The Earliest Harbour Installations on Aegean Foreshores

This article aims to raise awareness of a few newly discovered prehistoric harbour facilities in Crete. In particular is an unusual, if not unique, slipway suggesting how large ships were hauled up on to the land at Middle Minoan II Kommos. Also, there are huge, successive structures (Buildings T and P) with long galleries that served as shipsheds inviting close scrutiny, as well as comparison with the later Classical shipsheds sheltering elite warships of the Greek city states. The three newly excavated Minoan buildings fit historically into the beginning of a now extended tradition of Classical shipsheds. The latter are compared here with their prehistoric counterparts and briefly discussed concerning origin, development, and aspects of cultural or historical significance.     

Geographic information system‐based evaluation of spatial accessibility to maternal health facilities in Siaya County,Kenya

Maternal mortality is a major problem in middle‐income and low‐income countries, and the availability and accessibility of healthcare facilities offering safe delivery is important in averting maternal deaths. Siaya County, in Kenya, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country—far more than the national average. This study aimed to evaluate geographic access to health facilities offering delivery services in Siaya County. A mixed‐methods approach incorporating geographic information system analysis and individual data from semi‐structured interviews was used to derive travel time maps to facilities using different travel scenarios: AccessMod5 and ArcGIS were used for these tasks. The derived maps were then linked to georeferenced household survey data in a multilevel logistic regression model in R to predict the probability of expectant women delivering in a health facility. Based on the derived travel times, 26 per cent (13,140) and 67 per cent (32,074) of the estimated 46,332 pregnant women could reach any facility within one and two hours, respectively, while walking with the percentage falling to seven per cent (3,415) and 20 per cent (8,845) when considering referral facilities. Motorised transport significantly increased coverage. The findings revealed that the predicted probability of a pregnant woman delivering in a health facility ranged between 0.14 and 0.86. Significant differences existed in access levels with transportation‐based interventions significantly increasing coverage. The derived maps can help health policy planners identify underserved areas and monitor future reductions in inequalities. This work has theoretical implications for conceptualising healthcare accessibility besides advancing the literature on mixed methodologies.     

THE IMPACT OF RENT CONTROLS IN NON-WALRASIAN MARKETS: AN AGENT-BASED MODELING APPROACH

ABSTRACT.  We use agent-based models to consider rent ceilings in non-Walrasian housing markets, where bargaining between landlord and tenant leads to exchange at a range of prices. In the non-Walrasian setting agents who would be extramarginal in the Walrasian setting frequently are successful in renting, and actually account for a significant share of the units rented. This has several implications. First, rent ceilings above the Walrasian equilibrium price (WEP) can affect the market outcome. Second, rent ceilings that reduce the number of units rented do not necessarily reduce total market surplus. Finally, the distributional impact of rent controls differs from the Walrasian setting.     

CONSTRUCTION COSTS AND THE SUPPLY OF HOUSING STRUCTURE*

ABSTRACT Construction costs account for the bulk of the price of new houses in most markets, but their study has been relatively neglected. We document that there are economically large differences in construction costs across U.S. housing markets. We also estimate a very elastic supply for physical structure; hence, differences in construction activity across markets do not explain the variation in costs. Supply shifters that collectively do account for differences in building costs include the extent of unionization within the construction sector, local wages, local topography in terms of the presence of high hills and mountains, and the local regulatory environment.     

Book reviews

Gunnar Fermann (ed.), International Politics of Climate Change: Key Issues and Critical Actors. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1997. vi + 472pp. US$45.00 (cloth).

Sanjay Chaturvedi, The Polar Regions: A Political Geography. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, in association with the Scott Polar Research Institute, 1996. xviii + 306 pp. £35.00 (cloth).

G.R. Sloan, The Geopolitics of Anglo‐Irish Relations in the Twentieth Century. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1997. xii + 320 pp. £45.00 (cloth).

William T. Tow (ed.), Australian‐American Relations: Looking toward the Next Century. Melbourne: Macmillan, in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1998. xiv + 226 pp. $36.50 (paper).

Paul Earnshaw, Billion Dollar Business: Strategies and Lessons in Australian Arms Acquisitions. Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre, 1998. ix + 165 pp. $20.00 (paper).

Derek McDougall, The International Politics of the New Asia Pacific. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1997. xi + 257 pp. US $55.00 (cloth), US $19.95 (paper).

Nicholas Tarling, Nations and States in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 138 pp. £69.95 (cloth), £24.95 (paper).

David Martin Jones, Political Development in Pacific Asia. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997. x + 235 pp. $34.95 (paper).

Scott Burchill and Andrew Linklater, with Richard Devetak, Matthew Paterson and Jacqui True, Theories of International Relations. London: Macmillan, 1996. 274 pp. $32.95 (paper).

William Maley (ed.), Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. London: C. Hurst, 1998. xiii + 25 3pp. £14.95 (paper).

Nancy Viviani, The Indochinese in Australia 1975–1995: From Burnt Boats to Barbeques. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1996. xvi + 208 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Stuart Harris and Andrew Mack (eds), Asia‐Pacific Security: The Economics‐Politics Nexus. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin, with the Department of International Relations and the Northeast Asia Program, ANU, 1997. vi + 305 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Andrew Elek (ed.), Building an Asia‐Pacific Community. Development Cooperation within APEC. Brisbane: The Foundation for Development Cooperation, 1997. xiii + 118 pp. $20.00 (paper).

Markus Wolf, with Anne McElvoy, Man without a Face. London: Jonathan Cape, 1997. xii + 367 pp. £17.99 (cloth).

Mordechai Bar‐On, In Pursuit of Peace: A History of the Israeli Peace Movement. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996. xix + 470 pp. US $37.50 (cloth), US 24.95 (paper).

Paul Cammack, Capitalism and Democracy in the Third World: The Doctrine for Political Development. London and Washington: Leicester University Press, 1997. 277 pp. £45.00 (cloth), £14.99 (paper).     

Book reviews

Fumio Itoh (ed.), China in the Twenty‐First Century: Politics, Economy, and Society. New York: United Nations University Press, 1997. xiv + 287 pp. $31.15.

David Lee and Christopher Waters (eds), Evatt to Evans: The Labor Tradition in Australian Foreign Policy. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, in association with the Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1997. ix + 257 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Richard Haass, The Reluctant Sheriff: The United States After the Cold War. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1997. 148 pp. US$24.95 (cloth).

Mark McGillivray and Gary Smith (eds), Australia and Asia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997. vii + 248 pp. No price given.

Geoffrey Edwards and Alfred Pijpers (eds), The Politics of European Treaty Reform, The 1996 Intergovernmental Conference and Beyond. London and Washington: Pinter, 1997. viii + 353 pp. No price given (paper).

John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. x + 425 pp. $75.00 (cloth).

Melvyn P. LeMer, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. xvii + 689 pp. US$25.00 (cloth).

Donatella Delia Porta and Yves Meny (eds), Democracy and Corruption in Europe. London: Pinter, 1997. viii + 208 pp. £45.00 (cloth), £13.99 (paper).

Rodney Gouttman, Bondi in the Sinai: Australia, the MFO and the Politics of Participation. Maryland: University of America, 1996. xiii + 202pp. US$29.50 (cloth).

James Cotton and John Ravenhill (eds), Seeking Asian Engagement: Australia in World Affairs, 1991–95. Melbourne: Oxford University Press with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 1997. xiv + 362 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Godfrey Linge and Doug Porter (eds), No Place for Borders: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Development in Asia and the Pacific. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1997. xxii+ 191 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Aharon Levran, Israeli Strategy After Desert Storm: Lessons of the Second Gulf War. London: Frank Cass, 1997. ix+ 169 pp. £35.00 (cloth), £17.50 (paper).

Daniel Fineman, A Special Friendship: The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947–1958. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1997. viii + 357 pp. $70.00 (cloth).

The United Nations and Rwanda, 1993–1996. United Nations Blue Book Series, Volume X. New York: Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1996. 750 pp. US$29.95 (paper).

Edmond Keller and Donald Rothchild (eds), Africa in the New International Order: Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1996. ix + 253 pp. US$49.95 (cloth), US$19.95 (paper).