Patterns of Foreign Direct Investment in Mongolia, 1990-2003: A Research Note

This paper delineates the pattern and structure of foreign direct investment (FDI) in a land-locked transition economy, Mongolia, situated strategically between Russia and China. The assessment is based on publications of major international financial institutions, official statistical publications of the Mongolian Government, and a unique dataset of 1,035 FDI firms based on a database compiled by the Mongolian office of the World Bank. A structured analysis of the dataset and government statistical publications makes it possible to ascertain patterns with respect to FDI country origin, sectoral composition, mode of entry, firm capitalization, composition of foreign and local partners, entry date, and location of the investment (core versus periphery). Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E60, F21, P33. 5 figures, 3 tables, 34 references.     

Migration and ethnic nationalism: Anglophone exit and the ‘decolonisation’ of Québec

This article explains the effects of ethnic nationalism on Anglophone and Francophone migration. The rise of Québec ethnic nationalism in the 1960s dismantled the cultural division of labour, which created new opportunities for Francophones but threatened Anglophones' traditional dominance over the Québec economy. This had negative consequences for Anglophones but positive outcomes for Francophones, which in turn accounts for differences in migration patterns. Drawing from the internal colony model as well as migration and exit‐voice theories, and using ecological census data, micro‐census data and election panel data, I find that the key variables that increase the likelihood of Anglophone out‐migration either do not explain Francophone out‐migration or have opposite effects. This is because ethnonationalist policies decreased the economic return particularly for well‐educated, higher‐earning, professional Anglophones in Québec, while increasing the economic position of Francophones and in particular well‐educated professionals.     

Poromoi Tamu and the Case of the Drowning Village: History, Lost Places and the Stories We Tell

Archaeological excavations at an ancestral village site within rainforest in Papua New Guinea has revealed buried cultural evidence that can be explained in a number of ways. While interpretations based on Western archaeological methods suggest regional landscape dynamics informed by geomorphological processes, Indigenous Rumu oral traditions suggest an interpretation of the site’s stratigraphy based on the workings of spiritual forces. The role of story-telling and new information in site interpretation and understanding is explored in light of these different yet complementary accounts.     

City, region, and in between: New York City's water supply and the insights of regional history

Urban historians have greatly expanded their geographical purview in recent years, incorporating suburbs and hinterlands into their analysis of social and environmental change. Urban environmental historians and suburban historians have played a critical role in the regionalization of urban history over the last decade. This case study of the development of New York City’s water supply reveals the benefits of taking a regional approach to urban history. From the New York Public Library to Central Park’s Great Lawn to neighborhood parks, the New York City landscape bears the traces of the continuous development of the city’s water network. Expansion of the water system in rural hinterlands enabled municipal officials to put urban reservoirs to new uses, creating some of the city’s most beloved public spaces. The rehabilitation of urban infrastructure underscores the intimate linkages between rural development and the urban built environment.     

Decline in firing technology or poorer fuel resources? High-temperature thermoluminescence (HTTL) archaeothermometry of Neolithic ceramics from Pool,Sanday, Orkney

The Neolithic ceramic assemblage from the multi-period coastal settlement at Pool on the island of Sanday, Orkney is unique because it stratigraphically spans both the earlier round-based (including possible Unstan bowls) and later flat-based (‘Grooved Ware’) traditions. High-temperature thermoluminescence (HTTL) analysis objectively demonstrates that ceramics from the earliest Neolithic layers have been consistently better fired compared to examples from later layers. We suggest two interpretations of these data: either firing technology declined with changing social structures and/or adoption of a different ceramic tradition or that there was greater pressure on fuel resource and management in the later Neolithic. Paleoenvironmental and chronological evidence indicate climatic deterioration in the later Neolithic, which adds further support to an interpretation of a poorer fuel resource at that time. In addition to studies of the HTTL signal, analysis of the ambient temperature modification of the TL signal has potential to support or evaluate dating evidence, and is readily applicable to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age data.     

Discriminating Paleoindian point types from Florida using landmark geometric morphometrics

Traditional artifact typologies are typically poorly defined. While several attributes usually help define a “type,” shape is invariably the most important. Here I report on a study that uses landmark-based geometric morphometrics to better define three Paleoindian point types from Florida: Suwannees, Simpsons, and Transitional Side Notched. Bilaterally symmetric specimens were created from the original artifacts to capture the presumed ideational forms of the points. The shapes of the bases and the entire points were tested to determine whether the types could be discriminated, and if so which shape was best at discriminating the types. The results show that the base configurations were best at discriminating the groups in two different jackknife allocation tests. The entire point shape was less robust due to the variability in blade shape. The study demonstrates that the three point types can be rigorously defined in ways that are usable in daily archaeological practice, and that base shape, rather than the entire shape, is a better discriminator. Further, the study demonstrates the utility of using several freeware programs for processing and analyzing shape data.     

Regionalization and the rescaling of agro-food governance: Case study evidence from two English regions

Some researchers detected a new-found subsidiarity in rural policy after England’s 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic, with regional and sub-regional institutions working together to implement an economic recovery strategy. While such research began to link debates on the new regionalism and the rescaling of agro-food governance, its conception of the latter focused too narrowly on the ‘turn to quality’, thereby overlooking other important aspects of food relocalisation. Based on interviews conducted in England’s South West and West Midlands regions, this paper examines whether the attitudes of key actors from regional and sub-regional governance institutions provided a sound basis for partnership working on the food relocalisation policies recommended in the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food. It finds different attitudes on the part of regional and sub-regional actors, with the former favouring regional foods and the latter local foods. Despite scepticism from both groups about the ability of the England Rural Development Programme (2000–2006) to promote food relocalisation, grants were awarded to both regional and local food entrepreneurs, suggesting that the programme contributed more to food relocalisation than previously thought.