Abstract: The Swiss commodity sector has come under increasing scrutiny in the last few years as a result of the substantial growth experienced by global commodity trade since 2002 and the importance of Switzerland as a
leading international commodity trading hub. These developments have put commodity trading squarely on the agenda of Swiss institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Swiss academia has also started engaging in the debate, but faced considerable challenges in contributing to an informed dialogue due to the overall paucity of data still surrounding cross-border and transit activities of Swiss-based commodity companies active in physical and derivatives trading, and the consequent substantial gaps in existing literature as to the impacts associated with commodity investment and trading in Switzerland and in host countries. This paper aims at identifying main knowledge gaps and providing a basis for further academic research on commodity investment and trading, while informing current policy debates and decision-making processes in Switzerland.
In this article, we use the company history of London's Brompton Cemetery to show how burial practices and, more generally, the handling of dead bodies changed during the nineteenth century. We argue that new strategies of dealing with the dead emerged which, in the long run, replaced established patterns: by the mid-19th century burial places were managed according to prevailing notions of efficiency, elaborate marketing schemes were implemented, and administrators used an increasingly economic rationale. To take these developments into account, we suggest the term "economization". In more general terms, we highlight that cemeteries such as Brompton can serve as an indicator of how entrepreneurial action permeated into new strata of British society.
Story-lastige Videospiele versuchen häufig, Spielern moralische Handlungskompetenz zu geben, um ein realistischeres Setting zu erschaffen und den Spieler in dieses eintauchen zu lassen. In der Regel geben sie dem Spieler visuelles Feedback, um die Auswirkungen seiner Handlungen zu illustrieren. Wir wollen zeigen, wie einige Blockbuster-Spiele diese Mechanismen nutzen, und gemeinsam diskutieren, wie man es besser machen könnte - und was denn eigentlich adäquate Massstäbe für "besser" sein mögen.
