Combining the travel cost and contingent behavior methods to value cultural heritage sites: Evidence from Armenia

This paper combines the travel cost method (TCM) with contingent behavior questions to estimate domestic visitors’ use values for cultural heritage sites in Armenia, a transition economy in which conservation of cultural monuments is hampered by limited resources. Respondents intercepted at four cultural monuments provided information on their visitation patterns, experience at the site, perception of the state of conservation of the monuments, and rating of the quality of the services and infrastructure. We combine actual trips with stated trips under hypothetical programs that would enhance the conservation of the monuments and improve one of (i) the cultural experience at the site, (ii) the quality of the infrastructure, or (iii) the quality of the services, and use the combined actual and stated trips to fit a panel data model. Our study is one of the few applications of the TCM to value cultural heritage sites. Our investigation shows that (i) significant use values are associated with the four study monuments, and (ii) conservation programs and initiatives that improve the cultural experience, or simply make it easier for the respondent to reach and spend time at the monument, are valued by domestic visitors and would encourage higher visitation rates. Actual and intended trips reported by the respondents exhibit good construct validity, in the sense that they are well predicted by price, location, hypothetical scenario and other individual characteristics of the respondents.

Application of geographic information technologies to historical landscape reconstruction and military terrain analysis of an American Revolution Battlefield: Preservation potential of historic lands in urbanized settings,Boston, Massachusetts,USA

Through funding from the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program, geographic information technologies were employed to create a high resolution, spatially accurate representation of the 1775 landscape of Boston's Inner Harbor and to conduct a geospatial and temporal assessment of the location, extent, and preservation potential of an American Revolutionary War battlefield and its associated cultural resources. Geographic information technologies provide the tools and methodologies to accurately create digital representations of historical landscapes. These tools enable the visualization and geospatial analysis of landscapes and significant historical events, greatly enhancing the understanding of temporal and spatial interactions between these events and the physical landscape upon which they occurred. Data sources include historical bibliographic and cartographic records, high resolution orthophotographs, constant value raster grids, and LIDAR data. A military terrain model was created utilizing American Battlefield Protection Program's KOCOA system categories, in order to identify defining features of the battlefield. KOCOA is an acronym which stands for Key terrain, Obstacles, Cover and Concealment, Observation and Fields of Fire, and Avenues of Advancement and Withdrawal. The KOCOA analysis provides an established method for identifying critical defining features of the battle and determining the influence of the landscape on the ephemeral battle events. The base map was created utilizing U.S. Navy Coast Survey maps dating from the mid-19th century. A digital elevation model was created to represent the 1775 topography, utilizing LIDAR data and constant value raster layers. The military terrain analysis provided valuable insights into battlefield events and decisions. Defining features of the battle were also identified and mapped. A detailed Environmental Systems Research Institute's ArcGIS Citation Data Model was used to link landscape and KOCOA features to the historical sources they were derived from. A comprehensive source table was created as part of this effort. The results of this investigation have provided a high resolution dataset of Boston's historical landscape during the time of the American Revolution. The geospatial analysis will aid in the development of long-range management strategies for the Chelsea Creek Battlefield and facilitate the assessment of threats to cultural resources posed by both anthropogenic activities and environmental change. The methodologies and interdisciplinary approach will also be applicable to other investigations seeking to recreate historical landscapes within a geographic information system.     

Spatial competition and market share: an application to motion pictures

This paper presents an empirical assessment of movie-theatre attendance in two major metropolitan markets and provides strong support for the importance of spatial characteristics in determining attendance. We consider the hypothesis that attendance at a particular movie theatre reflects a tension between two effects: a negative competition effect and a positive agglomeration effect. We find evidence that the competition effect dominates. Further, we identify a pattern of systematic spatial decay in the impact of this effect on demand.     

The value of a good reputation online: an application to art auctions

Using a unique dataset of art auctions on eBay, we conduct an empirical analysis of the value of a seller’s online reputation. Several aspects distinguish our work from most existing research. We analyze a heterogeneous panel data consisting of a large number of observations over a large period of time, including significant variation in reputation across and within sellers. The panel structure of our dataset allows us to employ fixed effects techniques to control for observed and unobserved differences across auctions. Our results point to a highly significant, and sizable, impact of a negative reputation on the behavior of market participants and on market outcomes. Negative feedback is associated with a significant reduction in the number of bidders and a reduction in the probability of sale; negative feedback is also associated with a significant reduction in sale price. Consistent with previous research, the impact of additional positive feedback on market outcomes for the seasoned sellers in our sample is not statistically significant.     

The happy artist: an empirical application of the work-preference model

The artistic labor market is marked by several adversities, such as low wages, above-average unemployment, and constrained underemployment. Nevertheless, it attracts many young people. The number of students exceeds the available jobs by far. A potential explanation for this puzzle is that artistic work might result in exceptionally high job satisfaction, a conjecture that has been mentioned at various times in the literature. We conduct the first direct empirical investigation into artists’ job satisfaction. The analysis is based on panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey. Artists on average are found to be considerably more satisfied with their work than non-artists, a finding that corroborates the conjectures in the literature. Differences in income, working hours, and personality cannot account for the observed difference in job satisfaction. Partially, but not fully, the higher job satisfaction can be attributed to the higher self-employment rate among artists. Suggestive evidence is found that superior “procedural” characteristics of artistic work, such as increased variety and on-the-job learning, contribute to the difference in job satisfaction.     

A History of Universalism: Conceptions of the Internationality of Science from the Enlightenment to the Cold War

That science is fundamentally universal has been proclaimed innumerable times. But the precise geographical meaning of this universality has changed historically. This article examines conceptions of scientific internationalism from the Enlightenment to the Cold War, and their varying relations to cosmopolitanism, nationalism, socialism, and ‘the West’. These views are confronted with recent tendencies to cast science as a uniquely European product.

The Grudging Modernizer: A Trip to the Middle East and Cold War Social Science

Minerva - The postwar era is generally recognized as a unique moment of impetuous growth of the social sciences, due to the interest of Western internationalist elites in the development of a set...     

Air power and governmental support for scientific research: The approach to the Second World War

Conclusion The development of radar, jet propulsion, ballistic missiles and the atomic bomb during the Second World War established and made visible to an unprecedented degree governmentally supported and directed research and development. National survival was now seen to depend on the mobilisation of a country's talents and resources in science and technology for military purposes.Prior to the Second World War, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had established its own role in research. It also established the legitimacy of governmental patronage for scientific research far beyond aeronautics. It was during that period that American politicians and the organs of public opinion became convinced and persuaded the electorate to think that science was indispensable for national security and well-being. A very great deal has been accomplished since then, but the credit for a pioneering role in the conduct of research with the financial support of the federal government must be given to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.     

Definition of the procedure to determine the suitability and durability of an anti-graffiti product for application on cultural heritage porous materials

Anti-graffiti protection is becoming a common practice in many urban buildings, especially in areas of social decay. When Cultural Heritage objects are affected by graffiti, the application of anti-graffiti products can result not only in an unsatisfactory result but also in an irreversible damage of an invaluable cost. The materials commonly found in these constructions are very frequently porous and present different types of decay forms. For this reason, the protection of these materials should be carefully considered. This paper proposes a criterion to decide on the suitability and durability of an anti-graffiti product prior to its application in a porous surface of a protected building. Performance classifications are defined for a series of properties including colour and gloss, and hydric and durability properties, and minimum acceptable values or reductions in these properties are recommended.     

Daily Grind: The Spiritual Workday of the American Prosperity Gospel

This paper responds to two common questions surrounding the controversy of the American prosperity gospel: what kind of work is the prosperity gospel and who does it benefit? I argue that the movement contains both heavily supernatural approaches and deeply pragmatic responses to the market. Further, its wealthy preachers are the most direct beneficiaries and the focus of the debate over the movement's claims.     

Identity Mobilization Practices of Refugees: The Case of Iraqis in the United States and the War in Iraq

Abstract

This study illustrates the narrative construction of diasporic refugee identities in times of sociopolitical tensions. Specifically, this paper is concerned with how Iraqi refugees living in the United States constituted their identities through narrating in times of the War in Iraq. Gergen's social constructionist approach towards narrating and current theorizing in diaspora studies build the theoretical bases for the analysis. Narratives were collected through participant observations, interviews, and group discussion in the Pacific Northwest of the United States before, during, and after combat operations in Iraq were declared to be over by President Bush. The paper answers three questions. First, which events triggered the construction of Iraqi refugee identities in the United States? Second, what is the role of narrating in constituting Iraqi identities? Third, do the Iraqi narrators construct diasporic imaginations and if so, how? The findings show that the narrative construction of being Iraqi and a refugee was a relational achievement and situated response. The respondents constructed imaginations of transnational communities that included Iraqis in Iraq, Iraqis in refugee camps, and Iraqis in the United States. By integrating their emerging political voices in the United States with their political resistor identities in Iraq, the narrators made salient transnational links between being Iraqi, a displaced person, and a member of U.S. society, disrupted political discourses about Iraqis in the United States, and affirmed moral values.     

Responses of American research universities to issues posed by the changing environment of higher education

Conclusions This study clearly reveals that the benefits ascribed to strategic planning typically are achieved through a variety of means. A formal process that seeks to plan in a comprehensive, linear fashion is likely to be too complicated, politically divisive, expensive and inflexible, and to ignore how decisions are made in a complex, highly decentralised university. While many approaches to planning are used, universities must ensure they provide periodically opportunities for university staff—freed from daily responsibilities—to consider strategic concerns. Accurate and relevant information must be available to all who make and carry out decisions. Planning should be viewed as a learning process rather than a document producing exercise. Extensive communication among university staff and faculty is needed to ensure informed debate and substantial acceptance of decisions—otherwise they are unlikely to be implemented. Perhaps most important is not the process employed but the decision-maker's breadth of perspective and sophistication. No process will overcome lack of competent leadership. The importance of daily decision-making in various councils and committees on issues such as cost containment and budgetary priorities is underestimated in the literature on planning.Critics have doubted whether universities' structures and processes permit them, or their leaders have the resolve, to confront the emerging issues. However, in many respects, the universities' decentralised, multiple decision-making practices may suit them well. They face the same challenging societal changes as other sectors of society. Their staff include some of the most capable individuals in the United States, and in the past they have been highly adaptable during periods of profound social change.Universities do not appear to be less aware of the need to adapt, nor more constrained in adapting to new conditions, than other sectors of society. In fact, university research and scholarship will be highly important in pointing the way for the whole of society to meet this era's challenges. If pessimistic predictions about current trends turn out to be accurate, universities no doubt will adapt at least as well as other kinds of institutions. The travails of business in this environment are daily news! There will be occasional casualties among the universities, as frequently occurs during major social transitions, but institutions that have grown in importance for over 1,000 years, will doubtless emerge from this period perhaps somewhat changed but still performing their historic social functions.     

The Transformation of Agricultural Research in France: The Introduction of the American System

In 1916, French entomologist Paul Marchal published a seminal report on the contemporary state of agricultural research in the United States of America. His recommendations underlined the need for a close relationship between research and education, a factor vital to national survival in the aftermath of the Great War. This essay discusses the context of this report, and assesses its consequences for government policy towards agricultural research and education in France.     

Evaluating three decades of the European Capital of Culture programme: a difference-in-differences approach

We measure the regional impact of the European Capital of Culture programme using a difference-in-differences approach. We compare the regions of cities that hosted the event with the regions of cities that tried to host it but did not succeed. GDP per capita in hosting regions is 4.5 % higher compared to non-hosting regions during the event, and the effect persists more than 5 years after it. This result suggests that the economic dimension of the event is important and supports claims that the event serves as catalyst for urban regeneration and development.