The District and the Global Economy: Exportation Versus Foreign Location

We depict an industrial district as a center of innovation where positive local spillovers sustain the endogenous invention of new goods by profit-seeking firms. After invention, firms face a crucial choice between reaching distant markets by export or plant delocation. Attempts by firms to circumvent trade barriers through delocation slow down the pace of innovation and harm the welfare of the district.     

Ensuring the Conservative Process: The Roman Walls of Lugo Maintenance Plan

In 2000 the walls of Lugo were added to the World Heritage List. In the Spanish scenario of UNESCO Sites this is the only one provided with a maintenance plan, which properly defines times for inspections and interventions, tools for the collection and management of data, human and financial resources. This plan has begun to ensure a conservation process which guarantees that this ancient artefact is used efficiently and safely over time. The walls are fully accessible and because of the dominant ramparts are used by citizens as a beloved and frequently used city park. This article aims to describe the strategy and the conservation process put in place on the Roman walls to preserve and keep them for posterity, showing that planned maintenance can also be an instrument of heritage enhancement.     

NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS: ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND LOOKING BEYOND THEM*

ABSTRACT The paper addresses the empirical significance of the social context in economic decisions. Decisions of individuals who share spatial and social milieus are likely to be interdependent, and econometric identification of social effects poses intricate data and methodological problems, including dealing with self‐selection in spatial and social groups. It uses a simple empirical framework to introduce social interactions effects at different levels of aggregation, and examines estimation problems in linear models, the impact of self‐selection and of nonlinearities. It also examines neighborhood effects in job matching and proposes a research agenda that offers new techniques and data sources.     

“Twitter Bodhisattva”: Ai Weiwei’s Media Politics

Abstract

This article investigates artist and activist Ai Weiwei’s media politics. In 1997 Ai Weiwei imagined a modernist movement that would practise a “non-compromising vigilance on society and power” and since 2005 he has embraced blogging and micro-blogging to enact such intent. We argue that his “communication activism” is part of a broader artistic and political program that long predates his online presence. The study examines how the artist has experimented with blogging and micro-blogging to spread his message of “awakening” in defiance of censorship and surveillance. It shows how Ai Weiwei’s communication strategy combines an international celebrity status, criticism, irony and a round-the-clock interaction with his netizen audience and the media. It also critiques the effectiveness and coherence of this mode of activism from two perspectives – namely, Jean Baudrillard’s analysis of “private telematics” and Jodi Dean’s “blog theory” – and finally assesses its impact. The study aims to enhance our understanding of the web-based communication strategies of Chinese activists, shedding light on cultural production and consumption in Chinese cyberspace as a socio-political barometer.