Part 1: country size and efficiency constraints on resource-based industrialization harnessing mineral enclaves - export base, mineral boom and RBI literature. Part 2 Potential and actual RBI resource rent: the potential stimulus from resource processing in the base case - a large efficient developing country the country size constraint on RBI extent and external causes of RBI resource rent overstimation. Part 3 Implementation efficiency: political constraints on macro-economic efficieny - oil windfall deployment in the low absorbing countries macro-economic constraints on the high-absorbing oil-exporting countries micro-efficiency - firm performance in RBI micro efficiency - RBI sectoral performance. Part 4 RBI impact: the impact of RBI on economic growth and structural change RBI's spatial impact - the lagged economic stimulus. Part 5 Conclusion and policy implications: a model of RBI and some policy implications conclusions - RBI risk.

Resource-Based Industrialization: Sowing the Oil in Eight Developing Countries

In the event of a community turnover, population decline, or complete disappearance of pollinators, animal-pollinated plants may respond by adapting to novel pollinators or by changing their mating system. The ability of populations to adapt is determined by their ability to respond to novel selection pressures, i.e. their evolvability. In the short term, evolvability is determined by standing genetic variation in the trait under selection. To evaluate the evolutionary potential of plant reproductive systems, I compiled genetic-variance estimates for a large selection of floral traits mediating shifts in pollination and mating systems. Then, I computed evolvabilities and compared these among trait groups and against the evolvabilities of vegetative traits. Evolvabilities of most floral traits were substantial yet tended to be lower than the median for vegetative traits. Among floral traits, herkogamy (anther–stigma distance), floral-display traits and perhaps floral-volatile concentrations had greater-than-average evolvabilities, while the evolvabilities of pollinator-fit traits were below average. These results suggest that most floral traits have the potential to evolve rapidly in response to novel selection pressures, providing resilience of plant reproductive systems in the event of changing pollinator communities. (Less)

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nph.15403

The evolvability of animal-pollinated flowers: towards predicting adaptation to novel pollinator communities.

Experimental examination of pollinator-mediated selection in a sexually deceptive orchid.

Mutualistic interactions, where two interacting species have a net beneficial effect on each other's fitness, play a crucial role in the survival and evolution of many species. Despite substantial empirical and theoretical work in past decades, the impact of these interactions on natural selection is not fully understood. In addition, mutualisms between microorganisms have been largely ignored, even though they are ecologically important and can be used as tools to bridge the gap between theory and empirical work. Here, I describe two problems with our current understanding of natural selection in mutualism and highlight the properties of microbial mutualisms that could help solve them. One problem is that bias and methodological problems have limited our understanding of the variety of mechanisms by which species may adapt to mutualism. Another problem is that it is rare for experiments testing coevolution in mutualism to address whether each species has adapted to evolutionary changes in its partner. These problems can be addressed with genome resequencing and time-shift experiments, techniques that are easier to perform in microorganisms. In addition, microbial mutualisms may inspire novel insights and hypotheses about natural selection in mutualism.

https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nyas.13515

Evolution on the bright side of life: microorganisms and the evolution of mutualism

\n What explains the continued political influence of economists, particularly after the 2008 financial crisis? The two commonly cited factors—professional authority and ideational persuasiveness—might seem inadequate as the financial crisis undermined both. This article focuses instead on how the institutionalization of neoliberal ideas of government (NIGs) politically empowered economists before 2008 and supported the preservation of their power afterwards. NIGs are economic theories of authoritative decision-making processes which link economic malaise to democratic political organization and offer prescriptions for rationalization through depoliticization of economic policy-making. Their institutionalization, following the economic crises of the 1970s and 1980s, empowered economists and reflected a transformation in their role in government, from policy experts to policy-makers. While the 2008 crisis has weakened economists’ professional authority and ideational persuasiveness, it has not impaired the institutionalization of their pivotal policy-making position. An historical examination of the Israeli community of economists illustrates this argument.

Neoliberal ideas of government and the political empowerment of economists in advanced nation-states: the case of Israel

Local cultures and populations finally had the chance to recover their independence and their identity, even if in a slightly ambiguous manner: the current figures of the five “stans” evidence a mix of aspects and opportunities but risks as well. The heritage of the Soviet system did indeed prove to be easier to overcome than expected (at least for aspects concerning any material impact), and the local independent states have finally been able undertake a journey of stabilization and progress.

The Geographical Mosaic

The agenda of the CA governments is impressive: politics has had to reconstruct the whole material background of local societies, as well as infrastructure, institutions, production centres and social and cultural networks; it has also had to develop the elements making independent states of what was once the province of an empire, then a self-functioning society, reconstructing international and internal relations, building a new sense of confidence among the social and economic actors.

/pdf/institutions-and-politics-4112dmz2hh.pdf

Institutions and Politics

The main characteristic of the economic situation is the coexistence of diverse and divergent tendencies: on the one side, the renovated top-down initiative, leveraging on the extraordinary wealth represented by domestic natural resources; on the other side, a kind of self-organized society, otherwise defined as a spontaneous “bazaar” or independent economy, using economic instruments mainly for survival, namely self-consumption purposes, rather than for accumulation; a situation that prospects further division and which the new powers have to recover as soon as possible.

Economics: From Micro to Macro

In spite of its spatial extension and the absence of transport routes, the CA area played a central role—actually a crossroad—between the different Eurasian civilizations. Migration movements of nomadic and sedentary populations affected this region and they represented the inner core of the Silk Road, the most important commercial route between China and the West. During the centuries of the Ancient and Middle Age, two particular trends characterized the Central Asian political and socio-economic dimension: the presence and the co-existence of the nomadic and sedentary lifestyle. The process of settlement was not irreversible in this area where different types of ways of living could cyclically change. Furthermore, settled and nomadic population interacted and influenced each other in cultural and social terms and they occasionally established symbiotic relations in different timeframes of history. Due to its geographical location, Central Asia assumed a role of economic and cultural link between Asiatic cultures, especially Chinese and Indian, and Europe. The transit of most important trade routes in the world through CA was an important catalyst to regional economic development. Moreover, it represented the place where technological innovations were transmitted from east to west and vice versa. Finally, it was the meeting point of different religions and traditions, which imprinted an indelible mark on the regional culture. It is interesting to analyse the history of Central Asia since the ancient times, particularly focusing on socio-economic elements, which characterized the region throughout the centuries.

A Historical Periodization: From Nature to Early Stages of Human Settlement, to Classic Age

The populations, in order to acquire a better degree of organization, aim at giving shape to the processes which characterize their life; they establish borders and further territorial elements, in order to give continuity to their actions, creating nations, states, infrastructures, regulations and whatever may be useful to stabilize a certain political configuration. Unfortunately, the geopolitical containers they use may have become obsolete—since reality continuously changes—making territorial states something to be considered as imperfect in principle. Therefore, societies are forced to pursue some new kind of dialogue continuously, on all levels, inside the sovereign state, transversally and internationally, in order to find a solution for problems which are ongoing and, which would otherwise be impossible to solve.

Katie Louise Forrest

Papers

The Geographical Mosaic

Institutions and Politics

Economics: From Micro to Macro

A Historical Periodization: From Nature to Early Stages of Human Settlement, to Classic Age

Political Geography and Geopolitics