Foreign Trade and Regional Development in China

This paper puts into focus the regional implications of China's recent open-door policy. The empirical analysis employs a cross-sectional approach with 1986 data. The results suggest that foreign trade is more readily translated into economic development in the most well developed and industrialized eastern coastal provinces.     

RARE EARTH ELEMENT DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS IN SHETLAND STEATITE - CONSEQUENCES FOR ARTIFACT PROVENANCING STUDIES

An attempt has been made to relate steatite artifacts to the source of rock from which they were manufactured, using the distribution patterns of rare earth elements. Radiochemical- and instrumental-neutron activation analyses of Shetland steatites suggest that the use of rare earth elements in artifact provenancing may be unreliable. Concentrations of rare earth elements in many Shetland steatites are too low to be measured reliably by a cost effective method. The relative importance of primary igneous and secondary metasomatic processes in controlling steatite rare earth element geochemistry is discussed and geological arguments against the existence of unique rare earth ‘fingerprints’ for steatite are presented.     

ON THE STABILITY OF HOUSING SECTOR INTERACTION: EVIDENCE FROM 42 METROPOLITAN AREAS*

ABSTRACT. Residential vacancy chain models based on White's (1971) application of Markov chain theory are used to simulate flows of housing vacancies through a set of interdependent housing market sectors. Measures of housing sector interaction are derived from such models. Our purpose here is to address the issue of time stationarity raised by their use. U.S. census data are available to calibrate such models at two, and sometimes three, points in time. Data from 42 different SMSAs are used to generate 56 cross-temporal comparisons with interobservation periods ranging from three to eight years. Stability of interaction is addressed from two perspectives–the sectoral perspective and the areawide perspective. Results are mixed and depend upon which measure of interaction is used, which perspective is addressed, and the duration of the interobservation period. However, within limits, findings support continued use of vacancy chain models.