Spatial Variations in Straight- and Split-ticket Voting and the Role of Constituency Campaigning at New Zealand’s First Two MMP Elections: Individual-level Tests

Elections held under the MMP system provide opportunities for substantial split-ticket voting, whereby electors support one party in the list contest but another in the constituency contests. At New Zealand's first two elections using this system—in 1996 and 1999—37% and 35% of the voters, respectively, employed a split-ticket strategy. Estimates of the amount of splitting in each constituency between each pair of parties—in a seven-party system on each occasion—have allowed the successful testing of hypotheses relating its volume to party prospects in the constituencies and the amount of local campaigning. These findings are replicated in comparable analyses at the individual scale using survey data.     

Taking risks in regions: the geographical anatomy of Europe's emerging venture capital market

Over the past 25 years, the USA has pioneered a new technologicalrevolution, based on large numbers of new small enterprises,financed by a dynamic venture (risk) capital market. The EuropeanUnion, meanwhile, has lagged behind in this sector of economicactivity, and compared to the US innovative small and mediumenterprises appear to find it more difficult to get startedand grow. At a time when regional and local banking systems– traditionally major sources of capital for small andmedium sized enterprises across Europe – are undergoingintense reorganisation and restructuring, the European Commissionconsiders the development of a substantial risk capital marketto be a key condition for closing the ‘enterprise gap’with the US. While the venture capital industry is much lessdeveloped in Europe than it is in the US, nevertheless it hasrecently experienced a marked increase in activity. But whereasthe European Commission argues that venture capital activityneeds to be much more regionally clustered if it is to emulatethe US experience, the OECD and some EU member states have arguedfor a more even regional distribution. The aim of the paperis to chart the growth and geographical anatomy of the emergingEuropean venture capital market, and to examine its spatialdevelopment and regional implications in the context of thesesomewhat opposing views.     

HOW MUCH CHILD SUPPORT CAN ABSENT FATHERS PAY?

A variety of empirical studies show that custodial mothers and children are worse off after separation and divorce than absent fathers. Many of these mothers and children live in poverty and many more are above the poverty line but below median family income. Since 1974 the U.S. has had a federal-state program of Child Support Enforcement, but absent fathers still have a poor record of paying child support. To estimate how much money absent fathers could be expected to pay in child support, we used income data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Census Bureau data on the number of custodial mothers and children with living absent fathers, and two systems for determining how much money absent fathers should pay in child support. Using these sources, we estimate that absent fathers could pay $26.6 billion in child support–about 3.6 times as much as they actually paid in 1984. Most of this child support money would come from upper-income families. We conclude that absent fathers could substantially augment the financial security of custodial mothers and their children, and that the U.S. should therefore pursue a vigorous program of Child Support Enforcement.     

Book reviews

Desmond Ball (ed.). Australia and the World: Prologue and Prospects. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1990. xxxvi + 471 pp. A$20.00 (paper).

Ralph Pettman. International Politics: Balance of Power, Balance of Productivity, Balance of Ideologies. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1991. x + 252 pp. A$17.99 (paper).

Roger E. Kanet and Edward A. Kolodziej (eds.). The Cold War as Cooperation: Superpower Cooperation in Regional Conflict Management. London: Macmillan, 1991. xv + 439 pp. A$126.00 (hardcover).

Richard J. Krickus. The Superpowers in Crisis: Implications of Domestic Discord. Washington and Sydney: Pergamon‐Brassey's, 1987. xiii + 236 pp. £32.00 (hardcover), £14.95 (paper).

Khosrow Fatemi (ed.). Selected Readings in International Trade. New York and London: Taylor and Francis, 1991. vi + 179 pp. £21.00.

Richard D. Robinson (ed.). The International Communication of Technology: A Book of Readings. New York, Taylor & Francis, 1991. viii + 227 pp. £35.

Allan Webster and John Dunning (eds.). Structural Change in the World Economy. London: Routledge, 1990. xiii + 244 pp. A$105.00 (hardcover).

Graeme Cheeseman and St John Kettle (eds.). The New Australian Militarism: Undermining Our Future Stability. Sydney: Pluto Press, 1990. 231 pp. $14.95 (paper).

Christine Jennett and Randal G. Stewart (eds.). Hawke and Australian Public Policy. Melbourne, Macmillan, 1990. x + 422 pp. A$29.95 (paper).

Hugh V. Emy and Owen E. Hughes. Australian Politics: Realities in Conflict, 2nd edition. South Melbourne, Macmillan, 1991. ix + 577 pp. $34.95 (paper), $69.95 (hardcover).

Rosemary Whip and Colin A. Hughes (eds.). Political Crossroads: The 1989 Queensland Election. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1991. xv + 280 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Alan Burnett with Thomas‐Durell Young and Christine Wilson (eds.). The ANZUS Documents. Canberra Studies in World Affairs no. 28. Canberra: Australian National University, Department of International Relations, 1991. 315 pp. A$20.00 (paper).

Frank Donini. Anzus in Revision. Alabama: Air University Press, Maxwell Airforce Base, 1991. xvi + 203 pp. n.p.g.

Patrick Brogan. Eastern Europe, 1939–1989: The Fifty Year War. London: Bloomsbury, 1990. 281 pp. A$24.95 (paper).

Robert Miller. Soviet Foreign Policy Today: Gorbachev and the New Political Thinking. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1991. 220 pp. A$17.95 (paper).

Paul Craig Roberts. Alienation and the Soviet Economy. The Collapse of the Socialist Era. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1990. xxvi + 123 pp. Second Edition. US$14.95 (paper) US$29.95 (hardcover).

Olga A. Narkiewicz. The End of the Bolshevik Dream. Western European Communist Parties in the Late Twentieth Century. London, Routledge, 1990. vi + 196 pp. A$89.95 (hard cover).

John Girling (ed.). Human Rights in the Asia‐Pacific Region. Canberra Studies in World Affairs no. 29. Canberra: Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 1991. vi + 111 pp. A$15.00 (paper).

Lea Jellinek. The Wheel of Fortune: The Histoty of a Poor Community in Jakarta. Sydney: Allen & Unwin ASAA Southeast Asia Publications Series, xxviii + 214 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Anton Lucas. One Soul One Struggle. Region and Revolution in Indonesia. Sydney. Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with Allen and Unwin, 1991. xxvi + 301 pp. including maps and plates. A$24.95 (paper).

Robert Cribb. Gangsters and Revolutionaries: The Jakarta People's Militia and the Indonesian Revolution 1945–1949. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, Asian Studies Association of Australia, Southeast Asian Publications Series, no. 20, 1991. xii + 222 pp. Maps, photographs, index, bibliography. A$24.95 (paper).

Richard Tanter and Kenneth Young (eds.). The Politics of Middle Class Indonesia. Clayton: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1990. ii + 187 pp. No price given (paper).

Andrew MacIntyre. Business and Politics in Indonesia. Southeast Asia Publications Series No. 21. North Sydney: Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with Allen and Unwin, 1991. xv + 282 pp., including index. $24.95 (paper).

Humphrey McQueen. Japan to the Rescue. William Heinemann Australia, 1991. 345 pp., index, bibliography. A$24.95 (paper).

Masaya Shiraishi. Japanese Relations with Vietnam: 1951–1987. Ithaca: Southeast Asian Program, Cornell University, 1990. ix + 164 pp. US$12.00

Henry P. Frei. Japan's Southward Advance and Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1991. xvii + 303 pp. A$34.95 (hardcover).

Malama Meleisea. Making of Modem Samoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the Modem History of Western Samoa. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987. xi + 280 pp. US$12.00 (paper).

Malama Meleisea (ed.). Lagaga. A Short History of Modem Samoa. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987. xx + 225 pp. US$12.00 (paper).

Dora Alves (ed.). Cooperative Security in the Pacific Basin: The 1988 Pacific Symposium. Washington: National Defense University Press, 1990. 346 pp. n.p.g.

Dora Alves (ed.). Change, Interdependence and Security in the Pacific Basin: The 1990 Pacific Symposium. Washington: National Defense University Press, 1991. 395 pp. n.p.g.

Jonathan Unger (ed.). The Pro‐Democracy Protests in China: Reports from the Provinces. Armonk, NY, M.E. Sharpe, 1991. xii + 239 pp., map, index. US$15.95 (paper), US$35.00 (hardcover).

Ruth Cherrington. China's Students: The Struggle for Democracy. London: Routledge, 1991. xi + 239 pp. A$89.95 (hardcover).     

Analysing recent events in Burma

Bertil Lintner. Outrage. Burma's Struggle for Democracy. London and Bangkok: White Lotus, 1990. 208 pp. £12.50 (paper).

Bertil Lintner. Land of Jade. A Journey through Insurgent Burma. Edinburgh: Kiscadale Publishers and Bangkok: White Lotus, 1990. xvii +315 pp. £12.50 (paper).

Bertil Lintner. The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1990. xii + 111 pp. $US10.00 (paper).

Bertil Lintner. Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Unfinished Renaissance. Clayton: Monash University, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Working Paper 64, 1990. 28 pp. $A6.00.

Josef Silverstein (ed.). Independent Burma at Forty Years: Six Assessments. Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1989. 112 pp. $US 10.00 (paper).

U Maung Maung. Burmese Nationalist Movements 1940–1948. Edinburgh: Kiscadale Publications, 1990. xvii + 395 pp. £36.00 (cloth), £15.50 (paper).

Andrew Selth. Death of a Hero: the U Thant Disturbances in Burma, December 1974. Nathan: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australia‐Asia Paper 49, 1989. 32 pp. $A4.00.

Maya Than and Joseph L.H. Tan (eds.). Myanmar Dilemmas and Options. The Challenge of Economic Transition in the 1990s. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990. 300 pp. $S49.50 (cloth), $S39.50 (paper).     

RECESSIONARY SHOCKS AND REGIONAL EMPLOYMENT: EVIDENCE ON THE RESILIENCE OF U.K. REGIONS*

ABSTRACT We analyze the resilience of U.K. regions to employment shocks. Two basic notions of resilience are distinguished. With engineering resilience, there is an underlying stable growth path to which a regional economy rebounds following a shock. With ecological resilience, shocks can permanently affect the growth path of the regional economy. Our data set consists of quarterly employment series for 12 U.K. regions (NUTS I) for the period 1971–2010. Using a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model specification, we test for the relevance of (engineering) resilience of U.K. regional employment to the four recessionary shocks in our sample. It turns out that U.K. regions do indeed differ in their resilience, but that these differences mainly concern the initial resistance to these shocks and not so much the recovery stage. The SUR model does not allow shocks to have permanent effects and it also does not take the possibility of time differentiated shock spillovers between the 12 regions into account. To this end, we also estimate a vector error‐correction model (VECM) specification where employment shocks can have permanent effects and where also interregional employment linkages are included. We find that employment shocks typically have permanent effects when it concerns the own‐region effects. Permanent effects can also be found for the impact on other regions but the interregional effects are typically only significant for nearby regions.