THE PUBLIC LIFE OF ECONOMIC INCENTIVES

Many current proposals for policy reform call for the use of economic incentives. The growing application of economic incentives in a number of policy areas necessitates continuing critical examination of the claims for and the criticisms of their use. Early empirical evidence on the implementation of incentive schemes serves to shed light on the validity of some of the supporting and opposing arguments. By continuing the assessment of the viability of economic incentives, this study reveals that incentive alternatives face obstacles to use stemming from implementation problems, but political and philosophical issues pose greater threats. Nevertheless, the use of incentives can best be defended on political and moral grounds. Political resistance can be overcome and incentives can be employed effectively, if incentive schemes are understood as fostering one form of social interaction in a mixed regime.     

EVALUATION OF THE MANGANESE ESR METHOD OF MARBLE CHARACTERIZATION

Results suggest that ESR studies of Mn⁺² in marble can provide an excellent discriminator for the determination of marble provenance. In comparison with other methods of quantitative analysis for manganese such as AA or NAA, the ESR method determines only Mn⁺² rather than total Mn, is inexpensive and rapid with no chemical preparation required, and does not consume the sample.     

GAS LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF FATTY ACIDS IN FOOD RESIDUES FROM CERAMICS FOUND IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CAPE,SOUTH AFRICA

Gas liquid chromatography was used to analyse residues adhering to the inside of excavated potsherds from dated South African sites. The results suggested marine animal fat, possibly seal, had been cooked in the vessels. Fat of modern seals was baked and also analysed as a control sample. This gave similar results. The importance of seals in the prehistoric diet of the Southwestern Cape is supported by a large number of seal bones in the associated faunal material.     

The Spatial Hierarchical Principle in the Evolution of Modern Local Government in Scotland

During the 7970s the structure of local government in Scotland was transformed from a traditional system based on counties and burghs to a nested spatial hierarchy of regions and districts. This reform represents the last stage of an evolutionary process, uniting the formerly separate rural and urban hierarchies of local government and administration. The city region was taken to be the guiding principle for reform, and the new regions were identified mainly on the basis of town hinterlands. Throughout all reforms there has been a tendency to concentrate local government functions at higher levels of authority.
Pendant les années 1970 la structure du gouvernement urbain et rural en Ecosse fut transformeé d'un système traditionnel de comptés et bourgs en une hiérarchie spatiale de régions et de districts. Une réforme récente qui unifie pour la première fois les échelons ruraux et urbains des administrations et des gouvernements locaux, représente la phase ultime d'une évolution vers cette hiérarchie. Cette réforme a été guidée par l'utilisation de la zone d'influence urbaine comme unité de base, et les nouvelles régions ont été identifiées surtout sur la base des aires tributaires des villes. Au cours des réformes il y avait une tendance è concentrer les fonctions du gouvernement local è des niveaux supérieurs d'autorité.     

IDLE LAND IN GRENADA: A REVIEW OF ITS CAUSES AND THE PRG'S APPROACH TO REDUCING THE PROBLEM

A chronic feature of Caribbean agriculture is the extent to which potential arable land lies idle. Some of this region's densely populated islands have more than one-third of their farmland in such a condition. Yet their populations have relied increasingly upon imported food for sustenance. During the 1970s this paradoxical situation was exemplified by Grenada, where possibly as much as 45 per cent of its farmland lay abandoned and imported food accounted for one-third of the national import bill. This paper first surveys the underlying factors accounting for idle land in this nation and then outlines the programs pursued by the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) to reduce waste of this basic resource and, thereby, to effect a more stable economy.
Dans la scène agraire caraibe on trouve constamment des terres dormantes qui pourraient ětre cultivées. Quelques les, des plus fortement peuplées de la région, ont plus du tiers de leurs terres ambles dans une telle condition. Toutefois, leurs habitants se fient de plus en plus sur la nourriture importée pour se soutenir. Cette situation paradoxale s'illustre par la Grenade, des années soixante-dix, où jusqu'a 45 pour-cent du terroir aurait été abandonné, en méme que la nourriture importée se payait du tiers du budget disponible pour défrayer toutes les importations requises dans ľle. Cette communication souligne ďabord les facteurs qui ont Créé cette situation en Grenade, et présente ensuite les grandes lignes des programmes adoptés, par le gouvernement révolutionnaire du peuple, pour couiger cette situation et pour diriger ľle vers une économie plus stable qu'au paravant.