Review

Fiji Before the Storm: Elections and the Politics of Development Edited by Brij V. Lal. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press at the Australian National University. 2000. Pp. xii + 205. Price: $A32.     

The Conservatives' Search for a Middle Way in Housing, 1951-64

The Conservatives returned to power in 1951, determined to createa property-owning democracy by freeing the market in land andhousing. But freeing the market proved to be no panacea andaroused much criticism. Most important, public housing continuedto expand as the major alternative to private home ownership,in part because the supply of private rented housing declinedprecipitously. Dismayed at this situation, the Conservativesbecame increasingly concerned to find an affordable alternativeto the continued expansion of public housing. To achieve thisgoal, they attempted to foster novel types of private ownershipin the form of societies that could provide either some sortof co-operative housing or rental housing at cost. Ultimately,these attempts to create a middle way in housing failed becausethey ignored the realities of the property market.     

TRANSPORT-RELATED FRINGE BENEFITS: IMPLICATIONS FOR MOVING AND THE JOURNEY TO WORK

ABSTRACT.  Firms offer compensation not only through wages, but also offer transport-related fringe benefits such as transport benefits (company cars, travel, and parking benefits) and relocation benefits to job applicants. We argue that these benefits are not randomly offered to employees, but depend on the job applicants' commuting costs. The firms' choice between these benefits affects the workers' incentive to move their residence closer to the workplace. Using information on firms' recruitment behavior in the United Kingdom, this paper shows empirically that the applicants' journey-to-work time induces firms to offer these benefits to job applicants. The implications of transport-related fringe benefits for commuting and relocation are found to be rather distinct. Transport benefits make employees less sensitive to the costs of commuting, whereas relocation benefits induce employees to move closer to the workplace.     

Regionalkreise in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Abstrakt Das Thema Regionalisierung der Verwaltung wird seit der Gebietsreform in den sechziger Jahren in Wissenschaft, Politik und Praxis debattiert. W?hrend es für die st?dtischen Verdichtungsr?ume immer wieder zu sehr unterschiedlichen Einzell?sungen gekommen ist – zu denken w?re etwa an den Stadtverband Saarbrücken, den Planungsverband Ballungsraum Frankfurt/Rhein-Main, den Verband Region Stuttgart oder die Region Hannover –, schien die fl?chendeckende Regionalisierung der Verwaltung in einem Land kaum durchsetzbar. Nun geht ausgerechnet das am dünnsten besiedelte Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern diesen Weg: Die zw?lf Landkreise und die sechs kreisfreien St?dte werden durch fünf Regionalkreise ersetzt.