So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

Human biochemical genetics

世界経済・社会統計 = World development indicators

计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

The reference human genome sequence set the stage for studies of genetic variation and its association with human disease, but epigenomic studies lack a similar reference. To address this need, the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Consortium generated the largest collection so far of human epigenomes for primary cells and tissues. Here we describe the integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes generated as part of the programme, profiled for histone modification patterns, DNA accessibility, DNA methylation and RNA expression. We establish global maps of regulatory elements, define regulatory modules of coordinated activity, and their likely activators and repressors. We show that disease- and trait-associated genetic variants are enriched in tissue-specific epigenomic marks, revealing biologically relevant cell types for diverse human traits, and providing a resource for interpreting the molecular basis of human disease. Our results demonstrate the central role of epigenomic information for understanding gene regulation, cellular differentiation and human disease.

Integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/9582/20070208018%2886%29.pdf

On Storekeepers' Pricing Behavior.

In this paper a quantitative model is developed to explain differences in average store price levels. We assume that stores may operate under different economic regimes, that is, under excess capacity or excess demand. Prices are expected to the higher than average in case of an excess demand regime and lower in an excess capacity situation. Actual information regarding the regime that applies to each individual store is not available. Therefore, we propose to use a so-called ‘switching model’ with endogenous regime choice to analyse the store price differences. The model developed in the paper is estimated using four largely differing types of stores from the Dutch retail trade. These samples consist mainly of small stores.

/pdf/market-disequilibria-and-their-influence-on-small-retail-5ahxi5gen3.pdf

Market Disequilibria and Their Influence on Small Retail Store Pricing

Our paper investigates how the type of work experience gained from prior paid employment influences the path to entrepreneurship. We distinguish between two distinct entrepreneurship entry modes: business takeover and new venture start-up. Using a large and rich French data set, we find that small firm experience increases the likelihood for business takeover, whereas management and same sector experience both increase the likelihood for new ventures. Our findings are relevant for policymakers aiming to improve the business transfer process.

Work Experience from Paid Employment and the Path to Entrepreneurship: Business Takeover Versus New Venture Start-Up

Industrial economists surmise a relation between the size distribution of firms and performance. Usually, attention is focused on the high end of the size distribution. The widely used four-firm seller concentration ratio, C4, ignores what happens at the low end of the size distribution. We investigate to what extent the level and the growth of small business presence influence price-cost margins in Dutch manufacturing. We use a large data set of 66 industries for a thirteen year period. This allows the investigation of both small business influences within a framework in which that of many other market structure variables is also studied. Evidence is shown that price-cost margins are influenced by large firm dominance, growth in small business presence, capital intensity, business cycle, international trade and buyer concentration.

/pdf/firm-size-distribution-and-price-cost-margins-in-dutch-4hzcrnr5hh.pdf

Firm-size distribution and price-cost margins in Dutch manufacturing

Many entrepreneurs start their ventures while retaining jobs in wage employment; this
phenomenon is called hybrid entrepreneurship. Little is known about the entry modes (new
venture start-up vs. business takeover) of hybrid entrepreneurs. Our study aims to close this
gap by investigating the path to hybrid entrepreneurship. Using a large sample of French
hybrid entrepreneurs, we show that educational attainment and management experience
are associated with new venture start-up, whereas being female, having worker experience,
and having received social benefits are linked to business takeover. With these results,
our study contributes to research on hybrid entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship entry
modes. Moreover, it informs policy makers about the nature of hybrid entrepreneurship
and contributes to the design of effective policies to promote business takeover, which is
of high interest, given the growing number of businesses seeking outside successors

Roy Thurik

Papers

On Storekeepers' Pricing Behavior.

Market Disequilibria and Their Influence on Small Retail Store Pricing

Work Experience from Paid Employment and the Path to Entrepreneurship: Business Takeover Versus New Venture Start-Up

Firm-size distribution and price-cost margins in Dutch manufacturing

Mode of Entry into Hybrid Entrepreneurship: New Venture Start-Up Versus Business Takeover