The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization

Abstract . ‘Savages,’ as Europeans considered the Americans of ancient times, never built the great Mayan centers. The builders of great cities in Meso-America were a well-organized group with an adequate land base and a rather sophisticated technology. From 300 B.C. to 900 A.D. the Maya developed and perfected an agriculture-based economy with a well developed commerce, writing, art, science, religion and government, as well as an advanced architecture of monuments, palaces, temples and pyramids. Their civilization reached intellectual heights unique in the Western Hemisphere. What conditions caused its decline and fall? Interpreting the geographic and historical record in the light of the relevant social sciences, one can say a complex of circumstances: ecological abuse, exploitation of the working population, mismanagement, militarism, bad weather, famines, and epidemics.     

Jungle Geopolitics in Guyana: How a Communist Utopia That Ended in Massacre Came to be Sited

Abstract . When nearly 1,000 American men, women and children lost their lives in a mass murder and suicide rite in 1978 staged by a madman, Jim Jones, a former Christian minister turned Communist leader, many Americans asked, “Why?” The press, overcoming earlier lethargy, amassed facts permitting a sophisticated psychological and sociological explanation. Neglected, however, was the question why was the Jonestown Communist utopia sited in the Guyana jungle? Given the human and geographical circumstances, its siting in the Guyana rainforest was highly probable, affording evidence that, to some extent, at least, people and their geography determine human events.     

Hedonic price and depreciation indexes for residential housing: A comment

A regression technique for developing residential real estate price indexes using repeat sales on properties has not allowed the separation of depreciation from true price changes. In a recent article Chinloy [2] has proposed a method for achieving this separation. This note shows that his theoretical derivation is incorrect. A corrected model is then used to show the stringent assumptions that are necessary to interpret his empirical results as measuring embodied technological change. The true price effects and the depreciation effects still cannot be separated in such a model.     

INTEREST RATE RISK HEDGING FOR DUE-ON-SALE MORTGAGES WITH EARLY TERMINATION

The impact of random early termination on the interest rate elasticity and the related implications of hedging a mortgage security are examined. The common approach to computing duration using average mortgage life is shown to be biased and insufficient. Because the prepayment distributions of mortgages tend to have wide dispersions, substantial errors result from using average mortgage life. These results are also applicable to other financial obligations subject to prepayment.     

THE PUZZLE OF HOUSING PRIVATIZATION IN EASTERN EUROPE

This paper focuses on the part of the housing sector proving most difficult to reform in Eastern Europe-State-owned rentals—which typically constitute about 20 percent on the housing stock overall and half of the units in the largest cities. The paper argues that two objectives must be pursued simultaneously: (1) selling units at or near market prices to tenants or other households willing to purchase them; and (2) integrating the remaining state-owned rentals with the nascent but expanding rental market. The six elements of a strategy for achieving these objectives are described.