LAND USE IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ATMOSPHERE EXTERNALITY,WITH AND WITHOUT CORRECTIVE TAXES*

ABSTRACT. Total cleared area in a von Thünen land-use model drives an atmosphere externality which depresses agricultural productivity uniformly throughout the region. Exogenous events that encourage clearance and use of a larger cultivated area (output price or population increase) exacerbate the externality. Imposition of a simple, corrective tax on land rents does not reverse these patterns but does mitigate the increase in the externality and leaves cultivators with higher incomes than they would obtain without the tax. We examine an optimal tax on land rents, designed to maximize the social value of land rents in the region, and an output tax.     

Critical Geographies with the State: The Problem of Social Vulnerability and the Politics of Engaged Research

Abstract: State interventions to govern social vulnerability highlight the complexity of contemporary states, marked by neoliberal agenda but also by progressive interventions and the desire for effectiveness. This paper draws on collaborative research with government agencies on social vulnerability in the Hunter region to assess the desirability of undertaking critical geographies with the state. We see states as contested terrains invested with the institutional capacity to mobilise diverse political projects. We argue that critical research in partnership with states is possible, as are mobilisations of the agency of state institutions to promote progressive policy development. The paper explores how we might use engaged research to intersect with the production and circulation of texts, technologies and practices within the state apparatus to achieve desirable change. While critical research with the state involves uncertainties and compromise, with no permanent resolutions, we conclude that states must remain centred in our critical conversations and praxis. In this paper we advance the case for the critical possibilities of policy‐oriented research with the state. We reflect on experiences of an engaged research project with state government agencies in the NSW Hunter Region involving the production and use of the texts and technologies as state interventions in social vulnerability. Working through the project's reflexive, collaborative methodologies and our use of critical GIS, we highlight the creation of opportunities to change how the components of social vulnerability were conceptualised, contest policymakers’ view of what was “relevant”, and shift framing rationalities and resultant state practices. As such the paper contributes to our knowledge of strategic research practices for pursuing critical, progressive projects with the state. Such engagement involves uncertainties and contingent compromise. Yet, as terrains of contestation wherein diverse political projects are assembled and propelled, states must remain centred in our critical conversations and in our critical praxis.     

THE GREEN ECONOMY,SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS AND TRANSITION REGIONS: A CASE STUDY OF BOSTON

This article is focused upon exploring the development of the green economy in particular locations, with the aim of identifying why some cities and regions have been successful in engendering green growth. To date we have little idea where the green economy is developing, nor much insight, beyond anecdotal evidence, into why certain cities and regions appear to be more successful than others in this regard. We position our analysis within the context of research on socio‐technical transitions that has theorized the potential shift to a more sustainable economy. We review the literature on sustainability transitions and the development of the multi‐level perspective encompassing niches, regimes and landscapes. However, most research into socio‐technical transitions has not given adequate consideration to the influence of places and spatial scale in these transition processes, and we therefore critique the socio‐technical transitions literature from a geographical perspective. In this article we are interested in four key questions. What role does the enabling and facilitative state play in these cities and regions? What new institutional forms and governance structures are being developed? How do actors in particular cities and regions construct their green vision, and how do they encourage other actors to buy‐in to this vision? How are links across levels and spatial scales developed to connect niches with the regime? We address these through a focus upon the Boston city‐region in the USA, drawing upon both primary and secondary research material. We utilize this case study example to re‐examine and re‐theorize work on sustainability transitions from a spatial perspective.     

Book reviews

PRESENT AT THE CREATION. MY YEARS IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT. Dean Acheson. London, Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1969. xviii, 798 pp. $12.80.

THE SPLIT: AUSTRALIAN LABOR IN THE FIFTIES. Robert Murray. Melbourne, Cheshire, 1970. vi, 388 pp. $5.95.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE SUPER‐POWERS: A SHORT COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF THE USA AND THE USSR. Paul Dukes. London, Macmillan, 1970. 155 pp. £1 and $3.40.

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON GANDHI. K. P. Karunakaran. Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, 1969. ii, 115 pp. Rs. 10, $3.60 U.S.

LENIN THROUGH INDIAN EYES. K. P. S. Menon. Vikas Publications, Delhi, 1970. ix, 79 pp. Rs. 12.

AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED NATIONS: NEW GUINEA TRUSTEESHIP ISSUES FROM 1946 TO 1966. W. E. Tomasetti. New Guinea Research Bulletin, No. 36, July 1970, New Guinea Research Unit, Australian National University, Canberra and Boroko. 108 pp. $1.50.

ENGLISH TRANSPORTED: ESSAYS ON AUSTRALASIAN ENGLISH. W. S. Ramson. (ed.). Australian National University Press, 1970. xii, 243 pp. $3.95 Paper. $6.00 Cloth.

THE FIRST AI.F. A STUDY OF ITS RECRUITMENT 1914–1918. L. L. Robson. Melbourne University Press, 1970. 230 pp. $6.75.