Note: Evaluating Community Economic Development Planning Programs with a Small Number of Participants: A Non‐Parametric Approach

Many researchers and practitioners agree that evaluation of economic development planning programs is important, although the perspectives on the approaches, methods, and use of results vary widely. Confounding the issue are cases in which development programs have a small number of participants and typical measures such as parametric statistics are not valid. The alternate evaluation technique presented here uses a non‐parametric approach, incorporating a control group for comparison purposes. The paper begins with a review of evaluation issues for economic development planning programs, followed by an illustration of the approach suitable for programs with small numbers of participants. It utilizes a case study of a publicly‐funded small business incubator program, the Advanced Technology Development Center, located in Atlanta, Georgia. By explaining how the analysis is constructed and the results interpreted, the paper illustrates a potentially useful methodological approach to evaluating community economic development programs.     

The peri‐urban Pacific: From exclusive to inclusive cities

Abstract: As the Pacific Islands continue to urbanise, existing models of governance and planning are coming under greater pressure and scrutiny. Both the city council approach and the ‘good’ urban governance agenda of donors have weaknesses in the region, especially in dealing with peri‐urban settlements where the most rapid urban population growth is occurring. This is resulting in increased social discontent and conflict. This paper critiques the ways in which Pacific Island towns and cities are governed and calls for an approach which is more inclusive (and less hierarchical) and informed by concepts of citizenship and social justice. Indeed, policy makers will need to broaden their concepts and practices of governance if many Pacific cities are to be socially, politically, and envir‐onmentally sustainable. However, the political‐economy of urban development in the region is not proving conducive to consensus, with conflict a more likely outcome in the foreseeable future.     

Low‐Income Dynamics in Canadian Communities: A Place‐Based Approach

ABSTRACT Canadian poverty rates have persisted at disappointingly high levels despite almost 15 years of continuous economic growth. The problem is exacerbated by some communities and neighborhoods having exceedingly high poverty, including very high rates for vulnerable demographic groups, such as aboriginals and recent immigrants. We investigate low‐income rates (poverty rates) for 2,400 Canadian “communities” over the 1981–2001 period. By focusing on communities, we fill a void in the related Canadian literature, which tends to focus on individuals, case studies, or more aggregate measures, such as provinces. Our approach allows us to assess the role of place‐based policies. Particular attention is given to communities with differing shares of aboriginal Canadians and recent immigrants. One novel feature is our analysis of both “short‐term” and “long‐term” causes of differential community poverty rates. The results suggest that community low‐income rates are more affected by initial economic conditions in the short term, with certain demographic factors becoming relatively more important in the long run.     

A Micro‐Simulation Approach to Modelling Spatial Unemployment Disparities

This paper aims to construct a comprehensive model capable of simulating spatial unemployment disparities. The key feature of the model is that it simultaneously deals with commuting and migration. Much of the existing literature simply models one adjustment mechanism at a time. This paper adopts a micro‐simulation approach to build a model which can deal with equilibrium and disequilibrium unemployment disparities in a context where commuting and migration are possible. The model is then used to demonstrate the importance of considering both types of flows and to guide future empirical and theoretical work in the area.     

公众教育——提升食品安全的有效途径

通过对我国食品安全问题的背景分析,阐明公众食品安全教育的重要意义,并以此推导出“一中心二辅助三通道”的食品安全教育模式,即政府应在公众食品安全教育中起核心作用,企业和行业协会起辅助作用,媒体、社区和学校为宣传教育的主要通道。希望能由此提升公众自我保护能力,弱化食品安全问题的影响,从而进一步提高政府的管理效用,规范企业行为,最终寻求提升食品安全的有效途径。     

Quality of Life and the Migration of the College‐Educated: A Life‐Course Approach

ABSTRACT This paper examines how the college‐educated population—segmented into selective demographic groups, from young adults to the elderly—differentially values quality‐of‐life (QOL) indicators of metropolitan areas in the United States. Using data from the 2000 Census and the 1997 Places Rated Almanac, out‐migration patterns are shown to depend jointly upon stage in the life course, the spatial‐demographic setting, and QOL characteristics. An abundance of cultural and recreational amenities lowers out‐migration rates of young college‐educated. For the older college‐educated population, the revealed preferences shift toward concerns for safety and a strong preference for milder climates. The study also finds significantly lower out‐migration rates for metropolitan areas with growing human capital. In light of shifting age distributions and rising educational attainment levels, the results have important implications for the emergence of new migration patterns and the concentration of human capital.     

From free to forced adaptation: A political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

This paper investigates the adaptation processes with reference to the narrative analysis of human–environment interactions in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. From the political ecology perspective, it focuses on the discourses of the power relationships embedded within the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus over the course of its ‘opening‐up and closing‐off’ processes (e.g. excavating large‐scale canals for human settlements and agricultural expansion (opening‐up) and human interventions into natural systems through water control structures (closing‐off)). Drawing on empirical data gathered from 33 interviews and nine focus group discussions in three study areas and relevant literature, the paper argues that human interactions with the flood environments are intertwined with adjustments of adaptation patterns as evidenced through three periods: free adaptation (pre‐1975), transitional adaptation (1976–2010) and forced adaptation (after 2010). These processes have witnessed a gradual power shift in the ‘state‐society’ relations in manipulating floods, which moves from the top‐down towards a more collaborative fashion. By unravelling the political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus, this paper exhibits the skewed development in the delta, which is largely bound to short‐term development planning to prioritise local socio‐economic and political objectives. The paper contributes important policy implications for achieving socially just and environmentally sustainable development in the delta.     

An Urban Approach to Firm Entry: The Effect of Urban Size

ABSTRACT This article explores the determinants of firm entry in Spanish municipalities. The authors consider that size is an important determinant of a city's capacity to attract new manufacturing firms. Panel data were used to estimate the determinants of entry according to urban size in Spain (from 1994 to 1702). This article contributes to the literature on market entry because most previous contributions have focused on regional factors rather than urban ones. The results show that local characteristics affect the formation of new firms. However, more local data are needed to obtain more specific results.     

An asset‐based approach to indigenous development in Taiwan

Numerous scholars studying community efforts to (re‐)establish autonomy have begun to focus on the importance of empowerment in the economic, political and cultural spheres. There is a growing understanding that such empowerment can be hastened by affirmative development strategies that build on community assets and capacities rather than attempting to redress – and thereby emphasising – needs or lack. Such development work reflects intertwined currents in contemporary philosophy, influenced by the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and of Gilles Deleuze. In Taiwan, a recent resurgence in identities among marginalised aboriginal or indigenous peoples (‘Formosans’) has been accompanied by novel approaches to development. This discussion heuristically employs a set of development theories that are essentially variants of ‘asset‐based community development’ (ABCD) to suggest that a focus on affirmation and empowerment has been and can be a key to success in Formosan development initiatives. The paper presents the results of qualitative field research, illuminating three case studies of Formosan development – in Tsou, Tayal and Taroko territories. It argues that Formosan development will benefit from a focus on community capacity, political empowerment and social as well as physical assets, and that to an important degree this has already happened in some communities.     

No “Greek‐Letter Writing”: Local Models of Resource Economies

ABSTRACT In trying to understand resource economies, the article develops the idea of local models. A local model, in contrast to a universal model, is sensitive to the peculiarities of geographical context. Those peculiarities, rather than being reduced to some higher order of logic as in universal models, are kept intact, forming the very basis of understanding. Our approach to local modeling draws specifically on institutional economics. That tradition makes the argument that the economy is shaped by various institutions (not all of which are economic), which are continually changing and which take on different constellations in different places. By setting out a grid of central institutions operating in resource economies, and comparatively using the examples of the forest economies of British Columbia, Canada, North Island, New Zealand, and Tasmania, Australia, the article constructs three local models. Each has the same constituent elements, but how they are related and what eventuates are peculiar to the specific region.     

The peri‐urbanisation of Shanghai: Planning,growth pattern and sustainable development

Abstract: With the increase of global integration, the peri‐urban area (PUA) of megacities in Asia has become a favourite destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). This paper uses the PUA of Shanghai as a case study to investigate the impact of global forces on the urban expansion of the city, and the link between urban growth and sustainable development in this mega‐urban context. Shanghai has grown impressively during the past two decades in terms of economic and physical transformation. Much of this transformation has rested on the unbridled exploitation of land and other environmental resources in its peri‐urban area. This is characterised by the designation of development zones and the concentration of manufacturing FDI, resulting in dispersed growth and environmental degradation. The disruption of the physical environment, combined with the concentration of the urban poor in these areas (in particular ‘temporary migrants’), has turned the PUA into a potential crisis point threatening the social and economic development of the city.     

The Spatial Dimension of Trade‐ and FDI‐driven Productivity Growth in Chinese Provinces: A Global Cointegration Approach

This paper analyses the major determinants of long‐ and short‐run labour productivity evolution for Chinese provinces between 1978 and 2010. The role played by openness to trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) constitutes the main focus of this analysis. From a methodological perspective, our main contribution is the inclusion of spatial effects into a dynamic error correction modelling framework. The results show that, in addition to domestic factors such as investment intensity and infrastructure use, trade openness and inward FDI also exert a direct impact on labour productivity. Furthermore, the geographical environment has a strong indirect influence on productivity: The more a region is surrounded by high‐productive regions with good infrastructure and linkages to the world economy, the higher are its productivity level and growth rate. The magnitude of these impacts varies by spatial regime (coastal, interior provinces) and time period in focus. Especially in the recent past, trade and FDI activity appear to be increasingly important drivers of regional productivity evolution, both for coastal and interior regions. These findings have important policy implications: In order to fully exploit the benefits from such spillovers, coordinated industrial policies which foster regional complementarities and support the free movement of production factors across regional borders are crucial.     

Residential Property Values and Community Right‐to‐Know Laws: Has the Toxics Release Inventory Had an Impact?

ABSTRACT This paper uses a cross‐sectional hedonic pricing model to investigate the relationship between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data releases and the prices of single‐family residences within postal zip code areas situated in Omaha, Nebraska's Douglas County. The model employs demographic data from the 2000 Census, toxic chemical release data for the year 2000 from the EPA's TRI database, as well as other pollution variables for each of the zip code areas comprising Douglas County. The model also employs house‐specific data supplied by the Douglas County Assessor's Office on dwelling characteristics for homes sold in Douglas County in the year 2000. The findings indicate that, when controlling for relevant socioeconomic variables, TRI pollutant releases are significant determinants of residential housing values. The results should be of interest to anyone in the real estate industry, including tax assessors, appraisers, mortgage lenders, and property owners.     

Culture as an Engine of Local Development Processes: System‐Wide Cultural Districts I: Theory

Building on the early works of Alfred Marshall, analyses of local economies have emphasized the spatial function of clusters and industrial districts in terms of external economies of localization and agglomeration. Recent literature has emphasized the importance of culture and the complementarities between culture and local tangible and intangible assets. This paper aims to provide an analytical foundation for these processes with a view to developing tools for policy design, analysis and evaluation. By “system‐wide cultural districts,” we refer to a new approach to local development where cultural production and participation present significant strategic complementarities with other production chains. In this view, culture drives the accumulation of intangible assets such as human, social, and cultural/symbolic capital, thereby fostering economic and social growth and environmental sustainability.     

Contentious space and scale politics: Planning for intercity railway in China's mega‐city regions

Over the past three decades, we have seen a flourishing of scholarship which explores the emerging political spaces and variegated scales of governance in China. This research draws on political economic tradition to argue that the way in which cities and regions are governed is indeed infused with socio‐political struggles which are proliferating at a range of spatial scales. Such theoretical interpretation is illuminating, but it has been subject to increasing criticism from the poststructuralist approach that views scale as an epistemological construct. This paper uses the Pearl River Delta Intercity Railway System (PRD‐ICRS) as a case study to challenge the onesidedness of both the political economy tradition and the poststructuralist approach in reading scale. It employs the “scale politics” thesis to argue that scale is more than a material existence (or institutionalised structure) that represents a particular arrangement of political power, being subject to perpetual transformation through regulatory projects and strategies. It is also a “representation trope” deployed in political discourses to acquire persuasive power to frame and legitimise these projects and strategies. Scale is thus both material and discursive. Understanding the two moments of scale enables a fuller dissection of political transformation.     

Re‐examining the Neighborhood Distribution of Higher Priced Mortgage Lending: Global versus Local Methods

This paper demonstrates the application of the local geographically weighted regression (GWR) method to mortgage studies, using the Philadelphia metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as a case study. Previous related studies widely employed the global, ordinary least square (OLS) method to examine the spatial distribution of subprime/higher priced mortgages. The OLS method, however, masks the spatial variations in mortgage distributions. The innovative GWR method not only provides a significant improvement in model fitness but also reveals that the statistical relationships between neighborhood characteristics and the prevalence of higher priced mortgage shares are spatially varied. In addition, the GWR method can bring forward potential implications for place‐based policy making. Improving upon previous methodologies in mortgage studies, this paper shows that the GWR method can advance our understanding of how neighborhood environments are associated with mortgage lending patterns.     

Social vulnerability to climate‐induced natural disasters: Cross‐provincial evidence from Vietnam

This paper conducts an analysis of the socioeconomic determinants of Vietnam's cross‐provincial variations in natural disaster vulnerability. The purpose is twofold: (i) to capture disaggregated vulnerability variations normally obscured by national statistics, thereby providing more nuanced insights into Vietnam's vulnerability to natural disasters; and (ii) to take advantage of the fact that the overall political system and key institutional structures to a large extent are constant across Vietnam's provinces, which makes the analysis a novel addition to the many disaster studies based on cross‐national variations. The paper's analysis indicates that much of Vietnam's cross‐provincial variations in natural disaster fatalities and economic costs can be explained by differences in key socioeconomic factors. High provincial rates of inequality, poverty and infant mortality, for instance, appear to drive up natural disaster fatalities. Local adaptation efforts should focus as much on these broader socioeconomic dimensions as they focus on the geophysical susceptibility to natural hazards of individual areas.     

Explaining the Relative Frequency of Face‐to‐face Meetings in Cooperative Relationships among Companies: An Econometric Analysis

This paper analyses the factors that influence the relative frequency of face‐to‐face meetings when companies cooperate with each other. Specifically, we explore the role of geographical distance between the partners and how it affects the influence of other factors, especially the nature of knowledge and the ability to use information technology. An econometric analysis based on a survey of 338 companies in the Brittany region (France) shows that the factors that influence the relative frequency of face‐to‐face encounters differ according to whether the partners are located within or outside a single region. In particular, the nature of knowledge plays a role only when the partners are remote.     

Commuting distances to local non‐farm workplaces and out‐migration: The case of Northeast Thailand

The relationship between commuting distances and where people work has been studied for urban contexts in both developed countries and developing countries. However, few studies have examined the situation in rural areas, and none look at commuting distances to non‐farm workplaces in rural areas of developing countries. This paper investigates how commuting distance, and thus accessibility, to local non‐farm work influences non‐farm employment and out‐migration from rural villages in Northeast Thailand. The main issues examined are: (i) the distance that rural residents travel to work in local non‐farm jobs; and (ii) the influence that local non‐farm employment has on the number of outmigrants from rural villages. The study finds: (i) distance between villages and non‐farm work sites impact the number of villagers who are employed in regular wage work; (ii) beyond 20 km villagers are less likely to travel to non‐farm employment using their own means of transportation; and (iii) employment in regular wage work decreases outmigration. The findings from this study contribute to the debates over the drivers of rural out‐migration, rural livelihood changes, and agrarian changes that are taking place in Southeast Asia.