More Like this

1. Social Organization of the Sintashta-Petrovka Groups of the Late Bronze Age and a Cause for Origin of Social Elites (Based on Materials of the Settlement of Kamenny Ambar)

   Chechushkov, Igor V.; Yakimov, Artyom S.; Bachura, Olga P.; Ng, Yan Chuen; Goncharova, Evgeniya N. (April 2018, Stratum plus)

   The formation of social complexity often unfolded in non-unilineal ways in those regions of the world where the surplus product remained low enough to support institutionalized power and state bureaucracy. The Bronze Age of Northern Eurasia is a vivid example where social complexity arose based on herding economy, while population density remained low enough not to form territorially separate competing groups. Studying of such societies sheds light on how and under what conditions the social elite emerged. The undertaken analysis suggests that the formation, development, and decline of social complexity in the Bronze Age steppe societies were directly related to the intensification of subsistence practices and colonization of new territories. At the same time, some members of the society took upon themselves the role of community life’s managers, and, in return, received privileged statuses. The environment and the economy changing, the need for such functions disappeared. As a result, the Bronze Age social elites dissolved in the mass and lost their privileged statuses. 

   more » « less
2. The environmental and socioeconomic trade-offs of importing crops to meet domestic food demand in China

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab3c10  

   Huang, Guorui; Yao, Guolin; Zhao, Jing; Lisk, Matthew D.; Yu, Chaoqing; Zhang, Xin (September 2019, Environmental Research Letters)

   Abstract China increasingly relies on agricultural imports, driven by its rising population and income, as well as dietary shifts. International trade offers an opportunity to relieve pressures on resource depletion and pollution, such as nitrogen (N) pollution, while it poses multiple socioeconomic challenges, such as food availability. To quantify such trade-offs considering the roles of different crop types, we developed a unique crop-specific N budget database and assessed the impacts of the crop trade on multiple sustainability concerns including N pollution caused by crop production, crop land area, independence of food supply, and trade expenditures. We quantified the ‘virtual’ N inputs and harvested areas, which are the amount of N inputs and land resources used in exporting countries for China’s crop import. In addition, we proposed the concepts of ‘alternative’ N inputs and harvested area to quantify the resources needed if imported crops were produced in China. By comparing results from ‘alternative’ and ‘virtual’ concepts, we assessed the role of trade in Chinese crops over the past 30 years (i.e. 1986–2015) in alleviating N pollution and saving cropland in China and the world. Crop imports accounted for 31% of Chinese crop N consumption in 2015, and these crop imports eased the need for an additional cropland area of 62 million ha. It also avoided an N surplus by 56 and 36 Tg (Tg = 10⁹kg) for China and the world respectively but led to $621 billion crop trade expenditures over the 30 year period. The N pollution damage avoided by crop imports in economic terms was priced at $22 ± 16 billion in 2015, which is lower than the crop trade expenditures but may be surpassed in the future with the development of the Chinese economy. Optimizing a crop trade portfolio can shift domestic production from N-intensive crop production (e.g. maize, fruits, and vegetables) to N-efficient crop production (e.g. soybeans), and consequently mitigate an N surplus by up to 12%. Improving N use efficiency for individual crops can further increase the mitigation potential of N surplus to 30%–50%, but requires technology advancement and policy incentives. 

   more » « less
3. A Hierarchical Framework for Unpacking the Nitrogen Challenge

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002870  

   Li, Tingyu; Zhang, Xin; Zhong, Yuxiu; Davidson, Eric A.; Dou, Zhengxia; Zhang, Weifeng; Pavinato, Paulo S.; Martinelli, Luiz A.; Kanter, David R.; Liu, Jianguo; et al (November 2022, Earth's Future)

   Abstract To feed the world population while mitigating pressing nitrogen (N) pollution problems, tremendous efforts have been devoted to developing and implementing N‐efficient technologies in crop or livestock production, but limited progress has been made. The N management improvement on a farm does not necessarily translate to N pollution reduction on a broader scale due to complex responses of natural and human systems and lack of coordination among stakeholders. Consequently, it is imperative to develop an N management framework that encompasses the complex N dynamics across systems and spatial scales, yet simple enough to guide policies and actions of various stakeholders. Here, we propose a new framework,CAFE, that defines four N management systems (Cropping,Animal‐crop,Food, andEcosystem) in a hierarchical manner, and apply it to 13 representative countries to partition N surpluses across systems in a simple and consistent manner, thereby facilitating the identification and prioritization of systems‐based intervention strategies. Surprisingly, theCropping system contributes less than half of the total N surplus within itsEcosystem for most countries, highlighting the importance of N management beyond croplands. This framework reveals that the relevant priorities and key stakeholders for enhanced N management vary among countries, such as improving theCropping‐system efficiencies in China, adjusting the animal‐crop portfolio in the Netherlands, reducing food wastage in the U.S., and lowering crop storage losses and increasing overall production capacities in African countries. As N surplus increases along theCAFEhierarchy, systems‐based intervention strategies are revealed: (a) coupling chemical fertilizers with other N sources by maintaining half of the N from manure and biological N fixation; (b) coupling animal‐crop production by reducing animal density to lower than 1.2 livestock units per hectare, and increasing self‐sufficiency of animal feed to above 50%; (c) coupling food trade with domestic demand and production; and (d) coupling population needs for economic opportunities with environmental capacity of the region. This novel framework can help unpack the “wicked” N management challenges across systems to provide new insights and tools for improving N management on and beyond farms. 

   more » « less
4. Price Discrimination with Fairness Constraints

   https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4317  

   Cohen, Maxime C.; Elmachtoub, Adam N.; Lei, Xiao (December 2022, Management Science)

   Price discrimination strategies, which offer different prices to customers based on differences in their valuations, have become common practice. Although it allows sellers to increase their profits, it also raises several concerns in terms of fairness (e.g., by charging higher prices (or denying access) to protected minorities in case they have higher (or lower) valuations than the general population). This topic has received extensive attention from media, industry, and regulatory agencies. In this paper, we consider the problem of setting prices for different groups under fairness constraints. We first propose four definitions: fairness in price, demand, consumer surplus, and no-purchase valuation. We prove that satisfying more than one of these fairness constraints is impossible even under simple settings. We then analyze the pricing strategy of a profit-maximizing seller and the impact of imposing fairness on the seller’s profit, consumer surplus, and social welfare. Under a linear demand model, we find that imposing a small amount of price fairness increases social welfare, whereas too much price fairness may result in a lower welfare relative to imposing no fairness. On the other hand, imposing fairness in demand or consumer surplus always decreases social welfare. Finally, no-purchase valuation fairness always increases social welfare. We observe similar patterns under several extensions and for other common demand models numerically. Our results and insights provide a first step in understanding the impact of imposing fairness in the context of discriminatory pricing. This paper was accepted by Jayashankar Swaminathan, operations management. Funding: A. N. Elmachtoub was supported by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation [Grants 1763000 and 1944428]. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4317 . 

   more » « less
5. Culture Process and the Interpretation of Radiocarbon Data

   https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2017.124  

   Freeman, Jacob; Byers, David A; Robinson, Erick; Kelly, Robert L (April 2018, Radiocarbon)

   Abstract Over the last decade, archaeologists have turned to large radiocarbon ( 14 C) data sets to infer prehistoric population size and change. An outstanding question concerns just how direct of an estimate 14 C dates are for human populations. In this paper we propose that 14 C dates are a better estimate of energy consumption, rather than an unmediated, proportional estimate of population size. We use a parametric model to describe the relationship between population size, economic complexity and energy consumption in human societies, and then parametrize the model using data from modern contexts. Our results suggest that energy consumption scales sub-linearly with population size, which means that the analysis of a large 14 C time-series has the potential to misestimate rates of population change and absolute population size. Energy consumption is also an exponential function of economic complexity. Thus, the 14 C record could change semi-independent of population as complexity grows or declines. Scaling models are an important tool for stimulating future research to tease apart the different effects of population and social complexity on energy consumption, and explain variation in the forms of 14 C date time-series in different regions. 

   more » « less