ETHNICITY AND THE RURAL ECONOMY: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SOUTHERN MANITOBA, 1961–1971

V ariation in behaviour stemming from cultural differences has long been recognized as a possible key influence on attitudes towards economic development. The seminal work of Max Weber (1958) relating economic performance to religious allegiances is an obvious example. However, variations in the attitudes of economic actors may also derive from differences in endowments stemming from ethnic heritage. In Canada, for instance, the role of the British group in dominating corporate directorships has been well documented (Porter 1957) and is of special significance in a nation attempting to establish a balanced power situation between its Anglophone and Francophone elements. The problems of attaining cultural equality in Canada are, of course, compounded by the concentration of the Francophone element in Quebec and this spatial concern introduces new complexities in prescribing solutions.     

The Noble Traders: the Islamic Tradition of “Spiritual Chivalry” (futuwwa) in Bosnian Trade‐guilds (16th−19th centuries)

Abstract: Originally linked to the military associations of the Middle Ages, the Islamic tradition of futuwwa was with time inherited by artisanship associations. The Anatolian Akh?s of the 14^th century represent an important link in the evolution of the futuwwa tradition, and it was thanks to them that this tradition survived well into the Ottoman era, this time within the framework of the more centralized, professional trade‐guilds. Together with other Ottoman institutions, administrative, military and economic, Ottoman crafts and their trade‐guilds appeared in Bosnia soon after the final fall of the country to the Ottomans in 1463. Sources which provide information on the organization and activities of Bosnian guilds also give a picture of their religious character and, related to it, the presence of futuwwa tradition within them. The most important of these sources are those that originate from the guilds themselves, the guild defters and their statutes, which are often called fütüvetnames. A number of documents of this kind found in Bosnia illustrate a strong presence of different futuwwa traditions within Bosnian guilds from their establishment well into the 19^th century, while some also provide valuable information on the futuwwa tradition in Ottoman guilds in general.     

Gabriel Germinet and the ' Livre d'or du théâtre radiophonique français ' (1923-1935)

The Ecole de Brive represents one of the most successful examples of marketing literary texts in recent years. The Ecole consists of eight authors all of whom publish with Editions Robert Laffont and write novels that deal with the rural France of bygone eras. Laffont has grouped these writers together, created a ‘school’ and then marketed their work as a healthy alternative to the overly introspective fiction produced by Parisian intellectuals. With the Ecole de Brive Laffont has cleverly exploited the traditional tensions between the city and the country, the widespread dissatisfaction with the political and cultural status of contemporary France, and the perceived inaccessibility of currently fashionable literature, in order to sell novels that claim to renew average French peoples’ contacts with their putative roots in the quasi‐mythic world of la France profonde.     

A note on the use of temporal frequency distributions in studies of prehistoric demography

Temporal frequency distributions of archaeological sites and radiocarbon dates are commonly used as proxies for prehistoric population levels based on the assumption that more people create a stronger archaeological signal. While this assumption is certainly correct, we question whether relative frequencies of sites or dates observed from prehistoric contexts are necessarily linked to human demography. In this paper, we demonstrate that the typical positive curvilinear frequency distributions observed in archaeological contexts also regularly occur in paleontological and geological contexts and are thus likely caused by the operation of time-dependent destructive processes, what we call “taphonomic bias.” Using a simple model, which assumes a constant rate of site loss over time, we show how taphonomic bias can produce positive curvilinear frequency distributions through time even in cases of population stasis, decline, and fluctuation. We conclude that caution must be used when attempting to infer demographic trends from frequency distributions alone.     

Spatial Distribution of Trees and Landscapes of the Past: A Mixed Spatially Correlated Multinomial Logit Model Approach for the Analysis of the Public Land Survey Data

Public Land Survey (PLS) data have been widely used in landscape studies of forest and woodlands in the pre‐ and early‐European‐settled Midwestern and Western United States. We aim to reconstruct presettlement forest vegetation at a finer spatial resolution than available from the PLS data using environmental covariates (slope, aspect, geology, and soil type) and the spatially correlated structure of witness tree data. To accommodate various data obtained from multiple sources while explicitly taking into account their spatial structures, we adopt a mixed spatially correlated multinomial logit model within the framework of a generalized linear mixed model. The application of the proposed model is illustrated using the three most abundant tree taxa from PLS data in the Arbuckle Mountains of south‐central Oklahoma. To assess the influence of each source of information on the spatial prediction, we considered four variant multinomial/spatial models and evaluated their relative predictive power using a validation technique. The probabilistic information about the spatial distribution of tree species obtained from different models reveals the need to integrate information about witness tree data as well as environmental covariates, and the nature of tree species; that is, a tendency to cluster in space to share environmental conditions in the reconstruction of the presettlement forest vegetation surface. Los datos sobre el uso y cobertura de tierras del Public Land Survey (PLS) han sido utilizados ampliamente en estudios de paisaje de bosques y de bosques históricos para periodo previo al asentamiento de migrantes europeos en el medio oeste y oeste de los Estados Unidos. Nuestro objetivo es reconstruir la vegetación forestal previa al asentamiento europeo a una resolución espacial más fina que la disponible actualmente en base a datos del PLS, usando covariables ambientales (pendiente, orientación, geología y tipo de suelo) y la estructura de correlación espacial de los datos de los árboles testigos. Para dar cabida a los diversos datos obtenidos de fuentes múltiples, y a la vez teniendo en cuenta explícitamente sus estructuras espaciales, adoptamos un modelo logit multinomial espacial mixto dentro del marco de los modelos mixtos lineales generalizados (GLMM). La aplicación del modelo propuesto es ilustrada con los tres tipos más abundantes de árboles según los datos del PLS para las montañas de Arbuckle en el centro‐sur de Oklahoma, EEUU. Para evaluar la influencia de cada fuente de información sobre la predicción espacial, se consideraron cuatro variantes de los modelos multinomial y espaciales. El poder predictivo de dichos modelos fue evaluado en relación con una técnica de validación. La información probabilística acerca de la distribución espacial de las especies de árboles obtenidos a partir de los diferentes modelos revela que para la reconstrucción de la superficie de la vegetación forestal histórica, es necesario integrar la información sobre los datos de árboles testigos así como las covariables ambientales y la naturaleza de las especies de árboles: es decir, la tendencia de los arboles a agruparse en el espacio para compartir las mismas condiciones ambientales. 公共土地调查(PLS)数据在欧洲人定居美国中西部和西部地区之前以及早期的森林和林地景观研究中得到广泛应用。本文旨在利用环境协变量（坡度、坡向、地貌和土地类型）证据树数据的空间关联结构,重建比PLS数据中更有效的更精细空间分辨率的前殖民期森林植被。为集成多种来源的各类数据,并明确地考虑数据间的空间结构,本文在广义线性混合模型(GLMM)框架下提出了混合空间关联多项Logit模型。以俄克拉荷马州中南部的阿尔布克尔山脉为研究区,提取PLS数据中三种最丰富的树种对模型进行验证。为估计每种信息来源对模型空间预测准确性的影响,本文考虑了4种变异的多项/空间模型并运用验证技术评估它们的相对预测能力。从不同模型获得的树种空间分布的概率信息表明,需要对证据树数据、环境协变量和树种自然属性信息进行集成,也就是说,在重建前殖民期森林植被曲面时,空间上的集聚趋势共享了环境条件。     

Linking the 1940 U.S. Census with modern data

Abstract

The U.S. Census Bureau has created a set of linkable census, survey, and administrative records that provides longitudinal data on the American population across the past eight decades. While these files include modern decennial censuses, Census Bureau surveys, and administrative records files from other federal agencies, the long time span is only possible with the addition of the complete count 1940 Census microdata. In this paper, we discuss the development of this linked data infrastructure and provide an overview of the record linkage techniques used. We primarily focus on the techniques used to produce a beta version of a linkable 1940 Census microdata file and discuss the potential to further document and extend the infrastructure.     

FEEDBACK BETWEEN REAL ESTATE AND URBAN ECONOMICS*

ABSTRACT This paper considers the implications of increasing land supply constraints in the United States on urban demand. First, because shifts in demand are now capitalized more into the price of land, house prices in some metropolitan areas have grown increasingly unaffordable to typical households. This might have an effect on the fundamental character of such cities. Second, the effect of home owners’ financial interests as landowners on their decisions about what regulations or investments in their communities to support may become stronger. Third, researchers may now be able to better use land prices to make inferences about urban demand. However, interpreting real estate prices still is tricky.