A Synthesis of Aggregation Methods for Multifacility Location Problems: Strategies for Containing Error

When solving a location problem using aggregated units to represent demand, it is well known that the process of aggregation introduces error. Research has focussed on individual components of error, with little work on identifying and controlling total error. We provide a focussed review of some of this literature and suggest a strategy for controlling total error. Consideration of alternative criteria for evaluating aggregation schemes shows that the method selected should be compatible with the objectives of the analyses in which it is used. Experiments are described that show that two different measures of error are related in a nonlinear way to the number of aggregate demand points (q), for any value of the number of facilities (p). We focus on the parameter q/p and show that it is critical for determining the expected severity of the error. Many practical implementations of location algorithms operate within the range of q/p where the rate of change of error with respect to q/p is highest.     

Voices from the Top of the Pile: Elite Perceptions of Poverty and the Poor in the Philippines

How do elites perceive poverty and the poor? In this article, we present the results of interviews with eighty members of the Filipino elite, undertaken as part of a larger six‐country study of elite perceptions of poverty and the poor. Poverty, we argue, is a highly subjective phenomenon. People's perceptions of poverty, of who is and who is not poor, of how poverty affects them and others, and of how poverty can be effectively tackled, vary enormously between different types of people (defined in terms of class, status, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, gender or a myriad of other social identities). Wherever people cohere as groups, classes or other social constructs, perceptions of poverty are aggregated and refined and then embedded in social dynamics. The study of elite perceptions of poverty and the poor, we conclude, can both add to our understanding of the social dynamics of poverty and inequality and inform pro‐poor public policy.     

Book reviews

AUSTRALIA IN NEW GUINEA. L. P. Mair. Melbourne University Press, 1970 (2nd ed.). 254 pp. $6.75 hard cover.

DENIS HEALEY AND THE POLICIES OF POWER. Geoffrey Williams and Bruce Reed. Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd., London, 1971. 286 pp. £3.50 stg.

THE PHILIPPINES AND TAIWAN: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND TRADE POLICIES. John H. Power, Gerardo P. Sicat and Mo‐Huang Hsing. Oxford University Press for the Development Centre, OECD, 1971. 324 pp. $7.00 (Paper).

TRADE AND GROWTH IN THE PHILIPPINES. AN OPEN DUAL ECONOMY. George 1. Hicks and Geoffrey McNicoll. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1971. xi, 244 pp. US.$8.50.

THE NEW CHINA. J. A. Johnston and Maslyn Williams (ed.). A. H. & A. W. Reed, Sydney, 1971. 127 pp.

STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY: SUNG CHIAO‐JEN AND THE 1911 CHINESE REVOLUTION. K. S. Liew. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1971. 260 pp. $7.50.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDEPENDENT FIJI. E. K. Fisk. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1970. 89 pp. $1.95 paper.

THE MAKING OF INDIA'S FOREIGN POLICY: DETERMINANTS, INSTITUTIONS, PROCESSES, PERSONALITIES. J. Bandyopadhyaya. Allied Publishers, Bombay, 1970, xi, 286 pp. Rs 20.

SOVIET RELATIONS WITH LATIN AMERICA, 1918–68. Stephen Clissold (ed.). Oxford University Press, 1970. 313 pp. $11.60.

OIL AND THE ROUMANIAN STATE. Maurice Pearton. Oxford University Press, 1971. 361 pp. $12.50.

BRASSEY'S ANNUAL: DEFENCE AND THE ARMED FORCES 1971. Major‐General J. L. Moulton (ed.). William Clowes and Sons Ltd., London, 1971. 517 pp. £5.00 (stg.)

THE TEMPEST WITHIN. AN ACCOUNT OF EAST PAKISTAN. Dom Moraes. Vikas Publications, Delhi, 1971. x, 103 pp. Rs. 12.50.

POLITICS IN A PLURAL SOCIETY. A STUDY OF NON‐COMMUNAL POLITICAL PARTIES IN WEST MALAYSIA. R. K. Vasil. Oxford University Press for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Kuala Lumpur, 1971. 338 pp. $6.00 paper, $11.20 hard cover.

THE STRUGGLE OF ISLAM IN MODERN INDONESIA. B. J. Boland. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971. 283 pp. 28 guilders.

ZIONISM, ISRAEL AND ASIAN NATIONALISM. G. H. Jansen. The Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut, 1971. xv, 347 pp. US$2.00 Paperback.

WESTERN ECONOMICS IN NON‐WESTERN ECONOMIES. L. G. Reynolds. University of Western Australia Press, 1970. 37 pp. $1.00.

THE INDIGENT RICH: A THEORY OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM IN A KEYNESIAN SYSTEM. J W. C. Cumes. Pergamon Press, Australia, 1971. 218 pp. $5.95.     

Remote Runways: Air Transport and Distance in Tonga

Air transport brings areas 'closer together'. But it leaves some places relatively more isolated than when all depended on other modes of transport. Improved technology accentuates this tendency. Where traffic is low and distance long, the maintenance of links is costly. These issues are examined at both international and national scales in the case of Tonga, using several measures of distance and relative accessibility.