Kurt Weyland
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199226801
- eISBN:
- 9780191710285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226801.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Pensions and Pension Management
This chapter analyzes the decision-making process surrounding pension reform in Latin America. It argues decision to emulate the Chilean model did not follow the procedures of full, ‘economic’ ...
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This chapter analyzes the decision-making process surrounding pension reform in Latin America. It argues decision to emulate the Chilean model did not follow the procedures of full, ‘economic’ rationality. Rather they were shaped by shortcuts of bounded rationality. Instead of proactively scanning the international environment for the relevant information, experts and policymakers mostly reacted to information about Chilean-style privatization that happened to be available to them. Rather than conducting systematic, balanced, cost-benefit analyses of this innovation, many of them were overly impressed by the initial success of Chile's private pension funds and used associative reasoning in depicting social security privatization as the main cause for the dramatic increase in domestic savings and productive investment and the resulting growth boom experienced by Chile. Furthermore, instead of thoroughly adapting the Chilean import to their own country's requirements, decision-makers in a number of countries stayed strikingly close to the original. Thus, these pension reformers did not apply the principles of comprehensive rationality, but displayed the three principal shortcuts documented by cognitive psychologists in innumerable experiments and field studies: the heuristics of availability, representativeness, and anchoring.Less
This chapter analyzes the decision-making process surrounding pension reform in Latin America. It argues decision to emulate the Chilean model did not follow the procedures of full, ‘economic’ rationality. Rather they were shaped by shortcuts of bounded rationality. Instead of proactively scanning the international environment for the relevant information, experts and policymakers mostly reacted to information about Chilean-style privatization that happened to be available to them. Rather than conducting systematic, balanced, cost-benefit analyses of this innovation, many of them were overly impressed by the initial success of Chile's private pension funds and used associative reasoning in depicting social security privatization as the main cause for the dramatic increase in domestic savings and productive investment and the resulting growth boom experienced by Chile. Furthermore, instead of thoroughly adapting the Chilean import to their own country's requirements, decision-makers in a number of countries stayed strikingly close to the original. Thus, these pension reformers did not apply the principles of comprehensive rationality, but displayed the three principal shortcuts documented by cognitive psychologists in innumerable experiments and field studies: the heuristics of availability, representativeness, and anchoring.
Daniel Stoljar
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306583
- eISBN:
- 9780199786619
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306589.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Two objections to the epistemic view are addressed. According to the first, the epistemic view is mistaken because if the problem at issue is understood correctly, we are in possession of the ...
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Two objections to the epistemic view are addressed. According to the first, the epistemic view is mistaken because if the problem at issue is understood correctly, we are in possession of the relevant truths. According to the second, the epistemic view is mistaken because it has a range of alarming side effects, some of which have been suggested by proponents of the view themselves. These objections raise important questions, but it is suggested that reflection on them strengthens, rather than weakens, the epistemic view.Less
Two objections to the epistemic view are addressed. According to the first, the epistemic view is mistaken because if the problem at issue is understood correctly, we are in possession of the relevant truths. According to the second, the epistemic view is mistaken because it has a range of alarming side effects, some of which have been suggested by proponents of the view themselves. These objections raise important questions, but it is suggested that reflection on them strengthens, rather than weakens, the epistemic view.
Adrienne Héritier and Susanne K. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199240920
- eISBN:
- 9780191600180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199240922.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The liberalization and/or privatization of formerly highly protected, monopolistic, public utilities, and infrastructural services has added to the challenges of welfare‐state adjustment. The move to ...
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The liberalization and/or privatization of formerly highly protected, monopolistic, public utilities, and infrastructural services has added to the challenges of welfare‐state adjustment. The move to market competition is affecting these industries’ historical role not only as providers of public service goods but also as important national employers. The chapter provides an initial account of the consequences of liberalization and privatization for the quality, cost, and availability of utilities and infrastructural services and for employment. A comparison of the telecommunications and railways reforms of France, Germany, and Britain identifies different mechanisms to ensure that public service goals continued to be met and assesses the performance of the different regimes. In addition, the chapter compares the employment effects of liberalization in the telecommunications, posts, railways, and energy sectors of a wider range of countries.Less
The liberalization and/or privatization of formerly highly protected, monopolistic, public utilities, and infrastructural services has added to the challenges of welfare‐state adjustment. The move to market competition is affecting these industries’ historical role not only as providers of public service goods but also as important national employers. The chapter provides an initial account of the consequences of liberalization and privatization for the quality, cost, and availability of utilities and infrastructural services and for employment. A comparison of the telecommunications and railways reforms of France, Germany, and Britain identifies different mechanisms to ensure that public service goals continued to be met and assesses the performance of the different regimes. In addition, the chapter compares the employment effects of liberalization in the telecommunications, posts, railways, and energy sectors of a wider range of countries.
Tim Lang, David Barling, and Martin Caraher
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780198567882
- eISBN:
- 9780191724121
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567882.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
For over half a century, food policy has mapped a path for progress based upon a belief that the right mix of investment, scientific input, and human skills could unleash a surge in productive ...
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For over half a century, food policy has mapped a path for progress based upon a belief that the right mix of investment, scientific input, and human skills could unleash a surge in productive capacity which would resolve humanity's food-related health and welfare problems. It assumed that more food would yield greater health and happiness by driving down prices, increasing availability, and feeding more mouths. In the 21st century, this policy mix is quietly becoming unstuck. In a world marred by obesity alongside malnutrition, climate change alongside fuel and energy crises, water stress alongside more mouths to feed, and social inequalities alongside unprecedented accumulation of wealth, the old rubric of food policy needs re-evaluation. This book explores the enormity of what the new policy mix must address, taking the approach that food policy must be inextricably linked with public health, environmental damage, and social inequalities to be effective. This book reflects the myriad of perspectives essential to a comprehensive view of modern food policy. It attempts to make sense of what is meant by food policy; explores whether the term has any currency in current policy discourse; assesses whether current policies help or hinder what happens; judges whether consensus can triumph in the face of competing bids for understanding; looks at all levels of governance, across the range of actors in the food system, from companies and the state to civil society and science; considers what direction food policies are taking, not just in the UK but internationally; assesses who (and what) gains or loses in the making of these food policies; and identifies a modern framework for judging how good or limited processes of policy-making are.Less
For over half a century, food policy has mapped a path for progress based upon a belief that the right mix of investment, scientific input, and human skills could unleash a surge in productive capacity which would resolve humanity's food-related health and welfare problems. It assumed that more food would yield greater health and happiness by driving down prices, increasing availability, and feeding more mouths. In the 21st century, this policy mix is quietly becoming unstuck. In a world marred by obesity alongside malnutrition, climate change alongside fuel and energy crises, water stress alongside more mouths to feed, and social inequalities alongside unprecedented accumulation of wealth, the old rubric of food policy needs re-evaluation. This book explores the enormity of what the new policy mix must address, taking the approach that food policy must be inextricably linked with public health, environmental damage, and social inequalities to be effective. This book reflects the myriad of perspectives essential to a comprehensive view of modern food policy. It attempts to make sense of what is meant by food policy; explores whether the term has any currency in current policy discourse; assesses whether current policies help or hinder what happens; judges whether consensus can triumph in the face of competing bids for understanding; looks at all levels of governance, across the range of actors in the food system, from companies and the state to civil society and science; considers what direction food policies are taking, not just in the UK but internationally; assesses who (and what) gains or loses in the making of these food policies; and identifies a modern framework for judging how good or limited processes of policy-making are.
Stefano Bartolini
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246748
- eISBN:
- 9780191599385
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246742.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Focuses on the concept of electoral and party competition as the key mechanism leading party elites to respond to the preferences of voters. While competition is of central importance in both ...
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Focuses on the concept of electoral and party competition as the key mechanism leading party elites to respond to the preferences of voters. While competition is of central importance in both democratic theory and in empirical studies of party behaviour, the concept (as operationalized in many studies) is vague and ambiguous; in particular, it has very different meanings in the real world of electoral and parliamentary behaviour, on the one hand, and in the formal models of rational‐choice scholars, on the other. Discusses the unintended by‐product (social value) of competition, and gives an overview of the intellectual origins (from Simmel, Schumpeter, and Downs) of this approach. The bulk of the chapter is dedicated to an original criticism of the problems inherent in applying this import from economic theory to the study of electoral competition, first focusing on key dimensions of this competition—contestability, availability, decidability, and vulnerability, and then arguing that these four crucial dimensions of competition interact with one another in ways that are fundamentally incompatible with the simplifying assumptions upon which the economic model depends. Each of the dimensions of electoral competition impinges on the others in an interactive, if not sometimes contradictory manner, and as a result of these multidimensional interaction effects, party competition cannot be conceived of as a linear process that unfolds between minimum and maximum points on a single continuum, but rather as a moving point shifting about in a four‐dimensional space within which no equilibrium point can be identified; accordingly, electoral preferences cannot be regarded as exogenous to party competition, but are decisively influenced by parties and party elites.Less
Focuses on the concept of electoral and party competition as the key mechanism leading party elites to respond to the preferences of voters. While competition is of central importance in both democratic theory and in empirical studies of party behaviour, the concept (as operationalized in many studies) is vague and ambiguous; in particular, it has very different meanings in the real world of electoral and parliamentary behaviour, on the one hand, and in the formal models of rational‐choice scholars, on the other. Discusses the unintended by‐product (social value) of competition, and gives an overview of the intellectual origins (from Simmel, Schumpeter, and Downs) of this approach. The bulk of the chapter is dedicated to an original criticism of the problems inherent in applying this import from economic theory to the study of electoral competition, first focusing on key dimensions of this competition—contestability, availability, decidability, and vulnerability, and then arguing that these four crucial dimensions of competition interact with one another in ways that are fundamentally incompatible with the simplifying assumptions upon which the economic model depends. Each of the dimensions of electoral competition impinges on the others in an interactive, if not sometimes contradictory manner, and as a result of these multidimensional interaction effects, party competition cannot be conceived of as a linear process that unfolds between minimum and maximum points on a single continuum, but rather as a moving point shifting about in a four‐dimensional space within which no equilibrium point can be identified; accordingly, electoral preferences cannot be regarded as exogenous to party competition, but are decisively influenced by parties and party elites.
Duncan Pritchard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199557912
- eISBN:
- 9780191743290
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557912.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter suggests that the reason why epistemological disjunctivism is not widely adopted is because it is held to face several fatal theoretical problems. Accordingly, whatever commonsense ...
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This chapter suggests that the reason why epistemological disjunctivism is not widely adopted is because it is held to face several fatal theoretical problems. Accordingly, whatever commonsense support it might have, it is thought to be a complete non-starter as a theoretical position. Epistemological disjunctivism is motivated by showing that this is an attractive position which we would want to hold if it were theoretically available, and further showing that it is theoretically available, contrary to the prevailing conventional wisdom in epistemology.Less
This chapter suggests that the reason why epistemological disjunctivism is not widely adopted is because it is held to face several fatal theoretical problems. Accordingly, whatever commonsense support it might have, it is thought to be a complete non-starter as a theoretical position. Epistemological disjunctivism is motivated by showing that this is an attractive position which we would want to hold if it were theoretically available, and further showing that it is theoretically available, contrary to the prevailing conventional wisdom in epistemology.
J. Emmett Duffy and Martin Thiel (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195179927
- eISBN:
- 9780199790111
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179927.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology
Understanding of animal social and sexual evolution has seen a renaissance in recent years with discoveries of frequent infidelity in apparently monogamous species, the importance of sperm ...
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Understanding of animal social and sexual evolution has seen a renaissance in recent years with discoveries of frequent infidelity in apparently monogamous species, the importance of sperm competition, active female mate choice, and eusocial behavior in animals outside the traditional social insect groups. Each of these findings has raised new questions, and suggested new answers about the evolution of behavioral interactions among animals. This volume synthesizes recent research on the sexual and social biology of the Crustacea, one of the dominant invertebrate groups on earth. Its staggering diversity includes ecologically important inhabitants of nearly every environment from deep-sea trenches, through headwater streams, to desert soils. The wide range of crustacean phenotypes and environments is accompanied by a comparable diversity of behavioral and social systems, including the elaborate courtship and wildly exaggerated morphologies of fiddler crabs, the mysterious queuing behavior of migrating spiny lobsters, and even eusociality in coral-reef shrimps. This diversity makes crustaceans particularly valuable for exploring the comparative evolution of sexual and social systems. Despite exciting recent advances, however, general recognition of the value of Crustacea as models has lagged behind that of the better studied insects and vertebrates. This book synthesizes the state of the field in crustacean behavior and sociobiology, and places it in a conceptually based, comparative framework that will be valuable to active researchers and students in animal behavior, ecology, and evolutionary biology. It brings together a group of experts in fields related to crustacean behavioral ecology, ranging from physiology and functional morphology, through mating and social behavior, to ecology and phylogeny. Each chapter makes connections to other non-crustacean taxa, and the volume closes with a summary section that synthesizes the contributions, discusses anthropogenic impacts, highlights unanswered questions, and provides a vision for profitable future research.Less
Understanding of animal social and sexual evolution has seen a renaissance in recent years with discoveries of frequent infidelity in apparently monogamous species, the importance of sperm competition, active female mate choice, and eusocial behavior in animals outside the traditional social insect groups. Each of these findings has raised new questions, and suggested new answers about the evolution of behavioral interactions among animals. This volume synthesizes recent research on the sexual and social biology of the Crustacea, one of the dominant invertebrate groups on earth. Its staggering diversity includes ecologically important inhabitants of nearly every environment from deep-sea trenches, through headwater streams, to desert soils. The wide range of crustacean phenotypes and environments is accompanied by a comparable diversity of behavioral and social systems, including the elaborate courtship and wildly exaggerated morphologies of fiddler crabs, the mysterious queuing behavior of migrating spiny lobsters, and even eusociality in coral-reef shrimps. This diversity makes crustaceans particularly valuable for exploring the comparative evolution of sexual and social systems. Despite exciting recent advances, however, general recognition of the value of Crustacea as models has lagged behind that of the better studied insects and vertebrates. This book synthesizes the state of the field in crustacean behavior and sociobiology, and places it in a conceptually based, comparative framework that will be valuable to active researchers and students in animal behavior, ecology, and evolutionary biology. It brings together a group of experts in fields related to crustacean behavioral ecology, ranging from physiology and functional morphology, through mating and social behavior, to ecology and phylogeny. Each chapter makes connections to other non-crustacean taxa, and the volume closes with a summary section that synthesizes the contributions, discusses anthropogenic impacts, highlights unanswered questions, and provides a vision for profitable future research.
André M. de Roos and Lennart Persson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691137575
- eISBN:
- 9781400845613
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691137575.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter discusses the emergence of a positive feedback between the density of predators and the availability of its food, mediated through biomass overcompensation in the prey life history stage ...
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This chapter discusses the emergence of a positive feedback between the density of predators and the availability of its food, mediated through biomass overcompensation in the prey life history stage that it forages on. This positive feedback between predation, prey availability, and thus predator population growth rate manifests itself at the population-level as an Allee effect for the predator: a predator population at low density will decline to extinction, whereas at high densities predators will manage to establish themselves in a community with prey. However, this positive relation between predator density and its population growth rate does not result from any positively density-dependent interactions among the predators themselves, which generally form the basis of an Allee effect. Instead, predators only interact with each other through exploitative competition for prey. The Allee effect emerges solely as a consequence of the demographic changes in the prey population, which are induced by the mortality that the predator imposes. For this reason this phenomenon is referred to as an “emergent Allee effect.”Less
This chapter discusses the emergence of a positive feedback between the density of predators and the availability of its food, mediated through biomass overcompensation in the prey life history stage that it forages on. This positive feedback between predation, prey availability, and thus predator population growth rate manifests itself at the population-level as an Allee effect for the predator: a predator population at low density will decline to extinction, whereas at high densities predators will manage to establish themselves in a community with prey. However, this positive relation between predator density and its population growth rate does not result from any positively density-dependent interactions among the predators themselves, which generally form the basis of an Allee effect. Instead, predators only interact with each other through exploitative competition for prey. The Allee effect emerges solely as a consequence of the demographic changes in the prey population, which are induced by the mortality that the predator imposes. For this reason this phenomenon is referred to as an “emergent Allee effect.”
Jonathan Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199542833
- eISBN:
- 9780191594359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542833.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter focuses on freedom of the will, questions about agents' responsibility for their virtues and vices, and the way in which the covenant between God and human beings has implications for ...
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This chapter focuses on freedom of the will, questions about agents' responsibility for their virtues and vices, and the way in which the covenant between God and human beings has implications for understanding human agency and responsibility. Freedom of the will had a crucial place in medieval Jewish thought because it was widely held that without such freedom, the Law (commandments) would be futile. The differences between Jewish philosophical thought about agency and the Aristotelian conception of voluntariness and self‐determination are brought into relief.Less
This chapter focuses on freedom of the will, questions about agents' responsibility for their virtues and vices, and the way in which the covenant between God and human beings has implications for understanding human agency and responsibility. Freedom of the will had a crucial place in medieval Jewish thought because it was widely held that without such freedom, the Law (commandments) would be futile. The differences between Jewish philosophical thought about agency and the Aristotelian conception of voluntariness and self‐determination are brought into relief.
Tony D. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139821
- eISBN:
- 9781400842797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139821.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Ornithology
This chapter argues that the timing of the initiation of a single breeding event, or the initiation of the first of multiple breeding events within the same breeding season, is completely dependent ...
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This chapter argues that the timing of the initiation of a single breeding event, or the initiation of the first of multiple breeding events within the same breeding season, is completely dependent on the female-specific reproductive process of timing of egg production and egg-laying. It discusses how early-season events are critical in determining timing of breeding; fitness consequences of timing decisions; selection on timing of breeding; sex-specific response mechanisms for timing of breeding; physiological mechanisms associated with photoperiod (day length) as a proximate factor; physiological mechanisms associated with temperature as a proximate factor; and physiological mechanisms associated with food availability as a “proximate” factor.Less
This chapter argues that the timing of the initiation of a single breeding event, or the initiation of the first of multiple breeding events within the same breeding season, is completely dependent on the female-specific reproductive process of timing of egg production and egg-laying. It discusses how early-season events are critical in determining timing of breeding; fitness consequences of timing decisions; selection on timing of breeding; sex-specific response mechanisms for timing of breeding; physiological mechanisms associated with photoperiod (day length) as a proximate factor; physiological mechanisms associated with temperature as a proximate factor; and physiological mechanisms associated with food availability as a “proximate” factor.
David Royse, Michele Staton‐Tindall, Karen Badger, and J. Matthew Webster
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368789
- eISBN:
- 9780199863860
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:royes/9780195368789.003.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
This chapter examines definitions and various perspectives of the terms need and needs assessment. Need is a relative term that can have different meanings to various individuals and communities. The ...
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This chapter examines definitions and various perspectives of the terms need and needs assessment. Need is a relative term that can have different meanings to various individuals and communities. The chapter teaches that there is not a single way to conceptualize needs assessment, rather the focus of a needs assessment effort can be directed specifically at the awareness of services, availability, accessibility, or acceptability of services. Knowledge about how clients or the community view an agency's services along these four foci improves service delivery and helps the agency to be more responsive and accountable. Needs assessments are part of a program planning development cycle that includes an evaluation of the impact of the intervention on the population with need. Social workers use needs assessments to secure resources to address macro problems, to assist in the modification of policy, to improve services, and to establish or strengthen partnerships with other agencies and organizations.Less
This chapter examines definitions and various perspectives of the terms need and needs assessment. Need is a relative term that can have different meanings to various individuals and communities. The chapter teaches that there is not a single way to conceptualize needs assessment, rather the focus of a needs assessment effort can be directed specifically at the awareness of services, availability, accessibility, or acceptability of services. Knowledge about how clients or the community view an agency's services along these four foci improves service delivery and helps the agency to be more responsive and accountable. Needs assessments are part of a program planning development cycle that includes an evaluation of the impact of the intervention on the population with need. Social workers use needs assessments to secure resources to address macro problems, to assist in the modification of policy, to improve services, and to establish or strengthen partnerships with other agencies and organizations.
William J. Sutherland and Rhys E. Green
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198520863
- eISBN:
- 9780191706189
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198520863.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Most field studies incorporate measures of habitat extent and quality. How to devise a protocol for recording habitat is described. The section on physical environment describes how to measure ...
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Most field studies incorporate measures of habitat extent and quality. How to devise a protocol for recording habitat is described. The section on physical environment describes how to measure temperature, rainfall and wetness, slope, and water chemistry. The means for documenting vegetation structure, species composition, and habitat types are presented. Methods for assessing analysing habitat relationships are explored.Less
Most field studies incorporate measures of habitat extent and quality. How to devise a protocol for recording habitat is described. The section on physical environment describes how to measure temperature, rainfall and wetness, slope, and water chemistry. The means for documenting vegetation structure, species composition, and habitat types are presented. Methods for assessing analysing habitat relationships are explored.
John Landers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199279579
- eISBN:
- 9780191719448
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279579.003.0016
- Subject:
- History, Social History, Economic History
Spatial integration was fundamental to the development of more complex and differentiated structures in the economic and political spheres. The resource base in pre-industrial economies, or organic ...
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Spatial integration was fundamental to the development of more complex and differentiated structures in the economic and political spheres. The resource base in pre-industrial economies, or organic economies, is characterised by the low level of energy availability and the role played by the produce of the land as the ultimate source of nearly all raw material and energy inputs. These two features of organic economies imposed heavy and restrictive costs on the societies that depended on them and limited the resources that they had available to meet such costs. The reliance on organic resources imposed structural constraints that limited what could be achieved in the sphere of production. The constraints and inefficiencies endemic to organic economies set limits to what rulers could achieve in the long term, but in the short term they also created opportunities.Less
Spatial integration was fundamental to the development of more complex and differentiated structures in the economic and political spheres. The resource base in pre-industrial economies, or organic economies, is characterised by the low level of energy availability and the role played by the produce of the land as the ultimate source of nearly all raw material and energy inputs. These two features of organic economies imposed heavy and restrictive costs on the societies that depended on them and limited the resources that they had available to meet such costs. The reliance on organic resources imposed structural constraints that limited what could be achieved in the sphere of production. The constraints and inefficiencies endemic to organic economies set limits to what rulers could achieve in the long term, but in the short term they also created opportunities.
Anne E. Magurran
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198527855
- eISBN:
- 9780191713576
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198527855.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Guppy populations differ not only in their mating tactics but also in how they make their investment in reproduction. Life history traits such as age and size at maturity, number and size of ...
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Guppy populations differ not only in their mating tactics but also in how they make their investment in reproduction. Life history traits such as age and size at maturity, number and size of offspring, vary markedly between populations. Much of this variation is a consequence of predation risk, but other environmental factors such as food availability, seasonality, fish density, and temperature are also important. This chapter explains why the Trinidadian system has proved an invaluable test of life history theory. It examines population differences in phenotypic plasticity and discusses age-related changes in reproductive behaviour. The consequences of key life history decisions for mating success in both males and females are also considered.Less
Guppy populations differ not only in their mating tactics but also in how they make their investment in reproduction. Life history traits such as age and size at maturity, number and size of offspring, vary markedly between populations. Much of this variation is a consequence of predation risk, but other environmental factors such as food availability, seasonality, fish density, and temperature are also important. This chapter explains why the Trinidadian system has proved an invaluable test of life history theory. It examines population differences in phenotypic plasticity and discusses age-related changes in reproductive behaviour. The consequences of key life history decisions for mating success in both males and females are also considered.
Eric M. Gese
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198515562
- eISBN:
- 9780191705632
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515562.003.0017
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
The coyote population at Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, has not been subject to human persecution for several decades allowing for direct observation of their behaviour, interactions among ...
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The coyote population at Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, has not been subject to human persecution for several decades allowing for direct observation of their behaviour, interactions among pack members, and how they deal with changes in their environment. From January 1991 to June 1993, data from over 2500 hours of direct observation were collected on members of five resident packs, five transient individuals, and eight dispersing animals, in the Lamar River Valley of YNP. This chapter synthesizes the findings of this study.Less
The coyote population at Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, has not been subject to human persecution for several decades allowing for direct observation of their behaviour, interactions among pack members, and how they deal with changes in their environment. From January 1991 to June 1993, data from over 2500 hours of direct observation were collected on members of five resident packs, five transient individuals, and eight dispersing animals, in the Lamar River Valley of YNP. This chapter synthesizes the findings of this study.
Tim M. Blackburn, Julie L. Lockwood, and Phillip Cassey
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199232543
- eISBN:
- 9780191715983
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232543.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Ornithology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter considers the first two steps on the invasion pathway: transport and introduction. It starts by summarizing why what we know about the history of avian invasions leads us to expect ...
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This chapter considers the first two steps on the invasion pathway: transport and introduction. It starts by summarizing why what we know about the history of avian invasions leads us to expect non-randomness in the transport and introduction processes. It proceeds to review evidence for non-randomness in the types of birds that get transported and introduced, where they are transported and introduced to, and finally changes in the identity of these bird species through time. Non-randomness in transport and introduction are considered together because there is little information on them as separate processes. The chapter concludes by outlining the significant consequences transport and introduction have for the study of subsequent invasion stages.Less
This chapter considers the first two steps on the invasion pathway: transport and introduction. It starts by summarizing why what we know about the history of avian invasions leads us to expect non-randomness in the transport and introduction processes. It proceeds to review evidence for non-randomness in the types of birds that get transported and introduced, where they are transported and introduced to, and finally changes in the identity of these bird species through time. Non-randomness in transport and introduction are considered together because there is little information on them as separate processes. The chapter concludes by outlining the significant consequences transport and introduction have for the study of subsequent invasion stages.
Tatang Mitra Setia, Roberto A. Delgado, S. Suci Utami Atmoko, Ian Singleton, and Carel P. van Schaik
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199213276
- eISBN:
- 9780191707568
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213276.003.0017
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Despite their semi-solitary nature, associations among orangutans are more common than expected by chance for most combinations of age-sex classes. Variation in party size is due to variation in food ...
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Despite their semi-solitary nature, associations among orangutans are more common than expected by chance for most combinations of age-sex classes. Variation in party size is due to variation in food availability or sexual activity, reflecting the two main types of parties encountered in orangutans. Parties may involve mating or are formed around mothers and immatures of various ages, in which social play is the main social activity. Beyond direct association, Sumatran females tend to remain within audible range of the dominant flanged males, using his long calls to adjust their ranging. Females tend to be more philopatric than males, although it is not clear whether males disperse away from their natal range or end up including their natal range within a much larger home range. The accumulating evidence suggests that orangutans live in more than mere neighbourhoods, but in loose communities in which related females form clusters, share a preference for the same dominant flanged male, within whose earshot they tend to remain and whose ranging is more limited. Further study should reveal whether this Sumatra-derived picture also holds for Borneo.Less
Despite their semi-solitary nature, associations among orangutans are more common than expected by chance for most combinations of age-sex classes. Variation in party size is due to variation in food availability or sexual activity, reflecting the two main types of parties encountered in orangutans. Parties may involve mating or are formed around mothers and immatures of various ages, in which social play is the main social activity. Beyond direct association, Sumatran females tend to remain within audible range of the dominant flanged males, using his long calls to adjust their ranging. Females tend to be more philopatric than males, although it is not clear whether males disperse away from their natal range or end up including their natal range within a much larger home range. The accumulating evidence suggests that orangutans live in more than mere neighbourhoods, but in loose communities in which related females form clusters, share a preference for the same dominant flanged male, within whose earshot they tend to remain and whose ranging is more limited. Further study should reveal whether this Sumatra-derived picture also holds for Borneo.
Corey Ross
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278213
- eISBN:
- 9780191707933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278213.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter shifts the focus away from elites and their concerns about the mass media towards the actual distribution and patterns of usage among media audiences. It shows that the availability of ...
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This chapter shifts the focus away from elites and their concerns about the mass media towards the actual distribution and patterns of usage among media audiences. It shows that the availability of the different media and the constitution of their audiences were profoundly shaped by technological limitations, commercial considerations, cultural attitudes, and household budgets. Focusing above all on the Weimar era, it briefly reconstructs the social topography of cinema and radio audiences, and how they changed over this period. By highlighting the limited extent of radio usage and the many divides within the cinema audience, it demonstrates that the rise of the mass media did not necessarily signal an inexorable trend towards a more universal ‘mass culture’ that bulldozed class boundaries and flattened cultural distinctions in German society.Less
This chapter shifts the focus away from elites and their concerns about the mass media towards the actual distribution and patterns of usage among media audiences. It shows that the availability of the different media and the constitution of their audiences were profoundly shaped by technological limitations, commercial considerations, cultural attitudes, and household budgets. Focusing above all on the Weimar era, it briefly reconstructs the social topography of cinema and radio audiences, and how they changed over this period. By highlighting the limited extent of radio usage and the many divides within the cinema audience, it demonstrates that the rise of the mass media did not necessarily signal an inexorable trend towards a more universal ‘mass culture’ that bulldozed class boundaries and flattened cultural distinctions in German society.
Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198283652
- eISBN:
- 9780191596193
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198283652.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The link between deprivation and the law is explored, and it is noted that, in seeking social changes to eliminate hunger, the nature of the entitlement systems has to be properly understood. ...
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The link between deprivation and the law is explored, and it is noted that, in seeking social changes to eliminate hunger, the nature of the entitlement systems has to be properly understood. Recognising that food availability is of crucial importance, the authors suggest attention is moved towards entitlement failures, Finally, case studies of the Bangladesh famine of 1974 and the food crisis in Sub‐Saharan Africa are used to illustrate this.Less
The link between deprivation and the law is explored, and it is noted that, in seeking social changes to eliminate hunger, the nature of the entitlement systems has to be properly understood. Recognising that food availability is of crucial importance, the authors suggest attention is moved towards entitlement failures, Finally, case studies of the Bangladesh famine of 1974 and the food crisis in Sub‐Saharan Africa are used to illustrate this.
Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198283652
- eISBN:
- 9780191596193
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198283652.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Some of the deficiencies of direct delivery strategies as a means of preventing famines are noted before the part that markets can play in precipitating or relieving famine is explored. The ...
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Some of the deficiencies of direct delivery strategies as a means of preventing famines are noted before the part that markets can play in precipitating or relieving famine is explored. The relationship of food availability and prices to individual entitlements is studied. The argument then moves to the role of transactions, both interregional (private trade) and intertemporal (hoarding), on famine vulnerability and how the government could intervene in each case. The last part discusses the merits and limitations of cash support, and recommends its greater use.Less
Some of the deficiencies of direct delivery strategies as a means of preventing famines are noted before the part that markets can play in precipitating or relieving famine is explored. The relationship of food availability and prices to individual entitlements is studied. The argument then moves to the role of transactions, both interregional (private trade) and intertemporal (hoarding), on famine vulnerability and how the government could intervene in each case. The last part discusses the merits and limitations of cash support, and recommends its greater use.
