A STRUCTURAL EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF METROPOLITAN LABOR DEMAND*

ABSTRACT. This paper uses a large data base to study metropolitan labor demand functions. The data are disaggregated by two-digit SICs in manufacturing for SMS As, and are corrected for changing SMSA boundaries. Labor demand elasticities are estimated for factor and commodity prices, transportation costs, state and local taxes and expenditures, and production-function shifters. Estimates from different years allow one to test Le Chatelier's principle in the context of interregional change.     

ESR dating of the Neanderthal site, Kebara Cave, Israel

In 1985 a Neanderthal skeleton was found in the cave of Kebara in southern Mt. Carmel. Electron spin resonance (ESR) dates have been obtained on tooth enamel of gazelles found in layer X, just overlying the layer in which the skeleton was found. Assuming early uptake of uranium by the teeth, they yield an age of 60 ± 6 ka; assuming gradual, linear uptake of uranium yields an age of 64 ± 6 ka. Both age estimates are consistent with a previous estimate for the skeleton, based on TL dating of burnt flint, of 60 ± 4 ka.     

Geography and the study of Third World underdevelopment re-revisited

Progress in development geography has been recently associated with the shift of the perspective on underdevelopment from a right-wing, conservative standpoint to a leftward, liberal-radical position. Marxism often conceals its message in obscure rhetoric with moral overtones on colonialism, slavery, poverty, and underdevelopment. Liberal academics have lamely acceded to the dogmas of this once-assertive ideology. Marxist view have exerted a stimulus on debates, but could not provide answers to the issues of this discipline. The hopes of development and prosperity a generation ago have evaporated only to be replaced by news of economic malaise, the food crisis, and crushing debt. In the late 1980's geographers addressed Third World environmental issues. Blaikie and Brookfield examined environmental deterioration among elements of the population-environment issue. Lewis and Berry dealt with African environments and resources. Watts and Bassett touched on agrarian and political concerns in West Africa. Adams examined water resources development in Nigeria's Sokoto Valley. Bryceson analyzed the political economy of agriculture in Tanzania. Lawson depicted how government policy bore on agriculture and its regional pattern. Crush detailed the absorption of Swazi labor into the South African economy. Dayal described the deficiency diet of agricultural workers in Bangladesh. Others examined Africa's financial disaster, Japan's trade surplus, and the global population crisis. Nevertheless, the dearth of output on and neglect of Third World issues by human geographers awaits positive research publications.     

Population studies

A number of studies have been published about the population change in New Zealand between 1936 and 1986. During this time an intellectual and demographic revolution also took place simultaneously. From 1961 and 1986 the population increased from 2.4 million to 3.3 million mainly because of Polynesian immigration, and the elderly and females also increased. The Maoris became urban. Mortality stayed stable, but fertility declined to below replacement level in the 1980's. Murray Wilson (1988) analyzed the relationship of fertility and mortality in terms of a post-transitional (developed) society like Australia or the European norm of a 2-children family. In his view the youth culture, television, and female aspirations greatly influenced childrearing. Daniel Noin (1988) examined the current state of geographical research on mortality from a methodological point of view finding wide differences in mortality in Quebec, Brussels, Paris, and London attributable to culture. Mosley and Chen (1984) argued that social, cultural, and economic factors to mortality are mediated by individual, household, and community variables. Jones and Moon (1987) dealt with medical geography in the context of the consumption of health care and disease ecology. Momsen and Townsend (1987) addressed the role of women in developing countries stating that gender is socially created and it examined the worldwide subordination of women. In the 1980's a host of other authors have also touched on the subject of the demography of gender analyzing discrimination against female children, unmarried American women, and single parent families. Yet Fahey (1988) stated that gender was only regarded relevant by Australian geographers as a demographic variable.     

THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF URBAN CULTURAL AMENITIES*

ABSTRACT. This paper uses a two-stage hedonic wage approach to derive the benefits from improvement of five cultural amenities. It is argued that the hedonic approach permits valuation of both private and local public aspects of cultural goods since access to the amenity is an essential input in the production of the final service flow. Empirical estimates of willingness to pay suggest price and income elasticities are approximately unity. Lower-bound estimates of marginal benefits for a representative city range from $0.85 million for an additional theater to $57.9 million for an additional zoo facility.