A Study of the Role of Regionalization in the Generation of Aggregation Error in Regional Input –Output Models

Although the need for aggregation in input –output modelling has diminished with the increases in computing power, an alarming number of regional studies continue to use the procedure. The rationales for doing so typically are grounded in data problems at the regional level. As a result many regional analysts use aggregated national input –output models and trade –adjust them at this aggregated level. In this paper, we point out why this approach can be inappropriate. We do so by noting that it creates a possible source of model misapplication (i.e., a direct effect could appear for a sector where one does not exist) and also by finding that a large amount of error (on the order of 100 percent) can be induced into the impact results as a result of improper aggregation. In simulations, we find that average aggregation error tends to peak at 81 sectors after rising from 492 to 365 sectors. Perversely, error then diminishes somewhat as the model size decreases further to 11 and 6 sectors. We also find that while region – and sector –specific attributes influence aggregation error in a statistically significantly manner, their influence on the amount of error generally does not appear to be large.     

The Spatial Distribution of Wages: Estimating the Helpman‐Hanson Model for Germany

Abstract.  Using German district data we estimate the structural parameters of a new economic geography model as developed by Helpman (1998) and Hanson (1998 , 2001a ). The advantage of the Helpman‐Hanson model is that it incorporates the fact that agglomeration of economic activity increases the prices of local (nontradable) services, like housing. This model thereby provides an intuitively appealing spreading force that allows for less extreme agglomeration patterns than predicted by the bulk of new economic geography models. Generalizing the Helpman‐Hanson model, we also analyze the implications for the spatial distribution of wages once the assumption of real wage equalization is dropped. If we no longer assume real wage equalization we find support for a spatial wage structure as well as for the relevance of the structural parameters of the theoretical model.     

Neoliberal Reform, Governance and Corruption in the South: Assessing the International Anti‐Corruption Crusade

This paper presents a critique of current thinking on the causes and impacts of corruption and the measures designed to combat it. It begins by exploring the evolution of the current preoccupation with corruption and traces the growth in international initiatives designed to tackle the issue. It then moves on to consider the assumptions underlying the dominant schools of thought on corruption and alternative definitions of the phenomenon. The limitations of the dominant neoliberal perspective are explored in detail, focusing particularly on its blindness to the complex interplay between economic liberalisation, political power and institutional reform. An alternative framework that locates corruption at the systemic level is proposed. The paper concludes with some thoughts on potential directions for future geographical research on the topic.     

Skill in Stone Knapping: an Ecological Approach

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory - Skill has allowed lithic analyses to expand their scope beyond the limits set by a representational understanding of practices and sociocultural...     

Competitive Multifacility Location on Networks: the (r∣Xp)‐Medianoid Problem

Abstract.  We investigate the ( r ∣ X _p )‐medianoid problem for networks. This is a competitive location problem that consists of determining the locations of r facilities belonging to a firm in order to maximize its market share in a space where a competitor is already operating with p facilities. We consider six scenarios resulting from the combination of three customer choice rules (binary, partially binary, and proportional) with two types of services (essential and unessential).
Known discretization results about the existence of a solution for the set of nodes are extended. Some examples and computational experience using heuristic algorithms are presented.     

Two Models of Residential Conservation: communal life in an Australian box-ironbark forest

Grassroots community organisations offer simple ways of maintaining natural heritage values. Given the degradation of landscapes supporting fauna in many parts of the world, such organisations promise direct benefits for local communities and ecological biodiversity. Also, global warming, resulting in part from the removal of forest, will abate with the restoration of trees. The Bend of Islands (Victoria, Australia) boasts two organisations dedicated to the communal conservation of a landscape of remnant box-ironbark (eucalypt) forest. This woodland heritage is managed by residents to preserve its ecological values.The Round the Bend Conservation Co-operative (RBCC) is a land settlement co-operative. Members are committed to maintaining the local bushland in as natural a state as possible using minimal-impact environmental practices. The Bend of Islands Conservation Association (BICA) was established several years after the co-operative, but with the same environmental purpose. It covers a broader area, incorporating over 130 private land titles. This article describes the history and practices of RBCC and BICA and indicates their potential as models for the development of conservation principles and practices by other communities in similar landscapes.     

Morgawr: an experimental Bronze Age‐type sewn‐plank craft based on the Ferriby boats

This paper reports on the construction of a full‐scale Bronze Age‐type sewn‐plank boat based on the Ferriby boats. The boat, which was named Morgawr, was constructed in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, England, during 2012 and the first months of 2013, as part of a larger exhibition in the museum. This paper provides the background and context of the project, describes the process of building the craft, and reflects in particular on differences between Morgawr and the ‘hypothetical reconstruction of a complete sewn‐plank boat’ published in 1990 by Ted Wright and John Coates which formed the basis for this project.     

The fruits of migration: Understanding the ‘longue dureé’ and the socio-economic relations of the Early Transcaucasian Culture

The appearance of the Early Transcaucasian Culture (ETC) across large portions of the Near East in the 3rd millennium BC is commonly cited as one of the best archaeologically documented and broadly studied cases of a prehistoric migration. This study uses the ETC to develop a model of what happens when migrants move into regions that are already inhabited by emerging or complex societies. In particular, this study focuses on how immigrant populations can integrate themselves into indigenous communities in a physical, socio-political and economic sense, and how a migrant group’s identity can be constructed and maintained alongside these indigenous communities.     

Understanding Social Performance: A ‘Practice Drift’ at the Frontline of Microfinance Institutions in Bangladesh

This article examines the role of microfinance staff and procedures in enabling microfinance's social mission. It does so primarily through studying institutional ruling relations and practices in rural Bangladesh. Attempting to move away from the linear and deterministic approaches of impact studies, it ethnographically scrutinizes the everyday practices of implementers. Findings point to the emergence of systemic practices that jeopardize microfinance institutions’ potential to perform their social mission. These include low client‐selection standards, hard selling of loans and forceful loan renewal, little follow‐up on loan use, and abusive and violent client‐retention and repayment‐collection strategies. This is conceptualized as a ‘practice drift’ as distinct from the commonly reported ‘mission drift’. Rather than stemming from planned, top‐down changes in institutional mission and strategy, practice drift emerges from a displacement of decision‐making processes to the branches. The article argues that observed changes in microfinance practice are enabled by decentralized structures and management systems that leave the choice of tactics used to achieve targets to the discretion of field staff.     

Models of urban change: Sydney 1820–1870

Established models of urban change do not adequately allow for the complex interactions between the forces and relations of production and the effects of changes in these factors on urban settlements. A proposed, extended model includes a transition stage which can best be described as the mercantile or early capitalist city which hadnot yet adopted the modern technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Sydney and its growth and development between 1820 and 1870, a crucial period, is viewed against this suggested framework. During this period, Sydney was clearly going through such a transitional phase.     

The Role of Culture and Technology in Civil Society Promotion in the Middle East: A Case Study Approach

For over a decade, the U.S. administration has been sponsoring capacity‐building efforts focusing on technology to support democracy activists in Middle Eastern societies; such efforts have often fallen short in their effectiveness. In this article, using a case study approach, we argue that capacity‐building efforts must be approached in a culture‐specific manner. It is imperative to begin exploring the specific nature of civil society in different Middle Eastern societies and translate the Western concept of “civil society” into terms appropriate to Middle Eastern contexts. Based on a culture‐specific understanding, programs involving technology to promote democratic institutions in Middle Eastern societies can be designed.     

An Information-Theory Approach to the Partitioning of an Area

The problem of partitioning a territory can be formulated as the problem of constructing a hierarchy out of a set of subsets of a given system of objects. In terms of graph theory, a hierarchy may be defined as a connected directed graph that is both antisymmetric and nonreflexive. The hierarchy represents the result of the partitioning process. The actual process of partitioning can be treated as one in which information is gained about the system as a whole, but is also lost about individual objects as a result of aggregation. This enables us to apply the criteria of information theory to evaluate the quality of various partition schemes and to solve problems of functional and homogeneous regionalization.     

Understanding ceramic variability: an archaeometrical interpretation of the Classical and Hellenistic ceramics at Düzen Tepe and Sagalassos (Southwest Turkey)

Within the aim of contributing to the artisanal craft history at Sagalassos (SW-Turkey), an archaeometric programme including thin section analysis, ICP-MS and multivariate statistics was developed to define the variability on a provenance and/or technological scale of the Classical/Hellenistic ceramic assemblage of Sagalassos and Düzen Tepe. The obtained data were used to evaluate the extent and variation of local pottery production. Petrographic and geochemical analysis as a grouping technique proves to be conditional for documenting the variation in ceramic wares present on both archaeological sites. Elemental evidence supports local production activities between Classical and Hellenistic times, documenting a deliberate change in treatment of raw materials during the Late Hellenistic period in function of ware groups.