Inter- and intraregional inequality in a spatial economy

In this paper, we develop a three-region economic geography model with workers of heterogeneous skills and mobility rates to consider how first-nature, regional differences impact both inter- and intraregional inequality. In our model, the skill premium within a region summarizes both the degree of intraregional inequality between mobile, skilled workers and immobile, unskilled workers and the interregional inequality through differences in the welfare of unskilled workers across regions. Regions with the highest skill premium have the greatest degree of intraregional inequality and provide the lowest level of welfare to unskilled workers, relative to other regions. We find that the skill premium will be higher in regions with a greater supply of unskilled labor, lower supply of housing, or are more remote. An increase in a region's housing supply or centrality will lower intraregional inequality and raise the welfare of the local, unskilled workforce. However, the magnitude of these changes are declining in the initial number of skilled workers in the region. The model is extended to consider imperfectly elastic housing supply. The larger the price elasticity of housing, the larger the range of values, such that more populated regions will host a disproportionate share of skilled workers, have lower levels of intraregional inequality, and provide higher levels of welfare for unskilled workers.     

Elastic labor supply and agglomeration

This study analyzes the interplay between the agglomeration of economic activities and interregional differences in working hours, which are typically longer in large cities, as they are normally more developed than small cities. For this purpose, we develop a two‐region model with endogenous labor supply. Although we assume a symmetric distribution of immobile workers, the symmetric equilibrium breaks in the sense that firms may agglomerate when trade costs are intermediate and labor supply is elastic. We also show that the price index is always lower, while labor supply, per capita income, real wages, and welfare are always higher in the more agglomerated region.     

Transition in the use of cobalt-blue colorant in the New Kingdom of Egypt

Cobalt-blue colorant was first used in the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom of Egypt. The source of this cobalt was cobaltiferous alum from the Western Oases of Egypt. The use of this alum, especially in glass, was suddenly limited at the end of the 18th Dynasty. There is little evidence of the production of cobalt-blue glass in the Ramesside Period (the 19th–20th Dynasties) in the New Kingdom of Egypt. In this study, we brought a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to two archaeological sites located in the Memphite region and used it for onsite analyses of Ramesside cobalt blue-colored glasses and faiences. This method revealed that the compositional characteristics of the cobalt-blue colorant in these Ramesside glasses and faiences is different from the colorant derived from cobaltiferous alum used in the 18th Dynasty, based on the comparison of transition metal composition and alumina content with those of the cobalt blue-colored artifacts from the 18th Dynasty. This result suggests that a new cobalt source other than cobaltiferous alum from the Western Oases was utilized in Egypt during the Ramesside Period.     

汉帝国与东亚世界:以出土印章为线索

2010年2月27日至3月4日,欧洲科学基金会(European Science Foundation,简称ESF)和日本学术振兴会(Japan Society for the Promotion of Science,简称JSPS)在日本福冈联合主办题为"欧亚帝国的接触地带"("Contact Zones of Empires in Asia and Europe:Complexity,Contingency,Causality")的国际学术研讨会。2月28日,大会邀请九州大学名誉教授、九州历史博物馆馆长西谷正先生(Tadashi Nishitani)发表题为"汉帝国与东亚世界"的主题演讲①。西谷正先生的演讲以日本福冈志贺岛出土的"汉委奴国王"金印、朝鲜平壤贞柏洞出土的"夫租君"银印、中国云南石寨山出土的"滇王之印"和江苏甘泉出土的"广陵王玺"金印等为线索,以汉王朝的册封制度为视角,对汉帝国与周边政权的外交关系作了全面探讨,引起与会学者的关注。承蒙西谷正教授面允,笔者将演讲稿由英文转译成中文,以飨国内读者。需要说明的是,演讲稿原文无注释,为方便读者,译者对演讲稿所涉及的古代文献和考古资料一一作了注解,中国学...     

Iwata,Takashi, Prasanga und Prasangavipariyaya bei Dharmakīrti und seinen kommentatoren [Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde Heft 31]

Indo-Iranian Journal -