Change and Inertia on the Frontier: Archaeology at the Paraje de San Diego, Camino Real, in Southern New Mexico

Archaeological testing was conducted at the Paraje de San Diego, a late sixteenth- through nineteenth-century camp site on the Camino Real 30 mi north of Las Cruces. The site is well preserved, though the site structure is complex, reflecting repeated, short-term occupation. The archaeological record (especially the many, diverse ceramics to be recovered) reflects certain changing conditions in southern New Mexico and elsewhere over time. However, the record also indicates a pervasive resistance to development. This resistance, which might be a widespread frontier phenomenon, is called structural interia.     

The Political Economy of Environmental Policy Reform in Latin America

Many parts of the world are threatened with environmental damage and degradation, affecting both the natural resources and the economy of the area. This article analyses the factors affecting the likelihood of different environmental policy reforms in Latin America, with particular emphasis on: the strengths and weaknesses of different groups which promote such reforms; the degree to which the reforms are compatible with the region's current economic policies; and how the type of political regime affects these issues. It reaches the conclusion that, although there has been progress in recent years, the possibility of carrying out far-reaching reforms which could substantially reduce pollution and resource depletion has been limited by: 1) the difficulties involved in linking environmental issues with concerns for social justice; 2) economic policies which promote the exploitation of natural resources and labour and weaken the public sector; and 3) the great influence over regional governments of groups with vested interests in continuing environmentally destructive activities.     

Rethinking State Rail Policy

In the last two decades, many states established rail promotion programs in an effort to limit the contraction of their railroad networks. Now federal funds for rail projects are nearly exhausted, and states must decide whether to expand considerably their levels of internal funding for short line investments. Such a decision requires a careful articulation of policy goals, combined with sound cost-benefit techniques. Research shows, however, that states often fail to evaluate the full range of costs and benefits when considering rail investments. Instead, the economic development benefits of local rail service frequently are overstated, while the potential for rail investments to meet broader transportation planning needs is neglected. This paper evaluates the rationale behind state intervention in the rail industry, discusses the tendency of states to focus on economic development to the exclusion of other benefit categories, and presents summary results from an analysis of an investment project in North Carolina. The paper suggests that state funding for rail projects is more likely to be justified based on intermodal substitution benefits generated by local rail service, rather than the railroads' potential to increase jobs.     

Sustainable transport planning and the Dublin transportation initiative

The concept of sustainability has become a significant consideration in planning in Europe and the US. At both the international and the national level, urban planners and policymakers have developed a package of policies designed to produce sustainable growth and development. In transport, this has been interpreted to mean that we need to increase accessibility while we reduce mobility by shifting trips from automobile to walking, bicycle or public transport modes. Using this criteria, the latest Dublin transport plan has been found to be only partially effective. Similar to many American transport plans, the DTI has opted for the infrastructure‐related sustainability policies and avoided the less popular economic disincentives.     

Neo-Corporatism and Environmental Policy

The ecologically sustainable development (ESD) process represented a significant attempt by the Commonwealth Government to involve pro-environment and pro-development protagonists in a major environmental consultative forum. The government's inclusion of peak interest organisations into an exclusive consultation process resembles a neo-corporatist approach to interest intermediation. However, neo-corporatist theory has been applied almost exclusively to economic policy areas and interest organisations representing capital, labour and the state. Analysing the involvement of select environmental organisations in the ESD process, this paper argues that neo-corporatist theory can be extended to include non-production-based interest organisations. The implications of environmental organisation participation in a neo-corporatist structure are examined, including a discussion of the tension between neo-corporatist and new social movement theories.     

SPATIAL DEPENDENCY OF SEGREGATION INDICES

A few researchers have mentioned the scale sensitivity of segregation index, D. In this paper, I discuss analytically and empirically why using large enumeration areal units usually results in low segregation measures, and using small areal units produces relatively high segregation measures. The discussion is also applicable to the multi-group variant of D. A major finding is that if people of the same ethnic groups are positively spatially auto-correlated, increasing the size of areal units of analysis may not lower D initially, because only people of the same group are added. But enlarging the areal units subsequently may include population of other ethnic groups, and therefore could lower D. However, if the boundaries of the larger enumeration units are drawn to include only population of the same group, then D will not change significantly. Both the spatial autocorrelation of ethnic group population and zonal pattern are critical factors in determining the scale sensitivity of D.     

Gravity-Type Interactive Markov Models—Part II: Lyapunov Stability of Steady States

In Part I of this paper (Smith and Hsieh, 1997) a programming formulation of steady states was developed for gravity-type interactive Markov chains in terms of their associated spatial-flow chains. These results are here applied to analyze the stability properties of interactive Markov chains. In particular, the objective function for this programming formulation is shown to constitute a Lyapunov function for an appropriately defined continuous-time version of spatial-flow chains. The Lyapunov stability properties of these spatial flows are then shown to yield corresponding stability properties for the continuous-time versions of interactive Markov chains. In particular, these processes always exhibit global convergence to steady states. Finally, it is shown that when steady states are unique, these convergence results are inherited by those interactive Markov chains that are 'sufficiently close' to their continuous-time versions.