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Commodities
Kinds of Commodities Terms modified by Commodities Selected AbstractsROMANO-EGYPTIAN RED LEAD PIGMENT: A SUBSIDIARY COMMODITY OF SPANISH SILVER MINING AND REFINEMENT*ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 5 2009M. S. WALTON Samples of red pigment from a group of seven Roman-period Egyptian mummies, known as red-shroud mummies, are investigated. Elemental analysis by inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ICP,TOFMS) shows that the samples contain mostly Pb (83,92% by weight), along with 0.2,2.0% Sn. All of the samples are found to have similar trace element distributions when normalized to the continental crust, suggesting that they share a common geological origin. Lead isotope ratios are found to match the mixed lead sources typically associated with Rio Tinto, Spain , a site extensively mined for silver during the first century ad. Raman microspectroscopy identifies the major phase of each sample to be red lead (Pb3O4) with a minor phase of lead tin oxide (Pb2SnO4). Lead tin oxide does not occur naturally, and its incidental occurrence within the sample indicates that the material was heated under oxidative conditions at temperatures in excess of 650°C. In archaeological contexts, the high-temperature oxidative treatment of lead is typically associated with metallurgical refinement processes such as cupellation. Based on this evidence, it is argued that the pigment was produced out of litharge associated with silver cupellation at the Rio Tinto site. [source] TRUST AS A TRADABLE COMMODITY: A FOUNDATION FOR SAFE ELECTRONIC MARKETPLACESCOMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, Issue 2 2010Reid Kerr In large electronic marketplaces populated by buying and selling agents, it is difficult to judge trustworthiness. A variety of systems have been proposed to help traders to find trustworthy partners by learning to discount or disregard disreputable parties. In this article, we present a novel model for providing safe electronic marketplaces: Commodity Trunits, a system that considers trust as a tradable commodity. In this system, sellers require units of trust (trunits) to participate in transactions, and risk losing trunits if they act dishonestly. Sellers can purchase trunits when needed, and sell excess quantities. We demonstrate that under Commodity Trunits, rational sellers will choose to be honest, since this is the profit maximizing strategy. We also show that Commodity Trunits provides protection from a number of vulnerabilities common in existing trust and reputation systems, e.g., the important,exit problem, where sellers can cheat without fear of repercussions if they intend to leave the market. We then present a simulation that validates the system by demonstrating that a market operator can manage the trunit marketplace to ensure sustainability. We conclude with a discussion of the value of Commodity Trunits as a method for promoting trust in electronic marketplaces. [source] Commodities and Sexual Subjectivities: A Look at Capitalism and Its DesiresCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Debra Curtis ABSTRACT The links between the production of sexual subjectivity and commodity consumption exemplify how capitalism thrives through the production of plurality and difference. Tupperware-style sex-toy parties organized by and for women provide the ethnographic ground for exploring the question of how sex toys marketed in this venue incite consumer desires and reshape sexual practices. Using an interpretative approach to understanding the effects of the home-based parties as well as in-depth interviews with participants, this article demonstrates how marketing practices encourage the proliferation of multiple sexualities. [source] Inalienable Commodities: The Production and Circulation of Silver and Patrimony in a Mexican Mining CooperativeCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Elizabeth Emma Ferry First page of article [source] Getting a Purchase on "The School of Tomorrow" and its Constituent Commodities: Histories and Historiographies of TechnologiesHISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002Stephen Petrina First page of article [source] Communities, Commodities and Crazy Ideas: Changing Livestock Policies in AfricaIDS BULLETIN, Issue 2 2005Andy Catley First page of article [source] Essential Oil of,Aegle marmelos,as a Safe Plant-Based Antimicrobial Against Postharvest Microbial Infestations and Aflatoxin Contamination of Food CommoditiesJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 6 2009Priyanka Singh ABSTRACT:, The essential oil of,Aegle marmelos,L. Correa (Rutaceae) showed strong fungitoxicity against some storage fungi-causing contamination of foodstuffs. The oil also showed efficacy as aflatoxin suppressor at 500 ,L/L as it completely arrested the aflatoxin B1 production by the toxigenic strains (Navjot 4NSt and Saktiman 3NSt) of,Aspergillus flavus,Link. Keeping in view the side effects of synthetic fungicides,,A. marmelos,oil may be recommended as an antimicrobial of plant origin to enhance the shelf life of stored food commodities by controlling the fungal growth as well as aflatoxin secretion. This is the 1st report on aflatoxin B1 inhibitory nature of this oil.,A. marmelos,oil may be recommended as a novel plant-based antimicrobial in food protection over synthetic preservatives, most of which are reported to incite environmental problems because of their nonbiodegradable nature and side effects on mammals. The LD50 of,Aegle,oil was found to be 23659.93 mg/kg body weight in mice (Mus musculus,L.) when administered for acute oral toxicity showing nonmammalian toxicity of the oil. GC-MS analysis of the oil found DL-Limonene to be major component. [source] Techne, Technoscience, and the Circulation of Comestible Commodities: An IntroductionAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2007DEBORAH HEATH Guest Editors In this "In Focus" introduction, we present the ways in which discourses of techne (craft or artisanship) and technoscience mediate the production, consumption, and circulation of food and drink. The authors in this "In Focus" examine food and drink as localized instances of large-scale spatial and temporal processes and as cultural-material markers of power/knowledge. Our work on the current controversies surrounding foie gras exemplifies how specialty commodities marketed as "artisanal" are simultaneously legitimated through technoscientific practices and invocations of tradition or nature. Claims to distinction based on tradition or "terroir" are also imbricated in global industrial production and distribution. [source] Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity , a summary of the second editionADDICTION, Issue 5 2010Alcohol, Public Policy Group ABSTRACT This article summarizes the contents of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity (2nd edn). The first part of the book describes why alcohol is not an ordinary commodity, and reviews epidemiological data that establish alcohol as a major contributor to the global burden of disease, disability and death in high-, middle- and low-income countries. This section also documents how international beer and spirits production has been consolidated recently by a small number of global corporations that are expanding their operations in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the second part of the book, the scientific evidence for strategies and interventions that can prevent or minimize alcohol-related harm is reviewed critically in seven key areas: pricing and taxation, regulating the physical availability of alcohol, modifying the drinking context, drink-driving countermeasures, restrictions on marketing, education and persuasion strategies, and treatment and early intervention services. Finally, the book addresses the policy-making process at the local, national and international levels and provides ratings of the effectiveness of strategies and interventions from a public health perspective. Overall, the strongest, most cost-effective strategies include taxation that increases prices, restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol, drink-driving countermeasures, brief interventions with at risk drinkers and treatment of drinkers with alcohol dependence. [source] Market integration and convergence to the law of one price in the North American onion marketsAGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2008Dwi Susanto The North American agricultural markets have become much more integrated; but the level of integration varies across sectors and over time. Differential tariff phasing-out periods and remaining trade disputes are two of many factors contributing to this. This article applies panel data unit root tests to study price convergence and market integration in the North American onion markets. Commodity and variety monthly base price data for the period of 1998 to 2006 are used. Empirical results decisively suggest the existence of price convergence across markets as well as onion varieties. A two-sample period analysis shows an increase in the speed of price convergence over time, suggesting deeper market integration as NAFTA was fully implemented. Further analysis based on a two-country-market basis found that U.S.,Canadian markets have experienced deeper market integration compared with U.S.,Mexican markets as well as Canadian,Mexican markets. [EconLit citations: F150, Q170]. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Drought Stress and Preharvest Aflatoxin Contamination in Agricultural Commodity: Genetics, Genomics and ProteomicsJOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 10 2008Baozhu Guo Abstract Throughout the world, aflatoxin contamination is considered one of the most serious food safety issues concerning health. Chronic problems with preharvest aflatoxin contamination occur in the southern US, and are particularly troublesome in corn, peanut, cottonseed, and tree nuts. Drought stress is a major factor to contribute to preharvest aflatoxin contamination. Recent studies have demonstrated higher concentration of defense or stress-related proteins in corn kernels of resistant genotypes compared with susceptible genotypes, suggesting that preharvest field condition (drought or not drought) influences gene expression differently in different genotypes resulting in different levels of "end products": PR(pathogenesis-related) proteins in the mature kernels. Because of the complexity of Aspergillus -plant interactions, better understanding of the mechanisms of genetic resistance will be needed using genomics and proteomics for crop improvement. Genetic improvement of crop resistance to drought stress is one component and will provide a good perspective on the efficacy of control strategy. Proteomic comparisons of corn kernel proteins between resistant or susceptible genotypes to Aspergillus flavus infection have identified stress-related proteins along with antifungal proteins as associated with kernel resistance. Gene expression studies in developing corn kernels are in agreement with the proteomic studies that defense-related genes could be upregulated or downregulated by abiotic stresses. [source] Optimal Commodity Taxes in AustraliaTHE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 1 2002Paul Blacklow The recent changes to commodity taxes in Australia have led to renewed interest in a classic question in public finance: should the tax rates be uniform or differentiated? This article attempts to answer this question by calculating optimal commodity taxes in Australia for a nine-item disaggregation. The estimates point to non-uniform commodity taxes, even from the viewpoint of an inequality-insensitive tax planner. The optimal commodity taxes bear little resemblance with the pre-GST or post-GST tax rates. No less significant is our observation that even the purely efficiency-driven optimal commodity taxes imply lower real expenditure inequality than the actual taxes. [source] The Selling of 9/11: How a National Tragedy Became a CommodityTHE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN CULTURE, Issue 2 2006Robert E. Weir No abstract is available for this article. [source] Why bartering biodiversity failsCONSERVATION LETTERS, Issue 4 2009Susan Walker Abstract Regulatory biodiversity trading (or biodiversity "offsets") is increasingly promoted as a way to enable both conservation and development while achieving "no net loss" or even "net gain" in biodiversity, but to date has facilitated development while perpetuating biodiversity loss. Ecologists seeking improved biodiversity outcomes are developing better assessment tools and recommending more rigorous restrictions and enforcement. We explain why such recommendations overlook and cannot correct key causes of failure to protect biodiversity. Viable trading requires simple, measurable, and interchangeable commodities, but the currencies, restrictions, and oversight needed to protect complex, difficult-to-measure, and noninterchangeable resources like biodiversity are costly and intractable. These safeguards compromise trading viability and benefit neither traders nor regulatory officials. Political theory predicts that (1) biodiversity protection interests will fail to counter motivations for officials to resist and relax safeguards to facilitate exchanges and resource development at cost to biodiversity, and (2) trading is more vulnerable than pure administrative mechanisms to institutional dynamics that undermine environmental protection. Delivery of no net loss or net gain through biodiversity trading is thus administratively improbable and technically unrealistic. Their proliferation without credible solutions suggests biodiversity offset programs are successful "symbolic policies," potentially obscuring biodiversity loss and dissipating impetus for action. [source] FASHIONS AND FUNDAMENTALISMS IN FIN-DE-SIÈCLE YEMEN: Chador Barbie and Islamic SocksCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2007ANNE MENELEY This article examines the complex relationships between changing forms of commodity production and consumption and changing styles of religiosity in Zabid, the Republic of Yemen. I examine a couple of prominent logics of veiling in Fin-de-Siècle Yemen: Some reformist women add "Islamic socks" and gloves to their already fully modest garb, while other women don chadors that decorate these garments with embroidery, making them into items of fashionable consumption and adornment. Other commodities, like a Chador Barbie that I found in Yemen's suq, are used to think through changing practices of consumption, adornment, and women's sociability in Zabid. [source] Default and Punishment in General Equilibrium,ECONOMETRICA, Issue 1 2005Pradeep Dubey We extend the standard model of general equilibrium with incomplete markets to allow for default and punishment by thinking of assets as pools. The equilibrating variables include expected delivery rates, along with the usual prices of assets and commodities. By reinterpreting the variables, our model encompasses a broad range of adverse selection and signalling phenomena in a perfectly competitive, general equilibrium framework. Perfect competition eliminates the need for lenders to compute how the size of their loan or the price they quote might affect default rates. It also makes for a simple equilibrium refinement, which we propose in order to rule out irrational pessimism about deliveries of untraded assets. We show that refined equilibrium always exists in our model, and that default, in conjunction with refinement, opens the door to a theory of endogenous assets. The market chooses the promises, default penalties, and quantity constraints of actively traded assets. [source] Consumption, retailing, and medicine in early-modern LondonECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2008PATRICK WALLIS This article examines the early development of specialized retail shops in early modern London. It argues that apothecaries' shops were sites of innovative shop design and display. These practices were responses to attitudes to consumption, the problematic nature of the medical commodities which apothecaries sold, and, particularly, contemporary concerns about their reliability, trustworthiness, and honesty. The article concludes that analyses of the rise of the shop need to be revised to incorporate early developments by producer-retailers, such as apothecaries and goldsmiths, and suggests that investments in retailing were driven more by worries about commodities than enticing customers. [source] English and Scottish overseas trade, 1300,16001ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006MARTIN RORKE This article compares English and Scottish exports, from 1300,1600, using existing statistical data from England and a new data set of Scottish exports. It shows that the significant English and Scottish wool trades collapsed at almost identical rates. However, while England shifted towards exporting woollen cloth, a similar move in Scotland was weak,because of the poor quality of cloth and the urban form of the industry. In the second half of the sixteenth century, as English exports stagnated, Scottish trade began to grow, especially new and less-established commodities. This ,recovery' was based on the heavy depreciation of the Scottish currency. [source] From imitation to invention: creating commodities in eighteenth-century BritainECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2002Maxine Berg This article presents the history of new goods in the eighteenth century as a part of the broader history of invention and industrialization. It focuses on product innovation in manufactured commodities as this engages with economic, technological and cultural theories. Recent theories of consumer demand are applied to the invention of commodities in the eighteenth century; special attention is given to the process of imitation in product innovation. The theoretical framework for imitation can be found in evolutionary theories of memetic transmission, in archaeological theories of skeuomorphous, and in eighteenth-century theories of taste and aesthetics. Inventors, projectors, economic policy makers, and commercial and economic writers of the period dwelt upon the invention of new British products. The emulative, imitative context for their invention made British consumer goods the distinctive modern alternatives to earlier Asian and European luxuries. [source] COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE AND AUSTRALIA-CHINA BILATERAL TRADEECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 1 2008YU SHENG Bilateral trade between Australia and China has expanded in recent years. This paper examines the determinants of bilateral trade at the two-digit commodity level using a modified gravity model with explicitly specified revealed comparative advantage incorporated. This methodology allows us to explore how the relative comparative advantage of Australia and China to the world, mirroring their individual pattern of factor endowments, affects the pattern of trade between the two countries and to identify whether there exists a kind of complimentarity international specialisation between the two countries against the backdrop of each country's booming trade with the rest of the world. Key commodities such as agricultural products, iron ore, petroleum, textiles and clothing, and machinery goods are considered to estimate net welfare in terms of added value deriving from bilateral trade. The findings have policy implications for forging future trade and economic cooperation between Australia and China. [source] Does Competition for Clients Increase Service Quality in Cleaning Gobies?ETHOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Marta C. Soares In a biological market, members of one trading class try to outbid each other to gain access to the most valuable partners. Competition within class can thus force individuals to trade goods or services more cheaply, ultimately resulting in conflict (e.g. cheating) over the value of commodities. Cleaning symbioses among fish appear to be good examples of biological markets. However, the existence and effect of outbidding competition among either types of traders (cleaners or clients) have never been tested. We examined whether increasing competition among cleaning gobies (Elacatinus spp.) for access to clients results in outbidding in the form of provision of a better cleaning service. On reefs where fish clients visited cleaning stations less frequently, and thus competition among cleaners was higher, cleaning gobies ingested fewer scales relative to the number of ingested parasites, i.e. they cleaned more honestly. This shift in cleaner behaviour towards greater honesty is consistent with a greater market value of access to clients in the face of competition among cleaners. However, this pattern could have also arisen as a result of differences in ectoparasite availability across reefs and therefore in value of the commodity offered by clients. Experimental manipulations will be required to determine whether cleaning service quality by cleaning gobies was enhanced solely because of competitive outbidding. [source] Can Russia be Competitive in Agriculture?EUROCHOICES, Issue 3 2003William M. Liefert Summary Can Russia be competitive inAgriculture? Russian agriculture currently is not internationally cost competitive. Since the mid-1990s Russia has imported large volumes of meat, while the grain trade has fluctuated in most years between small net imports and exports. Russia has, however, exported large quantities of key agricultural inputs, including 80 per cent of fertilizer output, mainly to EU countries. Research indicates that Russia has a comparative advantage in producing grain compared to meat, but also a comparative advantage in producing agricultural inputs compared to agricultural outputs. The expected real appreciation of the Russian rouble vis-à-vis Western currencies should further damage Russia's cost competitiveness in meat and grain, but this should be offset by modest productivity growth. An expected rise in consumer income, deriving from relatively high annual GDP growth of about 4,5 per cent, should also stimulate demand for meat imports. In spring 2003, Russia imposed tariff rate quotas on its imports of beef and pork, and a pure quota on imports of poultry. For other agricultural commodities, Russia is pushing in its WTO accession negotiations for allowable agricultural import tariffs that are higher than current levels. Taking these changes together, it is likely that Russia will continue as a big meat importer for about the next ten years,with tariff rate quotas probably determining the level of meat imports,and will become a moderate grain exporter. L'agriculture russepourrait-elle être compétitive ? Actuellement, l'agriculture russe n'est pas compétitive. La Russie a importé de gros volumes de viande depuis le milieu des années 90, tandis que la balance des échanges de céréales oscillait entre les faibles excédents et les faibles déficits. Cependant, la Russie est grande exportatrice d'agro-fournitures dont, en particulier, 80% de sa production d'engrais, principalement vers l'Europe. On montre ici que l'avantage comparatif de la Russie se situe dans les céréales plutôt que dans la viande et, surtout, dans les agro-fournitures plutôt que dans les denrées agricoles. La remontée, à laquelle il faut s'attendre, du rouble vis à vis des devises occidentales, devrait encore diminuer la compétitivité de la Russie en matière de viandes et de céréales, ce qui devrait être compensé par des gains de productivité même faibles. La hausse attendue des revenus des consommateurs, engenderée par une croissance élevée du revenu national, de l'ordre de 4 à 5% par an, devrait aussi stimuler la demande de viande importée. Au printemps 2003, la Russie s'est dotée d'un système de droits sur ses importations hors quotas de viande de bæuf et de pore, ainsi que d'un quota d'importation pour les produits avicoles. En ce qui conceme les autres produits agricoles, dans le cadre des négociations relatives à son entrée dans l'OMC, la Russie s'efforce d'obtenir l'autorisation d'augmenter les taxes à l'importation par rapport à leur niveau actuel. Au total done, à un horizon de l'ordre de dix ans, il est probable que la Russie reste un gros importateur de viandes - le niveau des taxes sur le hors quotas déterminant les niveaux d'importation -, et un modeste exportateur de céréales. Kann Russland auf dem Agrarsektorwettbewerbsfähig sein? Die russische Landwirtschaft ist hinsichtlich der Kosten momentan nicht international wettbewerbsfähig. Seit Mitte der 1990er importiert Russland große Mengen an Fleisch, während der Getreidehandel in den meisten Jahren zwischen geringen Nettoimporten und -exporten schwankte. Russland hat jedoch große Mengen an wichtigen landwirtschaftlichen Vorieistungen, unter anderem 80% seiner Düngerproduktion, hauptsächlich in EU-Länder exportiert. Forschungsergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass Russland in der Produktion von Getreide verglichen mit Fleisch einen komparativen Vorteil besitzt; dies trifft jedoch ebenfalls auf die Produktion von landwirtschaftlichen Vorieistungen verglichen mit landwirtschaftlichen Endprodukten zu. Es ist anzunehmen, dass die erwartete reale Aufwertung des russischen Rubel gegenüber den westlichen Währungen eine zusätzliche Verschlechterung der russischen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit hinsichtlich der Kosten im Bereich Fleisch und Getreide nach sich zieht; dies sollte sich jedoch durch ein moderates Produktivitätswachstum ausgleichen. Der erwartete Anstieg der Verbrauchereinkommen, der sich aus dem relativ hohen jährlichen Bruttoin-landsproduktzuwachs von ca. 4,5 Prozent ableitet, sollte sich ebenfalls stimulierend auf die Nachfrage nach Fleischimporten auswirken. Im Frühjahr 2003 führte Russland Zolltarifkontingente für seine Schweine- und Rindfleischimporte ein und belegte seine Geflügelfleischimporte mit einem Importkontingent. Im Hinblick auf weitere Agrarerzeugnisse drängt Russland in den WTO-Beitrittsverhandlungen darauf, höhere Einfuhrzölle als die gegenwärtig geltenden zuzulassen. In Anbetracht all dieser Veränderungen ist es wahrscheinlich, dass Russland auch für die kommenden zehn Jahre große Mengen an Fleisch importieren,wobei möglicherweise Zolltarifkontingente die Menge bestimmen werden,und sich zu einem mäßigen Getreideexporteur entwickeln wird. [source] Income Insurance in European AgricultureEUROCHOICES, Issue 1 2003Miranda P. M. Meuwissen Summary Income Insurance in EuropeanAgriculture The agricultural risk environment in Europe is changing, for example because of WTO agreements and governments increasingly withdrawing from disaster assistance in case of catastrophic events. In this context, some form of income insurance may be a useful risk management tool for farmers. Insuring farmers' incomes, however, is rather problematical for reasons of asymmetric information and high correlation of the risks amongst the would-be insured, for example risks due to price fluctuations, floods, droughts and livestock epidemics. It is concluded that the most aggregated forms of income insurance that are likely to be feasible include revenue insurance for field crops, especially if there are relevant futures markets and area yield data, and business interruption insurance for livestock commodities. In Europe, only a few such schemes currendy exist; some are purely private, others are subsidised. A somewhat larger involvement of the public sector, for example through public-private partnerships for reinsurance, could extend the availability of income insurance schemes throughout Europe. Governments, however, should tread warily in entering the field of subsidised agricultural insurance, which experience shows is beset with pitfalls. Pilot tests are useful in establishing the attractiveness of income insurance schemes and other income stabilising tools for the various parties involved. Le contexte du risque agncoie est en train de changer en Europe, en raison notamment des accords de 'OMC et d'un retrait croissant des gouvernements de , assistance sinistre en cas de catastrophes. Dans ce contexte, une certaine forme ? assurance sur le revenu peut être un outil utile de gestion des risques pour les agriculteurs. Assurer les revenus des agriculteurs, cependant, est une activitécute; assez délicate pour des raisons ? information asymétrique et de forte corrélation des risques chez les assurés potentiels, avec , exemple des risques dus aux fluctuations de prix, aux inondations, aux sécheresses et aux épidémies animales. On en conclut que les formes ? assurance revenu les plus complètes et les plus plausibles comprennent ľ assurance-revenu pour les récoltes, notamment s'il existe des marchés a terme appropriés et des données sur le rendement par région, et ,,assurance pour cessation ?'activite pour les produits de ,élevage;. En Europe, seuls quelques projets similaires existent; certains sont purement privés, ? autres sont subventionés. Une implication un peu plus importante du secteur public, par exemple par le biais de partenariats public-privé pour la réassurance, permettrait ?élargir la disponibilité des plans ? assurance-revenu dans toute , Europe. Les gouvernements, cependant, doivent aborder avec prudence le domaine de , assurance agricole subventionée qui, , expérience le montre, est semée ? embûches. Des expériences pilotes sont utiles pour définir , intérêt des projets ? assurance-revenu et des autres outils permettant de stabiliser les revenus pour les différentes parties impliquées. In Europa ändern sich zur Zeit die _ Rahmenbedingungen für die Landwirtschaft hinsichtlich des Risikos. Dies liegt zum Beispiel an WTO-Abkommen und Regierungen, die ihre Hilfsleistungen im Schadensfall zunehmend verweigern. In diesem Zusammenhang könnte irgendeine Form von Einkommenversicherung im Bereich des Risikomanagements für Landwirte von Nutzen sein. Eine solche Versicherung wirft jedoch Probleme auf, da asymmetrische Information und eine hohe Risikokorrelation bei den potenziellen Versicherungsnehmem vorliegen, wie beispielsweise Risiken, die auf Preisschwankungen, Flut- und Dürrekatastrophen oder Tierseuchen beruhen. Hieraus wird gefolgert, dass zu den umfassendsten realisierbaren Formen von Einkommenversicherungen die Erlösversicherung im Ackerbau - insbesondere bei Vorliegen von relevanten Warenterminmärkten und Flächenertragsdaten - und die Betriebsausfallversicherung für tieriscbe Erzeugnisse gehören. In Europa sind zur Zeit nur wenige solcher Programme vorhanden; bei einigen handelt es sich um ausschließlich private Versicherungen, andere werden subventioniert. Würde der öffentliche Sektor stärker mit eingebunden, zum Beispiel mit Hilfe von öffendich-privaten Rückversicherungsgesellschaften, könnten in ganz Europa weitere Programme zur Einkommenversicherung zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Für die Regierungen jedoch ist beim Etablieren subventionierter Versicherungen im Bereich der Landwirtschaft größte Vorsicht geboten, da dies erfahrungs-gemäß Schwierigkeiten aufwirft. Zunächst sollten Pilotprojekte durchgeführt werden, mit deren Hilfe die Attraktivität von Programmen zur Einkommen-aversicherung und von weiteren einkommensstabilisierendenMaßnahmen fÜr die verschiedenen beteiligten Parteien sicher gestellt wird. [source] Fashion, Time and the Consumption of a Renaissance Man in Germany: The Costume Book of Matthäus Schwarz of Augsburg, 1496,1564GENDER & HISTORY, Issue 3 2002Gabriele MentgesArticle first published online: 11 FEB 200 This article uses the perspective of cultural anthropology to consider the construction of an early modern perception of time and its relation to the dress and personal consumption of a male subject. It focuses on a costume book from the Renaissance compiled by Matthäus Schwarz, a member of the bourgeoisie, who lived in Augsburg from 1496 to 1574. The book contains a collection of 137 drawings, portraying Schwarz's personal choice of dress. It is also an account of Schwarz's life, beginning with his parents, then covering his life,stages from birth to old age. The relationships between body and dress and between the male subject and the world run as a major thread through the book. This article shows how closely connected Schwarz's body is with the life of commodities (dress) and consumption. The life,story of this Renaissance man is expressed in terms of changing fashions, which act as his subjective measure of time. [source] USER INNOVATION AND CREATIVE CONSUMPTION IN JAPANESE CULTURE INDUSTRIES: THE CASE OF AKIHABARA, TOKYOGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2010Jakob Nobuoka ABSTRACT. The consumption and export of material and immaterial commodities based upon Japanese popular culture is rapidly growing and continually finds new fans all around the world. In this article, it is suggested that some of the competitiveness of these unique cultural phenomena can be traced to the very dense and vivid area of Akihabara in Tokyo. Its long history as an electronic retail district and a more recent influx of firms and shops focused on popular culture has created a strong place brand that continues to mark Akihabara as the capital of Japanese cultural industries. It is a space where different consumers, specialist subcultures and firms and their products can interact. The area functions as a hub were ideas and values are exchanged, tested and promoted. The article argues that research on innovation milieus must take account of the role of users and their relation to place. [source] Geographical Imaginations of ,New Asia-Singapore'GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004T.C. Chang Abstract ,Geographical imaginations' constitute an important aspect in geographic research, enriching our understanding of places and societies as well as the contested meanings people have towards spaces. The marketing and development of tourist destinations offers a fertile ground for the exercise of geographical imagination. This paper explores how tourism marketing distils the essence of a place, and ,imagines' an identity that is attractive to tourists and residents alike. Such spatial identities, however, are seldom hegemonic and are often highly contested. Using the case of the ,New Asia-Singapore' (NAS) campaign launched by the Singapore Tourism Board, we explore the geographical imaginations involved in tourism marketing, and its consequent effects on people and place. Specifically we discuss the role and rationale of tourism planners in formulating the NAS campaign; the actions of tourism entrepreneurs in creating NAS commodities; and the reactions from tourists and local residents towards the NAS images. We argue that the nexus of policy intent, entrepreneurial actions and popular opinions yields invaluable insights into the highly contested processes of tourism development and identity formation. [source] Der Erzähler als ,Popmoderner Flaneur' in Christian Krachts Roman FaserlandGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 2 2002Anke S. Biendarra Faserland (1995) exemplifies a new phenomenon in contemporary German literature. It cleared the way for a younger generation of writers and their description of the formerly marginalised experiences of everyday life, whose narratives focus is on the communication between narrator and reader. Hitherto, discussion of this novel has largely concentrated on its connection with ,pop literature', whilst its literary qualities and conceivable links with (post)modern literature have been ignored. Walter Benjamin's typology of the flâneur is used to illuminate the novel's aesthetic strengths, its narrative voice and textual structure. In taking into account historical developments, the interpretation characterizes the narrator as a ,popmodern flâneur', whose gaze no longer falls upon the metropolis but upon a frayed microcosm of German society. It suggests that the narrative report is a fictitious and imagined journey, which reveals itself as the narrator's failed attempt to ascertain a concept of subjectivity. In a world that presents itself as a Vanity Fair, the narrator's language, which retreats to the empty style of a world of commodities, fails. The poetic project of mastering experiences through narrative is equally unsuccessful. [source] The Coming of Advanced Materials: A Personal View of the Contributions by Cambridge Scientists,ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 38-39 2009John Meurig Thomas Abstract The highly significant contributions both directly and indirectly made to the study of condensed matter in general and to advanced materials in particular by a succession of Cambridge scientists over the early years of the past half century are adumbrated in the light of the conjunction of the 21st anniversary of the founding of this journal and the 800th anniversary of the University of Cambridge. So also are the reasons for the burgeoning growth in the last few decades of the preparation, characterization, and use of various kinds of advanced materials. A summary is also given of the author's own work in solid-state and materials science, including a brief appraisal of recent strategies for the design of advanced catalysts for the production (under environmentally benign conditions) of a number of industrially important chemicals ranging from vitamins to commodities, such as adipic acid and terephthalic acid, and building blocks, such as styrene oxide, that are utilized in the manufacture of cosmetics and perfumes. [source] What Can Account for Fluctuations in the Terms of Trade?,INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, Issue 1 2006Marianne Baxter This paper studies the sources of terms of trade volatility. We decompose the terms of trade into two components. The ,goods price' component stems from differences in the composition of import and export baskets, while the ,country price' component stems from deviations from the law of one price. Countries are classified according to their major import and export goods: commodities, manufactured goods and fuels. Except fuel exporters, there is roughly equal importance of goods price vs country price volatility. These results suggest that there may be a role for reducing terms of trade volatility through diversification of a country's exports. [source] A Proposed Monetary Regime for Small Commodity Exporters: Peg the Export Price (,PEP')INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, Issue 1 2003Jeffrey Frankel On the one hand, the big selling points of floating exchange rates , monetary independence and accommodation of terms of trade shocks , have not lived up to their promise. On the other hand, proposals for credible institutional monetary commitments to nominal anchors have each run aground on their own peculiar shoals. Rigid pegs to the dollar are dangerous when the dollar appreciates. Money targeting does not work when there is a velocity shock. CPI targeting is not viable when there is a large import price shock. And the gold standard fails when there are large fluctuations in the world gold market. This paper advances a new proposal called PEP: peg the export price. Most applicable for countries that are specialized in the production of a particular mineral or agricultural product, the proposal calls on them to commit to fix the price of that commodity in terms of domestic currency. A series of simulations shows how such a proposal would have worked for oil producers over the period 1970,2000. The paths of real oil prices, exports, and debt are simulated under alternative regimes. An illustrative finding is that countries that suffered a declining world market in oil or other export commodities in the late 1990s would under the PEP proposal have automatically experienced a depreciation and a boost to exports when it was most needed. The argument for PEP is that it simultaneously delivers automatic accommodation to terms of trade shocks, as floating exchange rates are supposed to do, while retaining the credibility-enhancing advantages of a nominal anchor, as dollar pegs are supposed to do. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||