Forms Of Economic Activity Research Articles

Industrial restructuring as class restructuring: Production decentralization and local uniqueness

Massey D. (1983) Industrial restructuring as class restructuring: production decentralization and local uniqueness, Reg. Studies 17, 73–89. Industrial change is also a process of social change. This article examines the impact on two very different kinds of area of the entry of new forms of economic activity. It points out that, although in each case the new industry was the same (branch plants employing women in low-paid and unskilled jobs), the social effects in the two regions were very different. In one kind of region the old basis of the labour movement is being undermined, in the other the division between labour and capital may be becoming clearer. The social processes of the reproduction of spatial inequality are examined and it is shown how class and other divisions—such as those based on gender—are at the heart of this dynamic.

Planification et régulation dans les économies socialistes : pour une théorie de la valeur comptable

Planning and Control in the Socialist Economies: a Theory of Accounting Value. Starting from the general proposition that the Soviet type economy is one characterised by a system of accounting value, i.e. by a set of norms aimed at ensuring external control over the behaviour of units organised in a hierarchical structure of dependence, the article attempts to show what are the essential relationships underpinning the Soviet type of organisation and its concomitant method of evaluation, and also to relate analytically the actual degrees of autonomy and subordination of the units of production. The models of the Soviet economy, as a command or pluralist economy, are then seen as inadequate, while the second economy becomes an informal connterpart closely interwoven with the pattern of formal economic activity.

Work and general psychological and physical well-being.

This article describes a study of the influence of job factors (e.g. job control, pay, etc.) on job attitudes (satisfaction, alienation, stress) as well as the joint influence of job factors and job attitudes on general psychological and physical well-being. Satisfaction/alienation and felt stress were found to be two different modes of response to work. Prestige, control, variety, and opportunity for promotion were powerful predictors of satisfaction/alienation. Number of deadlines and job overlap with family life were important predictors of stress. The job factors and job attitudes showed substantively important relationships to general well-being. The testing of various alternate hypotheses supported the inference of a causal work-health link. Implications of the findings are that work must be viewed in a wider context than simply as a form of economic activity if the well-being of the population is to be improved and that a focus on individual "life-styles" as causes of lowered well-being leads to neglect of the underlying social structural bases of disease.

Occupational Specialization by Ethnic Groups in the Informal Sector of the Urban Economies of Traditional Nigerian Cities: The Case of Benin

The significance of the informal sector in the of developing countries is a recurring theme in the literature on urban and regional development planning in Africa south of the Sahara. This is of particular importance in Nigeria where it has been estimated that enterprises within this sector provide about seven times as much employment as those of the formal sector (Callaway, 1967: 163). Although economists such as Kilby (1963: 18) view small-scale enterprises in the informal sector merely as a quasi-sponge for urban employment, their persistent survival and expansion has led to recent investigations into the conditions which have made this survival possible (Lewis, 1972, 1973, 1974; Aluko, 1972; Bray, 1969). In spite of the fact that the dualistic nature of the urban in many developing countries has been recognized by researchers for some years now, there is still some controversy about the most appropriate terminology which can be used to describe the pattern. McGee (1973: 138), for example, has suggested that most cities of the third world can be seen as consisting of two juxtaposed systems of production-one derived from capitalist forms of production, the other from the peasant system of production. On the other hand, Geertz (1963) described the two systems respectively as the firm-centered economy and the bazaar-type economy. These definitions emphasize the distinctive organization of production activities, whereas the usual modern-traditional dichotomy refers to the technology used. Hart's (1973) study in Accra introduced the concept of formal and informal income opportunities. He based the distinction between formal and informal urban economic activities on that between wage-earning and selfemployment. The key variable is the degree of rationalization of work; that is, whether or not labor is recruited on a permanent and regular basis for fixed rewards. Hart, therefore, defined formal income opportunities as public and private sector wages as well as transfer payments. He further divided the informal income opportunities into legitimate activities including primary, secondary, and tertiary enterprises, and small-scale distribution; and illegitimate activities such as prostitution, bribery, smuggling, petty theft, and gambling. One significant respect in

A Model for a Comprehensive Low Cost Health Program in Rural Malaysia

Contemporary West Malaysia (the population of which is roughly 50% Malay, and of these some 85% are rural) is coming to end of Second Malaysian Plan initiated in July 1971. This new economic policy, which is more ideologically than economically oriented, has two major goals. The first goal, elimination of poverty, appears to be essentially non-racial. However, second goal is expressed primarily in racial terms. The society is to be restructured so that the present identification of race with particular forms of economic activity will eventually be eliminated. Specifically, goal is that within 20 years (by 1991) some 30% of commercial and industrial sector will be controlled by Malays and other natives. The relevance of these current developments to comprehensive low cost health care in rural Malaysia is twofold. First it implies a relative de-emphasis on health care delivery in this decade. Second, it draws attention to fact that in Malaysia, development-and in particular, rural development-means development affecting those who are ethnically Malay. The economist Stephen Chee (1974) has argued, with others, that in Malaysia development is essentially a transfer payment to putatively disadvantaged (i.e., rural Malay) sector of society. Before addressing aspects of rural health care delivery per se, it is important to note that in many significant ways Malaysia reflects a developmental advantage when compared to many of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Per capita income in 1970 exceeded that of Philippines, Thailand, and dramatically exceeded that of Indonesia (respectively in U.S.$, $353 compared to $224, $186 and $92). Per capita daily caloric intake lags only slightly behind Thailand but exceeds Philippines and Indonesia (respectively 2,210, 2,190, 2,040, and 1,920). Life expectancy at birth is among highest in Southeast Asia at 65.3 years. In biennium 1970-1972, average grain yields in Malaysia (2,842 kg/ha) were over twice that of Indonesia and roughly 30% above that of Thailand and Philippines. Finally, with exception of Taiwan, Malaysia leads Southeast Asia in percentage of cultivated area under irrigation (FAO Production Yearbook 1972; UN Statistical Yearbook 1972; World Bank, Trends in Developing Countries 1973). The balance of this paper is a series of arguments in support of six general recommendations for low cost comprehensive health care among rural Malays. These recommendations are:

Libya: an Analysis of the Oil Economy

Prior to the discovery of rich oil deposits, Libyan development prospects seemed markedly discouraging. In a primarily agricultural economy, cultivation was narrowly confined to two physically separated coastal belts constituting less than 3 per cent of the country's total land area. Under the combined influence of outmoded techniques and the hostility of an arid soil, agricultural productivity was low. Possibilities for developing other forms of economic activity were few and unpromising. Libya seemed destined for an existence of continued dependence upon foreign assistance.

A Theory of Pure Risk Management in the Business Firm

All forms of economic activity are confronted with two basic types of financial risks: (1) pure risks, which involve a potential loss only and are generally viewed to be incidental to the entrepreneurial function, such as a fire loss; (2) speculative risks, which involve both a potential loss and gain and are the prime focus of the entrepreneurial function, such as investment.' The subject of this paper is confined to the management of pure risks by modern business firms. Since the turn of the twentieth century, business managers have been increasingly concerned over the expanding areas of property, liability and personnel pure risk exposures. Some of these risks involve catastrophic losses whose occurrence, without advance planning, could deprive the firm from the means of continuity. Moreover, protecting the firm's assets and personnel against pure risks requires the

Type-of-Farm Areas: The Application of Sampling Methods

THE METHODOLOGY for studying areal variation in agriculture is a recurrent problem. The present paper is concerned to extend and develop recent trends in this field, and suggest a rationale for them.1 As an illustration of method, reference is made to an investigation of agriculture in eastern England. The areal differentiation of agriculture deserves the attention of both the agricultural economist and the geographer. For the agricultural economist, variations in type of farm constitute a significant variable in connection with trends in farm costs, returns and income. More specifically, an annual sample survey of farm business performance, the Farm Management Survey of England and Wales, provides economic data about farming prosperity which play an important part in the annual farm price review. The reliability of this survey depends in some measure on the inclusion of farms representative of the population as a whole. To achieve this, the distribution and relative importance of the various farming systems must be known. A primary feature of agriculture is that it is a form of economic activity using more land than almost any other form of production. Further, the production process involves a direct use of natural resources, and the physical environment provides a framework determining the limits of technical feasibility. These aspects alone are sufficient to justify the significance which variation in the pattern of agricultural activity holds for geographers. It may be objected that the economist's interest is primarily in farms as units, the geographer's in farming over a region, and therefore a methodology satisfactory for one will not suit the other. It will be argued here, however, that the same method can yield relevant information for both the economist and the geographer. The main problems involved are: (a) the choice of unit for studying areal variation; (b) the collection of information sufficiently reliable to describe the variation; (c) the classification of the phenomena on the basis of this information; (d) the presentation of the results as a distribution pattern; (e) the analysis and explanation of this pattern.

Locational Emphasis of the Australian Work Force

A USTRALIA is generally regarded as a primary producer, and rightly so. There is taking place, however, a significant and desirable diversification of the national economy, which may well be viewed as an indication of the nation's growing maturity. This trend has been particularly evident in everyday life during the later 1950's, though it was already apparent in the statistical material of the 1954 Australian Census.' In that year almost 28 per cent of the employed population was engaged in manufacturing industry, compared with 25.9 per cent at the time of the previous Census (1947) and approximately 19 per cent both in 1933 and 1921. This article aims, in part, to show the distribution of the main branches of economic activity in which the nation is concerned. The primary aim, however, is to show the relative strengths, of selected forms of economic activity throughout each and every section of the country. In a political unit such as Australia, where history and environment have influenced the development of steep population density gradients, any cartographic comparison of absolute values in production or employment leaves vast areas of the continent

Aerial Photographic Analysis of Residential Neighborhoods: An Evaluation of Data Accuracy

workers. People in the latter two categories seem to be conspicuously absent in the formal civic, cultural, and economic activities of the city. In view of the apparent lack of integration of people of the lower socio-economic levels into the important affairs of the city, negative convictions and feelings of apathy toward the status quo perhaps should be expected. It might also be expected that these relationships would vary considerably in industrial communities having unions geared to the achievement of definite economic and political goals. The verification of the hypothesis of the present study and the delineation of the contentintensity relationship for the attitude toward sources of power should contribute to efforts designed to provide an empirical basis for hypotheses regarding aspects of power and social stratification. The conclusions reached obviously point to the necessity for the further replication and elaboration of this approach in a variety of communities.

The Dissolution of the Japanese Combines

WITHIN a month after the surrender of Japan, the United States made public an initial post-surrender policy which still remains the only official public declaration of the program of the Japanese occupation.2 An important part of this declaration of policy is an announcement that the Supreme Commander will favor a program for the dissolution of the large industrial and banking combines which have exercised control over a great part of Japan's trade and industry. Dissolution of these combines-colloquially known in Japan as the Zaibatsu, or money clique-is set forth as part of a broad program to encourage wide distribution of income and ownership and forms of economic activity and organization which are deemed likely to strengthen the peaceful disposition of the Japanese people and to make it difficult to command or direct economic activity in support of military ends. The purpose is not to reform the Japanese social system in the light of American economic preferences, nor even in the interest of the Japanese people themselves; it is to bring about a psychological and institutional demilitarization. The thought is that the Zaibatsu have been instruments of war and that a dispersed control of business would be more consistent with peace. If this program rested upon the personal war guilt of Japan's big business leaders, it would have a shaky foundation. In Japan, as in Europe, provision is being made to try war criminals, including not only persons guilty of atrocities, but also leaders who fomented aggressive war. Such trials, rather than reorganization of the business structure, provide the appropriate means for punishing persons. Moreover, Japanese business leaders differed widely in the degree of

Public Expenditure in the National Income

THE calculations of the National Income provided in recent years by British and American authorities and scientific institutions are such valuable achievements that I do not feel happy in exposing certain serious mistakes committed in both sets of calculations. In the National Income calculations both of the U.K. and U.S.A. national Income is conceived as the aggregate money value-at current pricesof all goods produced and services rendered less the goods and services required for the maintenance of the earning power of the nation, the latter for simplicity's sake being identified mainly with the maintenance of the durable tangible assets, whether these are for productive or consumptive purposes. The National Income of this concept is equivalent and, provided the statistics are accurate, equal to the aggregate of individual incomes derived from any form of economic activity, private or public, plus undistributed business profits (or minus losses), i.e. to the total of personal incomes, other than mere transfer incomes, and of the surplus of enterprises, private or public, that are available for comfort and saving, comfort being the consumption of food, shelter etc., clothing, services of health, education and recreation. Because the statistics of personal and business incomes received are more readily available than those of the net aggregate money value of goods and services.produced and sold, the method of adding up the incomes and making allowances for the maintenance requirements have hitherto been applied all over the world for the calculation of the National Income. However, the application of this method has been subject to a significant error in both the calculations of the U.K. and U.S.A. For brevity's sake, this article deals only with the British calculations in the White Paper Cmd. 6347/1942 on An Analysis of the Sources of War Finance and an Estimate of the National Income and Expenditure, etc. ' The broad principles of method followed in the White Paper have been described by J. E. Meade and Richard Stone in their article in the Economic Yournal on The Construction of Tables of National Income, Expenditure, Savings and Investments .2 The authors of

Relation of Commodity Prices to the Price Level

processes enshroud our efforts of today in a maze of uncertainty with regard to the morrow. We seek to exchange the greater part of our productive application for the things which others, through creative endeavor or other means of acquisition, are able and willing to offer us. In order to keep commodities moving along the channels of exchange we have developed a highly organized and specialized credit system from whose fountain head pours forth the means whereby our exchanges of goods and services are effected. In the development of this system we have attempted to keep pace with the agencies of invention and industrial technique, with the result that its sensitive threads transmit stimuli to the bases of all forms of economic activity. The price system comprises all the elements in our economic experience identified with and related to prices of commodities, services, capital, credit, land, etc. All these are knitted together into a closely integrated arrangement. Forces concentrating their energies along any of the strands in this intricate system tend to be carried along to different points, sometimes creating new sets of forces, always giving rise to long-continued oscillations. Only when these various forces have dissipated their respective energies is there an approach to a condition of stability. The delicacy of the price mechanism at once suggests a need for elements of control which shall be applied by those who have a full understanding of its many parts and of their relation to each other. It is essential that the separate parts be isolated and that their relation to the whole system be carefully appraised. The relationship between individual prices and the general price level, represents a distinction which must be clearly understood by every one who would aim at a comprehension of the influence which commodity prices bring to bear upon the general level of prices. In mathematical expression the price level appears as a relative, as a measure of the purchasing power of the monetary unit, in terms of which price quotations are stated. The price level is a dynamic composite determined by cumulative forces of the past and indicative of future trend. It is measured by an index number which represents the present point of a continuous trend.

Regional Business Conditions: A Study of Bank Debits

A,NALYSIS of business conditions in the I 2 federal reserve districts, as shown by the fluctuations in the volume of check payments (bank debits) since the beginning of I9I9, supports the following conclusions: (I) Business in the individual districts usually fluctuates in sympathy with that in the United States as a whole. There are no systematic differences in either the timing or nature of the business fluctuations among the various federal reserve (listricts, after due allowance has been made for varying seasonal movements and trends. Such differences as do appear are clearly less significant than the fundamental similarity in the broader movements. This condition is indicative of the close economic interrelationship of the several areas of our country. (2) Substantial improvement has been taking place in agricultural conditions in recent years. This is clearly reflected in the figures for the primarily agricultural districts, notably the Kansas City and Dallas districts. The sharpest recent movement is to be found in the Minneapolis district, where the marketing of a large spring wheat crop in I927 has been clearly reflected in the figures for debits. The Kansas City and Dallas districts exhibit a more steady gain, and have advanced materially above their I924 levels. (3) The recurrent brief periods of expansion, recession, and renewed expansion are less marked in bank debits than in basic production. This condition is explained by the fact that fluctuations in such production, while important, do not represent the movements of general business. Bank debits, on the other hand, constitute an extremely representative measure of the complex of activities included under the term general business. Production of consumption goods, wholesale and retail trade, construction of buildings and engineering projects, and agriculture these and all other forms of economic activity have a share in making up the total of check transactions. Thus, while production indexes have moved sharply during these intermediate movements, it seems probable that the narrower movements of total debits depict more accurately the course of general business over the past few years. Except in those districts which are primarily agricultural, the several districts contain such a diversity of economic interests that the volume of check transactions is relatively insensitive to changes in any one line of activity. There are, however, some instances (notably the Cleveland district, where the iron and steel trade is of such great importance) in which sharp changes in the pace of basic industry are reflected in the figures for debits. These conclusions are based upon adjusted relatives for bank debits which appear on Charts 3 and 5 and in Table 4. Conditions in the various federal reserve districts are discussed in the following sections and a map of the I2 districts appears on page I46. A full description of the actual data and the statistical methods employed in adjusting the figures for irregularities of the calendar, trend, and seasonal variation is given in the section on data and methods,