Patterns of metropolitan development : what have we learned?

Much of our knowledge about metropolitan development is still imperfect, but in the past 35 years a great deal of theoretical and empirical work has been carried out in cities and metropolitan areas in both industrial and developing countries with market-oriented economies. This work has produced empirical findings with remarkably strong regularities across countries and cities. Moreover, many of these empirical regularities are quite consistent with urban location theory and suggest the broad applicability of our basic theory to market-based cities. These regularities offer insights about development and growth pressures in many cities and indicate the directions future development is likely to take. The development pattern of cities in industrial and developing countries with market-based economies exhibit similar patterns of decentralization of both population and employment, with the largest metropolitan areas converging to similarly decentralized structures with multiple subcenters, highly decentralized manufacturing employment, and the central business districts'emerging specialization in service employment. Cities in developing countries typically have higher population densities than those in industrial countries, but the differences have been narrowing over time in the largest metropolitan areas. Decentralization of population and employment increases reliance on road-based transport for both passengers and freight. Industrial countries have experienced decreases in transit use as auto ownership levels have risen. Many developing countries show early signs of a similar pattern, although their transit ridership levels are still high and their transit systems often offer a rich mix of options in terms of vehicle size and level of service. Land markets are strong determinants of decentralization. Cities without land markets exhibit quite different development patterns from cities with even poorly functioning land markets. In market-based cities, land rents are closely related to development densities, although empirical work on land rents and values is relatively rare, for lack of data. Demand patterns in urban housing markets are similar across cities in developing and industrial countries for supply-side impediments vary widely -resulting in a wide range of ratios of housing prices to income. Similarly, the efficiency with which public infrastructure is provided varies widely across cities and across sectors within cities. In the coming decades global urbanization will increase, mostly in low-income countries (which in 1995 contained nearly 60 percent of the world's people). Many of those low-income countries already have large metropolitan areas, whose populations will continue to grow.Banks&Banking Reform,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Urban Services to the Poor,Municipal Financial Management,National Urban Development Policies&Strategies,Banks&Banking Reform,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,National Urban Development Policies&Strategies,Urban Services to the Poor,Municipal Financial Management

The Ultimate Control Group

Empirical research on the organization of firms requires that firms be classified on the basis of their control structures. This should be done in a way that can potentially be made operational. It is easy to identify the ultimate controller of a hierarchical organization, and the literature has largely focused on this case. But many organizational structures mix hierarchy with collective choice procedures such as voting, or use circular structures under which superiors are accountable to their subordinates. I develop some analytic machinery that can be used to map the authority structures of such organizations, and show that under mild restrictions there is a well-defined ultimate control group. The results are consistent with common intuitions about the nature of control in some familiar economic settings.

USING THE WWW FOR RETAIL FOOD SALES: DISCUSSION AND DEMONSTRATION

Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' LIKELIHOOD OF PURCHASING SPECIALTY FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCTS ON-LINE: RESULTS OF CONSUMER REVIEWS OF 12 SELECTED SITES

A total of twelve companies marketing specialty food and drink products on the World Wide Web were identified for this study. Four each marketed coffee, salsa, and seafood. Over a three week period, 163 respondents completed a total of 973 site evaluations. While respondents preferred to purchase products from a retail store, the majority identified at least one product from the sites which they would likely purchase on-line in the next six months. Respondents who regularly purchase one of the products monthly or more often were significantly more likely to make an on-line purchase in the future than those who purchase the product less frequently. Respondents who rated the overall appeal of a company's WWW site as good or excellent were nearly six times as likely to say that they would be likely to purchase the product on-line than those who rated the site as fair or poor. While no single site characteristic stood out relative to the others as having a major influence on increasing the likelihood of making an on-line purchase, insufficient company and/or product information reduced consumers' willingness to purchase on-line and by mail order.Consumer/Household Economics,

Peltophryne fluviatica

Number of Pages: 2Integrative BiologyGeological Science

CATALOG SPECIALTY FOOD BUYERS' COMPUTER USAGE AND PURCHASING ACTIVITY: A CASE STUDY

Specialty food aficionados, who use the Internet to gather information or place orders, resemble those who rely on mail order catalogs, except for being younger. Both groups are well- educated, wealthy, and frequent specialty food buyers. Among those studied, nearly all of the Internet users have considered shopping by catalog, half had used the Internet in the previous six months, and about 10 percent had actually purchased specialty food or beverages online. While preferring traditional retail shopping, this group views catalog and online shopping as substitutes. When choosing to shop via either of these options, product quality and uniqueness are most important; shipping costs and price are least important. These conclusions are based on a survey that builds on previous research which examined Internet users who visit food-related sites on the World Wide Web. It found a strong correlation between catalog and online purchasing activity. This paper reports the findings of a follow-up survey targeted at random samples of individuals on four specialty food companies' mailing lists. The survey identifies the demographics and purchasing activity of specialty food catalog shoppers and compares them to the population of Internet users who visit food-related Web sites. It examines catalog shoppers' use of the Internet and online shopping, and compares the relative importance of a variety of factors in the decisions to buy online and by catalog.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,