Equity vs. Efficiency: Public Capital Investment in Ohio, 1988–1992

Recent research on the role of public capital in the economy focuses primarily on assessing its economic, and sometimes spatial economic, impacts. Access to more detailed and disaggregate data than typically used in these analyses allows us to take a fresh perspective on the often conflicting goals of interregional equity and aggregate efficiency. Using the state of Ohio as a case study, and classic definitions of equity and efficiency, we assess the correspondence between distributions of infrastructure investment and the social/economic distress they are intended to alleviate. Traditional map and statistical analysis combined with a graphical device we call the variegated distribution plot reveals that, in both rates and levels, investment is highest in areas of greatest distress. Both patterns are consistent with equity-driven investment distributions.     

On the edge: changing geographies of the global city precariat in London and Hong Kong

Global cities are marked by precarity, yet little attention has been paid to the spatial overlap between work precarity among migrants and third sector organizations that sustain them. In this paper, we estimate the location of precarious work migrants in two global cities, London and Hong Kong, for both the 2001 and 2011 censuses, using a variety of spatial demographic and quantitative techniques, and then analyze the spatial overlap between this population and immigrant-serving third sector organizations. The results suggest both similarity, in particular between accommodation and work precarity, and difference, with an increasingly tenuous overlap in London by 2011.     

论城市化的空间工具效应

人类发展从要素范式向系统范式转变将是必然趋势,不得不从"空间中的生产"转变为"空间的生产",以一个个规制性功效空间的构建规范现代社会,发挥着空间治理的作用,调控着人与自然的关系。城市和国家是人类进行空间治理最基本的两类功效空间范式,直接决定着相应社会系统的政治、经济行为,以及空间福利状态。城市是人类自行营造的物质空间和空间使役系统,是在时间、空间、物质、能量、信息、资本的有效整合下人类建构生存系统的一种基本空间范式,承载着复杂的政治、经济、文化与环境功能,形成了经济资本、政治生活、权力运作等交织在一起的具有多元意义的社会空间,发挥着空间管理与治理、规范空间行为、提供持续福利等功效。     

Resource taxation and sustainability: A CGE model of the Czech Republic

Resource use by a country is considered in the context of a production relationship. Resources include natural, produced, and human capital. The taxation of each of these resource groups has an impact on the efficient use of these inputs through changes in the relative prices. A computable general equilibrium model (CGE) of the Czech Republic is used to evaluate the impact that various revenue neutral tax structures have on the allocation of economic activity throughout the economy. A Hicksian welfare measure is used to determine the impact on society’s welfare of revenue neutral shifts in taxes. The results demonstrate that the change in the tax structure will result in a welfare improvement by as much as 5% for the Czech Republic. The results provide insight into the role that “getting the prices right” has on sustainability. Although the term “sustainable development” was first introduced in a report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1980 it did not gain significant notoriety until the Brundtland Commission report in 1987. For a more detailed discussion see Jamieson, 1998.     

中国绿色化进程空间格局动态演变及其驱动机制

运用综合指数法、空间计量模型等方法,对中国绿色化进程空间格局动态演变及其驱动机制进行研究。研究表明：① 2000~2015年中国绿色化水平从0.352提升至0.859,其中绿色增长、绿色福利和绿色治理指数呈波动上升趋势,绿色财富指数呈逐渐下降的态势;② 中国绿色化空间分异特征从“小差距低水平”向“大差距高水平”转变,呈东部高,中部低,西部较高的“凹”字形空间格局特征;③ 经济发展水平、城镇化水平、创新投入、市场体制、全球化水平与绿色化呈显著性正相关,而产业结构（工业产值占GDP比重）与绿色化呈显著性负相关。     

THE CORPORATE INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATE AS AN URBAN SPATIAL INFORMATION NETWORK

During the past decade, governments throughout the developing world have implemented policies promoting political and economic decentralization. To date, the study of decentralization has focused on political issues, while the consequences of these policies for geographical patterns of development have been largely ignored. This paper explores the geographical impacts of political decentralization with a study of changing patterns of real estate development in the metropolitan area of Caracas, Venezuela. In Venezuela, decentralization policies have created incentives for the fragmentation of the metropolitan area into a number of municipal governmental units, each pursuing its own developmental strategy. Resulting changes in the geographical patterns of real estate investment are examined. Particular consideration is given to development of a socially exclusive, multifunctional enclave within the city, that both divides and reorders the spatial structure of Caracas. [Key words: decentralization, municipal governance, real estate markets, Caracas, Venezuela.]     

论国家公园的公益性、国家主导性和科学性

国家公园作为一种严格保护并合理利用自然文化资源的可持续发展理念和举措而在全球得到普遍认可和蓬勃发展。国际上的国家公园因为国情不同而有多种体制模式,但是国家公园的根本特性是共同一致、必须维护的。公益性、国家主导性和科学性这三大特性是国家公园的根本特性,其中公益性是国家公园设立的根本目的,它包括了为公众利益而设、对公众低廉收费、使公众受到教育、让公众积极参与等方面,而国家主导性和科学性则是践行公益性的两大保障,前者要求国家确立、国家管理、国家立法、国家维护和爱国主义教育,后者则要求建立科学的国家公园体系、科学的规划、科学的分区和科学的经营利用等。中国国家公园的建立,面临着国情特殊、现行保护地多头管理、保护利用压力大等问题,应该利用风景名胜区等保护地开展试点,制定统一的中国国家公园标准,采用准入制度,并逐步探索统一的管理体系和法规体系,最终建立统筹管理的、中国特色的国家公园制度。     

Unbundling Stockholm: The networks, planning and social welfare nexus beyond the unitary city

This paper focuses on the extent to which recent infrastructure-oriented urban developments in Stockholm concord with various aspects of the ‘splintering urbanism’ thesis of Graham and Marvin. This contextualisation allows us to extend their work empirically and conceptually. In the first instance, we study a particular case of the decline of a unitary networked city (in an urban context largely absent from their book). In the second instance, we develop their notion of ‘unbundling’ to capture not just core changes in the organisation of infrastructure provision, but an overarching disjunction of the established nexus between networks, planning and social welfare in the city. This disjunction operates through interlinked transformations concerning, for example, privatisation and outsourcing in network services, separation of infrastructure planning from broader urban planning, contradictions between the environmental and social mandates of infrastructure, and a (prospective) curtailment of the redistributive, social role of essential network service provision. We conclude nonetheless that this ‘destructive’ moment of unbundling has not so far been pursued by more explicitly ‘creative’ urban fragmentation strategies, due largely to the vestiges of a socio-political consensus based around redistribution and equality. In this respect, the Stockholm case pleads for a conception of ‘splintering’ as a dynamic and multi-stage process which is not only always ongoing, unstable and incomplete, but also non-linear and open to resistance/regulation.     

Incorporating ‘catastrophic’ climate change into policy analysis

Although existing economic research is informative with regard to the importance of including potential ‘catastrophic’ climate change impacts in the analysis of GHG mitigation benefits, the generic and abstract form of the ‘catastrophe’ implemented has led to a lack of specific policy implications. This article provides an important starting point for a discussion of how to improve economic modelling of potential large-scale impacts of climate change. It considers how the term ‘abrupt climate change’ has been used in the scientific literature to describe changes in the climate system and carefully reviews the characteristics of the events that have been discussed in this context. The findings are compared to the way in which the economic literature has modelled potential economic and human welfare impacts of these ‘catastrophic’ events. In general, the economics literature is found to have modelled such impacts in a uniform way that fails to account for differences in relevant end points and timescales. The result is policy recommendations based on events that do not resemble those of concern. Better treatment of these events in integrated assessment modelling would help ensure that future research efforts can serve as meaningful policy input.     

A review of animal welfare implications of the Canadian commercial seal hunt – a response to critique of paper MP13 172

Canada's commercial seal hunt warrants close examination in that it is the largest kill of marine mammals on earth, it exists for commercial reasons, it targets deep diving seals with unique physical adaptations, and it is conducted in a particularly remote and uncontrolled environment amidst unstable sea ice and extreme weather conditions. For these reasons, commercial sealing in Canada has been the subject of regular veterinary scrutiny for more than five decades. In that time, despite repeated recommendations and some changes to the regulations, considerable evidence continues to be presented during each new season of poor welfare outcomes for seals.To add to the discussion we (Butterworth and Richardson) (2013) [1] reviewed multiple studies on commercial sealing, government reports, trade journal articles and recommendation reports, in an attempt to answer the question of why, despite the efforts of veterinary advisors and government to improve the situation, seals continue to die in inhumane ways. In examining the available evidence, the environment in which commercial sealing occurs, and the physical adaptations of seals, the authors concluded that generally accepted principles of humane slaughter cannot be implemented effectively and consistently in the context of commercial sealing.