Can Labor-capital Models Predict the Responses of Agrarian Societies to Development?Part II: Alternative Models

SUMMARY. Part II of this article presents a model that accords with the needs stated in Part I which appeared in the previous issue of this Journal. It noted that development efforts and economics have relied upon two-factor, capital and labor neoclassical economic models . FAailures have occurred when they were applied to agrarian societies where the ownership of land rent dictates particular institutional forms that engender resistance to development. It was argued that there is need for a new three-factor development theory which explicitly models land and its rent. Ideas of Smith, Ricardo, George and Samuelson -were assembled as a basis for a computer simulation model that explores landed institutions and the land value flows resulting from different development strategies.     

Adapting Rubbish Theory for heritage tourism

Michael Thompson's Rubbish Theory explains how the values of objects change and that to understand how we value objects we need to understand ‘rubbish’, that is, objects which hold no value. He explained that most objects lose value after they are created and eventually become rubbish. However, there are some objects that maintain their value, which he calls ‘durables’. His theory explains how some objects move from rubbish to having durable value. When this theory is adapted to illustrate the multiple values attributed to objects at heritage sites, it is possible to explain how heritage tourism can result in conflict at a destination and how durable objects can lose their value, which is not possible according to Thompson.     

Land Rent Flows In Economic,Political And Environmental Transitions:

Abstract Previous work (Smiley, 1995) attributed failure of development efforts to the injection of aid into societies where landed institutions may absorb this aid, block growth and maintain inequality. An interactive simulation model was built (Smiley, 1996) to explore the effects of land rent flows under alternative transition strategies. In these simulations, the public collection of land rent was found to be superior to all other third world development and reformist strategies in achieving growth with equity. The underlying ethical and economic arguments are here examined in more general classes of transitions: economic transitions involving industrial and post-industrial societies, political transitions involving territorial conflict, and environmental transitions involving adverse externalities. Recommendations are made for collective action to improve both efficiency and equity outcomes from these transitions.     

Can Labor-capital Models Predict the Responses of Agrarian Societies to Development?Part I: Problems With Development Economics

Development efforts and economics have relied upon two-factor, capital and labor neoclassical economic models. Failures have occurred when they were applied to agrarian societies where the ownership of land rent dictates particular institutional forms that engender resistance to development. It is argued that there is a need for a new three-factor development theory which explicity models land and its rent. Ideas of Smith, Ricardo, George and Samuelson are assembled as a basis for a computer simulation model that explores landed institutions and the land value flows resulting from different development strategies. Part II, a subsequent article in this Journal, sets forth the models.