The geography of tyranny and despair: development indicators and the hypothesis of genetic inevitability of national inequality

Development geography has long sought to understand why inequalities exist and the best ways to address them. Dependency theory sets out an historical rationale for under development based on colonialism and a legacy of developed core and under-developed periphery. Race is relevant in this theory only insofar that Europeans are white and the places they colonised were occupied by people with darker skin colour. There are no innate biological reasons why it happened in that order. However, a new theory for national inequalities proposed by Lynn and Vanhanen in a series of publications makes the case that poorer countries have that status because of a poorer genetic stock rather than an accident of history. They argue that IQ has a genetic basis and IQ is linked to ability. Thus races with a poorer IQ have less ability, and thus national IQ can be positively correlated with performance as measured by an indicator like GDP/capita. Their thesis is one of despair, as little can be done to improve genetic stock significantly other than a programme of eugenics. This paper summarises and critiques the Lynn and Vanhanen hypothesis and the assumptions upon which it is based, and uses this analysis to show how a human desire to simplify in order to manage can be dangerous in development geography. While the attention may naturally be focused on the 'national IQ' variables as a proxy measure of 'innate ability', the assumption of GDP per capita as an indicator of 'success' and 'achievement' is far more readily accepted without criticism. The paper makes the case that the current vogue for indicators, indices and cause-effect can be tyrannical.

Force constants and dipole‐moment derivatives of molecules from perturbed Hartree–Fock calculations

General expressions for the force constants and dipole‐moment derivatives of molecules are derived, and the problems arising in their practical application are reviewed. Great emphasis is placed on the use of the Hartree–Fock function as an approximate wavefunction, and a number of its properties are discussed and re‐emphasised. The main content of this paper is the development of a perturbed Hartree–Fock theory that makes possible the direct calculation of force constants and dipole‐moment derivatives from SCF–MO wavefunctions. Essentially the theory yields ∂ϕi / ∂RJα, the derivative of an MO with respect to a nuclear coordinate.

Force constants and dipole moment derivatives of molecules from perturbed Hartree-Fock calculations II. Applications to limited basis set SCF-MO wavefunctions

The perturbed Hartree–Fock theory developed in the preceding paper is applied to LiH, BH, and HF, using limited basis‐set SCF–MO wavefunctions derived by previous workers. The calculated values for the force constant ke and the dipole‐moment derivative μ(1) are (experimental values in parentheses): LiH, ke  =  1.618(1.026)mdyn/Å,μ(1)  =  −18.77(−2.0±0.3)D/ÅBH,ke  =  5.199(3.032)mdyn/Å,μ(1)  =  −1.03(−)D/Å;HF,ke  =  12.90(9.651)mdyn/Å,μ(1)  =  −2.15(+1.50)D/Å. The values of the force on the proton were calculated exactly and according to the Hellmann–Feynman theorem in each case, and the discrepancies show that none of the wavefunctions used are close to the Hartree–Fock limit, so that the large errors in ke and μ(1) are not surprising. However no difficulties arose in the perturbed Hartree–Fock calculation, so that the application of the theory to more accurate wavefunctions appears quite feasible.

Determination of the vibrational transition moment ratio for the Coriolis interacting v9 and v10 fundamentals of allene

Comparison between observed and calculated infrared band contours has been made to determine the vibrational transition moment ratio |M10/M9| for the Coriolis interacting ν9 and ν10 perpendicular fundamentals of allene-h4. The ratio obtained is appreciably lower than that of a previous estimate and the result obtained by integrated band intensity measurements of Overend and Crawford. From the best estimate of the ratio, the dipole moment derivatives of the two bands are determined; the value for the weaker band ν9 is subject to a large uncertainty.

Inequality and GM crops: a case study of Bt cotton in India

Critics of genetically modified (GM) crops often contend that their introduction enhances the gap between rich and poor farmers, as the former group are in the best position to afford the expensive seed as well as provide other inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation. The research reported in this paper explores this issue with regard to Bt cotton (cotton with the endotoxtin gene from Bacillus thuringiensis conferring resistance to some insect pests) in Jalgaon, Maharashtra State, India, spanning the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Questionnaire–based survey results from 63 non–adopting and 94 adopting households of Bt cotton were analyzed, spanning 137 Bt cotton plots and 95 non–Bt cotton plots of both Bt adopters and non–adopters. For these households, cotton income accounted for 85 to 88% of total household income, and is thus of vital importance. Results suggest that in 2003 Bt adopting households have significantly more income from cotton than do non–adopting households (Rp 66,872 versus Rp 46,351) but inequality in cotton income, measured with the Gini coefficient (G), was greater amongst non–adopters than adopters. While Bt adopters had greater acreage of cotton in 2003 (9.92 acres versus 7.42 for non–adopters), the respective values of G were comparable. The main reason for the lessening of inequality amongst adopters would appear to be the consistency in the performance of Bt cotton along with the preferred non–Bt cultivar of Bt adopters—Bunny. Taking gross margin as the basis for comparison, Bt plots had 2.5 times the gross margin of non–Bt plots of non–adopters, while the advantage of Bt plots over non–Bt plots of adopters was 1.6 times. Measured in terms of the Gini coefficient of gross margin/acre it was apparent that inequality was lessened with the adoption of Bunny (G = 0.47) and Bt (G = 0.3) relative to all other non–Bt plots (G = 0.63). Hence the issue of equality needs to be seen both in terms of differences between adopters and non–adopters as well as within each of the groups.

Force distribution in manipulation by a robot hand with equality and inequality constraints

The problem of the appropriate distribution of forces among the fingers of a four-fingered robot hand is addressed. The finger-object interactions are modelled as point frictional contacts, hence the system is indeterminate and an optimal solution is required for controlling forces acting on an object. A fast and efficient method for computing the grasping and manipulation forces is presented, where computation has been based on using the true model of the nonlinear frictional cone of contact. Results are compared with previously employed methods of linearizing the cone constraints and minimizing the internal forces.

Characterising the variability and extremes of the stratospheric polar vortices using 2D moment analysis

The mean state, variability and extreme variability of the stratospheric polar vortices, with an emphasis on the Northern Hemisphere vortex, are examined using 2-dimensional moment analysis and Extreme Value Theory (EVT). The use of moments as an analysis to ol gives rise to information about the vortex area, centroid latitude, aspect ratio and kurtosis. The application of EVT to these moment derived quantaties allows the extreme variability of the vortex to be assessed. The data used for this study is ECMWF ERA-40 potential vorticity fields on interpolated isentropic surfaces that range from 450K-1450K. Analyses show that the most extreme vortex variability occurs most commonly in late January and early February, consistent with when most planetary wave driving from the troposphere is observed. Composites around sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events reveal that the moment diagnostics evolve in statistically different ways between vortex splitting events and vortex displacement events, in contrast to the traditional diagnostics. Histograms of the vortex diagnostics on the 850K (∼10hPa) surface over the 1958-2001 period are fitted with parametric distributions, and show that SSW events comprise the majority of data in the tails of the distributions. The distribution of each diagnostic is computed on various surfaces throughout the depth of the stratosphere, and shows that in general the vortex becomes more circular with higher filamentation at the upper levels. The Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) vortices are also compared through the analysis of their respective vortex diagnostics, and confirm that the SH vortex is less variable and lacks extreme events compared to the NH vortex. Finally extreme value theory is used to statistically mo del the vortex diagnostics and make inferences about the underlying dynamics of the polar vortices.

Inequality, intergenerational mobility and redistributive policies under endogenous information

This paper presents a dynamic model to study how different levels of information about the root determinants of wealth (luck versus effort) can impact inequality and intergenerational mobility through societal beliefs, individual choices and redistributive policies. To my knowledge, the model presented is the first dynamicmodel in which skills are stochastic and both beliefs and voted redistribution are determined endogenously. The model is able to explain a number of empirical facts. Large empirical evidence shows that the difference in the political support for redistribution appears to reflect differences in the social perceptions regarding the determinants of individual wealth and the underlying sources of income inequality. Moreover the beliefs about the determinants of wealth impact individual choices of effort and therefore the beliefs about the determinants of wealth impact inequality and mobility both through choices of effort and redistributive policies. The model generates multiple equilibria (US versus Europe-type) which may account for the observed features not only in terms of societal beliefs and redistribution but also in terms of perceived versus real mobility and inequality.