PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONISM AND TAX BURDENS: ARE THEY RELATED?*

One factor that has affected state and local politics since the 1960's is the growth of public sector unionism. Conventional wisdom assumes that the “fist generation” of public unionism has been a major cause of the fiscal problems faced by many state and local governments in the 1970's. State level cross-sectional analysis (1960–71) questions this widely held assumption with respect to the impact of strike activity and collective bargaining legislation on the tax burden across the states.     

In search of Egypt

R. Hrair Dekmejian, Egypt under Nasir: A Study in Political Dynamics, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1971, 368 pp.. $10.00.

Iliya F. Harik, The Political Mobilization of Peasants: A Study of an Egyptian Community, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1974, 309 pp., $12.50.

James B. Mayfield, Rural Politics in Nasser's Egypt: A Quest for Legitimacy, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1971, 288 pp., $10.00.

Amos Perlmutter, Egypt: The Preatorian State, New Brunswick, Transaction Books, 1974, 234 pp., $9.95.     

Constructing Abstract Worlds of the Past

A principal research need in historical geography is the creation of abstract worlds of the past. This study of agricultural settlement patterns in Upper Canada, 1782–1851, assesses the relative rank and sensitivity of land availability, point of entry, land quality, and distance to market in relation to a settler's decision to locate. Settlement patterns for years between 1782 and 1851 are simulated and compared to real world data by means of visual analysis of settlement maps and correlation analysis. For patterns before 1851 the dates of survey are important; by 1851 the effects of this factor are not evident.     

Return to Sangamo Town: Research-Based Investigations at the Charles Broadwell Home Site, 1825–1845

This article discusses the results of research-based excavations at the Charles Broadwell site, located in the extinct town of Sangamo Town in central Illinois. A large cellar feature produced a robust sample of consumer goods dating to circa 1825–1845. Of interest is the archaeological signature of a well-appointed home in this frontier community; the character of mass-produced goods and the visibility of consumer patterning; the visibility of folk goods and their affiliated practices; and the view of abandonment and reclamation processes visible in the fill of the cellar feature.