Economy Of Towns Research Articles

The role and place of small innovative enterprises in the construction industry in the modern economy of single-industry towns

This article gives an author’s interpretation of a Russian single-industry town, in which the key factor in the socio-economic development of a territory is the successful development of a town-forming enterprise. It is proved that the development of single-industry towns can be promoted by the development of small innovative entrepreneurship. One of the promising forms of small business development may be the construction industry, which is one of the most promising industries in Russia. The main social functions of small business in the construction industry are highlighted.

Disappearing from Abolitionism's Heartland: The Legacy of Slavery and Emancipation in Boston

AbstractThis article examines why Boston's slave and free black population consisted of more than 1,500 people in 1750, but by 1790 Boston was home to only 766 people of African descent. This disappearing act, where the town's black population declined by at least fifty per cent between 1763 and 1790, can only be explained by exploring slavery, abolition, and their legacies in Boston. Slaves were vital to the town's economy, filling skilled positions and providing labor for numerous industries. Using the skills acquired to challenge their enslavement, Afro-Bostonians found freedom during the American revolutionary era. Nevertheless, as New England's rural economy collapsed, young white men and women from all over the region flooded Boston looking for work, driving down wages, and competing with black people for menial employment. Forced out of the labor market, many former slaves and their descendants left the region entirely. Others joined the Continental or British armies and never returned home. Moreover, many slave owners, knowing that slavery was coming to an end in Massachusetts, sold their bondsmen and women to other colonies in the Americas where slavery was still legal and profitable. Thus, the long-term legacy of abolition for black Bostonians was that Boston's original enslaved population largely disappeared, while the city became a hub of abolitionism by the 1830s. Boston's abolitionist community – many the descendants of slaveholders – did not have to live with their forefathers’ sins. Instead, they crafted a narrative of a free Boston, making it an attractive destination for runaway slaves from across the Atlantic world.

Importance of the sugarcane industry in the formal employment in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul during the period of 2008 to 2014

Abstract: In the early 2000s, sugarcane experienced high growth in Brazil and Mato Grosso do Sul experienced the highest growth, with a 398%% increase. We analysed the impact of the sugarcane industry on formal employment and wages in Mato Grosso do Sul between 2008 and 2014. We used a Normalized Concentration Index (nCI) decomposed into Location Quotient (LQ), modified Hirschman Herfindahl Index (HHm), and Relative Participation (RP). Data were collected in the Annual Report on Social Information (RAIS). The nCI allows a general perception of concentration since LQ and HHm give greater weight to small municipalities with few activities, and the RP underestimates the importance of industry for these same municipalities. Thus, the municipality of Dourados, the second largest in the state, had an RP of 9%, but low LQ and HHm. The sugarcane industry plays an essential role in the economy of small towns, where it generates most of the formal jobs, with higher salaries. However, the impact is concentrated in a few small cities. Another effect is the fast disappearance of the benefits of the sugarcane industry in areas where processing units were closed. The dependence of the sugarcane industry in small municipalities is a concern whose solution should be further studied.

'A town built on migration?' Calculating the human capital value of migration to Reading, 1851-1871

This article provides an estimate of the human capital value of migration to Reading in the period 1851-1871 to the town's economy. This is determined by estimating total net migration to the town across this period by age and sex and assigning all migrants a value for expected lifetime economic output less expected lifetime consumption costs. The final figures are contextualised by comparison with the value of social overhead capital used to fund significant local infrastructure projects in the same time period and show that, from a human capital perspective, the value of migration to Reading was very significant. This article thus addresses significant historiographical gaps in the study of Victorian labour migration to southern provincial towns and provides an original perspective to studies of the economic value of migration and its role in the growth of such communities.

Проектное управление развитием моногородов

The research features the issues of development of monoprofile municipal formations through the prism of project management methodology, which was previously applied to investment projects of private companies and had mostly theoretical relation to the municipal level. The paper presents a consolidated view on the approach to the implementation of project management methodology in single-industry towns and an attempt to predict the outcome of this process. The author describes the steps taken towards implementation of project management at the municipal level in 2015–2017, including the process of managerial competences formation in project managers dealing with the projects of development of municipal formations with a single-industry economy. The research systematizes the intermediate results of the priority program "Complex development of single-industry towns" in the direction "training of teams managing projects of development of single-industry towns". An attempt was made to relate costs to results planned by the program. The author believes that the training cost resulted in quantitative changes in the development of single-industry towns. However, no changes were recorded at the qualitative level, which could eventually lead to the initiation and implementation of viable and sustainable investment projects that contribute to the synergetic development of the economy of single-industry towns.

Типология моногородов по степени диверсификации среднего профессионального образования как информационная база проектов профессиональной переподготовки населения

In the process of diversifying the economy of single-industry towns, a contradiction may appear between the homogeneous professional composition of the population and the need for personnel with diverse professional and qualification characteristics. Elimination of this risk lies in the field of diversification of vocational education.
 The task of the study was to diagnose the degree of diversification of secondary vocational education in single-industry towns with the status of a territory of advanced socio-economic development. The definition of this characteristic was considered as the definition formed to date, one of the prerequisites for the implementation of the program for the development of single-industry towns.
 The present research features the existing differences between single-industry cities with the status of territory of advanced socio-economic development in terms of the degree of diversification of secondary vocational education. The authors analyzed the mid-level training programs and programs for training skilled workers and employees that are being implemented in the 2017/18 school year. On this basis, a typology of single-industry towns was developed and proposed.
 This typology can form the basis for the development of a set of strategies for the diversification of free software for single-industry towns of different types. This, in turn, will make it possible to introduce into the development program of each single-industry town a project to transform the vocational qualification structure of the population in accordance with the needs of a diversifying economy, which will increase the level of complexity of the program for developing a single-industry town as a whole.

Стратегии выживания населения в моногороде

The article presents the results of a study of survival strategies of the population in a single-industry town using the example of Chusovoy (Perm Krai). Single-industry towns perform a special role in the economic development of regions and the country in general. The authors have identified the most common survival strategies and the adaptation of the population to the socio-economic situation in a single-industry town. The results of the study indicate that the standards of living in these settlements are relatively low. Measures are currently taken to diversify the economy of single-industry towns and to create new industries and conditions for the development of small and medium-sized businesses and to stabilize employment. It is important to understand the impact of all the mechanisms used. The authors highlight the importance of the current social strategies for adapting to life in a single- industry town. This analysis of Chusovoy showed the need to develop recommendations to speed up the development of the territory, to reduce the shortcomings in the implementation the TOSER conception (territories of advanced social and economic development), to elaborate other mechanisms for assisting single-industry towns. Taking into account the current survival strategies of the population, it is possible to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of supports mechanism for single-industry towns.

Carceral Immigration Reforms and the Joint Project of Abolition

Carceral Immigration Reforms and the Joint Project of Abolition Marlene Nava Ramos (bio) Alexandra Délano Alonso’s From Here and There: Diaspora Policies, Integration, and Social Rights Beyond Borders, New York: Oxford University Press, 2018 Jenna M. Loyd and Alison Mountz’s Boats, Borders, and Bases: Race, the Cold War, and the Rise of Migration Detention in the United States, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2018 Jenna M. Loyd and Alison Mountz’s Boats, Borders, and Bases and Alexandra Délano Alonso’s From Here and There, two of the most recently published works on the topic of U.S. immigration, build on the now extensive interdisciplinary literature that oscillates between the exclusion of immigrants, on the one hand, and forms of political power and integration, on the other. While they remain within their respective sides of the field, these manuscripts are timely and push the literature empirically and theoretically. Furthermore, these works pair well in order to help readers theorize on the synergism of oppositional forces—“exclusion” versus “inclusion”—affecting U.S. immigrants. In doing so, these works can also guide critical discussions on calls to come “together”—this issue’s theme—within the context of mass mobilizations and efforts toward carceral reforms. In their work, Loyd and Mountz ask: How did the largest migrant detention system in the world come about? And now that we are here, Alonso asks: What kinds of counterstrategies exist to support immigrants’ political and economic participation and power? Loyd and Mountz, two geographers with distinct theoretical training, write a metanarrative on the birth and expansion of “migration detention” across onshore and offshore U.S. territories. As in her previous work, Seeking Asylum, Mountz uses Giorgio Agamben’s philosophies of exceptionalism to study remote, offshore, militarized landscapes, adding to Loyd’s perspective on the political economy of prison towns and military bases across the contiguous U.S. and its territories. Lloyd plumbs the archives to understand the broader politics and economies of prison towns holding [End Page 127] federal immigrant detainees in Oakdale, Louisiana, Pinal County, Arizona (Florence and Eloy), and Batavia, New York, challenging the narrative of migrant detention sites as spatially isolated. These chapters are then connected by Mountz’s expertise on the use of military bases in remote places such as Guantánamo as well as in the contiguous U.S. (Fort Chaffee, Arkansas) in order to show the plethora and expansion of confinement sites since the late 1970s. Loyd and Mountz ambitiously unify these case studies under a clever three-part chronology: the federal government’s contested but definitive introduction of detention practices as an immigration deterrence strategy in the aftermath of the 1980 Mariel boatlift crisis; the systematic building of prisons throughout the 1980s on military bases and in towns eager to host new facilities; and, finally, the expansion of detention into the “world’s largest system”—an accurate proclamation by California prison administrators about California’s corrections system (Gilmore 1999; 2007) that also rings true for the federal government’s own carceral system. Their research provides a much needed alternative perspective in the literature about immigration enforcement, which has tended to date the rise of comprehensive enforcement practices to the aftermath of the 1996 anti-immigrant laws and/or post-9/11 responses—these are important moments that expand the breadth and scope of state practices. Loyd and Mountz, however, trace the roots of this phenomenon to the country’s prison boom in the aftermath of the Cold War and the shift between what Loyd’s academic mentor Ruth Wilson Gilmore (1999) calls Keynesian militarism and post-Keynesian militarism. Loyd and Mountz’s joint research maps an extensive onshore and offshore carceral archipelago which should be examined, they argue, from the critical perspective of Cold War refugees and the Caribbean region, challenging the nearly exclusive focus on the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Boats, Borders, Bases is a must-read in immigration courses. The authors’ ambitious geographic-temporal scope and sophisticated theoretical tools for studying onshore and offshore confinement will need to be contextualized for undergraduate readers to avoid a misreading of temporal and theoretical linkages as undifferentiated forms of confinement. Offshore and onshore confinement, while connected as...

From Gold Coast to Ghana: Changing political economy of mining towns

This paper explores the influence of mining activities on towns in Ghana in order to appreciate their political economy and implications for urban planning. It first provides a historical account of the relations between mining activities and emergence of towns. Second, the legal environment informing the development or otherwise of mining towns is presented. Third, implications of mining induced towns on Ghana's urban planning are discussed. Using documentary review and empirical cases of selected mining towns, findings indicate that the political economic situation of Ghana's mining industry has produced and continues to shape affected intermediate towns in five ways: 1) some mining towns are experiencing relative growth, while others are slowly dying; 2) death or complete collapse of mining communities after mining boom 3) changed functions and local economy after mine operations are closed down; 4) emergence of new mining settlements resulting from new investments; and 5) resettlement communities resulting from displacement from the harmful effects of mine operations. These factors have implications for urban planning, and this paper proposes three entry points with implications for other developing countries: a space in Ghana's urban development policy for mining towns; a re-look at the content and focus of corporate social responsibilities of mining firms; and a functional link between growth of mining and urban planning.

Neo-industrialization models and industrial culture of small towns

Abstract In the last 30 years the global supply chains and containerization transformed the world of production and stretched it across the globe. With the exodus of Process and Assembly (P&A) segment of industrial production from the developed countries, the “global north” not only lost the production capacity itself, but more importantly, the know-how in making that is a basis of industrial culture. The neoliberal attitudes in industrial production were the main force behind slow but persistent abandonment of the automotive industry in Detroit, or closing down of the coal and iron industry in the Ruhr region in Germany. Contemporary urban renewal strategies of industrial areas rely on injection of tourism based on design, popular art, cultural and leisure activities, like the Emscher Landschaftspark in Ruhr region, Germany. However, tourism-based redevelopment is economically questionable in small industrial towns. For such areas we need to envision alternative agencies that industrial past and industrial production can offer. One of the most underrated aspects of industrial production is the know-how imbedded in the P&A segment of industrial process. We argue for the industrial production know-how as a relevant part of the new innovation economy of small towns and of the local culture. This paper will trace the capacity of industrial production for culture-making by referring to production-innovation models described in regional geography. Firstly the paper identifies the P&A know-how worth reshoring. Secondly, it describes two models of neo-industrialization in order to thirdly identify a new hybrid type of a regional model and its culture.

Level 6B: Defeat Day Zero, Part 2

In March this column focused on the epic drought in Cape Town, South Africa. At that time, Day Zero—the day water service would be shut off—was imminent and inevitable. Now Day Zero has been postponed to 2019. To many of us, the length of the postponement seems unbelievable—how could something so dire suddenly be delayed for so long? Wondering about this, I had the good fortune of connecting with some of Cape Town's governmental water leaders, who were kind enough to answer my many questions. Here is what I have learned. The drought is still in full force. The postponement of Day Zero in no way means Cape Town is out of its drought. This is the third year of the drought, and right now what are referred to as Level 6B water restrictions are in place. These restrictions limit Capetonians to only 50 L (13 gal) of water per person per day for all uses—drinking, cooking, flushing, showers, pets, etc. This minimal daily amount is hard for many of us to imagine. At least three drivers led to the postponement of Day Zero. First, the urban reduction in water consumption was significant. Second, the city's water supply is shared with agricultural users, and for three of them, the supply was capped, making that water available for residents. Third, a neighbor, the Groenland Water Users Association, released 10 billion L of its supply to Cape Town. The biggest bet in postponing Day Zero is the expectation that, because Cape Town is now entering its rainy season (roughly April through September), rain will provide some relief. While models show that with absolutely no rain, Day Zero will occur in mid-July 2018, the assumption of no rain is deemed unrealistic if not irresponsible. Projections for Day Zero now use conservative and reasonable estimates of rainfall, augmentation, evaporation, and low water usage. If these assumptions pan out, the models predict that Cape Town can keep its reservoirs above 13.5% of capacity—the trigger for Day Zero—and get close to mid-year 2019 and the next rainy season. Along the way, Cape Town officials have made some key public policy decisions. The first is to communicate with transparency. For example, in March I mentioned their fantastic website, but their Twitter feeds and Facebook page are equally informative. Their transparent decision-making extends to the bold choice to trust the data and announce—but not promise—Cape Town can get to 2019. Also, city officials have used two tactics that I think some other communities would think twice about; but, speaking candidly, desperate times call for desperate measures. The first was to lower the water pressure in the city's system. This slowed the flow of water and helped reduce usage, but not without periods of no water in some areas. They also used GIS mapping technology to plot household usage for their customers. This allows customers to check on their consumption, as well as that of their neighbors, to see who is complying with the restrictions. This historic drought—some conclude it is a one-in-a-thousand-year event—also raises several environmental, social, and economic issues. Environmentally, experts are attributing the severity of the drought to climate change. Socially, the economic spectrum of Cape Town is significantly broad, and the drought has raised concerns about water equity, especially for those living in “informal communities.” Informal communities are inhabited by disadvantaged citizens who live in shack-type dwellings and get their water from a standpipe. Finally, tourism is important to Cape Town's economy. The drought has reduced the demand to visit Cape Town, and this has wide-ranging economic consequences. The media also have been fickle. Perhaps you have seen photos of Capetonians standing in line to fill water jugs. This creates the false impression that the long lines are because tap water has been turned off. The reality is, these citizens are filling their jugs at natural springs. The water demand has increased at these springs, but taps have not been shut off because Day Zero has not occurred. Sadly, it seems to me, the announcement that Day Zero is delayed removed the media's urgency to report on this important water story, which in turn contributes to the misperception that the drought is over. Journal AWWA is currently seeking peer-reviewed and feature articles. Find submission guidelines at www.awwa.org/submit.

Beyond dualism: Agricultural productivity, small towns, and structural change in Bangladesh

This paper uses a framework that goes beyond rural-urban dualism and highlights the role of small-town economy in understanding structural change in a developing country. It provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of agricultural productivity in structural transformation in the labor market in small towns and the surrounding rural areas. The empirical work is based on a general equilibrium model that formalizes the demand and labor market linkages: the small-town draws labor away from the rural areas to produce goods and services whose demand may depend largely on rural income. The theory clarifies the role played by the income elasticity of demand and the elasticity of wage with respect to productivity increase in agriculture. For productivity growth to lead to a demand effect, the wage elasticity has to be lower than a threshold. When the demand for goods and services produced in small towns comes mainly from the adjacent rural areas, the demand effect can outweigh the negative wage effect and lead to higher employment in the town-goods sector. The empirical analysis finds a significant positive effect of higher rainfall on rice yield and wages. Using rainfall shocks as a source of exogenous variation, we provide instrumental variables estimates of the effects of agricultural productivity on agricultural wages. The increase in wages is larger in the rural sample compared with the small town economy sample, but structural change in employment is more pronounced in the small town economy. In the rural sample, the positive employment effect is observed only in small-scale manufacturing and services. In contrast, a positive productivity shock in small towns sample has large and positive effect on employment in large scale manufacturing and services (construction, transport, education, and health). Agricultural productivity growth induces structural transformation within the services sector in small towns, with employment in skilled services growing at a faster pace than that in low skilled services.

Beyond Dualism: Agricultural Productivity, Small Towns, and Structural Change in Bangladesh

This paper uses a framework that goes beyond rural-urban dualism and highlights the role of small town economy (STE) in understanding structural change in a rural economy such as Bangladesh. It provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of agricultural productivity in structural transformation in the labor market, with a focus on the differences between a village economy and a small town economy. The empirical work is based on a general equilibrium model that formalizes the demand and labor market linkages: the STE draws labor away from the rural areas to produce goods and services whose demand may depend largely on rural income. The theory clarifies the role played by the income elasticity of demand and the elasticity of wage with respect to productivity increase in agriculture. For productivity growth to lead to a demand effect, the elasticity of wage has to be lower than a threshold. When the demand for goods and services produced in small towns comes mainly from the adjacent rural areas, the demand effect can more than offset the negative wage effect and lead to higher labor allocation to the production of town good. Using rainfall as an instrument for agricultural productivity, the empirical analysis finds a significant positive effect of agricultural productivity shock on rice yield and agricultural wages. The evidence shows that productivity shock increases wages more in the rural sample when compared to the STE sample. But structural change in employment is more pronounced in the STE sample. In the rural sample, it increases employment only in small scale manufacturing and services. In contrast, a positive productivity shock has large and positive impacts on employment in construction and transport, education, health and other services, and manufacturing employment in larger scale enterprises located in small towns and cities. Agricultural productivity growth is found to induce structural transformation within the services sector in small towns, with employment in skilled services growing at a faster pace than that of low-skilled services.

Сбалансированное территориальное развитие: проблемы моногородов в Свердловской области

The article examines the questions concerning the optimization of territorial structure in the Sverdlovsk region associated with the comprehensive transformation of the economy of single-industry towns and mono economics areas. The author has analyzed the population dynamics of the region and industrial production, with allocation of single-industry towns. A classification of towns by type of localization economy has been classified. The author has made some conclusions on quality solution of the problems in the single-industry towns in the Sverdlovsk region.

Динамический подход к оценке процесса диверсификации экономики моногорода

Динамический подход к оценке процесса диверсификации экономики моногорода

Socio-economic effects of labor migration from small towns of Russia

The article examines labor migration from small Russian towns: prevalence of the phenomenon, the direction and duration of trips, spheres of employment and earnings of migrants, social and economic benefits of migration for households. The representative surveys of households and migrant-workers by a standardized interview were conducted in four selected towns. Authors draw a conclusion about high labor spatial mobility of the population of small towns and existence of positive effects for migrant’s households and the economy of towns themselves.

Újraiparosodás és útfüggőség: gondolatok a magyarországi ipar területi dinamikája kapcsán

A hazai ipar térszerkezetének hosszabb távú fejlődése, illetve magasabb hozzáadott értéket előállító tevékenységek felé tolódása (mely a hosszabb idő alatt kialakuló, nehezen reprodukálható helyspecifikus, minőségi telepítő tényezők felértékelődését hozza magával) indokolttá teszi a folyamatok hátterében húzódó, a fejlődés szervességét, folyamatosságát képviselő tényezők kutatását. Vizsgálataink elméleti keretbe helyezése érdekében az útfüggőség változásokra nyitottabb, dinamikus koncepciója felé fordultunk, amely a múlt döntéseinek a jelen és a jövő gazdasági fejlődését befolyásoló szerepét állítja a középpontba. Ennek hangsúlyozása mellett sem kívánjuk alulértékelni azon külső hatásokat, melyek főként a külföldi működőtőke-befektetések formájában az ország ipari szerkezetváltását befolyásolják. Másrészt, az empirikus kutatásaink helyszínét képező alföldi térségek jellemzője a hagyományos iparági körzetek hiánya, melyből adódóan az útfüggőség bezáródás problémáját kiemelő, statikusabb megközelítése kevésbé tűnik alkalmas vonatkoztatási rendszernek. Empirikus vizsgálatainkat kisvárosi és középvárosi közegben végeztük. Tapasztalataink szerint a befektetők számára kevésbé vonzó kisváros iparának átalakulásában a helyi meghatározottságok szerepe nagyobb, a külföldi tőkebefektetések révén érvényesülő hatások korlátozottabbak, és közvetett módon – a helyi vállalkozások beszállítói hálózatokba kapcsolódásán keresztül – jelennek meg. A középvárosi esettanulmányban szereplő, külföldi zöldmezős beruházások helyszínét képező ipari park esetében a helyi meghatározottságok szerepe mérsékeltebb, de mégis kitapintható a múltból örökölt adottságok befolyásoló hatása, az útfüggőség megjelenése.

Crisis phenomena in Russia and cooperation of enterprises to improve the development of monotowns

This article discusses the crisis in Russia, provides suggestions for improving the interaction between the main participants of the socio-economic regional development processes. AS such members large and small enterprises are regarded Emphasis is placed on the promotion and creation of favorable conditions for small business development, a key factor in overcoming territorial problems enhancing the innovative development of the socio-economic system in monoprofile cities. The executive authorities are often inclined to oppose the large-scale enterprises to the small ones, the emerging conflicts are solved in favor of large enterprises. This situation proves that despite declared recognition of the small business importance in practice the small business is discriminated because they are believed to turn out the low efficiency. The involvement of the Russian economy into the global processes implements searching for and finding places where the operation will allow to get the maximum benefit from participation. Such places are presented for instance by «niches» for the provision of resources, primarily oil, gas and partially recycled metal and wood. This situation does not allow the economy of single-industry towns to develop effectively, partially due to lack of developed small businesses interacting with a large enterprise. It becomes clear that today it is impossible to ensure balanced growth of the mono cities economy providing the parallel development of small and large enterprises. The emergence of favorable conditions for the successful solution of local problems is possible when authorities will directly participate in the small business establishment including concrete measures aimed to its development.

Merced de la tenencia de la Torre de la Mar de Vélez-Málaga al tesorero Ruy López de Toledo (1487-1517)

Tras la incorporación de Vélez-Málaga a Castilla, los Reyes Católicos hicieron merced a su tesorero Ruy López de Toledo de la aduana musulmana de Vélez Málaga, ubicada en la Torre de la Mar, que en época cristiana siguió canalizando la recaudación de impuestos que gravaban las actividades pesqueras y mercantiles, especialmente la comercialización y exportación de los frutos secos, eje fundamental de la economía veleña. Aquella merced, que neutralizaba cualquier intento del concejo de hacer que el uso de aquel espacio económico revirtiera en su deficitaria hacienda, dio origen a un pleito entre la ciudad y el beneficiario de la merced, que no se zanjó hasta que el tesorero real renunció a ella en 1517.

THE ROLE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF COMPANY TOWNS

The development of small and medium enterprises (SME) plays an important role in the comprehensive modernization of the economy of single-industry towns, acting as a factor of its growth and diversification. The analysis of the dynamics of the development of SME of non-diversified municipal formations and directions of its state support was made, suggestions on the monitoring organization of statistical factors of SME in single-industry towns and on the development of comprehensive investment plans on modernization of single-industry towns were made in a part of the development and support of small and medium businesses in single-industry towns.