FROM THE ECONOMIC TO THE POLITICAL: REGIONAL PLANNING IN WEST GERMANY

The resolution of regional disparities within the Federal Republic of Germany entails a complex redistributive process. Regional assistance policies initiated as wartime relief measures have, over time, incorporated classical incentive programs and revenue-sharing. Revenue transfers among the three levels of government are dynamic, arising from changes in the socioeconomic and political environment. Much of the spatial effect of regional policies is overshadowed by more extensive sectoral benefits.
La détermination des inégalités régionales au sein de la République fédérale allemande fait appel à un procédé complexe de redistribution. Des politiques d'aide régionale, introduites comme des mesures de secours en temps de guerre, sont devenues avec le temps des programmes classiques d'incitation et de partage des reVenus. Les transferts de revenu entre les trois niveaux de gouvernement constituent un mécanisme dynamique répondant aux changements dans le milieu socioéconomique et politique. L'influence spatiale résultant des politiques régionales est en grande partie éclipsée par l'expansion des avantages sectoriels.     

WET GROWTH: EFFECTS OF WATER POLICIES ON LAND USE IN THE AMERICAN WEST*

ABSTRACT Rapid population growth and increasing water development costs have prompted many western governments to condition residential development approval on the adequacy of water supplies. We examine the effects of these regulations on housing supply in Colorado and New Mexico using fixed‐effects panel regressions. Our findings suggest that price‐based tools to ensure water availability may be a preferred regulatory alternative to quantity restrictions. Attempts to restrict groundwater basin access have not unambiguously corrected negative externalities related to growth. Meanwhile, Colorado cities' aggressive use of impact fees has facilitated water resource development, without limiting growth.     

THE STUDY OF POLITICAL FEEDBACK USING NONRECURSIVE CAUSAL MODELS: THE CASE OF STATE DIVORCE POLICIES

Researchers interested in policy feedback effects can use the nonrecursive modeling strategies proposed here when time series data are not available for assessing feedback dynamics. This strategy is illustrated in a study of the impacts of American state divorce policies on divorce behavior and the responsiveness of policies to divorce rates. The findings show appreciable impact and feedback effects. In states where divorces are easier to obtain, the incidence of divorce is higher; and where divorce is more widespread, states are likely to implement more permissive divorce policies.     

THE IMPACT OF POLICIES TO CONTROL MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS IN MUMBAI,INDIA*

ABSTRACT This paper examines the impacts of measures to reduce emissions from buses, cars, and two‐wheelers in Mumbai, India. We have considered three possible policies: conversion of diesel buses to CNG, an increase in the price of gasoline and a tax on vehicle ownership. Our results suggest that the most effective policy to reduce emissions from passenger vehicles—in terms of the total number of tons of PM10 reduced—is to convert diesel buses to CNG. The conversion of 3,391 diesel buses to CNG would result in an emissions reduction of 663 tons of PM10 per year, 14 percent of total emissions from transport.     

高速铁路对湖南城市群可达性的影响

引入可达性的概念,以现阶段与预期2030年的湖南城市群综合铁路网数据为基础,选取加权平均旅行时间、经济潜力和日常可达性3个度量指标,比较分析了高速铁路的发展对湖南城市群城际间8城市可达性的影响。结果表明:高速铁路大大缩短了城际之间的时空距离,将全面提升湖南区域可达性水平,促进区域均衡化空间结构的形成;另一方面,尽管高速铁路将推动多中心空间结构的形成,但对湖南城市可达性水平的影响具有明显的区域差异,可分为两个层级,各城市在新的交通格局下应抓住机遇,探寻符合自身特点的发展道路。     

COMPARATIVE REGIONAL POLICY IMPACT ANALYSIS: EX POST EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND*

ABSTRACT. This paper addresses the issue of ex post impact analysis of regional policies in the European Community. The analysis is both methodological and applied in nature. After a concise overview of existing impact assessment methods, a two-step approach by means of an exploratory frequency method and an explanatory rational expectations-based model is proposed in order to provide an empirical framework for cross-regional comparative evaluation of the performance of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The seope and applicability of the method is illustrated by means of a case study for Dutch regions.     

高速铁路对欠发达地区可达性影响的空间差异——以哈大与郑西高铁为例

基于时间和经济两种维度,以哈大与郑西两条欠发达地区高铁线路为研究对象,利用加权平均旅行时间与经济潜力综合测度两条高铁运营前后沿线城市可达性的动态变化及空间差异,结果表明：高铁开通后,沿线城市可达性明显改善,哈大高铁可达性综合改善程度强于郑西,且内部可达性变率相对差异较小;哈大高铁可达性变率呈线路中间大、首末小的态势,郑西高铁经济潜力变率呈自东向西递减趋势;哈大高铁明显提升了吉林南部与辽宁北部的核心地位,可达性获益的空间集聚效应凸显;郑西高铁显著拉近了中原和关中地区,以郑州、洛阳、西安为核心的“古都经济带”初露端倪,未来可向西对接“丝路经济带”,打造沟通中国与欧亚大陆跨国经济走廊。     

西非萨赫勒地带荒漠化和人地关系地域系统分析

西非萨赫勒地带是世界最严重的荒漠化地区,国际社会对这里荒漠化问题的关注最终发展成为世界范围内大规模的防治荒漠化运动。本文提出了萨赫勒地带荒漠化四个机制模式,并分析了当人地关系地域系统的组成,系统内各要素之间的相互作用及其特征,并在此基础上阐述了该地带荒摸化的实质。     

REGIONAL ASPECTS OF DUST STORMS IN STEPPE REGIONS OF THE EAST EUROPEAN AND WEST SIBERIAN PLAINS

Two broad regions of the USSR most susceptible to dust storms, the southern East European Plain in the European USSR and the West Siberian Plain and adjacent areas of northern Kazakhstan, are contrasted according to a number of indicators of dust storm frequency and intensity. More specifically, the two regions, although roughly similar according to overall frequency of dust storms, were found to differ in terms of their interannual variability, years of peak activity, prevailing winds associated with dust storms, seasonal frequency, duration and erosive force of individual storms, and synoptic processes contributing to dust storm formation (translated by Jay K. Mitchell, PlanEcon, Inc., Washington, DC 20005).     

THE (DIS)CONTINUOUS HISTORY OF THE POLITICAL

The political is not given. Understood as the space in which collectives think about how they should live together, the political has existed only since the seventeenth century—according to the thesis of Elías José Palti's Archaeology of the Political. Since then, a central problem of the political, namely how transcendence can be founded on immanence, has been posed in a completely new way. Palti follows this development from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, illustrated by a few individual examples. His reading of the problem is a possible one. But aren't the political questions arising from the combination of transcendence and immanence much older? Can the political really be reduced to the period so often referred to as “modernity”? In contrast to Palti, I would like to emphasize more strongly the continuities in the field of the political—continuities that can be attached to a void, to the search for a foundation that cannot be justified. But even if one may and should argue about the thesis of the book, it proves to be above all a stimulating study and an important contribution to the understanding of the political.     

THE IMPACT OF SKILL‐SPECIFIC MIGRATION ON REGIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT DISPARITIES IN GERMANY

Differences in regional unemployment are still pronounced in Germany, especially between eastern and western Germany. Although the skill level seems important for the relationship between regional disparities and labor migration, corresponding empirical evidence is scarce. Applying dynamic panel models, we investigate the impact of labor mobility differentiated by educational attainment of the workers on regional unemployment disparities between 2000 and 2008. The impact of low‐ and medium‐skilled migration is consistent with traditional neoclassical reasoning, suggesting that labor mobility reduces differences in regional unemployment rates. In contrast, the migration of high‐skilled workers tends to reinforce disparities.     

长江三角洲区域政策强度的定量化及其演变过程——以区域开放开发政策为例

区域政策强度是政府投入影响区域经济格局的政策变量值的大小。区域政策强度的影响因素可分为政策自身内容和政策背景属性两类,前者主要考察政策工具体系,后者则主要考察区域政策的影响范围和政策实施保障能力。在此基础上提出区域政策强度定量化的指标体系,据此定量考察区域政策强度值的时空演变规律与特征。以改革开放以来长江三角洲实施的区域开放开发政策作为实证研究样本,经过区域政策强度的定量化分析发现:区域开放开发政策强度具有能级上的差异,不同类型区域政策的强度值变化特征不同,并在时间上呈阶段性和周期性,在空间上由等级梯度向扁平化转变。