Book Reviews

Arabs and Islam in Uzbekistan. History of Middle (Central) Asia from the ruling dynasties to today Buribai Ahmedov and Zahidulla Munavvarov Nematulla Ibrahimov (editor) Beirut‐Lebanon: Sharikat al‐matbu at li al‐Tawzi va al‐Nashr, 1996, 464 pp (in Arabic)

Central Asia: Conflict or Stability and Development Shirin Akiner London: Minority Rights Group, 1997, 51 pp ISBN 1 897693 36 2, £4.95

Uzbekistan: The Golden Road to Samarkand Calum Macleod and Bradley Mayhew Hong Kong: Odyssey Guides/London: Hi Marketing Ltd/Lincolnwood, Illinois, US: Odyssey Passport, 1997, 328 pp, Illus, £14.95, A$29.95

Bihzad: Master of Persian Painting Ebadollah Bahari London: I. B. Tauris, 1996, 272 pp, index, illus. £65

Traditional Jewelry of India Oppi Untracht London: Thames and Hudson, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1977, 431 pp., Illus, Biblio, Index, £55

Security Politics in the Commonwealth of Independent States: The Southern Belt Mehdi Mozaffari (ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997, xiv, 234 pp., £42.60

Minorities, Mullahs and Modernity: Reshaping Community in the Former Soviet Union Mark Saroyan (Edward W. Walker, ed.), with Gail W. Lapidus Berkeley, California: International and Area Studies, Research Series, No. 95, 1997, 231 pp., $22.95

Energy Choices in the Near Abroad: The Haves and Have‐Nots Face the Future Robert E. Ebel Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1997, VII, 376 pp., $39.95     

Book reviews

Daniel Pipes, Greater Syria: the History of an Ambition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, viii, 240 pp.

Roger Zetter (Ed.), The Odyssey of the Pontic Greeks. Oxford University Press/Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford, 1991, 111 pp., Illus. Maps.

Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron (Eds), Women in Middle Eastern History. Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1991, 343 pp., $35/£19.95.

John L. Esposito, Islam: the Straight Path. Oxford University Press, New York, 1991, xvi + 251 pp., $21.95.

Joyce N. Wiley, The Islamic Movement of Iraqi Shias. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder and London 1922. ix + 193 pp., N.P.

Joel Gordon, Nasser's Blessed Movement: Egypt's Free Officers and the July Revolution, Oxford University Press: New York and Oxford, 1992, vii + 254.

Jo‐Ann Gross (Ed.), Muslims in Central Asia: Expressions of Identity and Change, Duke University Press: Durham, 1992, xiv, 224 pp, $39.95, PB $18.95.

Louise L'Estrange Fawcett, Iran and the Cold War: the Azerbaijan Crisis of 1946, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1922, XII, 227 pp., $34.95.

Mark J. Gasiorowski, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Shah: Building a Client State in Iran, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, N.Y 1992, xvi, 242 pp. $35.00.

Robert A. Lewis (Ed.), Geographic Perspectives on Soviet Central Asia, Routledge: London, 1992, XVIII, 323 pp., $69.50 U.S., $87.50 Canada.     

An enterprise-development strategy for Zambia

Although Zambia's deteriorating macro-economic situation has created a difficult environment for business, it also creates opportunities for the emergence of small and micro enterprises. Recent government policy reforms affecting these firms are discussed, along with existing programmes for credit, training, technical assistance, and common-site facilities/business incubators. The current programmes are limited in scope relative to the potential demand, and qualitative improvements are needed. Time-phased options for assisting small and micro enterprises are discussed.     

Housing Voucher Take‐Up and Labor Market Impacts

Low participation rates in government assistance programs are a major policy concern in the United States. This paper studies take‐up of Section 8 housing vouchers, a program in which take‐up rates are quite low among interested and eligible households. We link 18,109 households in Chicago that were offered vouchers through a lottery to administrative data and study how baseline employment, earnings, public assistance, arrests, residential location, and children's academic performance predict take‐up. Our analysis finds mixed evidence of whether the most disadvantaged or distressed households face the largest barriers to program participation. We also study the causal impact of peer behavior on take‐up by exploiting idiosyncratic variation in the timing of voucher offers. We find that the probability of lease‐up increases with the number of neighbors who recently received voucher offers. Finally, we explore the policy implications of increasing housing voucher take‐up by applying reweighting methods to existing causal impact estimates of voucher receipt. This analysis suggests that greater utilization of vouchers may lead to larger reductions in labor market activity. Differences in take‐up rates across settings may be important to consider when assessing the external validity of studies identifying the effects of public assistance programs.