La ségrégation économique comme un phénomène complexe : une analyse spatio-temporelle du cas montréalais

Economic segregation, or residential inequalities based on income, is a complex spatial process. It is associated with structures which arise at certain scales and which evolve in time. In this paper, we analyse the evolution of economic segregation in Montréal from 1980 to 2000. This analysis is based on household's income and on their distribution within the residential space from four scales: households, census tracts, municipalities and some radio-concentric zones. Results confirm that the spatial organisation of economic segregation is scale dependent. More precisely, local inequalities are growing more rapidly but this trend does not prevent the consolidation of metropolitan-sized clusters. Moreover, results confirm that Montréal's economic segregation follows North American trends like the growth of economic disparities (spatial or not) or the fact that the enrichment of central and ex-urban neighbourhoods is compensated by the impoverishment of inner-ring suburbs.     

The Principles of Parallel Development of Fiscal Capacity between State and Municipalities as Useful Benchmarks for the Determination of the Inter-governmental Grants in Germany

The conventional theoretical and empirical references related to the inter-governmental fiscal transfer system in Germany appear to heavily concentrate on the issues surrounding the measurement of local expenditure needs of a municipality and their coverage through the down-flow grants when the municipal tax revenue is insufficient to match the needs. This study introduces additional important research fields in this context. Firstly, it attempts to analyse the role of the development of tax revenue and fiscal power of the grant provider (the State) as well as the joint financial relationship between the State and (different types of rural and urban) municipalities in the determination of inter-governmental grants. Secondly, when the total volume of the State grants is determined, this study examines in the next step under the particular consideration of different tax capacities in varied categories of municipalities, how this amount should be horizontally distributed among these groups to achieve the equal growth of hypothetical per capita fiscal capacity.     

Index to Volume L—2009

A U. S.-based geographer investigates how decentralization, a central component of China's fiscal reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, has altered the foundation of underlying economic inequalities among its regions. More specifically, the paper examines the evolution of China's fiscal system during the reform era and corresponding changes in the character of central-local fiscal relations. It focuses on analyzing how patterns in regional fiscal disparities at multiple geographic levels have changed over time, laying the groundwork for further research on China's uneven regional development.     

FISCAL IMPACT ANALYSIS AND THE PYRAMID MALL CASE

States and towns are increasingly using a new impact analysis technique (one that shows many of the virtues and vices of impact planning generally): fiscal impact analysis. In a recent celebrated case in Vermont, the Pyramid Mall case, in which a shopping center was refused a development permit under “Act 250”, Vermont's state–wide land use law, heavy use was made of fiscal impact analyses. This case raised serious issues about the financial and technical capability of the state – indeed any state – to administer fiscal impact analysis, and about the adequacy of the law to properly guide the use of impact analysis. The central question running throughout the Pyramid Mall case and the use of fiscal impact analyses in that case is whether the administration of land use controls pursuant to fiscal impact analysis is improper government control of competition. The Pyramid Mall case offers an illustration of the effort to control both competition among private units and competition among municipalities; a study of the case reveals the extent to which the effort is effective, optimal, and equitable. The inadequacy of the Vermont laws enabling fiscal impact analysis emerges, and the shallowness of existing judicial review of fiscal impact analysis becomes evident. Guidelines for a proper legal approach to fiscal impact analysis are suggested and alternative mechanisms of review are suggested.     

L'identification des zones calmes et un diagnostic d’équité environnementale à Montréal

Quiet urban areas are places with low noise levels that can help people to support physical and mental wellness. This paper has two objectives: to identify quiet urban areas in Montreal and to check for the presence of environmental inequities in access to such areas for vulnerable groups (children, older people, low‐income individuals, and visible minorities). Using a GIS‐based methodology, 2,282 quiet urban areas were identified in Montreal. The results of a mixed effects logistic regression model analysis showed that there are no major inequities in access to quiet urban areas for the population groups studied. The analysis did, however, revealed substantial spatial disparities in terms of the distribution of quiet urban areas across the boroughs and municipalities examined.     

Tensions between municipal reform and outdated fiscal levers in rural British Columbia

Debates about the future of small municipalities in Canada are set against a backdrop of economic, political, and social restructuring processes that have displaced former state investment policies in favour of neoliberal public policy approaches. Small municipalities struggle with outdated financial and governance structures and a provincial public policy agenda that asks them to become more creative, innovative, and “entrepreneurial” in their approach and responsibilities. Drawing upon key informant interviews with eight case studies in British Columbia, Canada, this research examines the tensions between municipal reforms mandated by the provincial government over the past 30 years and commensurate fiscal levers and capacities in place to address these broadening responsibilities for small municipalities in volatile staples-dependent regions. Our findings demonstrate how successive provincial governments have mobilized New Public Management objectives through a host of legislative and regulatory changes that have increased the responsibilities and requirements on local governments without commensurate fiscal or jurisdictional capacity.     

A SIMULTANEOUS EQUATIONS MODEL OF FISCAL POLICY INTERACTIONS*

ABSTRACT Existing studies of fiscal policy interactions are based on single equation (SE) models of either taxation or expenditures, without specifying the underlying social welfare function, without taking account of budget constraints and without allowing for cost differences between jurisdictions. Taking all this into account, we derive an extended version of the linear expenditure system with policy interaction effects. We use this system to simultaneously estimate interactions in both taxation and different spending categories among Dutch municipalities. Our interaction parameters tend to be higher than those estimated using conventional SE models.     

LOCAL TAX BURDENS AND THE SUPPLY OF BUSINESS SITES IN SUBURBAN MUNICIPALITIES*

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of local household tax burdens and other community attributes on the supply of business sites made available by local municipalities. A model of community site supply is tested in which municipalities trade off increased fiscal benefits from business location and reductions in environmental quality that accompany industrial and commercial development. This tradeoff is embodied in municipal zoning decisions. Empirical analysis of industrial and commercial zoning in two rapidly growing suburban counties of the Philadelphia metropolitan area provides considerable support for the tenets of community site supply theory.     

Income differences within municipalities in Finland, 1989–1997

Differences in income between population groups in Finland have begun to increase since the recession of the early 1990s. These differences are examined here in terms of mean taxable incomes per household in 1989, 1993 and 1997 in 1 × 1 km grid cells, and the results are compared with those obtained using postal districts and municipalities as areal units. In spite of the increase, taxable income differences within municipalities are still relatively small. It is clear, however, that incomes have risen more in areas of increasing population than in areas of declining population. The results also indicate that the smaller the areal unit used, the greater the income differences, and vice versa. Thus the results of analyses based on different areal units cannot necessarily be regarded as comparable.     

Tradeoffs between Local Taxes and Government Spending as Determinants of Business Location*

Abstract. This paper investigates the effects of local fiscal policy on the location decisions of 3,763 establishments that began operations in Maine between 1993 and 1995. Empirical results, estimated from Poisson and negative binomial regression models, indicate that businesses favor municipalities that spend high amounts on public goods and services, even when these expenditures are financed by an increase in local taxes. This suggests that a local fiscal policy of reduced government spending, to balance a tax cut, may attract fewer new businesses than a policy featuring additional spending and higher taxes.     

Spatial variation in populist right voting in Austria, 2013–2017

The recent wave of populism sweeping Europe and the Americas generated considerable interest among political scientists, economists, sociologists and to some extent, geographers. The vast majority of these studies focuses on individual voter decisions or national comparisons over time but neglects the within-country spatial variation of the populist vote. This paper addresses this shortcoming and applies spatial econometric techniques to explore possible explanations for spatial variation in the increase of the populist right vote between the 2013 and 2017 national elections in Austria for 2118 municipalities. Spatial variation in voting shares can result from (1) compositional effects, regional differences in the composition of voters with different characteristics, (2) broad spatial, historically evolved institutional differences, such as membership to one of the nine states, (3) unequal integration of different types of regions into the global economy, such as peripheral regions, central urban regions, old industrial regions or tourist areas, (4) spatial vote spillovers due to localized social networks, and (5) unobserved spatial processes. We find that the populist right vote gains in Austrian municipalities are affected by all processes, but that the type of regions becomes insignificant once we correct for unobservable spatial structures in the regression framework. The increase in the share of foreigners, the share of foreigners, income and inequality levels, educational differences, selected state membership, as well as spatial spillovers of populist right voting are all important to explain spatial variation in the rise of the populist right vote.     

Electoral and partisan influences on Australian fiscal policy from Menzies to Hawke

I examine the controversial questions of whether or not partisanship and electoral motives shape the fiscal policies of Australian governments. I also extend the partisan model of policy choice for the Australian case. Specifically, using time‐series data for the financial years 1962–63 through 1989–90,1 explore partisan and electoral influences on the overall fiscal stance and the personal income transfer payments of the Commonwealth government Results indicate that, net of the influences of inertia in the policy process and of variations in economic forces, partisanship and elections play significant roles in determining both overall fiscal policy and income transfer outlays. Analyses reveal that fiscal policies become more expansionary across the electoral cycle while Labor and coalition governments have large but diminishing partisan effects cm policy over their terms in office.     

基于可达性的县域医疗服务均等化分析——以湖北省松滋市为例

中国县域城乡和不同乡镇之间的发展存在较大差异,在卫生领域表现尤为突出。在偏远农区,医疗资源短缺、卫生服务落后和健康保障缺位现象普遍存在。本文以湖北省松滋市为研究区域,以包括行政村和居委会的聚落点为基本研究单元,将可达性分析与聚类分析相结合,评估并表达不同区域医疗服务均等化水平并探讨相关公共政策。结果表明:(1)在县域尺度,医疗服务均等化水平空间差异明显,呈现出中心城区向周边递减的情况;(2)医疗服务均等化水平与经济发展水平分布格局上存在空间同型特征;(3)聚落中心、交通沿线可达性较高,而交通的改善会显著降低空间阻抗系数,促进均等化进程。     

分级诊疗能否促进空间平等？——基于上海市公共医疗服务可达性的情景分析

转型期中国城市社会空间经历剧烈重塑,不平衡不充分发展也体现在城市内部空间。充分的实证研究有助于理解抽象的城市内部空间平等议题,为决策提供科学参考。本研究从空间平等视角出发,以上海市为案例,结合分级诊疗情景模式,在人口、医疗设施信息、POI等数据基础上,借助两步移动搜索法评估以医疗资源为代表的公共服务可达性状况;并采用多种不平等指数测算不同城市居民面临的可达性差异。研究表明,分级诊疗模式可显著提高上海市医疗资源在全域覆盖的程度,缓解了中心城区和郊区之间的空间不平等状况。然而,这种“政策的红利”往往被优势群体所吸纳,而以移民、低学历者、工人以及租房居民为代表的弱势群体,他们的可达性却无显著改善。     

旅游产业在上海现代服务业中的地位及发展趋势研究

发达的服务业是现代中心城市的重要标志。作为“朝阳产业”的旅游业是现代服务业的重要组成部分。如何提升旅游业在国民经济中的地位和作用,使其成为现代服务业的支柱产业,是当前乃至今后一段时间我们应该着重思考的问题。本文在分析上海旅游产业发展现状的基础上,对上海旅游业成为现代服务业支柱产业的可能性和竞争条件进行了论述,并指出培育旅游产业集群是上海旅游产业发展的趋势。     

Earthquakes,grants, and public expenditure: How municipalities respond to natural disasters

We analyze the response of municipalities to the occurrence of natural disasters in terms of spending behavior, use of upper-tier transfers and recovery, using balance sheet data of about 8,000 Italian municipalities for the period 2000–2015, and the universe of earthquakes events. We find evidence of increasing expenditure for about 12 years after the shocks, with asymmetric responses between earthquake-related and unconditional grants, and heterogeneous flypaper effects across the country. While in northern municipalities expenditure tends to regress to pre-earthquake levels, southern municipalities stick to higher expenditure levels when grants drop. This evidence is coupled with a faster recovery of private income and housing prices in northern municipalities.     

Regional Disparities,Industry and Government Policy in Japan

This paper examines the time path of regional per capita income disparities in Japan during the last three decades, and analyses the determinants of this path, including government policies. Regional disparities have been quite common in most countries, and the problem has proven to be relatively intractable, though varying in intensity across time and across countries. The Japanese case is instructive in that the country has experienced several stages of the problem in a relatively brief period, and has managed to limit spatial polarization to a certain degree. This paper identifies links between broad growth policy orientations with resultant changes in regional income disparities, and suggests their policy implications for both mature and developing economies.     

Connecting Municipal and Regional Level Planning: Analysis and Visualization of Sustainability Indicators in Bergslagen,Sweden

Sustainable development as a process towards sustainability requires collaboration among societal actors and stakeholders at multiple levels. A key issue is to provide them with that they have comprehensive and transparent knowledge base representing the state and trends of different dimensions of sustainability. This study addresses the need to analyse and present data of sustainability as a foundation for the sustainable development process within municipalities, and among them. As a case study, we focus on 18 municipalities in the crisis-struck Bergslagen region in Sweden and compare them with 101 surrounding municipalities. Data from 2001 and 2006 on 15 indicators representing ecological, economic and social sustainability criteria were transformed to a common scale through normalization around the median, and summarized. Bergslagen region municipalities performed poorer than the surrounding ones for all dimensions in 2006. The change from 2001 to 2006 was positive for economic and social criteria, while the ecological dimension developed negatively in all municipalities. We stress the need for municipalities to collaborate with each other and other actors both at municipal and regional levels, and to use sustainability indicators as a base for informed planning processes. We propose visualization of indicators using maps to support decision-making and social learning.     

Scales of regional income disparities in the USA, 1955 2003

This article examines multiple dimensions of regional per capitaincome disparities in the USA between 1955 and 2003 with a particularfocus on scalar effects. It combines various exploratory analyticaltools of spatial disparities, including inequality indices,mobility indices, kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelationstatistics and scale variances, to analyse regional averageper capita income distributions at multiple spatial scales,ranging from counties to multi-state regions. The analysis revealspreviously unrecognised systematic patterns of cross-scalardynamics, whereby spatial income disparities are increasinglymore pronounced at smaller scales in the last few decades.