High‐speed railroads and economic geography: Evidence from Japan

Our study shows that high‐speed railroads (HSR) can either polarize or diffuse economic geography based on the sector and distance between cities. Economic activities could agglomerate from distant to core areas, while disperse from core toward its periphery at the same time. Empirical evidence from the 1982 introduction of two major HSRs in Japan, which halved intercity transit time, support this. Noncore areas lost 3–6 percent population; service employment declined 7 percent, whereas manufacturing employment increased by 21 percent. Municipalities within approximately 150 km of Tokyo expanded, while the distant ones contracted. The net result is that the Tokyo metropolitan area agglomerates because of HSR.     

Mapping schools' NAPLAN results: a spatial inequality of school outcomes in Australia

This article identifies spatial dimensions of educational outcomes using maps of the 2016 Grade 5 reading results for Australia's National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy for all Australian schools. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to overlay schools' results onto suburbs' advantage or disadvantage to visualise spatial patterns. We then examined the extent to which school results “cluster” in socio‐economically advantaged and disadvantaged suburbs and considered the consistency of spatial patterns for results across major cities. That work illustrates both how GIS can foreground educational inequality and how “the spatial” is more than corollary for student socio‐economic status. Results show substantial differences between urban and remote areas and towns of different size. Maps of cities visualise spatial “clustering” patterns of school results, with most schools in advantaged suburbs having high results and almost no schools in disadvantaged suburbs having high results. Educational outcomes strongly align to local socio‐demographic characteristics, and parallel host communities’ levels of advantage or disadvantage. Differences between public and private schools are less significant than within‐sector differences for schools in advantaged or disadvantaged locales. Patterns in all cities are consistent—schools in advantaged suburbs predominantly have high results, whereas non‐government schools generally perform better than government schools in disadvantaged suburbs. Most concerning is the persistent and increasing trajectory of results in advantaged, and more so in disadvantaged suburbs, of all cities since the first National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy in 2008. Ameliorating spatial inequality between primary schools is one of the greatest challenges for Australians.     

Multi‐Scalar Practices of the Korean State in Global Climate Politics: The Case of the Global Green Growth Institute

The paper examines the significance of state territoriality and the related multi‐scalar practices of the state in the light of the symptoms of post‐politics exemplified in global environmental governance. The focus rests on the South Korean government's Green Growth (GG) strategy and the efforts to export this strategy as a role model to emerging economies worldwide through the establishment of the Global Green Growth Institute. We begin with the question why the Korean government is going global with a political program that is heavily disputed at home. We then study the practices by which the state manages to maintain its territoriality under the conditions of global climate change. Lastly, we discuss how multi‐scalar practices of environmental governance in the GG strategy are applied by state and non‐state actors both in Korea and abroad.     

Spiro Mounds,Oklahoma: Dental Evidence for Subsistence Strategies

Spiro Mounds was a ceremonial complex located on the Arkansas River, situated in a natural corridor between the Southeast, the Plains, and the Southwestern United States. Considered a quintessential Mississippian site (ad 1000–ad 1450), Spiro was strategically placed as a cultural gateway. Here, dental evidence is presented to aid in the determination of dietary regime and overall population health. The hypothesis regarding the delayed transition to maize agriculture in the Arkansas River Valley will be tested through population comparisons of dental remains. This study will expand the bioarchaeological investigation of a region that has had limited systematic examination. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between Alluvial, Upland, and Plains environmental zones, and the pattern of dental pathology. Assaults on the dentition at Spiro are moderate. Caries and hypoplasia rates fall just under but approaching those expected for agricultural populations (57% and 49%, respectively). The high number of occlusal caries indicates slower cariogenic destruction and a slower attrition rate. Ante mortem tooth loss was low (18%), with moderate dental attrition (61%). The dental analysis of Spiro Mounds reveals a population with little generalised stress resulting from environmental or sociocultural influences. Comparisons of Spiro to other larger sites in the Mississippian sphere is revealing regarding widespread cultural traditions and their affect on population health; Spiro's unique circumstances give evidence of a population in transition to maize agriculture, but not fully committed to it. Higher status individuals were slower to change from the subsistence strategies that had made them biologically successful. Recent isotope data support this conclusion. The delayed role of maize agriculture at Spiro Mounds, as well as its ideal location within the Mississippian sphere, indicates a different social evolution than other influential Mississippian centres. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is the Globalization Consensus Dead?

Abstract: The development economist Dani Rodrik recently declared that “the globalization consensus is dead”. The claim has momentus implications, because this consensus has steered economic policy around the world for the past quarter century. It emanates from the heartland of neoclassical economics, and defines the central tasks of the Washington‐based organizations which claim to speak for the world. This essay answers two main questions. First, is Rodrik's claim true, and by what measures of “consensus”? Second, to the extent that the consensus has substantially weakened, is the state returning to the heart of economic life, as Karl Polanyi might have predicted? The answers? First, the globalization consensus about desirable economic policy has weakened, though it is far from “dead”. Second, the western state is returning to the heart of economic life in response to the current global economic crisis, but will retreat soon after national economies recover—because unless the crisis becomes a second Great Depression, the norms of more free markets and more global economic integration will be politically challenged only at the margins. New rules of finance may be introduced, but with enough loopholes that by 2015 Wall Street and the City will operate in much the same way as in the recent pre‐crisis past.     

西方学界关于中世纪英国工资史的研究

工资史是经济史研究中的一个重要组成部分,西方史学界对中世纪英国工资史的关注由来已久,大致经历了三个阶段:开端,主要是数据的统计与整理;拓展,经历了人口论和货币论关于工资涨幅影响因素的争论;深入,从经济—社会史角度研究工资史。理清楚这些线索,对我们进行中世纪英国工资水平的探讨无疑具有重要的意义。     

1966～1976年的上海职业人口

“文化大革命”期间,上海的职工人数增长了127．14万人。这主要是因为20世纪50年代生育高峰期的人口,每年以20万人以上的规模,从非在业状态转向在业状态。上海全民单位的职工主要来源于毕业生(高达72．28％)和复退军人,其他人员皆因“身份羁绊”难有机缘。这一期间,因上海从事第二产业人数及比重持续上升,终于使上海失去了金融、贸易等城市型经济功能,从一个综合型城市转变为生产型城市,并造成城市布局混乱、交通拥挤、工业区与居民区杂处等一系列影响人们生活的社会矛盾和困难。     

GEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS OF FERTILITY DECLINE IN GUANGDONG: CHINA'S POPULATION POLICY THROUGH THE CENSUSES OF 1982 AND 1990

Notwithstanding the intense debate on the political and ethical aspects of China's population-control policies, detailed geographical examination of their impact on fertility decline has been scarce. Recently released data from the 1990 census, together with the 1982 census information, provide an opportunity for further observations of fertility decline in a multitude of small areas throughout some of China's provinces. Due to its unique geopolitical position within China (accentuated by the recent transfer of Hong Kong, as well as the impending return of Macao to Chinese control) the particular target for this small-area analysis is the province of Guangdong. The examination presented in this study facilitates the juxtaposition of past and present population-control policies of the central government against observations of fertility decline in a continuum of small areas in this province. A comparison between 93 contiguous subareas throughout Guangdong shows that fertility decline between the two censuses has been consistent with regional development in the province, but not necessarily with a uniform application of the declared one-child population policy. As elsewhere in China, economic development in Guangdong has been linked to geographical regions singled out for economic liberties under recent reforms. In Guangdong, this linkage gives rise to a particularly simple pattern, showing fertility decline consistent with conventional topographical classification of the province. As such, the observed pattern provides a tool in the continuing discourse on the value and impact of China's population policy. Malgré les débats intenses sur les implications politiques et morales des politiques chinoises sur le contrôle de la population, très peu d'études géographiques détaillées ont été faites au sujet de l'effet de cette politique sur les baisses de natalité en Chine. Les informations récemment révélées suite au recensement de la population exécuté en 1990, ainsi que les informations recueillies lors du recensement de 1982, nous fournissent l'occasion de faire de plus amples observations de baisses de natalité dans une multitude de petites zones dans quelques unes des provinces chinoises. La province de Guangdong est une cible qui convient bien à cette analyse de petites zones, grâce à sa situation géopolitique unique, une situation qui a été renforcée par la récente restitution de Hongkong au gouvernement chinois et qui sera renforcée de plus par le retour futur de Macao. Dans cette étude, nous examinerons les politiques passées et présentes sur le contrôle de la population qui ont été effectuées par le gouvernement central, par le biais d'observations sur la chute de la natalité dans tous les petits territoires du Guangdong. A l'intérieur de cette province, une comparaison effectuée entre 93 zones limitrophes démontre que la baisse de la natalité qui a eu lieu entre le recensement de 1982 et celui de 1990, bien que liée au développement régional de cette province, n'est pas forcément la conséquence de l'application uniforme de la politique démographique déclarée de ?l'enfant unique?. Au Guangdong, comme dans d'autres régions de Chine, le développement économique a également été liéà la libéralisation de l'économie, effectuée par les réformes récemment établies dans des régions particulières. Au Guangdong, cette relation revêt d'une forme particulièrement simple, ce qui démontre les liens qui existent entre la baisse de la natalité et la classification topographique conventionnelle de cette province. En tant que telle, le pattern observé est un outil utile dans la réflexion sur la valeur et les résultats de la politique démographique chinoise.     

General practice access in regional and remote Australia for ageing populations

Identifying and removing access barriers to the timely provision of comprehensive health care is increasingly important for the wellbeing of Australia's rapidly ageing and frail populations, particularly those in non‐metropolitan settings. This study has examined if current general practice (GP) locations in non‐metropolitan South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA) are geographically accessible to the rapidly growing frail and prefrail populations known to have a high level of health service use and reduced mobility. Geospatial analysis linking 60‐kilometre GP service catchments, 2016 population counts, and 2027 population projections has estimated that the size of the frail and prefrail population that live outside these GP service catchments will double, reaching 7,800 people by 2027. The maldistribution of GP locations was most evident in WA. As regional and remote populations continue to age, the challenge of health service provision, including geographic access to care, must be resolved to ensure that populations in these areas have the best opportunity to age well. Geospatial methods linking service and demographic information, such as the approach used in this analysis, can aid in planning the equitable provision of health care for older Australians.