The Role of Spatial Scale in Geomorphic Systems

Geomorphic systems are characterized by numerous, complex interrelationships between system components, and by processes and controls which may operate over different spatial scales. Factors operating at any given spatial scale can be viewed as an abstracted subset of all relationships operating at all scales. The theory that relationships which operate over spatial scales an order of magnitude different are effectively independent of each other is formally stated in terms of abstracted systems. An example is given to illustrate the use of spatial statistics to determine what constitutes a significant spatial scale difference in controls over hydraulic geometry of a desert wash.     

Prehistory of Chihuahua and Sonora,Mexico

The North American Southwest includes much of Mexico as well as the southwestern United States. The area north of the international border has been studied intensively and its culture history is widely known; the portion south of the border has usually been ignored. This essay proposes a new term for the entire culture area, Northern Mexico, and provides a summary of local sequences for two states in the region, Chihuahua and Sonora. The general sequence in the U.S. Southwest (Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Ceramic periods) also holds in northwest Mexico. Preceramic occupations are poorly known. The Ceramic period saw the rise of a number of local cultures, which varied greatly in adaptation and social complexity. The basic culture pattern of Northern Mexico is derived from that of central Mexico, but direct Mesoamerican intervention in the region was apparently limited. While the issue of Mesoamerican-Northern Mexican relationships has dominated scholarly debate for decades, the greater need is to define and explain cultural variability within and between local sequences.     

Evaluating the Environmental Effects of Agricultural Policy

The fact that agricultural policy decisions can have important environmental consequences has become common knowledge among policy scholars and policy practitioners. This relationship is reflected in the increasingly prominent soil conservation and environmental protection components of the 1985 and 1990 Farm Bills. In debating the value of continuing these provisions in the upcoming reauthorization of this legislation, scholars and politicians alike focus almost exclusively on their water quality benefits. However, the soil conservation components of agricultural policy also may affect air quality significantly. Using multivariate transfer function analysis, we find that implementation of the 1985 Farm Bill's Conservation Reserve Program has improved air quality significantly in that area of the country most plagued by agricultural air pollution.     

The Paradox of Narrowing Wage Differentials and Widening Wage Inequality in Mexico

This article examines the parallel phenomena of narrowing wage differentials among major groups of workers and widening wage inequality in general in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s. In trying to understand this paradox, it finds that a human-capital model cannot explain wage determination in the 1990s. Although employees with higher skills and education have enjoyed increasingly higher relative returns to their human capital, much of the variance in wages is not attributable to differences in human capital or rates of return. Discriminatory wage policies have combined with policies of trade liberalization to markedly widen the wage gap between lower-paid and higher-paid workers.     

RELIGIOUS LEADERS AS POLICY ADVOCATES: THE YOUNGSTOWN STEEL MILL CLOSING

Religious organizations have always played a major role in the formulations of public policy. In the case of plant closings and mass unemployment, religious organizations have always assumed a leadership role in comforting and caring for workers and families under distress from job loss. Recently, religious organizations have broken from this traditional role to become advocates and actors in the politics of plant closings, economic development, and worker ownership. In this article, the efforts of religious organizations spawned by the closing of Youngstown Sheet and Tube are examined.     

PUBLIC POLICIES FOR COMMUNITIES IN ECONOMIC CRISIS

The 1980's very likely will see a major restructuring of the nation's and the world economy. In the process industries and communities that were the growth centers of previous decades will experience economic crisis. This restructuring—presaged in this country by the decaying productivity of certain basic manufacturing industries—will mean that a number of places can no longer provide sufficient income or Jobs for their people nor maintain the quality of existing public amenities. As this process of disinvestment goes forward, these communities face the challenge of finding new economic and social roles, reducing the impacts of job losses, and maintaining the quality of life within severe fiscal limits.