Alsace-Baden-Basel: Economic Integration in a Border Region

The Alsace-Baden-Basel area is an especially interesting "laboratory" for the study of border region problems and opportunities. Although the Common Market has tended to reduce the role of the Franco-German border it has not affected the Swiss frontier. Moreover, economic integration of the area is still inhibited by the effects of three very different national administrative structures. In many respects, border region issues in the trinational area tend to focus on a French region in an essentially germanic setting, and especially on the question of whether Alsace should be more closely integrated with France or with the Rhine axis. The nature and significance of these options are critically discussed in some detail

Growth Strategies and Human Settlement Systems in Developing Countries

Until recently it was almost an article of faith that urbanization and capital intensive technology are the keys to development. However, many critics now maintain that the western-inspired urban-industrial model may not be applicable to developing nations and that this is not simply a matter of differing stages of development. The way in which one views these issues has important implications for human settlements policies. This paper thus examines the positive role of cities in national development, problems of strictly economic approaches to development, and the case for greater emphasis on agriculture and rural development. The final part is a critical summary of the state-of-the-art with respect to economic development and human settlements policies for developing countries

Economic Aspects of Regional Separatism

In recent years there has been an intensification of demands for independence on the part of many subnational regions in Western and other countries. The literature concerning these movements has tended to neglect systematic investigation of the economic aspects of separatism in favor of noneconomic issues. This paper focuses on the actual and potential economic advantages and disadvantages implicit in separation. Numerous specific cases are used to illustrate the general arguments. The conclusions, though strongly qualified, tend to support the position that it is not unreasonable to expect an increase in regional economic well-being if separation occurs in many of the cases examined. While the central issue is not likely to be decided on purely economic grounds, clarification of the economic issues should at least enhance the rationality of the decision-making process

Regional Science Observed by the Father of the Discipline: A Review of Walter Isard's Introduction to Regional Science

What is regional science? Surely anyone posing this question would be well advised to consult a recent introduction to the subject by no less a figure than the father of the discipline. By the time the reader gets through page five he will have discovered that there are at least thirteen definitions of regional science. Moreover, according to Isard, "It is clear from the diversity of definitions that no single one can be considered the best or most complete. Each researcher and student will need to develop or synthesize his own definition after having read this book and other studies.

A Critique of Economic Regionalizations of the United States

This paper critically analyzes and evaluates various regionalizations of the United States. Each of the delineations considered aggregates county units in order to facilitate social and economic analyses and each exhausts the national territory

Are Regional Development Policies Needed?

Recent shifts in population and economic activity from the Northeast and North Central parts of the United States to the South and West, and from large metropolitan areas to smaller towns and rural areas have revived interest in the formulation of federal regional policies to deal with problems associated with these changes. The present paper critically examines the rationale for territorial distribution policies and suggests that it probably is premature to set specific goals at the national level. Nevertheless, it would be valuable to have a Regional Development Agency at the federal level to coordinate a learning process involving the entire federal system

Urban Systems: A Comparative Analysis of Structure, Change and Public Policy

This proposal, a continuation and extension of work begun at IIASA in 1974, was first discussed at the IIASA Conference on National Settlement Systems and Strategies last December. In its present form, it dates from a weekend of discussion and writing in Ottawa last May, when the authors net Dr. Pendleton of the Ford Foundation and Professor Glickman of the University of Pennsylvania. The primary purpose of this description of the project is the satisfaction of the Ford Foundation's information requirements; since those differ from the requirements of IIASA's national member organizations and of potential collaborators in this study, more fully elaborated versions will be forthcoming in the future. The proposal was sent to the Ford Foundation in July 1975. I have every hope that it will be funded and will become an integral part of IIASA's future work on human settlements and services, resource and environmental mangement, and integrated regional development

Status and Future Directions of the Comparative Urban Region Study: A Summary of Workshop Conclusions

This paper summarizes the current status of the Comparative Urban Region Study. As stated in the initial background paper for the research (Hall, Hansen, and Swain, 1975) the objective of this undertaking is "to establish and use a framework of functional urban regions to give better understanding of the impact of public policies in the fields of population distribution and economic development." Standardized spatial units of analysis are to be employed for a comparative international study of Western and Eastern Europe, North America, and Japan. The study is being coordinated through the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria in collaboration with the University of Reading, England and correspondents in participating countries

Only severe gastric ulcers reduce performance in growing-finishing pigs

Ulceration in the pars oesophageal region of the stomach of pigs is frequently registered at slaughter. Pigs with gastric lesions are reported to have lowered productivity (Ayles et al., 1996), but other studies have found no significant effects on performance (Guise et al., 1997). The objective of this study was to quantify the correlation between ulcer severity and growth performance in growing-finishing pigs