Thinking Past Henri Lefebvre: Introducing “The Theory of Ground Rent and Rural Sociology”

This introduction to the translation of Henri Lefebvre's 1956 essay “The theory of ground rent and rural Sociology” moves through three stages. First, it suggests that Anglophone appropriations of Lefebvre have tended to focus too much on his urban writings, at the expense of understanding his early work on rural sociology, and failing to recognise how his urban focus emerged as a result of his interest in rural–urban transformation. Second, it provides a summary of his wider work on rural questions, including his unfinished work on a major treatise of rural sociology; and outlines the key themes of the present essay in relation to these other projects. Third, it connects Lefebvre's issues to wider debates in political economy and geography about aspects of the rural, land and ground rent, not least including the work of Antonio Gramsci and José Carlos Mariátegui.     

From the State to the Shareholder: Rent and the Production of Shareholder Value in Real Estate

Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the use of real estate tax credits to generate shareholder value for investors increased significantly. While tax credits are lauded as crucial to the delivery of social goods like affordable housing, the multiplier effects they supposedly generate fail to account for the hollowing out of the state that occurs as public funds are transferred to shareholders. Through a detailed case study of the historic tax credit industry in the United States, this research shows how many of the banks and financial institutions investing in tax credits have come to rely on overly engineered forms of landownership, deeply discounted credit pricing, and a wave of stock buybacks to boost their corporate profitability. This paper therefore develops a theoretical framework to understand taxation as a financialised accumulation strategy where the state serves as an important—if not problematic—source of real estate profit.     

The Precarity of Young People’s Housing Experiences in a Rural Context

Young people’s housing, economic and labour market circumstances have become increasingly insecure due to the combined effects of the 2007/2008 economic crisis, neoliberal welfare reforms, rising costs of higher education and the shortage of affordable housing. Discussions of young peoples’ experiences in these domains have largely neglected their spatial variability but evidence suggests that young people living in rural parts of the UK have distinctive experiences of housing, which are closely connected to labour markets and educational opportunities. By drawing on qualitative data from young people and housing professionals, this article explores some of these rural distinctions and frames them within theoretical debates about the ‘precariat’. It argues for a more theoretically informed and geographically nuanced understanding of contemporary housing issues as rural youth potentially face greater precarity than their urban peers.     

A connectivity model as a potential tool for smart specialization strategies

The article contributes to the smart specialization literature by presenting a new approach, connectivity analysis, where Triple Helix (TH) relations (involving universities, companies and government) are at the centre of the entrepreneurial discovery process. Relations between helices may be seen, from the point of departure of proximity, as preconditions of connectivity, or interaction, measured through expectations and experiences. This offers potential solution to two limitations of proximity approach: its static nature and narrow focus on dyadic relationships. The connectivity analysis reveals the extent of mutual expectations, as well as tensions, or gaps. Based on this analysis, the article presents a policy model that is used to map structures of networks and gaps between TH actors. It may also identify strengths, weaknesses and problems. This analysis is used as input to structured dialogues between actors in leading positions in the TH and in smart specialization policy-making and implementation. This approach may lead to policy interventions supporting entrepreneurial discoveries. The model has been developed in partnership with researchers and the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia. The article also presents this case study and demonstrates the use of the connectivity model in practice.     

古典时期雅典城邦对贫富差距的制度调适

古典时期(600-338BC.),雅典城邦通过施行解负令、公民兵制、公职津贴制、征收非常财产税和公益捐等制度,抑制最富有的阶层,扶持最贫困的阶层,强化中等阶层,从而缓解了因贫富差距增大而引发的社会矛盾与激烈冲突,保证了雅典城邦的社会安定与发展.     

俄国1861年改革后农民赋役负担探析

俄国1861年农民改革废除了农民的封建人身依附关系,农民成为法定的自由人,同时可以获得土地所有权。但是改革后的赋役负担制约了农民自由权利和土地所有权的实现。政府仍奉行严厉的赋税政策,农民想尽各种办法筹集税款,却终难摆脱欠税的命运。农民承担的劳役租、代役租和混合租在改革后均转变为代役租,加之担负着各种实物义务,农民的经济负担愈益沉重。繁重的赋役负担迫使大量农民破产,严重阻碍了农民经济的发展。     

旅游产业集聚会影响地区收入差距吗？——基于中国省际面板数据的门槛回归分析

本文利用中国30个省市区1999年～2009年面板数据,分别从线性和非线性两个角度实证检验了旅游产业集聚对地区收入差距的影响,估计结果显示：一方面,旅游产业集聚对地区收入差距具有显著线性负向影响效应;另一方面,通过构建非线性面板门槛模型,进一步检验了旅游产业集聚对地区收入差距影响效应的门槛特征,具体而言,旅游产业集聚对地区收入差距负向影响效应不仅存在基于旅游产业集聚的单一门槛特征,而且也存在基于经济发展水平、基础设施建设与产业结构升级的三重门槛特征。     

Potemkin Revolution: Utopian Jungle Cities of 21st Century Socialism

This paper explores the entanglement of ideology and materiality in the production of the spaces of 21^st century socialism. “Millennium Cities” are currently being constructed for indigenous communities throughout the Ecuadorian Amazon, with revenues derived from petroleum extracted within their territories. As iconic spatial symbols of the “Citizens’ Revolution”, the Millennium Cities would appear to embody “the original accumulation of 21^st century socialism”—a utopian state ideology promising the collective appropriation of natural resources without the dispossession of the peasantry. Drawing on extensive field research, we argue that they are better understood as a simulation of urban modernity that is symptomatic of the predominance of ground rent in South American capitalism, and which conceals the violent repression of an autonomous indigenous project of petroleum‐based modernization. The original accumulation of 21^st century socialism can therefore be interpreted as a “fantasy of origins”, which functions to reproduce the primitive accumulation of capital.     

博物馆与青少年教育

教育是博物馆的职能之一。博物馆在青少年教育方面具有独特优势。我国博物馆界在青少年教育方面发挥了重大作用,但总体还处于探索阶段和不平衡状态,在以人为本、网络宣传、志愿者组织及经费投入等方面还存在诸多不足,需要从完善服务、因人施教、鼓励参与、创新陈列展览、发展网络教育、拓宽资金来源渠道等方面着力加强与完善新时期博物馆的青少年教育职能。     

肯尼迪与美国洲际导弹发展研究

火箭和导弹技术的突破使核武器的发展进入了一个新的时期。20世纪50年代末,苏联首先掌握了陆基洲际导弹,对美国的国家安全提出了新的挑战,从而引发了美国国内对“导弹差距”和基本国家安全政策的一系列辩论。肯尼迪执政时期,美国洲际导弹生存能力和进攻能力的改进,对其国家安全和外交政策产生了重要的影响。