SPATIAL COMPETITION WITH LOCATION-DEPENDENT COSTS*

This paper investigates the behavior of spatially-competitive firms whose costs depend on their locations. Necessary and sufficient conditions for optimum locations are derived. Comparative-statistics analysis of the equilibrium shows that the responses of firms to changes in input and output transport rates depend on the properties of consumer demand curves or are ambiguous in sign.     

REVIEW

Society and the Dance: The Social Anthropology of Process and Performance. Edited by Paul Spencer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985. Pp. x + 214. Price: $A22.00 (paperback), $A66.50 (hardback).     

Book reviews

Australian books

D. C. Dunphy, Cliques, Crowds and Gangs: Group Life of Sydney Adolescents, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 170 + xi, $4.50.

A. A. Congalton, Status and Prestige in Australia, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 160 + xvi, $7.50.

B. R. Davidson, Australia Wet or Dry? The Physical and Economic Limits to the Expansion of Irrigation, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 264 + xiv, S3.60 (paperback), $6.60 (hard cover).

Brian Dickey (ed. and intro.), Politics in New South Wales 1856–1900, Problems in Australian History series, Cassell Australia, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 200 + xv, $3.25.

K. L. Needham, Charles Hawker, Forlib Books, Adelaide, 1969, pp. 165 + xiv, $4.85.

Edward St. John, A Time to Speak, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 280, $1.65.

Egon F. Kunz, Blood and Gold: Hungarians in Australia, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 240, $7.50.

H. Throssell (ed.), Ethnic Minorities in Australia: The Welfare of Aborigines and Migrants, Australian Council of Social Service, Sydney, 1968, pp. 184 + viii, $3.75.

Marnie Bassett, Letters from New Guinea 1921, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 159 + x, $5.50.

Ken Turner, House of Review? The New South Wales Legislative Council, 1934–68, Sydney Studies in Politics, No. 8, Sydney University Press, 1969, pp. 164 + viii, $5.00.

Colin A. Hughes, Images and Issues: The Queensland State Elections of 1963 and 1966, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1969, pp. 364, $7.95.

Non‐Australian Books

Miles Copeland, The Came of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1969, pp. 272, $6.65.

Kenneth N. Waltz, Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics: The American and British Experience, Longmans, London, 1968, pp. 331 +xii, $4.70.     

TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN MANUFACTURING FURTHER EVIDENCE FROM THE STATES*

In this paper, we first develop a measure of total factor productivity (TFP) growth and summarize a source-of-growth analysis for the manufacturing sector of 48 states. As have others, we find little association between TFP growth differentials and output growth differentials for census regions. At the staterather than the regional level, however, we find a positive association between TFP growth and output growth. We use cross-sectional data to estimate the determinants of the variation in TFP growth. Two results emerge that are important for regional policy and for understanding national productivity trends. First, state investments in education and in transportation infrastructure may affect TFP growth. Second, energy price increases in the early 1970s had no differential effects on productivity growth across states. We also explore the determinants of manufacturing output growth and find that TFP growth, demand growth, wage growth, wage levels, and state corporate income tax rates are significant.     

In pursuit of grandeur: France,colonialism and nationalism in Africa and the South Pacific

Robert Aldrich. The French Presence in the South Pacific, 1842–1940. London, Macmillan, 1990. xii + 387 pp. A$49.95 (cloth).

Francis Terry McNamara. France in Black Africa. Washington, National Defence University, 1989. xx + 289 pp. US$8.00 (paper)

David Robie. Blood on their Banner. Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific. Leichhardt, Pluto Press Australia, 1989. 310 pp. A$19.95 (paper).     

Recent Trends in the Internationalisation of the New Zealand Economy

Over the last decade, but particularly since 1984 when the fourth Labour Government came to power, New Zealand has become something of an experimental test bed for the implementation of monetarist ideas of political and economic management. A noticeable outcome of the policy regime recently put in place has been a dramatic ‘opening up’ of the economy as markets are deregulated, protection barriers lowered, and restrictions on movement of capital in and out of the country removed One consequence has been a quantitative and qualitative change in the internationalisation of the economy. This paper traces the nature and extent of this process, and speculates on some policy implications. Four key dimensions of the internationalisation process are surveyed: the expansion of New Zealand capital off-shore, increased levels of foreign investment in New Zealand, the impact of reductions in border protection, and closer economic relations between Australia and New Zealand.