Cash Transfers and the Well‐being of Older People in Brazil

This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the effects of social protection interventions on material and subjective elements of well‐being. Drawing on a longitudinal survey located in two relatively deprived parts of Brazil, it assesses the effects of pensions and other cash transfers on the well‐being of older people and their households. This analysis is located within a dynamic economic and public policy context. The article finds that pension benefits significantly increase per capita income and that this is strongly associated with overall levels of satisfaction with household well‐being. Levels of reported subjective well‐being do not fall as respondents age, and the survey finds high levels of optimism about future well‐being. The positive effects of pension benefits were supported by upgraded health services and by more specific policies such as access to credit on favourable terms. Overall, the authors conclude that a combination of economic growth and effective public policies significantly boosted the well‐being of most households in their survey, and that Brazil can be taken as a model of good practice for other middle‐income countries.     

Political Science in Mexico: Cold War and Post-Cold War Context

Abstract

Through a critical consideration of recent proposals urging the use of “citizen forums” or “mini-publics” on issues involving science, this article reflects on the challenge posed to democracy and democratic decision making by the intellectual authority of modern science. Though the danger of a descent into technocracy is real and pressing, arguably the most serious challenge to democracy today, these novel “deliberative democratic” institutions are unpromising as a corrective beyond the local level, and may actually exacerbate the problem. The article concludes with a consideration of alternatives.     

A Comprised Archaeological History of Taiwan through the Long-Term Record of Heping Dao,Keelung

We present the results of six years of archaeological work carried out in Heping Dao, Keelung, northern Taiwan. The site has revealed a rich archaeological record spanning a sequence that comprehends most of the history of Taiwan, including the most salient historical landmarks in it. The study of this long-term sequence of habitation in Heping Dao throughout prehistory to current times, allows us to attempt a historical archaeology of the longue duree of the place that in turn enables the establishment of comparisons between periods and raising of specific questions, among them: the general understanding of cultural transformation along the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and in turn the transition Iron Age/Aboriginal historic times in Taiwan, which in our view has to be observed as a history of continuity rather than of interruptions; the recognition of the Chinese presence in Taiwan in the pre-European period; the implantation of the European colony and its effects on the local populations; the differing material remains and impacts caused by the presence of pre-European Chinese and the Qing occupation; and the potential for a comparison between the European and the Japanese colonial projects as seen in the material record.     

Industrial clusters,organized crime,and productivity growth in Italian SMEs

We examine whether organized crime affects firms’ performance (defined using Total Factor Productivity growth) both directly and indirectly, by downsizing the positive externalities arising from the geographic concentration of (intra‐ and inter‐industry) market‐related firms. The analysis uses a large sample of Italian small‐ and medium‐sized manufacturing firms over the period 2010–2013. The results highlight the negative direct effects of organized crime on firms’ productivity growth. Any positive effect derived from industrial clustering is thoroughly debilitated by a strong presence of organized crime, and the negative moderation effect of organized crime on productivity growth is greater for smaller than for larger firms.     

A Place for Everyone. The Structure of Arroyo Culebro D Cemetery and The Social Organization in the Middle Tagus Valley Iron Age (Spain)

The relationship between agriculture, sedentarization and the emergence of inequality has been a common subject when analysing the transition between egalitarian and non‐egalitarian societies. However, the strategies used during that process and their archaeological expressions are difficult to detect and interpret. The aim of this paper is to provide an example – the emergence of Early Iron Age cremation cemeteries in the Middle Tagus valley – of how this transformation could have been materially expressed. Through the study of Arroyo Culebro D and other cremation cemeteries, we will analyse the crucial moment when the structural changes that sedentarization carries started to be ideologically assumed, expressed and (or) repressed.     

Stabilization of the Tlaltecuhtli monolith pigments

A painted monolith, as important as the Aztec Calendar or the Coyolxauhqui, has been discovered in the ritual Aztec center of Mexico City. It represents Tlaltecuhtli, the bisexual manifestation of the Earth from whom all life comes. Still, pigments, which have lost their conglomerating resins, have to be retained. In this study, the consolidation of ochre pigment on original fragments from the Aztec sculpture is presented. Several compounds were tested as consolidants, on the one hand natural polysaccharides, Funori and Slobber of Nopal exudate, on the other derivatives of cellulose, Methocel^® and Klucel^®, and also commercial consolidants as KSE 300^® and Paraloid B72^®. To simulate the ageing of consolidated samples, they were treated in an Accelerated Weathering Tester. Then, both sets of samples, fresh and aged, were characterized structural, morphological and texturally by using X-ray diffraction, electronic microscopy and nitrogen adsorption, respectively. A leaching test was performed on consolidated samples to evaluate the consolidant efficiency.     

Romita pottery revisited: a reassessment of the provenance of ceramics from Colonial Mexico by LA-MC-ICP-MS

The origin of Romita pottery has been a controversial topic during the last three decades of Colonial Mexico archaeological studies. Lead isotopic analyses of glaze coatings of Spanish and Mexican pottery, and Romita ceramics unearthed from the archaeological site of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City provide evidence that support a Mexican origin.