The Phillips Machine (MONIAC)

The Phillips Machine, or Monetary National Income Analogue Computer (MONIAC), is a hydraulic representation of cash flow within the UK economy in the early 20th century. It represents the circular flow of income (New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, 2015), shown by the economic equation Aggregate Demand = Consumer Expenditure + Investment + Government Spending + (Exports – Imports), or Y = C + I + G + (X – M), which is an important equation in determining the national output of an economy (Pettinger, 2008). Though no longer in use, of the 14 that were built, the majority were originally restricted to military and government use owing to their effectiveness in determining economic policy. This paper describes an implementation of an emulation of this machine that satisfies, or mostly satisfies, almost all of the requirements specified in the ISO/IEC 25010 software quality assurance standard and would be suitable for deployment to support A-Level Economics teaching. With further work it would also become suitable as part of a museum display of a Phillips Machine

Army Supplies in the Forward Area and the Tumpline System: A First World War Canadian Logistical Innovation

Editor’s Note: In British Logistics on the Western Front, 1914–1919 (Praeger, 1998), Ian M. Brown documents the problems of maintaining an army in the field; throughout that war, supply lines were strained to get food, equipment and ammunition forward. Early problems of adequate supplies were replaced by an inability to get the items from depots to where they were required. Some of these latter problems were blamed on “establishments” and other force-structure problems caused by stripping logistical-support units to meet the manpower needs of the fighting units. The decision to dramatically reduce the size of the BEF divisions in France helped reduced pressures. By stripping a battalion out of each brigade, and using the men freed as replacements, the BEF maintained its paper strength in divisions (though, in fact, the strength went considerably down) and, more importantly, also reduced its overall logistical requirements. But, as Brown writes: The Canadian Corps successfully resisted this “downsizing” as its commander opposed the reduction vehemently. In fact, he managed to increase the effective size and strength of his divisions by using the manpower from the two [sic] Canadian divisions forming in Britain. This gave Haig a single very strong corps—four overstrength divisions amounting to some one hundred thousand men (forty-eight thousand infantry)—but it also gave his administration a supply problem, since the standard divisional pack could not supply a Canadian division. In spite of this trouble, it did not appear to cause great difficulty on the lines of communication. Indeed, it gets no mention in either the QMG’s or AG’s diaries.... (pp.165-166) Buried in this passage lay two secrets. The four-battalion brigades perhaps (too simply?) explain the use of the Canadian Corps as Haig’s “shock troops.” But as Brown notes, how the Canadians maintained these larger formations is not clear from British sources (p. 177). The answer to this secret must be sought elswhere. One answer in F.R. Phelan’s “tumpline.

Legal interpreters in the news in Ireland

This article consists of a review of court reports from national and provincial newspapers in Ireland from 2003 to 1st August 2010. The reports provide an insight into the attitudes of judges, lawyers and police officers to defendants who are not proficient in English. The issue of defendants’ proficiency in English is a recurrent one. Coverage suggests that interpreters are not always provided in police stations or in the courts and that some judges continue to allow friends and family members to act as interpreters. Meanwhile, some solicitors consistently request interpreters for their clients. Other salient issues are cost, interpreter competency and interpreter ethics

Interpreting in Northern Ireland

This article examines how interpreter provision in Northern Ireland developed in a very different way from Ireland or indeed England, Scotland or Wales. In general terms, interpreter provision in Northern Ireland is very good in that interpreters are routinely provided for hospitals, social welfare, schools and of course police stations and courts. The majority of interpreters have undergone training, and instead of outsourcing interpreting services to a translation agency, the authorities have opted for an in-house service for health and social welfare, a social economy enterprise for legal interpreting and a community development organisation for other types of interpreting. Each organisation has a register of interpreters

Medical interpreting and the law in the European Union

In 2011, the Danish government announced that from June that year it would no longer cover the costs of medical interpreters for patients who had been living in Denmark for more than seven years. The Dutch Ministry of Health followed with an even more draconian approach; from 1 January 2012 the cost of translation and interpreting would no longer be covered by the state. These two announcements led to widespread concern about whether or not there is a legal foundation for interpreter provision in healthcare. This article considers United Nations treaties, conventions from the Council of Europe and European Union law. European Union member states have been slow to sign up to international agreements to protect the rights of migrant workers. The European Union itself has only recently moved into the area of discrimination and it is unclear if the Race Directive covers language. As a result, access to interpreters in healthcare, where it exists, is dependent on national anti-discrimination legislation or on positive action taken at national or local level rather than on European or international law

On the irrelevance of the maturity structure of government debt without commitment

This paper presents a government debt game with the property that if the timing of debt auctions within a period is sufficiently unfettered, the set of equilibrium outcome paths of real economic variables given the government has access to a rich debt structure is identical to the set of equilibrium outcome paths given the government can issue only one-period debt.Debt

An evaluation of the third grade social studies curriculum in Quincy, Massachusetts

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Inequality and fairness

This study uses John Rawls' behind-the-veil of ignorance device as a fairness criterion to evaluate social policies and applies it to a contracting model in which the terms equality of opportunity and equality of result are well defined. The results suggest that fairness and inequality-even extreme inequality-are compatible. In a static world, when incentives must be provided, fairness implies equality of opportunity, but inequality of result. In a dynamic world of long-lived individuals, fairness implies not only inequality of result, but also, eventually, infinite inequality of result. If each period of the dynamic model is interpreted as a generation, then eventual infinite inequality holds for opportunity as well, as long as fairness is from the perspective of the first generation. If preferences of later generations are taken into account, then inequality of opportunity still occurs, although not at extreme levels.Econometric models

Opportunity and social mobility

This study argues that both unequal opportunity and social mobility are necessary implications of an efficient societal arrangement when incentives must be provided.Income distribution

Public trust and government betrayal

This paper presents a simple model of government reputation which captures two characteristics of policy outcomes in less developed countries: governments which betray public trust do so erratically, and, after a betrayal, public trust is regained only gradually.Trust ; Trust