The Choice of Structural Model in Trade-Wages Decompositions

This paper explores the use of structural models as an alternative to reduced form methods when decomposing observed joint trade and technology driven wage changes into components attributable to each source. Conventional mobile factors Heckscher-Ohlin models typically reveal problems of specialisation unless price changes accompanying trade shocks are small, and can also produce wide ranges for the decomposition for parameterisations consistent with the joint change. A differentiated goods model which generalises Heckscher-Ohlin removes problems of specialisation and concentrates the range of decompositions more narrowly, but introduces larger demand side responses to trade shocks which greatly reduce the effect of trade. The conclusion offered is that the choice of structural model matters for decomposing observed wage changes into trade and technology components, and that reduced-form methods which do not discriminate between alternative structural models may not be that informative for such decompositions.

The choice of structural model in trade-wages decompositions

This paper explores the use of structural models as an alternative to reduced form methods when decomposing observed joint trade and technology driven wage changes into components attributable to each source. Conventional mobile factors Heckscher-Ohlin models typically reveal problems of specialisation unless price changes accompanying trade shocks are small, and can also produce wide ranges for the decomposition for parameterisations consistent with the joint change. A differentiated goods model which generalises Heckscher-Ohlin removes problems of specialisation and concentrates the range of decompositions more narrowly, but introduces larger demand side responses to trade shocks which greatly reduce the effect of trade. The conclusion offered is that the choice of structural model matters for decomposing observed wage changes into trade and technology components, and that reduced-form methods which do not discriminate between alternative structural models may not be that informative for such decompositions

Specialisation, Interdisciplinarity, and Incommensurability

Incommensurability may be regarded as driving specialisation, on the one hand, and as posing some problems to interdisciplinarity, on the other hand. It may be argued, however, that incommensurability plays no role in either specialisation or interdisciplinarity. Scientific specialties could be defined as simply 'different' (that is, about different things), rather than 'incommensurable' (that is, competing for the explanation of the same phenomena). Interdisciplinarity could be viewed as the co- ordinated effort of scientists possessing complemetary and interlocking skills, and not as the overcoming of some sort of incommensurable divide. This article provides a comprehensive evaluative examination of the relations between specialisation, interdisciplinarity, and incommensurability. Its aim is to defend the relevance of incommensurability to both specialisation and interdisciplinarity. At the same time, it aims at correcting the tendency, common among many philosophers, to regard incommensurability in a restrictive manner - such as, for example, as an almost purely semantic issu

Experience with statically-generated proxies for facilitating Java runtime specialisation

Issues pertaining to mechanisms which can be used to change the behaviour of Java classes at runtime are discussed. The proxy mechanism is compared to, and contrasted with other standard approaches to this problem. Some of the problems the proxy mechanism is subject to are expanded upon. The question of whether statically-developed proxies are a viable alternative to bytecode rewriting was investigated by means of the JavaCloak system, which uses statically-generated proxies to alter the runtime behaviour of externally-developed code. The issues addressed include ensuring the type safety, dealing with the self problem, object encapsulation, and issues of object identity and equality. Some performance figures are provided which demonstrate the load the JavaCloak proxy mechanism places on the system

The Ecce and Logen Partial Evaluators and their Web Interfaces

We present Ecce and Logen, two partial evaluators for Prolog using the online and offline approach respectively. We briefly present the foundations of these tools and discuss various applications. We also present new implementations of these tools, carried out in Ciao Prolog. In addition to a command-line interface new user-friendly web interfaces were developed. These enable non-expert users to specialise logic programs using a web browser, without the need for a local installation

Supervising Offline Partial Evaluation of Logic Programs using Online Techniques

A major impediment for more widespread use of offline partial evaluation is the difficulty of obtaining and maintaining annotations for larger, realistic programs. Existing automatic binding-time analyses still only have limited applicability and annotations often have to be created or improved and maintained by hand, leading to errors. We present a technique to help overcome this problem by using online control techniques which supervise the specialisation process in order to help the development and maintenance of correct annotations by identifying errors. We discuss an implementation in the Logen system and show on a series of examples that this approach is effective: very few false alarms were raised while infinite loops were detected quickly. We also present the integration of this technique into a web interface, which highlights problematic annotations directly in the source code. A method to automatically fix incorrect annotations is presented, allowing the approach to be also used as a pragmatic binding time analysis. Finally we show how our method can be used for efficiently locating built-in errors in Prolog source code

Expressive and Instrumental Offending: Reconciling the Paradox of Specialisation and Versatility

Although previous research into specialisation has been dominated by the debate over the existence of specialisation versus versatility, it is suggested that research needs to move beyond the restrictions of this dispute. The current study explores the criminal careers of 200 offenders based on their criminal records, obtained from a police database in the North West of England, aiming to understand the patterns and nature of specialisation by determining the presence of differentiation within their general offending behaviours and examining whether the framework of Expressive and Instrumental offending styles can account for any specialised tendencies that emerge. Fifty-eight offences were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis. Results revealed that a model of criminal differentiation could be identified and that any specialisation is represented in terms of Expressive and Instrumental offending styles

An evaluation and application of the minimum requirements method of economic base analysis to the delineation of the functional structure of New Zealand urban places, 1971 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography at Massey University

The basic-nonbasic dichotomy of functions performed by urban places, their relative importance in ensuring the existence and continued growth of urban places, and the problems encountered in their identification and measurement have been examined within the conceptual framework of the economic base concept. One of the indirect or macro methods of economic base analysis which has been used in the identification and measurement of the basic and nonbasic functions performed by urban places, namely the minimum requirements method and its variants, has also been examined and evaluated in order to provide a theoretical and methodological framework for the application of the second variant of the method to 82 New Zealand urban places. On the basis of the Department of Labour's April, 1971 half-yearly survey of employment statistics, the second variant of the minimum requirements method as developed by Ullman and Dacey and refined by the use of least-squares linear regression equations and their associated regression lines which systematically correct the results obtained for variations in urban place population size, has been used to identify and measure the basic and nonbasic functions performed by New Zealand urban places. Using the basic functions, which are generally considered predominantly of economic significance, as a quantitative measure of the extent to which each of the industrial categories represented in the employment structure of an urban place constitute an economic specialisation of the urban place; the complex of specialised functions characteristic of each urban place in New Zealand has been used to delineate the functional structure of the urban place. To clarify these results and provide a comparative indicator, reference has been made to several direct or micro economic base studies which have applied the sales-employment conversion method of economic base analysis to individual New Zealand urban places, and to a number of overseas economic base studies which have applied the minimum requirements method and its variants to various national and regional systems of urban places. Finally, to obtain an overview of the New Zealand urban scene the basic functional structures of New Zealand urban places have been characterised and classified. Each urban place's dominant function, its distinctive functions, and its degree of functional specialisation have been determined to achieve this end in a similar manner to Maxwell's functional classification of Canadian cities. The results of this classification have been presented in tabular and cartographic form, discussed in terms of their spatial patterns and statistical aspects, and compared with several functional classes derived by Pownall in his earlier functional classification of New Zealand towns. The overview gained indicates the predominantly multi-functional basic character of the functional structures of New Zealand urban places

European smart specialization for Ukrainian regional development: path from creation to implementation

The focus of the research is to develop recommendations of smart specialization (SS) for Ukrainian policymakers using European approaches. The authors revealed that the main SS projects are presented in such sectors as agri-food, industrial modernization and energy. More than 12 EU countries were the plot for conducted analysis of SS, as a result of which the level of activity of each country was determined. The creation of consortiums, including SMEs, associations, universities and other participants, disclosed the successful way of SS realization. The structure of SME’s innovative potential in Ukraine was identified underlining their main characteristic features like types of innovations and innovative activity, differentiation according to enterprise size, their regional distribution. The authors explored lack of innovations on regional and national level and significant territorial disparities, which could be eliminated through policy implementation of regional SS. The existing legislative norms for possibility of SS implementation in Ukraine were analyzed due to correspondence with the EU ones. The analysis provides the opportunity to consider them only as general framework documents without any action plans and sectoral prioritization at all. The weak points of these law documents are emphasized. As a result of research, the authors developed recommendations presented by direct action plan for Ukrainian policymakers, which include such activities as underlining key priorities (especially ICT applicability in every SS project) and their correspondence with the EU ones; eliminating regional imbalances by focusing on innovation development and reorientation of some regions according to SS priorities; respecting regional existing capacities; providing organizational mechanism for cooperation of stakeholders and financial mechanism for SS support through the EU structural funds

Trade specialisation, and economic convergence: Evidence from two eastern european countries

This paper analyses trade specialisation dynamics in two Eastern European countries (Romania and Bulgaria – EEC-2) vis-à-vis the core EU member states (EU-15) over the period 1990-2006. Specifically, we focus on whether there is a shift towards intra-industry trade leading to economic convergence and technological catch-up. We use recently developed static (FEM, REM and FEVD) and dynamic (GMM) panel data methods which take into account possible heterogeneity. Our empirical results indicate that intra-industry trade has indeed increased, but it is of the vertical rather than the horizontal type, resulting in complementary rather than competitive production patterns