We analyze the first representative series of individual measurements of the height of Swiss conscripts for the years 1875–1950. We find that average height followed a general upward time trend, but the economic downturn in the 1880s slowed down the increase in rural average-heights while the...

[eng] Monetary policy, bank capital and market liquidity . The implementation of the Basel II Capital Accord highlights the role of bank capital in the conduct of monetary policy. The paper studies the three types of instances that central banks may face. In normal times, the distribution of...

[fre] Depuis 1999, le débat sur l’adéquation de la zone euro aux critères d’une ZMO n’est plus de mise. Il n’en subsiste pas moins un débat sur les risques d’une politique monétaire unique one size fits all conduite dans une zone économique et financière encore hétérogène....

In 1835, Edouard Mallet published a notable but today nearly forgotten study of the average height of Genevan conscripts. His individual data included 3029 conscripts born between 1805 and 1814, examined and measured between 1826 and 1835. Mallet's work was only the third auxological study to be...

The heat waves of 2003 in Western Europe and 2010 in Russia, commonly labelled as rare climatic anomalies outside of previous experience, are often taken as harbingers of more frequent extremes in the global warming-influenced future. However, a recent reconstruction of spring–summer...