Buying and Borrowing in Adelaide: Mortgage Commitments of Home Buyers, 1986

In April 1986 housing finance allocation procedures were deregulated. The impact of this decision on levels of finance borrowed by households was assessed for 2562 buyers of houses and home units in the Adelaide Statistical Division during May and June 1986. Sales price and mortgage data suggest two tendencies influencing the relationship between price and mortgage. Firstly, low price purchasers have small deposits and borrow heavily to effect their purchase. Secondly, high price buyers, with large deposits, are nevertheless taking out large loans to finance housing. Levels of gearing show market socio-economic bias, low cost buyers being more likely to be overcommitted.     

Muslim immigrants' sense of identity and belonging in the Western world: A comprehensive review

In recent years, much has been written about the growth of anti‐immigrant sentiment in Western countries. Propagated by the fastest growing party family, far right‐wing parties, there is growing support in Western populations in favour of scapegoating Muslim immigrants for economic, cultural and security problems. However, less has been written on how Muslim immigrants feel about their host country. What is their sense of belonging and identification with their country of residence? In this review article, we summarise the results of 29 studies that explicitly focus on questions of integration, national identity and sense of belonging of Muslim immigrants. The studies we review document a range of outcomes, varying from a low sense of belonging and attachment to the country of residence to extremely high integration levels and loyalty. It seems that most variation depends on the country of residence at the macro‐level and on their education at the individual level.     

Trade Liberalization and the Fiscal Squeeze: Implications for Public Investment

This article examines the impact of trade liberalization on the level and structure of government expenditures across countries, with particular emphasis on low income countries. It develops the argument that the policies employed during trade liberalization have resulted in a fiscal squeeze as a result of declining tax revenues and rising interest expenditures. To surmount this fiscal hurdle, expenditures on physical capital, which have negligible political ramifications, have been reduced. Other more politically sensitive expenditures, such as spending on social capital, have been financed by incurring additional debt. However, additional debt has exerted upward pressure on interest payments, further exacerbating the fiscal situation. The statistical analysis carried out to examine the evidence uses panel data for eighty developing and industrialized countries over the period 1970–98 and employs a fixed–effects regression framework to account for country–specific characteristics. The results indicate that trade liberalization has indeed resulted in declining revenues and higher interest expenditures and that these factors have contributed to the observed decline in infrastructure spending.     

Immigrant Needs and Local Government Services

Upon their arrival in the United States, immigrants, whether documented or undocumented, impact the provision of local government services. Survey data collected from four immigrant groups (Nicaraguans, Haitians, Central Americans, and Mexicans) in Miami, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada examine the question of whether country of origin is a predictor of local government service utilization by immigrants. The findings suggest that immigrants, regardless of country of origin, share similar characteristics and attitudes regarding life in the United States. The major differences among the immigrant groups studied appear to be in their plans for the future. The Mexican respondents were likely to be described as sojourners, with plans to return to their home country, while the other groups intended to settle permanently in the United States. At the local level, these findings suggest that policymakers must be sensitive to motivations of the immigrants who locate in their areas, understanding the implications for service delivery in multilanguage, multiculture communities.     

Between the sword and the wall: Spain's limited options for Catalan secessionism

We propose a game theoretical model to assess the capacity of Catalonia to become a recognised, independent country with at least a de facto European Union (EU) membership. Support for Catalan independence has been increasing for reasons pertaining to identity and economics. Spain can avoid a vote for independence by effectively ‘buying‐out’ a proportion of the Catalan electorate with a funding agreement favourable to Catalonia. If, given the current economic circumstances, the buying‐out strategy is too expensive, a pro‐independence vote is likely to pass. Our model predicts an agreement in which Spain and the EU accommodate Catalan independence in exchange for Catalonia taking a share of the Spanish debt. If Spain and the EU do not accommodate, Spain becomes insolvent, which in turn destabilises the EU. The current economic woes of Spain and the EU both contribute to the desire for Catalan independence and make it possible.     

加拿大中国移民创业模式新探

论文在有关加拿大中国移民最新研究成果基础上,从移民经济适应行为的视角,对移民群体特征及其所面临的机会进行了分析阐述,并提出了一个移民自主创业的分析模型。该模型将移民自主创业行为区分为四种模式,即族裔经济、一般企业、海归企业和跨国创业。随着市场环境、母国政策及企业自身发展水平的不断变化,移民企业家的经济活动可能表现为在几种模式之间的过渡或跃迁。对移民经济行为的研究,需要突破传统的族裔经济的视野,把移民的经济参与放在一个社会经济日益开放、国际社区间联系日益紧密的大背景下加以考虑。     

Conflicting nationalist traditions and immigration: the Basque case from 1950 to 1980

Immigration from the different regions in Spain to the Basque Country has traditionally opposed Basque and Spanish nationalism. This article provides an overview of the discourse of both nationalist traditions with respect to the intra‐regional migration movement of the second half of the twentieth century as well as of the resulting controversy. Whereas the Basque nationalist movement claims to have defended the need to integrate immigrants since the middle of the twentieth century, particularly through politics, Spanish nationalism claims that Basque nationalism has helped marginalise these same immigrants. A qualitative analysis is used to contrast this controversy by consulting the opinion of the Spanish immigrants who settled in the Basque Country and did not avail of the political integration proposed by Basque nationalism. The main conclusion is that these immigrants tend to avoid the heart of the matter of discord between both nationalist traditions, granting little importance to political and cultural elements though stressing their social integration in the Basque Country.     

REPRODUCING AND RESHAPING ETHNIC RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION IN STOCKHOLM: THE ROLE OF SELECTIVE MIGRATION MOVES

This paper deals with the issues of selective migration moves, and the production and reproduction of immigrantdense neighbourhoods in Stockholm, Sweden. It has been shown earlier that selective migration, that is, socioeconomic and ethnic differences between those leaving, entering and staying in so‐called deprived neighbourhoods, reproduces these neighbourhoods' characteristics of being poor and immigrant dense. Key concepts launched to inform such studies and derived from the US segregation discourse are “white fight” and “white avoidance”, meaning that native people (or white people in the US case) tend to leave neighbourhoods experiencing growing numbers of immigrants (black people) and which they also tend to avoid moving into such neighbourhoods. Using a complete set of geo‐coded longitudinal individual data for the 2005–2008 Stockholm County population, this paper contributes to our understanding of ethnic differences in the intra‐urban migration system. Three empirical questions are addressed: what individual characteristics distinguish (1) those who move into neighbourhoods experiencing rapidly increasing immigrant densities from those moving elsewhere in the urban region; (2) those who leave neighbourhoods experiencing rapidly increasing immigrant densities from those who stay put; (3) those who move in the direction of higher immigrant densities from those moving into lower densities? Results from multivariate statistical analyses provide support for the avoidance hypothesis but less support for the fight hypothesis. When controlling for a range of individual and neighbourhood attributes there is clear evidence that native‐born Swedes are less inclined than most immigrant categories to move into immigrant dense areas while ethnic origin does not seem to matter much when explaining who leaves such areas.     

The (Re)socialization of participatory political culture: Immigrants’ political participation between their contemporary country and their ancestral country

We study the reproduction and change of participatory political culture by examining how immigrants' political engagement develops in the cross-pressure between their country of residence and their ancestral country. To explain patterns of political (re)socialization, we suggest a mechanism of proximity-conditioned social diffusion, which stipulates that immigrants' retention and adoption of a given participatory culture is a function of spatial and temporal proximity to native bearers of this culture, from which diffusion occurs. Analyzing the political participation of thousands of first and second generation immigrants in the European Social Survey (2002–2018), we find that immigrants come to adopt the participatory culture of their new country and lose that of their ancestral country through a symmetrical temporal process: having stayed longer in the destination country—either being a second generation immigrant or a first generation immigrant, who lived there longer—they adopt this participatory culture more strongly, while at the same time loosening their connection to the culture of the ancestral country. Spatial proximity to natives also conditions immigrants' adoption of the prevailing culture of the destination country as immigrants’ participatory inclinations resemble that of natives in their residential regions within the destination country.     

民国前期长江三角洲农村高利贷问题与土地的流转

民国前期,长江三角洲绝大多数农家的年净余率为零或负数,旧式金融机构已经衰败、新式金融机构尚处襁褓,农村金融枯竭,农民信用缺失,高利贷肆虐其阃,占农村借贷额的70%左右.不愿变卖田地的农家,只能以土地为抵押,举借高利贷,没有失去土地,却向着变卖土地迈出了可怕一步.借贷用于生产投资的些微,利率的高昂,使举债农家还上抵押贷款的可能性极小,为了生存,以抵押为基础,将田地进一步活卖给高利贷者,在一定期限内失去了产权.田赋之外的捐税、借款的消费倾向、高额利率,使农家无力赎回活卖的土地,不得不进一步绝卖,最终失去了土地产权.大致0.51%的土地流转率,单向度的土地流动,说明民国前期长江三角洲土地商品化程度不高,仍处在前市场阶段.     

THE DEBT/TAX CHOICE IN THE FINANCING OF STATE AND LOCAL CAPITAL EXPENDITURES*

ABSTRACT. State and local governments commonly finance investment in public capital by issuing bonds and by using current revenues. This paper presents a model of state and local governments' reliance on borrowing in which the optimal share of debt in the financing of capital investment depends on the relative costs of tax and debt finance. Equations are derived and estimated for spending on public capital and the share of debt in the financing of that spending. The results reveal that the level of private incomes plays an important role in both the capital investment and financial decisions of the jurisdiction. Even after controlling for Sunbelt-Snowbelt differences in incomes, grants, outstanding debt and certain demographic factors, the results indicate that state and local governments located in the Snowbelt rely more heavily on bond issues to finance capital investment. Finally, the estimated invariance of the level of state and local capital investment to the share of debt in the financing of the investment suggests that investment decisions are not greatly affected by factors influencing the willingness to issue bonds.     

Venezuela's national colonization programme: the Tovar colony,a German agricultural settlement

A decision by the Council of the Indies in 1801 authorizing the colonies to accept overseas immigrants cleared the way for the colonization of Spanish America by foreign settlers. In Venezuela, the first practical attempt to promote immigration came ten years later, when the Marquis del Toro offered to donate land to incoming white immigrants. Immigration schemes were planned and executed by private agents, most of whom were closely connected with the Caraqueño landowners. However, it proved very difficult to attract Europeans because Venezuela offered potential immigrants few economic advantages, and most outsiders viewed the country as politically unstable. There was, however, one exception to encourage European immigration, the Tovar colony, founded by one of the oldest and most powerful families within the government, which awarded the Tovars, through their intermediary and project director, General Codazzi, the largest loan ever granted under the immigration programme. The Tovars were ably assisted in this task by Codazzi, whose geographical knowledge and experience were crucial to the success of the Tovar colony. The project dovetailed perfectly within the ideological interest of the government. Although the scheme benefited only the Tovar family, in public, it was presented as essential to the national economic interest.     

Origins of State Housing Policy in Canada: the Case of the Central Mortgage Bank

In the literature, Canadian federal housing policy is most often considered to be a post-Second World War phenomenon and to have been effectively initiated, at least in an institutional sense, with the establishment of Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (chmc) in 1945 (Bettison, 1975; Hatch. 1975; Rose, 1980). It is generally accepted that the state was led to intervene in the private housing market as a result of an unprecedented demand from returning servicemen. This demand was heightened by increasing levels of disposable income and exacerbated by reduced levels of housing production during the war. In this scenario. the state is seen to have been responding to a specific market crisis; the response resulted in the creation of various agencies, most notably cmhc, and in National Housing Act amendments, virtually all of which took place in the post-war era. The ‘market-crisis’ perspective to the study of federal housing policy tends to overlook the initiation of state monetary and credit system management during the 1930s and its implications for the form of state intervention in housing during the 1940s and beyond. I wish to make a case here for pushing back the study boundaries to at least the early 1930s in conjunction with a brief examination of the Central Mortgage Bank (cmb). The argument is that the essential ‘actors’ in the determination of housing policy at the federal level (i.e. the Department of Finance, the institutional lenders [particularly the insurance companies], and the provinces) came to be delineated in the 1930s around the issue of debt management in the wake of widespread mortgage default, especially in the rural districts of the prairie provinces. The cmb, although never becoming active, is seen here as the first substantial collaboration between the state and finance capital in the area of residential mortgage lending practices. It represents an additional facet of state monetary and credit system management that proceeded apace with the formation of the Bank of Canada in 1935.     

International Acquisitions: Host and Home Country Explanatory Characteristics

To better understand what place-specific attributes are most important to foreign direct investors, we consider the pattern of international foreign acquisitions, for the year 1993, from a simultaneous home and host country perspective. It is shown that the world's most prominent buyer and target countries are few in number. Furthermore, with the use of a stepwise-like Poisson regression procedure, we determine that both home and host country conditions are important in explaining the spatial pattern of low-tech and high-tech international acquisitions.
Specifically, international high-tech and low-tech acquisitions are best described by country-specific variables measuring trade, investment risk assessment, patents and tourism and that low-tech acquisitions are also linked with a country's domestic economic strength and government efficiency and stability. The outliers from the Poisson regression equations provide evidence that, in particular, the United States and Canada as well as, other countries geographically adjacent are disproportionately active in this type of foreign direct investment.     

The Role of Cultural Clustering in Attracting New Immigrants

Abstract This paper argues that new immigrants cluster in culturally homogeneous groups in the host country because of imperfect information. However, a pulling effect exists provided that the cultural communities are not too large. With a panel of migration flows to the major O.E.C.D. countries from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, it is shown that the existence of similar cultural communities attracts new immigrants. However, the effect is not homogeneous for all types of source and destination countries. Furthermore, the pulling effect is shown to fall to zero for cultural communities above a certain threshold size.     

Women drinking alcohol: assembling a perspective from a Victorian country town,Australia

Gender is a key lens for interpreting meanings and practices of drinking. In response to the overwhelming amount of social and medical alcohol studies that focus on what extent people conform to norms of healthy drinking, this article extends critical feminist geographical engagement with assemblage thinking to explore how the technologies of biopower covertly materialised as bodily habits may be preserved and challenged. We suggest an embodied engagement with alcohol to help think through the gendered practices and spatial imaginaries of rural drinking life. Our account draws on interviews with women of different cohort generations with Anglo-Celtic ancestry living in a country town in Victoria, Australia. Three vignettes based around emergent themes of maternal, domicile and socialising bodies help shed light on the contradictory ways gender is lived through the dynamics of alcohol consumption which help constitute everyday life in a country town.     

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia is one of the countries most influenced by international migration, not only in Asia, but globally. Most attention is focused on its role as a major immigration country, but it also experiences significant emigration, having an estimated diaspora of 1.5 million people. This paper demonstrates the scale and composition of the contemporary Malaysian diaspora, and discusses its potential impacts on economic development. In undertaking this task, it is necessary to rely mostly on data from destinations of emigrants from Malaysia because of an inherent bias in migration data collection towards immigrants and destinations. In order to gain deeper insights into the composition of the diaspora and the linkages which it maintains with Malaysia, there is a focus on a single destination country—Australia, which has the second largest community of Malaysian expatriates after Singapore. The potential role that the diaspora could play in Malaysian development is discussed.     

The effect of culture on home-ownership

In this paper, we analyze the role of culture in determining whether, or not, an individual is a homeowner. We use data on first-generation immigrants who arrived in the United States under 6 years old. Following the epidemiological approach, any dissimilarity in the proportion of homeowners by country of origin may be interpreted as a consequence of cultural differences. Our estimates indicate that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between the cultural proxy and the immigrants’ choice of home-ownership. Additionally, we present evidence of different mechanisms of transmission of culture, which reinforces our results on the cultural effect.     

Averting a global financial crisis: the US,the IMF,and the Mexican debt crisis of 1976

This article explains the politics and diplomacy of the initial use of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) adjustment program as a tactic in a strategy to avert a possible global banking crisis. Scholars typically date the strategy to the Reagan administration's response to the sovereign debt crises in Eastern Europe and Latin America in the early 1980s. This article demonstrates that the approach originated instead during the 1976 Mexican debt crisis – the first potential postwar default by a developing country that threatened international bank failures. Key US and Mexican officials recognized that an IMF program of currency devaluation and austerity would probably fail in its stated objective of reducing Mexico's balance of payments deficit. Nevertheless, US Treasury and Federal Reserve officials, fearing that a Mexican default might lead to bank failures and subsequent global financial crisis, intervened to an unprecedented degree in the negotiations between the IMF and Mexico. The United States offered direct financial support and worked through diplomatic channels to insist that Mexico accept an IMF adjustment program, as a way of bailing out US banks. Mexican president Luis Echeverría's administration consented to IMF adjustment because officials perceived it as the least politically costly option among a range of alternatives.