Characterization of Glass,Shell, and Fishbone Beads on Ibo Island (Northern Mozambique) in the Context of the Indian Ocean Trade

African Archaeological Review - A set of beads made of glass, gastropod mollusk shell, and fishbone from a Swahili occupation level on Ibo Island (northern Mozambique) is dated to the eleventh and...     

Evidence on economies of scale in local public service provision: A meta-analysis

The standard theory of optimal jurisdictional size hinges on the existence of economies of scale in the provision of local public goods and services. However, despite its relevance for forced local amalgamation programs and related policies, the empirical evidence on the existence of such economies of scale remains elusive. The main goal of this paper is to produce an updated and comprehensive quantitative review of the existence of economies of scale in the provision of local public goods using a meta-analysis approach to systematize the wide range of empirical approaches and modeling frameworks found in the previous literature. Our analysis confirms the presence of moderately increasing to constant returns to scale in the provision of local services with no reduction in the average costs of production in the delivery of most local public services beyond a certain, modest jurisdictional size, which many studies have estimated at 10,000 residents. Also, the potential for economies of scale differs at least across three traditional services: education, water and sanitation, and garbage collection, being highest for education and lowest for garbage collection. Our analysis also offers guidelines for future empirical research in this area. Physical output and production cost data should be used, together with translog specifications for the modeling of cost functions. Last, we find evidence that the determinants of output cost elasticity include bidirectional publication bias and population density but do not include the presence or absence of modern “lean” production technologies or the (perceived) capital intensity of the sector, contrary to conventional wisdom. These findings have significant policy implications for countries considering jurisdictional consolidation programs.     

SOCIAL CHANGE AND METALWORKING IN THE EARLY IRON AGE: AN APPROACH FROM NORTH-WEST IBERIA

This paper analyses social transformations in the Early Iron Age based on a holistic and longue durée approach applied to the first fortified habitats in the Iberian north-west. Through a comprehensive review of two paradigmatic settlements of the EIA in the province of A Coruña (Galicia, north-west Iberia), Punta de Muros and A Graña, a comparison is drawn between the social and territorial dynamics of this period by means of an in-depth analysis of the main characteristics of both settlements. Accordingly, a greater level of social complexity during the phases of occupation of the settlement of Punta de Muros has been identified, in contrast to the resistance to change observed in A Graña. Based on these conclusions, the role of metalworking and its symbolic value in fostering and legitimizing these social and territorial transformations and in the development of Iron Age communities are analysed.     

A mutual ecological approach to health in Mongolia

Herders spend much time and energy seeking pasture and nurturing their herd animals in Mongolia. In turn, herd animals are the primary food source for herders in the form of meat and dairy products, feeding and nurturing the herding family. The overall herding principle strives towards a mutual balance across different scales within the body and the ecological food chain, resulting in reciprocal health and well-being. The powerful medicinal qualities of the blue and yellow pasque flower (yargui, Pulsatilla spp.) are valued in Mongolia, sought out in early spring by multiple species, including herders, goats and wild deer. Herding knowledge of goats and deer seeking out the pasque flower for medicinal purposes to expel gut parasites is an excellent example of Mongolian herding families’ awareness of their interdependent interconnections with other species as part of a larger surrounding ecology. However, this level of integration may not last, as herding families increasingly rely on introduced medicines, such as anthelmintics, bought from local pharmacies and wholesalers within rural townships.     

Anthropology of mutualism

What might anthropology offer to our understanding of mutualistic relations? In making sense of these interspecies interactions, which, despite some costs, are ultimately beneficial to each partner species, zoological approaches operate at the level of populations on an adaptive scale. Anthropologists bring focus on individual actors and their subjective experiences within far more condensed temporospatial ethnographic timescales. This guest editorial brings a multispecies anthropological approach into dialogue with zoological understandings of mutualism. It examines the practical and theoretical potential of mutuality to make sense of relations of domestication. Materialistic profit and market-oriented forms of engagement in the domestic sphere are often detrimental to more-than-human communities. The persistence of different kinds of mutual co-existences, as shown in different forms of care of orphaned animals in Mongolia, Pakistan and Australia, offers an alternative and perhaps more hopeful model of more-than-human engagement in the Anthropocene.     

Application of European regional development fund for objective 2 in Catalonia: planning,monitoring and evaluation

This paper describes the administration procedures of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for Objective 2 in Catalonia. The paper shows also that the flow of an average of 100 million ECU per year from this Fund from 1989–1993, despite having a relatively slight impact on the Catalan GDP, has contributed to solving some of the bottlenecks in the Catalan economy.