Although mercers have long been recognised as one of the most influential trades in medieval London, this is the first book to offer a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the trade from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. The variety of mercery goods (linen, silk, worsted and small manufactured items including what is now called haberdashery) gave the mercers of London an edge over all competitors. The sources and production of all these commodities is traced throughout the period covered. It was as the major importers and distributors of linen in England that London mercers were able to take control of the Merchant Adventurers and the export of English cloth to the Low Countries. The development of the Adventurers' Company and its domination by London mercers is described from its first privileges of 1296 to after the fall of Antwerp. This book investigates the earliest itinerant mercers and the artisans who made and sold mercery goods (such as the silkwomen of London, so often mercers' wives), and their origins in counties like Norfolk, the source of linen and worsted. These diverse traders were united by the neighbourhood of the London Mercery on Cheapside and by their need for the privileges of the freedom of London. Extensive use of Netherlandish and French sources puts the London Mercery into the context of European Trade, and literary texts add a more personal image of the merchant and his preoccupation with his social status which rose from that of the despised pedlar to the advisor of princes. After a slow start, the Mercers' Company came to include some of the wealthiest and most powerful men of London and administer a wide range of charitable estates such as that of Richard Whittington. The story of how they survived the vicissitudes inflicted by the wars and religious changes of the sixteenth century concludes this fascinating and wide-ranging study.

This book, first published in 1913, examines in detail the Tariff Reform crisis of January 1913. The sudden abandonment of decades of established policy was one of the most surprising events in British domestic politics.

This book attempts to shed light on why it is so difficult to develop and maintain successful businesses in the grocery e-commerce arena. Within the last five years, grocery e-commerce has experienced both consistent successes such as Tesco.com and irrevocable failures such as Webvan.com. Niels Kornum and Mogens Bjerre bring key researchers together to investigate the factors contributing to the success of grocery e-commerce, particularly in countries that had the earliest and most extensive experiences in this field: the USA, the UK and Scandinavia.The authors argue that grocery e-commerce is especially difficult to implement because it differs from other types of consumer sales in numerous aspects including low profit margins, low value density of products and high frequency purchases. As well as examining these unique characteristics, the authors present research on consumer behaviour, cross country comparisons and new empirical evidence in order to address the long-term prospects for the survival of grocery e-commerce. Recommendations as to how managers should respond to its challenges are also made. Academics, students and researchers focusing on marketing, consumer behaviour, logistics, e-commerce and business strategy will find this book to be a fascinating read.

First Published in 1972. The London Discount Market is unique, and its existence has contributed more than any other single factor to the elaboration of what may legitimately be called the Anglo-Saxon tradition in Central Banking technique. The bill of exchange has existed for centuries in its classical late Victorian form by many decades. This book assesses how in no other country in the world did the same relationships evolve between the Central institution and the Money Market.

"A cut above most workplace histories. Looking at the separate but sometimes overlapping development of European and African-American hairdressing from the early twentieth century to the present, Willett shows how race shaped different trajectories for black and white salons."
--"Lingua Franca"

"Offers an unusually comprehensive look at a significant twentieth-century industry and female preoccupation"
--"American Historical Review"

"Refreshing to read a history so firmly historicized and grounded in working-class and Afro-American history"
-- "Journal of Social History"

"Carefully nuanced and [a] compelling history."
-- Nan Enstad, "The Journal of American History"

Throughout the twentieth century, beauty shops have been places where women could enjoy the company of other women, exchange information, and share secrets. The female equivalent of barbershops, they have been institutions vital to community formation and social change.

But while the beauty shop created community, it also reflected the racial segregation that has so profoundly shaped American society. Links between style, race, and identity were so intertwined that for much of the beauty shop's history, black and white hairdressing industries were largely separate entities with separate concerns. While African American hair-care workers embraced the chance to be independent from white control, negotiated the meanings of hair straightening, and joined in larger political struggles that challenged Jim Crow, white female hairdressers were embroiled in struggles over self-definition and opposition to their industry's emphasis on male achievement. Yet despite their differences, black and whitehairdressers shared common stakes as battles were waged over issues of work, skill, and professionalism unique to women's service work.

Permanent Waves traces the development of the American beauty shop, from its largely separate racial origins, through white recognition of the "ethnic market," to the present day.

This book is a key example of the emergence of public choice theory by an economist who was to become one of its major exponents. It combines a detailed, critical study of the Monopolies Commission, with an analysis of the economic issues involved in monopoly supervision and control.

The Active Consumer discusses how consumers seem to delight in trying new solutions and exploring new combinatory possibilities. This book provides an economic-theoretical understanding of this phenomenon and the many ways in which innovation can structure consumer choice. The authors show from different points of view how central novelty can be in consumer behaviour, how it relates to technical change and how new consumer capabilities are developed and organized.

A "compelling indictment of the news media's role in covering up errors and deceptions" (The New York Times Book Review) due to the underlying economics of publishing—from famed scholars Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. With a new introduction.

In this pathbreaking work, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.

Based on a series of case studies—including the media’s dichotomous treatment of “worthy” versus “unworthy” victims, “legitimizing” and “meaningless” Third World elections, and devastating critiques of media coverage of the U.S. wars against Indochina—Herman and Chomsky draw on decades of criticism and research to propose a Propaganda Model to explain the media’s behavior and performance.

Their new introduction updates the Propaganda Model and the earlier case studies, and it discusses several other applications. These include the manner in which the media covered the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent Mexican financial meltdown of 1994-1995, the media’s handling of the protests against the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in 1999 and 2000, and the media’s treatment of the chemical industry and its regulation. What emerges from this work is a powerful assessment of how propagandistic the U.S. mass media are, how they systematically fail to live up to their self-image as providers of the kind of information that people need to make sense of the world, and how we can understand their function in a radically new way.

Although the Anti-Corn Law league played a most important part in the politics of the 1840's, there is no modern study of its activities and organization. Based on several years work on the original sources, as well as papers belonging to George Wilson, President of the League for most of its life, this book sheds light on the internal history and organization of the League. Written from a political perspective, Dr McCord describes the origin, organization and activities of the League, together with its effect on the contemporary political scene, and as such, fills an important gap in our knowledge of the political history of early Victorian England. At the same time, the book provides an analysis of an unusually well-documented political pressure group, making it a most welcome addition to literature for historians and economic historians, as well as students of political science. This book was first published in 1958.

Surveying government and crowd responses ranging from the late Middle Ages through to the early modern era, Buchanan Sharp's illuminating study examines how the English government responded to one of the most intractable problems of the period: famine and scarcity. The book provides a comprehensive account of famine relief in the late Middle Ages and evaluates the extent to which traditional market regulations enforced by thirteenth-century kings helped shape future responses to famine and scarcity in the sixteenth century. Analysing some of the oldest surviving archival evidence of public response to famine, Sharp reveals that food riots in England occurred as early as 1347, almost two centuries earlier than was previously thought. Charting the policies, public reactions and royal regulations to grain shortage, Sharp provides a fascinating contribution to our understanding of the social, economic, cultural and political make-up of medieval and early modern England.

Competition Policy in East Asia clarifies the key issues and provides a framework for understanding competition policy, looking in-depth at a number of regulated sectors for additional perspectives.
Until two or three decades ago, competition and consumer protection policies were the preserve of the major developed economies like the United States, the United Kingdom and some European countries. Now competition issues are at the top of the international agenda as globalization spreads and as the operations of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and other organizations have brought about a realization that regulatory reform - and in many economies the creation for the first time of regulatory instruments for competition and consumer protection - is an imperative.

"Competition Policy in East Asia "draws together a collection of papers on competition policy that were presented at the Twenty-Eighth Conference of the Pacific Area Forum on Trade and Development (PAFTAD), held in Manila on 16-18 September 2002. It seeks to clarify the issues and provide a framework for understanding competition policy, looking in depth at a number of regulated sectors for additional perspectives
Until two or three decades ago, competition and consumer protection policies were the preserve of the major developed economies like the United States, the United Kingdom and some European countries. Now competition issues are at the top of the international agenda as globalization spreads and as the operations of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and other organizations have brought about a realization that regulatory reform - and in many economies the creation for the first time of regulatory instruments for competition and consumer protection - is an imperative.

From the earliest times, people have striven to turn their houses into homes through the use of decoration and furnishings, stimulating in turn a major commercial sector dedicated to offering the products and services essential to feed the ever-changing dictates of domestic fashion. Whilst there is plentiful evidence to show that these phenomena can be traced to medieval times, it is arguable that the eighteenth century witnessed the birth of a widespread and sophisticated consumer society. With a comparatively wealthy and socially mobile society, eighteenth-century Britain proved to be a fertile ground for ideas of home improvement and beautification, which were to persist to the present day. Turning Houses into Homes not only maps the history, changes, development and structure of the retail furnishing industry in Britain over three centuries, but also examines the relationships between the retailer and the consumer, looking at how retailers helped stimulate and shape the demand of their customers. Whilst work has been done on specific aspects of the home, very little has been written on the interaction between the retailer and consumer, and the pressures brought to bear on them by issues such as gender, education, status, symbolism, taste, decoration, hygiene, comfort and entertainment. As such, this book offers a valuable conjunction of retail history and consumption practices, which are examined through a multi-disciplinary approach to explore both their intimate connections and their wider roles in society.

In the second half of the twentieth century, 20 percent (10,000) of all retail druggists were Rexall druggists. Now there are none, and this book explains why! The Rexall Story: A History of Genius and Neglect shows how a brilliant and successful business/pharmacy venture was allowed to fail through carelessness and an inattention to the original formula of the company. From the celebrated genius of Louis Liggettwho started United Drug in 1903to the business's demise nearly 75 years later, this significant text will provide you with new insight into the pharmacy industry. With The Rexall Story, pharmacists, pharmacy and business educators, and historians alike can see how Louis Liggett single-handedly transformed the retail drug business using innovative business practices and policies. Author Mickey C. Smith, editor of the Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics and principal author and editor of the seminal book Pharmaceutical Marketing: Principles, Environment and Practices, uses his expertise to explain how Louis Liggett's techniques were so successful in the industry. This book explores in detail his communication and merchandising skills, his principles in doing business, and his revolutionary techniques for keep his business prosperous. Using internal documents, photographs, and direct quotes from radio promotions, and the recollections of former Rexall employees, this book chronicles Rexall's story, including: the beginnings of Rexallits origins and expansion, International Rexall Clubs, and the unparalleled efforts of Liggett and his franchisees the Dear Pardner letters (1903-1923)unprecedented in Big Business even today, these were personal letters between Liggett and his people the Rexall familyconversations and correspondence with former Rexallites, capturing how the ret