Has the Income Share of the Middle and Upper‐middle Been Stable around the ‘50/50 Rule’, or Has it Converged towards that Level? The ‘Palma Ratio’ Revisited

In an article published in this journal in 2011, an alternative measure of inequality was suggested, which has subsequently become known as ‘the Palma Ratio’. In this new article, the author of the original proposal revisits the argument for such a measure. Using new data, he examines whether the current remarkable homogeneity in the income share of the middle and upper‐middle around the world — the foundation of the so‐called ‘Palma Ratio’ — is an historically stable stylized fact, or whether it is a new phenomenon, the outcome of a process of convergence towards the current ‘50/50 Rule’ (in which half of the population in each country located within deciles 5 to 9 tends to appropriate about 50 per cent of the national income, or just above). Although partly written in response to a comment on the 2011 paper (published in this issue), the article also makes a substantive further contribution to the literature on inequality and the statistics to measure it.     

Global Patterns in the Exploitation of Shellfish

ABSTRACT

Shellfish are a crucial resource for past and present subsistence-level societies around the world. Despite the diversity of environments in which shellfish are exploited, an examination of the global patterns of shellfish exploitation reveal surprisingly common patterns in the opportunities allowed and constraints imposed by relying on shellfish. These commonalities, linked to the fundamental features of shellfish and their exploitation, can illuminate diverse social and ecological factors likely to influence variability in their archaeological signatures. Here we review contributions to this special issue and explore common trends in shellfish use and its archaeological consequences.     

IF ALONSO WAS RIGHT: MODELING ACCESSIBILITY AND EXPLAINING THE RESIDENTIAL LAND GRADIENT

ABSTRACT This study provides an empirical evaluation of employment accessibility as a determinant of urban land price. We find that the monocentric model, despite recent criticism, can perform satisfyingly if the hedonic value of land is identified in an account of structural and neighborhood characteristics. Gravity employment accessibility measures, however, can explain the residential land gradient entirely and disentangle positive accessibility effects from negative congestion effects related to transport infrastructure. They can therefore be recommended as an appropriate mean to account for labor market accessibility in an environment of dispersed employment, at least if the transport geography is accounted for.     

I CAN PLANT WHATEVER VEGETABLES TIBET CAN GROW

Chongdro is a farmer in Kangsa Village of Norgyan Town of Panam County of TAR. She is a typical Tibetan woman living in a rural area and that is apparent not only from her face and general appearance,but also from her modest behavior and hospitality.Her house is still very much the traditional home of a rural Tibetan family living with their animals i.e.the first floor is for the animals and the second floor for the humans.The surrounding wall of the courtyard is plastered and almost covered with cattle ...     

慈灯寺宗教涵义考释

慈灯寺为小召的属庙,俗称"五塔寺",是一处藏传佛教的寺院。公元1727年(雍正五年)小召喇嘛入京向朝廷呈请批准建立此寺庙。公元1732年(雍正十年)由清廷赐名"慈灯寺"。如今仅存山门和金刚座舍利宝     

Reporting in Prose: Reconsidering Ways of Writing History

This article reconsiders history's ways of reporting in prose. Ways of analysing and writing history so as to evoke a past are contrasted with ways of analysing and writing history so as to frame theses about a past. Academic norms now favour theses. It was not always so. This article contrasts very early European theories about writing prose, including key writings by Johannine Christians and by Heraclitus. Influenced by Martin Heidegger's existentialist phenomenology, this article reasserts the worth of the evocative in history by attempting to reprise its philosophical foundations and by reconstructing the place of prose in the history of ideas.