SOME NOTES ON GEOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL ENGINEERING

"A main source of our failure to understand is that we do not command a clear view of the use of our words." Ludwig Wittgenstein in Philosophical Investigations . "Instead of posing as prophets we must become the makers of our fate. We must learn to do things as well as we can and to look out for our mistakes." Karl Popper in The Open Society and Its Enemies .     

Measuring the Scale of Segregation Using k‐Nearest Neighbor Aggregates

Nearly all segregation measures use some form of administrative unit (usually tracts in the United States) as the base for the calculation of segregation indices, and most of the commonly used measures are aspatial. The spatial measures that have been proposed are often not easily computed, although there have been significant advances in the past decade. We provide a measure that is individually based (either persons or very small administrative units) and a technique for constructing neighborhoods that does not require administrative units. We show that the spatial distribution of different population groups within an urban area can be efficiently analyzed with segregation measures that use population count‐based definitions of neighborhood scale. We provide a variant of a k‐nearest neighbor approach and a statistic spatial isolation and a methodology (EquiPop) to map, graph, and evaluate the likelihood of individuals meeting other similar race individuals or of meeting individuals of a different ethnicity. The usefulness of this approach is demonstrated in an application of the method to data for Los Angeles and three metropolitan areas in Sweden. This comparative approach is important as we wish to show how the technique can be used across different cultural contexts. The analysis shows how the scale (very small neighborhoods, larger communities, or cities) influences the segregation outcomes. Even if microscale segregation is strong, there may still be much more mixing at macroscales.     

Subsidiary impact on host-country economies--the case of foreign-owned subsidiaries attracting investment into sweden

This paper examines the impact of foreign-owned subsidiarieson their surrounding host-country economies, focusing particularlyon investment attraction. To explain such subsidiary impact,we develop a LISREL-model including four interlinked constructs:(a) the dynamism of the host-country business environment withinwhich the subsidiary unit is active; (b) the control strategiesof corporate headquarters; (c) quality of subsidiary competencies;and (d) the formalized mandate provided by headquarters forcertain subsidiaries to become centers. Based on the model,six hypotheses are formulated, and tested in a LISREL-analysison a set of data containing information on foreign-owned subsidiariesin Sweden. The results show that the dynamics of the host-countrybusiness environment positively impact on the foreign-ownedsubsidiary competence development and play a fundamental rolein deciding whether such units will impact on the investmentattraction in the host economy.     

The attraction of the rural: Characteristics of rural migrants in Sweden

This paper investigates the characteristics of rural migrants in Sweden divided into periurban and remote countryside using register data at the individual level. The results show that during the two years of investigation, 1987 and 1993, there was a concentration of the population in general but the periurban countryside gained migrants from the cities. In addition, the migration pattern had an aging effect on the population in rural areas. It is also shown that migration selectivity is relatively stable during the study period. The countryside is less attractive than urban areas to those with high income and high education but when the two types of countrysides are compared to each other the periurban is more attractive. Despite the renewed interest in rural living which has been reported in other studies, remote rural areas are less attractive to migrants than periurban areas in Sweden.     

Poor Relief,Taxes and the First Universal Pension Reform: the origin of the Swedish welfare state reconsidered

In the year 1900, Sweden probably had the oldest population in the contemporary world. It was also the first nation to implement a universal pension system in 1913. The universal character in early social legislation has certainly been decisive for the development of the Swedish welfare state. This alternative has not been self-evident. Why did the reforms turn universal, when the continental model, the Bismarck social security system, was exclusively directed at industrial workers? Research has concentrated on demographic factors and growing demands for social security, or on the fact that Sweden was still a predominantly rural society with about 2,400 local authorities. This article examines the development of social legislation in the light of local government expenditures and incomes, and suggests an overlooked possibility: the formulation of the first universal national social security reform was a redistributional response to uneven distribution of incomes and general expenditures among the rural districts in Sweden.