Recent Doctoral Dissertations in Human and Economic Geography at Nordic Universities

Ivarsson, I. (1996), Integrated International Production. A Study of Foreign Transnational Corporations in Sweden     

Industrial Location as a Bargain: Iceland and the Aluminium Multinationals 1962–1994

This paper conceptualizes industrial location, specifically in the form of foreign investment, as a bargaining process to provide a framework within which to examine Iceland's deals with aluminium multinationals between 1961 and 1994. These deals involve one actual and one planned investment in aluminium smelters. Conceptually, it is argued that the interpretation of industrial location as a bargaining process can be readily incorporated within the geography of enterprise tradition by explicitly recognizing that location factors are not given datum but are created by negotiations among parties whose interests may overlap but do not coincide. In this paper, the main parties are the Icelandic government and aluminium multinationals. While both parties were interested in investments in smelters which would ultilize Iceland's power resources, the initial agreement in the 1960s depended on Iceland's acceptance of foreign investment as an appropriate vehicle of development and the ability of the parties to agree on power supply, power rates and taxation, location, and some jurisdictional issues that had not been anticipated. This deal has since been revised although the impact of the obsolescing bargain is not noticeably evident. The Iceland government has brokered another deal with other multinationals although this project has been put on hold due primarily to unforeseen events in the global economy. Still controversial, the actual and potential structure of Iceland's aluminium industry results directly from these bargains.     

Spatial Reach of Office Firms: Case Study in the Metropolitan CBD of Tel Aviv, Israel

This paper, using the CBD of metropolitan Tel Aviv, Israel, as a case study, discloses the spatial range of linkages of office firms, situated in newly built office towers. The linkages explored, from the results of a sample of 120 office firms, are those held by office firms with clients, suppliers of goods and services, and with other service firms as partners or as subcontractors. The magnitude of the linkages is revealed in the context of Israel's recent entry into the post-industrial age and its rapid affiliation with the global economy, accompanied by functional restructuring of the service economy. It is also visible in the built environment of Tel Aviv, with large-scale construction of over thirty Class A office tower buildings. Complex spatial interrelationships are found, extending from their immediate metropolitan environment toward the world's leading economic centres. Future avenues of research are explored.     

Book Reviews

Racine, J.-L. (ed.) (1997), Peasant Moorings. Village Ties and Mobility Rationales in South India
Gadgil, M. and Guha, R. (1995), Ecology and Equity: The Use and Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India
Bernard, T. and Young, J. (1997), The Ecology of Hope. Communities Collaborate for Sustainability
Hilling, D. (1996), Transport and Developing Countries
Armstrong, H.W. and Vickerman, R.W. (eds) (1995), Convergence and divergence among European regions     

Exchange Rate Policy and Economic Growth after the Financial Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe

In a paper on the effects of the global financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a European Union economist reacts to a companion paper (Åslund, 2001) published in the same issue of Eurasian Geography and Economics on the influence of exchange rate policies on the region's recovery. The author argues that post-crisis corrections in current account deficits in CEE countries do not in themselves signal a return to steady economic growth. Disagreeing with Åslund over the role of loose monetary policy in fostering the region's economic problems, he outlines a number of competitiveness problems that remain to be addressed in the 10 new EU member states of CEE, along with improvements in framework conditions supporting future macroeconomic growth.