Mobility, competition, and Plio-Pleistocene hominid foraging groups

Evidence for carcass access times and levels of early hominid mobility is synthesized using studies of carnivore ethology and theories of interspecific competition to arrive at tentative conclusions about the organization of Plio-Pleistocene hominid foraging groups. The model presented suggests that group foraging tactics, in combination with high mobility, are central to successful confrontational scavenging (interference competition), whereas individual foraging tactics and high mobility are central to successful nonconfrontational scavenging (exploitative competition). In contrast, group or individual foraging tactics and low mobility characterize the acquisition of fresh carcasses in low-competition contexts. Individual foraging tactics and low mobility are employed in response to extreme competition over marginal resources. Preliminary tests with data from Bed I Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora suggest that Plio-Pleistocene hominids, like other large-bodied predators, employed flexible foraging tactics involving changes in group size and levels of mobility to gain access to carcasses in both low-and high-competition contexts.     

名山旅游地的空间竞争研究──以皖南三大名山为例

本文分析了名山旅游地的特点和影响其空间竞争的因素,以皖南三大名山为例,讨论了名山旅游地空间竞争的特点和竞争策略。     

Archaeological Investigations at Yunkaray (Cuzco,Peru): Reconstructing the Rise and Fall of an Early Inca Rival (A.D. 1050–1450)

In the highland Andes during the centuries leading to Inca imperial expansion (ca. a.d. 1400–1530s), the people of the Cuzco Basin established alliances and rivalries with diverse neighbors living across the Cuzco region. Among the most powerful of those groups was a polity centered at Yunkaray (occupied ca. a.d. 1050–1450) on the Maras Plain just northwest of the burgeoning city of Cuzco. Recent settlement survey and excavations in and around Yunkaray have identified the site as the principal settlement of the Ayarmaca group, which remained outside the sphere of Inca cultural influence despite its proximity to Cuzco. The distinctive nature of Yunkaray’s interaction with the Incas is examined here through household excavations, which indicate that the large village was occupied by a population presenting modest status distinctions and relying on locally derived sources of social identity.     

Exploiting Sino-US Geostrategic Competition: The View from Seoul and Singapore

The mainstream literature on weak status quo states’ diplomacy tends to identify their regional security roles in terms of dealing with non-traditional security issues. This article argues that such a limited approach is not sufficient to explain the current security dynamics in the Asia-Pacific. This article reviews the literature on weak status quo states’ influence on regional order. It then identifies a security environment in which they are more likely to exert some impact on maintaining and building a regional order. After contextualising these discussions in the Asia-Pacific setting, the article examines the experience of South Korea and Singapore as secondary powers in the East Asian region. Although both countries enjoy high levels of security cooperation with the US, both have also been able to exercise a certain amount of influence in advancing their own geostrategic interests amidst the growing Sino-US geostrategic competition. Yet their exploitation of Sino-US geostrategic competition is neither a simple balancing strategy against China nor a simple bandwagoning with the US, since both South Korea and Singapore have been increasing bilateral and multilateral security cooperation with China.     

上海假日旅游市场分析

上海具有发展国内旅游、假日旅游得天独厚的优势,要进一步促进上海国内旅游,假日旅游的发展,关键在于培育一个有序竞争的国内旅游市场、假日旅游市场。旅游企业要积极开拓市场,向科学管理要效益,以求共同发展。     

中国产业在东亚的优势及结构调整

中国产业的发展已进入了按国际分工构来选择和实施战略性调整的关键时期。本文采用比较优势指数及贸易特化系数,分析了中国与东亚各国和地区贸易中工业制品的比较优势及竞争优势的状况,指出中国与东亚的产业国际分工的特征、竞争与互补关系以及如何重构中国产业竞争优势的问题。     

Social Conflict and Competing State Projects in the Semi‐Periphery: A Strategic‐Relational Analysis of the Transformation of the Mexican State into an Internationalized Competition State

Abstract: This article draws on the strategic‐relational approach in state theory and examines the transformation of the Mexican state into internationalized competition state. It does so by analyzing the rise of the neoliberal forces and the neoliberal state project inside Mexico during the 1970s while taking into account the important modifications in the international division of labor and the evolving international regulation. These developments resulted in the transformation of the Mexican state into an internationalized competition state which adopts a Ricardian strategy of competition and is characterized by the tendencies towards the denationalization of statehood and the internationalization of policy regimes.     

The Effects of Competition‐Based Public Policy on Contractual Arrangements

When competition is naturally limited, policymakers craft regulation to obtain effects similar to those that would have occurred in the presence of competition. In many instances, regulation of this type is not successful in overcoming market failures. We rely on property rights theory and transaction cost theory to predict when state‐level policy statements will actually lead to a redistribution of benefits at the city level. We test this theory in the context of cable television franchise renewal agreements—a setting historically resistant to competition. We look to the language of the franchise agreements for evidence of concessions made by the cable operator to the city, and using a difference‐in‐difference estimator, we find that pro‐competitive regulation translates into concessions to the city. However, a credible threat of competition embedded in regulation is not enough to curb opportunism associated with monopoly supply in cases of large franchisees; larger cable operators are at least 60 percent less likely to offer more favorable terms of trade. However, consistent with transaction cost predictions, asset‐specific investments by the cable operator do curb opportunism; there is a 51 percent increase in the odds of a franchisee offering more concessions for a 1 standard deviation change—about 1,020 mi of the plant. These findings are important for those involved in crafting policy at all levels of government as well as for researchers interested in understanding the role of long‐term contracting and the use of hybrid mechanisms such as franchise agreements in contemporary governance.     

对近代大国崛起的再思考

国家崛起涉及政治、经济、科技、文化以及国际关系等诸多条件,其中经济是基础,科技是关键,政治是推动力;欧美国家在科技革命、制度创新和思想观念方面实现了创造性的转换,正是由于这些天时、地利、人和的有利优势,才率先实现了国家繁荣与富强。近代欧美大国实现这一历史性转变,其经验有可借鉴之处。     

Establishing insurance markets in settler economies. a comparison of Australian and South Africa insurance markets, 1820-1910

ABSTRACT

How did insurance markets in the settler economies of Australia and South Africa develop? This paper investigates the establishment of the local insurance industries in two settler economies in the wake of the absence of comparative studies in the emergence of insurance markets in the periphery. The paper compares conditions in these settler economies and notes the innovative role of local entrepreneurs. British insurance companies extended operations into the British colonies, but local interests emerged to challenge their dominance. Innovations in organisational form, product offerings and distribution channels afforded local entrepreneurs a competitive advantage in the life market. Collusion in the fire market restricted innovative practices and retained foreign control. This article explains the agency of local entrepreneurs in the emergence of insurance markets in two settler societies at the end of the nineteenth century. This historical development path has notable implications for the current development of insurance markets in Africa.