Taking risks in regions: the geographical anatomy of Europe's emerging venture capital market

Over the past 25 years, the USA has pioneered a new technologicalrevolution, based on large numbers of new small enterprises,financed by a dynamic venture (risk) capital market. The EuropeanUnion, meanwhile, has lagged behind in this sector of economicactivity, and compared to the US innovative small and mediumenterprises appear to find it more difficult to get startedand grow. At a time when regional and local banking systems– traditionally major sources of capital for small andmedium sized enterprises across Europe – are undergoingintense reorganisation and restructuring, the European Commissionconsiders the development of a substantial risk capital marketto be a key condition for closing the ‘enterprise gap’with the US. While the venture capital industry is much lessdeveloped in Europe than it is in the US, nevertheless it hasrecently experienced a marked increase in activity. But whereasthe European Commission argues that venture capital activityneeds to be much more regionally clustered if it is to emulatethe US experience, the OECD and some EU member states have arguedfor a more even regional distribution. The aim of the paperis to chart the growth and geographical anatomy of the emergingEuropean venture capital market, and to examine its spatialdevelopment and regional implications in the context of thesesomewhat opposing views.     

The application of microfossils in assessing the provenance of chalk used in the manufacture of Roman mosaics at Silchester

Microfossils recovered from chalk tesserae in mosaics from the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, modern Silchester, southern England, are used to suggest a provenance for the source-rock. The microfossils include foraminifera characteristic of late Cretaceous (Campanian) foraminiferal biozone BGS20 (quadrata macrofaunal biozone) and foraminiferal subzone BGS21i (basal mucronata macrofaunal biozone). Calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the same tesserae are poorly preserved, preventing precise age determination, but confirm an age of Santonian to Campanian. As indurated chalk beds of this age are not normally present in the stratigraphically higher chalks of southern England, it is probable that calcretised chalk, formed by secondary calcification beneath Palaeogene rock cover, was used to manufacture the tesserae. This suggestion is supported by a comparative analysis of chalk tesserae from the Norden Roman site in Dorset. Although the provenance of the chalk in some of the Silchester tesserae can be placed only within a broad geographical area of downland in southern England, others may have originated in the Dorchester–Swanage area, some 100 km to the southwest of Silchester, or the Portsdown area of southern Hampshire. None of the tesserae have been constructed from chalk found near Silchester.     

Genetic relationships based on discrete dental traits: Basketmaker II and Mimbres

Investigations of the relationships between culture and biology among prehistoric populations of the southwestern United States can enhance our reconstruction of social interactions. The present study analyses the permanent dentition of Basketmaker II and Mimbres individuals from multiple sites using the Arizona State University dental anthropology system, and compares them with a regional sample. Discrete dental trait analysis provides a useful means for assessing the degree of genetic relatedness between populations when large comparative samples are available. Both in situ cultural change and population replacement have been posited as the dominant mechanism acting on Basketmaker and early Puebloan groups. We examine the relationship of these populations to probable Uto‐Aztecan speakers in light of the Uto‐Aztecan farmer migration hypothesis. The Basketmaker II complex, traditionally recognised as a distinct cultural unit, exhibits considerable population heterogeneity. Western Basketmakers appear to share biological ties with Uto‐Aztecan speakers, while Eastern Basketmakers do not, as predicted by the model. The relationship of the Mimbres to probable Uto‐Aztecan speakers is less clear because the Mimbres show only weak affinities to northern Mexican populations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Explaining Supreme Court Policymaking in Civil Rights: The Influence of the Solicitor General, 1953–2002

What factors explain Supreme Court policymaking in civil rights cases? Despite the importance of this question of law and policy, few empirical studies have explored the problem on the area of racial and ethnic discrimination. This study seeks to fill this gap by assessing the importance of the solicitor general, the federal government's representative before the Supreme Court, as a litigant and in the filings of amicus curiae briefs. The findings confirm that the solicitor general's presence in civil rights cases does matter when explaining whether the Supreme Court reaches a liberal or conservative outcome. This research demonstrates the significance of executive‐judicial interaction in explaining Supreme Court policymaking in civil rights cases.     

What do the World Bank's Poverty Assessments teach us about Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa?

As part of the World Bank's poverty reduction strategy, Poverty Assessments have been carried out for a number of countries which analyse who the poor are, the causes of poverty and poverty reduction policies. This article reviews what can be learnt from the twenty-five Assessments prepared for countries in sub-Saharan Africa up to 1996. Whilst other factors are acknowledged in identifying the poor, the Assessments over-emphasize income-poverty defined against an inevitably arbitrary poverty line. The Assessments are shown to be weak in addressing the causes of poverty, often ignoring the historical perspective, political context, and international dimensions such as debt and commodity price trends, focusing instead on the lack of growth in recent years as the main cause of poverty. Weak understanding of the causes of poverty undermines the basis for country-specific poverty reduction strategies: policy recommendations are usually an uncritical presentation of the World Bank's three-pronged strategy of growth, investment in human capital and social safety nets. Although the Assessments do not explicitly acknowledge the point, they suggest that the number of poor people in Africa will continue to rise; nor is there any basis for confidence that policies are being put in place to redress the situation.     

The Location and Concentration of Businesses in Britain: Business Clusters, Business Services, Market Coverage and Local Economic Development

An important debate has recently developed around the significance of business clusters for the development of the economy. This paper assesses the extent to which concentrated clusters of businesses exist in Britain, using the fine spatial mesh of postcode districts. It identifies the major clusters using a development of the methodology to define local labour market areas. The paper demonstrates the high degree of localization and uneven development of businesses in Britain. It also shows that business service firms are even more highly localized and clustered than other businesses. Moreover, the larger the business centre, the more localized and clustered the firms. The pattern suggests that there is a strong influence of increasing returns of scale, and that, as well as local clusters, much of the British economy is covered by one metacluster. Implications from these results are drawn for the likely future development of the economy, the location of business service suppliers in order to develop their market coverage, and local economic development policy.     

Sub‐micron spongiform porosity is the major ultra‐structural alteration occurring in archaeological bone

Total pore volume and pore size distribution are indicators of the degree of post‐mortem modification of bone. Direct measurements of pore size distribution in archaeological bones using mercury intrusion porosimetry (HgIP) and back scattered scanning electron microscopy (BSE‐SEM) reveal a common pattern in the changes seen in degraded bone as compared to modern samples. The estimates of pore size distribution from HgIP and direct measurement from the BSE‐SEM images show remarkable correspondence. The coupling of these two independent approaches has allowed the diagenetic porosity changes in human archaeological bone in the >0.01 µm range to be directly imaged, and their relationship to pre‐existing physiological pores to be explored. The increase in porosity in the archaeological bones is restricted to two discrete pore ranges. The smaller of these two ranges (0.007–0.1 µm) lies in the range of the collagen fibril (0.1 µm diameter) and is presumably formed by the loss of collagen, whereas the larger pore size distribution is evidence of direct microbial alteration of the bone. HgIP has great potential for the characterization of microbial and chemical alteration of bone. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.