Leiden

by Peter George Moving to a new city is a many-layered experience. On the one hand, it’s something you can do in a day, like when I first turned up in Leiden from Schiphol airport, not quite sure what I was doing shifting my whole life to a place I’d…

Brief moments, sounds, textures, smells, of the places I’ve been to, back when I used to travel. — Heidelberg, March 2014 Passing by, down the busy Hauptstrasse: A young couple, both very beautiful, looking uneasy, as if they were dating only because they were expected to date someone beautiful. A middle-aged woman, short and stubby, trying half-heartedly to look dressed-up. A girl with glasses, probably overweight according to the fashion industry…

Many of you are familiar with networks, right? You might be using social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. They are social networks. You might be dealing with stock exchanges. Either you might be buying new stocks, selling what you already have, etc. They are networks. Not only…

From Firenze University Press Book: Economic inequality in pre-industrial societies: causes and effect — Arie Van Steensel, University of Groningen, Netherlands The historical study of economic inequality has attracted considerable attention in recent years, even though the topic is not entirely new. …

What can make a small nation great? — Today Dutch people celebrate King’s Day. The Netherlands is a very small (34 000 sq km), relatively crowded (16 million population) country with practically no natural resources. Looking at its resources, you would not be fully prepared to accept the reality that the Netherlands is world’s second exporter of agricultural products…