Concrete Stories in Southern Europe: Financialisation and Inequality in the Construction Chain

This article seeks to tackle less researched areas of financialisation, namely class relations within the sphere of production. We ethnographically explore the trajectories of two small construction family-firms in Greece and Spain, traditionally perceived as the backbone of the Mediterranean economy but also lying at the very heart of the last financial bubble. Looking at the boom and bust of such ventures, we argue that the penetration of credit in this particular production structure, built through subcontracting chains, has reproduced and intensified deep inequalities: privileged position regarding financing enabled profit to be channelled upwards whereas risk and exploitation was transferred downwards. At the same time, rent-making or rent-extraction practices have become pervasive not only in the circulation and consumption spheres but also inside production.     

国家空间选择性、新城新区的开发及其房地产化——以南京河西新城为例

本文认为有必要将中国城市新区开发运动理解为新区空间快速开发与城市空间不平衡发展的相统一过程。本文引入国家空间选择性理论视角来理解中国城市新区开发的"双统一"过程。首先,将国家空间选择性理论具体化为三个分析维度——选择性的空间发展战略、选择性的国家权力和国有资源空间配置。进而以南京河西新城为例,从国家空间选择性角度实证解析了其发展的"双统一"过程。主要结论是：国家的空间选择性给河西新城的开发配置了明显优于其他地区的战略、权力和国有资源条件,引导社会资本的集中涌入,塑造了不平衡发展的城市格局。国家空间选择性主导的发展模式一定程度上引致了河西新城发展的房地产化。     

The Value of Rents: Global Commodity Chains and Small Cocoa Producers in Ecuador

Drawing on the Marxian theory of ground rent, this paper develops an analysis of “global commodity chains” (GCCs) with agrarian roots. There is an acknowledgement that the concentrated downstream governance of primary commodity‐based GCCs has created a set of “asymmetrical” power relations which blocks the transmission of value upstream towards small producers. This paper argues that this research under‐specifies what is meant by value and rent, and in doing so marginalises the analysis of value production before its journey through inter‐firm relations. We demonstrate the importance of theorising the value constitution of commodities produced on the land and the forces that contest the payment of ground rent and thereby shape the geography of GCCs. Based on empirical research conducted around Ecuador's “post‐neoliberal” cocoa re‐activation plan, we identify the class politics and production mechanisms through which value and rent escapes the hands of a stratified network of small owner producers.     

中国大城市新建中产阶层化现象的供给端解析

中产阶层化是一个多元、复杂、变化的社会空间重构现象。作为我国大城市中产阶层化的主流模态,新建中产阶层化是由政府和资本力量主导,通过拆建实现的社区建成环境改善和社会结构跃升现象。以南京内城为例,分别从政府经营城市、资本循环增值和资源非均衡配置逻辑解读新建中产阶层化的驱动机理,进而从城市空间嬗变、社会阶层分化和被置换群体利益剥夺等方面探讨新建中产阶层化的多重效应,随后在分析中产阶层化模式将由“拆建型”向“侵替型”演进的趋势下,提出未来中产阶层化研究应更多强调供给与需求等多视角的互补与融合,构建符合中国特色的中产阶层化理论模型,并引导中产阶层化社会空间实践走向更加公平与可持续。     

THE USE OF ANALYTICAL METHODS OF MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS FOR IDENTIFYING RURAL PLACES WITH GROWTH PROSPECTS: (with particular reference to Kaliningrad Oblast)

One of the key objectives in the rural development program for the Nonchernozem Zone of the RSFSR is the consolidation of rural settlement in larger places. An example of the dispersed settlement pattern is Kaliningrad Oblast, which has a total of 1,527 rural places ranging from fewer than 5 to more than 2,000 inhabitants, with a total rural population of 195,529 (1970 census). The author shows that growth prospects are dependent on a combination of five factors—geographical setting and level of development; population; fixed assets in agriculture; nonfarm fixed assets; availability of services—and, using correlation analysis, identifies 283 places with prospects of future growth, ranging from 32 in the 51–100 size class to one of more than 2,000 population. The preservation of some small rural places is termed inevitable because many serve as outlying settlements for livestock subdivisions of collective and state farms, and dairy and beef cattle represents a characteristic type of farming in Kaliningrad Oblast.     

经济发展与住宅市场异速增长时空格局及其形成机理——以长三角地区为例

住宅具有重要的社会稳定功能,其市场发展状况与经济增长关系是实现城市更高质量发展和畅通国内大循环的关键。本文以GDP表征经济发展,住宅价格和租金表征住宅市场发展状况,利用空间变差函数、异速增长模型和增强回归树模型探究2008—2018年长三角地区三者的时空格局及演化机理。研究表明：(1)长三角地区城市经济规模、住宅价格和住宅租金空间格局具有较强的稳定性,呈现出“一极多核”形态。(2)在纵向和横向异速上,经济规模—住宅价格、经济规模—住宅租金均以负异速增长为主,前者异速增长系数多高于后者。(3)在影响三者异速增长的因素中,科技发展水平、财政投入水平、城市人口规模、设施供给水平、产业发展水平和城乡收入差距是经济规模与住宅市场异速增长的主导因素;经济、人口、社会和行政等因素影响的差异性,在预期因素的催化下,使经济规模—住宅价格异速增长高于经济规模—住宅租金。     

新中国收入分配制度的演变及绩效分析

新中国收入分配制度和政策的演变大致经历了两个时期:一是从1949年建国到1978年中共十一届三中全会前的29年,这个时期制度演变的趋势是生产资料的公有化和生活资料占有的平均化;二是1978年中共十一届三中全会至2006年中共十六届五中全会的28年,这个时期制度演变的趋势是生产资料所有制的多样化和生活资料占有的差距扩大。新中国收入分配变化的轨迹经历了一个由旧中国收入水平极低、分配极不平等通过革命手段达到过度平均,然后又由这种过度平均通过改革走向拉开收入差距的“否定之否定”过程。收入的平均程度主要受到中国共产党的经济和社会发展观念、战略、政策变化以及不同时期积累与消费关系变动的制约。     

Artificial Scarcity in Housebuilding and the Impact on Affordability: The Return of Absolute Rent

The slow response of volume housebuilders to changes in demand has been cited as a contributing cause of a global crisis of housing affordability and allegations of land banking have persistently dogged the industry. This article reviews the supply responsiveness of speculative housebuilders in the United Kingdom and Australia through the neglected Marxian analytic category of absolute rent. Absolute rent directs attention to the relationship between the value of land and the cost of housing and models a market in which landowners may withdraw land from supply to inflate prices. Through the lens of absolute rent, the real estate practices of the housebuilding industry can be understood as a strategy of artificial scarcity straddling land and housing markets. The findings of this investigation demonstrate the insights to be gained by a return to absolute rent that valuably expand the current debate on the supply and cost of housing.     

从《吏民田家莂》看汉代田税的征收方式

简牍表明,孙吴把国有土地按质量分为“熟田”、“旱田”两类租给农民,征收不同标准的田租,其“熟田”、“旱田”的数额是人为地“定”出来的而非依据土地质量的自然状况而统计出来的数量;东汉自章帝以后把土地“差为三品”而税之,吴简的问世,间接地证明了东汉土地分为三等之后是分别征以不同数额的田税;孙吴的“熟田”、“旱田”之分是东汉田分三等的发展,尽管租、税性质不同,但方式一致。     

系统视角下的区域规划范式研究

信息化、市场化、人本主义的时代,需要从系统动态的角度来理解区域的本质及其规划。基于系统论的观点,本文认为区域规划是围绕现实与未来之间的区域系统"功能差"展开的一种创新过程,论述了区域规划的系统性、功能核心、创新性和主体性,并从区域系统角度对要素层面、结构层面、功能层面、主体控制层面进行了前沿领域的展望。