CASH TRANSFERS AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN CHILE*

ABSTRACT The headcount ratio in Chile has declined from 40 percent to 14 percent since 1987. However, most analysis of this reduction uses national and regional poverty statistics. In contrast, we employ poverty mapping methodologies to find heterogeneity in the effectiveness of transfers across counties. To better understand this variation, we explore the roles of characteristics of the local population, structural features of the county, and geography. The greatest reductions in poverty occur in rural households, yet population characteristics and geography are also important. These findings suggest that targeting at low levels of aggregation can deliver further reductions in poverty.     

Notes from the Iberian Algae Belt

In this paper, we explore regional innovation in the use of varieties of algae as inputs to industrial processes. It is important to understand that algae are one of nature's most bountiful products, with an almost infinite variety of applications. Algae have received prominence in the research literature because of the strong evidence that they can make a major contribution to the production and—importantly—storage of renewable energy. Following the introduction to this paper, Section 2 reviews the nature and application of algae in two main aspects of clean energy production: first as biogasolene or biodiesel; second as large-scale storage batteries for electricity. The latter is particularly important as one classic deficiency of electricity is the difficulty in storing it for lengthy periods other than in short-life batteries. However (Section 3), there are other uses for algae, ranging from aquaculture to medicine and the production of cosmetics. In the southwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula, between Faro in Portugal through Huelva to Cadiz in Spain, is a significant research and commercial algae production zone. The paper describes the key system elements in play in this trans-border innovation network and considers prospects for new path creation towards biofuels, the main research and application centres for which are in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Conclusions and recommendations for policy action are then drawn.     

THE FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA OF THE USSR

A set of contemporary and increasingly urgent environmental problems in the USSR are surveyed, emerging as a result of continued development and technological change and mandating, in effect, a new environmental agenda. Analysis of specific problems reveals ways in which the new agenda must differ from the old: it must be more ecologically based, more comprehensive, and more global in scope. A concluding section examines how this agenda appears to be evolving over time, and identifies components which will be essential in order for it to effectively address the environmental challenges of the next century.     

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AND URBAN REVITALIZATION

Municipal governments around the globe increasingly turn to museums, performing arts centers, arts districts, and other cultural activities to promote and revitalize their cities. While a significant body of literature examines revitalization strategies that focus primarily around entertainment and commerce, the empirical body of research that specifically investigates the role of cultural strategies in urban redevelopment is still growing. This paper first discusses the development of municipal cultural strategies in the United States, and draws from the literature to outline the characteristics of three different models of such strategies. Second, the paper presents findings from a national survey distributed to municipal agencies involved in the promotion and development of cultural activities and facilities in large and medium‐sized US cities. The survey data indicate that although most agencies are guided by a varied set of goals, entrepreneurial objectives continue to guide the development and support of cultural activities in most cities.     

“Folklore” and “popular religion” in Britain during the middle ages

This article explores whether the bi‐polar model of “elite” and “folk” or “popular religion” can be maintained for the medieval period. In fact, there were many strands to medieval religious culture, and people from a variety of backgrounds participated at a variety of levels on different occasions. Using a variety of chronicles and other sources, rather than the more dogmatic penitentials and canon law texts usually cited, this article argues that historians should make room for “local religious culture” in their taxonomies, in which both elites (including clerics) and people could participate.     

Missionaries of the Millennium: Israelite Preachers in the English‐Speaking World, 1823–1863

This article recovers the global history of the English millennial religion of Southcottianism. After Joanna Southcott died in 1814, leaving thousands of English followers still expecting the millennium that she prophesied, elements of her movement generated further prophets and a dynamic missionary division known as “Israelite Preachers.” From the 1820s onwards, these preachers took Southcott's ideas and new doctrines developed by her successor, John Wroe, throughout the British Isles, then the English‐speaking world, most notably Australia and North America. Drawing mission approaches (and recruits) from revivalist dissent, Israelite preachers forged first a Britain‐wide sect, then a global movement which followed the British settler diaspora and competed with rival American millennialisms. The spread of Southcottianism is a forgotten episode in the story of nineteenth‐century British colonial missions, and an argument for examining millennial movements beside more mainstream Christianity.