bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Employment Implications of Civil Service Reform in the United Kingdom: National and Regional Evidence from the North East of England
Authors: Marshall J N , Richardson R , Hopkins J
Published: October 2006

The authors examine the impact of civil service reform on work and employment in the civil service. The research is based on an analysis, at the national scale, of secondary-source employment data, and a case study of civil service employment in the North East of England. Important gender dimensions to employment change are demonstrated. Nationally, job losses have been concentrated in full-time work in lower administrative grades—where women predominate. In contrast, women have benefited from the growth of part-time work, again in more junior grades, and there has been less substantial employment growth in middle-ranking posts. Job loss has also been concentrated in certain geographic areas, predominantly London and a few major administrative centres in peripheral regions. A study of selected civil service departments in one of these locations, the North East of England, demonstrates that continual organisational change, intensification, and associated ‘incentivisation’ of work, as well as a growth of contracting out to the private sector, has created a climate of uncertainty and instability in the civil service. The authors also demonstrate that different salaries and conditions of service are evolving in quasi-independent agencies. They speculate about the geographical implications of such a breakup of the civil service.
Explaining the Membership of Sectoral Business Associations
Authors: Bennett R J
Published: October 2006

This paper gives the first systematic statistical assessment of the factors explaining the membership of sector business associations. An important aspect of the argument is the importance of differentiating associations by the types of their members because this reflects their demand orientation and their decisionmaking structures. Associations of companies (traditionally termed trade associations), individuals (traditionally termed professional associations), owner-managers, mixed member types, and federations are each different types of member bodies. The estimates in the paper, using new survey evidence, confirm the significance of these distinctions and demonstrate the different factors explaining association membership size, density of encompassing of members (as a proportion of the number of businesses in their sector, and the proportion of the sector's turnover), as well as the membership joining and lapsing rates. The results generally confirm the dominance of the logic of influence on trade associations and the logic of services on other associations. The role of sector concentration, association age, association size, and management structure are also shown to be significant explanatory variables for some association types.
Identifying the Relative Mobility Prospects of a Variety of Household Employment Structures, 1981–1991
Authors: Jarvis H
Published: October 2006

The author presents evidence of a relationship between household employment structure and relative rates of mobility. She draws on Census of Population data for 1981 and 1991 from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study and cross-sectional Sample of Anonymised Records microdata for 1991. These data are used to demonstrate the shifts in household employment composition, by region, for a subpopulation of ‘nuclear family’ households. The results indicate that households with more than one earner demonstrate a lower propensity to be spatially mobile than do ‘traditional’ male-breadwinner households. The implication is that differential opportunities and constraints, which are conferred by residential location and all forms of mobility—residential, occupational, and sociospatial—operate, at least in part, as a function of household employment structure and the evolution of household structure across both time (the life course) and space (home and work locations). The author opens up the analysis of Census of Population data to issues both of intrahousehold and of inter-household mobility as a means of sensitising migration research to issues which call for further in-depth qualitative investigation.
The Japanese Internet: Visionaries and Virtual Democracy
Authors: Rimmer P J , Morris-Suzuki T
Published: October 2006

An examination is made of how the development of the Internet in Japan is likely to affect civic rights and the relationship between citizens and their government. This was undertaken to determine if the trajectory of Internet development in Japan, with its distinct locational and corporate biases, has followed the predictions of two prominent Japanese commentators: the visionary Kumon Shumpei who espoused an expansive international perspective that citizens will be transformed into ‘netizens’ in a virtual community; and the media analyst Kogawa Tetsuo, whose pessimistic views were targeted primarily at a national audience and concerned the adaptability of the Japanese to the ‘permanent autonomous zones’ created by information technology. The observations of these commentators on the relationship between the Internet and civil society are tested in an examination of the degree to which the social and political uses of the Internet have followed their conjectures by means of two case studies: the protest movements over United States bases in Okinawa, and the Nibutani Dam in southern Hokkaido—an area with a predominantly indigenous Ainu population. Although the authors report evidence that the Internet has extended the sphere of grass-roots political activity, they believe its effect is likely to be limited until there is a restructuring of Japanese political organisations and attitudes.
Globalisation, Neoliberalism, and Negotiated Development in the Andes: Water Projects and Regional Identity in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Authors: Laurie N , Marvin S
Published: October 2006

We draw on current debates about globalisation and examine the relationship between globalisation and neoliberalism in the Andes. We attempt to depart from analyses which emphasise the ways in which globalisation ‘impacts’ upon ‘the local’ and erases cultures, by asking whether, in certain contexts, the nexus between globalisation and neoliberalism can promote ‘progressive’ agendas. We examine the privatisation of the water industry in Bolivia and chart how, in this industry, neoliberalism and globalisation are coming together in new ways and are creating new, and sometimes conflicting, institutional and geographical contexts through which water resources must now be viewed. These issues are examined through the example of Misicuni, a big-dam project in the province of Cochabamba. The debates around this project raise a series of questions. What roles do cultural understandings of water play in contemporary regional and national constructions of ‘modernisation’ in Bolivia? Are processes of globalisation and privatisation in the water industry strengthening or weakening marginalised regional identities in the Andes? Is neoliberal hegemony being promoted in the region as a result of privatisation or is the restructuring of the water industry facilitating the emergence of alternative development discourses of resistance?
Institute of Economic Research, University of Wales Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, Wales
Authors: MacKay R R
Published: October 2006

What we achieve and what we contribute are not independent of the level of demand for labour. Substantial labour reserves indicate that the labour market fails to discover a balance that reflects the needs and preferences of the population of working age. Different data sets—unemployment, vacancies, full-time equivalent jobs, and census data on forms of nonwork—are used to build a picture of the shift from tight to slack labour markets. The different sources confirm that unemployment becomes increasingly unreliable as a measure of labour reserve. The more difficult the labour market, the more likely it is that lack of opportunity takes the form of ‘sickness’ or government training rather than unemployment.
The US Recorded Music Industry: On the Relations between Organization, Location, and Creativity in the Cultural Economy
Authors: Scott A J
Published: October 2006

A description of the US recorded music industry is offered stressing (a) the two-tier structure of the industry divided as it is into majors and independents, and (b) the complex social division of labor that characterizes the overall production system. The locational characteristics of the recorded music industry are discussed, and it is shown that, although there is a wide scattering of companies across the entire United States, the main centers of production are in Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville. It is then demonstrated that Los Angeles and New York have a capacity to produce hit records that far exceeds their relative significance in terms of number of recording companies, even after abstracting away the effects of the majors. This capacity is conceptualized in terms of the creative field that is brought into existence by the dense agglomeration of many different specialized firms and workers interacting together in one place in the tasks of economic and cultural production.
Service not Included: Private Services Restructuring, Neighbourhoods, and Social Marginalisation
Authors: Speak S , Graham S
Published: October 2006

The authors argue that research and policy debates on urban social marginalisation have largely neglected important restructuring trends in a range of essential private services, for example, food retailing, energy, telephony, and personal financial services. Using the case of the United Kingdom, they focus on two case studies carried out in the marginalised neighbourhoods of Benwell, in Newcastle upon Tyne, and Netherly Valley, in Liverpool. It is argued that parallel restructuring trends in these services are having compound exclusionary effects in places of concentrated social exclusion. A model of such compound exclusion effects is presented with supporting ethnographic evidence from residents of both case-study areas, to explore how the affects of marginalisation from financial services, food retailing, energy, and telephony interact in place. The authors finish the paper by exploring the implications of restructuring in private consumer services for urban social theory, for debates about urban marginalisation, and for policies which attempt to address such marginalisation.
Welfare as Work? The Potential of the UK Social Economy
Authors: Amin A , Cameron A , Hudson R
Published: October 2006

The authors provide a critical assessment of the emerging academic and policy consensus over the potential of local social economy initiatives to deliver social and economic regeneration. Drawing on material from 60 case studies in the United Kingdom, they examine three central claims made for the social economy: that it is empowering, economically sustainable, and capable of providing a real alternative to the ‘mainstream’ public and private sector economies. They argue that the empirical evidence offers only ambiguous support for these claims and that the full potential of the UK social economy is not being realised. They identify several factors currently inhibiting the development of effective local social economy projects in the United Kingdom. They conclude by proposing a range of measures that could remove the financial and practical barriers currently constraining the development of an effective and lasting social economy in the United Kingdom.
Land Development in the United Kingdom: Private Property Rights and Public Policy Objectives
Authors: Corkindale J
Published: October 2006

The system of land-use planning in the United Kingdom has remained essentially unchanged since the introduction of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Acts. There has been rather little progress since then in the economic evaluation of this system or in the development of more market-based approaches to land-use planning. The author discusses some of the reasons for the lack of economic evaluation, develops decision criteria for conducting such economic evaluation, and goes on to indicate the kind of role market-based instruments might play in future.
Life Chances in Britain by Housing Wealth and for the Homeless and Vulnerably Housed
Authors: Shaw M , Dorling D , Brimblecombe N
Published: October 2006

In this paper new findings on the average life expectancy of the population of Britain arc reported according to housing wealth. In addition, estimates of mortality rates for rough sleepers, hostel residents, and bed and breakfast residents are presented. The results indicate that the death rates of bed and breakfast residents are four to five times those of the housed population, death rates for hostel residents are seven times greater, and death rates for rough sleepers are 25 times greater than those of the housed population. At the extremes, people living in the most salubrious housing in Britain (holding over £100 000 of equity in their properties) can expect to live, on average, more than twice as long as those sleeping rough on the streets.
UK Temporary Staffing: Industry Structure and Evolutionary Dynamics
Authors: Ward Kevin
Published: October 2006

During the 1990s the UK temporary staffing industry experienced almost unbroken year-on-year growth. Alongside this quantitative expansion the type of business performed by some UK temporary staffing agencies has begun to change, as some larger agencies have attempted to move out of the clerical and light industrial segments and into higher value-added markets. Other agencies have sought to add human resource services to their more-traditional recruitment and placement functions. All in all, the UK industry—the second largest in the world after the United States—has undergone widespread restructuring in the last decade. I argue that the recent growth in the UK industry constitutes a regularisation of flexible employment, as casual and fixed-term contracts are replaced by more formal arrangements involving a third party—the temporary staffing agency. Drawing upon global and national data and forty semi-structured interviews with agency owners and managers in the United Kingdom, I analyse the multidimensional growth and restructuring of the UK temporary staffing industry. I argue that as the UK industry ‘matures’ we are witnessing a degree of deepening in relations between temporary staffing agencies and client firms. More broadly, I argue that the growth of the temporary staffing industry has conceptual implications for how economic geographers theorise ‘the firm’ and explore the globalisation of service activities.
Performance and .…
Authors: Thrift Nigel
Published: October 2006

This paper forms a short envoi to this special issue. In it, I argue as to why the writ of performative approaches exemplified by the papers in this issue should run wider. I also mount a defence against some of the main criticisms of these approaches.
Shape Rules: Closure, Continuity, and Emergence
Authors: Stiny G
Published: October 2006

Topologies obtained via closure operations structure shapes according to computations in a shape grammar, so that emergence is compatible with continuity.
Squaring the Circle: Can We Resolve the Clarkian Paradox?
Authors: Hall P
Published: October 2006

Transport, as Colin Clark stated, has been the “maker and breaker of cities”, leading to four successive crises in urban transportation, the last of which is now afflicting cities worldwide. The essence is the problem of dealing with the social costs or exponalities of the growth of private automobile traffic, particularly of a nonconventional (suburb-to-suburb) type. The author discusses various answers to this problem, including new technologies and systems of pricing. Finally he discusses the land-use implication.
Regulatory Failure via Market Evolution: The Case of UK Packaging Recycling
Authors: O'Doherty Richard , Bailey Ian , Collins Alan
Published: October 2006

The introduction of new market-based instruments (MBIs), such as eco-taxes and tradable permits, has prompted major changes in the implementation of environmental policy in the European Union. However, rather than wholeheartedly embracing the logic of environmental economics, governments have preferred to introduce MBIs alongside more traditional command-and-control measures, ostensibly to guarantee that policy objectives are met. Where such regimes of governance have underperformed, this raises the question as to whether difficulties are caused principally by flawed theory or regulatory failure, namely errors in policy design that distort MBIs from intended changes in market behaviour. Analysis of a tradable-permit scheme in Packaging Recovery Notes introduced to implement the UK Packaging Regulations reveals that, in this case, the difficulties experienced with an MBI were, in fact, traceable to regulatory failure. Different types of regulatory failure are identified and discussed.
Intergovernmental Relations as Central Control Policies: The Case of Italian Local Finance
Authors: Dente B
Published: October 2006

At the beginning of the nineteen eighties the observers of Italian local government system were divided between those who, looking at the unexpected social and economic development of the peripheral areas, labelled the situation as ‘neolocalism’ and those who, emphasizing the total dependence of the municipalities on the central government grants, spoke of ‘neocentralism’. The difficulty in assessing the centralized or decentralized nature of the Italian system—it is suggested in this paper—depends on the inadequacy of such concepts to cope with the complexities of contemporary political systems. From a reconstruction of the local finance reforms, which is able to show the possible objectives of such a policy, the outcomes of its implementation, as well as the actors of the process, their rationales, and their interactions, it is concluded that the intergovernmental relations have not been altered in favor of the central power and that the traditional fragmentation of the Italian political administrative system has been strenghtened. Conceptualizing intergovernmental relations as policies gives a much more realistic and promising way to depict the issue than does the simplistic zero-sum assumption implied in the traditional centralization-decentralization debate.
Formality and Informality in Employment Relations: The Implications for Regulatory Compliance by Smaller Firms
Authors: Marlow Susan
Published: October 2006

Since 1997, there has been a notable growth in the degree and complexity of employment regulation. Such regulation has arisen from the intention of contemporary Labour governments to promote greater ‘fairness at work’, and their adoption of European employment directives. It has been established that meeting compliance is a greater burden for smaller firms. Hence the author aims to consider compliance with employment regulations by smaller firms, and this issue is explored through an empirical study of labour management in smaller firms based upon responses from 44 firm owners or managers and 71 of their employees.
The Impact of Capital Taxation upon UK Unquoted Companies
Authors: Casson Peter , Jennings Peter L , Allen Clive
Published: October 2006

The authors present findings from the initial phase of an ongoing externally funded research project into senior executive perceptions of the impact of capital taxation upon unquoted companies incorporated in the United Kingdom. Open-ended interviews were conducted with the senior executives of six unquoted companies which are also multigenerational family businesses. The interviews guided the executives to explore the history of their company; the values and aspirations of the founding or owning family(ies); the impact of capital taxation regimes, previous and current, both on ownership and on management succession; and strategies being pursued. Using content analysis to identify key themes, the authors suggest that their findings indicate that capital taxation may have a major impact both on ownership and on management succession as well as on succession planning. However, the current capital tax regime in the United Kingdom is perceived to be more favourable than that of previous regimes and vis-à-vis the regimes currently operating in most European countries. Capital taxation is not thought to influence strategic or operational decisions either positively or negatively. Companies use taxation-planning devices, frequently involving trusts, in order to reduce the actual burden of capital taxation falling upon individual shareholders at ownership succession. The present capital taxation regime, which includes gift relief and business asset taper relief within capital gains tax, and 100% business property relief within inheritance tax, eases succession planning. Business asset taper relief also facilitates shareholder exit strategies.
A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Taxation on the SME Economy: The Case of UK and US – New York State in the Year 2000
Authors: Poutziouris Panikkos , Chittenden Francis , Watts Tim , Soufani Khaled
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this paper is to report on a comparative study of the impact on the SME economy (fewer than 250 employees) of the UK and US (New York State) tax regimes. This explorative study is part of the ongoing small business taxation research programme undertaken in association with NatWest Bank. The research involves (a) the computation of the tax position of a sample of UK-based small businesses (a self-employed person, a partnership, and a small limited company); (b) the application of the tax regime of New York State to the UK business cases studies; (c) the development of two computer simulation models that estimate the direct tax burden incurred by small businesses in the United Kingdom; and (d) the application of the tax regime of New York State to the UK models. This research forms the basis of a comparative discussion about the business tax regime in the United Kingdom and USA and throws some light on the on-going debate about the development of the tax regimes applicable to small businesses in OECD countries. The paper concludes with a summary of the key findings and policy implications and offers a brief discussion on progress towards tax harmonisation from the small business perspective.
Pricing Policies for Conservation of Water Resources and Environment
Authors: Hagihara K , Hagihara Y
Published: October 2006

An attempt is made in this study to integrate considerations regarding the quality of the environment and the optimal use of resources. Particular attention is paid to water resources and it is considered how a water environment may be realized where clean water flows abundantly through a public water basin. Several water environmental systems are constructed with characteristics pertaining both to the quantity of water resources and to water quality. Water pricing relevant to these water environmental systems is examined. An area model is first constructed. Instead of an effluent fee (or charge), consumers of water resources should pay a consumption tax which reflects the shadow prices of both the quantity and the quality of water resources. The model is extended to the regional model which can be applied to a region including several cities located along a river. Since there are interarea spillovers, the price of water reflects the shadow prices both of water resources and of the spillovers.
Central Grants to Local Governments: A Game Theoretic Approach
Authors: Barrow M M
Published: October 2006

The use of game theoretic concepts is applied to the theory of central grants to local governments, when the total amount of grants distributed by central government is constrained. It is shown that inefficiencies exist and that local governments spend too much on public services relative to the efficient level. This inefficiency is shown to disappear as the number of local governments increases. Relative to the situation where there is no central constraint on the total amount of grant available, it is demonstrated that a closed-ended grant results in less expenditure on local services.
Controlling Local Government Expenditure in Britain: The Experience of Rate Capping
Authors: Grant M
Published: October 2006

Rate capping was introduced by the British Conservative Government in 1984 to impose a legally enforceable ceiling on the rating power of local authorities. It is a discriminatory measure. High-spending authorities, as assessed in accordance with current and historic data, are given annual rate limits by central government, with rights of appeal and negotiation. The process has generated great controversy, with some local authorities threatening municipal bankruptcy and all showing great reluctance to operate within the system. But the financial impact has so far been marginal: The government moved gingerly, and creative accounting has helped postpone financial difficulties.
The Impact of Subsidised Low-Fare Public Transport on Travel Behaviour
Authors: Hay A
Published: October 2006

In this paper, changes in travel behaviour in Sheffield-Rotherham (1972-1981) and Manchester-Salford (1976–1982) are compared with special reference to the effect of bus fare levels in real terms, which fell by about 70% in Sheffield-Rotherham but remained constant in Manchester-Salford. The analysis is directed to seven distinct household types, and overall changes in bus trip rates, estimated elasticities, effects on traffic congestion, city centre use, mobility of low mobility groups, and income redistribution are examined. The conclusion is made that although reducing real fares resulted in higher levels of bus patronage, evidence for the other beneficial effects was absent.
Regional Incidence of Agricultural Policy: The Case of Switzerland
Authors: Muedespacher A
Published: October 2006

Agricultural expenditure is one of the largest categories of spending in the Swiss federal budget. Yet little is known about the transfer volume and its spatial effects. In this article the regional monetary incidence of the federal agricultural policy, including both the performance and the financial side, is investigated. The calculations show that lowlands receive a much greater average transfer than the mountain areas, measured per farming unit or by agricultural worker. The relative burden of the financing is greater in mountain areas than in the lowlands. Examination of the distribution of the burden according to income groups reveals a regressive effect. The financing of the Swiss agricultural policy cannot be called a social policy—neither for Switzerland as a whole nor from a regional perspective.
Public Expenditure Decentralization in Developing Countries
Authors: Bahl R W , Nath S
Published: October 2006

The objective of this paper is to investigate the extent of public expenditure decentralization among developing countries, and to identify its determinants. Using data compiled from international agency sources, and from primary sources, it is shown that fiscal decentralization has gone significantly farther in developed than in developing countries. The use of factor analysis and regression analysis indicates three general explanations for the wide variation in fiscal decentralization among countries. The public expenditure share of subnational governments appears to be greater where the level of economic development is higher, in countries with larger populations, and in countries whose central government budgets carry less of a defense burden. The results also suggest that where central governments mobilize more resources through the revenue system, the subnational government's share of expenditures may be lower—taxes are more likely to stick where they hit than to be passed through as grants to local governments.
British and German Local Business Taxes under Criteria for a ‘Good’ Local Tax
Authors: Zimmermann H
Published: October 2006

In this paper, local government taxes on business in Britain and Germany are examined from the point of view of criteria for a ‘good’ local tax. The following criteria are evaluated: Ability to pay; support for national economic objectives (intranational allocation, international competition); distribution and stabilization; collection and compliance costs; local authority requirements of revenues, tax rates, stability, and response to growth; and interarea effects. Comparison of the two countries shows major deficiencies with both tax systems, as well as with many reform proposals. The recent British Green Paper is evaluated in particular and criticized for its divorce of accountability to businesses.
The German Property Tax as a Local Business Tax
Authors: Postlep R-D
Published: October 2006

In this paper the property tax (Grundsteuer B) in Germany is evaluated as a local business tax. The tax is discussed from the perspective of its impact on economic growth, business cycle behaviour, and the spatial allocation of local government financial resources. It is concluded that, taken together, the impacts of the local property tax do not suggest that the tax could not be used to a greater extent, particularly when compared with the present local business tax on profits and assets.
Paying for Local Government: An Appraisal of the British Government's Proposals for Nondomestic Rates
Authors: Jackman R
Published: October 2006

In its recent Green Paper on local government finance, the British Government has proposed that the existing system of nondomestic rates be replaced by a uniform and centrally determined rate poundage. This idea has merit in principle in that it could improve the accountability of local authorities to local residents. But it is argued that the particular proposals in the Green Paper are deficient in ignoring the need for accountability in services provided to local businesses, and in failing to examine the rationale for retaining business rates within a reformed system.
Relationships between Trends in Regional Development and Regional Policy Goals in Central Europe, 1950–1980
Authors: Berentsen W H
Published: October 2006

The paper presents results from empirical analyses of regional social and economic well-being in Central Europe between 1950 and 1980. Declines in regional inequalities during the study period are probably greater than can be explained by a coinciding trend toward greater regional dispersion of industrial employment. The latter, a goal of regional policy in all Central European nations, also has neither completely eradicated preexisting regional problems nor forestalled the emergence of new ones in old, highly specialized heavily industrialized areas. The lingering and the newly recognized regional problems have led many European regional scientists to call for new regional policies to cope with a new set of world economic conditions.
Equalisation and Cash Limits: A View from Down Under
Authors: Yates J
Published: October 2006

In this paper, the similarities in and differences between the UK and Australian systems of allocating central government grants to local government are used to evaluate the equalisation methodologies employed in each country. In the analytical framework used, fiscal disability is measured vis-à-vis the most advantaged authority. The extent of the horizontal equalisation which occurs is shown to depend on whether this most advantaged authority receives a positive, zero, or negative per capita grant. It is concluded that in the United Kingdom, under the post 1981 unitary block-grant system, a deficiency principle or sequential approach to equalisation has been continued. In Australia, if the recommendations of the 1985 national inquiry are implemented by the local government grants commissions, the equalisation methodology employed by them will imitate the UK approach. It will thus ensure that maximum support is provided to the most disadvantaged authorities, given the constraints imposed on total funds available for equalisation.
Regional Winners and Losers in the Reagan Budget Cuts: Who Got What Where?
Authors: Brunn S D , Lowery D , Webster G R
Published: October 2006

In this paper, the spatial allocation of federal expenditure changes from the last year of the Carter Administration to the first year of the Reagan Administration (fiscal year 1981 to fiscal year 1982) is examined. Federal expenditures are divided into several categories and subcategories, and their allocations by state are mapped. Although some spatial patterns are evident in total federal expenditures and for some of the major categories of expenditure, there is often little agreement in the regional patterns of winning and losing states.
Public Finance of the Autonomous Regions of Spain. Reflections and Proposals for Reform
Authors: Abello A Pedros
Published: October 2006

In this paper it is argued that the present fiscal imbalance in the finance of the autonomous communities can be remedied only by consideration of a number of principles of financial structure—in particular, sufficiency and solidarity. This leads to a proposal for reform which is based on (1) the fixing, as a percentage of GDP, of a global sum of revenue required for each level of government; (2) allowing autonomous tax-rate setting of ceded taxes; and (3) the introduction of a reformed block-grant, based on a percentage of GDP and distributed to regions on the basis of required revenue (this emphasises need and resource equalisation). The proposals are intended as a complete model in which minimal change from existing procedures is required.
Revitalizing the Mahoning Valley
Authors: Buss T F , Vaughan R J
Published: October 2006

For nearly a decade, since the closing of its steel mills, the Mahoning Valley in northeast Ohio has pursued a traditional development strategy, based upon large capital subsidies, to attract new or support existing businesses. These policies have failed. As a result, local business leaders have questioned the foundations of traditional policy and have developed an alternative strategy that involves a far broader set of state and local programs in the development process. The new strategy aims at five objectives: (1) rebuilding the entrepreneurial environment; (2) strengthening existing businesses; (3) creating economic opportunity for the poor; (4) improving the quality of public services, especially education and infrastructure; and (5) improving the quality of life, especially housing.
The Changing Geography of Preschool Services in England between 1977 and 1983
Authors: Pinch S
Published: October 2006

This paper is an examination of the changing structure of preschool services in England between 1977 and 1983. Changes in rates of day-nursery, childminder, and playgroup provision in English local authorities are examined. The results suggest growing disparities in rates of provision between the major conurbations dominated by the ‘New Left’ and the Conservative-dominated shire counties. It is argued that controversy over these recent political developments should not divert attention from longer-term determinants of inequalities in levels of preschool services.
Social Security Constraints on Tax Reform
Authors: Dixon D , Foster C
Published: October 2006

The social security system imposes major constraints on tax reform, as was exemplified by the 1985 debate in Australia on tax reform. The constraints are not just those of a redistributive nature. There are important structural constraints as well, which means that separate reform of the two systems is not really feasible. In the paper the Australian system, the 1985 tax debate, and the nature of constraints on the reform process are all examined. The argument is, by a system of refundable tax credits, joint reform is possible without going down the path of full integration.
Tax Reform in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Authors: Sandford C T
Published: October 2006

In this paper the content of tax changes and the methods of tax policymaking, in the United Kingdom and in Ireland are compared and contrasted. Since 1965 there have been at least six new mainstream taxes introduced in each country, with much similarity of content, which in part, is a result of a common tax-heritage, of common membership of the EEC and of similar external pressures.

The methods of tax policymaking reveal rather more differences, not least because of the differing source of the division between the main parties; but even here, similarities are marked. In both, the party stage has been crucial and policymaking in government has been bedevilled by rash commitments in opposition. In both countries, tax policy has tended to become more open, with the United Kingdom offering rather more scope for Parliamentary input to the policymaking process. In both, pressure groups have exercised a significant influence on the outcome of tax proposals.

Whilst both countries have had special ad hoc committees on taxation, their influence on policy has been much less than the quality of their reports deserved.

The new taxes have, themselves, been subject to frequent change and, in some cases, to abolition; the fruits of two decades of feverish activity in tax policymaking are pitifully small.
The Changing Context of Transport and Infrastructure Policy
Authors: Noortman H J
Published: October 2006

In the article the author describes the interdependencies of transport and communications with patterns of economic and social activity. Some relevant interconnections and changes in the most important components are grouped under four headings: Economic trends, trends in technological developments, changes in life-styles, and changes in the overall political context. The results of the combined trends are not completely in line with the ideas which many people have about economic and social well-being. As transport and communications play a key role in the process of development, some basic changes in transport and infrastructure policy are recommended. In order for policy-oriented research to provide a better back-up, some important changes in, and a broadening of, the research approach seem further desirable.
An Organisational Approach to Analysis of Policy Innovation by Local Authorities in Britain: The Importance of the Concepts of Scrutiny, Conflict, and Centralisation
Authors: Burdett F J , Bradford M G
Published: October 2006

In this paper an organisational approach is used to study the timing, duration, and outcome of the policymaking on public provision of local authorities. The organisation is considered as an intervening analytical level that bridges the gap between the effect of individual actors and that of the structure of society on the geography of public provision. Drawing on the literature of organisation theory, we analyse the effects of processes within organisations to help explain variation in public provision between authorities. The separate and combined effects of three major organisational concepts are examined: Scrutiny, conflict, and centralisation. These concepts are applied to policy innovation in four English local authorities, and specifically to their policies for the adoption of new technology in schools. Although the separate effects of the concepts help our understanding, it is their interaction which makes a significant contribution to the explanation of the timing and duration of policy innovation, as well as explaining the policy outcome, which was the aim of most previous work. Further understanding is gained when these concepts are set within the context of the overall structure and behaviour of the organisation.
Monergy: Qualifying Imperfect Measures of Need and of Performance
Authors: Macgill S M , Sheldrick B
Published: October 2006

In this paper a recently developed framework designed to facilitate the expression, interpretation, and communication of imperfect quantitative information is adapted in order to elucidate the quality and significance of recently published measures of UK energy efficiency (MONERGY) need and performance. The analysis in the paper uncovers a considerable variability in the quality of the publicised measures; this in turn provides crucial pointers to the way they should be interpreted, and in some cases indicates ground for possible improvement.
Theory and Taxonomy of Sectoral, Distributional, and Spatial Policies
Authors: Lim G-C
Published: October 2006

This paper contains a presentation of a theory and a taxonomy explaining relationships among policies in three spheres—sector, distribution, and space. Based on a juxtaposition of competing approaches of the liberal and radical schools, the theoretical analysis is seen to suggest the dominance of sectoral policies and the complementary role of others, particularly spatial policies. In order to define the interdependencies among policies in practical terms, a relational taxonomy is presented. Last, a procedure of taxonomical analysis is prescribed as a normative guideline for policymaking.
Czechoslovakia: Nuclear Power in a Socialist Society
Authors: Carter F W
Published: October 2006

This paper is an evaluation of the impact nuclear power planning policies have had on Czechoslovakia's socialist society, particularly for the post-Chernobyl era. Poor indigenous energy resources and the leading role that nuclear power has played in the COMECON's energy-intensive manufacturing sector has made nuclear power into an attractive proposition from the 1960s onwards. Discussion in this paper centres around nuclear-power plant siting and operation, and media coverage of the industry—especially after April 1986; reports include official Czechoslovakian material, and matter published by émigré groups. Official planning policies appear to have changed little since the Ukrainian accident, with increasing reliance being placed on nuclear power for electricity production in Czechoslovakia, up to the end of this century and beyond.
An Evaluation of the Role of Africa in the World Nuclear Economy
Authors: Logan B I
Published: October 2006

In this paper the author investigates the present role of Africa in the world nuclear economy. The continent is a major producer of uranium, and a potential site for nuclear waste dumps, but participates only minimally in the actual use of nuclear energy. This role, it is argued, is inimical to efforts for long-term development. Some of the fallacies which perpetuate this role, especially the economic rationality of waste imports, are investigated and there is an elaboration of the need for a policy framework to change the existing conditions under which the region participates in the world nuclear economy. Alternative strategies to effect these changes are evaluated, and a regional approach is considered to be the most realistic.
A Deconcentrated Technology Policy—Lessons from the Sophia-Antipolis Experience
Authors: Perrin J C
Published: October 2006

In the present period of drastic technological changes, the best way of increasing the innovative capacity of an economy is no longer to accumulate resources in strategic fields nor to increase incentives to private firms and other actors, but to develop networks of creative interrelations between them. This depends more on collective processes than on traditional public decisions. In that perspective, local synergies and properly organised capacities of territorial structures are of great potential. In this paper it is proposed that the conception of technology policy be revised along such lines. Careful analyses of far-reaching experiences like Sophia-Antipolis bring about creative insights and help to build effective technology policies. In the first part of the paper the history of Sophia-Antipolis is analysed in the perspective of technology policy. In the second part we draw lessons regarding two issues: The territorial basis of technology policy, and the new forms of ‘public’ action.
Decentralized Technology Policy: The Case of Japan
Authors: Kawashima T , Stöhr W
Published: October 2006

Japan has developed what might be called a three-tier technology policy consisting of the national Tsukuba Science City, a set of nineteen technopolises dispersed over strategic locations along the entire archipelago, and a still more dispersed set of ‘research cores’ serving primarily as incubators for small and medium-size high-technology firms. The objective is to overcome the limitations of earlier phases of centralized policy and make the transition from external imitation to indigenous creative innovation on as broad a basis as possible. Data on the number of high-technology enterprises established per sector in technopolises, and on acreage occupied, are presented. Conditions for the international transfer of experiences in this field are then discussed.
Specialty Costs for Health Service Planning: Model-Based Approaches to Estimation
Authors: Forte P G L , Wilson A G
Published: October 2006

It is important for health service planning to build up a knowledge of costs within the specialties in hospitals. At present, there is no available accounting procedure which makes these costs directly available, and so they have to be estimated. In this paper, the available ways of achieving this are reviewed for inpatient costs, and a new method based on a biproportional fitting procedure is proposed. The results of the various models are compared and an assessment is made of the potential usefulness of such information in the planning process.
Local Tax Equalisation in England: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Boyne G A
Published: October 2006

In this paper the effectiveness of local tax equalisation across English local authorities since 1981 is evaluated. Two specific aims of equalisation policies are identified. Proportional rate equalisation implies that variations in needs and resources should be neutralised and that tax levels should depend on local spending decisions. Strict rate equalisation implies that local taxes should not exceed the levels specified by central government. The statistical evidence indicates that neither of these aims has been achieved since 1981. The main obstacles to proportional rate equalisation are differences in grant funding and inadequate compensation for variations in needs and resources. The main obstacle to strict rate equalisation is incrementalism in local budgeting. The implications of the planned reforms of local government finance are analysed. It is concluded that equalisation may be more effective under the new system of local taxes and central grants.
Intergovernmental Transfers and Poverty Alleviation
Authors: Rao M G , Das-Gupta A
Published: October 2006

In this paper the design of intergovernmental transfer schemes in a federation is analysed, focusing on schemes that can have a significant impact on improving interpersonal distribution in the sense of alleviating poverty. It is argued that states with a lower income have larger concentrations of poor persons and that their ability to combat poverty is lower and their opportunity cost higher. Federal transfers are not only a cost-effective means of enabling such states to undertake nationally optimal levels of poverty alleviation but also a way of ensuring that they actually do so. The distribution of intergovernmental transfers in India during the seventh five-year plan is examined, and it is argued that general-purpose and specific-purpose transfers were inadequate and imperfectly designed from the perspective of poverty alleviation.