Foreign Trade and Regional Development in China

This paper puts into focus the regional implications of China's recent open-door policy. The empirical analysis employs a cross-sectional approach with 1986 data. The results suggest that foreign trade is more readily translated into economic development in the most well developed and industrialized eastern coastal provinces.     

Seasonality and seal exploitation in the southwestern Cape,South Africa

An ecological model is proposed for human responses to climatic seasonality in the later Holocene of the southwestern Cape in South Africa. This is an area where pronounced seasonality produces cyclical effects on plant, animal and human communities. The predictions of this model are that: 1. human foragers would switch from plant carbohydrates to seal fat as a winter energy source; 2. capture and butchery of seals would vary with season and seal age; 3. capture and butchery of ungulates would vary seasonally; and 4. seals would be exploited differently from ungulates throughout the year. The model is tested against faunal data from Smitswinkelbaai Cave.

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Résumé On propose un modèle écologique des réactions humaines à la saisonalité climatique pour l'Holocène récent dans le cap sud-ouest, Afrique du Sud. C'est une région où la saisonalité produit des effets cycliques sur les communautés végétale, animale et humaine. Les prédictions de ce modèle sont les suivantes: 1. les cueilleurs humains changeaient des féculents végétaux à la graisse de phoque comme source d'énergie en hiver; 2. la prise et la boucherie de phoques variaient avec les saisons et selon l'âge des phoques; 3. la prise et la boucherie des ongulés variaient de façon saisonnière; et 4. les phoques étaient exploités différemment des ongulés pendant toute l'année. On présente un essai préliminaire du modèle sur les données de la caverne Smitswinkelbaai.

     

ON THE STABILITY OF HOUSING SECTOR INTERACTION: EVIDENCE FROM 42 METROPOLITAN AREAS*

ABSTRACT. Residential vacancy chain models based on White's (1971) application of Markov chain theory are used to simulate flows of housing vacancies through a set of interdependent housing market sectors. Measures of housing sector interaction are derived from such models. Our purpose here is to address the issue of time stationarity raised by their use. U.S. census data are available to calibrate such models at two, and sometimes three, points in time. Data from 42 different SMSAs are used to generate 56 cross-temporal comparisons with interobservation periods ranging from three to eight years. Stability of interaction is addressed from two perspectives–the sectoral perspective and the areawide perspective. Results are mixed and depend upon which measure of interaction is used, which perspective is addressed, and the duration of the interobservation period. However, within limits, findings support continued use of vacancy chain models.