Population density and the accuracy of the land valuations in the 1798 federal direct tax

Abstract

The peculiar operation of the 1798 federal direct tax has led scholars to question whether tax officials reported the land valuations from their districts faithfully. Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson argue that southern tax assessors systemically under reported the value of southern real estate, and they adjust their income estimates to account for the likelihood of corruption. This paper affirms the reliability of the tax returns by demonstrating that population density, rather than corruption or lax enforcement, can explain nearly all of the variation between the assessment districts. Accepting the tax valuations as accurate would lower Lindert and Williamson’s income estimates, imply slower growth rate between 1774 and 1800, and suggest a higher growth rate between 1800 and 1850.     

Developing a Synthetic Index of Land Vulnerability to Drought and Desertification

This paper develops an index of the vulnerability of land to drought and desertification (LVI) for Italy. The index takes into account changes in climate, land use, vegetation cover, soil properties, and population during the period 1990–2000. The LVI was built up through a multivariate approach aimed at assessing the importance of the various indicators included in the synthetic index. Increasing land vulnerability was observed during this time, especially in dry areas of the southern regions. This is interpreted as a consequence of land management practices, agricultural intensification, population pressure, and bio-physical degradation. The LVI can be used in an integrated, decision-support system to evaluate the impact of mitigation policies in rural environments.     

ENGINEERING SPATIAL FIXES: RELATIONAL SPATIAL PRACTICES,STRATEGIC‐TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FINNISH SCIENCE‐TECHNOLOGY DISTRICT

It can be argued that the relational approach, and especially the so‐called relational economic geography, would benefit from deeper engagement with the practical and strategic dimensions of spatial relations. The article proposes a notion of engineering spatial fix as a way to conceptualize these dimensions. The idea is to widen the conceptual sphere of relationality from spontaneous ties or abstract networked power effects towards relational spatial practices. Theoretically, the article aims to bridge the strategic‐relational and the network‐topological approaches through a stylized meso‐level practice‐oriented approach. It is suggested that in economic geography, relations can be grasped through two basic perspectives: relations as analytical lenses and relations as spatial practices. The article proposes that the relational spatial practices can be divided into two dimensions: topological and strategic. The article presents a case study of a science‐technology district of Turku in 1985–2001, which fleshes out the theoretical elaborations. In the process, the relational concept of synergy is utilized as a context‐specific strategic resource as the district evolves from an initial separate building to a distinct and materialized geographical structure.     

旅游经济影响评估——线性规划在旅游决策中的运用

本文向旅游规划者提供线性规划模型,将其应用到国家级自然风景区--天柱山所在地潜山县,以此研究旅游发展对经济的影响,并建立一个基准水平作为比较的基础.     

中国行政区划改革的内卷化风险及其生成机制

透过对行政区划调整现象与文献的梳理，发现中国部分政区有“改而不变”的倾向，本文借用“内卷化”的概念对这种现象及其效应进行探讨，指出政区改革在行政层级、运行逻辑、空间关系、职能配置等方面都存在着“内卷化”隐忧。在此基础上，通过对国家结构、行政区划的资源属性和行政区经济之间关联的分析，阐释了政区改革内卷化的生成机制，认为行政区划配置资源的功能可能是政区改革陷入内卷化的一个重要前提。最后以常州武进和海南政区改革为例，探讨了本研究的分析框架与逻辑，并建议构建面向市场经济的行政区划调整框架，为继续深化行政体制改革提供空间支撑。     

The commodity crisis of the 1970s: scarcity,vulnerability and the West German metal supply

ABSTRACT

The 1970s were a period marked by price hikes and fluctuations in the commodity markets, both of which had considerable economic and political repercussions. Although this refers to almost all kinds of raw materials, the case of oil dominates the memory. Metals, by contrast, have received little attention despite their crucial importance for both industrialized consumer states and ore-exporting developing countries. This article develops three main points. First, by highlighting the global metal markets from the late 1960s to the early 1980s it contextualizes the oil-price shock and points out the interactions between the markets for energy and other raw materials. Second, the article aims to draw attention to the sense of crisis in Western industrialized countries regarding their metal supply during this period. This is a topic which has been overshadowed by the case of oil, but which nevertheless deserves study, also because of the parallels to recent developments between 2004 and 2011. Third, the article analyses how notions of resource scarcity, vulnerability and crisis were constructed despite the fact that the commodity crisis proved to be a merely anticipated crisis with high and volatile prices, but no long-term disruptions of supply. Within this article West Germany serves as a case study for highly industrialized, import-dependent countries. The focus is on non-ferrous metals like copper, nickel and aluminium.     

Land Reform in the Time of Neoliberalism: A Many‐Splendored Thing

Abstract: Over the past 20 years, land reform – defined here as the redistribution of land from large to small properties – has emerged as an important political issue in the Global South. Actors with widely differing ideological perspectives have claimed land reform as central to their political, social and economic platforms. In this paper, I compare reforms championed under the neoliberal auspices of the World Bank (the so‐called Market Led Agrarian Reforms) with those supported by popular grassroots actors such as the Movement of Landless Workers (the MST) in Brazil. I argue that although these two approaches to land reform are often considered antithetical to one another, they share a common theoretical foundation. Both are rooted in a labor theory of property that attributes the fruits of one's labor to the laborer. Where the two differ is in their interpretation of the “original sin” through which land and labor came to be misaligned: neoliberal actors see the state as the key source of land‐related inefficiency while popular grassroots actors identify the market as the key source. I analyze case material from northeastern Brazil and suggest that the institutionalization of the labor theory of property (across civil society, state and market in the region) has generated insecurities for new land reform beneficiaries who must protect their property rights with visible evidence of their productivity.     

《湖北鄂州汀祖南宋吕文显墓发掘简报》录文校补

《湖北鄂州汀祖南宋吕文显墓发掘简报》一文，公布了买地券拓片，随文附有释文。本文校补了释文部分的商榷之处，并一一分析误因，就教于方家，以便更有效利用这份宝贵材料，避免以讹传讹。     

Climate as resource and challenge: international cooperation in the UNESCO Arid Zone Programme

ABSTRACT

Perceptions of climatic challenges have changed significantly during the twentieth century. In recent decades, the question of global climate change received more attention than regional climatic challenges and the problems of arid regions. Historians have shown that persistent misconceptions and a lack of understanding of arid zones rooted in misguided colonial ideologies were propagated by United Nations (UN) initiatives such as the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Arid Zone Programme. Alarmist narratives of progressive desertification proliferated and put the blame on destructive local practices such as deforestation and overgrazing. This article investigates UNESCO’s interests in natural resources (section 1) and takes a closer look at the development and scientific elements of the Arid Zone Programme (sections 2 and 3). It argues that the Arid Zone Programme offered an effective framework that helped develop and spread new interdisciplinary research approaches to improve knowledge about arid zones. The myth of progressing desertification and misguided colonial expertise characterized much of its political rhetoric, but not its scientific work, which reflected balanced and more critical appraisals of out-dated colonial expertise. In its conclusion, the article suggests that broader contexts need to be taken into account to understand a resurgence of alarmist narratives of desertification such as shifting interests in climatology from local climatic issues to the global atmospheric circulation and a neglect of the climatology of arid zones.