The Rocky Road to Legacy: Lessons from the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Stadium Program

This article describes how the management and organization of the South African 2010 FIFA World Cup stadium program shaped the current legacy of an oversupply of overdesigned and underutilized stadiums. The article identifies seven key factors that explain the differences between expected benefits and the actual legacy. Identification of these factors contributes to the increasing academic interest in explaining the poor legacy outcomes of mega‐events. In conclusion, we recommend that future host country governments defragment their stadium programs by establishing a World Cup Delivery Authority (WCDA), with responsibility for the leadership and coordination of the stadium program.     

Land consolidation,customary lands,and Ghana's Northern Savannah Ecological Zone: An evaluation of the possibilities and pitfalls

Land fragmentation has been identified to greatly undermine crop production in many countries. In the case of Ghana’s customary tenure system, household farmlands are relatively small and are highly fragmented. Recent agricultural drives, however, have focused on farm level interventions that are ad hoc with short-term benefits. A sustainable long-term application of land consolidation which reorganises farmlands may improve yields, reduce the cost of production and improve the incomes of farmers. The successful implementation of land consolidation depends greatly on the suitability of local conditions with respect to land tenure and land use. However, in Ghana’s customary lands, the alignment between the requirements for land consolidation and existing conditions remains unexplored. This study investigated the feasibility of land consolidation within the customary tenure by juxtaposing the local conditions of the study areas with the baseline conditions for land consolidation outlined in literature. Using both qualitative and spatial data, the study revealed some traits of convergence and divergence with respect to the baseline conditions in the study areas. For example, conditions such as the existence of land fragmentation, suitable topography and soil distribution were fully met. Conditions such as the existence of a land bank, technical expertise, and infrastructure and supportive legal frameworks were partially met. The remaining conditions such as the willingness to participate, availability of a land information system and favorable land ownership structure were non-existent. The circumstances surrounding these unmet conditions are deeply embedded in customs and traditions that hardly yield to change. Since these conditions are fundamental for land consolidation, their absence negates the feasibility of land consolidation under the current tenure system of the study areas.     

Does ethnic diversity decrease economic interactions? Evidence from exchange networks in rural Gambia

Using a unique dataset collected in 59 rural Gambian villages, we study how ethnic heterogeneity is related to the structure of four economic exchange networks: land, labour, inputs and credit. We find that different measures of village‐level ethnic fragmentation are mostly uncorrelated with network structure. At a more disaggregated level, household heads belonging to ethnic minorities are not less central than those from the predominant ethnicity in any of the networks and, at the dyadic level, the fact that two households share ethnicity is not an economically significant predictor of link formation. Our results indicate that, in the particular setting of our study, the structure of the exchange networks is better defined by other variables than ethnicity and that ethnic heterogeneity is unlikely to be a driver for sub‐optimal economic exchanges.     

Monetary Policy Transmission with Interbank Market Fragmentation

This paper shows how interbank market fragmentation disrupts the transmission of monetary policy. Fragmentation is the fact that banks, depending on their country of location, have different probabilities of default on their interbank borrowings. Once fragmentation is introduced into standard theoretical models of monetary policy implementation, excess liquidity arises endogenously. This leads short-term interest rates to depart from the central bank policy rates. Using data on monetary policy operations, I show that this mechanism has been at work in the euro area since 2008. The model is used to analyze conventional and unconventional monetary policy measures.     

Vertical Specialization and Trade Growth in Northeast Asia

As the global economy has become further integrated, the international production chain has become more sophisticated, with diversified stages of production located in different countries. Economic theorists have argued that the fragmentation of the global production chain is partly attributable to the high growth in international trade over the past several decades. In this study, we examine vertical specialization in China, Japan and Korea, and its contribution to these nations' trade. Using a multilevel model, it is illustrated that vertical specialization has encouraged increases in trade among all three countries. In particular, China's outcome is remarkable considering how recently it became a member of the WTO.     

What Determines the Size of Aid Projects?

Over the last few years, considerable attention has focused on aid fragmentation, the proliferation of donors and projects in developing countries. Aid fragmentation has continued to increase despite international efforts to foster donor coordination. One possible implication of fragmentation is smaller aid projects, potentially with the result of more administrative work for overtaxed recipient governments per dollar of aid received.This paper makes use of AidData data on bilateral aid commitments, sector, and funding agencies to explore the determinants of project size and to better understand the forces driving aid fragmentation. To the extent that project size is driven by the sectoral composition or purpose of aid, the associated administrative costs may be justified. Variations due to other factors, e.g. a donor’s administrative structure or bureaucratic interests, provide a stronger case for reforms.     

村土地利用规划流程原理分析——结合重庆地区实践

村土地利用规划是对现有土地利用规划体系的深化和完善,以村土地利用规划实践为基础,通过案例综合分析进行研究。辨析村土地利用规划的特点,探索村土地利用规划编制方法,指出村土地利用规划中,土地利用片是编制中的一个关键点,格局决策起着控制的作用,用途决策则推进规划的细化和落实,并形成了"三阶段四过程"的村土地利用规划编制流程。     

西北地区农村居民点景观格局指数的尺度效应及其最佳粒度选择分析——以西安市为例

文章以西安市2013年土地利用调查数据为源数据,基于arcgis10.0与Fragstats3.4软件,运用景观空间格局的分析方法,从斑块、类型等2个水平上分析西安市农村居民点景观空间格局粒度效应。结果表明:(1)粒度效应敏感的指数有斑块密度、斑块个数、分离度指数、邻近度指数,粒度效应比较敏感的指数有平均斑块面积、最大斑块指数,粒度效应最不敏感的指数有形状指数、聚集度指数及结合度指数。(2)大致可将上述9种景观指数分为3类:第一类,随着粒度的增大,景观指数值表现为下降的变化趋势;第二类,随着粒度的增大,景观指数值呈逐渐增大的趋势;第三类,随着尺度的增大,具有显著的尺度转折,可预测性差。(3)随着粒度的粗化,农村居民点破碎度降低,优势度增加,形状变得规则,分布趋向分散。该研究区农村居民点最佳尺度范围为60~90m,适宜粒度为90m。     

分宜县土地细碎化的中观尺度研究

研究目的:借鉴土地格局领域的研究思路,在中观尺度上研究土地细碎化,以期在研究方法、数据获取等方面寻求突破,并利用2004年分宜县遥感影像解译的土地利用矢量对10个乡镇土地利用细碎化进行研究。研究方法:文献资料法,景观格局指数法,聚类分析法。研究结果:在中观尺度上研究土地细碎化问题,得到与微观尺度研究截然不同的结论——低山区土地细碎化程度最低,其次是平原区,而丘陵区的土地破碎化程度最高。研究结论:分宜县各乡镇土地利用细碎度指标的聚类结果空间分布规律特征十分显著。     

农村土地细碎化治理及制度变革启示——安徽省怀远县“一户一块田”的实践探索

土地细碎化是当前我国农业生产的基本格局,也是农业适度规模经营和农业现代化的主要障碍之一。土地细碎化表面上是地块的细碎化。实质上是土地产权的细碎化,而无论是土地流转还是土地整治,都未能从根本上整合细碎化的土地产权。怀远县基于方便农民耕种的需要,在基层大胆创新的基础上,充分发挥集体组织调整土地的功能,通过“三不变、两提倡、一调整”形成了“一户一块田”的耕种模式,有效解决了土地细碎化难题。我国农村土地细碎化治理及制度变革,必须强化集体组织的土地统筹权利和能力,赋予其相应的土地（地块）调整职能,并加强农村基层组织建设;要立足于小农经济为主的基本国情,保护耕作者的利益,为满足现代化小农生产提供服务;既要尊重各地群众的意愿和创造性,也要规范指导,有序推进。