Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

J.G.バックハウス他編　A.スミスの300年間－欧州諸国における需要と影響
Backhaus, Juergen G. / Chaloupek, Guenther et al. (eds.), 300 Years of Adam Smith: Reception and Influence in Selected European Countries. (The European Heritage in Economics and the Social Sciences 27) 200 pp. 2024:7 (Springer, GW) <730-15>
ISBN 978-3-031-63260-0 hard ¥39,079.- (税込) EUR 169.99

To mark the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith's birth, the 37th Heilbronn Symposium on Economics and the Social Sciences was dedicated to his outstanding oeuvre, but above all to his most famous work, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776), which is regarded as a keystone of modern economics. The influence of Smith's doctrine has made a lasting contribution to the development of a modern understanding of society and the economy and, in particular, the functioning of markets. This is not least because of the breadth of his approach, with overlaps between political economy, social philosophy and ethics. The planned volume builds on the current state of Smith research and also provides new insights into the dissemination of Smith's ideas in German-speaking countries, but also in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

スコットランド啓蒙思想における年金基金の起源と近代的な年金管理への経路
Milevsky, Moshe A., The Religious Roots of Longevity Risk Sharing: The Genesis of Annuity Funds in the Scottish Enlightenment and the Path to Modern Pension Management. 265 pp. 2024:7 (Springer, GW) <730-16>
ISBN 978-3-031-62402-5 hard ¥29,883.- (税込) EUR 129.99

This book presents a unique historical study on the origins of longevity risk management and its links to religious institutions in the eighteenth century. Throughout history, monarchs, affluent patrons, and wealthy benefactors routinely pledged to provide their devotees with pensions or life annuities, mirroring the biblical concept of 'daily bread for life'. Until the eighteenth century, however, the uncertainty around the longevity of beneficiaries' lives and the difficulty of budgeting for random financial obligations had posed economic challenges that often led to insufficient funding and high default rates. This book narrates the genesis of longevity risk pooling and the first successfully funded annuity scheme in history, an eventual prototype for national pension plans around the world. It examines how a group of Protestant clergymen, scientists, and intellectuals associated with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland pioneered innovative methods for setting up a reversionary annuity and widow's pension plan, guided by actuarial principles. Unknown to many, the economist Adam Smith, and other literati of the Scottish Enlightenment, invested in this novel annuity. Illuminating the social and theological contexts of this scheme, the book argues that religious belief played a critical role in the development of best practices around the prudent management of longevity risk. The practices, values and beliefs in divine probabilities were at the heart of these thought leaders' confidence in long-term financial projections. Shedding light on this fascinating aspect of actuarial history by an examination of the archival records, while also linking to contextual discussions of modern pension challenges, this book will be of interest to scholars and readers interested in finance, insurance, pensions, and religion.