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

textThe increased importance of knowledge as a source of competitiveness for modern economies
suggests that the organization of industries most conducive to innovative activity and unrestrained
competition will be linked to higher growth rates. Entrepreneurial activity is generally assumed to be
an important aspect of this organization. In the present paper we investigate whether a new and
promising concept, Total Entrepreneurial Activity, influences GDP growth for 36 countries in a
recent period. We will also test whether this influence depends upon the level of economic
development measured as GDP per capita. With this test we aim to investigate to what extent the role
of entrepreneurship has changed in the last decades of the 20th century. Although the limited number
of observations does not allow for many competing explanatory variables, we will examine the role
of the so-called Growth Competitiveness Index. This variable captures a range of alternative
explanations for achieving sustained economic growth. In addition, we incorporate the initial level of
economic development to correct for convergence. We find that entrepreneurial activity indeed
affects economic growth, but that this effect depends upon the level of per capita income. This
suggests that entrepreneurship plays a different role in countries in different stages of economic
development.

/pdf/the-effect-of-entrepreneurship-on-national-economic-growth-3urn6r9vym.pdf

The effect of entrepreneurship on national economic growth: an empirical analysis using the GEM data base

Overconfidence has been proposed as an explanation for excess market entry by entrepreneurs and low returns in entrepreneurial activities. However, establishing that entrepreneurs are more overconfident than non-entrepreneurs requires the use of representative population samples; in addition, econometric endogeneity issues in survey data must be addressed. To overcome these methodological challenges, we use a measure of overconfidence that employs self-reports of life expectancy. These self-reports are compared to actual life spans in a large sample of the US population. We show that entrepreneurs are indeed more overconfident than non-entrepreneurs. By using fixed-effects panel regression—and thus by exploiting the longitudinal nature of our data—we provide evidence that changes in entrepreneurial status are not associated with changes in subjective life expectancy. These two findings in combination offer evidence that overconfident individuals self- select into entrepreneurship.

Living Forever: Entrepreneurial Overconfidence at Older Ages

The purpose of this paper is to identify those factors shaping the decision to engage in external R&D. We use the lens of institutional economics to link the decision to engage in external R&D to both firm - and industry - specific characteristics. In particular, we find that internal and external R&D tend to be complements in high-technology industries but substitutes in low-technology industries.

The Decision Between Internal and External R&D

Japan is often alleged to have an outdated and inefficient retail system. Detailed studies are needed to underpin these allegations. In this paper we do this for the retail sector of supermarkets. We study 18 Japanese supermarket chain store corporations. Characteristics of Japanese supermarkets are given in an historic overview. A labour cost relationship is estimated with data of 918 establishments. This relationship has already been established, tested and confirmed in many studies on European retailing. In part 1, we show that Japanese chain store corporations diversify in assortment composition as well as in service level. In part 2, labour costs of Japanese supermarkets are studies in more detail. We find statistical support for higher labour costs by more use of part-time employees, higher service level and village based stores. Furthermore, we compare labour costs of Japanese supermarkets with labour costs of French variety stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets. We find no differences in labour co...

Japanese Supermarket Chains and Labour Costs- Part 1:

The increased importance of knowledge as a source of competitiveness for modern economies suggests that the organization of industries most conducive to innovative activity and unrestrained competition will be linked to higher growth rates. Entrepreneurial activity is generally assumed to be an important aspect of this organization. In the present paper we investigate whether a new and promising concept, Total Entrepreneurial Activity, influences GDP growth for 36 countries in a recent period. We will also test whether this influence depends upon the level of economic development measured as GDP per capita. With this test we aim to investigate to what extent the role of entrepreneurship has changed in the last decades of the 20th century. Although the limited number of observations does not allow for many competing explanatory variables, we will examine the role of the so-called Growth Competitiveness Index. This variable captures a range of alternative explanations for achieving sustained economic growth. In addition, we incorporate the initial level of economic development to correct for convergence. We find that entrepreneurial activity indeed affects economic growth, but that this effect depends upon the level of per capita income. This suggests that entrepreneurship plays a different role in countries in different stages of economic development.

Roy Thurik

Papers

The effect of entrepreneurship on national economic growth: an empirical analysis using the GEM data base

Living Forever: Entrepreneurial Overconfidence at Older Ages

The Decision Between Internal and External R&D

Japanese Supermarket Chains and Labour Costs- Part 1:

The effect of entrepreneurship on national economic growth: an analysis using the GEM database