Treatment of broad palaeodose distributions in OSL dating of dune sands from the western Murray Basin, South Australia

Preliminary results of an optically stimulated luminescence dating study in the western Murray Basin in semi-arid south-eastern Australia are presented. The ultimate objective of the dating study is a reconstruction of dune formation indicative of palaeoclimatic changes in this region. So far, one site has been dated using the single-aliquot regenerative (SAR) dose protocol for quartz. A high scatter in individual palaeodoses was observed, which is unexpected in supposedly well bleached aeolian deposits. Therefore other sources of variability such as microdosimetry and bioturbation have to be taken into account. Nevertheless, the resulting ages are in chronostratigraphic order and document a long aeolian record from 180 to 9 ka. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.J. Lomax, A. Hilgers, C.R. Twidale, J.A. Bourne and U. Radtk

Courtyards The case for enclosure

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:3926.78817(SERC-GR/C--53442) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Industry Dynamics in the Swedish Textile and Wearing Apparel Sector

This paper analyses the adjustment process within the Swedish textile and wearing apparel sector and finds results that support the notion of Schumpeter’s ‘creative’ destruction. The turnover of plants and jobs seems to ‘improve’ the industries from within due to an exit (entry) of less (more) productive plants, exit (entry) of old (new) incumbents, a destruction (creation) of less (more) human-capital intensive jobs, and a supply of new products on the world market. The econometric analysis of the probability of exit with plant, firm and industry characteristics supports the idea of a rationalisation from within. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2005creative destruction, entry, exit, import competition, plant level., F1, D2,

THE LINKS BETWEEN TRADE POLICY AND TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY IN SOUTH AFRICA'S MANUFACTURING SECTOR

This paper reconfirms the important links that exist between manufacturing productivity, trade orientation, industry specific characteristics and some macroeconomic variables. The dynamic GMM estimator used in the analysis shows that apart from being affected by trade measures, total factor productivity is strongly persistent. In addition, the evolution of the real exchange rate and inflation exert important effects on manufacturing productivity. Most importantly, the dynamic error component specification appears to be more efficient in modelling the effects on manufacturing productivity of policy change than the static approach. Copyright 2005 Economic Society of South Africa.

Quantifying sunk costs and learning effects in R&D persistence

This paper analyzes and quantifies the fundamental factors that are likely to cause persistence in performing R&D activities: the existence of sunk costs associated with R&D activities and the process of learning that characterizes this type of activity. We estimate our model with Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1991-2014. By decomposing the effects of sunk costs and learning effects, we find that both are important determinants of R&D persistence, and that failing to allow for learning systematically overestimates sunk cost effects. Both large firms and SMEs benefit from direct and indirect (via productivity) effects of R&D experience, but in large firms this is more likely to be manifest through productivity improvements while in smaller firms the effect is more skewed towards a direct effect on R&D likelihood. Further, our results suggest that whereas the impact of sunk costs in R&D persistence is greater for large firms than for SMEs, the scope for direct learning from continuous R&D engagement is greater for SMEs than for larger firms