SCARCITY AND AGRICULTURAL LAND RENT IN LIGHT OF THE CAPITAL CONTROVERSY: THREE VIEWS*

This paper examines the different theories of agricultural land rent proposed by the neoclassical, Marxist, and neo-Ricardian schools of economic thought. In so doing the paper undertakes two tasks: first, to explore the different definitions of scarcity that emerge from each school; and secondly to check the consistency between the view of scarcity and the analytical theory of rent that each school proposes. It is concluded that for each of the schools there is an inconsistency between their respective view of scarcity and the corresponding theory of rent, although the reasons for that inconsistency vary. It is further argued that although this inconsistency cannot be resolved for the case of neoclassical economics, there is some prospect of resolution for Marxist and neo-Ricardian theories.     

论哈维对海德格尔“地方”思想的一次学术建构

大卫·哈维在收录于其《正义、自然与差异地理学》文集中的《从空间到地方,再回看》这篇文章中,对他所谓的马丁·海德格尔"地方建构"思想进行了批判。通过忠实地引用哈维和海德格尔的著作、分析其各自观点形成的背景并提供依据,本文详尽揭示了哈维在勾勒海德格尔思想这一学术工作中的操作细节,即他实际上大量使用了重排引文、重组素材、偷换主题、"视而不见"、模糊处理等做法,"制造"出一个需要批判的所谓海德格尔的"地方建构"思想,从而对自己所要提出的"地方建构"思想加以支持。仅就目前所掌握的文献看,海德格尔有他自己的"地方"和"空间"思想,但并未明确讨论过甚至从没有提到过哈维所关心的"地方建构"问题。     

THE ONTOLOGY OF CAPITAL: ON THE SHARED METHODOLOGICAL LIMITS OF MODERNIZATION THEORY AND ITS CRITICS

This article argues that critical scholarship in historical studies has not overcome the methodological limits of modernization theory for failing to question the ontological principles that construct its object of analysis. I call these principles the “ontology of capital” and explicate them through Bourdieu's conceptualization of the field and capital. I argue that this ontology is established according to a distribution model in which social entities come into the analysis with the amount and value of the capital they hold. This model grasps all social relations in the form of competition, and actors and actions enter into the analysis only when they are involved in such relations. I then analyze Bernard Lewis's The Emergence of Modern Turkey, which is written explicitly from a modernization perspective, to show how the principles of the “ontology of capital” operate in this text. The analysis focuses on how sociohistorical facts are constructed through selection and articulation of empirical evidence that become meaningful only on the basis of this ontology. The aim of this analysis is to show the ontology of capital that constructs the object of analysis in Lewis's text rather than the Eurocentric, teleological, and elitist character of his analysis of history that critics in recent decades have addressed as problems of the modernization paradigm. Based on this, I argue that for a productive critical approach, relational analysis, which characterizes critical scholarship in contrast to essentialism, also has to consider the ontological principles in a historical work to overcome methodological limits. The failure to interrogate this ontology leads to an analytical separation in critical scholarship between the analysis of historical reality and of alternatives to this reality. This separation not only produces a dehistoricized analysis of the present from a critical perspective, but also turns the alternatives into utopian models.     

TOWARDS A PRECISE DEFINITION OF DRAINAGE BASIN AXIS

The subjective nature of drainage basin axis or length properties commonly used in morphometric ratios has led to the development of a simple yet precise and independently reproduceable axial property herein called the basin vectorial axis. By definition it uses the vectorial properties of the highest and all second-highest Strahler streams whether or not geological control exists.     

A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO THE DEFINITION OF SOURCES OF RAW MATERIAL

This paper argues the importance of the contribution that multivariate statistical techniques can make to the analysis of data from trace element characterization of sources of raw material and of artefacts. A threephase analysis is outlined: for the delimitation of sources of the raw material; the representation of the interrelationships of these sources; and the systematic and explicit allocation of artefactual material within the available universe of source groups. A model is developed using obsidian from New Zealand sources and presented as an example of the method.     

THE INFLUENCE OF HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT ON MIGRATION AND INDUSTRY CHANGE*

ABSTRACT. Individuals’human capital investments in their regions, industries, and occupations are measured as a function of the years they spend in their current region, industry, or occupation, and these investments are shown empirically to influence migration. There is an interesting life cycle pattern to migration: it falls rapidly with new investments, but then resurfaces as an opportunity to renew investments and increase the growth rate of income. Income regressions substantiate the life cycle path of income growth implied by the migration model.     

PRODUCTIVITY AND THE DENSITY OF HUMAN CAPITAL*

ABSTRACT We estimate a model of urban productivity in which the agglomeration effect of density is enhanced by a metropolitan area's stock of human capital. Estimation accounts for potential biases due to the endogeneity of density and industrial composition effects. Using new information on output per worker for U.S. metropolitan areas along with a measure of density that accounts for the spatial distribution of population, we find that a doubling of density increases productivity by 2–4 percent. Consistent with theories of learning and knowledge spillovers in cities, we demonstrate that the elasticity of average labor productivity with respect to density increases with human capital. Metropolitan areas with a human capital stock one standard deviation below the mean realize no productivity gain, while doubling density in metropolitan areas with a human capital stock one standard deviation above the mean yields productivity benefits that are about twice the average. These patterns are particularly pronounced in industries where the exchange of information and sharing of ideas are important parts of the production process.     

北京市区轨道交通对周边住房租赁价格的影响分析

基于北京市六环内住房租赁样本的交易数据,本文以北京地铁为例,采用空间回归模型实证探讨轨道交通对合租和整租这两种不同方式下的住房租赁价格的影响。结果表明：①基于轨道交通的就业可达性对于租赁价格会产生显著的增值效应,租客愿意为就业可达性较好的住房支付溢价租金。②地铁站点密度对整租的租赁价格具有正向影响,对合租无显著影响,而地铁换乘线路变量未对租赁价格产生显著影响。③轨道交通对合租和整租住房租赁价格的影响随着距离增加呈现差异化的演变规律。合租方式的租赁价格的影响随着实际路网距离的增加呈现单调递减,距站点500m范围内影响最大;而整租方式呈现倒“U”形变化,在500-1500m范围内增值效应最大。针对研究结果,建议政府加大租赁住房供给的同时要充分考虑轨道交通要素,精准施策以实现公共资源的空间高效配置。     

SOME NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF TOURISM: A COMMENT

In his article ‘Some notes on the geography of tourism,’ Britton raises a number of interesting issues about this relatively new branch of geography. Certainly he makes a thoughtful contribution to the discussion of the concepts, viability, and tasks of the geography of tourism, but there are points on which I disagree with him. I will address them through two main themes: the costs and benefits of tourism, and the conceptual questions of the geography of tourism.