Capital Accumulation,Economic Restructuring,and Nonequilibrium Regional Growth Dynamics

Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in explaining the significance and persistence of regional growth differentials. Much of the debate in contemporary political economy has focussed on the relative importance of either “weak” or “strong” competition in regulating movements in prices, profits, and investments both within and between economic sectors and regions. However, little attention has been directed toward developing theoretical models that are capable of evaluating the relative importance of (non) equilibrating forces in determining the long-run accumulation dynamics of capitalist space economies. In this paper, I develop an approach to modeling regional growth that simultaneously theorizes the link between processes of economic restructuring and regional capital accumulation. I examine the stability properties of this model in order to evaluate the theoretical significance of both equilibrating and nonequilibrating forces in determining the trajectory of regional outputs, profits and employment.     

Chance,Creativity, and the Discovery of the Nerve Growth Factor

This essay analyzes the history of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) discovery, relating some of the principles of the theory of scientific creativity to the cognitive and personal qualities of the scientists that participated in the discovery, particulary Rita Levi-Montalcini and Viktor Hamburger. The discovery of NGF is especially attractive for the history of science as it involves chance, luck, creativity, and some extraordinary scientists.     

Inequality,Growth, Poverty and Lunar Eclipses: Policy and Arithmetic

Alleviating poverty, mitigating inequality and achieving growth are all acknowledged goals of development, whatever the degree of success with which these goals might have been addressed in various economies of the world. Apart from questions of resolve and genuine commitment, what makes it hard to engage with these goals is that the pursuit of any one of them does not necessarily secure the ends of either or both of the other two. Such engagement requires a measure of conceptual clarity, an identification of normative priorities, and the deployment of carefully crafted policies that accommodate trade-offs among competing goals. In particular, policies such as the single-minded pursuit of growth as a panacea for all the difficulties of development appear to be misguided, and based on a faulty application of deductive reasoning to past experience. These issues are addressed here by attending to some elementary arithmetic revolving around the measurement of money-metric poverty and inequality, and the decomposition of poverty changes into effects attributable to growth and distributional changes.     

Positive and Negative Externalities in Innovation,Trade, and Regional Economic Growth

We build on Grossman and Helpman (1991), Rivera‐Batiz and Romer (1991), Acemoglu (2009, pp. 678–80), and Batabyal and Nijkamp (2013b) and analyze the interactions between positive and negative externalities in innovation and trade for economic growth in a region when this region is part of an aggregate economy consisting of two regions. In both regions, consumers have constant relative risk aversion preferences; there is human capital use, and there are three kinds of manufacturing activities involving the production of blueprints for inputs or machines, the inputs or machines themselves, and a single final good for consumption. We study two cases. In the first case, although no growth occurs in the human capital stock, innovative activities give rise to positive externalities or knowledge spillovers in two ways. In this setting, we, study whether and under what circumstances opening a region to trade results in an increase in this region's equilibrium growth rate. In the second case, although growth occurs in the human capital stock, innovation experiences negative externalities. In this scenario, we show that opening a region to trade leads to more innovation but to no change in its long‐run growth rate. Los autores se basan en el trabajo de Grossman y Helpman (1991), Rivera‐Batiz y Romer (1991), Acemoglu (2009, pp 678‐80), y Batabyal y Nijkamp (2013B), para analizar las interacciones entre las externalidades positivas y negativas en la innovación y comercio para el crecimiento económico en una región, en los casos en los que dicha región es parte de una economía global que consiste en dos regiones. En estas dos regiones hipotéticas a) los consumidores tienen aversión constante al riesgo relativo (CRRA); b) se hace uso del capital humano; y, c) se llevan a cabo tres tipos de actividades manufactureras: la elaboración de planes o plantillas de producción, la producción de insumos y maquinaria, y la producción de un único bien de consumo final. El presente estudio analiza dos casos. En el primer caso, aunque no hay crecimiento en el stock de capital humano, las actividades de innovación generan externalidades positivas o derrames (spillovers) de conocimiento de dos tipos. En este contexto, se estudia si, y bajo qué circunstancias la apertura de una región al comercio resulta en un aumento en la tasa de crecimiento de equilibrio de la región. En el segundo caso, hay crecimiento en el stock de capital humano, pero la innovación experimenta externalidades negativas. En este escenario, se muestra que la apertura al comercio de una región conduce a una mayor innovación pero sin ningún cambio en la tasa de crecimiento a largo plazo. 本文在Grossman and Helpman (1991)、Rivera‐Batiz and Romer (1991)、 Acemoglu (2009,,pp. 678–80)和Batabyal and Nijkamp (2013b)等研究基础上,分析了当某一区域与另一区域构成经济聚合体时,该区域经济增长中创新与贸易的外部正负效应的相互影响。在两区域中,消费者均具有不变的相对风险规避(CRRA)参数设定,然后考虑人力资本利用和三种类别的制造活动的预期产量,即投入或机器、原料或机器本身、可消费的单一制成品。我们分析了两种不同的场景。在第一种场景中,尽管人力资本存量并未增长,创新活动也通过正外部性或知识溢出两种方式得到了增长。在该设定下,我们研究了区域是否或者在何种情况下开放贸易会提高地区的均衡增长率。在第二种场景中,尽管人力资本存量增长而创新部分却经历着负外部效应的影响。研究显示,一个地区贸易开放将导致更多创新活动的发生,但并未影响到长期的增长率。     

Growth,decay and burial compaction of Dickinsonia,an iconic Ediacaran fossil

Retallack, G.J., September, 2007. Growth, decay and burial compaction of Dickinsonia, an iconic Ediacaran fossil. Alcheringa 31, 215-240. ISSN 0311-5518.

Dickinsonia is a Neoproterozoic, Ediacaran fossil, variously considered a polychaete, turbellarian or annelid worm, jellyfish, polyp, xenophyophoran protist, lichen or mushroom. Its preservation as unskeletonized impressions in quartz sandstones has been attributed to a Neoproterozoic regime of aerobic decay less effective than today, microbial pyritization much nearer the surface than today, or agglutinate-mineralization as in xenophyophorans. However, the great variation in thickness independent of width or length of South Australian Dickinsonia is evidence of decay like the wilting of a fossil leaf, lichen or mushroom, but unlike clotting and distortion during decay, wilting or osmotic shrinkage of modern and fossil worms and jellyfish. Decayed specimens of Dickinsonia arrayed in arcs have been interpreted as slime trails or tumble tracks, but can also be interpreted as rhizinous bases of decayed crustose lichens or mushrooms arranged in fairy rings. Dickinsonia is interpreted to be sessile because adjacent specimens show reaction rims indicative of competitive interaction, and because no overlapping well-preserved specimens have ever been found. Folded and bent Dickinsonia reveal firm attachment and limited flexibility, but no brittle deformation indicative of pyritic, sideritic or calcitic ‘death masks’ or xenophyophoran agglutinate skeletons. Dickinsonia was resistant to compaction by overburden, like fossil lichens such as Spongiophyton and Thucomyces, and more compaction-resistant than fossil logs, jellyfish or worms. Dickinsonia also shows indeterminate growth like lichens, fungi, plants, xenophyophorans and colonial animals. Growth, decay and burial compaction of Dickinsonia were more like those of plants, lichens and fungi, than of worms, jellyfishes or anemones.

G.J. Retallack [gregr@uoregon.edu], Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon. Eugene, OR 97403-1272, USA; received 18.11.05, revised 23.3.06.     

Growth Management in Cork Through Boom,Bubble and Bust

This paper develops a novel framework for analysing how planning became implicated in the Irish boom, bubble and bust years, as planners and politicians alike focused on generating positive visions for the future, whilst variously working to displace, defer and transfer the political tensions of the present. Empirically we focus on both national planning reforms and the high hopes for city regional planning in Cork Ireland after the publication of an innovative, non-statutory strategic plan in 2001. A decade or so later, the plan has faltered, unable to broker a sustained commitment to its core principles from all partners. The reasons for this, we argue, relate to the wider problems of planning in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger years, as an economic boom got translated into a property bubble, something that few officials cared to recognize or challenge publicly at the time. There were, however, doubters—but they were sidelined or vilified. Framing our analysis in terms of recent literature on soft spaces and post-politics, we argue that soft space planning for metropolitan Cork exposes deep-seated problems in Irish planning.     

The Earth's Soil Our Ultimate,Shrinking Limit to Growth

Abstract

The loss of productive soil in the world was first brought to the attention of the international community at the Environment Conference in Stockholm, 1972. Subsequent discussions have led to the suggestion that the slow rate of transfer to the developing world of the technology for its control was perhaps due to social and economic rather than to technological constraints. The background to this hypothesis and the attempt that is being made to validate it, are here described.     

Reforms,Globalization, and Urban Growth in China: The Case of Hangzhou

Chinese cities have experienced unprecedented growth and restructuring during the reform period. This study by two geographers examines the rapid growth of urban population in the relatively typical large city of Hangzhou (one of China's historical capitals), and investigates underlying factors by highlighting the significance of reforms and globalization in the growth of Chinese cities. The authors also discuss problems that Hangzhou (currently with ca. 4 million inhabitants) faces in coping with rapid urban growth and restructuring. They argue that "control" and "management" approaches to urban growth have limitations in China's transitional cities, and that the gradual process of reform is incompatible with the nature of urban planning in China. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O18, O20, R23. 4 figures, 44 references.     

The Cradle of Thought: Growth,Learning, Play and Attachment in Neanderthal Children

Childhood is a core stage in development, essential in the acquisition of social, practical and cultural skills. However, this area receives limited attention in archaeological debate, especially in early prehistory. We here consider Neanderthal childhood, exploring the experience of Neanderthal children using biological, cultural and social evidence. We conclude that Neanderthal childhood experience was subtly different from that of their modern human counterparts, orientated around a greater focus on social relationships within their group. Neanderthal children, as reflected in the burial record, may have played a particularly significant role in their society, especially in the domain of symbolic expression. A consideration of childhood informs broader debates surrounding the subtle differences between Neanderthals and modern humans.