Regional econometric model and the fiscal policy of a state: The case of Tennessee

Problems of using single-equation models to estimate the elasticity of state tax revenue with respect to a tax rate or personal income are discussed. The recently constructed Tennessee Econometric Model is introduced. The model contains a sector for state government revenue, and interrelationships between revenue-related variables and other economic variables have been carefully specified. The model is used to study effects of raising four state taxes on economic activity in Tennesse. Results show that the model is an effective tool for analyzing the state's fiscal policy and that single-equation models might produce seriously biased estimates of elasticities.     

Geographies of policy knowledge: The state and corporate dimensions of contemporary policy mobilities

Situated within geographical scholarship on policy mobilities, this article aims to direct attention to the state and corporate dimensions of corporate policy mobilizations as terrains that require further conceptual development. It argues that doing so is important for two reasons. First, it shows that national states should not be seen merely as functional and institutional infrastructures across and through which policies circulate, since national state policymakers also operate as active agents of policy mobilization across space and scale, especially in contexts of strong, centralized governance. Second, it illustrates how the economic dimensions of corporate actors engaged in mobilizing policy deserve more sustained analyses for a better conception of how firms' capitalist agendas shape their participation as policy transfer agents. We suggest that a relational economic geography perspective provides a set of conceptual tools — actors, networks, and value — to unpack the corporate rationalities and knowledge-sharing processes of firms. Drawing on research conducted on the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, we show how national state policymakers and transnational conglomerates are active agents in circulating urban sustainability expertise across space. An appreciation of these geographies of policy knowledge across the state and corporate domains of policy mobilization is a first step towards grasping these varied registers of expertise, and their implications for the form and content of policies on the move.     

Enterprise zone policy: developing sustainable economies through area-based fiscal incentives

The reintroduction of enterprise zone policy in the UK and less explicit forms of zones found in area-based fiscal incentives used in Europe, North America and India offers much to the policy discourse on economic growth. The use of enterprise zones previously to generate economic activity in depressed areas and among disadvantaged has a mixed success. However, the use of current enterprise zone policy in the UK as a tool for promoting high-growth sectors with potential – digital industries, niche engineering, biotechnology and green sectors – represents a departure from the enterprise zone model as an urban welfare tool. It draws greater parallels with the use of fiscal incentives used in North America, on which this article reflects. Drawing on the experiences of the digital media, arts and green sectors in Vancouver, British Columbia, this article notes the vulnerabilities created in an economy based on fiscal incentives that lure transient inward investors, as opposed to sticky growth and added value, and local employment and wealth produced by indigenous investment. Indeed, it is argued that a fiscal-led economic policy lies in contradistinction to the workings of genuine knowledge-intensive sectors, which operate on the basis of spatial proximity and agglomerations, rather than the principles of lowest cost. Together these might offer some salutary warnings about what is possible from the reintroduction of enterprise zone policy in the UK.     

Constraints on evidence-based policy: insights from government practices

Insights are offered into UK government built environment policy-making processes through an insider's perspective (based on experience of being the chief executive of a public body, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment – CABE) on three empirical examples. The government's mandate was for policies to be evidence based. There was no shortage of demand for evidence, but it was fed into political and bureaucratic domains where less- or non-evidence-based influences were also at work. The questions considered are how much the evidence really influenced the content of policy; and whether making a policy ‘evidence based' led to its acceptance across government, causing departments to commit to its delivery. It is found that evidence (1) is powerful for defining issues to which policy should attend, (2) captures the attention of policy and decision-makers, but only if presented succinctly, and (3) is essential for testing outcomes. Supposedly evidence-based policy is not always truly evidence based. Many subjective forces counterbalance objectivity. The most significant reasons for this are mooted. Advice is offered on how to make evidence a more effective part of a process that will always be partly technical and objective, but also political and subjective.     

The UK's changing research base for construction: the impact of recent government policy

Recent government policy on construction R&D in the UK is presented as having been a contradictory amalgam involving, simultaneously, government intervention and disengagement. Confusingly, both parts of the policy appear to have been aimed at the same purpose - increasing the responsiveness of the sector's R&D activities to market forces. Given the noted reluctance of the UK's private sector to assume responsibility for such activities over the past two decades, there is little to suggest that this policy will prove successful. A more likely outcome, in the short to medium term at least, is that the speed and extent of apparent government retreat from funding could, in combination with other current changes, destabilize both the capacity and the capability of Britain's construction R&D base. De l'avis de l'auteur, la politique recemment menee par le Gouvernement du Royaume-Uni en matiere de R&D dans le secteur du batiment est un amalgame contradictoire qui met en presence simultanement l'intervention du Gouvernement et son desengagement. Entrangement, ces deux facettes de la politique semblent orientees vers le meme objectif, a savoir, mieux sensibiliser les activites de R&D de ce secteur aux forces du marche. Compte tenu du pen d'enthousiasme du secteur prive du Royanne-Uni a assumer des responsabilites vis-a-vis de telles activites au cours des vingt dernieres annees, rien ne laisse presager que cette politique sera couronnee de succes. En revanche, il est plus probable, a court ou a moyen terme au moins, que la celerite du Gouvernement a se retirer de facon importante du financement, combinee a autres changements qui se produisent actuellement, aura pour effet de destabiliser les capacites et les aptitudes de la base de R&D de la construction au Royanne-Uni.     

The evolution of government housing policy: The case of new south Wales 1901–41

This paper sets out the development of four main threads of housing policy in New South Wales from the latter part of the 19th century through the first 40 years of the 20th century. Following a discussion of the social and political circumstances and debate surrounding government policy regarding landlord/tenant relations, housing quality and supply, and owner occupancy, it concludes that policy evolution is irregular and a product of the exigencies of the political process. It also suggests that although government policy did little to improve the housing situation for the underprivileged, there was nevertheless a growing acceptance by both Labor and conservative parties of the increased need for government intervention in the housing market.     

财政部税政司有关负责人表示国家将进一步运用税收政策促进资源节约

财政部税政司有关负责人日前表示,财政部门 将进一步运用税收政策,着力促进资源节约和环境 保护,切实支持建设节约型社会和发展循环经济。 这位负责人介绍说,促进资源节约和环境保护 是税收政策支持建设节约型社会和发展循环经济的 主要着力点。我国现行税制体系已设立了一些侧重 于资源节约和环境保护的税种。比如,资源税、耕地     

Housing allowances and the fiscal crisis of the welfare state

A rapidly growing public sector borrowing requirement, caused by the longest recession since the second world war, has promted the British Government to carry out a ‘fundamental review’ of state spending programmes. One of the areas on which much attention has been focused is the housing allowance scheme, the cost of which has increased substantially. This article examines the review of housing allowances that is being undertaken as part of the wider review of welfare spending. Some of the key differences between housing allowances in Britain and those in other countries are also discussed. Some of these differences are likely to be removed as a result of the review, thus making the British scheme more like those elsewhere.     

Determinants of the competitive share in Wisconsin counties, 1962–1972: The role of government policy

The research premise is that shift-share analysis can provide some useful policy information. The question addressed is: do governmental policies influence the competitive share of a county. Ordinary least squares regression is used to test the relationship between selected state and local government policy choices and the county's competitive share for the time periods of 1962–72, 1962–67, and 1967–72. The policy variables proved to have limited predictive power. The number of cities over 10,000 population, distance to Milwaukee/Minneapolis, percent employed in trade and service activities, and median family income were the strongest influences on county competitive share. The conclusion is that the proxies for state and local economic policy choices are either inadequate or county competitive share is not influenced by governmental action.     

Sustainable energy policy for small-island developing state: Mauritius

Small-island states face a unique challenge. Their natural beauty, an asset as a tourist attraction, hides the fact that they have fragile ecosystems, vulnerable to climate change. They often rely on imported fossil fuel, even if they may have a potential for renewable energy. High population density may be an additional burden. A new paradigm for their development is necessary. The case of Mauritius as a sustainable island (Maurice Ile Durable or MID) is analyzed with focus on energy, considering intrinsically-related engineering, economic, environmental and ethico-socio-political dimensions. A holistic action plan is proposed for a transition towards a sustainable future.     

Foreign street traders working in inner city Durban: Local government policy challenges

“Xenophobia coupled with drunken criminals affects our business. Heavy rain forces us to close. South Africans sometimes threaten to kick us out”—Hair-cutter from the DRC     

Local government and state control: Municipalising the Northern Territory land councils

If implemented, the recommendations of a recent review of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 would see relatively strong provisions for Aboriginal people to obtain and manage their traditional lands abolished. A centrally regulated and assimilationist system of local governance would be substituted. The neo-colonial implications of the proposals are masked by liberal rhetoric of community and local democracy.     

The economic interdependence of contiguous border cities: The twin city multiplier

Twin cities on international borders are common throughout the world. Although located in different countries their economic growth and current levels of income and employment are typically jointly determined through not only each city's basic economic activity but also international trade and resource flows. This paper combines elements of the regional economic multiplier and the foreign trade multiplier models to formulate a twin city multiplier model which shows the levels of income and changes in the levels of income in each border city as a result of changes in economic activity in one twin city.Appreciation is expressed to Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal for his comments on an earlier draft.     

可持续发展的工程策略:国家游泳中心中国院方案

引言国家游泳中心(简称游泳中心)将建在国家奥林匹克公园内。其目的是:·为公众提供大型多功能水上娱乐、运动、休闲、健身场所;·为2008年奥运会和残奥会的游泳、跳水等提供17000座观众的比赛场馆;·为大型国际、国内游泳、跳水等体育赛事提供6000座观众的比赛场馆。与可持续发展相关并应解决的问题是:·游泳中心与东侧的国家体育场及北侧的国家体育馆之间应形成完整的城市形象,共同构成奥林匹克遗产(城市原则);·赛时/赛后的功能组合变化与低能耗可持续运营(功能原则)。建筑描述1、场地的:从平面分析到竖向规划托起游泳中心的平静水面与国…     

Housing price and transaction intensity correlation in Hong Kong: implications for government housing policy

Examination of the causal relationship between housing price and transaction intensity helps us understand the housing market dynamics better. The housing market is a very unique asset market as demand for housing comes from both demand for investment return and demand for a shelter/accommodation. Empirical analysis on this causal relationship therefore provides government with important policy considerations. In this paper, we will examine such correlation between housing price movements and transaction intensity in Hong Kong with a core objective of getting a better understanding of the housing market behavior in this city so that more effective government housing policy could be devised. We examine the price–transaction correlation observed in the Hong Kong housing market by means of a bivariate vector autoregressive (VAR) model, with a time series spanning over the period from 1993 to 2014. Without examining other macroeconomic variables such as employment and gross domestic product, our Granger causality test shows a strong evidence, suggesting that housing price Granger causes transaction intensity in the housing market of Hong Kong, but not vice versa. The findings buttressed by the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and the bounds test results on cointegration relationships support our conclusion. Based on these results, we question the current government housing policy which aims mainly at suppressing demand and hence transaction intensity, if the objective of government intervention is to bring housing price level to a more affordable level. Housing policy therefore should aim at effectuating the supply channel so that there is a clearer signal of constant and effective supply of housing units, which will eventually help stabilize housing price.