Agrarian Transformation and the Distribution of Fixed Productive Assets in China

The distribution of fixed productive assets is more unequal than the distribution of land in rural China, but the two distributions to some degree offset each other because of economic specialization and the role of rural industrial and commercial enterprises. Surprisingly, the distribution of fixed productive assets has the most equalizing effect on the distribution of rural wealth. This is partly due to the mixed ownership patterns of assets. The households with the highest values of fixed productive assets are not particularly rich, and neither are assetless households particularly poor. The distribution of fixed assets is a key reason why the distribution of wealth in rural China is actually more equal than the distribution of income, a result which is most unusual for a developing country.     

Development and the Role of Microcredit

Microcredit is a concept that has gained widespread acceptance by international development agencies and major donors. It is viewed as a way to correct both governmental and market failure in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many view microcredit as a method for linking the formal and informal sectors of African economies to increase the reach of the formal sector. Extending the reach of the formal economy through microcredit is possible, and desirable, depending on macroeconomic reforms, respect for traditional financing relationships, and local control of institutions. However, very little has been done to determine the extent to which microcredit programs actually increase economic well-being. The model program, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, has been studied and evaluated, but replications may not be inherently successful. The literature accepts that microcredit will increase economic well-being, if programs are correctly designed. Program design issues cannot be resolved, however, until economic well-being is measured and associated with specific designs.     

Beyond the buildings: Formation processes of ancient Maya houselots and methods for the study of non-architectural space

The success of activity areas research in domestic contexts has highlighted the need for archaeologists working in the tropics to explore both indoor and outdoor spaces. The preservation of houselot boundaries at ancient Chunchucmil, Yucatán, Mexico, provides an ideal environment to explore methods for the investigation of broad spaces beyond buildings, to test ethnoarchaeological models of activity areas and refuse disposal, and to demonstrate the importance of open spaces to understanding ancient economic organization. The results of methodological experiments reported in this paper favor the use of systematic subsurface sampling (as opposed to surface collections) for characterizing specific uses of space around houses. Formation processes dictate that soil chemistry, paleoethnobotany, and other laboratory techniques should supplement excavations. Our explorations of three houselots suggest that ethnoarchaeological models of the use of space in contemporary houselots serve as successful templates for interpreting the use of space in ancient times. Post-abandonment deposition within houselots, however, can confuse these interpretations. This paper therefore reports a new ethnoarchaeological study that helps illuminate the nature of post-abandonment discard. After resolving critical issues of methodology and formation processes, this paper assesses the economic contribution of houselot activities. Given Chunchucmil’s agricultural marginality, such home economics played an important role in the subsistence needs of this urban center.     

Rights to protection and the state: the Australian Government's National Plan to reduce violence against women and children and victim's justice

Due to increased awareness and impact of domestic violence, women's safety in the domestic sphere has become a prominent problem in Australian politics. In an analysis of criminal injuries compensation (CIC) processes in WA, this paper highlights a specific aspect of national policy failure in relation to safety for women who have experienced domestic and family violence. It establishes policy impetus to acknowledge a right to protection by the state within the domestic sphere, then discusses the history and relevance of state responsibility/obligations for victims of crime compensation and demonstrates how the failure to comply with the nationally endorsed plan to address domestic violence places some women at risk of further harm. The example of WA's victims of crime compensation processes highlights the high level of female domestic violence victims using the scheme and important intersectional issues pertinent for Indigenous women. The paper points to how a specific failure of policy implementation may be addressed.     

The ‘Migrated Archives’ and a Forgotten Corner of Empire: The British Borneo Territories

The ‘migrated archives’, previously concealed files related to former colonies of the British Empire, were released over the period 2012–13. The first flurry of academic and journalistic interest, focused on possible revelations of the misuse of colonial power, soon subsided. Nevertheless, the archives have been valuable in enlarging knowledge of colonial policy-making. They have also aided exploration of the interstices between the official records of colonial administration and the often unrecorded life of peoples and communities. In this sense the ‘migrated archives’ are a rich resource in prompting a new look at established historical narratives of the British Borneo territories of Brunei, North Borneo and Sarawak. These territories have received scant attention in the historiography of British colonialism. This has been to the detriment of wider scholarship in studying issues such as the expansion of the wartime colonial state; the ‘second colonial occupation’ and the evolution of post-war British colonial governance; the development of anti-colonialism; the formation of Malaysia; counter-terrorism conflicts; and the nature of the colonial legacy. The colonial period may seem a fleeting phase in the age-old cultural and economic formation of the Borneo states, yet it continues to have contemporary relevance in a strategically sensitive part of the world. This article seeks to show that the Borneo territories merit greater attention from historians of British colonialism and that the ‘migrated archives’, used in conjunction with other sources, can make a significant contribution towards the history of colonialism in a previously neglected area.