A Springtime Journey to the Soviet Union: Postwar Planning and Policy Mobilities through the Iron Curtain

This article builds upon a relatively small but growing literature in geography, planning and cognate disciplines that seeks to understand the variegated geographies and histories of policy mobilities. The article uses a case study of an exchange trip between town planners in the Soviet Union and the UK between 1957 and 1958. It focuses on the experiences of the British planners in the Soviet Union and sets the tour within the wider context of a fluctuating and sometimes turbulent history of Anglo‐Soviet politics, travels and connections. In doing this, the article makes three arguments: first, there is much to be gained by bringing together the geography‐dominated policy mobilities literature with that on exchanges and visits by architects, engineers and planners. Secondly, the greater sensitivity to the histories of policy mobilities allows contemporary studies to be contextualized in the longer history of organized learning between different urban professions. Thirdly, despite the long history of policy mobilities, what differentiates the current era from previous eras is the prominent ‘knowledge intermediary’ roles now played by consultancies and think tanks. As the article will demonstrate, it was branches of government and professional bodies, rather than consultancies and think tanks, that tended to dominate such roles previously.     

Debate: More adult training in Britain; Tax‐farming and BAA; NHS pay review bodies

Strategic planning is often associated with radical organizational shifts. Sometimes, these are in response to rapid changes in the environment. Frequently, however, they are a result of changes in management values and style. There may, however, be circumstances when going for a series of small wins is a more appropriate strategy than going for one big win.     

Privatizing the commons: reforming the ejido and urban development in Mexico

Few studies worldwide have analysed how to manage equitably the process whereby ‘customary’ or ‘common’ land can be incorporated into future urban development, particularly in so far as this might be achieved through privatization and deregulation. This paper focuses upon Mexico and the 1991–2 reforms of Article 27 which dramatically changed the tenure codes and political relations covering the widespread customary land sector — called ejidos. It is argued that, in effect, the reforms constitute deregulation of former tenure relations rather than outright privatization, and that rather than being radical in content, the reforms are subtle redefinitions of past practices in which the balance of administrative power over ejidal land has shifted significantly, away from the Agrarian Reform Ministry towards the Social Development Ministry and local (city) government. Deregulation appears to offer three principal scenarios for public and private sector ejido land development: Urban Development Companies, Joint Ventures and Extension to the ‘Urban Zone’, yet to date there is little evidence that any one has proven sufficiently attractive to be pursued intensively, and the paper suggests that illegal alienation of ejido land is likely to continue and may get worse. However, the latest Urban Development Program 1995–2000 identifies ejido land deregulation and urban development as one of its principal strategies, tied to President Zedillo’s New Federalism project, which seeks to strengthen municipal and state government capacity and effectiveness. This profound shift in the structure of political managerial authority and responsibility offers the increased likelihood that land regularization practices and urban planning of the now deregulated ejidos will become more significant in the future.     

Surveillance of interpersonal violence in Kingston,Jamaica: an evaluation

Injuries are among the leading causes of death in Jamaica. Homicide rates have been sharply increasing since 1991. In 1997, the rate of homicide (45/100 000) in Jamaica was over five times the US rate in 1997 (7.9/100 000). In response to this problem and the alarming increase in non-fatal assaultive injuries, the Jamaican Ministry of Health together with the CDC established a Violence-Related Injury Surveillance System (VRISS) using patient registration data from Kingston Public Hospital. The VRISS was evaluated for usefulness, and for system attributes: system acceptability, simplicity, flexibility, sensitivity, and predictive value positive (PVP). System-identified cases were compared with clinical records and data from direct patient interviews. The surveillance system was flexible, acceptable to clinical staff and Ministry officials, and moderately sensitive, detecting 62% to 69% of violent injuries identified from clinical records and a patient survey. The system's predictive value positive was high, with 86% of potential cases confirmed as actual cases. Although adequate, system sensitivity was reduced by incomplete or no registration of patients during periods of staff shortage. In conclusion, despite some logistic shortcomings, the system appeared promising for collecting limited information on non-fatal interpersonal violent injuries. With modification and expansion, the system may be capable of collecting unintentional-injury data also.     

The Universal Capitalism Movement in the United States

Ideas on how to make the fruits of capitalism more braodly enjoyed are not new. A rich body of thought exists advocating a redefinition of socioeconomic mechanisms to this end within the context of private property. This article traces the evolution of this thinking within the United States from before the American Revolution to the present. The culmination of this intellectual tradition is the universal stock ownership plan (USOP). The means of, and prospects for, experimenting with such an initiative are discussed.     

A Framework for Managing the Biophysical Effects of Tourism on the Natural Environment in New Zealand

Tourists in New Zealand often impact on the natural environments that are the very reason for their visits. It is, therefore, necessary to manage those natural environments to help ensure that tourism is an environmentally sustainable activity. To assist that management process, it is helpful to establish an overarching classification framework so that consistent guidelines and environmental performance standards can be applied. This paper describes a framework for management of the biophysical impacts of tourism using a natural environment classification of the assets visited by tourists. 'Best available information' is then used to develop indicators of environmental change and associated guidelines for management at a range of levels. As a minimum, broad guidelines can be developed for the upper levels of each component of the classification. More detailed and site-specific guidelines are available in some circumstances, where appropriate research has been undertaken. Ongoing evaluation of the combination of indicators and guidelines establishes if the natural attraction is being sustainably managed. The system has been applied to 'scenic icons', wildlife attractions and caves on the West Coast of the South Island.     

Potential Contributions of Political Science to Environmental Economics

While political science has much to offer, at least some of its contributions might be difficult to incorporate into economic models. Nevertheless, we argue that environmental economics might benefit from supplementing, combining, or sometimes even replacing the rational choice approach with other approaches commonly used in political science. We develop our argument by examining three core components of political science analysis: ideas, power, and institutions. For each component we review political science approaches and propositions with a view to determining “what’s in it” for environmental economics.     

A computable general equilibrium model of the southern region of Taiwan: the impact of the Tainan science-based industrial park

This paper examines the impact of productivity on pay within academia, drawing upon a detailed dataset of academics from five old established universities. Results outline the importance of publication; grant receipt and teaching quality in the determination of pay. A large financial penalty to time out of the profession is revealed, which, with productivity variables, explains away the gender salary gap. The relationship between teaching and research is investigated, and we find some evidence in support of the hypothesis that productive researchers are successful teachers. Results on reservation salary suggest that the best academics are willing to stay within the profession.     

Vertical Integration in Cable Television. David Waterman and Andrew A. Weiss.

Review of Industrial Organization -