On the Statistical Significance of the Observed Map in Spatial Diffusion

This paper examines the problem of determining the statistical significance of an observed spatial distribution vis-à-vis a simulated pattern of the “Hägerstrand type.” It is argued that the sampling distribution for a Hägerstrand type simulator is multinomial. The diffusion model considered is logically equivalent to a multinomial experiment with independent assignment of adoptions to areal cells according to a probability distribution that remains fixed for a given time interval. Conventional tests for goodness of multinomial fit are thus appropriate.     

The Poverty Discourse and the Poor in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is cited as an exemplary case of direct poverty alleviation because of a long history of social welfare and high values in quality of life indices. Notwithstanding, anti-poverty measures in Sri Lanka founded on the international discourse of poverty and development do not serve the interests of poor people. This discourse begins by locating poor people in a distinct poverty sector and proceeds to examine its characteristics. Several attributes of that discourse make it intellectually incapable of seeing how poverty is socially constructed in a diffused nexus of production relations that extends far beyond the so-called 'poverty sector'. An alternative 'substantive approach to poverty' is presented. The arguments are illustrated using the theme of food production in Sri Lanka.