Mormons,Civil Authorities and Lutheran Clergy in Finland, 1875–1889

This article explores the reactions of civil authorities and Lutheran clergy to Mormon activity in Finland between the years 1875 and 1889. At this time, Mormonism was introduced to the country by missionaries who were mainly Swedish natives and who proselytized in the Swedish-speaking coastal areas. Although the impact was numerically small in terms of conversions, the Mormon presence was regarded by the civil authorities and the Lutheran clergy as sufficiently serious to warrant action. Civil authorities responded for example by confiscating Mormon literature and issuing warnings and threats of arrest to missionaries. Clergy, acting from a religious perspective and seeking to impede the spread of new religious movements that they regarded as spiritually harmful, interrupted preaching meetings and warned their parishioners against the perceived heresy. Enforced legislation and strong societal opposition was an important reason for the meagre harvest of Mormon converts in 19th-century Finland as opposed to the other Nordic countries.     

Information Technology Impacts on Urban Spatial Structure in the Chicago Region

This paper examines the impact of information technology on urban spatial structure in the Chicago region. Urban scientists are challenged to understand in what ways information technology has influenced the distribution of urban economic activities: concentration or dispersion. Using data collected in the Chicago region, orientation of establishments toward the center is tested to separate the impact of locational features of centers from the impact of information technology. The result reveals that information technology has attraction as well as spillover effect on urban spatial structure and thus concentration rather than dispersion is dominant at a local scale in the Chicago region. It was found, however, that center‐orientedness varies depending on the sector.     

Interrogating Notions of the Powerless Oustee

This article investigates the year leading up to the relocation of Botezari village from Tadoba‐Andhari Tiger Reserve, India, and suggests that it does not accord with the conventional scholarly theory of the powerless oustee. The village's pre‐relocation phase was characterized by a genuine local openness to displacement; a socially‐aware displacement authority; lively NGO and press presence; and a relatively assertive and astute village community. This facilitated constructive dialogue, culminating in meaningful concessions and a perceptible power structure shift, which, I argue, indicates that the received wisdom of inevitable oustee powerlessness may in some instances require qualification, at least in the Indian context. There, the last decade has witnessed some broad changes in regimes of governance and civil society, and a growth of cultures of opposition and struggle from ‘below’. Where such wider structural changes come together with other more locally‐specific favourable factors, cases such as the one described here may materialize, in which the acute powerlessness of the displaced should not be assumed.     

A LONG-RUN INTERPRETATION OF REGIONAL INPUT-OUTPUT ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACT. Regional input-output (I-O) analysis is traditionally motivated by a short-run, extreme Keynesian vision of markets. In this paper we argue that an appropriately formulated, investment-endogenous, I-O system replicates the long-run equilibria of a wide range of regional models, many of which do not operate as I-O systems in the short run. In particular, we use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework to illustrate the impact of an aggregate demand disturbance on an I-O and standard neoclassical model. When run forward over a number of periods, the results from the capacity-constrained neoclassical model asymptotically approach the I-O outcome. We use sensitivity analysis to examine the speed of adjustment of the neo-classical system and investigate barriers to the attainment of the I-O result.     

SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS FOR NEGATIVE EXPONENTIAL DENSITIES A FURTHER ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT Brueckner correctly pointed out that one of the sufficient conditions for negative exponential densities is a unitary price elasticity of the compensated, not the uncompensated, demand for housing. This note shows that the Brueckner condition implies a zero income elasticity of housing demand when income and price elasticities are constrained to be constants. It also derives the utility function that gives rise to negative exponential densities in this case, given that other standard assumptions are satisfied. In light of empirical evidence, justification for the popular negative exponential functional form seems rather weak.