Nationalism,patriotism, or national reference? A response to Jacopo Custodi

Jacop Custodi elaborated recently a response to our article “A nationalist party with non-nationalistic voters? Discussing the limits of nationalism in party categorisation” published in the journal Nations & Nationalism. We consider the work of Custodi is an important and original contribution to the study of left politics and nationalism. This being said, we reflect on the negative consequences of overstretching the category nationalism, both referring to parties and to political discourse. The aim of this reply is unpacking and explaining these negative consequences and offering an alternative as well as responding to some specific points raised by Custodi in his reply.     

Evidence on economies of scale in local public service provision: A meta-analysis

The standard theory of optimal jurisdictional size hinges on the existence of economies of scale in the provision of local public goods and services. However, despite its relevance for forced local amalgamation programs and related policies, the empirical evidence on the existence of such economies of scale remains elusive. The main goal of this paper is to produce an updated and comprehensive quantitative review of the existence of economies of scale in the provision of local public goods using a meta-analysis approach to systematize the wide range of empirical approaches and modeling frameworks found in the previous literature. Our analysis confirms the presence of moderately increasing to constant returns to scale in the provision of local services with no reduction in the average costs of production in the delivery of most local public services beyond a certain, modest jurisdictional size, which many studies have estimated at 10,000 residents. Also, the potential for economies of scale differs at least across three traditional services: education, water and sanitation, and garbage collection, being highest for education and lowest for garbage collection. Our analysis also offers guidelines for future empirical research in this area. Physical output and production cost data should be used, together with translog specifications for the modeling of cost functions. Last, we find evidence that the determinants of output cost elasticity include bidirectional publication bias and population density but do not include the presence or absence of modern “lean” production technologies or the (perceived) capital intensity of the sector, contrary to conventional wisdom. These findings have significant policy implications for countries considering jurisdictional consolidation programs.     

Inter- and intraregional inequality in a spatial economy

In this paper, we develop a three-region economic geography model with workers of heterogeneous skills and mobility rates to consider how first-nature, regional differences impact both inter- and intraregional inequality. In our model, the skill premium within a region summarizes both the degree of intraregional inequality between mobile, skilled workers and immobile, unskilled workers and the interregional inequality through differences in the welfare of unskilled workers across regions. Regions with the highest skill premium have the greatest degree of intraregional inequality and provide the lowest level of welfare to unskilled workers, relative to other regions. We find that the skill premium will be higher in regions with a greater supply of unskilled labor, lower supply of housing, or are more remote. An increase in a region's housing supply or centrality will lower intraregional inequality and raise the welfare of the local, unskilled workforce. However, the magnitude of these changes are declining in the initial number of skilled workers in the region. The model is extended to consider imperfectly elastic housing supply. The larger the price elasticity of housing, the larger the range of values, such that more populated regions will host a disproportionate share of skilled workers, have lower levels of intraregional inequality, and provide higher levels of welfare for unskilled workers.     

"A sudden and terrible revelation": motherhood and infant mortality in France, 1858-1874

In 1874, legislators in France passed a law regulating the wet-nursing industry. Citing recent medical research into the causes and social costs of high infant mortality, the law's supporters met little opposition, despite the fact that the law challenged the tradition of paternal authority and familial autonomy that had been inscribed in French law since the promulgation of the Civil Code of 1804. Extending state power into the familial realm required a concerted effort by reformers, who concentrated on two issues: maternal responsibility for newborn infants and the social costs of early death. Because working women in urban areas used wet-nurses to preserve their wage-earning capacity, reformers capitalized on widespread opposition to women's labor outside the home. The law met little opposition in part because the issues of paternal authority had already been thoroughly debated several months earlier in the child labor law of 1874.     

Reviews

A Liberal Nation: The Liberal Party and Australian Politics, Marian Simms, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger 1982, pp. 224. $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Robert Manne (ed) The New Conservatism in Australia, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1982, pp. 290. $25.00, $9.99 (paper)

Kate White, John Cain and Victorian Labor 1917–1957, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 208. $24.95, $13.95 (paper)

Michael James (ed) The Constitutional Challenge; Essays on the Australian Constitution, constitutionalism and parliamentary practice, St Leonards, The Centre for Independent Studies, 1982, pp. 166. $7.95 (paper)

John R. Nethercote (ed) Parliament and Bureaucracy: Parliamentary Scrutiny of Administration: prospects and problems in the 1980s, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 363, $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Mary Dickenson, Democracy in Trade Unions, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press, 1982, pp. 249. $29.95

Robert Murray and Kate White, The Ironworkers: A History of the Federated Ironworkers’ Association of Australia, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1982, pp. 341. $24.95, $11.95 (paper)

Chris Fisher, Innovation and Australian Industrial Relations: Aspects of the Arbitral Experience 1945–1980, Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp. 226. $24.95, $12.95 (paper)

Helen Palmer's Outlook, edited by Doreen Bridges, with an introduction by Robin Gollan, Helen Palmer Committee, Sydney, 1982, pp. 220. $9.95

Ian Turner, Room For Manoeuvre, Writings on History, Politics, Ideas and Play, selected and edited by Leonie Sandercock and Stephen Murray‐Smith, Drummond, Richmond, Victoria, 1982, pp. 335. $15.95

Len Fox, Broad Left, Narrow Left, Sydney, Author and APCOL, 1982, pp. 233. $19.95, $12.95 (paper)

What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History, Sydney Labour History Group, George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1982, pp.282. $22.50, $9.95 (paper)

Stephen Holt, Manning Clark and Australian History 1915–1963, University of Queensland Press, 1982, pp.207. $14.95.

W.E.H. Stanner, White Man Got no Dreaming: Essays 1938–1973, Canberra, ANU Press, 1979, pp. 389. $25.00

Alan Powell, Far Country, a Short History of the Northern Territory, Melbourne University Press, 1982, pp. 301 $24.50, $14.95 (paper)

Robert M. Worcester & Martin Harrop (eds) Political Communications : The General Election Campaign of 1979, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 177. $49.95

John Western & Colin Hughes The Mass Media in Australia, 2nd Edn, University of Queensland Press, 1983, pp. 209. $19.95, $9.95 (paper)

Henry Mayer, Pauline Garde & Sandra Gibbons The Media : Questions and Answers ’Australian Surveys 1942–1980’, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1983 pp. 206. $29.95

Gavin Souter, Company of Heralds, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp. 667. $24.50

Ronald Mendelsohn, Fair Go, Melbourne, Penguin, 1982, pp. 228. $7.95

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Robert Birrell, Doug Hill and John Stanley (eds) Quarry Australia! Social and environmental perspectives on managing the nation's resources, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1982, pp. 366. $12.95 (paper)

Dean Jaensch, The Australian Party System, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1983, pp.235. $11.95 (paper)

Grant Harman and Don Smart (eds) Federal Intervention in Australian Education: Past, Present and Future, Melbourne, Georgian House, 1982, pp. 197. $12.50 (paper)

Desmond Ball (ed) Strategy & Defence : Australian Essays, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 402. $24.95, $12.95 (paper)

R.L. Mathews (ed) Public Policies in Two Federal Countries: Canada and Australia. Canberra, Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, Australian National University, 1982, pp. 298. np.

F.G. Castles (ed) The Impact of Parties : Politics and Policies in Democratic Capitalist States, London, Sage Publications, 1982, pp. 370. US $25.00

Greg Crough and Ted Wheelwright, Australia: A Client State, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1982, pp. 255. $7.95 (paper)

Hilde T. Himmelweit, Patrick Humphreys, Marianne Jaeger, and Michael Katz, How Voters Decide, A longitudinal study of political attitudes and voting extending over fifteen years, Academic Press, 1981, pp. 276. £14.20. $38.45, $18.55 (paper)

Peter Limqueco and Bruce McFarlane (eds) Neo‐Marxist Theories of Development, London and Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp. 220. $18.25 (paper)

J.A.A. Stockwin, Japan: Divided Politics in a Growth Economy, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982, pp. 333. £15.50, £8.50 (paper)

John L.S. Girling, Thailand: Society and Politics, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, pp. 306. $41.95

Alan W. Ward, Land and Politics in New Caledonia, Canberra, Department of Political and Social Change Monograph, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, 1982, pp. 86. $6.00

John Lawrey, The Cross of Lorraine in the South Pacific—Australia and the Free French Movement 1940–1942, Canberra, Journal of Pacific History, 1982, pp. 142. $8.50

Peter McDonough, Power and Ideology in Brazil, Princeton University Press, 1981, pp. 326. US$33.00; US$10.70 (paper)

Fouad Ajami, The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 220. £12.50

Alexander S. Cudsi and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki (eds) Islam and Power, London, Croom Helm, 1981, pp. 204. $19.95

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K.P. Misra(ed), Afghanistan in Crisis, London, Croom Helm, 1981, pp. 150. $20.25

John Ardagh, France in the 1980s: The Definitive Book, Harmondsworth, Penguin, pp. 672. $10.95

Jan F. Triska and Charles Gati (eds) Blue‐Collar Workers in Eastern Europe, London, Allen and Unwin, 1981, pp.302. $38.50, $18.95 (paper)

Francis A. Beer, Peace Against War, San Francisco, W.H. Freeman and Company, 1981, pp. 447.

Robert Gilpin, War and Change in World Politics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 272. £15

Seweryn Bialer and Thane Gustafson (eds) Russia at the Crossroads: The 26th congress of the CPSU, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 223. $49.95

Hannes Adomeit, Soviet Risk‐Taking and Crisis Behaviour, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 377. $75.00

Frank Field, Poverty and Politics: The Inside Story of the Child Poverty Action Group's Campaigns in the 1970s, London, Heinemann, 1982, (paper)

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Michael Meacher, Socialism with a Human Face, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp. 295. $42.50

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Peter Lange and Maurizio Vanicelli (eds) The Communist Parties of Italy, France and Spain—Postwar Change and Continuity: A Casebook, Centre for European Studies, Harvard, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1981, pp. 385. $62.50, $27.50 (paper)

Janice Jiggins, Caste and Family in the Politics of the Sinhalese 1947–1976, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, pp. 189. £15.50

Michael Roberts, Caste Conflict and Elite Formation—the Rise of a Karava Elite in Sri Lanka, 1500–1931, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 382. £30.00 Donald L. Horowitz, Coup Theories and Officers’ Motives—Sri Lanka in Comparative Perspective, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980, pp. 238. US$25.00, US$11.75 (paper)

Stewart Clegg, Geoff Dow and Paul Boreham (eds) The State, Class and the Recession, London and Canberra, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.331. $29.25

Mike Muller, The Health of Nations: A North‐South Investigation, London, Faber and Faber, 1982, pp.255. $10.95

Richard L. Merritt and Bruce M. Russett (eds) From National Development to Global Community: Essays in Honor of Karl W. Deutsch, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1981, pp.480. $50, $23.95 (paper)

Robert G. Burgess (ed) Field Research: A Sourcebook and Field Manual, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 286. $68, $35 (paper)

Jean Bethke Elshtain, Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social and Political Thought, Princeton University Press, 1981.

Jean Bethke Elshtain (ed) The Family in Political Thought, Brighton, Harvester Press, 1982.

Keith Graham (ed) Contemporary Political Philosophy: Radical Studies, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp.159. £12.50, £4.50 (paper)

Robert E. Goodin, Political Theory and Public Policy, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp.249. US$27.50

Gerald F. Gaus, The Modem Liberal Theory of Man, London, Croom Helm, 1983, pp.312. $29.25

R.D. (Bob) Jessop, The Capitalist State: Marxist Theories and Methods, Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1982, pp. 296. £5.95 (paper)

John Passmore, The Limits of Government (1981 Boyer Lectures), Sydney, ABC, 1982, pp. 62. $2.95

Russell Jacoby, Dialectic of Defeat: Contours of Western Marxism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 202. £15

Howard Margolis, Selfishness, Altruism & Rationality, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 194. £18

Michael Oakeshott, On History and Other Essays, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1983, pp.198 £12.

David Miller and Larry Siedentop (eds) The Nature of Political Theory, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983, pp.261 $43.75

Sheila Rowbotham, Lynne Segal and Hilary Wainwright, Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism, London, Merlin Press, 1979, pp. 253. (paper)

Helen Roberts (ed) Doing Feminist Research, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981. £4.95 (paper) Margrit Eichler, The Double Standard, London, Croom Helm, 1980. $9.95 (paper)

Kaye Hargreaves, Women at Work, Ringwood, Victoria, Penguin, 1982, pp. 402. $6.95     

Bayesian Spatial Filtering for Hedonic Models: An Application for the Real Estate Market

This article presents a Bayesian method based on spatial filtering to estimate hedonic models for dwelling prices with geographically varying coefficients. A Bayesian Adaptive Sampling algorithm for variable selection is used, which makes it possible to select the most appropriate filters for each hedonic coefficient. This approach explores the model space more systematically and takes into account the uncertainty associated with model estimation and selection processes. The methodology is illustrated with an application for the real estate market in the Spanish city of Zaragoza and with simulated data. In addition, an exhaustive comparison study with a set of alternatives strategies used in the literature is carried out. Our results show that the proposed Bayesian procedures are competitive in terms of prediction; more accurate results are obtained in the estimation of the regression coefficients of the model, and the multicollinearity problems associated with the estimation of the regression coefficients are solved.