VERTICAL INDUSTRY RELATIONS,SPILLOVERS, AND PRODUCTIVITY: EVIDENCE FROM CHILEAN PLANTS*

ABSTRACT We use disaggregated data on Chilean plants, and the Chilean input–output table to examine the impact of agglomeration spillovers on total factor productivity (TFP). In common with previous studies, we find evidence for intraindustry spillovers, but none for general cross‐industry spillovers. This picture changes when we take vertical industry relations into account. There are important productivity spillovers from plants in upstream industries. Interestingly, a similar effect cannot be found from plants in downstream industries. The number of plants in these sectors has no effect on plant‐level TFP, just as the number of plants in other industries that are neither important upstream suppliers nor downstream customers also has no effect.     

Reclip:more Kleinr?umige Klimaszenarien für ?sterreich

Der letzte Bericht des Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) erl?utert die weltweiten Auswirkungen des Klimawandels deutlich – allerdings aus globaler Sicht. Um zu kl?ren wie sich das regionale Klima in ?sterreich ver?ndern wird, wurde mit dem Projekt „reclip:more“ (Research for Climate Protection: Model Run Evaluation) eine erste kleinr?umige Datenbasis für Klimaschutz und Klimafolgenforschung für ?sterreich generiert. Klimaszenarien wurden mittels regionaler Klimamodelle (RCMs) für die Alpen als 10 × 10-Kilometer-Raster und mit anschlie?endem Downscaling für ?sterreich mit einer Zielaufl?sung 1 km entwickelt. Die RCMs wurden mit ERA-40 Reanalyse-Daten der Vergangenheit und Daten eines Zukunftsszenarios des globalen Klimamodells (GCM) ECHAM5 angetrieben, um retrospektive (1981 bis 1990) und künftige (2041 bis 2050) Klimadatens?tze für die Alpen zu berechnen und M?glichkeiten und Unsicherheiten der Modelle und Downscaling-Methoden für die Alpen zu evaluieren. Die nun vorliegenden Datens?tze und weitere, die im Folgeprojekt „reclip:century“ für alternative Treibhausgasszenarien bis 2100 berechnet werden, dienen dazu als Basis für Aussagen über ?kologische und sozio?konomische Entwicklungen im Hinblick auf den Klimawandel.     

Wine and olive oil permeation in pitched and non-pitched ceramics: relation with results from archaeological amphorae from Sagalassos,Turkey

Pitch compounds are frequently identified inside archaeological ceramic vessels. As their presence might affect the permeation of oil or wine into the ceramic fabric, experiments were conducted in which the diffusion of lipids or polyphenols into pitched and non-pitched modern vessels was followed by chemical analysis. Results show that the polyphenols of wine can intrude into the ceramics even through a pitch layer. Consequently, the absence of polyphenols in archaeological sherds is not due to their inability to reach the ceramic matrix under the pitch layer. By contrast, a pitch layer is quite effective to avoid oil intrusion into the ceramic matrix. Thus, it seems logical that oil amphorae would have been coated with pitch at the inside prior to use. Experiments in which the pitched ceramic was simultaneously exposed to oil and wine, show that the wine makes the pitch more permeable for the lipid compounds. These experimental data are confronted with residue analysis results obtained on amphorae fragments excavated in Sagalassos, Turkey. Pitch and oil were frequently found together. Based on a polyphenol test, indications for wine storage could only be obtained for two vessels. Against this background, the possible uses of the Sagalassos amphorae are discussed, and the traditional association of pine pitch with wine storage in archaeological amphorae is critically assessed.     

Measuring the Creativity of a City: A Proposal and an Application

Cities are considered to be the major drivers of the global economy for many reasons, including their creative and innovative potential in generating sustainable economic growth. Istanbul is one of the global cities searching for a long-term growth strategy. This paper starts with a modest effort of composing an index to be used in the evaluation of the creative potential of cities. Our proposed index, “global creative index”, consists of five main criteria: (1) creativeness, (2) innovativeness, (3) intellectual development, (4) global network connectivity and (5) world cityness emphasizing multinational corporate economy, international division of labour and high intensity of producer and financial services. The use of the index is illustrated through the comparison of nine cities: Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Singapore and Toronto. The analysis of these nine cities shows that Istanbul is building an innovation environment, but it still lacks research and development infrastructure, technical support and investment in higher education. This comparison offers guidelines for policy-makers to sketch the growth of Istanbul along the lines of creativity and innovativeness.     

Interpreting the expansion of sea fishing in medieval Europe using stable isotope analysis of archaeological cod bones

Archaeological fish bones reveal increases in marine fish utilisation in Northern and Western Europe beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. We use stable isotope signatures from 300 archaeological cod (Gadus morhua) bones to determine whether this sea fishing revolution resulted from increased local fishing or the introduction of preserved fish transported from distant waters such as Arctic Norway, Iceland and/or the Northern Isles of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland). Results from 12 settlements in England and Flanders (Belgium) indicate that catches were initially local. Between the 9th and 12th centuries most bones represented fish from the southern North Sea. Conversely, by the 13th to 14th centuries demand was increasingly met through long distance transport – signalling the onset of the globalisation of commercial fisheries and suggesting that cities such as London quickly outgrew the capacity of local fish supplies.     

Fingerprint identification on a bog body (650 BC)

Two thousand and six hundred fifty years after the death of the “Girl of the Uchter Moor”, it was still possible to secure good-quality fingerprints from the right hand of this bog body by using photographic methods followed by image enhancement with an Automated Fingerprint Identification System. A detailed fingerprint analysis was performed, and all five fingers of “Moora's” right hand exhibited ulnar loops. Even today, this is still the most common fingerprint pattern type in Europe. It was also possible to find enough minutiae on the right thumb for secure dactyloscopic identification after more than 2,000 years. The example of “Moora" therefore demonstrates new possibilities for future fingerprint examinations of ancient bodies in archaeological as well as forensic casework.     

Beyond dots with dates: A landscape approach to the Sohar hinterlands

Landscape archaeology, as a type of research based on a systemic surface survey and that results in quantifiable datasets of high quality, has started to be practiced in southeastern Arabia only in recent years. In this paper, I will briefly review the short history of landscape archaeology in the area and its relevance. I will then present the approach and methods used in the Wadi al Jizzi Archaeological Project and discuss some of the results obtained to discuss both the potential and problems of the data that the project generated. In particular, I will focus on ephemeral sites and assemblages, data quality and data representativity.