Alleviating rural poverty through agricultural growth

The article examines the role of agricultural GDP growth in alleviating rural poverty in LDCs. Cross‐sectional regression analysis indicates that GDP growth by itself takes a very long time to reduce poverty significantly. It suggests that decreases in land concentration could have a more immediate impact on reducing rural poverty; the budgetary and other costs of implementing such changes are not, however, considered. The preferred approach is a combination of equitable growth and redistributive measures.     

China in the era of globalization: the emergence of the discourse on economic security

Abstract

This article looks at the Chinese debate on economic security during the period between 1997 and 2004. The contemporary concept of economic security (jingji anquan, 经济安全) was first raised in the Chinese academic literature in 1997, partly as a reaction to the Asian financial crisis and partly due to the increasing role China began to play in globalization, the effects of which it increasingly felt as its economy became more integrated with that of the world. This article examines the emergence of the discourse on economic security within Chinese academic circles, and identifies the development of this concept in China between 1997 and 2004 prior to the ascendancy of the ‘fourth-generation’ leadership.     

Private tax collection—remnant of the past or a way forward? Evidence from rural Uganda

This article examines the growing role and impacts of private tax collection under fiscal decentralisation in Uganda. Based on evidence from six rural councils, three aspects of privatised tax collection are examined: (i) the impact on the nature of fiscal corruption; (ii) the problem of overzealous collection; and (iii) the challenge of assessing revenue potentials. While possibly meeting short‐term demands for local revenue growth and stability, the present form of private tax collection appears to transform the nature of fiscal corruption by reducing corruption at collection point and transferring the problem into the district administration. Moreover, while the charge of overzealousness permeates historical and theoretical work on privatised tax collection, the Ugandan experience casts doubt on its general validity. Instead, perverse distributional effects are the most likely cause of deteriorating state‐citizen relations in rural Uganda. Finally, the article considers the merit of the prediction of private collection as a preferred contractual choice for certain indirect taxes, suggesting that problems of asymmetric information in assessing the revenue yields of most rural markets are exaggerated. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does Hostile Attributional Bias for Relational Provocations Mediate the Short-Term Association between Relational Victimization and Aggression in Preadolescence?

This short-term longitudinal study examined the direct association between relational victimization and relational aggression over a five-month period, and proposed that hostile attributional bias for relational provocations mediated this association. Participants were 140 preadolescents (aged 9 to 11 years) in grades four and five. Relational victimization and relational aggression were assessed from self-reports. Hostile intent attributions were measured from preadolescent's responses to hypothetical provocation situations that depicted ambiguous relational aggression among peers. Concurrent and longitudinal findings revealed that more relationally victimized preadolescents were also more relationally aggressive toward their peers. Hostile attributions partially mediated the concurrent association between relational victimization and relational aggression at T1 only. Boys reported significantly higher levels of physical victimization, physical aggression, and relational aggression than girls. Implications for prevention programs are discussed. Rachel Yeung is a Doctoral student in Psychology at University of Victoria, Canada. She received her MSc in Life-Span Developmental Psychology at University of Victoria. Her research interests include risk and protective factors among children and adolescents who are victimized by their peers and program intervention. Dr. Bonnie Leadbeater, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology who joined the University of Victoria in 1997 after 9 years as Faculty at Yale University. She is Director of the Centre for Youth and Society's research and programs that promote youth health and resilience through community-university research partnerships. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, New York. Her research interests include depression in adolescence, resilience among high-risk youth, and the prevention of peer victimization.     

Canadian planners' goals: deep roots and fuzzy thinking

Abstract. In planning, goals arise out of analysis. Only when the implications of alternative actions are understood can effective choices be made. But an examination of writings of early planners shows that the town planning movement in Canada historically has combined efficiency with idealism to formulate goals which have been widely advocated in Canadian society. Typical of this approach were the notions that decent, safe, and sanitary housing provides a healthier atmosphere and that healthy workers produce more. Minimum housing standards and pressure to increase the supply of housing have resulted in government channelling resources into the provision of shelter that the private market would not undertake. Yet the housing problem still exists. But the historical approach of town planning neglects analysis. It does not consider all the implications of the position being advocated, nor does it investigate the opportunity costs of that position. It has tended to be confined by traditional planning solutions, most of which were conceived before 1920. It is suggested that planning should be problem-oriented, that goals should develop through an analytic process, and that solutions should be evaluated. This requires a change from the traditional planning paradigm of ‘goals, analysis, and plan’ to priority for problem definition and analysis as the basis for defining goals and possible solutions. If there is need for an a priori goal for planning, it would be simply a better city or region. Sommaire. Lorsque l'on planifie, les buts découlent de l'analyse, mais ce n'est que lorsque l'on a dégagé les implications des différentes possibilités que l'on peut procéder à un choix. Cependant un examen des écrits des premiers planificateurs révèle que le mouvement de l'urbanisme, au Canada, a combiné efficacité et réalisme pour formuler des objectifs qui ont été très largement diffusés dans la société canadienne. Un exemple typique de cette approche est l'idée que des logements décents, salubres et sans danger créent une atmosphère plus saine et que des travailleurs en bonne santé sont de meilleurs producteurs. Des nonnes de logement minimales, combinées aux pressions exercées sur le gouvernement pour augmenter le nombre des logements, ont eu pour conséquence l'allocation de fonds par le gouvernement pour la construction de logements que le marché privé n'assumait pas. Et pourtant le problème du logement n'a pas été résolu. L'approche traditionnelle de l'urbanisme néglige l'analyse. Elle ne prend pas en considération toutes les implications de la position adoptée et n'examine pas les coûts de cette position. Elle a tendance à s'en tenir aux solutions traditionnelles dont la plupart datent d'avant 1920. On a proposé une planification axée sur les problèmes, dont les buts seraient établis grâe au rocessus d'analyse et dont les solutions feraient l'objet d'une évaluation. Cela demanderait une modification de la séquelle traditionnelle ‘buts, analyse et plan’ pour commencer par la définition des problèmes et l'analyse, qui serviraient alors de base à la formulation des objectifs et des solutions. Si l'on veut à tout prix un objectif à priori pour la planification, pourquoi pas simplement l'amélioration de la ville ou de la région?