跨地方对话与地方重构——从“炼狱”到“天堂”的石门坎

跨地方对话是地方内外系统交流的主要形式和途径,是理解地方意义的重要视角,对地方的建构和再造有独特作用。贵州石门坎大花苗(族)借助基督教会的进入,启动跨地方对话,通过西方生产技术和处世价值观的吸收及民族文化符号的重构,实现民族认同的重生,达成了民族崛起。大花苗(族)自组织能力的提升、地方话语权的获得及主体地位的体现,促使其民族"自我赋权",实现地方意义的重塑。以贵州石门坎为案例,结合地理学相关分支学科的思想进行深入的田野调查,研究跨地方对话对地方认同以及地方意义重构的作用,以期丰富跨地方的学术研究内涵、启迪少数民族文化觉醒,有助于他们能够正确把握并应对越加剧烈的外来文化的冲击。     

西方现代劳动力地理学研究进展及对中国研究的意义

劳动力地理学研究有助于理解全球化背景下劳动力作为当前国际国内经济转型和产业区位的一个重要因素及其发生作用的内在机制,对指导劳动力市场调节、促进地方劳动力市场发展具有重要意义。本文总结了国外劳动力地理学理论研究的起源,认为其理论演变经历了由新古典经济地理学区位理论,到马克思主义新经济地理理论,到近年来"文化、制度转向"的劳动力市场地理发展历程。介绍了近年来地方化劳动力市场地理理论和实证研究领域,及其对产业空间组织的影响等方面所取得的最新进展。在对当前的研究进行评述的基础上,指出不足和未来方向。与西方学术界相比,我国相关理论研究较为欠缺,尤其是文化、制度等因素对我国劳动力市场影响的研究有待进一步加强。     

内蒙古自治区农村人口多维贫困特征测算与分析

针对国家精准扶贫需求,构建基于A-F双临界值法的多维贫困度量模型,进行内蒙古自治区农村人口多维贫困特征的总体测算与分析,并分别分析多维贫困的空间集聚效应及不同分类体系下的贫困分异特征。结果显示:①研究区西部存在大面积高度贫困县单元,中部存在呈东西条带状分布的中度贫困县单元,东部地区贫困程度呈现"南高北低"状态;②研究区主要致贫因素为:人均纯收入、家庭健康、平均教育年限,一般致贫因素为燃料类型、资产、房屋结构,次要致贫因素为:饮水情况、通电情况、儿童入学率;且大部分贫困指标呈显著空间集聚效应;③研究区西部县际贫困特征差异较小,东部存在显著的南北分布差异;④不同类型县各贫困指标差异不同。     

Vulnerability and nationalism: the support for the war against Iraq in five established states

ABSTRACT. This essay attempts to shed light on why aggressive ideas gain support within established western states. To do that it attempts to answer the question why the armed conflict against Iraq received such varied support during the first four months of 2003 within the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Spain. A comparative study indicates that the justifications for the armed conflict must be endorsed in the national identities of the particular states. If not, either the justifications or national identities have to be modified. The dominant elite emerge as essential to this process, as does the public experience of vulnerability. It appears that the war against Iraq received such varied support because the initial definitions of national identities endorsed the justifications for the war to different degrees, the dominant elites promoted different opinions and the people experienced different degrees of vulnerability.     

Urban growth drivers in a Europe of sticky people and implicit boundaries

We investigate urban GDP per capita growth across the EU12 usingdata for functionally defined cities—rather than administrativeregions. We test hypotheses on the role of human capital, EUintegration and fragmentation of urban government and explorespatial dependence and mechanisms of spatial interaction. Resultsare acceptable on standard econometric tests without measuresof spatial interaction but there is spatial dependence. If variablesreflecting spatial adjustment are included, they are statisticallysignificant and eliminate spatial dependence. Not only do theresults now provide consistent estimates of parameters, butthey also support relevant theoretical insights and show nationalborders are still significant barriers to economic adjustment.People in Europe are sticky so it is unreasonable to assumespatial disparities will disappear. Our findings also implythat cities in Europe form national rather than a single continentalsystem.     

Do municipal unions improve cost efficiency for the social function? A quasi-experimental endogenous stochastic frontier approach

Homogeneous national policies can generate heterogeneous effects on the territory. This paper aims to verify the impact of the entry of single Italian municipalities into an inter-municipal association on the unitary costs of the social services supplied to the local communities. Panel cost stochastic frontier model in the presence of endogeneity has been introduced based on two pillars: a counterfactual setting to verify the aggregation effects concerning a set of similar municipalities and the use of a cost efficiency estimation methodology which considers the endogeneity of output with respect to cost. The results of our analysis show that the effects of adopting associated forms of service delivery can be very multifaceted and diversified according to the typology and the degree of implementation of the Municipal Union itself. The analysis sheds light on the effects of municipalities' organisational choices, addressing the consolidation of small municipalities not in binary terms but also—and above all—suggesting that it is the type of union that impacts the possibility of convergence towards greater cost efficiency.     

意大利工业区与华人的双重挑战

论文分析了全球性竞争压力对工业区适应机制的影响及工业区的竞争优势以及工业区内部形成的华人经济的潜在威胁,探讨了在新的条件下将这种威胁转化为新的发展机遇的可能性。认为华人经济的特殊优势使华人企业越来越活跃,但却使当地企业日益萎缩。这反过来又促使当地经济整体进行转型;华人企业家的某些优势在于其跨地区和跨国网络;华人移民对其祖籍国潜在商业伙伴的能力和品德有深度了解,如果能发挥中介作用,意大利当地企业就能使其工业生产及产品销售国际化。     

The Study of Local Public Economies: Multi‐organizational,Multi‐level Institutional Analysis and Development

One important extension of the IAD framework has been to the study of local public economies. These are multi‐organizational, multi‐level arrangements defined as the set of governmental jurisdictions, public and nonprofit agencies, and private firms that interact in various patterns to provide and produce public goods and services within a specific locality or region. Commonly, the localities or regions studied from this perspective have been U.S. metropolitan areas, often defined as a central city and its surrounding or adjoining county. Localities can be delineated, however, on various terms, and in the IAD framework, it is the geo‐physical nature of a locality that, in substantial part, drives the analysis. One of the strengths of the approach is its capacity to explain local variations in public organization as a function of the geo‐physical diversity of localities, while at the same time developing empirical generalizations and normative principles that apply across diverse regions. What, for example, might the organization and governance of a complex metropolitan area have in common with the organization and governance of a complex protected area, such as the greater Yellowstone eco‐region or the Adirondack Park? Construing both sorts of regions as local public economies can enhance our overall understanding of public organization at the same time that it permits a more nuanced understanding of diverse localities. Such work contributes to the ongoing IAD project of “understanding institutional diversity.”     

From China's Urban Social Space to Social and Environmental Justice

A senior American specialist on China and noted geographer argues that the preoccupation of China geographers' with empirical analyses of that country's dramatic economic, social, and urban transformation over the last two decades—usually explained in terms of the now familiar quadruple forces of globalization, marketization, deregulation, and decentralization—should be broadened to reflect a concern for the problems of disadvantaged groups impacted negatively in dynamic urban and environmental settings. The methodology of reflexive activism is proposed as affording a framework for a more relevant geography focused on the study of China, with the potential to bring about positive and constructive change on behalf of China's disadvantaged population and its natural environment, and (as a possible side benefit) generate local epistemologies enriching the study of geography more broadly. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P30. 68 references.     

The 2012 acid mine drainage (AMD) crisis in Carolina's municipal water supply

ABSTRACT

There are growing concerns in South Africa about the threat that acid mine drainage (AMD) poses to local natural water resources in many of the country's mining areas. Since the beginning of the 21^st century, the toxic water has been responsible for pollution in parts of the country. Government and operators in the country's water sector have actively been working in recent years at addressing the problem. This article deals with a contemporary history of an AMD crisis in the coalmining town of Carolina, in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and explains how the matter was eventually resolved. The discourse focuses on how people of Carolina responded to the contamination of the municipality's water supply system and eventually chose to follow the path of active protest. The water crisis even made a detour to the high court, with a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) actively supporting the cause of local residents. Although by September 2012 the town's water supply was restored, the community remained distrustful of the local authority's ability to secure a consistent supply of good quality water. The authorities took some measures to restore trust. People had been traumatised and sound relations had to be restored in the aftermath of the crisis. The Carolina crisis of 2012 is contemplated from the perspective of the current threat that AMD poses to South Africa's finite water resources and the danger of mining in sensitive areas.