Tax collection in the Roman Empire: a new institutional economics approach

This paper reviews the Roman tax collection system since the Late Republic to the Principality, focusing on the transition from the tax-farming system to a more centralized, census-based administration. We attempt to justify this transition according to New Institutional Economic theories (Transaction Cost Economics and Property Rights Theory). The paper argues that, during the Republic, the auction-based system of tax farming ended up giving place to opportunistic behaviors and abusing practices due to information asymmetries and contract incompleteness, enhanced by the collusion of tax farmers and governors. The Principality improved the efficiency of the tax collection system through the introduction of a bureaucratic and census-based administration, which allowed imperial employees to monitor the tax-farming activities.

Determining the area corrections affecting the map areas in GIS applications

Nowadays, there are many area-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications such as real estate valuation, land tax, farming support and cost–benefit analysis. Areas used in such applications are calculated by means of two-dimensional plane geometry. However, the computed area value is not the exact area value in the terrain. In order to calculate the exact area value of a parcel, area corrections due to various factors must be taken into account. These factors are selection of projection, slope of the terrain, elevation of the terrain and scale of the map. Selection of projection and slope of terrain are available; elevation of the terrain and scale of map are not available in all GIS software. In this study, the effect of area corrections on the area value calculated from the map is examined with sample applications and the results are presented to the GIS users. According to the results, GIS users should select the equal area projection. In addition, scale of map, elevation and slope of terrain should be taken into account in the area calculation where land measurements are not possible.

Greek papyri of the Classics Department at Stanford (P. Stan. Class.) – Part II

Among the sixteen Ptolemaic texts (33–44) from the collection of the Greek papyri of the Department of Classics at Stanford are petitions, official correspondence, letters, a declaration of surety with royal oath – one the earliest dated texts in the collection (227 bc) – and an account. Most notable is the discovery of the upper part of P. K öln VI 261, a petition to the oikonomos Apollonios (33 + 18) about oil-contraband and prisoners of war. Another petition is addressed to the oikonomos Poseidonios (Prosopographia Ptolemaica I/VIII 1079) about the wool tax (34), while 35, a draft written with an Egyptian rush, reports an effraction at night with arson. The official correspondence deals with tax-farming and oil-bearing products.

Comparative efficiency and capacity analysis of Waqf Agricultural Enterprises (19th century Ottoman and the 21st century Turkey: Aegean Example)

In the study, the foundation olive groves as the foundation agricultural enterprises in the 19th century Ottoman Empire Aegean Region and the 21st century Ayvalik Waqf Olive Groves Management Directorate are examined in terms of productivity and capacity. When the Aegean Region waqf agricultural enterprises were examined in the 19th century, generally waqf olive groves were found. In addition, today's Ayvalık agricultural waqf enterprise is examined. When doing research, Ottoman Archive documents and Ayvalık Waqf Olive Groves reports are used. In the waqf olive groves; When we make a comparison on the basis of villages, today's productivity has increased three times at most in some villages, sometimes the same, sometimes less, compared to the 19th century. Although today's socio-economic conditions and technology are in a better state, there has not been a serious difference in productivity. In the Ottoman Empire, foundation agricultural enterprises were operated by the method of tax-farming. Since today’s waqf agricultural enterprises are operated in a similar way to the tax farming method, we can say that olive groves are operated by modern tax-farming method.

De invloed van het Nederlands op contacttalen in zeventiende-eeuws Taiwan1

In 1624, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) arrived on the island of Taiwan and established a trading post there, which would continue to function until 1662. During this period, Dutch missionaries came to the island with the intention of proselytizing the indigenous Formosan peoples. They built churches and schools and translated Gospels and catechisms into Formosan languages. Over time, language policy changed and there was a concerted effort to teach the indigenous people Dutch. Many Chinese, including traders, fishermen and farmers, also went to Taiwan in this period. To support its investment on the island, the VOC implemented a system of tax-farming among the Chinese, who eventually numbered some 50,000. In this article, an attempt is made to analyse the linguistic consequences of contact between the Dutch on the one hand and the Formosans and Chinese on the other hand. The first of these is that the Dutch taught Formosans to write using a modified Roman script. The Formosans continued to use this script long after the Dutch had been expelled in 1662. Second, Dutch missionaries translated texts into two Formosan languages, Siraya and Favorlang. Since 1662, both languages have died out and so the Dutch texts are among the few sources which allow scholars to study these languages. Third, because of contact with Chinese tax-farmers, at least two Dutch loanwords have been adopted by local Sinitic varieties, both of which function as productive morphemes. Furthermore, one of these words has its own Chinese character. In short, this article aims to illustrate how contact with Dutch influenced other languages in Taiwan and thus to contribute to our understanding of the consequences of contact between Dutch and other languages in East Asia.SamenvattingIn 1624 arriveerde de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) op het eiland Taiwan en vestigde daar een handelspost, Fort Zeelandia, die tot 1662 zou blijven functioneren. Het hoofddoel van de VOC was het drijven van handel met China en eveneens het oprichten van een stophaven voor schepen onderweg tussen Batavia en de VOC-handelsposten in Japan (Hirado 1609-41; Decima vanaf 1641). In hun kielzog kwamen Nederlandse missionarissen in deze periode naar het eiland met de bedoeling, de inheemse Formosanen te bekeren tot het protestantisme. De VOC bouwde kerken en scholen en de missionarissen vertaalden Bijbelteksten en catechismussen in Formosaanse talen, die behoren tot de Austronesische taalfamilie, waartoe o.a. het Maleis en het Tagalog eveneens behoren. In de loop van de tijd veranderde het taalbeleid van de VOC en werd er een gezamenlijke inspanning geleverd om de inheemse bevolking Nederlands te leren. In 1649 stonden er 315 dorpen onder het gezag van de VOC, die 68.675 inwoners telden. Vóór de Nederlandse periode woonden er zo’n 10.000 Chinezen op Taiwan, waarvan de meerderheid handelaren, vissers, piraten en smokkelaars was. In die periode gingen veel andere Chinezen, waaronder veel landarbeiders, naar het eiland. Zij kwamen vooral uit de zuidelijke Chinese provincies Fujian en Guangdong. Om haar investeringen op het eiland te ondersteunen, voerde de VOC een pachtsysteem onder de Chinezen in.In dit artikel wordt een poging gedaan om de gevolgen betreffende de taal te analyseren van het contact tussen de Nederlandse taal enerzijds en de Formosaanse talen en regionale Sinitische talen anderzijds. Drie gevolgen zullen specifiek onder de loep worden genomen. Ten eerste hebben de Nederlandse missionarissen Formosanen geleerd met Latijnse letters te schrijven. Na 1662 bleven de Formosanen dit schriftsysteem om praktische redenen gebruiken tot in de negentiende eeuw. Ten tweede vertaalden de Nederlandse missionarissen christelijke teksten in twee Formosaanse talen, het Siraya en het Favorlangs, die inmiddels zijn uitgestorven. Daarom vormen deze teksten een belangrijke bron voor de hedendaagse studie van die talen, en ook voor de nakomelingen van deze Formosanen die nu proberen het gebruik van het Siraya nieuw leven in te blazen. Ten derde bestaat er als gevolg van het contact tussen de Nederlanders en Chinese pachters een klein aantal toponiemen en leenwoorden, en een nieuw ‘dialectkarakter’ in twee Sinitische talen opgenomen: het Mandarijn en het Taiwanees Zuidelijk Min ofwel het Taiwanees Hokkien. Kortom, dit artikel doet een poging om een aantal van de gevolgen betreffende de taal van de Nederlandse kolonisatie van Taiwan in de zeventiende eeuw aan te tonen en daarmee iets bij te dragen aan onze kennis van de invloed van het Nederlands buiten de Lage Landen, vooral in Oost-Azië.