions from which 100 were selected by a process of online voting and a three-stage workshop voting exercise. These 100 final questions were sorted into 10 themes and the ‘top’ question for each theme identified by a further voting exercise. This step also allowed four different stakeholder groups to select the top 7–8 questions from their perspectives. Results of these voting exercises are presented. It is clear from the wide range of questions prioritised in this exercise that the different stakeholder groups identified specific research needs on a range of post-farm gate activities and food security outcomes. Evidence needs related to food affordability, nutrition and food safety (all key elements of food security) featured highly in the exercise. While there were some questions relating to climate impacts on production, other important topics for food security (e.g. trade, transport, preference and cultural needs) were not viewed as strongly by the participants.

Foreign entry into British retailing, 1850‐1994

A newly compiled dataset allows us to trace the history of foreign direct investment in UK retailing since 1850. Our results suggest that the upsurge of cross‐border activity in the 1980s and early 1990s was exceptional in absolute terms. However, when compared to the most likely determinant of entry rates, consumer purchasing power, the recent upturn is best seen as a return, after several decades of relatively low entry rates, to the high level of FDI prevailing in the early twentieth century. Moreover, we conclude that cross‐border retailing will continue to increase, and to do so at a rate close to twice that of the growth in consumer purchasing power.

Entrepreneurship and historical explanation

The entrepreneur is a leading character in many accounts of economic growth, appearing in business biographies as a charismatic founder of a company; in industry studies as a prominent innovator, or a leading figure in a trade association or cartel; and in general economic histories as one of the hordes of self-employed small business owners who confer flexibility and dynamism on a market economy. Entrepreneurship is not confined to a private sector; it can also be discerned in the personalities of people who establish progressive charitable trusts and reform government administration.

Foreign Multinationals and Innovation in British Retailing, 1850-1962

This essay draws on the first systematic study of foreign direct investment in British retailing up to the 1960s. It shows that while foreign multinationals were unimportant in British retailing overall, they dominated some retail trades. Moreover, these retail entrants were mostly not by retailers but by manufacturers. Their motives varied but were mostly seemingly related to their need to control distribution channels and build brands. Foreign retailers per se were actually relatively rare and mostly unsuccessful. In contrast to British manufacturing, therefore, foreign innovations were not by and large introduced into British retailing by multinational enterprises. The article then explains why these foreign manufacturers of branded consumer goods pursued international marketing strategies that involved investing in costly retail outlets.

Foreign Direct Investment in British Retailing, 1850-1962

This article describes a newly compiled dataset on foreign multinationals in British retailing and compares the patterns of inward investment in retailing with those in manufacturing. Foreign retailers were present in Britain well before foreign manufacturers, but their numbers did not grow as dramatically after 1890. Strikingly, very few pre-World War Two foreign entrants into UK retailing were actually retailers. The great majority were instead foreign manufacturers pursuing international markets through investing in dedicated distribution channels. These hybrid multinationals retained their home manufacturing base and mostly restricted their internationalisation to retailing.

Democratizing Luxury and the Contentious 'Invention of the Technological Chicken' in Britain

In 1950, poultry comprised 1 percent of the total meat consumed in Britain. But over the next thirty years, chicken consumption grew at the rate of 10 percent per annum, while overall meat consumption remained stagnant. By 1980, poultry made up a quarter of the total share of the market, replacing beef, mutton, and bacon in the British diet. This transformation was made possible by dramatic changes in production, dependent on technological innovations across several unrelated sectors. While the widespread distribution of cheap chicken led to its mass adoption, the transformation in meat-eating habits was not without its controversies. The leading retailers, in particular J. Sainsbury, acted as critical intermediaries in this contested market, reconciling consumer uncertainty by attaching their own reputations to product quality, and then by intervening in the quality standards employed in their supply chains.

Cultural Factors in Economic Growth

The importance of culture. Culture is a potentially nebulous concept. Many economists deny culture any place in their theories on the grounds that the concept is so imprecise. Yet economic models that exclude culture cannot fully account for the phenomena that they attempt to explain. This has forced many economists to reluctantly acknowledge culture as a ‘residual element’ in their explanations (a recent example is Landes 1998). The residual role of culture has been particularly important in the explanation of economic growth. There can be little doubt, therefore, that a book on cultural factors in economic growth addresses an important gap in recent economic literature. This book aims to begin the process of filling that gap. The contributors are from diverse social science backgrounds, although the largest number of contributions is from economic history. This is no accident. While sociologists and anthropologists are the two disciplines to have made the most intensive use of the concept of culture, economic historians have tried hardest to draw the links between culture and economic growth.

Revisiting the psychic distance paradox: International retailing in China in the long run (1840–2005)

This paper uses original research on the roles played by two sets of foreign entrants into Chinese retailing since the 1850s – the overseas Chinese entrants and western entrants – to explore the psychic distance paradox over the long run. It explains how the advantages of psychic closeness in Chinese retailing have always been important in reducing entry barriers, but that the rising costs of technology have increased the significance of firm proprietary strengths in some formats, notably supermarkets, so reducing the relative importance of psychic closeness. The paper therefore illustrates how taking the long-term perspective enables more sophisticated conclusions to emerge. A cross-sectional analysis of one sector – Chinese supermarkets – would confirm the psychic distance paradox; overseas Chinese have been unable to translate psychic closeness into superior performance. By contrast their historic performance in department stores and more recently in fashion chains has been superior to the format leaders. This long-term perspective therefore suggests that the understanding of the psychic distance paradox needs to be moderated by additional conceptualisation.