Devolution and the economy : a Scottish perspective

In their interesting and challenging chapter John Adams and Peter Robinson assess the consequences for economic development policy of the devolution measures enacted by the UK Labour government post 1997. Their chapter ranges widely over current UK regional disparities, the link between devolution and economic growth, the balance of responsibilities in policy between Whitehall and the devolved administrations, and finally, they raise questions about the developing "quasi-federal" role of Whitehall in regulating or coordinating the new devolved policy landscape. In response, we propose to focus on four issues that we believe are key to understanding the economic consequences of devolution both at the Scottish and UK levels. First, we argue that the view of Scotland's devolutionary experience in economic policy is partial and so does not fully capture the nature and extent of change post 1999. Secondly, we examine the role of devolution in regional economic performance. There is much in their paper on this topic with which we agree but we contend that there are significant omissions in the analysis, which are important for policy choice. Our third section highlights an area not discussed in depth by Adams and Robinson's paper: the funding of the devolution settlement. Here we consider some of the implications of funding arrangements for economic performance and the options for a new funding settlement. Finally, we deal with the difficult issue of co-ordination between the centre and the devolved regions. We contend that co-ordination is largely conspicuous by its absence. Moreover, where coordination is deployed it reflects an inadequate understanding of the extent to which the economies of the regions and devolved territories of the UK are linked

The demographic challenge facing Scottish higher education institutions : a computable general equilibrium analysis

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are generally regarded as important actors in regional economic development. A large literature exists on their demand side impacts as employers and as purchasers of intermediate inputs and, more recently, work has been undertaken to explore their impacts on the supply side, for example, through labour market and knowledge transfer effects. A growing evidence base suggests that HEIs have a positive impact upon the development of their host regions. However the HEI sector faces a challenge that might have significant impact on the fortunes of its host regions and has hitherto received limited attention. The populations of most developed countries are ageing and the age cohort from which university students are traditionally drawn is expected to shrink. This paper uses an HEIs-disaggregated Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate the economic impacts of a shrinking student population upon Scotland. In the analysis we use scenarios presented in a recent Universities UK report. This paper is an output of our project entitled The Overall Impact of HEIs on Regional Economies (ESRC, RES-171-25-0032). This project is one of nine that are funded under the joint UK Higher Education Funding Councils and ESRC Initiative on The Impact of HEIs on Regional Economies. (All UK funding councils are involved: Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for England and Wales, and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland. We also acknowledge supplementary funding from the Centre for Public Policy for Regions (funded by SFC)

The impact of higher education institutions (HEIs) on the Scottish economy : new evidence from an HEI-disaggregated input-output approach

This paper measures the regional demand impacts on output and employment of Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) based on Input-Output tables for the year 2006. The HEI disaggregated table was developed from existing Input-Output tables using supplementary data from HESA and purchasing data for Scottish universities. We calculate direct, indirect and induced impacts. Most of the existing literature focuses on individual institutions by employing Keynesian Multiplier or Input-Output analysis. This paper adds to the literature by providing the first systematic study of all individual HEIs using a common framework of analysis. The results suggest that HEIs may have substantial regional economic impacts both in terms of output and employment. Furthermore analysis of the HEIs’ income sources suggests they are more export intensive than is commonly acknowledged, which motivates a re-evaluation of the appropriate counterfactual in regional impact studies of HEIs

Cultural transmission, evolution and revolution in vocal displays : insights from bird and whale song

Funding: ECG is funded by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.Culture, defined as shared behavior or information within a community acquired through some form of social learning from conspecifics, is now suggested to act as a second inheritance system. Cultural processes are important in a wide variety of vertebrate species. Birdsong provides a classic example of cultural processes: cultural transmission, where changes in a shared song are learned from surrounding conspecifics, and cultural evolution, where the patterns of songs change through time. This form of cultural transmission of information has features that are different in speed and form from genetic transmission. More recently, culture, vocal traditions, and an extreme form of song evolution have been documented in cetaceans. Humpback whale song “revolutions,” where the single population-wide shared song type is rapidly replaced by a new, novel song type introduced from a neighboring population, represents an extraordinary example of ocean basin-wide cultural transmission rivaled in its geographic extent only by humans. In this review, we examine the cultural evolutions and revolutions present in some birdsong and whale song, respectively. By taking a comparative approach to these cultural processes, we review the existing evidence to understand the similarities and differences for their patterns of expression and the underlying drivers, including anthropogenic influences, which may shape them. Finally, we encourage future studies to explore the role of innovation vs. production errors in song evolution, the fitness information present in song, and how human-induced changes in population sizes, trajectories, and migratory connections facilitating cultural transmission may be driving song revolutions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS)

This paper describes the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) under construction at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) of the Australian National University (ANU) for the ANU 2.3m telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory. WiFeS is a powerful integral field, double-beam, concentric, image-slicing spectrograph designed to deliver excellent thoughput, wavelength stability, spectrophotometric performance and superb image quality along with wide spectral coverage throughout the 320-950 nm wavelength region. It provides a 25x38 arcsec. field with 0.5 arcsec. sampling along each of twenty five 38X1 arcsec slitlets. The output format is optimized to match the 4096x4096 pixel CCD detectors in each of two cameras individually optimized for the blue and the red ends of the spectrum, respectively. A process of "interleaved nod-and-shuffle" will be applied to permit quantum noise-limited sky subtraction. Using VPH gratings, spectral resolutions of 3000 and 7000 are provided. The full spectral range is covered in a single exposure at R=3000, and in two exposures in the R=7000 mode. The use of transmissive coated optics, VPH gratings and optimized mirror coatings ensures a throughput (including telescope atmosphere and detector) > 30% over a wide spectral range. The concentric image-slicer design ensures an excellent and uniform image quality across the full field. To maximize scientific return, the whole instrument is configured for remote observing, pipeline data reduction, and the accumulation of calibration image libraries.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science, 16 pages, 14 figure

The role of vocal individuality in conservation

Identifying the individuals within a population can generate information on life history parameters, generate input data for conservation models, and highlight behavioural traits that may affect management decisions and error or bias within census methods. Individual animals can be discriminated by features of their vocalisations. This vocal individuality can be utilised as an alternative marking technique in situations where the marks are difficult to detect or animals are sensitive to disturbance. Vocal individuality can also be used in cases were the capture and handling of an animal is either logistically or ethically problematic. Many studies have suggested that vocal individuality can be used to count and monitor populations over time; however, few have explicitly tested the method in this role. In this review we discuss methods for extracting individuality information from vocalisations and techniques for using this to count and monitor populations over time. We present case studies in birds where vocal individuality has been applied to conservation and we discuss its role in mammals

Male-like mudballing behavior of some female fiddler crabs (Uca tangeri)

At each low tide, male and female Uca tangeri remove mudballs from inside their burrows and place them on the surface. Previous studies have shown clear intersexual differences in mudball arrangements. However, we noticed that some females placed their mudballs in an arrangement similar to that of males. In this study, we investigated several factors that may have been responsible for this change in female mudballing behavior. We found no significant effect of the lunar cycle, female size and reproductive state, or burrow features. We briefly discuss the avoidance of sexual coercion or parasite modification of host behavior as possible factors. Our study shows that intersexual differences in mudballing behavior are more complex than previously thought

The external benefits of higher education

The private market benefits of education are widely studied at the micro level, although the magnitude of their macroeconomic impact is disputed. However, there are additional benefits of education, which are less well understood. In this paper the macroeconomic effects of external benefits of higher education are estimated using the “micro-to-macro” simulation approach. Two types of externalities are explored: technology spillovers and productivity spillovers in the labour market. These links are illustrated and the results suggest they could be very large. However, this is qualified by the dearth of microeconomic evidence, for which we hope to encourage further work