There is world-wide convergence in life expectancy, despite little convergence in GDP per capita. If one values longer life much more than material happiness, the world living standards may this have already converged substantially. This paper introduces the concept of the dynastic general...

"This book provides a shortform definitive reference text on funerary practice in Poland. An overview of the important features of the Polish funeral law, funerals, cremations, cemeteries and funeral industry, the book also covers the demographic characteristic of mortality in Poland. Drawing on...

Critics protest loudly against restrictions imposed by politicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: Mandatory masks, lockdowns, school and business closures. This paper examines (1) the extent to which these policies have indirectly contributed to limiting the number of COVID-19 cases...

Recent turbulence in the financial markets has highlighted the need for diversified portfolios with lower correlations between the different investments. Life settlements meet this need, offering investors the prospect of high, stable returns, uncorrelated with the broader financial markets....

Though it has often been passionately criticized--as fraudulent, exploitative, even pagan--the American funeral home has become nearly as inevitable as death itself, an institution firmly embedded in our culture. But how did the funeral home come to hold such a position? What is its history? And...

This study of the rise and decline of industrialization in the Bas-Languedoc region of France uses a 200-year time-frame to examine the process of how and why a successful industrial region manufacturing woollens transformed itself into an agricultural, wine-growing area