Spotlight on Earth Science Symposium: An Overview

On September 18-19, 2006, James Madison University (JMU) hosted a one and half day symposium entitled, “Spotlight on Earth Science,” highlighting current resources and technology available for earth science teachers, and invited teachers to share effective practices learned in their program coursework through the two Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) funded by the Virginia Department of Education. The symposium supported a pooling of expertise among participants to initiate the definition and resolution of the persistent issues in earth science education in Virginia. A total of ninety-six teachers, university faculty, curriculum supervisors, policymakers, and business/government/industrial representatives participated. Three themes were addressed: 1) Best Practices in Earth Science Teaching, 2) Curricular and Assessment Issues in Earth Science, and 3) Earth Science Teacher Education. The two MSP projects, Virginia Earth Science Collaborative (VESC) and Innovative Teachers in Earth Science in Tidewater (ITEST), addressed only one aspect of the earth science issues in Virginia: the shortage of qualified earth science teachers. Building on the successes of these projects and the symposium, the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition commissioned a task force to explore the problems and potential solutions raised by participants in symposium. Future anticipated outcomes include the development of graduate programs in geoscience education and engagement in funded projects in geoscience education to suit the needs of students, teachers, and school divisions

Resolution, Recovery and Survival: The Evolution of Payment Disputes in Post-Socialist Europe

What determines the mechanism chosen to resolve a commercial dispute? To what degree does the aggrieved recover damages? And does the relationship survive in the aftermath? The answers to these questions affect expectations as to the costs of transacting and, thereby, the development of markets. But they have received almost no attention in the economic literature on the post-socialist transition. This article exploits a rich survey of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in three post-socialist countries to explain behavioral responses to an inter-firm payment dispute. Particular attention is given to how the evolution of disputes is sensitive to both the geographic distance between trade partners and membership in a business association.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40147/3/wp761.pd

Collective Action and Post-Communist Enterprise: The Economic Logic of Russia’s Business Associations

Drawing on a unique set of surveys, this article explores the question of whether Russia’s post-communist business associations are generally antithetical to or supportive of the broad objectives of economic restructuring. Contrary to the most widely cited analysis as to the purposes of collective action in the business community, the survey evidence demonstrates that association members have embraced market-adapting behaviors at greater rates than nonmembers. The responses of both firms and associations, moreover, suggest that the associations themselves may, at least in part, be directly responsible. These findings point to the conclusion that in contemporary Russia the net returns to collective action in support of market development are high relative to those for purposes that are less benign.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40180/3/wp794.pd

Shedding New Light on a Pennsylvania Painter: Finding R. Fibich and His Graveyard

The painting that would become known as the “York Springs Graveyard” (see cover illustration) was sold to Connecticut folk-art collectors Jean and Howard Lipman in about 1939 by Joe Kindig, an antiques dealer from York, PA. The 18” x 24” oil painting on canvas, of mid-nineteenth-century people and carriages at a cemetery, with cattle in the middle distance, is signed “R. Fibich.” The New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY, subsequently acquired the painting from the Lipmans. It was cleaned, documented, studied, and then exhibited at various venues including the Primitives Gallery of Harry Stone (1942); the Union College of Art Gallery, Schenectady (1951); the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Texas (1956); the M. Knoedler Gallery, NYC (1956); the Roberson Gallery, Binghamton NY (1966-67); the New York State Fair at Syracuse (1970); the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA (1972); the Whitney Museum, NYC (1974), and Smith College Museum of Art Collection ((1975). In addition to inclusion in The Flowering of American Folk Art: 1776-1976, which was published in conjunction with the 1974 Whitney Bicentennial Exhibit, it also appeared in American Primitive Painting (Metropolitan Miniature Series, 1953) and in Life magazine, where readers were solicited for any information about the artist. The Flowering of American Folk Art: 1776-1976 index of artists’ biographies states “R. Fibich (active c. 1850). Known for a single oil landscape of a York Springs, Pa., graveyard.” [excerpt

Collective Action and Post-Communist Enterprise: The Economic Logic of Russia’s Business Associations

Drawing on a unique set of surveys, this article explores the question of whether Russia’s post-communist business associations are generally antithetical to or supportive of the broad objectives of economic restructuring. Contrary to the most widely cited analysis as to the purposes of collective action in the business community, the survey evidence demonstrates that association members have embraced market-adapting behaviors at greater rates than nonmembers. The responses of both firms and associations, moreover, suggest that the associations themselves may, at least in part, be directly responsible. These findings point to the conclusion that in contemporary Russia the net returns to collective action in support of market development are high relative to those for purposes that are less benign.business associations, collective action, post-communist transition, and market institutions

Some implications of deposit deregulation

Bank deposits ; Deposit insurance ; Interest rates

Organized business, political regimes and property rights across the Russian Federation

Abstract: This article explores the inter-relationship of collective action within the business community, the nature of the political regime and the security of firms’ property rights. Drawing on a pair of surveys recently administered in Russia, we present evidence that post-communist business associations have begun to coordinate business influence over state actors in a manner that is sensitive to regional politics. A firm’s ability to defend itself from government predation and to shape its institutional environment as well as its propensity to invest in physical capital are strongly related to both its membership in a business association and the level of democratization in its region. Of particular note, the positive effect of association membership on securing property rights increases in less democratic regions. The evidence, that is, suggests that collective action in the business community substitutes for democratic pressure in constraining public officials.collective action; property rights; political institutions; business associations

Organized Business, Political Regimes and Property Rights across the Russian Federation

This article explores the inter-relationship of collective action within the business community, the nature of the political regime and the security of firms’ property rights. Drawing on a pair of surveys recently administered in Russia, we present evidence that post-communist business associations have begun to coordinate business influence over state actors in a manner that is sensitive to regional politics. A firm’s ability to defend itself from government predation and to shape its institutional environment as well as its propensity to invest in physical capital are strongly related to both its membership in a business association and the level of democratization in its region. Of particular note, the positive effect of association membership on securing property rights increases in less democratic regions. The evidence, that is, suggests that collective action in the business community substitutes for democratic pressure in constraining public officials.

Collective Action and Post-Communist Enterprise: The Economic Logic of Russia’s Business Associations

Drawing on a unique set of surveys, this article explores the question of whether Russia’s post-communist business associations are generally antithetical to or supportive of the broad objectives of economic restructuring. Contrary to the most widely cited analysis as to the purposes of collective action in the business community, the survey evidence demonstrates that association members have embraced market-adapting behaviors at greater rates than non-members. The responses of both firms and associations, moreover, suggest that the associations themselves may, at least in part, be directly responsible. These findings point to the conclusion that in contemporary Russia the net returns to collective action in support of market development are high relative to those for purposes that are less benign.Key words: business associations, collective action, post-communist transition, and market institutions