The Sales Tax Puzzle – Has the law of demand been repealed?

TRA86 removed the deductibility of state and local sales taxes from U.S. personal income taxes. This effectively increased the price to state governments of sales tax revenue relative to income tax revenues. This implies that state reliance on income taxes relative to sales taxes should have increased after TRA86 was implemented. Leading public finance economists investigated this in the period shortly following the reform and invariably found that the predicted substitution of income for sales taxes did not take place. In fact, several studies noted that state dependence on the sales tax increased relative to income taxes – hence the Sales Tax Puzzle. Several experts tried to rationalize their non-findings. These rationalizations are unconvincing. This paper asserts that the puzzle may be resolved in two different ways. The first, seemingly trivial, is that the analysis must incorporate sufficient time so as to allow for relatively complex adjustments. Our contributions here are to anchor this obvious point with a theoretical model related to earlier work of the authors, and an explicit empirical examination of the lag structures of individual states reactions to the comprehensive tax reform. The second demonstrates that the analysis must take into account regional shifts that were taking place in the U.S. during this period. When such compositional shifts involving political and deductibility patterns are explicitly introduced into the model, the paradoxical findings are resolved both in the long and in the short run. Our contribution here is a demonstration that the use of detailed state-level data, unlike any of the earlier work in this area, allows for the inclusion in the analysis of inter-regional shifts in various parameters. An additional contribution is the explicit use and emphasis of the propensity to itemize as an independent variable. The use of this variable ties this area of analysis of post tax reform behavior into a hitherto untapped strand of public-finance literature. The variable is both theoretically interesting, and proves to have experienced compositional shift patterns which help resolve the sales-tax puzzle paradox.     

From Asset Based Welfare to Welfare Housing? The Changing Function of Social Housing in Ireland

This paper examines a distinctive and significant aspect of social housing in Ireland—its change in function from an asset-based role in welfare support to a more standard model of welfare housing. It outlines the nationalist and agrarian drivers which expanded the initial role of social housing beyond the goal of improving housing conditions for the poor towards the goal of extending homeownership, and assesses whether this focus made it more similar to the ‘asset based welfare’ approach to housing found in South-East Asia than to social housing in Western Europe. From the mid-1980s, the role of Irish social housing changed as the sector contracted and evolved towards the model of welfare housing now found in many other Western countries. Policy makers have struggled to address the implications of this transition and vestiges of social housing's traditional function are still evident, consequently the boundaries between social housing, private renting and homeownership in Ireland have grown increasingly nebulous.     

Housing Policy as a Lever for Change? The Politics of Welfare,Assets and Tenure

The housing tenure structure has long been associated with different forms of welfare state capitalism in Western Europe. However, with the rise of owner-occupancy, this association has not been so straightforward. An alternative view is to view housing policies that promote owner-occupancy for households to acquire assets, as an attempt by the state to reform social welfare systems. The politics of welfare reform are related to the discourses of homeownership ideology. The ownership of (housing) assets agenda serves as a means to change the relationship between state, market and individual households. This view is mostly based on the British experience and this paper seeks to broaden it by examining the Netherlands and Spain. The paper shows differences, but also that housing policies play an important role in driving towards or maintaining market-dominated solutions. Housing is used to either reorient towards or maintain a welfare system where asset ownership and market dependency is deemed more appropriate than secure income and public expenditure.     

Solving landscape-related conflicts through transnational learning? The case of transboundary Nordic World Heritage sites

World Heritage (WH) sites are areas for international conservation of nature and culture with outstanding universal values. The Nordic countries possess two large landscapes with WH recognition that serve as a base for this study, the WH Laponia and the WH High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago. The WH Laponia in Sweden combines both cultural and natural value; the Norwegian area of Laponia is not designated WH, but represents an area with governmental ambitions to become an UNESCO WH site. The WH High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago (Sweden/Finland) is a serial-nominated, transnational WH site designated purely on nature merits. Within these WH sites, there are local communities and indigenous peoples with democratic rights who participate in the management of the areas and use the local resources of their natural environment.

This article analyses the processes of WH nomination and implementation of the WH Convention (1972) in the Nordic countries. It also depicts a strong Nordic tradition of transnational learning (TNL) which is also used within WH governance. The article uses comparative methods and theories of governance, co-management, transnational governance and TNL in the analysis of the transboundary WH sites. The empirical results illustrate the challenges of local democratic participation in the national and transnational decision-making regarding nomination and implementation of the WH Convention. It suggests that deficiency of democratic participation during early stages in pre-WH designation processes may be compensated by TNL. Learning between and within WH-related networks and groups, show in the Nordic perspective examples of incorporating WH stakeholders in cooperation across national borders. TNL may be restricted by cultural and legal limitations.     

African Urbanization as Flight? Some Policy Implications of Geography

The mystery of the lack of a positive relationship between growth and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa has been raised in a number of studies. A recent paper by Barrios et al. (Journal of Urban Economics 60:357–371, 2006) provides a compelling explanation for why this occurs. Exploiting a new data source, they show how climate change, specifically the reduction in rainfall, has driven people from the increasingly impoverished countryside to the city. They also show that while this is an important factor explaining urbanization in sub-Saharan African countries it does not affect urbanization elsewhere. Their explanation for this important difference is differences in the patterns of rainfall, as well as the composition of soil in most sub-Saharan countries. In a word, geographical factors have dominated the unusual pattern observed in the world’s most rapidly urbanizing continent. In this paper, we extend the work done by Barrios et al. to include more observations and more detailed geographic variables. We first replicate their results and extend the number of observations to more recent periods. Then we consider the effects of a range of specific country geographical characteristics, relying on data developed by other researchers. After discussing our results, we focus on the implications of our findings for policy formulation, particularly for sub-Saharan African countries. The results indicate that geographical circumstances place significantly more important constraints on maximization processes. In other words, urbanization in these countries takes place in a profoundly “second-best” world. We consider what this kind of context implies for the sequencing and implementation of economic reforms which would allow for an urbanization process that would be more conducive to economic growth.     

The Changing Discourse of City Plans: Rationalities of Planning in Perth, 1955–2010

1 1. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the draft of this paper. Thanks also to Garry Middle and Curtin's Planning Theory students of 2005–2006, who participated in this exercise when it was first conceived, and thereby helped us to develop the idea. Plans are among the most durable products of planning, and as such offer a revealing window into the worlds of the planners of their time. In this paper we set out a methodology for viewing those worlds using critical discourse analysis (CDA). This method focuses on four key textual features of plans: construal of substance, construction of agency, generic structure, and presentation. Together they enable the investigator to go beyond thematic discourses and uncover the institutional, political and ideological role of planning during the time period in which plans are produced. We use this method to interrogate the changing rationalities governing planning in Western Australia (WA) since the Second World War by analysing the four major city plans for Perth, covering a period from 1955 to 2010. This longitudinal analysis suggests that planning in WA mirrors concurrent trends in international planning theory, and highlights the significance of “the plan” as an object of inquiry for revealing the changing nature of planning and planners over time.     

Policy and planning for the urbanized rural areas—The case of Sweden

The rural areas in Sweden are now facing an inevitable situation caused by forces which have become increasingly strong over time. National and international influences have become more dominant in economic, social as well as cultural respects. Rapid expansion of employment and new technology within the information sector are also significant inputs. The traditional role of rural areas as producers of raw materials will be retained, but production will be further automated and demand less employees. In several respects we can identify growing urban characteristics in rural areas, which to a large extent are the outcome of market‐based adjustment processes which have been supported by governmental policy and planning. We shall identify two different visions concerning the future of rural Sweden. Within the Parliamentary Delegation for Development of Sparsely Populated Areas (connected to the Ministry of Industry) a decentralisation strategy has been formulated aiming at consolidating the existing settlement pattern. We conclude, however, that in practice—considering the consequences of all governmental resource transfers—the government is promoting a strategy which focuses on the modernization of rural areas, so they will become increasingly integrated with other parts of the settlement system.     

Residential Mobility in Perth, 1971–86: The Impact of Age-Specific Net Migration

This paper examines residential mobility in the Perth metropolitan area over the period 1971–86. Following a brief review of the Australian literature and an analysis of trends over time, the spatial impact of age-specific net migration is examined by means of a subregional classification of Statistical Local Areas. It is concluded that there is a need to preserve adequate amounts of low cost rental accommodation in inner city areas but that urban consolidation may, in future, reduce the volume of intra-urban mobility by encouraging a greater diversity of housing at the local level.     

The emergence of migration cycles?

"With a more thorough examination of population changes in the Tokyo region, this article confirms with regard to Japan the reconcentrating trend of urban population observed more clearly elsewhere by Cochrane and Vining (1988). Through an examination of the factors which led to the turnaround in the 1980s in Japan and elsewhere, it is argued that conservative economic policy, as manifested by deregulation and privatization, is the principal cause for reconcentration of urbanization in the 1980s in the economically advanced Western countries."     

Steering,rowing, drifting,or sinking? Changing patterns of governance

Contemporary governance has become increasingly complex, both in terms of the goals being pursued and the instruments being used to pursue those goals. This article provides a framework for understanding that complexity, based on the experiences of local governments in the Nordic region. The numerous local authorities and the numerous organizations involved in governance in this region provide a particularly important laboratory for understanding attempts to steer complex policy systems.     

Including the Excluded? Changing the Understandings of Ethnicity in Contemporary English Planning

The inclusion of ethnic and racial groups through participation is a key concern for planners, but far too little attention has been given to the way that groups become identified. Ethnic identity is presumed to be self-evident. Drawing on the political theory of Young and Gilroy the paper questions the basis for ethnic identity as a group membership. These theorists suggest that through attention to relationships between ethnic groups we can open up space to challenge existing ethnic power relations. The paper draws upon qualitative research in two English local authorities to explore how long-standing conceptualisations of ethnicity act to diminish the positive contribution that attention to difference can have. The findings suggest that planners make positive efforts to understand ethnic difference and engage with community groups. However, the identification of groups is not a neutral or objective process, but instead is power-ridden. This article argues that the progressive edge of planning and efforts of planners are undermined if we do not interrogate the basis for the understanding of ethnic difference.     

The Sustainability of an Entrepreneurial City?

The paper applies an urban political ecology approach to interrogating the use of sustainability constructs by key international governance agencies. We draw on political economy of urban sustainability to identify central themes in the reports to reveal limitations and contradictions in the deployment of the environmental sustainability construct. We argue that the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank offer little towards the development of a new vision for future cities, only affirmation of neoliberal urbanism. Promisingly, some of ‘key trends’ identified by UN-Habitat will enhance the democratic content of socio-environmental construction. This will achieve a more equitable distribution of social power and inclusive mode of environmental production.     

The Changing Location of Hotels in South Africa’s Coastal Cities, 1990–2010

Hotel developments are the most significant expression of tourism growth. In the extensive international literature on urban restructuring and spatial change, the accommodation sector in general and hotels in particular are overlooked as compared to other urban functions. Only a limited amount of debate and empirical work surrounds the location of hotels. This article contributes to the sparse scholarship on spatial patterns of hotel development and location change within the urban developing world. An analysis is undertaken of the locational distribution of hotels in three urban tourism destinations, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, which have benefited from the post-apartheid expansion of tourism. Spatial change in hotels is examined between 1990 and 2010 in terms of numbers of hotel establishments, the size and quality of hotel stock. Contrasts and similarities are highlighted between observed patterns of hotels in South Africa’s coastal cities as compared with other international research.     

Is ‘Citizen Kid’ an Independent Kid? The Relationship between Children's Independent Mobility and Active Citizenship

Children want to engage with their city and have freedom to explore and learn. CATCH (Children, Active Travel, Connectedness and Health) is a three-year research project investigating local environment influences on children's independent mobility, social connectedness and health in four Australian cities. In this project, ‘active citizenship’ as well as children's ability to articulate local environmental preferences through photo collages correlated with higher levels of independent mobility. Taking a social constructivist perspective, these results are analyzed to explain how children's active citizenship might be grounded in experiences of local neighbourhood and what this might mean for children and cities.     

Postsecular planning? The idea of municipal spirituality

In the contemporary political context, religion is rarely out of the news, usually postulated as a regressive force, battling against modern liberal Western values. However, in everyday life, and specifically with regard to place value, the situation is more complex. This paper addresses the challenge this context and the attendant notion of postsecularism bring to planning practice. It argues that religious and spiritual values can be rearticulated as concepts which add a substantive positive dimension to planning and its conceptualisation and constructions of place. This is done by developing the notion of municipal spirituality, which draws on the theological conceptions of transcendence and the common good to redefine the value of places whose worth cannot easily be made in instrumental terms. In so doing, it challenges the current antagonistic opposition of religious and liberal democratic values, repositioning religious and spiritual concepts in an inclusive way. The idea of municipal spirituality illustrates how planning could have a role in defending and promoting such places. Further, it demonstrates the importance of engaging in agonistic rather than antagonistic debate, rearticulating the criteria on which places can be valued by planning practice.