The Historic Port of El Real de Salinas in Campeche, and the Role of Coastal Resources in the Emergence of Capitalism in Yucatán, México

The emergence of capitalism in the peninsula of Yucatán is generally presented as a process resulting from the capitalization of the agricultural sector and the export of products from its sugar, cotton, and henequén plantations in the nineteenth century. In addition to these products, the peninsula also had a dynamic coastal economy in which the harvesting of salt and the extraction of logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum), played a major role and contributed to the flow of goods to international markets. We present a preliminary archaeological survey and historical documentation of El Real de Salinas, a salt-producing port on the north coast of Campeche, which was also involved in the extraction of other coastal products and closely linked to the inland plantation system.

China's Shoe Manufacturing and the Wenzhou Model: Perspectives on the World's Leading Producer and Exporter of Footwear

A U.S.-based geographer and specialist on China advances his research on industrial districts and regional development by presenting a 2008 study of shoe manufacturing in Wenzhou (a major center in the world's largest footwear producing and exporting country). More specifically, the author examines how the model of economic development pioneered in Wenzhou (the Wenzhou model) has been transformed in an effort to meet the challenges posed by the global economy. He argues that the scaling up of Wenzhou's footwear industry, through the expansion of sales networks and factories across China and abroad, indicates that other adaptable city regions can overcome similar obstacles. The author challenges both the New Regionalism literature focused on local institutions and assets, as well as perspectives that overemphasize the benefits of globalization and global production networks. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O100, O140, O180. 2 figures, 3 tables, 60 references.     

Russia's Accession to the World Trade Organization

A prominent specialist on the Russian economy presents a timely assessment of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. The author discusses the reasons that prompted Russia to seek membership and scrutinizes the major obstacles, such as complexities of the accession process and the country's institutional malaise. An analysis of the effects of possible membership on the Russian economy is followed by a focus on Putin's first term (2000-2003) when he supported entry, and the second (2004-2007) when he lost interest. Also presented are two scenarios projecting reinvigorated pursuit of Russian membership, or abandonment of the goal. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, F40, O19. 1 table, 46 references.     

非自然景观在旅游规划实作中的运用--以"老重庆"为例

本文总结了我国近几年旅游规划在实际操作中的利弊得失,指出要给游客留下深刻印象首先就要做到突出地方精神和地方特色,在阐释非自然景观含义的基础上本文得出结论：非自然景观正是表现这种地方精神的最佳载体,接着本文分析了如何在旅游规划实作中正确运用非自然景观因素表现地方精神以及这种运用所带来的巨大吸引力,最后以重庆市大渡口区“老重庆”城旅游规划为例,从调查分析中总结出重庆的地方精神在于其非自然景观要素,在此基础上从主题营造、特色分区和景观设计三方面集中探讨了非自然景观在旅游规划实作中的具体操作。     

中国钱币博物馆部分陈列银币、铜币的腐蚀产物及成因研究

为探讨部分陈列银币、铜币腐蚀产物及其成因,采用三维视频显微镜、扫描电镜-能谱(SEM-EDS)、X射线荧光(XRF)、X射线衍射(XRD)等方法,对中国钱币博物馆部分遭受腐蚀的展陈钱币的腐蚀产物进行了分析,并通过红外光谱(FT-IR)对展陈材料进行了分析,最后对硫的来源进行了初步分析。结果表明,银币和铜币的腐蚀产物均含有硫化物,银币(银铤)的腐蚀产物为硫化银,铜币的腐蚀产物中主要为铜的硫化物,此外还含有铜的氧化物。经分析,展柜中的黏合剂氯丁胶在光照和较高温湿度条件下能分解并释放出硫化氢气体,因而初步判断银币或铜币的腐蚀产物是由于展柜内材料产生的硫化氢与银币或铜币反应生成。     

日本发展入境旅游的政策措施与成效

自20世纪90年代开始,日本政府为推进入境旅游发展所采取的政策措施主要有：制定完备的旅游相关法律,成立专门行政管理机构制定并实施观光立国战略,规划建设广域国际旅游特区,加强国际旅游合作,积极申报世界遗产,发展生态旅游与产业观光游等。这些政策措施已经取得较为显著的成效,其中一些成功经验对我国发展入境旅游具有借鉴作用。     

Mediterranean heritage: ancient marvel,modern millstone

ABSTRACT. The wealth, variety and seaborne accessibility of Mediterranean societies since late prehistory have made the region's cultural heritage the world's most widely acclaimed. But since the fall of the Roman Empire the Mediterranean has been increasingly disadvantaged, its history compromised, its legacy beleaguered. Two millennia of invasion and rapine, religious vendetta, foreign conquest, imperial dominion and colonial subjugation have left Mediterranean peoples with fewer resources and weaker infrastructures than those of transalpine and transatlantic nation‐states. The consequences for the care and control of Mediterranean heritage are parlous. That heritage is both the region's self‐defining pride and its economic mainstay, yet a crippling burden to protect and maintain, let alone to interpret and celebrate. It is everywhere beset by natural and human attrition. Weathering and erosion, illicit excavation and pillage, tomb robbery and the international antiquities market exact tolls that legal codes and police forces are all but impotent to stem. Recent social and political trends suggest potential remedies for some of these dilemmas.     

Global sourcing: insights from the global clothing industry the case of Zara, a fast fashion retailer

Until recently, Zara, a major international clothing retailerand pioneer of ‘fast fashion’ principles, kept almosthalf of its production in Spain and Portugal, earning the reputationof being one of the exceptions to globalization. Since the 1980s,the existence of such exceptions has been fueling an expectationthat the production of high-quality fashion garments and tailoredsuits would remain in the industrialized core. Here I revisitthis expectation in the light of the current seminal changein the culture of fashion from ready-to-wear to fast fashion,and report that the increased variety and fashionability associatedwith fast fashion, represented by Zara, have tilted the balanceof competitive advantage towards, rather than away from, firmsin partially industrialized countries. As a number of supplierfirms in countries such as Morocco, India and Turkey have gainedthe competence to manufacture intricately worked high-qualitygarments with the required flexibility and speed, Zara has turnedto sourcing from these countries. It appears that instead ofZara changing the geography of jobs, the geography of competenciesand jobs has changed Zara.     

Does size of local labour markets affect wage inequality? a rank-size rule of income distribution

The questions addressed in this paper are: (i) does wage inequalityincrease with local population size, and if so, (ii) what arepossible factors behind this increase? In a cross-section analysisof Swedish local labour markets using unique full populationdata, the article shows that urban scale, i.e. size of localpopulation, has significant positive effects on wage inequality.Testing for potential explanations, labour market diversification,human capital, migration, age structure and employment are shownto be significantly associated with inequality. Given theseeffects, the article raises the question of how to understandand incorporate scale effects into models of long-term changein wage inequality.     

中国传统工商业城市在近代的衰落

Resulted from different causes, the majority of traditional cities in modern China underwent a decline in various degrees. The causes of the decline of Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou which have started to develop their new industry and commerce since mid-Qing Dynasty lies in such aspects as: the lose of transportation superiority in modern China; the fatal destruction caused by Taiping Revolution; the affects of the rising of Shanghai; the recession of traditional economy and slowed development of new economy; and the conservatism in thinking and ideas etc. Translated by Huang Bangfu from Xinan Minzu Daxue Xuebao 西南民族大学学报 (Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities), 2007, (4): 1–11