A Spatial Price Determination Model for Multi‐Market Heterogeneously Distributed Resources: An Application to Forestry Markets in Sweden

The spatial dimension is a key paradigm in price determination, as attested by recent studies in the literature that highlighted the differential in market behavior between spatial and non‐spatial pricing settings. In this paper, we develop a model of spatial pricing for multi‐market heterogeneously distributed resources, with an application to the Swedish forestry sector. The focus of the model is to estimate the impact of spatial interaction on the demand for resources in terms of resource allocation, competition, and pricing. In its core, the pricing mechanism relies on a supply–demand framework. Using disaggregated data at the gridcell level for forest feedstock supply and harvesting costs in Sweden, we construct regional supply curves for each gridcell assuming a maximum transportation distance to delimit the potential market. Demand nodes are exogenously determined and are adjusted using a distance‐decay model to assess demand pressure across locations. We apply the model empirically to assess the impact on forest feedstock prices of a 20 TWh increase in biofuel production.     

Reviews

Spatial models and locative expressions in Baluchi , Ela Filippone, Baluchistan Monograph Series, IV, Naples: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1996, 427 pp.

Qissah‐yi niyaz , Hushang Rahnema, Philadelphia: Miras‐e Iran, 1998, 175 pp.

Modernism and Ideology in Persian Literature: A Return to Nature in the Poetry of Nima Yushij , Majid Naficy, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1997, 144 pp., $27.50

Mysticism and the Plurality of Meaning: The Case of the Ismailis of Rural Iran , Rafique Keshavjee, London: I. B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1998 (Occasional Papers, no. 2), vii + 47 pp.

Sacred Acts, Sacred Time, Sacred Space , John Walbridge, Oxford: George Ronald, 1996.

The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews , vol. 2, ed. Homa and Houman Sarshar, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History, 1997.

Padyavand , Judeo‐Iranian and Jewish Studies Series, vol. 2, ed. Amnon Netzer, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1997.

Memoirs of M. E. Amirteymour Kalali: Tribal Leader, Majles Deputy, Cabinet Minister , ed., Habib Ladjevardi, Iranian Oral History Project, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, 1997.

Persian Cookings: A Table of Exotic Delights , Nesta Ramazani, New York: Quadrangle Books, 1974, reprint Iranbooks, Inc., 1997, 296 pp.

The Legendary Cuisine of Persia , Margaret Shaida, U.K.: Lieuse Publications, 1992., reprint Penguin Books, 1994, 337 pp.

Reconstructed Lives: Women and Iran's Islamic Revolution , Haleh Esfandiari, Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1997, 234 pp., $15.95, paperback, ISBN: 0–8018–5619–1, $24.50, hardcover, ISBN 0–8018–5618–3.

Die iranische Schia und die islamische Einheit 1979–1996 , Wilfried Buchta, Hamburg, Deutsches Orient‐Institut, 1997, 427 pp.

Maqalati dar jami^cah‐yi shinasi‐yi siyasi‐yi Iran [Articles on the Political Sociology of Iran], Ervand Abrahamian, trans., Soheyla Torrabi‐farsani, Tehran: Shirazeh Publications, 1997, 254 pp. + index.

Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics , Bahman Baktiari, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1996, ISBN 0–8130–1461–1, 282 pp. appendix, notes, bibliography, + index.

Street Politics: Poor People's Movement in Iran , Asef Bayat, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, 216 pages + plus glossary.

The United States and Iran; In the Shadow of Musaddiq , James F. Goode, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997, xiv + 235 pp.

The Soviet Republic of Iran, 1920–1921; Birth of the Trauma , Chosroe Chaqueri, Pittsburgh and London: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995, xxvii + 649 pp.

Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran , Edward Shirley, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997, 247 pp.

The Middle East: from the end of Empire to the end of the Cold War , P. J. Vatikiotis, London and New York: Routledge, 1997, $65.00.

Iran and the Gulf: A Search for Stability , Jamal S. al‐Suwaidi, ed., Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 1996, xi + 425 pp., 12 figures, 8 tables, maps.

The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security, and Religion , ed. Gary Sick and Lawrence G. Potter, ,New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997, 356 pp.

The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Boom and Petro‐States , Terry Lynn Karl, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997, 342 pp., $55.00, $22.00, paper.     

Sedimentation rates in the Lake Qattinah using 210Pb and 137Cs as geochronometer

The constant rate of supply (CRS) of excess ²¹⁰Pb model was successfully applied to assess ²¹⁰Pb data of two sediment cores from the lake Qattinah, Syria. Gamma spectrometry was used to determine ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb activity concentrations. The bottom of the cores was ²¹⁰Pb-dated to years 1907 and 1893. The accumulation rates were determined using ²¹⁰Pb method and found to vary similarly in both cores from 0.10 ± 0.01 to 3.78 ± 0.57 kg m^?2 y^?1 during the past century. ¹³⁷Cs was used as an in-dependent chronometer. The two distinct peaks observed on the ¹³⁷Cs record of both cores, corresponding to 1965 and 1986, have allowed a successful validation of the CRS model.     

Reviews

Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century , Richard C. Foltz, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. 186 pp., ISBN 0–312–21408–1.

Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco‐Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ^cAbbasid Society (2nd‐4th/8th‐10th centuries) , by Dimitri Gutas, London and New York: Routledge, 1998.

A Short History of the Isma^cilis. Traditions of a Muslim community , Farhad Daftary, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998, viii + 248 pp. (Islamic Surveys).

Napoleon and Persia: Franco‐Persian Relations under the First Empire , Iradj Amini, Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 1999, 228 pp.

Napoléon et la Perse: Les relations franco‐persanes sous le Premier Empire , Iradj Amini, Paris: Fondation Napoléon, 1995, 254 pp.

A Literary History of Persia , Edward G. Browne, 4 volumes, reprinted Iran‐books / Ibex Publishers, Bethesda 1997.

The Divan‐i Hafiz , H. Wilberforce‐Clarke, reprinted Iranbooks/Ibex Publishers, Bethesda, 1998.

Modern Persian Prose Literature , Hassan Kamshad, reprinted Iranbooks/Ibex Publishers, Bethesda, 1996.

Borrowed Ware: Medieval Persian Epigrams ,Dick Davis, trans., Washington, D.C.: Mage, 1997, 203 pp.

Asemun Rismun , Iraj Pezeshkzad, Bethesda, Maryland: Iranbooks,1997, x +300 pp., includes biographical reference and index, ISBN 0–936347–79–1.

La belle rivale de Farah et les jeux du destin , Anna‐Lisa Vafa, Paris: Les Editions la Bruyère, 1998, 103 pp.

The Arrest of Hoveyda: Stories of the Iranian Revolution , Saïdeh Pakravan, Costa Mesa, California: Blind Owl Press (an imprint of Mazda Publishers), 1998, 134 pp.

A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian Americans , edited by Persis M. Karim and Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami, New York: George Braziller, 1999, xxvii + 254 pp.

The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini , trans., with an introduction, by John R. Perry and Rachel Lehr, Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 1998, 275 pp., illus., maps, ISBN 1–56859–078–4.

Tajikistan:The Trials of Independence , eds. Mohammad‐Reza Djalili, Frédéric Grare, and Shirin Akiner, Richmond (UK): Curzon Press, 1998.

Central Asia meets the Middle East , David Menashri, ed., London & Portland, OR.: Frank Cass & Co Ltd., 1998, ISBN 0–7146–4600–8 (cloth), 9–7146–4129–4 (paper), xiii + 240 pp., map, index.

Arab‐Iranian Relations , Khair El‐Din Haseeb (ed.), Beirut/London: Centre for Arab Unity Studies/Brítish Academic Press, 1998, 564 pp., $59.50 (hardcover).

The Armenians of Iran: The Paradoxical Role of a Minority in a Dominant Culture , ed. Cosroe Chaqueri, Cambridge: Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 1998, 408 pp., photographs.

Women and the Political Process in Twentieth‐Century Iran , Parvin Paidar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi+401 pp.

Secularization of Iran: A Doomed Failure? The New Middle Class and the Making of Modern Iran , Azadeh Kian‐Thiébault, Paris, France: Diffusion Peet‐ers, Travaux et mémoires de l'Institut d'études iraniennes, numéro 3, 1998, 296 pps.

An Islamic Utopian: a political biography of Ali Shari^cati , Ali Rahnema. London and New York: I.B. Tauris (St. Martin's Press), 1998. xiii, 418 pp., bibliography, index, ISBN 1–86064–118–0.

Persian Painting ,Sheila R. Canby, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993, 128 pp., 43 color and 44 black‐and‐white illustrations, map, bibliography, index, ISBN 0–500–27730–3.

Early Persian tilework: the medieval flowering of kashi , Douglas Pickett, Madison, Teaneck, and London: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press and Associated University Presses, 1997, 211 pp.

The Persian Garden: Echoes of Paradise , Mehdi Khansari, M. Reza Moghtader, and Minouch Yavari, Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 1998, 169 pp.     

A characterisation study of Ubaid period ceramics from As-Sabbiya,Kuwait, using a non-destructive portable X-Ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer and petrographic analyses

The Ubaid cultural phenomena (6500–4200 BC) of southern Mesopotamia has been used to characterise other archaeological sites in the Arabian Gulf region. The aim of this inquiry is to explore the nature of the interaction between the homeland of the Ubaid and the wider Gulf region. Through the use of a non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer, this study seeks to characterise and identify the chemical and mineralogical compositions of the ceramic assemblage from the Bahra 1 site of the As-Sabbiya region, Kuwait. The chemical results demonstrated that a combination of six trace elements [rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr), yttrium (Y), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb) and barium (Ba)] occur significantly enough to delineate clay-based artifact groups—local red coarse from Ubaid, while the mineralogical analysis confirms the pXRF result and identifies the source of the raw materials and temper as well. Also, the comparison between the Ubaid and Bronze Age assemblage results suggests that potters used different clay resources within their own regions and/or production techniques.