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County Championship

The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It became an official title in 1890. The competition consists of eighteen clubs named after and representing historic counties, seventeen from England and one from Wales.

The earliest known inter-county match was played in 1709. Until 1889, the concept of an unofficial county championship existed whereby various claims would be made by or on behalf of a particular club as the "Champion County", an archaic term which now has the specific meaning of a claimant for the unofficial title prior to 1890. In contrast, the term "County Champions" applies in common parlance to a team that has won the official title. The most usual means of claiming the unofficial title was by popular or press acclaim. In the majority of cases, the claim or proclamation was retrospective, often by cricket writers using reverse analysis via a study of known results. The unofficial title was not proclaimed in every season up to 1889 because in many cases there were not enough matches or there was simply no clear candidate. Having already been badly hit by the Seven Years' War, county cricket ceased altogether during the Napoleonic Wars and there was a period from 1797 to 1824 during which no inter-county matches took place. The concept of the unofficial title has been utilised ad hoc and relied on sufficient interest being shown.

The official County Championship was constituted in a meeting at Lord's on 10 December 1889 which was called to enable club secretaries to determine the 1890 fixtures. While this was going on, representatives of the eight leading county clubs held a private meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should be decided in the future. The new competition began in the 1890 season and at first involved just the eight leading clubs: Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. Subsequently, the championship has been expanded to 18 clubs by the additions at various times of Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Origin of concept
It is difficult to know when the concept of a county championship originated. While early matches were often between teams named after counties, they were not the club teams the usage would imply today. Rowland Bowen states in his history that the earliest usage of the term "County Championship" occurred in 1837 re a match between Kent and Nottingham Cricket Club which for the purposes of that match was called Nottinghamshire. That may be so re the actual terminology but closer examination of the sources does indicate a much earlier expression of the idea.

The earliest known inter-county match was in 1709 between Kent and Surrey but match results are unknown until the 1720s. The first time a source refers to the superiority of one county is in respect of a match between Edwin Stead's XI from Kent and Sir William Gage's XI from Sussex at Penshurst Park in August 1728. Stead's side won by an unknown margin and the source states that "this was the third time this summer that the Kent men have been too expert for those of Sussex". The following year, Gage's team "turned the scales" and defeated Stead's side, prompting a source to remark that "(the scale of victory) for some years past has been generally on the Kentish side". In 1730, a newspaper referred to the "Kentish champions".

These statements indicate that inter-county matches had been played for many years previously and that there was keen rivalry with each team seeking ascendancy.

Development of county cricket
Inter-county cricket was popular throughout the 18th century although the best team, such as Kent in the 1740s or Hampshire in the days of the Hambledon Club, was usually acknowledged as such by being matched against an "All England" team. There were a number of contemporary allusions to the best county including some in verse, such as one by a Kent supporter celebrating a victory over Hampshire in terms of "(we shall) bring down the pride of the Hambledon Club".

Analysis of 18th century matches has identified a number of strong teams who actually or effectively proclaimed their temporal superiority. The most successful county teams were Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. But there was often a crossover between town and county with some strong local clubs tending at times to represent a whole county. Examples are London, which often played against county teams and was in some respects almost a county club in itself; Slindon, which was for a few years in the 1740s effectively representative of Sussex as a county; Dartford, often representative of Kent; and the Hambledon Club, certainly representative of Hampshire and also perhaps of Sussex. Other good county teams in the 18th century were Berkshire, Essex and Middlesex.

Using the same sort of reverse analysis, it is possible to compile a list of the most competitive teams from the recommencement of county cricket in 1825. Rowland Bowen published his ideas about this in the 1960s when he was the editor of the Cricket Quarterly periodical. He began by stating that Sussex was publicly acknowledged as the "best county" in the 1827 season when they played against All England in the roundarm trial matches, although the team's involvement in these matches had more to do with the fact that Sussex was the prime mover in the "roundarm revolution". Kent, which had a celebrated team at the time, has long been acknowledged as a champion county in most seasons of the 1840s but in other years there is no clear-cut contender.

County clubs
The middle years of the 19th century are the period of county club formation. So, when title "claims" were made on behalf of Sussex in 1826 and 1827, it was for the same loose association based on Brighton Cricket Club that had a successful season in 1792. But claims on behalf of Sussex from 1845 were by the Sussex county club, founded in 1839. A similar situation existed with both Kent and Surrey. Nottinghamshire is the only other claimant before the 1860s, starting in 1852, but all of its claims have been made by the county club which was founded in 1841.

As the popularity of organised cricket grew throughout England, more county clubs came into contention and, by the mid-1860s, they included the short-lived Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Middlesex and Yorkshire. At this time and into the 1870s, the press began to advocate some form of league system and various journals and individuals, including W. G. Grace, began publishing their views about who was the champion in a given season. Grace became interested after the Gloucestershire club was founded in 1870, with himself as captain, and laid several claims to the championship during the 1870s. In the 1870s, it became widely accepted that the side with fewest losses should be the champions. Various lists of unofficial champions began to be compiled by the contemporary press and others, but they are not usually in complete agreement.

The unofficial titles
All "titles" claimed before 1864 are strictly unofficial and are based on (a) contemporary claims made by or on behalf of a particular team and recorded at the time; (b) reverse analysis performed by a writer who was trying to establish the best team in a given season by reference to the known fixtures and results. It must be stressed that the purpose of such lists when published has never been to ascribe any kind of ruling but rather to provoke discussion. No real credibility can be attached to such claims except to acknowledge that a team was especially strong over a number of years: e.g., Kent in the 1720s; London in the 1730s; Hampshire in the 1770s and 1780s; Sussex in the 1820s; Kent in the 1840s; and Surrey in the 1850s.

From 1864 to 1889, the county championship title remained unofficial except that the idea was widely promoted by individuals in the contemporary press and that had not happened hitherto apart from occasional points of view. Each journalist tended to have his own ideas about the calculation method and the matches to be included, but there was a certain amount of consensus in the main, generally favouring the team with fewest defeats. The list below gives the champions quoted by the most prominent sources, including W. G. Grace (1864–1889), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1864–1889), John Lillywhite's Cricketer's Companion (1865–1884), James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual (1871–1889) and Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game (1882–1889).

 * 1864 – Surrey
 * 1865 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1866 – Middlesex
 * 1867 – Yorkshire
 * 1868 – Nottinghamshire (Wisden) & Yorkshire (Grace)
 * 1869 – Nottinghamshire & Yorkshire (shared by consensus)
 * 1870 – Yorkshire
 * 1871 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1872 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1873 – Gloucestershire & Nottinghamshire (shared by consensus)
 * 1874 – Gloucestershire
 * 1875 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1876 – Gloucestershire
 * 1877 – Gloucestershire
 * 1878 – undecided
 * 1879 – Lancashire & Nottinghamshire (shared by consensus)
 * 1880 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1881 – Lancashire
 * 1882 – Lancashire & Nottinghamshire (shared by consensus)
 * 1883 – Nottinghamshire & Yorkshire (shared by consensus)
 * 1884 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1885 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1886 – Nottinghamshire
 * 1887 – Surrey
 * 1888 – Surrey
 * 1889 – Lancashire, Nottinghamshire & Surrey (shared by consensus)

The final tally over these 26 seasons was, therefore, Nottinghamshire (8 titles plus 7 shared); Gloucestershire (3/1); Surrey (3/1); Yorkshire (2/3); Lancashire (1/3); Middlesex (1/0).

Qualification rules
In 1873, player qualification rules came into force which required players to choose at the start of each season whether they would play for the county of their birth or their county of residence. Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for both counties during the course of a single season. Three meetings were held, and at the last of these, held at The Oval on 9 June 1873, the following rules were decided on:

 * "That no cricketer, whether amateur or professional, shall play for more than one county during the same season".
 * "Every cricketer born in one county and residing in another shall be free to choose at the commencement of each season for which of those counties he will play, and shall, during that season, play for the one county only".
 * "A cricketer shall be qualified to play for the county in which he is residing and has resided for the previous two years: or a cricketer may elect to play for the county in which his family home is, so long as it remains open to him as an occasional residence".
 * "That should any question arise as to the residential qualification, the same shall be left to the decision of the Marylebone Cricket Club".

Newspaper 'leagues'
It was in the 1870s that newspapers began to print tables of inter-county results and then proclaim a champion on the basis of their chosen criteria. In Arthur Haygarth's Scores and Biographies, reference is often made to "least matches lost" as a means of deciding the champion. This was a method that, in a modified form, permeated through to the official championship when one point was awarded for a win but one was deducted for a defeat. It was discontinued after 1909 as it was deemed to be inherently unsatisfactory and a points per win method replaced it in 1910.

As Derek Birley describes, the papers did not use standard criteria and so there were several seasons in which any title must be considered "shared", as there was no universally recognised winner. With no consistency of approach, the issue inevitably led to argument, counter-arguments and confusion until the matter was taken in hand at the meeting of club secretaries in December 1889 where the official championship was constituted.

In Roy Webber's The County Cricket Championship, he asserts that the championship "is generally accepted as starting in the 1873 season but that is a convenient date decided upon many years later" because 1873 was "the first season in which rules of county qualification were in operation". Webber acknowledges the difficulties posed from 1873 to 1890 by varying programmes with some county clubs playing many more matches than others. For example, in 1874 when Derbyshire was held by some to have won the title, they played only four matches while Yorkshire played twelve. A list of champions for the period would be subjective and in most seasons there would be strongly competing claims. In general, it may be asserted that Gloucestershire with all three Grace brothers were the strongest team in most of the 1870s; Nottinghamshire were in the ascendancy from about 1879 to 1886; and then Surrey from 1887 through the start of the official championship in 1890.

First official competition
When the annual meeting of county club secretaries was held at Lord's on 10 December 1889, their purpose was to decide on a fixture programme for the 1890 season. As reported by Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game: "'While the secretaries were engaged in making the fixtures the representatives of the eight leading counties – Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Lancashire, Kent, Middlesex, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, and Sussex – held a private meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should in future be decided. The meeting was, we understand, not quite unanimous, but a majority were in favour of ignoring drawn games altogether and settling the question of championship by wins and losses. As it was agreed to abide by the views of the majority, this decision was accepted as final. Subsequently representatives of the following eight minor counties – Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Hampshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Durham and Essex – held a similar meeting in private, and unanimously decided to apply the same rule to minor county cricket'."

The first-ever official cricket County Championship match began on 12 May 1890: Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. James Cranston (Gloucestershire) scored the first century in the competition. The final positions in 1890 were based on number of wins minus the number of losses. Later, a points system was introduced but it has been subject to several variations.

Expansion and points systems
In the 1891 season, Somerset competed in the championship and in 1895 Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire all joined; the rules were changed so each side had to play at least 16 matches per season. Until World War II, counties played differing numbers of matches, except that all counties were required to play 28 matches in each season from 1929 to 1932 inclusive. When the championship resumed in 1946, teams played 26 matches per season, and the pattern of a fixed number of matches has continued since then, although the number has varied, but again there was an exception. From 1960 to 1962 inclusive, counties could choose whether to play 28 or 32 matches.

The original points system was simply wins minus losses but with the expansion in 1895 the points system was modified so that the ratio of points to finished games (games minus draws) decided the final positions.

In 1910 the system was modified again so that the order was based on ratio of matches won to matches played, while from 1911 to 1967 a variety of systems were used that generally relied on points for wins and for first innings leads in games left unfinished. Since 1968, the basis has been wins (increased from 10 points in 1968, to 12 in 1976, to 16 in 1981, then back down to 12 in 1999, up to 14 in 2004 and currently 16) and "bonus points", which are earned for scoring a certain number of runs or taking a certain number of wickets in the first 110 overs of each first innings (the number of overs has changed at various times, but has been 110 since 2010). In an effort to prevent early finishes, points have been awarded for draws since 1996. From 1974 to 1981 there was a limit of 200 overs for the first two innings; the team batting first were restricted to 100 overs and any unused overs were added to those allowed to the team batting second.

Of the current 18 sides in County Cricket the remaining four joined at the following dates:

 * Worcestershire in 1899 (did not play in 1919)
 * Northamptonshire in 1905
 * Glamorgan in 1921
 * Durham in 1992

An invitation in 1921 to Buckinghamshire was declined, due to lack of proper playing facilities, and an application by Devon in 1948 to join was rejected.

In the 21st century, questions have been raised about the future of the County Championship in the light of the shaky financial structure of many counties, poor attendances and the rise of Twenty20 cricket. Doubts have been raised over many decades concerning the competition's viability, yet it still survives. The Changing Face of Cricket (1966) by Sir Learie Constantine and Denzil Batchelor, made negative predictions about county cricket.

Recent developments
All matches prior to 1988 were scheduled for three days, normally of a nominal six hours each plus intervals, but often with the first two days lengthened by up to an hour and the final day shortened, so that teams with fixtures elsewhere on the following day could travel at sensible hours. The exception to this was the 1919 season, when there was an experiment with two-day matches played over longer hours, up to nine o'clock in the evening in mid-summer. This experiment was not repeated. From 1988 to 1992 some matches were played over four days, with each county playing six four-day and sixteen three-day games. From 1993 onwards, all matches have been scheduled for four days. In 2000, the championship adopted a two-divisional format with promotion and relegation each season. The ECB announced that, from 2017, Division One would contain eight teams and Division Two ten teams, with only one team being promoted from Division Two in 2016. The two-up, two-down arrangement applied for 2017 and 2018, but it was then decided to reverse the sizes of the divisions with effect from 2020, with three teams to be promoted and only one relegated at the end of the 2019 season.

From 2016 to 2019 there was no mandatory toss, with the away side having the option to bowl first. If the away side declined to bowl first, the toss still took place. This regulation was introduced on an experimental basis for the 2016 season but retained from 2017 to 2019 after being judged a success in its objectives of making games last longer and encouraging spin bowling. The mandatory toss was reinstated from the 2020 season with the ECB taking the view that increased pitch penalties and changes to the seam of the ball would improve the balance between batting and bowling.

The competition was not held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, being replaced by an abbreviated competition called the Bob Willis Trophy.

In 2021 for one season only, there was a revised Championship format, with the aim of mitigating the impact of COVID-19. This consisted of three seeded groups of six teams playing home and away, after which the final three divisions were allocated, and the teams played the four teams they had not already played in their new division home and away. The top team in the top division at the end of the season were crowned Champions, with the top two teams in the top division going on to play for the Bob Willis Trophy in a five-day final at Lords.

Points system
The county championship works on a points system, the winner being the team with most points in the first division. The points are currently awarded as follows, with a draw being increased to 8 points from 2024 after a reduction to 5 points in 2023:

Win: 16 points + bonus points

Tie: 8 points + bonus points Draw: 8 points + bonus points

Loss: Bonus points

Bonus points are collected for batting and bowling. These points can only be obtained from the first 110 overs of each team's first innings. The bonus points are retained regardless of the outcome of the match. Batting points from 2023 onwards can start to be accrued at 250 runs, not 200 runs as was the case in the 2022 season, and seasons before that.

 * Batting

 * 250-299 runs: 1 point
 * 300-349 runs: 2 points
 * 350-399 runs: 3 points
 * 400-449 runs: 4 points
 * 450+ runs: 5 points

 * Bowling

 * 3-5 wickets taken: 1 point
 * 6-8 wickets taken: 2 points
 * 9-10 wickets taken: 3 points

Deductions
Occasionally, a team may have points deducted. Reasons for points deductions are as follows:

 * Fielding an unregistered player: Points were deducted from Lancashire and Sussex in 1978, and Middlesex in 1981. In each case, the county had played an unregistered player in one match, and all points awarded in that match were deducted.
 * Poor pitches: Penalties for poor pitches were initially introduced at 25 points (one more than the points for a win with maximum bonus points at the time). The first team to lose points for a poor pitch were Essex in 1989, a deduction which cost them first place in the championship. In later years, smaller penalties were introduced. In 2011, Warwickshire, Hampshire and Kent were all docked 8 points for poor pitches at Edgbaston, the Rose Bowl and Canterbury respectively. In 2019 Somerset were deducted 24 points, of which 12 were applied in the 2021 competition and 12 were suspended for the 2022 competition, for a poor pitch in their title-deciding game with Essex.
 * Slow over rates: Deductions for a slow over rate were introduced in 2001, units of 0.25 points per over short of the target number in any match. The penalty was increased to 0.5 points per over in 2004, and to 1 point per over in 2008.
 * Ball-tampering: Surrey lost 8 points for ball-tampering in 2005 and were relegated at the end of that season.
 * Breach of salary cap: Durham were subject to a 2.5-point penalty in the 2013 County Championship, as well as penalties in the limited over competitions, for breach of the salary cap in 2012. Despite this penalty, Durham still won the County Championship in 2013.
 * Discipline: Leicestershire were fined 16 points in 2015 "in respect of five or more separate occasions when their players committed fixed penalty offences in a 12-month period." Leicestershire were fined 16 points in 2017 after a further five offences in the previous 12 months.
 * Financial issues: As well as being demoted from Division One, Durham were subject to a 48-point penalty in Division Two in the 2017 County Championship and penalties in the limited over competitions. This was for requiring financial assistance from the ECB. Middlesex had a points deduction imposed in each county competition equal to one win imposed in September 2023, suspended until 31 October 2025, for breaching ECB financial regulations.
 * Other: Yorkshire were deducted 48 points in 2023 by the Cricket Discipline Commission for their handling of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club racism scandal.

Tie-breakers
If any sides have equal points, tie-breakers are applied in the following order: most wins, fewest losses, team achieving most points in contests between teams level on points, most wickets taken, most runs scored.

Official county champions
Yorkshire have won the most County Championships with 32 outright titles and one shared. Three current first-class counties (Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Somerset) have never won the official title, although Gloucestershire had claim to three unofficial titles in the 1870s.

Promoted and relegated
Since 2000, there have been two divisions, and promotion and relegation between them. Every county has experienced both divisions at some stage. For the 2020 and 2021 seasons, there was no promotion or relegation due to the revised formats brought around by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Durham finished fourth in 2016 but were relegated as a penalty by the ECB over financial issues, replacing Hampshire who finished eighth.

Wooden spoons
Since the expansion of the Championship from 9 counties to 14 in 1895, the wooden spoon for finishing bottom has been 'won' by the teams shown in the table below. Lancashire, Middlesex, and Surrey have never finished bottom. Leicestershire have shared last place twice, with Hampshire and Somerset.

Records
Records can be found at Cricket Archive – County Championship Records.

Highest team scores
A team has scored 800 or more runs in the County Championship on seven occasions, with Yorkshire holding the record for the highest score of 887 all out against Warwickshire in 1896.

Sponsors
The County Championship has been sponsored since 2021 by Liverpool Victoria and titled the LV= County Championship.

The competition has been sponsored since 1977, as follows;
 * 1977–1983 Schweppes
 * 1984–1998 Britannic Assurance
 * 1999–2000 AXA ppp Healthcare
 * 2001 Cricinfo
 * 2002–2005 Frizzell
 * 2006–2015 Liverpool Victoria (now branded as "LV=")
 * 2016–2019 Specsavers
 * 2021–2023 LV= Insurance
 * 2024-present Vitality Health and Life Insurance

title: County Championship


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Thierachern

Thierachern  is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

History
Thierachern is first mentioned in 1250 as Tierachern.

The area around Thierachern was occupied during the neolithic era, the Bronze Age and the La Tène era. The remains of a Roman era settlement and graves were discovered under the village church. Additional Roman or early medieval stone lined cists were found near Egg. Other graves, of an indeterminate age, have been found in Oberen Hasliholz, by Halterain and by Wahlen. All the prehistoric artifacts indicate that the area has had a long history of human habitation.

The village first appears in historic records as a part of the Herrschaft of Strättligen. The village church of St. Martin was first mentioned in 1228 as one of the 12 Lake Thun churches in the Strättliger Chronicle. The current church dates to 1706-08 when Abraham Dünz the Younger rebuilt the old building. When the Strättligen family died out in 1349, the village was inherited and sold to several lords over the following centuries. In 1594 the von May family from Bern acquired the village. They sold it to Bern in 1607 and the village became part of the Bernese Thun District. In 1841 the village sold a large Allmend or common field (about 23% of the total land area) to the Swiss Army for a training ground for the barracks at Thun.

In the 1960s commuters began to move into the village to escape the growing city of Thun. To house the growing population several new housing developments grew up in the municipality. Today over 80% of the population commutes to jobs in Thun. Of the jobs remaining in the municipality, about 35% are in agriculture, while only 13% are in industry.

Geography
Thierachern has an area of. As of the 2004 survey, a total of 5.01 km2 or 66.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.3 km2 or 17.3% is forested. Of rest of the municipality 0.93 km2 or 12.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km2 or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.26 km2 or 3.5% is unproductive land. Between the 1981 and 2004 surveys the settled area increased from 0.7 km2 to 0.93 km2, an increase of 32.86%.

From the same survey, housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.9%. A total of 16.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 41.1% is used for growing crops and 23.8% is pasturage, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 2.4% is unproductive vegetation and 1.1% is too rocky for vegetation.

The municipality is located 5 km from downtown Thun along the Aare river. It consists of the village of Thierachern and the hamlets of Wahlen, Egg and Schwand.

On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Thun, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Thun.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or a Deer rampant Gules on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.

Demographics
Thierachern has a population of. , 3.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of 3.4%. Migration accounted for 1.6%, while births and deaths accounted for 1.0%.

Most of the population speaks German (1,838 or 97.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (17 or 0.9%) and English is the third (7 or 0.4%). There are 6 people who speak Italian.

, the population was 48.7% male and 51.3% female. The population was made up of 1,074 Swiss men (47.3% of the population) and 34 (1.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,136 Swiss women (50.0%) and 29 (1.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 470 or about 24.9% were born in Thierachern and lived there in 2000. There were 1,060 or 56.1% who were born in the same canton, while 235 or 12.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 93 or 4.9% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.9%.

, there were 761 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 953 married individuals, 94 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 223 households that consist of only one person and 78 households with five or more people. , a total of 758 apartments (93.3% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 31 apartments (3.8%) were seasonally occupied and 23 apartments (2.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 9.4 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0.6%. In 2012, single family homes made up 60.1% of the total housing in the municipality.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Economy
, Thierachern had an unemployment rate of 1.42%. , there were a total of 425 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 97 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 33 businesses involved in this sector. The secondary sector employs 79 people and there were 20 businesses in this sector. The tertiary sector employs 248 people, with 84 businesses in this sector. There were 1,020 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.0% of the workforce.

there were a total of 285 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 64, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 72 of which 16 or (22.2%) were in manufacturing and 56 (77.8%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 149. In the tertiary sector; 52 or 34.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 4.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 10 or 6.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 24 or 16.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 32 or 21.5% were in education and 12 or 8.1% were in health care.

, there were 158 workers who commuted into the municipality and 815 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 205 workers (56.5% of the 363 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Thierachern. Of the working population, 15.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.2% used a private car.

The local and cantonal tax rate in Thierachern is one of the lowest in the canton. In 2012 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Thierachern making 150,000 CHF was 11.9%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 17.8%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in 2011, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively.

In 2010 there were a total of 1,009 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 330 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 9 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Thierachern was 107,395 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 131,244 CHF.

In 2011 a total of 1.7% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.

Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 34.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (16.0%), the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (14.1%) and the Evangelical People's Party (EVP) (9.2%). In the federal election, a total of 917 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 52.7%.

Religion
From the, 1,462 or 77.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 182 or 9.6% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 9 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.48% of the population), and there were 101 individuals (or about 5.35% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 6 (or about 0.32% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 85 (or about 4.50% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 36 individuals (or about 1.91% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education
In Thierachern about 65.2% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 16.9% have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 215 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 75.8% were Swiss men, 20.0% were Swiss women, 2.8% were non-Swiss men.

The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

During the 2012-13 school year, there were a total of 362 students attending classes in Thierachern. There were a total of 50 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 4.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 4.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 168 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 2.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 4.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary school had a total of 144 students. There were 0.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 2.1% have a different mother language than the classroom language.

, there were a total of 306 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 225 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 81 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 50 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Thierachern is home to the Schul- und Volksbibliothek Thierachern library. The library has 5,072 books or other media, and loaned out 13,669 items in the same year. It was open a total of 125 days with average of 6 hours per week during that year.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Thierachern


text:
Guadalupe caracara

The Guadalupe caracara (Caracara lutosa) or mourning caracara is an extinct bird of prey belonging to the falcon family (Falconidae). It was, together with the closely related crested caracara (Caracara plancus), formerly placed in the genus Polyborus. It was also known as the quelili or the calalie.

Distribution and taxonomy
This species inhabited Mexico's Guadalupe Island until the beginning of the 20th century. The crested caracara is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Guadalupe caracara", because the extinct birds were formerly considered a subspecies of the extant taxon. They were reinstated as a full species in 2000.

History
Described as "evil" and "vicious" by early observers, it was driven to extinction by a hunting and poisoning campaign led by goat herders on Guadalupe Island. As described by Edward Palmer:

"The 'Calalie' is abundant on every part of the island; and no bird could be a more persistent or more cruel enemy of the poultry and domestic animals. It is continually on the watch, and in spite of every precaution often snatches its prey from the very doors of the houses. The destruction of the wild goats is not so great, as these animals are better able to protect themselves than the tame ones. No sooner is one kid born - while the mother is in labor with the second - than the birds pounce upon it; and should the old one be able to interfere, she is also assaulted. No kid is safe from their attacks. Should a number be together, the birds unite their forces, and, with great noise and flapping of their wings, generally manage to separate the weakest one and dispatch it. They sometimes fasten upon the tongue when the poor creature opens its mouth to bleat, and have been known to tear it out, leaving the animal to perish, if not otherwise destroyed. Sometimes the anus is the point of first attack. The birds are cruel in the extreme, and the torture sometimes inflicted upon the defenceless animals is painful to witness... Even when food is plenty, they often attack living animals instead of contenting themselves with the carcasses of those already dead, seeming to delight in killing. Should one of their number be disabled or wounded, it is instantly dispatched by the rest."

Conservation
In 1876 the species was common throughout the island. However, in March 1897, only one bird was encountered, but additional members of the species survived. On 1 December 1900 collector Rollo Beck encountered 11 and preserved nine as scientific specimens. He may have shot the last of the caracaras on Guadalupe Island, believing from their fearlessness and ease of finding them that they were common. There was one more (unconfirmed) sighting in 1903; the bird was certainly gone by 1906.

The Guadalupe caracara is one of the few species that were intentionally rendered extinct by humans. In its particular case, it was demanded by goat farmers that the birds were to be killed off as they occasionally fed on young goats (though the role of the caracara as a predator of goats was much exaggerated). It stands to note that its erstwhile home was at that time being devastated by tens of thousands of goats gone feral, leading to the extinction of several endemic species caused by the near-total destruction of habitat.

In an apparent case of coextinction, the ischnoceran louse Acutifrons caracarensis is only known from the Guadalupe caracara.

Around 35 specimens (skins, skeletons and two eggs) remain in public collections today. Specimens are available for display in Chicago, Washington, and London.

title: Guadalupe caracara


text:
Michael R. Douglas

Michael R. Douglas (born November 19, 1961) is an American theoretical physicist, best known for his work in string theory and mathematical physics.

Biography
Douglas was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Nancy and Ronald G. Douglas, a mathematician specializing in operator algebras. He received his bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University. He then went to Caltech and received a PhD in physics in 1988 under John Schwarz, one of the developers and leading researchers in superstring theory.

After completing his PhD, Douglas was a postdoc at the University of Chicago for one year, then moved to Rutgers University in 1989 with Dan Friedan and Steve Shenker to help start the New High Energy Theory Center (NHETC). He was promoted to assistant professor in 1990 but spent his first year visiting the École Normale Supérieure and the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He became an associate professor at Rutgers in 1995, and left for a year in 1997–1998 to take up a permanent position at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques. He then returned to Rutgers and in 2000 became the director of the NHETC. In 2008, Douglas moved from Rutgers to become the first permanent member of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, a research center at Stony Brook University. In 2012, Douglas left Stony Brook University to work for Renaissance Technologies, the famous quantitative hedge fund. He returned to academia in 2020 and is presently a long-term visitor at the Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications at Harvard University, doing research on machine learning and its applications in scientific research.

Douglas is best known for the development of matrix models (the first nonperturbative formulations of string theory), for his work on Dirichlet branes and on noncommutative geometry in string theory, and for the development of the statistical approach to string phenomenology. He was on the team (led by Gerald J. Sussman) that built the Digital Orrery, a special-purpose computer for computations in celestial mechanics, and maintains an active interest in computer science. He is also very active in organizing schools and workshops, for example at Les Houches, Cargese, and the KITP Santa Barbara.

Douglas received the 2000 Sackler Prize in theoretical physics and has been a Gordon Moore Visiting Scholar at Caltech and a Clay Mathematics Institute Mathematical Emissary. In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He has a long association with the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, as a Louis Michel Visiting Professor from 2000 to 2008, and as chairman and President of the Friends of IHES from 2013 to 2021.

Douglas is married and has two children. His wife, Nina Ilieva Douglas, is an artist. Her sculpture of Alexander Grothendieck is on permanent display at the IHES.

title: Michael R. Douglas


text:
Marrow (character)

Sarah Rushman is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jeph Loeb and artist David Brewer, the character first appeared in Cable #15 (September 1994). Rushman belongs to the subspecies of humans called mutants who are born with superhuman abilities. She is known under the codename Marrow. She is able to make her bones grow out of her skin. These can be removed from her body, providing her with potential knives, clubs, and body armor.

As a child, Rushman was taken in by the Morlocks, a band of grotesque-looking mutants who hid in tunnels beneath New York City. As a young adult, she formed the violent splinter cell Gene Nation until, under the orders of Morlock leader Callisto, she joined the X-Men to redeem herself. She made progress controlling her powers and learning a moral code, but eventually fell in with the paramilitary group Weapon X.

Publication history
Sarah Rushman debuted in Cable #15 (September 1994), created by writer Jeph Loeb and artist David Brewer. She later appeared as Marrow in the 1995 X-Men Prime one-shot. She appeared in the 2000 Spidey/Marrow one-shot, the 2006 X-Factor series, and the 2019 Marauders series.

Origin
As a child, Sarah was one of the underground-dwelling Morlocks. During the Mutant Massacre that devastated the Morlock community, she witnessed the mauling of Angel by the Marauders. She was saved by Gambit, who was then not yet known by the X-Men. Years later, most of the surviving Morlocks (including Sarah) were apparently killed by Mikhail Rasputin, although they were actually brought to another dimension. There, Mikhail had established a citadel for himself on the top of a massive hill. The Social Darwinist philosophy of "survival of the fittest" was the only thing which governed the society. If someone could reach the summit of the hill, they were considered "fit" and worthy of being part of Gene Nation. [Storm #1-4 1996]

The former Morlock leader Callisto cared for Marrow during this period and displayed a maternal attitude towards the young mutant, although the two are not known to be biologically related. When her powers fully manifested, she was forced to "up the hill", becoming more savage and killing her opponents to survive. When she managed to reach the top, Mikhail considered her fit to join his elite fighting team Gene Nation, which eventually became a terrorist group whose mission was to punish humans for their hatred towards mutants.

Gene Nation
In that harsh dimension, time passed quickly, and when Marrow and several other members of Gene Nation (of which she had become leader) returned to Earth, they discovered only a few years had passed during their absence. Marrow and the other members of Gene Nation began a homicidal terrorist campaign against surface-dwelling humans. After inconclusive battles with the X-Men and Generation X, Gene Nation was defeated by the X-Men. Marrow wired a time bomb to her own heart to force the X-Man Storm, who had herself led the Morlocks in the past, to either yield or kill her; Storm tore out Marrow's heart. However, due to Marrow's possession of two hearts to compensate for her random bone growth and superhuman regenerative abilities, she survived. Marrow eventually reunited with Callisto, and while they continued their terrorist activities, Callisto tried to hold back Marrow's more violent ways.

X-Men
After a battle with Cable, Marrow and Callisto returned to seclusion. When Callisto was injured by a Prime Sentinel during the events of Operation: Zero Tolerance, she directed Marrow to seek the aid of the X-Men. After teaming up with Iceman and Cecilia Reyes, Marrow went to the Xavier Institute. She joined the X-Men for a time, coming under the mentorship of Wolverine and flirting with her teammate Cannonball. When the team came under the attack of the Shadow King, Marrow managed to resist when the Shadow King tempted and tortured her in an attempt to gain her loyalty. She also helped Cannonball resist by viciously destroying the illusion of his abusive father. Cannonball was shaken by seeing Marrow slay the illusion of his parent.

Marrow also participated in the fight against the returning N'Garai, extra-dimensional monsters who were loose on the grounds of the X-Mansion. She saved fellow X-Men Cecilia Reyes by impaling one of the creatures threatening her.

Around this time Marrow would confront Spider-Man, because both were interested in investigating a unique type of kidnapping. Eyewitnesses reported the victims literally dragged into the sewers, something which of course interested Marrow, because of her Morlock heritage. Investigating the disappearances, they discovered them to be the work of the vampire-like being known as Hunger, who was swiftly defeated in a confrontation with Spider-Man.

During an adventure in another dimension, Gambit, unable to control his powers, accidentally injured Marrow. She later traveled to the past with the X-Men, ending up on the Skrull homeworld a short time before the cosmic entity known as Galactus would destroy it. A medical device gave her more control over her powers, giving her a "prettier" appearance. The suspension-properties of a captured Skrull rescue ship allowed her and her fellow X-Men to make the journey back to earth in real time, without aging at all. Thus, for a while, two Marrows existed in the time stream, one on earth and one in space.

The change of her features led to major softening of her personality, to the point where she reached out to Jubilee following Wolverine's disappearance in the lead up to "The Twelve" storyline. She also tried to cheer up returning X-Man Colossus in a scheme involving his artwork and her storytelling.

Marrow left the X-Men during the six-month gap preceding the "X-Men Revolution", though her reasons for doing so are unclear.

She was next seen brainwashed by S.H.I.E.L.D. under the alias of "Sarah Rushman" used as a sleeper agent. Her mission was to terminate rogue Life Model Decoys. She had a split personality (mutant Marrow and human teenager Sarah) and had to be periodically injected to keep her implanted memory. With Spider-Man's help (he briefly dated her Sarah personality as Mary Jane was believed dead at this point), she freed herself from SHIELD's control by faking a suicide.

Weapon X
Marrow was later recruited by the most recent incarnation of Weapon X, who again normalized her appearance and her powers. However, she eventually betrayed Weapon X upon discovering their anti-mutant nature. She used the remnants of Cable's Underground to reform the Gene Nation terrorist group and, as their leader, led several terrorist attacks on Weapon X until the rest of the group was slaughtered by Agent Zero. Agent Zero left her alone, not wanting her to become a martyr, but he warned her that he would come after her again after he had hunted down the remaining members of Gene Nation.

Decimation
Marrow was next seen as a spokeswoman of a band of Morlocks after M-Day. She gave an interview to Sally Floyd for her ex-mutant diaries. Marrow remains underground to protect and give hope to the few mutants who remain and those who fear going to the surface to live normal lives. Mike Marts, editor for the X-Men comic books, confirmed in an interview that although Sarah retains some of the physical attributes of her mutation, her actual mutant powers disappeared during Decimation.

X-Cell
Marrow later turns up as a member of X-Cell, a terrorist group of former mutants believing that M-Day was caused by the U.S. government. As part of X-Cell, Marrow fought M and Siryn of X-Factor Investigations and after a turn of events in which she and Callisto learned the truth about who is responsible for M-Day, she turned against X-Cell supporter Quicksilver. Both heavily injured each other with a knife wound during the fight. Afterwards, she and Callisto managed to escape X-Factor and the government through the sewers.

X-Force
In Feb. 2014, Marrow returns as a member of a new X-Force team, along with a semblance of her powers intact. After some examination from Doctor Nemesis, Marrow is revealed to be not a mutant. It has since been revealed that Marrow wasn't abducted at all. She willingly approached Volga, the one responsible for giving former mutants their powers back, for an experimental procedure to restore her power. At this point Marrow was already pregnant and despite the great risks this posed for her child, she accepted. The procedure was successful, and Marrow's powers were restored at the cost of her child, and she was left for dead in Alexandria during the Alexandria Incident. She was eventually found by Cable, who provided her with an inhibitor collar built by Doctor Nemesis to suppress her memories and control her powers.

Secret Empire
In the Secret Empire storyline, Marrow is affiliated with New Tian and fights along other mutants. Afterwards, Sarah joins Magneto's new Brotherhood of Mutants. She and others under his service attack an anti-mutant rally in Washington DC. Some time later she appears at a self-help group therapy session for mutants who suffered from debilitating appearances due to their abilities.

Disassembled
After a massive reality distorting event caused by X-Man had left much of the mutant population decimated once again, Marrow and a couple of other mutants work with Emma Frost as debutantes in her new Hellfire Club. But they are soon beset by the O.N.E., now under command of the bigoted and corrupt Robert Callahan as part of his campaign of registering, incarcerating and modifying mutants for the purpose of exterminating other mutants. The duplicitous director coerces the Black King into tracking other mutants for his minions to round up in his government sanctioned facilities while under threat of execution. But Emma works with Marrow the others to contact the last remaining X-Men to deal with the O.N.E.

Dawn of X
Somewhere later down the line; after the new mutant nation of Krakoa was established and declared its independence upon the world stage, Professor X offers amnesty to all of mutant kind in the form of an invite to their personal island nation. Even the more socially abrasive amongst Homo Superior are welcomed amongst their growing numbers, as Marrow could be seen amongst an enclave of villainous mutants who accepted his summons. She is now a duly recognized citizen of the mutant nation.

Powers and abilities
Sarah Rushman possesses the ability to enhance the growth of her skeletal structure. She uses her power in many ways, including the creation of knuckle guards, spears, and projectile spikes. She also has a healing factor and enhanced immune system, much in the same vein as Wolverine since every time a bone is ripped out a wound which remains closes itself soon after. Her bones seem to be much more durable than normal; she had easily survived heavy hits in multiple areas of her body. Flag-Smasher hit her twice on the head with his mace without much damage, and Sabretooth likewise threw her against a wall without harm. Rushman also jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge twice (something that would have resulted in death or at least crippling injuries) without any major damage, being able to walk away from the scene. She possesses two hearts to compensate for her random bone growth as well, so when Storm ripped one out she was able to survive.

Rushman is also more agile and stronger than the average woman in her age group and physical condition, and has excellent tracking skills.

Critical response
Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly stated Sarah Rushman embodies "superhero body horror at its finest," saying Swiss artist Hans Ruedi Giger would have appreciated the character. Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Sarah Rushman a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character. Amer Sawan of Comic Book Resources noted the similarities between the powers of Sarah Rushman and the newly-acquired abilities of Captain Boomerang from DC Comics.

Impact
Sarah Rushman placed 8th in a popularity contest held by Marvel Comics in 2021, which served to determine who would be the final member of a new X-Men team that would debut during the Hellfire Gala storyline.

X-Men: Age of Apocalypse.
An alternate version of Sarah Rushman appears in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse. She makes a brief appearance in the second issue of the limited series, as a member of the Morlocks, a group of mutants who were victims of Sinister's experiments at the Breeding Pens. While it wasn't explicitly stated, it can be assumed that the reason Marrow became an adult without being at The Hill was due to the horrific experiments she was put through in the Breeding Pens.

House of M
An alternate version of Sarah Rushman appears in the "House of M" storyline. She is a member of the Red Guard whose mission is to capture or eliminate the Hood's gang in Santa Rico. Sarah helped Rogue in killing the Sandman only to be shot down by the Hood.

Age of X
An alternate version of Sarah Rushman appears in the alternate reality depicted in the "Age of X" storyline. She possessed her powers. Whether she retained them after being returned to Reality-616 with the X-Men and other mutants remains to be seen.

Ultimate X-Men
An alternate version of Sarah Rushman appears in Ultimate X-Men.She is killed by Mister Sinister acting on orders from Apocalypse.

Television

 * Sarah Rushman / Marrow appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, voiced by Tara Strong. This version is a member of Charles Xavier's future X-Men who hails from a post-apocalyptic, Sentinel-controlled future and initially doubts his leadership. After befriending and losing a reprogrammed Sentinel she had nicknamed "Rover", she secretly helps the Sentinels to spite Xavier until her teammates get caught in the crossfire and the Sentinels betray her. Afterward, she and Polaris help Xavier defeat Master Mold.
 * Sarah Rushman / Marrow makes a cameo appearance in X-Men '97.

Film
Sarah Rushman / Marrow makes a cameo appearance in Deadpool. She is a patient at the underground facility where Wade Wilson is taken for experiment.

Video games

 * Sarah Rushman / Marrow appears as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, voiced by Susan Hart.
 * Sarah Rushman / Marrow makes a cameo appearance in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.
 * Sarah Rushman / Marrow appears as a boss in X-Men Legends, voiced by Nancy Linari. This version is the leader of the Gene Nation. She initially works with the Brotherhood of Mutants until she learns they do not care about her or her allies.

Merchandise
In 1995, Toy Biz released a Sarah Rushman / Marrow action figure, as part of the "X-Men Generation X" line.

title: Marrow (character)


text:
Dishoarding

In economics, dishoarding is the opposite of hoarding. In the case of hoarding emphasized most by macroeconomics, someone increases his or her holdings of money as an asset (for safety, to diversify assets, because of expected returns, or because of irrationality) rather than using money simply as a tool for buying goods and services (a medium of exchange). (See liquidity preference.) Thus, dishoarding would refer to the reduction of one's asset holdings of money.

Definition
When money or goods that have been kept are brought back into the economy, for example when people invest or spend money rather than save it. It can also be defined as the activity of investing money or selling gold, silver, etc. after a period during which investors have saved them.

In terms of Keynesian theory, dishoarding may be described as a reduction in liquidity preference to satisfy speculative motive of demand for money.

Loanable Funds
Dishoarding and hoarding are now usually described in terms of balances of money held by people. A difference is drawn between 'active' money in circulation, financing current transactions in the market place. In comparison to 'inactive' money being held in idle balances. A rise in dishoarding means that the community wants to hold a smaller amount of money in idle balances, thus increasing purchases of products (without changing its expenditure of current income).

According to neoclassical, loanable funds theory of interest. Dishoarding or dishoarded money is an important source of the supply of loanable funds. An increase in dishoarding while there is no change in the demand for loanable funds, will cause the rate of interest to fall. Due to which there is an increase in demand for securities, causing their prices to rise and the rate of interest to fall.

Customarily, people may also dishoard money from the past hoardings due to a higher rate of interest. Due to this higher interest rate, idle cash balances of the past become active balances at present. This means they are usable for investment. As well as more securities being purchased for the higher return available. Where as in if the interest rate is low, dishoarding would be negligible.

In the words of Professor Kenneth K Kurihara (1910-1972), "Hoarding may be defined as the people's desire to hoard wealth in the form of money." When rate of interest is high, people lend the hoarded money and thus their savings.

Interest Rates
Interest rates and Inflation are directly linked and consistently mentioned in macroeconomics. The majority of countries around the world all have a central bank. Such as in the United States, the Federal Reserve sets interest rates – the amount of interest paid by a borrower to a lender. – Similar to the United Kingdom where The Bank of England sets them.

In general, when interest rates are lowered, more people are able to borrow more money. As well as there being less of an incentive for people to keep money that they were hoarded before due to their being more of a financial yield. This results in consumers dishoarding money that was previously hoarded. This causes an economy to grow and inflation to increase. The opposite effect takes place when interest rates are increased; as there is more incentive for consumers to hoard their money due to the financial gain, which leads to less spending. Resulting in an economy slowing and inflation decreasing. Central banks make these decisions according to different factors of an economy. This mainly being the inflation rate, although the impact upon economic growth and unemployment must also be considered.

Gold
The gold market is a good place to look at in order to understand the concept of dishoarding.

The selling back of physical gold due to economic distress, profit, lack of performance or even political reasons. This now commonly happens on the gold market.

In the case of history, the reasoning for dishoarding was due to distress. As the gold price was fixed.

French aristocrats that went to London in order to get away from the French Revolution in 1789 flooded the market with gold coins. Gold also came out of Russia in the years following the revolution, as well as more recently from Vietnam once the Americans withdrew in 1975. As well as Iran after The Shah's overthrow and Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion.

On an International scale during the twentieth century, price fluctuations caused dishoarding. In the early 1930s dishoarding in India was due to the gold price rising to $35 per ounce as well as economic distress. The vast fluctuations in the gold price since 1970 have also motivated making profit on gold instead of distress selling from the Middle East and South – East Asia where high carat gold jewellery was sold at a low profit margin and sold when prices rose sharply. Up to150, a tonne (4.8 m oz) of gold was dishoarded in these regions in 1974, 1980, 1986 and to a lower degree in 1993.

In 1994, vast hoarding also took place in Turkey due to the weak local currency, while more significant dishoarding took place in 1997 – 1998 during the Asian currency crisis when South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand collectively dishoarded hundreds of tonnes of gold.

The change in direction of a typical trend concerning imports can have an ample effect on a market within a short period. The first sign of dishoarding consists of when the local price in markets such as Egypt, Taiwan, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia goes to a discount on the London price. If this stays the same for a week or two, shipment of metal back to refineries in Europe will begin. In recent years, the French have started dishoarding their traditional stock of bars and coins. As the younger generation does not feel the need to hold onto inherited gold. In 2000, similar dishoarding took place in other European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria. The Net dishoarding of physical metal during the year 2000 in Europe is estimated to have added 105 to 145 tonnes (3.4 to 4.7 million oz) to the world supply by GFMS.

title: Dishoarding


text:
User:AnandaLima

I am a graduate student in Linguistics at UCLA. I love Wikipedia.

Sample wikipedia Interests
- Linguistics - Cognitive science - Cinema - Brazilian music and dancing (such as Samba

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Childhood in Brasilia, Brazil. College Years (plus about a couple of years): Australia (B.A. in linguistics and psychology at the University of Queensalnd. Since 2004: Los Angeles, California doing a PhD in linguistics at UCLA.

Some contributions
(Not as many as I wish)

- Optimality Theory

- Soar (cognitive architecture)

- Topics somehow related to Brazil

- Minor corrections here and there.

...

title: User:AnandaLima


text: Template:Interstates

title: Template:Interstates


text:
User:Txwikinger

About Me
I started contributing to Wikipedia on May 26,2004. My interests include law, computer sciences, and social issues.

Page Editing
Currently Working on:

 * Standard of care in English law (created)
 * Remoteness
 * Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
 * Vicky the Viking
 * Gift_(law)

Past pages:

 * German federal election, 2005
 * Consideration under English law
 * Cross-licensing (created)
 * Software patent
 * Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
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title: User:Txwikinger


text:
Montcuq

Montcuq ( or ; Lengadocian: Montcuc) is a town and former commune in the Lot department in south-western France, lying 25 km outside Cahors. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montcuq-en-Quercy-Blanc. Its residents are known as Montcuquois.

The town remains vibrant and a popular tourist destination. It still has a rich agricultural industry, and is known for its manufacture of meringues and gaufres de Saint Daumes waffles.

The town's name could derive from the Latin Mont Circus Vallium, Mont Cuneus or montem cuci, meaning "cuckoo mountain".

History
The town's foundation dates back to at least Roman times.

A stronghold of the Cathars, Montcuq received its charter from Raymond VI in the 12th century. On June 1, 1212, Simon de Montfort took the castle after it had been deserted by its defenders, and gave it to Beaudouin, half-brother of the Count of Toulouse, an ally of the Crusaders.

On February 17, 1214, Beaudouin marched on the Château de Lolmie, and after a short battle was arrested by Ratier de Castelnau, despite also being an ally of Montfort. Transported to Montcuq and deprived of food, he refused to order his soldiers to surrender. The garrison offered to surrender if their lives were spared, but they were soon massacred. Beaudouin was taken to Montauban and hanged at his brother's command.

After the Treaty of Meaux in 1229, the French king rebuilt the walls of both the town and castle. Only the keep of the castle remains nowadays.

The castle was retaken several times by the English during the 14th century, and in the 16th century was plundered by the Huguenots.

Singer, actor and pop/rock musician Nino Ferrer lived in a bastide near Montcuq.

English writer, comedian and musician Neil Innes lived in Montcuq during the last years of his life, before passing away there in December 2019.

Geography
The village lies in the middle of the commune, above the left bank of the Barguelonnette, which flows southwestward through the commune. The Séoune forms part of the commune's northern border.

In popular culture
In a well-known skit (1976), Daniel Prévost in the TV show  animated by Jacques Martin, visited the town and joked by asking the Montcuquois questions such as: "Is Montcuq well lit? Because I've heard that it is sometimes gloomy...". In French, Montcuq is pronounced the same as mon cul, meaning my arse. However the locals until recently spoke Occitan and the village name, when pronounced correctly has the 'q' pronounced as 'k', Mon-cuk.

In 2007, Hasbro, the company that manufactures the Monopoly game in France, had the idea to have the online community choose the cities that will appear on the new version of the game. Montcuq by far won the most votes (52879 votes), well ahead of Dunkirk with 30640 votes and Reims (20727 votes). Hasbro, however, decided it had "played long enough with web 2.0" and had "decided to maintain its editorial line and to develop products that fit a commercial demand", so decided to out Montcuq from the board game. Hasbro has nonetheless decided to issue an all-Montcuq edition.

title: Montcuq