Vertebrate fauna from Panandhro lignite field (Lower Eocene), District Kachchh, western India

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Whale origins as a poster child for macroevolution

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A new miocene sirenian from Kutch, India

We report a new Miocene sirenian from District Kutch, State of Gujarat, India: Domingia sodhae gen. et sp. nov. The new species is a dugongine dugongid with flattened tusk-like upper incisors. Like some other Miocene dugongids, Domningia is large and has complex, bilophodont molars and three-rooted premolars, which are strongly worn. The rostrum is downturned significantly, similar to modern dugongs, and indicative of a specialized feeding mode. Phylogenetically, it is closely related to Dioplotherium, Rytiodus, Corystosiren, and Bharatisiren. Among these, Domningia is most similar to Bharatisiren indica and Dioplotherium manigaulti, in that all three taxa retain multi-rooted premolars. Similar to Bharatisiren, the nasal process of the premaxilla is long. Bharatisiren and Domningia are part of a late Oligocene and early Miocene radiation of dugongines in South Asia

The origin and early evolution of whales: macroevolution documented on the Indian Subcontinent

The origin of whales (order Cetacea) from a four-footed land animal is one of the best understood examples of macroevolutionary change. This evolutionary transition has been substantially elucidated by fossil finds from the Indian subcontinent in the past decade and a half. Here, we review the first steps of whale evolution, i.e. the transition from a land mammal to obligate marine predators, documented by the Eocene cetacean families of the Indian subcontinent: Pakicetidae, Ambulocetidae, Remingtonocetidae, Protocetidae, and Basilosauridae, as well as their artiodactyl sister group, the Raoellidae. We also discuss the influence that the excellent fossil record has on the study of the evolution of organ systems, in particular the locomotor and hearing systems

Is It the Income Distribution or Redistribution That Affects Growth?

Hervorming Sociale Regelgevin

Growing apart: The comparative political economy of income inequality and social policy development in affluent countries

Over the past few decades, most OECD countries witnessed a widening of the income distribution. This doctoral thesis collects five studies that provide insight into determinants and political and economic consequences of income inequality and social policy development in affluent countries. The empirical evidence presented in the first study suggests that the decrease of trade union influence is linked to higher levels of earnings inequality within sectors. The second study focuses on trade competition with China, which is associated with a decrease in wage and employment shares for low-skilled workers in manufacturing sectors in OECD countries. The third study finds no robust associations between economic growth and generic measures of income inequality and redistribution. The findings in the fourth study indicate that individuals exposed to increased job risk resulting from technological change prefer higher levels of redistribution. Based on a comparison of short-term social policies to cope with the recession in 2008 and 2009, the last study concludes that welfare states adopt social and unemployment reactive policies that mirror their institutional legacies.Hervorming Sociale Regelgevin