Informal markets and global value chains – the disembedding of Romanian dairy smallholders

The Romanian dairy-farming sector is marked by subsistence and semi-subsistence farms. Through consolidation in the retail and dairy sector, the price pressure has moved toward producers of raw milk. Through new European, national and private standards and global actors tapping into the Romanian market this development is reinforced. At the same time, the smallholders, formerly accepted to be acting on an informal level, cannot access their main distribution channels anymore. Additionally, through several legal constraints being developed since Romania’s accession to the European Union, the smallholders are neither able to issue invoices, nor to access certain subsidy programmes as they are not considered juridical persons. This article focuses on the consequences of this disembedding of farmers. The peasants are pushed toward informal activities or value chain positions, in which they do not have any bargaining power with the globally sourcing intermediaries they are supplying. The contemporary approaches of global value chains and global production networks build the theoretical framework for the study. Here it is argued that informal markets must be included into these approaches more concisely.     

对剩余价值范畴的重新界定

传统政治经济学对剩余价值范畴的定义在其存在的条件、来源和剩余价值的分配等方面均过于狭窄,且界定时采用了非经济的标准,这既有悖于马克思的有关论述,也与当前的实际情况不完全吻合.本文以马克思的有关经典论述为依据,并结合经济生活的实际,对传统剩余价值范畴进行深入思考,以澄清人们的模糊认识.     

全球—地方视角下西安市软件产业集群的创新效应研究

全球—地方关系为产业创新研究提供了新的视角。本文基于全球（通道）—本地（蜂鸣）关系视角构建了软件产业集群创新效应研究的理论框架。以西安市软件产业集群为例,采用Stata13定量分析不同尺度创新合作的创新效应及其影响因素。研究发现,本地和国际创新合作均对集群创新具有积极的影响,且后者比前者的创新效应更强,说明搭建外部通道对集群创新的必要性;本地与国际创新合作交互对不同规模的软件企业产生的创新效应不同,对小型软件企业存在减法效应,对中型软件企业存在加法效应,对大型软件企业具有乘法效应。建立领先软件企业带动的开放创新系统,是西安市软件产业集群提升创新效应的有效路径。     

Assessing Socio‐Economic Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts and Environmental Hazards in New South Wales and Queensland,Australia

This article systematically reviews and synthesises academic, peer‐reviewed literature to assess the state of knowledge concerning socio‐economic vulnerability to climate change impacts and environmental hazards in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. It focuses upon empirical research that identifies socio‐economic factors associated with vulnerable subpopulations. Using systematic review methods, 35 articles met the inclusion criteria. These articles are analysed according to their general characteristics, the methods used, and the factors reported to be associated with socio‐economic vulnerability. This body of evidence reveals that (1) the majority of the knowledge about socio‐economic vulnerability in New South Wales and Queensland has only recently emerged; (2) more knowledge has been published about Queensland; and (3) extreme temperature is the most researched environmental hazard. Despite increased research activity over time, the number of factors repeatedly demonstrated to influence socio‐economic vulnerability is small. Age, gender, place of residence, and pre‐existing illness were the most commonly reported factors, although the influence of these factors upon socio‐economic vulnerability is complex. There is scope to extend the empirical research base across a broader range of climate‐related hazards and to better link findings from the domains of climate change vulnerability and population health.     

Frontiers of Urban Control: Lawlessness on the City Edge and Forms of Clientalist Statecraft in Zimbabwe

This article develops the concept of “urban frontier” to explore conflicts over state regularisation of city edge informal settlements in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. It conceptualises the presence of “lawless” urban frontiers and “illegal” territorial authorities in capital cities as expressions of a permissive form of central statecraft. In so doing, the article takes forward debates over the politics shaping the margins of Africa’s rapidly expanding cities, redressing scholars’ tendency to neglect central party‐state strategic calculations and party politics in their analyses of unregulated settlements. Dominant interpretations generally hinge on state absence or weakness and emphasise localised influences. The case of Harare’s highly politicised city‐edge informal settlements reveals the inadequacy of apolitical approaches particularly clearly, as all were controlled by the ruling ZANUPF party. The conflicts provoked by regularisation provide a lens on disputes within the ruling party, which we interpret as disputes over different forms of clientalist statecraft. Analyses of urban frontiers can thus help move away from generic one‐size‐fits‐all explanations of informality and patronage politics in Africa’s expanding cities.     

牛肃《纪闻》及其史料价值探讨

牛肃所撰《纪闻》系唐代第一部小说集,所记多开元、天宝时事。原书大约宋以后亡佚,惟《太平广记》、《太平寰宇记》等存有120余条。《纪闻》中的人物传记、僧侣传记、鬼怪幽冥故事等对盛唐时期的社会生活、政治事件等多有直接反映,其中一些材料还为《新唐书》、《资治通鉴》、《宋高僧传》等所采用,故而具有极高的史料价值。     

Dynamic optimization of horticulture among the Muscogee Creek Indians of the southeastern United States

This paper reviews archaeological applications of optimization theory applied to resource use. A model of agricultural corn production is derived for a single Muscogee Creek Indian town (CA 1725–1825) which was situated in the southeastern United States. The corn productivity model is based on soil depletion, soil variation, known locations of horticultural fields, population size, and nutritional requirements. The corn productivity model shows that corn production varied significantly between 1725 and 1825. The residents of the town shifted their horticultural gardens in order to maintain a nutritional minimum. The model was compared to the marginal value theorem and expectations derived from risk minimization models. Residents of Cussetuh abandoned their horticultural fields well before the instantaneous long-term average rate of production for the habitat. The model shows that the residents of Cussetuh were risk minimizers and were not maximizing the long term average rate of corn yield in their gardens.     

顾禄对清代江南民俗的记述与研究——《清嘉录》、《桐桥倚棹录》述评

《清嘉录》、《桐桥倚棹录》记载清代江南丰富多彩的社会生活与风土人情,对民俗的源流和演变作了饶有价值的诠释和考订,因而颇受史学界的关注。继续探索其深厚底蕴,对文化交流和旅游开发具有现实意义。     

Fate of the ash hurley in a global economy

The Irish sport of hurling, which pre-dates written history, has traditionally been played with an ash hurley shaped by a local craftsman known as a hurleymaker. Hurleymaking has always been an Irish practice, but now finds itself threatened by a global economy, an inconsistent supply chain, and synthetic manufacturing.     

论释赞宁《宋高僧传》的史料价值

释赞宁《宋高僧传》承继梁代释慧皎《高僧传》、唐代释道宣《续高僧传》而作,是记载唐初至北宋初三百多年间佛教僧人精英的总传。要了解佛教在中国的生存发展情况离不开佛教史籍,同时佛教与社会生活密切相关,所以《宋传》成为研究唐代至宋初中国佛教史、政治史、经济史、文化史、历史学等方面的重要资料。