Skill-Biased Technical Change and Wage Inequality: The U.S. versus Europe

This paper analyzes the effect of the recent technical change on the labor market and explains the observed differences in wage inequality among advanced countries. In particular, we focus on the difference between the wage inequality in the U.S. and continental Europe. By introducing human capital investment into Acemoglu (1999)'s model, we show that ex ante homogeneous economies would have distinct ex post wage inequality. In addition, we show that the differences in tax or education system can explain the difference in wage inequality between the U.S. and Europe.skill-biased technical change, wage inequality, human capital investment, matching

Colonial Experience and Postcolonial Underdevelopment in Africa

IIn this paper, we analyze the connection between the history of colonial rule and postcolonial development in Africa. We focus on the fact that many African colonies were governed by indirect rule. Under indirect rule, indigenous people are divided into two groups: a privileged ruling group and an unprivileged ruled group. Our model assumes that the ruled group cannot observe how their deprived resources are divided between the metropolitan ruler and the ruling group. In this economy, a large level of exploitation by the metropolitan ruler yields distrust among indigenous groups and creates a negative effect on postcolonial economic and political development.Africa, colonialism, indirect rule, colonial legacies, ethnic conflict

Recursive Method for Nekrasov partition function for classical Lie groups

Nekrasov partition function for the supersymmetric gauge theories with general Lie groups is not so far known in a closed form while there is a definition in terms of the integral. In this paper, as an intermediate step to derive it, we give a recursion formula among partition functions, which can be derived from the integral. We apply the method to a toy model which reflects the basic structure of partition functions for BCD type Lie groups and obtained a closed expression for the factor associated with the generalized Young diagram.Comment: 21 pages;v2 comments and references adde

A triplet biradical with double bidentate sites based on tert-butyl pyridyl nitroxide as a candidate for strong ferromagnetic couplers

We synthesised a new biradical, 34bpybNO, having two chelating radical sites and demonstrated its crystal structure and ground triplet nature. Frozen-solution magnetic measurement and electron spin resonance results revealed a strong intramolecular ferromagnetic coupling reaching 2J/kB = ∼+170 K, which is supported by density functional theory calculations

Pauses and Fillers in Second Language Learners’ Speech

本論文は、第二言語学習者の発話におけるポーズとフィラーの特徴について調査を行ったものである。日本語を母語とし、英語を第二言語として学ぶ東京女子大学の学生32人を調査対象とした。被験者に二種類のセリフのないコマーシャルを見せ、そのストーリーを日本語、英語の両方で説明させるという実験を実施し、そのデータを元に量的および質的分析を試みた。その結果、ポーズの頻度に焦点を当てた場合は、日本語より英語の方が約2倍、ポーズが多いことが明らかになった。また、日本語の発話ではフィラーが、英語の発話では繰り返し表現が多く観察された。これは、被験者が日本語の発話で使われるフィラーと同じように、英語の発話において繰り返し表現を使用する可能性を示唆している。一方、日本語と英語の発話を比べた場合、繰り返し表現とフィラーにおいては明らかな量の違いが見られ、沈黙において違いは比較的少なく、訂正表現においては微量の違いしか見られなかった。訂正表現を除く、フィラー、繰り返し表現、沈黙には二言語間での相互作用が認められた。質的分析においては、ポーズの種類によってその特徴や機能も様々であることが明らかになった。以上の結果から、学習者が母語を話す場面と第二言語を話す場面では、ポーズとフィラーの特徴や機能は変化すると考えられる。今後の研究では、被験者の幅をより広げる必要がある。加えて、第二言語のスピーキング能力および使用するビデオのレベルの計測方法をより確実なものにすることが望まれる

Pauses and Fillers in Second Language Learners’ Speech

本論文は、第二言語学習者の発話におけるポーズとフィラーの特徴について調査を行ったものである。日本語を母語とし、英語を第二言語として学ぶ東京女子大学の学生32人を調査対象とした。被験者に二種類のセリフのないコマーシャルを見せ、そのストーリーを日本語、英語の両方で説明させるという実験を実施し、そのデータを元に量的および質的分析を試みた。その結果、ポーズの頻度に焦点を当てた場合は、日本語より英語の方が約2倍、ポーズが多いことが明らかになった。また、日本語の発話ではフィラーが、英語の発話では繰り返し表現が多く観察された。これは、被験者が日本語の発話で使われるフィラーと同じように、英語の発話において繰り返し表現を使用する可能性を示唆している。一方、日本語と英語の発話を比べた場合、繰り返し表現とフィラーにおいては明らかな量の違いが見られ、沈黙において違いは比較的少なく、訂正表現においては微量の違いしか見られなかった。訂正表現を除く、フィラー、繰り返し表現、沈黙には二言語間での相互作用が認められた。質的分析においては、ポーズの種類によってその特徴や機能も様々であることが明らかになった。以上の結果から、学習者が母語を話す場面と第二言語を話す場面では、ポーズとフィラーの特徴や機能は変化すると考えられる。今後の研究では、被験者の幅をより広げる必要がある。加えて、第二言語のスピーキング能力および使用するビデオのレベルの計測方法をより確実なものにすることが望まれる

The Scientific Rationality of Early Statistics, 1833–1877

This thesis examines the activities of the Statistical Society of London (SSL) and its contribution to early statistics—conceived as the science of humans in society—in Britain. The SSL as a collective entity played a crucial role in the formation of early statistics, as statisticians envisaged early statistics as a collaborative scientific project and prompted large-scale observation, which required cooperation among numerous statistical observers. The first three chapters discuss how the SSL shaped the concepts, practices, and institutions of statistical data production. The SSL demonstrated how the use of a hierarchical division of labour and blank form minimised observers’ leeway to exercise individual observational skills and ensured uniformity in the production of statistical facts. This arrangement effectively depreciated first-hand observation in statistics and allowed statisticians to rely on the statistical facts collected by other people. It prompted the SSL to launch the Journal of the Statistical Society of London to serve as a virtual storage of observed facts where one could share their data for further aggregation and retrieve that of others for their analysis. The statisticians also engaged in contemporaneous discussion on the best mode of a statistical office with a view towards producing complete and internationally comparable statistical facts. The SSL’s endorsement of the Belgian Central Statistical Commission model and the International Statistical Congress was intended to support the introduction of uniformity into statistical data at both the national and international levels. The last two chapters of this thesis discuss how the SSL’s activities contributed to the historical formation of human sciences and the emergence of social scientists. Statisticians demanded the recognition of a scientific field which, independent from natural science, studied people as social beings and whose discourses moulded the treatment of the people they studied. The SSL’s activities helped statisticians not only establish their scientific expertise but also develop their unique scientific ethos. Statisticians learnt not to trust their personal observations since individuals could see only a partial, and potentially distorted, picture of society. Instead, statisticians disciplined themselves to patiently wait for the accumulation of statistical facts and analyse data in their entirety because this was the only way, they believed, to truly understand the complex relationships people had with each other. The SSL’s activities assisted statisticians’ conception of statistical fact and produced a new kind of intellectual inquirer who patiently collected statistical facts as the basis of knowing and intervening in people’s lives.Japan Student Services Organisation, Heiwa Nakajima Foundation, Max Planck Institute for the History of Scienc