Reversal of economic fortunes: institutions and the changing ascendancy of Barcelona and Madrid as economic hubs

This paper looks at the divergent economic trajectories of Barcelona and Madrid since Spain's transition to democracy. It highlights how Barcelona, the city that was better positioned four decades ago to emerge as the main Spanish economic hub, has lost out to Madrid. We argue that the contrasting trajectories of the two cities have less to do with the pull of Madrid as the capital of Spain, with the development of new infrastructure in the country, or with agglomeration economies, and more with institutional factors. A growing societal divide in Barcelona along economic, social, and identity lines has led to a greater breakdown of trust and to the development of strong groups with limited capacity to bridge with one another than in Madrid. This has entailed the emergence of negative externalities that have limited the economic potential for growth in Barcelona and facilitated the rise of Madrid as the main economic hub within Spain

Irregular Migration Theories

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Inclusionary Housing, planning and land value recapture

It has been argued that increases in land values do not generally result from the owner\u92s efforts, but rather from public investments and government decisions and are, therefore, \u93unearned.\u94 This paper analyzes how Inclusionary Housing has been utilized as a land value recapture mechanism in different countries. We distinguish four distinct models: 1) Countries with explicit recapture (Spain and the UK); 2) A country, Ireland, with explicit but limited recapture; 3) Countries where recapture is implicit or ambiguous (Italy, France and Canada) and 4) A country, the Unites States, where value recapture has not been part of the planning culture

Italy: variety and creativity in approaching inclusionary housing

This book brings together a range of empirical work to provide a useful overview of inclusionary housing policies from across the globe. Inclusionary housing is described as ‘a means of using the planning system to create affordable housing and foster social inclusion by capturing resources created through the marketplace’. The book using case studies from seven different countries, USA, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy and provide the reader with a broad but critical insight into the variety of forms the different inclusionary housing programs have taken. The Chapter 8 is dedicated to Italy: “Italy: variety and Creativity in Approaching Inclusionary Housing”. After a brief note on evaluation of the social and political contexts the chapter described the evolution of the Italian planning systems, it is articulated in three main periods: 1960s/1970s, 1970s/1980s 1990s/2000s and after. The second part of the chapter is dedicated to Housing in Italy were we described how the Italian State was direct involved in the housing policies and what happen when, the early ’90, it decided to change the your role. We described the “change of the scene” examine the ways in which some cities attempted to produce affordable housing through the planning system. We described three different approach. The first, as exemplified in the case study on Milan, emphasizes negotiations between property owners and the City at the time of a plan change, which amounted to a form of voluntary inclusionary housing. The second looks at inclusionary housing produced as part of perequazione in the city of Modena. The third -locally mandated inclusionary housing- is presented in the cities of Florence and Scandicci in Tuscany

Big money crime: fraud and politics in the savings and loan crisis

At a cost of $500 billion to American taxpayers, the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s was the worst financial crisis of the twentieth century as well as a crime unparalleled in American history. Yet the vast majority of its perpetrators will never be prosecuted, and those who were have received minimal sentences. In the first in-depth scrutiny of the ways and means of this disaster, this groundbreaking book comes to disturbing conclusions about the deliberate nature of this financial fraud, the political collusion involved, and the leniency of the criminal justice system in dealing with these "Gucci-clad white-collar criminals."Using material from over one hundred interviews with government officials and industry leaders and recently declassified documents, the authors show how - contrary to previous government and "expert" explanations that chalked the disaster up to business risks gone awry or adverse economic conditions - S&L leaders engaged in deliberate fraud, stealing from their own corporations to speculate on high-risk ventures. Tempted by the insurance net, perpetrators looted their own institutions in a new kind of white-collar crime the authors dub "collective embezzlement." Big Money Crime also demonstrates how systematic political collusion - not just policy errors - was a critical ingredient in this unprecedented series of frauds. Bringing together statistics from a variety of government agencies, the authors provide a close reading of the track record of prosecutions and sentencing and find that "suite crime" receives much more lenient treatment than "street crime," despite its significantly higher price tag. The book concludes with a number of modest, but no less urgent, policy recommendations to counter the current deregulatory trend and to avert a replay of the S&L debacle in other financial sectors. FROM THE BOOK :"We built thick walls; we have cameras; we have time clocks on the vaults . . . all these controls were to protect against somebody stealing the cash. Well, you can steal far more money, and take it out the back door. The best way to rob a bank is to own one." - House Committee on Government Operations, 198

The embeddedness of inclusionary housing in planning and housing systems: insights from an international comparison [in press]

Contains fulltext : 112188.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)19 juni 201