A conceptual framework for the location of public facilities in the urban areas of developing countries: the Nigerian case

The provision of adequate public services to their urban populations within the constraints of financial resources is a major problem of most developing countries. The fact that the few available facilities are unevenly distributed in the urban areas suggests a need for efficient physical planning of public services. This paper suggests a conceptual framework for the provision of public services in Nigerian urban areas. The paper identifies the supply and demand factors which should govern the distribution of public services in the urban areas of the country.     

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES

LAW OF EMPLOYMENT Norman N. Selwyn UNFAIR DISMISSAL CASES John E. McGlyne REFERENCE BOOKS: A Bibliography of the Literature on British and Irish Labour Law B. A. Hepple, J. M. Neeson and Paul O'Higgins REFERENCE BOOKS: I.P.M. Bibliography Part 1 REFERENCE BOOKS: I.P.M. Bibliography Part 2 REFERENCE BOOKS: The Dictionary of Industrial Relations A. I. Marsh and E. O. Evans REFERENCE BOOKS: A Dictionary of Arbitration and its Terms - a concise encyclopedia of peaceful dispute settlement K. Seide THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: Bargaining Without - Boundaries - The Multinational Corporation and International Labour Relations R. J. Flanagan and A. R. Weber THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: Nationalism and the Multinational Enterprise: Legal, Economic and Managerial Aspects M. R. Hahlo, J. G. Smith and R. W. Wright THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: The Multinational Corporation and Social Policy Special reference to General Motors in South Africa R. A. Jackson THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: Managing Multinational Corporations A. V. Phatak THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: The Dictionary of Industrial Relations A. I. Marsh and E. O. Evans THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: A Dictionary of Arbitration and its Terms - a concise encyclopedia of peaceful dispute settlement K. Seide THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANY: Bargaining Without - Boundaries - The Multinational Corporation and International Labour Relations R. J. Flanagan and A. R. Weber     

Understanding gentrification: an empirical analysis of the determinants of urban housing renovation

The “back-to-the-city” phenomenon presented an unpredicted countercurrent in the prevalent tide of suburbanization, and this process of upper-income resettlement in the inner city has been thoroughly analyzed in the urban economic literature. Housing renovation, a process that always accompanies gentrification and constitutes a significant portion of residential housing investment, has been studied much less. Contrary to the expectation that “location matters,” the existing empirical studies have concluded that most neighborhood amenities and structural attributes are insignificant as determinants of renovation. Using a detailed parcel-level data set that documents all residential renovation activity in Chicago between 1995 and 2000, this paper establishes that the characteristics of a building and its neighborhood do indeed influence the likelihood that it will be renovated.     

Agriculture looks for ‘shoes that fit’: The production responsibility system and its implications

by the end of 1981 problems clearly recognized within the communes included low productivity, the failure to accumulate funds for modern inputs, inefficient and corrupt cadres, hidden unemployment, inability to stimulate growth in other than major crops and disappointingly low levels of peasant incomes in many counties. In north China, peasants in 1980 began to divide up the collective fields on communes into smaller plots for cultivation by households and labour groups. Since then the face of China has been altered — physically, politically and organizationally — by the creation of the ‘responsibility system’ largely outside party control and influence. ‘Document 75’ of September 1980 sanctioning some form of ‘production responsibility system’ was itself overtaken by events, as a bewildering variety of forms emerged, swamping the cadres. Practice was rapidly expanding beyond the theoretical discussions, or pronouncements of officials like Du Runsheng The paper describes each of the many forms of contracting between peasant groups and the State now current in China, with estimates of the relative proportions of the accounting units involved in each type (Table 3). New contradictions are already emerging in the changed rural set-up, partly because farm management problems bear similarities to those that confronted the open-field strip farming of the European Manor, while the incentive to have more hands on family farms contradicts official Chinese population policy.     

Implementation of a large scale water quality data management system

This paper looks at the application of the Generalized Planning System (GPLAN) to a large scale water pollution problem. A discussion of the GPLAN system is presented along with a discussion of its application to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. A discussion is then presented describing what extensions were required to make the GPLAN system more adaptable to the planning process. This included extending the network query language so that it would be “relatively complete”.     

Lessons for Economic Reform Based on Pennsylvania's Experiences with the Two-Tiered Property Tax

A bstract .   Although economic theory indicates that the imposition of a two-tiered property tax system facilitates urban revitalization, localities in most states have not been authorized to institute a two-tiered property tax. The authority to implement such a tax is partially determined by a state constitution's uniformity and equal protection clauses and tax rate ceilings. An analysis of these provisions reveals 23 states may establish a two-tiered tax, but implementation in 20 of the states must await the passage of state-enabling legislation. Because of the dearth of experience in enacting legislation and the absence of literature that provides guidance for securing its passage, the politics of enacting Pennsylvania's 1998 statute are assessed. The case study clearly indicates that enabling legislation enjoys bipartisan support as well as the backing of urban and rural representatives. However, the legislation's fate is primarily determined by the composition of local electorates and the political power of farm lobbies.     

Correlation at First Sight

The synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market has, over the last year, seen a significant increase in liquidity and transparency. The availability of published prices such as TracX and iBoxx tranches permits the calibration of model parameters, which was not achievable a year ago. This paper details what we believe has become the market standard approach in CDO valuation. The valuation model is introduced and analysed in depth to develop a better practical understanding of its use and the implications of parameter selection and calibration. In particular, we examine the idea that correlation within a copula model can be seen to be an equivalent measure to volatility in a standard B&S option framework and, correspondingly, we seek to calibrate smile and skew.