Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science
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Item Advances in Titicaca basin archaeology(2006) Valdez, Lidio M.This edited volume explores the ancient history of the Andean Altiplano region. The editors, especially Stanish and Aldenderfer, have been working in the south central Andean region for more than a decade and have established themselves as leading scholars of the archaeology of the Altiplano. The volume consists of eighteen chapters, arranged in chronological order, which were written by several scholars who present the results of various field studies carried out in the Titicaca Basin over the years.Item Amplifying heterodox economics with video clips(2021) Jahangir, JunaidMany ECON 101 students do not major in Economics partly because of the way it is taught through the chalk and talk method and partly due to the subject content that emphasizes abstract models over contemporary issues including climate change, inequality, and financial crises. The critique is of both content and presentation. The objective therefore in this paper is to address both these issues. To this end a review of salient ideas of the Reardon et al. (2018) textbook Introducing a New Economics is undertaken and paired up with video clips from movies and cartoons to amplify their reach.Item Ancestry variation in the accuracy of Rogers's method of sex estimation(2020) Simpson, Rachel; McKenzie, HughRogers’s (1999) method of human skeletal sex estimation evaluates morphological variation in four traits of the distal humerus. Although this method has the potential for widespread application in forensic and biological anthropological contexts, previous tests have been unable to replicate Rogers’s initial accuracy rate of 92%. Additionally, the role of ancestry in the accuracy of the method has not been sufficiently explored. This study expands on previous blind tests of Rogers’s (1999) original method, though it differs methodologically from prior studies (Ammer et al. 2019; Falys et al. 2005; Harrison 2017; Horbaly et al. 2019; Rogers 2009; Tallman & Blanton 2019; Vance et al. 2011; Wanek 2002; Watkinson 2012) by explicitly controlling for ancestry (85 American Black and 114 American White individuals, as defined in the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection), by seriating humeri according to trait expression, and by using logistic regression in addition to chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests for analyzing the results. The findings determined that the method was 67% accurate overall and that correct classifications were 2.03 more likely for American Whites than American Blacks, posing an important consideration for practitioners of this method.Item Ancient use of coca leaves in the Peruvian central highlands(2015) Valdez, Lidio M.; Taboada, Juan; Valdez, J. ErnestoCoca, of the genus Erythroxylum, is a stimulant and painkiller that played key roles within the Inka state. As reported by the early Spanish chroniclers, coca was the most important plant offering during public rituals. Likewise, important landmarks within the Inka domain regularly received offerings of this precious leaf. Its high value is indicated by the fact that not only the living chewed the leaves on a regular basis, but also the dead carried coca leaves in their mouths. We still do not know when coca leaves were first used in the Peruvian central highlands. This uncertainty is largely due to the lack of coca leaves recovered from highland archaeological sites. Several leaves recently found at Convento in the northern part of the Ayacucho Valley are the first direct evidence from an archaeological context that, based on ceramic stylistic grounds, dates to sometime between the end of the Early Intermediate Period (ca. 1–550 ce) and the beginning of the Middle Horizon Period (ca. 550–1100 ce). The botanical identification also indicates that the source of the coca was the Pacific coast. This paper reports this unique finding and discusses its implications.Item Antidumping, antitrust, and competition(1997) Colonescu, ConstantinThis work develops a two-country, two-firm model of imperfect competition to show that antitrust policy may be anticompetitive both at home and abroad. Antidumping has a procompetitive effect abroad. At home antidumping is anticompetitive in a static framework but procompetitive in a repeated game. The anticompetitive effect of antidumping is shown to be enhanced by the presence of a domestic antitrust policy. If trade and antitrust policies are co-ordinated, welfare is found to be more sensitive to antitrust than to antidumping. Hence, antidumping and antitrust are imperfect substitutes.Item Are there realistic possibilities for a higher “batting” average? On improving residential energy efficiency in Canada(2013) Ryan, David L.; Jahangir, JunaidThe main use of energy in the residential sector in Canada is for space heating. Reductions in residential energy use, therefore, are likely to be achieved primarily through energy-saving retrofits, such as improved insulation. Reasons advanced to explain the foot-dragging of the residential sector in this regard are examined here, along with various policy options. Canadian survey data from 2003 are used to examine and compare the most energy-inefficient households who saw no need for retrofits with other households who provided a similar response, with a view to assessing whether there are factors that can be exploited to increase the uptake of such retrofits. The results suggest there is likely to be no quick fix. In the absence of large retrofit subsidies, with their accompanying free-rider problem, or a multi-pronged strategy that includes a whole array of policy instruments, including one that changes the relative importance of energy costs in household budgets, the outlook for sizeable improvements in residential energy efficiency in Canada via residential retrofits does not appear to be overly promising.Item Arqueologia de la Cuenca del Qaracha, Ayacucho, Peru(1994) Valdez, Lidio M.; Vivanco, CiriloIn order to evaluate the Precolumbian occupation of the Qaracha Basin (Ayacucho, Peru), we carried out an archaeological survey in 1988, which yielded evidence of three main occupations, the first under Wari domination ca. A.D. 600, with settlements located 2,800-3,650 m asl, in control of farmland linked to corn cultivation. Around A.D. 900 the Wari sites were abandoned, and new fortified sites were built in strategic positions in the upper elevations. Inka control of the central Andes brought about abandonment of the fortified sites and the founding of new Inka sites (mitimaes) near the ancient Wari sites. We believe that the first change was tied to collapse of the Wari state, which was followed by an unsettled situation in which former elements of the Wari state were at war. The final change ended the chaotic period with the birth of the Inka state in the Andes.Item Asentamientos fortificados y conflicto en el valle de Acari, Perú(2010) Valdez, Lidio M.Conflict is a universal fact; However, its origins and especially its variability from one region to another remain poorly understood. The objective of this work is to discuss the specific case of the Acarí Valley, on the south coast of Peru, where recent archaeological studies have shown that the early Intermediate period (ca. 50 a.C. - 350 a.C.) was characterized by violence. On the one hand, the archaeological evidence that denotes violence in this valley is manifested through the presence of settlements provided with defensive systems. Because settlements designed for defense did not exist previously in this valley and in the entire south coast, evidence from the Acarí Valley provides an excellent opportunity to visualize the origins of the conflict in this region. On the other hand, the recent discovery in Acarí of dozens of bodies with indisputable signs of being decapitated, confirms that the beginnings of the Early Intermediate period were convulsed. Finally, the evidence from Acarí allows us to maintain that the so-called 'trophy heads' are the direct result of the violent actions in which the residents of the various settlements of this valley participated.Item Bad year economics at Birchy Lake(2018) Holly Jr., Donald H.; Prince, Paul; Erwin, John C.Anthropologists have long been interested in understanding how societies cope with risk and uncertainty in their subsistence economies. The topic has been of particular interest to the study of hunters and gatherers, where risk and uncertainty are often conceptualized as problems of the natural rather than social environment. This paper focuses on an archaeological site located in the interior of the island of Newfoundland that was inhabited by Amerindian people hunting caribou in the spring of the year, presumably because they were having difficulty procuring marine resources at the coast. The plight of these Amerindians, at a time when they were sharing the island with Paleo-Inuit peoples and climate change was undermining islanders’ access to critical marine resources, highlights the complex play between cultural adaptation, social and historical processes, and the natural environment.Item Bioarchaeological analysis of human remains from the destroyed Early Neolithic cemetery of Moty – Novaia Shamanka (Cis-Baikal)(2022) Bourgeois, Rebecca L.; Weber, Andrzej W.; Bazaliiskii, Vladimir I.; McKenzie, Hugh; Lieverse, Angela R.Moty – Novaia Shamanka (MNS) is an Early Neolithic (7560–6660 HPD cal BP) destroyed Kitoi cemetery, located on the lower Irkut River in Siberia. In 2014–2015, small rescue excavations were conducted by archaeologists from Irkutsk State University. MNS dates to the period between the two phases of use identified at the nearby Shamanka II Kitoi cemetery (Southwest Baikal). This paper presents the results of a bioarchaeological study of the human skeletal remains from MNS and discusses these findings in relation to hunter-gatherer life-history at this site and in the Cis-Baikal region. The human skeletal materials from MNS show life history markers, including isotopic signatures, consistent with the other Early Neolithic Kitoi samples. However, one individual shows anomalous isotopic signatures similar to those found, to date, only in one other Kitoi burial. Lastly and surprisingly, radiocarbon dating identified one Early Bronze Age individual (4970–3470 cal BP).Item A bird bone necklace from Amato, Acari Valley, Peru(2005) Valdez, Lidio M.This paper reports the recent discovery of a bird bone necklace from Amato, an Early Intermediate Period site located in the Acari Valley of Peru. The necklace was found in association with an approximately 60 year-old adult male, around whom had been buried several dozen headless human individuals of different sexes and ages, the likely victims of ritual sacrifice. The necklace was made from about 200 carpometacarpus bones of a small bird species that remains to be identified.Item Birth places, embodied spaces: Tlicho pregnancy stories across the generations(2017) Dawson, LeslieThe forced culture changes of colonization in Canada affected Indigenous societies at different points in time; colonization of the Tlicho (formerly Dogrib) region in the Northwest Territories (NWT) was considered to have been relatively recent. The profound changes to the lives of the Tlicho can be heard in the stories across the generations. To investigate the impact of colonization on Tlicho maternal health, I collected pregnancy and the birth stories from Tlicho women of different generations. 1 Generations were further expanded with the addition of Joan Ryan's work with Tlicho Elders in Whati, NWT, and Pertice Moffitt's discussions with younger Tlicho women in Behchoko, NWT. I collected pregnancy and birth stories from ten Tlicho women between the ages of sixty through ninety in the Tlicho communities of Behchoko and Whati over the summers of 2013 and 2014. The women met with me in their homes and most shared their stories in Tlicho with the aid of an interpreter. Grounded in women's narratives, particularly of Tlicho Elders and a traditional midwife, their stories reveal changes in the lived experiences of pregnancy and birth as reflecting different sociohistoric locations within histories of colonization-from birth on the land with community and midwives, to the beginnings of settlement and birth in the mission hospital in Rae, and to lone evacuation to Yellowknife for medicalized birth in a biomedical hospital.Item Block grants and education expenditure(2016) Ferede, Ergete; Islam, ShahidulThis article investigates the effects of block grants on education expenditures using panel data from Canadian provinces over the period 1982 to 2008. Our main empirical identification strategy relies on the use of the allocation formula for equalization grant—a component of the Canadian federal block grant. The results indicate that block grants have stimulative effects on provincial education expenditure. Our results suggest that a one dollar increase in per capita federal grants is associated with an increase in per capita education expenditure of about Can$0.21, which is roughly proportional to the share of education in total provincial spending. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks.Item Book review: Blanchard, O. and D. Rodrik (2021), Combating inequality: rethinking government’s role(2022) Jahangir, JunaidIntroductory mainstream microeconomics textbooks like Mankiw et al. (2020) relegate the discussion on inequality towards the end of the book’s chapters, where the text focuses more on poverty reduction instead of the contemporary discussions on the Top 1 per cent and wealth taxes. Often the topic is not addressed at the ECON 101 level. Anecdotally, some economists believe that the concern with inequality rests predominantly on envy. This is why the book Combating Inequality edited by Blanchard and Rodrik is pressingly significant, as it comprises 29 articles, which converge towards the consensus that inequality must be effectively addressed beyond poverty alleviation (p. xiii). The articles are short and readable and can be easily assigned in undergraduate classes including ECON 101 to spur discussion and interest in one of the most pressing issues of our times.Item Book review: Edible economics(2024) Jahangir, JunaidI googled to find popular books written by him including Kicking Away the Ladder (2002), Bad Samaritans (2008), 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism (2010), and Economics: The User's Guide (2014). These books provide a countervailing narrative to the usual popular books like Freakonomics (2006), The Undercover Economist (2006), Economics in One Lesson (2008), and Excuse Me Professor (2015). Chang's latest book Edible Economics (2022) crystallizes the narrative that he has developed through his popular books over the years. While he uses the imagery of food in this book to reinforce his narrative, I have reviewed the salient ideas as follows in a bid to draw out lessons I could share with my ECON 101 students.Item Book review: Foundations of real-world economics(2023) Jahangir, JunaidA chapter-by-chapter review of Foundations of Real-World Economics by John Komlos.Item Book review: Fullbrook, E. and Morgan, J. (2020), Modern monetary theory and its critics(2022) Jahangir, JunaidThe book edited by Fullbrook and Morgan is a collection of articles published in Issue 89 of the journal, Real-World Economics Review. It assembles eighteen articles from experts who offer their vision or criticism of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that has been popular in the media given fiscal austerity, stagnating wages, rising inequality, and climate change. This review focuses on salient ideas that could be presented to economics students in a way that would challenge mainstream viewpoints including that budget deficits crowd out private investment, that government spending is constrained by taxes and borrowing, or that money is solely created by the central bank. Another motivation for this review comes in the context of the economic crises faced by countries like Pakistan that reel under currency depreciation, dependence on imports for food, medicines, and energy, and the unhelpful conditions stipulated by IMF loans. The idea is to explore whether MMT has any hope to offer such countries or whether it is predominately applicable to the U.S. whose dollar serves as the world reserve currency. Thus, the key ideas presented in this book are systematically delineated below.Item Book review: Jin, Keyu (2023): The new China playbook(2023) Jahangir, JunaidKeyu Jin is an academic who has worked with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the IMF, and the World Bank. She provides an analysis as someone who is intimately familiar with both a state-regulated China and Western neoliberal institutions that prize free markets. I have found her book to be an important read in understanding the Chinese miracle that traverses the binary between socialism and capitalism. Her book shows that economic development does not necessarily depend on the prescriptions of neoclassical economics of free markets, unfettered trade, minimal government, and private enterprise.Item Book review: Krugman, P. (2020), Arguing with zombies(2022) Jahangir, JunaidAs an undergraduate student in the 1990s, Paul Krugman's work, along with that of Joseph Stiglitz, was instrumental in my studies in economics. As an instructor in the 2020s, I was excited to find that the Nobel Laureate's book Arguing with Zombies, which is mainly based on his New York Times columns, helped to make sense of the economic orientation and situation in my home province, Alberta, where the United Conservative Party (UCP) came to power in 2019. The UCP government was extremely concerned about the previous government raising the minimum hourly wage by more than C$4 in fewer than three years but showed no qualms in reducing corporate tax rates by 4 percentage points, eliminating the carbon tax and cutting spending. This approach continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government cut the post-secondary budget by 20 per cent over a four-year plan, and proposed a 3 per cent wage rollback for overworked nurses in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, while announcing investments to the tune of billions of Canadian dollars in Keystone XL, a risky and unnecessary oil pipeline.Item Book review: Piketty, Thomas (2021), Time for socialism(2021) Jahangir, JunaidBlanchard and Rodrik (2021) edited a collection of articles in their book Combating Inequality that featured the voices of cutting-edge scholars like Lucas Chancel, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, amongst others. The editors expressed that economists should be at the forefront of tackling inequality instead of making the usual naysaying arguments that ‘we can’t afford it’, ‘we don’t have enough evidence’ or that ‘incentives will be distorted’. Conspicuously absent was the voice of Thomas Piketty, whose book Capital in the Twenty-First Century brought the topic of inequality into mainstream public discourse. His seminal work has been challenged in mainstream newspapers through arguments including that ‘inequality did not rise’ and that ‘inequality does not matter’ (Grisold/Theine 2020: 1082). Therefore, it is heartening to see his latest book, which is a collection of his newspaper articles from 2016 to 2021. Piketty’s book transcends the mainstream naysaying that is stuck on ‘why is economic inequality bad; how is it harmful?’ to offer a vision for the future based on socialism. His book reflects his academic research on inequality, which he has carefully presented to the broader public over the years. This is significant especially for ECON 101 students, who are either not taught about inequality or indoctrinated with the mainstream neoclassical perspective that the whole issue is moot or simply based on envy. Thus, assigning articles, which he has collected in one place in this book, is a welcome approach towards teaching undergraduate economics students about one of the most pressing issues of our times after climate change.