Environmental Reform,Technology Policy and Transboundary Pollution in Hong Kong

The focus of this contribution is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China, and more particularly the processes of environmental reform in the region. The authors discuss developments in environmental policy over the past three decades and explore the utility of Ecological Modernization Theory as a basis for future environmental reform at the local level and as a mechanism for tackling broader regional environmental concerns. The contribution also explores linkages between technology policy and the environment in Hong Kong, arguing that while the SAR possesses certain competitive advantages, greater attention must be given to fostering and facilitating technological innovation in the environmental sector.     

A Study of the Role of Regionalization in the Generation of Aggregation Error in Regional Input –Output Models

Although the need for aggregation in input –output modelling has diminished with the increases in computing power, an alarming number of regional studies continue to use the procedure. The rationales for doing so typically are grounded in data problems at the regional level. As a result many regional analysts use aggregated national input –output models and trade –adjust them at this aggregated level. In this paper, we point out why this approach can be inappropriate. We do so by noting that it creates a possible source of model misapplication (i.e., a direct effect could appear for a sector where one does not exist) and also by finding that a large amount of error (on the order of 100 percent) can be induced into the impact results as a result of improper aggregation. In simulations, we find that average aggregation error tends to peak at 81 sectors after rising from 492 to 365 sectors. Perversely, error then diminishes somewhat as the model size decreases further to 11 and 6 sectors. We also find that while region – and sector –specific attributes influence aggregation error in a statistically significantly manner, their influence on the amount of error generally does not appear to be large.     

生态系统服务对区域经济增长的影响研究——以黑龙江省为例

以净初级生产力作为生态系统服务的综合测量指标,在经典柯布道格拉斯生产函数的基础上,运用协整与误差修正模型对1986-2010年黑龙江省生态系统服务对区域经济增长的影响进行了分析,并评估了净初级生产力的边际价格。结果表明,黑龙江省生态系统服务对区域经济增长具有明显的促进作用,净初级生产力每提高1%促进真实GDP增长0.0257%;在生态系统服务的影响下,黑龙江省经济系统以每年1.8%的速率将系统波动产生的非均衡状态向长期均衡状态调整,说明生态系统服务在促进经济增长的同时也保障了经济体系的稳定运行;在误差修正模型基础上得到的黑龙江省净初级生产力的边际价格为255.1元/106kgC(以1952年价格为基准),此价格主要受净初级生产力产出弹性的影响。     

Information without frontiers: Financial services,EC regulation and European cities

Using Castells' notion of the informational mode of development, this briefing investigates the changing hierarchy and function of European cities in the light of EC policies. The EC regulatory regime is identified as an integral part of the informational mode of development, setting the parameters within which the corporate sector operates. It is argued that the purpose of information flows is mainly control. A new constellation of European cities is anticipated which depends to a large extent upon the degree to which cities, competing against one another, are able to establish central urban complexes. These are based on the agglomeration economies between corporate headquarters, financial institutions and producer services at the urban level, and information flows at a global level of communications. Among the vast array of EC policies the paper identifies those in support of innovation and telecommunications, the deregulation of financial services, and regional policy as crucial for urban development. Given the requirements of infrastructure, institutions, professional skills and regulatory competence, existing metropolitan centres will capitalize on their comparative advantage and attempt to build on these in the future. These developments are likely to foster further concentration of capital and investment in a few major centres, thus counteracting other EC policies of regional equalization and harmonization. It is argued that these and other contradictions are an amplification of those already afflicting the capitalist state at both national and local levels. The paper also offers an opportunity to reassess aspects of traditional location theory, in particular central place models, in the light of these developments and finds them wanting. The same conclusion is reached regarding the cost‐benefit calculus of the Cecchini Report.     

Medical Technology's Source of Innovation

This article presents research based on a case study of Bern University Hospital and the Greater Bern Area that analyses the hospital's influence on innovation in the regional medical device industry. The study draws upon the concept of sectoral innovation systems enlarged with a space-oriented model of agents' innovation-related behaviour. Its main data stem from semi-structured interviews with representatives from regional companies and the hospital. The findings confirm the systemic character of innovation in medical technology and the role of university hospitals as the main functional source of medical device innovation. At the inception of the medical device industry, innovations were implemented in a regional setting, but with the maturation of the industry, this setting has yielded to an almost global setting for innovation. This international setting became prevalent largely due to the marketing considerations of the industry, showing that from an industrial management point of view, product innovation and the diffusion of innovation are heavily interlinked activities. The article concludes that the hospital's relevant influence at a regional level lies not in the present but in the past, when timely innovative impulses from physicians enabled this regional industry's successful participation in the emerging medical device sector.     

The Garden and Beyond: the Dry Season,the Ok Tedi Shutdown,and the Footprint of the 2015 El Niño Drought

This paper offers a snapshot of the 2015 El Niño drought among Min people in Papua New Guinea's West Sepik and Western Provinces. Local assessments of food, water, and health show variation between locations, but with an overall tendency for the drought's effects to spread from lower to higher elevations as the drought progresses. This zone is in the hinterland of the Ok Tedi Mine, and the drought's regional impact was intensified by Ok Tedi's abrupt closure when low water in the Fly River stopped shipments of concentrate and cut off fuel and food supplies. The decision to close the mine was accompanied by the mandatory ‘repatriation’ of workers and their families to ‘home’ communities in the drought‐stricken hinterland. This, combined with deteriorating regional links, has eroded the capacity of Min communities to weather the drought, suggesting that we must look beyond the garden when calculating El Niño's costs.     

广东省区域空间结构及其调控研究

区域空间结构的发展状况对区域成长起着重要的影响,空间结构的合理与否,直接影响到区域系统社会经济整体发展水平的提高与协调发展。因此,在这样一个信息多变的社会背景下,对区域空间结构进行系统诊断,及时进行调控就成为区域空间结构研究的重要内容。本文首先立足于经济全球化,对广东省区域空间结构进行了系统分析,其次探讨了空间结构成长的动力机制,最后重点对广东省区域空间结构调控从政策上和实践上做了探讨。提出以下调控措施:①建立科学合理的空间结构等级网络体系;②加强重大工业项目和基础设施建设的区域性协调,优化区域产业布局;③建立新型的核心-边缘关系,实现全区的持续协调发展;④抓住粤港高技术合作新机遇,以现有国家级高新技术产业开发区为依托,构建粤港澳区域创新网络;⑤以数字化信息网络建设为机遇,加快区域信息化进程;科学划分用地空间,实现全省空间结构的持续、协调发展。     

Cross-border connection between Hong Kong and mainland China under 'two systems' before and beyond 1997

Cross-border flows of people, goods and capital are fundamental forces triggering spatial and economic transformations in any cross-border regional production system. This study focuses on such cross-border links between Hong Kong and mainland China in the context of cross-border regional production systems. The paper examines first the close demographic ties and investment and trading relations between Hong Kong and mainland China before 1997. In terms of total direct and indirect trading, and outward investment, Hong Kong was the largest partner of mainland China and vice versa. The recent development in the cross-border development between Hong Kong and the mainland after 1997 is also analyzed. The political change, the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, did not alter the demographic-economic linkages significantly as such connections had been well established during the period 1978 to 1997 after China's opening to the outside world. Hong Kong and mainland China are two independent economic entities practicing ‘two systems’ of capitalism and socialism respectively. Contrary to common expectation, the new government in Hong Kong only played a limited role after 1997. However, a bottom-up approach has been working spontaneously and the local people and businessmen in Hong Kong have been the primary force in establishing strong relations with the mainland facilitated by the close demographic-cultural ties both before and after 1997.     

基于居民感知的跨界意义研究——以深港跨界居民为例

对于在边界两侧居住的居民，跨界流动、居民对边界另一侧的地方感、跨界的个人意义以及跨界的区域意义这四者之间的互动关系是值得关注的话题。本文基于深港跨界居民的调查数据，构建了路径模型来分析上述四者之间的关系。发现：跨界频率对深港居民的地方感具有显著的正向作用；跨界频率对个人和区域意义的感知均具有显著影响，对个人意义的感知影响是正向的，但对区域意义的感知影响却是负向的；地方感对边界的个人和区域意义感知均具有显著的正向影响。本文通过对深港边界居民的实证研究，深化了对跨界流动意义的理解，以期为深港一体化相关政策制定和实施提供依据和借鉴。     

The aftermath of an election crisis: Kenyan attitudes and the influence of individual-level and locality violence

How does violent conflict affect social and political attitudes? To answer this question I pair Kenyan survey and violence data for the time period following the country's December 27th 2007 national election. I find that respondents who personally experienced electoral violence are less likely to express certain forms of inter-personal and institutional trust than those individuals who did not. The association is not universally powerful, however. First, noteworthy differences emerge between populations who relocated as a result of post-election conflict and those who did not. Differences between these groups suggest that internal migration in the wake of tragedy influenced the Kenyan social landscape. In addition to personal exposure to electoral conflict, I test how local level violence may indirectly condition Kenyan political attitudes. Across all models, individual-level exposure to violence has the most consistent influence upon opinions, although district level effects emerge in analyses without survey respondent ethnicity controls. This finding suggests that living in a setting of regional insecurity does not have as important an effect on certain political views as personal victimization.     

The internationalism of stateless nations: The case of Hong Kong

Nationalism is often associated with xenophobia and isolationism in academic literature. The negative image of nationalism has been further strengthened by the electoral success of far-right political figures across the world. However, treating all nationalism as a uniformly negative phenomenon risks over-simplification, as nationalism might manifest differently given different social context and rhetorical resources available. Taking Hong Kong as a case, this paper theorises Hong Kong as a stateless nation and examines the alleged negative association of nationalism. It moves beyond the traditional ‘Hong Kong vis-a-vis China’ framework and explores the relationship between Hong Kong nationalists and non-Chinese international actors. Drawing on data from major Hong Kong political parties' Facebook page, this paper shows that Hong Kong nationalism exhibits a high level of internationalism in both inward and outward dimensions, theorised, respectively, as the willingness to accept foreign influence and to invite international cooperation, and therefore offers a nuanced understanding about the relationship between nationalism, xenophobia and isolationism.     

The Regional Economic Impact of an Earthquake: Direct and Indirect Effects of Electricity Lifeline Disruptions

This paper develops a methodology to estimate the regional economic impacts of electricity lifeline disruptions caused by a catastrophic earthquake. The methodology is based on specially designed input-output and linear programming models. A simulation of a major earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone near Memphis, Tennessee, indicates the potential production loss over the recovery period could amount to as much as 7 percent of gross regional product. Reallocation of scarce electricity across sectors could reduce the impacts substantially. Additionally, an improved restoration pattern of electricity transmission substations across subareas could reduce losses even more.     

The Local Implications of Major Job Transformations in the City: A Spatial Microsimulation Approach

The changing dynamics of regional and local labor markets during the last decades have led to an increasing labor market segmentation and socioeconomic polarization and to a rise of income inequalities at the regional, urban, and intraurban level. These problems call for effective social and local labor market policies. However, there is also a growing need for methods and techniques capable of efficiently estimating the likely impact of social and economic change at the local level. For example, the common methodologies for estimating the impacts of large firm openings or closures operate at the regional level. The best of these models disaggregate the region to the city (Armstrong 1993; Batey and Madden 1983). This paper demonstrates how spatial microsimulation modeling techniques can be used for local labor market analysis and policy evaluation to assess these impacts (and their multiplier effects) at the local level‐to measure the effects on individuals and their neighborhood services. First, we review these traditional macroscale and mesoscale regional modeling approaches to urban and regional policy analysis and we illustrate their merits and limitations. Then, we examine the potential of spatial microsimulation modeling to create a new framework for the formulation, analysis and evaluation of social and local labor market policies at the individual or household level. Outputs from a local labor market microsimulation model for Leeds are presented. We show how first it is possible to investigate the interdependencies between individual's or households labor market attributes at the microscale and to model their accessibilities to job opportunities in different localities. From this base we show how detailed what‐if microspatial analysis can be performed to estimate the impact of major changes in the local labor market through job losses or gains, including local multiplier effects.     

Development in Nunavik: How Regional and Local Initiatives Redefine Sustainable Development in Nunavik

ABSTRACT

For more than 50 years, the Inuit of Nunavik have been subjected to development plans devised in the south by the Government of Canada and Quebec that has a profound impact on Inuit people and their culture. The latest plan, known as Plan Nord, proposes sustainable development for the North based on the protection of 50 percent of the territory. However, the Inuit of Nunavik face many social challenges and this is reflected in the socioeconomic indicators of the region. In order to alleviate these social circumstances, numerous regional and local initiatives are attempting to establish programs better suited to the culture and needs of Nunavimmiut. Examples at the regional level include childcare and midwifery services supported by Quebec. At the local level, initiatives such as the Unaaq Men’s Association and the Innavik Project are making an effort to address local needs. In this paper, following a presentation of the Nunavik governance architecture, we will analyze how local (Unaaq, Innavik) and regional initiatives (Midwifery Program, Childcare, Preparation for Post-Secondary Education, Nunavik Parks) contribute to the sustainable development of Nunavik.     

DO FEDERAL DEFICITS MOTIVATE REGIONAL FISCAL (IM)BALANCES? EVIDENCE FOR THE SPANISH CASE

This paper studies the vertical and horizontal interactions between federal and regional governments in terms of public deficits. Recent studies commonly restraint budget slippages to the incentives created by the institutional arrangements within a country. Alternatively, we estimate here a fiscal reaction function for the Spanish regions over the period 1995–2010, paying special attention to the impact of the federal fiscal stance on regional fiscal imbalances. Our results indicate that higher public deficits for the central government encourage larger fiscal imbalances at the regional level. This vertical interaction is interpreted in the context of yardstick competition models. We also find a significant impact from fiscal decisions taken by governments at the same decision‐making tier in a specific region.     

A General Misspecification Test for Spatial Regression Models: Dependence, Heterogeneity, and Nonlinearity

There is an increasing awareness of the potentials of nonlinear modeling in regional science. This can be explained partly by the recognition of the limitations of conventional equilibrium models in complex situations, and also by the easy availability and accessibility of sophisticated computational techniques. Among the class of nonlinear models, dynamic variants based on, for example, chaos theory stand out as an interesting approach. However, the operational significance of such approaches is still rather limited and a rigorous statistical-econometric treatment of nonlinear dynamic modeling experiments is lacking. Against this background this paper is concerned with a methodological and empirical analysis of a general misspecification test for spatial regression models that is expected to have power against nonlinearity, spatial dependence, and heteroskedasticity. The paper seeks to break new research ground by linking the classical diagnostic tools developed in spatial econometrics to a misspecification test derived directly from chaos theory—the BDS test, developed by Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (1987). A spatial variant of the BDS test is introduced and applied in the context of two examples of spatial process models, one of which is concerned with the spatial distribution of regional investments in The Netherlands, the other with spatial crime patterns in Columbus, Ohio.     

LOCATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP: INSIGHTS FROM A SPATIALLY‐EXPLICIT OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE MODEL WITH AN APPLICATION TO CHILE

Occupational choice and heterogeneous managerial ability enter a spatial Dixit‐Stiglitz setting, linking location, wages and regional entrepreneurship rates. Market potential has a positive partial effect and wages a negative partial effect on the regional supply of entrepreneurs, both balancing in equilibrium with endogenous wages. Market potential increases profits, but also the opportunity cost of entrepreneurship. In the long‐run equilibrium with perfect mobility, the cut‐off level of ability determining selection into entrepreneurship will be the same across regions; moreover, regional differences in entrepreneurship rates depend only in differences in average fixed costs of firms. An empirical application is provided for Chile.     

对南京文化旅游开发模式与整合重点的探讨

本文在总结了文化旅游的基本属性与国内外主要开发模式的基础上,根据南京文化旅游的基础与开发现状,探讨了南京市文化旅游深度开发的模式与装点整合方向。     

Geography by Rail®: a new twist on a romantic concept

Based on William Morris Davis’ great Transcontinental Excursion of 1912, this article assesses and reviews the Geography by Rail® program (GbR) – a unique, short-term, field-based study abroad experience that takes an uncommon-in-the-US approach to international exploration and fieldwork, incorporating on-the-ground, regional geography-based learning experiences. Though it could be used as such, this is not intended as a “how-to” article, but instead, an examination of how the program’s alternative approach to short-term, field-based learning increases student engagement, enlivens the discipline of geography by championing the regional geography approach, and bridges the physical-human divide in geography. Examples are given of assessment techniques, relevant skills gained by student participants, student feedback received, and potential limitations of such a program. Our main goal rests in demonstrating that by being in the landscape, practicing in it, students often gain a perspective not achievable in the traditional classroom setting. In the regional and romantic geography sense, favoring breadth of learning over depth, we further argue that GbR represents a novel way to accomplish this important-yet-not-often-fostered and, oddly and unfortunately, difficult-to-find-in-geography concept.     

基于区域视角的中国工业旅游发展的思考

本文以全国工业旅游示范点为样本,对工业旅游点的区域分布特征及空间密度差异、工业旅游点所属行业的区域分布特征与空间密度差异进行初步分析,并探索这些特征与各区域工业发展特征的相关性,在此基础上,从制定区域工业旅游发展规划、选择工业旅游空间开发模式、构筑"无边界"的区域工业旅游合作方式等方面对各级区域范围的工业旅游发展进行探讨.