Criteria for compensating for the impacts of large projects: The impact of british columbia's revelstoke dam on local government services

This article presents the criteria used to screen compensation claims generated by the construction of a large hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River. It examines the issues that emerged as a result of the flawed negotiation procedure that had secured only vague commitments by the project developer. The case study illustrates the practical concerns that arise when applying microeconomic concepts to help resolve contentious issues. The article concludes with a discussion of how the context of the impact assessment and negotiation procedures can affect its outcome.

The redistribution of residential property values in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver: examining neoclassical and Marxist views on changing investment patterns

This study examines the changes in residential property value in Canada’s three largest metropolitan areas by using shift-share and regression analysis with census tract data. The results show that the tracts that increased their share of the metropolitan areas’ real estate value in one decade tend to lose that share during the next decade. After accounting for the effect of new additions, the main transfer of wealth is from the older suburban ring to both the inner city and the new suburbs. The largest variation in the growth of property value is not between the new suburbs and the inner city but across the inner-city census tracts. The shifts and cycles of investment across broad city sectors predicted by neoclassical and Marxist theory are overwhelmed by local factors.