Zwischen institutioneller Kontinuität und De-Institutionalisierung – Industrielle Dienstleistungen als Parallelwelt überbetrieblicher Arbeitsbeziehungen

This paper focuses on the paradox that the legal foundations of the German collective wage bargaining system have remained stable over the last four decades even though there has been simultaneously a significant decrease in the actual coverage of industry-wide collective agreements. Based on insights from historical institutionalism it is hypothesized that a mismatch between industry-based wage-setting and the inter-firm network as the unit of value creation causes an institutional fragmentation into segregated worlds of wage-setting. In these segregated worlds, employees experience changing wage-differentials according to their contract status although they fulfill similar job tasks within the same work context. Empirically, the paper uses industry-related services as prototypical example to illustrate this sort of institutional fragmentation. A comparison with other types of institutional change shows that fragmentation is characterized by continuous rule ambiguity and rule competition, which undermines the reliability of collective wage-setting while leaving the institutional setting formally untouched.     

Surplus labour and economic efficiency in the traditional sector of a dual economy: The Guatemalan case

In this paper we present empirical evidence on two closely related and widely discussed theoretical issues in development economics:

(A) the sign and the magnitude of the marginal productivity of labour—as they relate to the existence of surplus labour in the traditional sector of dual economies, and

(B) the economic efficiency of farmers in traditional agriculture. With regard to (A) we found the marginal productivity of labour in the traditional sector of Guatemalan agriculture to be positive, but considerably lower than the average wage rate that prevails in the area. Regarding (B) our estimated indexes of efficiency indicate that farmers in the traditional sector of Guatemalan agriculture make inefficient use of their economic resources.     

The intifada: Two assessments

Zeev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising ‐ Israel's Third Front. Edited and translated by Ina Friedman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990. Pp.352. $22.95. ISBN 0–67530–3     

The Reform of the Local Administration in Spain in Terms of Population

Spanish Local Corporations are playing an increasingly important role in the provision of public services without reducing their function of consolidation and structuring of the current sociopolitical system. This reality implies an increase in their need of financial funds without new compensation resources. Also, there is a certain tendency to loose population in many counties along with a greater organic and territorial dispersion that accelerates their financial weakening. This makes necessary to find management alternatives ensuring the appropriate provision of local public services and thus the Local Corporation reform becomes an alternative. In this context, the present paper approaches the analysis and the results based upon a territorial balance criterion on the population and its distribution, aiming ultimately to design an indicator able to measure the need of the Spanish local government structure according to its population and the size of its municipalities. This indicator might measure the regional impact to any variation both in the distribution of its population and in the number of municipalities.     

Regulation as a cause of firm fragmentation:the case of the Spanish construction industry

Team members organize their relationships to achieve efficient incentives in accordance with institutional constraints. When these constraints change, the rights and tasks of members are reallocated, generating a new contractual structure [or governance mechanism] that solves more easily the problem of collective action associated with team production. We show how this process has worked in the case of Spanish construction firms, in which more restrictive labor and tax regulations have induced parties to substitute market contracts for labor contracts because of the need to avoid moral hazards. We argue that this explains the increased fragmentation of the Spanish construction industry, and technical change does not seem to account for this process.     

Real-time PCR designs to estimate nuclear and mitochondrial DNA copy number in forensic and ancient DNA studies

We explore different designs to estimate both nuclear and mitochondrial human DNA (mtDNA) content based on the detection of the 5' nuclease activity of the Taq DNA polymerase using fluorogenic probes and a real-time quantitative PCR detection system. Human mtDNA quantification was accomplished by monitoring the real-time progress of the PCR-amplification of two different fragment sizes (113 and 287 bp) within the hypervariable region I (HV1) of the mtDNA control region, using two fluorogenic probes to specifically determine the mtDNA copy of each fragment size category. This mtDNA real-time PCR design has been used to assess the mtDNA preservation (copy number and degradation state) of DNA samples retrieved from 500 to 1500 years old human remains that showed low copy number and highly degraded mtDNA. The quantification of nuclear DNA was achieved by real-time PCR of a segment of the X-Y homologous amelogenin (AMG) gene that allowed the simultaneous estimation of a Y-specific fragment (AMGY: 112 bp) and a X-specific fragment (AMGX: 106 bp) making possible not only haploid or diploid DNA quantitation but also sex determination. The AMG real-time PCR design has been used to quantify a set of 57 DNA samples from 4-5 years old forensic bone remains with improved sensitivity compared with the slot-blot hybridization method. The potential utility of this technology to improve the quality of some PCR-based forensic and ancient DNA studies (microsatellite typing and mtDNA sequencing) is discussed.     

The Demographic Consequences of the End of Chile's Nitrate Boom,c.1907–1940

This article deals with the demographic consequences of the end of Chile's nitrate boom following the 1929 crisis. The traditional economic historiography has maintained that this crisis impacted heavily on nitrate production, and that in turn the crisis triggered a permanent exodus from the nitrate districts to other geographical zones. Contrary to this widely held belief, we have shown in this article that: there was no substantial fall in production; there was indeed a fall in nitrate population, but this was limited; this took place in some nitrate areas only; overall, the decline in nitrate population was a short term phenomenon only. The population making a living from nitrate production (or activities directly related to it) did not emigrate in as large numbers as previously thought, since production remained high up to the 1960s.