The Supply Constraint Problem in Economic Impact Analysis: An Arts/Sports Disparity

The most fundamental analytical errors that lead to overstated projected regional economic impacts (ex ante) are demand based: (1) failure to subtract local sources of spending and nonlocal uses of spending from the budgets of subject organizations or events; (2) erroneous attribution of all ancillary spending as causally related to the existence of the subject organization or event; and (3) failure to adapt multipliers to specific regions, including the failure to recognize the relationship between the likely size of the initial net spending injections and the speed with which those injections "leak" from the target region. But those ex post verification studies in sports that have generally found very small realized economic impacts resulting from even mega-events like Super Bowls have tended to emphasize supply-side infrastructure capacity constraints in local economies that generate significant crowding-out effects. This issue is reviewed with a focus on the differential treatment of crowding-out effects in the sports versus the arts (cultural sector) literatures, and evaluates whether there are legitimate reasons why ex ante arts economic impact studies have generally ignored supply constraints. Interestingly, the only real ex post verification study done in the arts (Skinner, 2006) found remarkable similarity between the empirical impact results and what would likely have been predicted by an ex ante impact study (for the case of blockbuster museum exhibits in Jackson, Mississippi), in contrast to the usual sports event finding. Working Paper 07-0

The Peahen’s Tale, or Dressing Our Parts at Work

However, there may ultimately be no logical way to reconcile decisions that prohibit employers from requiring women to wear revealing outfits and others that permit employers to require them to wear makeup,20 or decisions that prohibit penalizing a woman for being insufficiently feminine and others that permit penalizing a man for being insufficiently masculine.21 In addition, the increasing judicial acceptance of the sex stereotyping theory of sex discrimination under Title VII is in substantial tension with recent cases that insist that sex-differentiated dress and grooming requirements that merely 22 conform to existing social gender norms do not amount to impermissible sex discrimination. Because dress is so crucial a characteristic in sexually dimorphic species, and because it is so closely tied to sexual attractiveness, choice, and power dynamics, employers should be prohibited from requiring women to dress in gender normative ways that reflect those traits even if they believe that such dress codes do not amount to intentional sex stereotyping.223 Where, as here, so many threads come together to demonstrate that sex differences in dress are likely to affect the way that individuals are treated by others, employers should not be permitted to mandate differences that implicate notions of attractiveness or power

Llywarch Hen’s Dyke: place and narrative in early medieval Wales

Dykes must have been important features within the early medieval landscape, but scarcely attract more than cursory discussion in archaeological literature focused on Wales and western Britain. Analysis of a dyke recorded in a boundary clause attached to an eighth century charter in the Book of Llandaff demonstrates how a multidisciplinary approach can garner new insights into the function and significance of dykes in the early medieval landscape. Llywarch Hen’s Dyke defined a large part of the bounds of Llan-gors, a royal estate in the kingdom of Brycheiniog. On the ground the dyke is represent by a prominent agricultural land boundary, but the monument also operated as a ‘mnemonic peg’ through which oral traditions associated with power and place were narrated

International Trade and Economic Development Strategy: Can Foreign Direct Investment Be Predicted?

This study identifies factors that might be used by the state to better target foreign industries and countries that are more likely to be seeking investment opportunities in the U.S

The Dinas Powys ‘Southern Banks’: excavations of the Ty’n y Coed earthworks 2011–14

The Ty’n-y-Coed earthworks are better known to archaeologists and historians as the Southern Banks at Dinas Powys. These were briefly investigated by Geoff Wainwright in the late 1950s as part of Leslie Alcock’s exploration of the promontory fort known as Dinas Powys. The Southern Banks were central to Alcock’s interpretation of the main defences of the promontory as being a Norman period ringwork built by a native Welsh prince. This interpretation has been shown to be incorrect and the nature of the Southern Banks has become a significant issue for the understanding of Dinas Powys. As part of a reassessment of the Dinas Powys complex excavation and survey were undertaken on the Southern Banks, now named by Cadw and the RCAHMW as the Ty’n-y-Coed earthworks, between 2011 and 2014. Ty’n-y-Coed consists of two separate bank and ditch earthworks (Bank A and Bank B), which appear to be incomplete. The earthworks lie 140m south of the important early medieval promontory fort known as Dinas Powys and were previously trial trenched in the late 1950s. Limited evidence was recovered in the new excavations, but the fieldwork has added significantly to our understanding of the date and function of the earthworks, and their relationship with the adjacent promontory fort. Bank B is interpreted as a univallate L-shaped settlement enclosure occupied during the Late Iron Age and potentially into the early Romano-British period. Sherds of an almost complete Glastonbury Ware bowl were recovered from the primary fill of the ditch, and are likely to represent the deliberate deposition of a significant vessel. The evidence for the date and function of Bank A is considerably weaker, and interpretation more ambiguous. It is suggested that part of the monument appears to be early medieval in date and is tentatively interpreted as an unfinished settlement enclosure