[PEN-L:10143] Re: Tavis, you're *still* wrong

[Marshall Feldman]

>6.  It would be helpful to take a more differentiated view.  Not all
>industries are equal with respect to their vulnerability to globalization.
>Tortilla mfg. in LA can't be relocated because the market requires and
>demands daily delivery of fresh product.  Pool cleaners can be recruited
>anywhere but they must be physically located where the pools are.  Generally
>products or services that lend themselves to computerization or involve
>information management are more vulnerable.  Travel agencies can now
>subcontract their phone sales and bookings to prison labor across the
>nation.  Globalization is an uneven process affecting different sectors and
>different segments of the labor market in different ways.

Yeah, but it can happen.  My understanding of the beer industry is that it
used to be very localized.  Then a few majors took over.  Beer was mass
produced and shipped in concentrate to local branches where water was added
and the beer was canned.  Local breweries closed down.  Now there's a
resurgence of local breweries, but their market share is small and
production does not have to be local.  The "local" content is the recipe.
For instance, I think Boston's Sam Adams is brewed under license in PA.

I wouldn't be surprised if some tortillas are shipped frozen across country.
Maybe the Hispanic population in LA can tell the difference, but how come
you can buy tortillas in Cleveland?

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:10140] RE: Globalization

[Marshall Feldman]

Tavis Barr writes:
>
>This is true.  But it's not the same kind of export competition.
>Harvard, MIT, and Mass general don't argue to their workers that they
>have to lower wages to compete with Berkeley or Oxford.  None of these
>places are threatening to close down and move their work to Mexico.
>Although people come from all over the world to go to Boston hospitals,
>most patients are still from New England, and nobody's out pitching the
>cheapest services to customers in Australia.  Competition is in the form
>of quality and innovation, and that matters a lot for worker bargaining
>power.  As for business services, well, I worked as a temp in Boston for
>several years, and most of those jobs were in FIRE firms.  Almost all of
>the client base of these offices was in New England if not in Eastern
>Mass.  So again, although the companies were often international, the
>markets were usually local or at most regional.
>
>
>Cheers,
>Tavis

But the threat of taking some things off shore (or out of state) is
very real for firms like Fidelity Investments (which is currently building
branch offices in RI & NH and overseas).  There's a real problem in
talking about "services" as if it were a homogeneous field.  Marx wrote
some interesting things about services in _Theories of Surplus Value_; Andy
Sayer argues, cogently IMHO, that "services" is a chaotic conception in
_Method in Social Science_; and a few years ago Dick Walker had a great
article deconstructing the concept along the same lines as Sayer but in
much more depth (I think it's reprinted in his book jointly written with
Sayer -- _The New Social Division of Labor_).


We have to be very clear about (1) what we mean when we say "services" and
(2) the level of abstaction we're operating at.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9900] Re: Globaloney

[Marshall Feldman]

>Marshall Feldman wrote:
>
>>Perhaps one should go back before 1980.  Most arguments re. globalization
>>allude to a transition in the SSA/MSR c. 1969.  So comparing 1960 and
>>1997 might be more to the point.
>
>What then becomes the non-globalized Other of this model? The crisis years
>1929-45? The period of nonglobalization ran from 1945, or 1950, to 1969?
>
>Doug

I agree with you Doug.  Capitalism has been a global system since its earliest
days.  The capitalist core has migrated from Italy, to Northern Europe, to
England, to North America, to Asia (is that next?), Etc.  Trade, raw materials
flows, etc. have also been global since capitalism's inception.  The question
is what we mean by globalization and how it's different from other, earlier
forms of capitalism as a world system.  In this, I think most people who
argue the globalization line see cross-trading in manufactured goods as
the distinguishing feature.  Immediately preceding forms of overseas
investment (e.g., GM buying Opel) were to penetrate foreign markets with
manufacturing plants in those countries.  Current globalization involves
investment in overseas manufacturing for purposes of export from those
countries.  This, I think, is one of the distinguishing characteristics
(another is global money flows, and I'm comfortable with the demise of
Bretton Woods as the date for that).

The other issue is how one periodizes history.  This is always problematic
because things don't just start and stop.  I'm sure one can find manufacturing
investment of the sort I described before 1960, just as one still finds
international investment in raw materials.  The theoretical question is when
quantitity becomes quality. The crucial thing in the globalization
argument is that globalization changed the terms of class struggle
in the core countries (or at least contributed to that change).
This argument does seem to make a certain amount of sense.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9818] Re: RM conference & overdetermination

[Marshall Feldman]

Jim Devine writes:

>This fits with an insight that Alan Freeman suggested as one part of a
>longer paper he presented at the recent ASSA/URPE conference: when Marx (or
>Freeman) talks about "objective conditions," he is not talking about "the
>forces of production" (as the technological determinists do) or even "the
>capitalist mode of production" as much as the left-overs, the hangovers,
>from the past.


Jim,

I don't think this gets quite out of the woods.  First, your notion is
very much like Roy Bhaskar's argument for what he calls the transformative
mode of social activity.  Except for Roy, not only does the past haunt
the present, it also allows social institutions to have emergent properties
(their own causal efficacy) independent of any given individuals.  Second,
to say something is overdetermined does not necessarily mean everything
determines everything else -- including the present determining the past.
All it requires is multiple and contingent causes such that a given outcome
is neither necessary nor sufficient evidence of any given cause.  Here again
I find Bhaskar much better than R&W.  R&W seem to stop at overdetermination,
whereas Bhaskar seems to start there.  His critical realist theory has us
identifying specific causes and their contingent interaction to explain why
certain outcomes do or do not appear.  If, for example, we do not see a growing
reserve army of labor during a period of U.S. history, perhaps it's because
gender relations interact with class relations to undermine a tendency that
the latter, by itself, would foster.  This is a far cry from overdetermination
since it explains the "overdetermined" (contingent) outcome rather than hide it
behind a 7-syllable word.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9813] Re: Globaloney

[Marshall Feldman]

>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>D Shniad wrote:
>
>>What follows is a response to Doug's call to specify a bit more what we're
>>talking about when we compare the relative magnitude of financial
>>speculation to that of trade and other economic activity.  (Caveat: I don't
>>work with or have access to trade stats; what follows is the seat-of-the-
>>pants calculation that I've done based on readings about speculation, etc. I
>>invite those with access to the stats to respond.)
>>
>>The IMF estimates that foreign exchange transactions are more than $1
>>trillion daily, while trade volumes are in the $3.5 trillion ballpark
>>annually.
>>
>>If trade volumes are 5% of the total of the world's domestic output (a
>>*very* conservative estimate), then the aggregate of the world's real output
>>would be in the neighbourhood of $70 trillion per year.
>
>Actually, gross global product was around $25 trillion in 1994, according
>to the World Bank, making trade around 14% of output.
>
>Let's look at some export/GDP ratios for 1980 and 1994 for evidence of some
>globalizing "revolution." Of course it's always possible the revolution
>started after 1994; someone check with Ed Herman on this.
>
>EXPORTS AS PERCENT OF GDP
>
> 1980 1994
>"developing" countries23%  22%
>  Latin Amer/Caribb   16   15
>Brazil 98
>Mexico11   13
>  S Africa36   24
>  S Korea 34   36
>Canada28   30
>Japan 149
>Norway47   33
>Sweden29   33
>UK27   25
>U.S.  10   10
>
>source: World Development Report 1996, table 13
>
>>(If trade volumes
>>are a somewhat larger portion of domestic production in the aggregate, then
>>the world's aggregate production is somewhat smaller.)  By comparison,
>>aggregate international financial transactions come in at more than $300
>>trillion per year.
>>
>>By these calculations, the aggregate of international *financial*
>>transactions
>>are more than four times the dollar magnitude of *real* production.  It was
>>on the basis of this observation that I made the statement that speculative
>>activity had dwarfed the activity of productive capital.
>
>No one disputes that there's lots of furious, pointless, even destructive
>speculative activity going on. How, precisely, is it malignant, though?
>Merely describing its magnitude is not to make the case.
>
>Doug

1) Maybe we have to look at the composition of trade.  My sense of the
globalization thesis is that trade in manufactured goods has globalized
while trade in raw materials has declined relatively.

2) Perhaps one should go back before 1980.  Most arguments re. globalization
allude to a transition in the SSA/MSR c. 1969.  So comparing 1960 and
1997 might be more to the point.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9716] ]e: Globaloney

[Marshall Feldman]

Doug,

I wonder if we wouldn't be better advised to think of the technology as
a social relation (much the same way the Marx thought about manufacturing)
and to understand the technology's influence on other social relations.


>Posted on 29 Apr 1997 at 12:50:16 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:9708] Re: Globaloney
>
>Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 09:48:42 -0700 (PDT)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Michael Eisenscher wrote:
>
>>But it would be as grave an error to ignore the
>>qualitative, not just quantitative impact these technologies have had on the
>>capacity for capital mobility, reorganization of the labor process, control,
>>and the options these open for capital which were not available 30 or 40
>>years ago.
>
>I don't think the transformations wrought by chips and fiber optics are
>underappreciated by anyone, mainstream or radical. In fact, I think too
>much attention is paid to them, at the expense of some very old underlying
>social mechanisms (competition, profit maximization, etc.). I'll admit that
>some of my attack on globalization thinking is done in the spirit of former
>Economist editor Geoffrey Crowther's maxim for journalism, "simplify and
>exaggerate," but it's needed. It's understandable why bourgeois analysts
>would want to promote globalization and system-transformative technical
>change; liberal (U.S. sense) apologists like Columbia's Graciela
>Chichilnisky say that the knowledge revolution has made notions like
>ownership and even capital obsolete. And I guess postmodernists like the
>idea of an epistemic break between then and now; it makes it easier to
>dismiss Marxism and to stop thinking about social relations, or to treat
>social relations as entirely discursive. But radicals should, I think,
>follow Larry Summers' advice and dispense with "the breathless tone about
>technology."
>
>
>Doug
>
>--
>
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>250 W 85 St
>New York NY 10024-3217 USA
>+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
>email: 
>web: 
>
>

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9714] Re: globalization question

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 29 Apr 1997 at 11:20:25 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:9707] Re: globalization question
>
>Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 08:19:00 -0700 (PDT)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (rakesh bhandari)
>
>If Indonesian capital can escape the contradiction between production and
>consumption through the export of consumer goods--as suggested by Jim-- why
>can't US capital escape the same contradiction through the export of
>investment goods to markets in Asian and Europe? In other words, hasn't the
>"globalization" of investment demand allowed US capital to escape the
>limits of insufficient domestic consumer demand and thus terminate the
>Marxian contradictions?
>
>Rakesh Bhandari
>Ethnic Studies
>UC Berkeley
>
>

Yes.  I believe this is the model Lipietz and others paint when they
speak of global fordism.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9693] Re: globalization question

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 28 Apr 1997 at 00:33:03 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:9681] Re: globalization question
>
>Date: Sun, 27 Apr 1997 21:33:55 -0700 (PDT)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Michael Hoover responded to my question about the integration of the U.S.
>South into the national economy, saying that the government expended
>considerable resources to encourage investment there.
>
>Why did they have to expend funds?  Why was the investment so slow in
>coming.  I have seen references to the delay noting the lack of air
>conditioning until the 1960s and the lack of infrastructure until the
>interstate highways began in the 1950s.  But surely conditions are more
>difficult in Haiti or Vietnam.
>
>Any other comments?
> --
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 916-898-5321
>E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Michael,


Perhaps some of the explanation lies in different forms of ownership and
capital mobility.  Expansion into the 1950's U.S. south was led by branch
plants and firms relocating there (the latter is particularly true of
New England textile firms).  Globalization in the 1990s has the capital
flows, but not the ownership flows.  Much offshore production is done
by foreign-owned subsidiaries (witness the recent strike against a Nike
supplier in I think it was Thailand, or some other Southeast Asian
country).  U.S. managers may only consider air conditioning to be
important when their own skins are involved.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9650] Re: Ports 'crossing the threshold of

[Marshall Feldman]

Could someone fill me in?  I must have missed the earlier posts about this.
What is the URL for COSIPA's web site?  What is COSIPA?  What are the
issues here?  How is the state giving capital the keys to the plant?
Etc.  If an earlier posting covered this, could you please just tell
me the subject it was listed under, so I can look it up?  Thanks.

>Posted on 24 Apr 1997 at 13:43:34 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:9644] Ports "crossing the threshold of globalizat
>
>Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:43:07 -0700 (PDT)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: D Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Forwarded message:
>>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Apr 24 05:10 PDT 1997
>X-Authentication-Warning: sunrise.ccs.yorku.ca: lanfran owned process doing -bs
>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Message-ID:  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 08:05:51 -0400
>Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: Sam Lanfranco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject:  Ports "crossing the threshold of globalization"
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-Length: 2667
>
>In response to a LabourNet note:
>>against the use of non-union casual labour at COSIPA's marine
>>terminal. COSIPA's web site invites comments on "any doubts or
>>suggestions" concerning its "new venture to cross the threshold of
>>Globalisation" including "the new maritime terminal, its most recent
>
>Doug Henwood wrote:
>> I'm a bit mystified by a port crossing a threshold of globalization.
>> Ports are all about international trade, and always have been, no?
>--
>
>I assume that Doug is making a little joke here, but there is a deeper
>point. As the famous Brando film "On The Waterfront" makes the point,
>Docks and Ports have always been about two very different things. The
>trade that passes through them is very international.
>
> But, much of the time, the production regime, and in particluar how labor
>'fits in' at the port has been very 'local' in its structure and control.
>Reflect on the labor regime on the ships that travel the seas. With 'flag
>of convenience' shipping labor conditions range from excellent to
>terrible.
>
>There is something going on at the level of the organization of work, and
>rights of workers, at this point in time and it is probably an early
>warning for things to follow. For the large shipping interests, two ports
>in Sydney and London, or Hong Kong and San Francisco, are just two
>platforms at opposite ends of the same 'plant'. Things are loaded here and
>unloaded there - much like boxes switching assembly lines in a factory.
>
>What is new here is not that the goods being moved are for global trade.
>Doug is right, they were always for global trade. What is new is that each
>port facility is increasingly being looked at as just another workstation
>in a global transportation plant. That they are 1000s of miles apart makes
>no difference to those trying to organize them. The strategy is the same
>as if they were simply different delivery gates at the same factory site.
>
>Capital, in the form of the owners of the fleets and the port terminals
>undrestands that. The current struggles are helping drive the point home
>to labour. As for the state - it seems to be standing at the factory gate
>handing the keys to the fleet and port owners in a classic model of the
>state as handmaiden to capital.
>
>Other than higher levels of organization on the part of global labor (part
>of what Labornet and LABOR-L support) the only other quiet actor which
>could play a stronger role is civil society organizations. I am not sure
>what it will take for them (those resident in major port cities) to
>realize what the game is here, what they have at risk, and where they
>should be playing their hand.
>
>Sam Lanfranco <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:9620] Internet Humor

[Marshall Feldman]

I hope you'll appreciate this:



Posted on 14 Dec 1996 at 23:45:10 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)

FW: Christmas restructuring...

Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 23:45:05 -0500
Reply-To: URI Faculty Senate List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: David Nelson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

'Tis the season
 >
>> > The recent announcement that Donner and Blitzen have elected to
take the early reindeer retirement package has triggered a good deal of
>> > concern about whether they will be replaced, and about other
>> > restructuring decisions at the North Pole.
>> >
>> > Streamlining is due to the North Pole's loss of dominance of the
>> > season's gift distribution business.  Home shopping channels and
mail
>> > order catalogues have diminished Santa's market share.  He could
not
>> > sit idly by and permit further erosion of the profit picture.
>> >
>> > The reindeer downsizing was made possible through the purchase of a
>> > late model Japanese sled for the CEO's annual trip.  Improved
>> > productivity from Dasher and Dancer, who summered at the Harvard
>> > Business School, is anticipated.  Reduction in reindeer will also
>> > lessen airborne environmental emissions for which the North Pole
has
>> > received unfavorable press.
>> >
>> > I am pleased to inform you that Rudolph's role will not be
disturbed.
>> > Tradition still counts for something at the North Pole.  Management
>> > denies, in the strongest possible language, the earlier leak that
>> > Rudolph's nose got that way, not from the cold, but from substance
>> > abuse.  Calling Rudolph "a lush who was into the sauce and never
did
>> > pull his share of the load" was an unfortunate comment, made by one
>> > of Santa's helpers and taken out of context at a time of year when
he
>> > is known to be under executive stress.
>> >
>> > As a further restructuring, today's global challenges require the
>> > North Pole to continue to look for better, more competitive steps.
>> > Effective immediately, the following economy measures are to take
>> > place in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" subsidiary:
>> >
>> >
>> >  - The partridge will be retained, but the pear tree never turned
out
>> >to be the cash crop forecasted.  It will be replaced by a
plastic
>> >hanging plant, providing considerable savings in maintenance;
>> >
>> >  - The two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not
>> >cost effective. In addition, their romance during working hours
>> >could not be condoned. The positions are therefore eliminated;
>> >
>> >  - The three French hens will remain intact.  After all, everyone
>> >loves the French;
>> >
>> >  - The four calling birds were replaced by an automated voice mail
>> >system, with a call waiting option.  An analysis is underway to
>> >determine who the birds have been calling, how often and how
long
>> >they talked;
>> >
>> >  - The five golden rings have been put on hold by the Board of
>> >Directors.  Maintaining a portfolio based on one commodity could
>> >have negative implications for institutional investors.
>> >Diversification into other precious metals as well as a mix of
>> >T-Bills and high technology stocks appear to be in order;
>> >
>> >  - The six geese-a-laying constitutes a luxury which can no longer
be
>> >afforded. It has long been felt that the production rate of one
>> >egg per goose per day is an example of the decline in
>> >productivity.  Three geese will be let go, and an upgrading in
the
>> >selection procedure by personnel will assure management that
from
>> >now on every goose it gets will be a good one;
>> >
>> >  - The seven swans-a-swimming is obviously a number chosen in
better
>> >times.  The function is primarily decorative.  Mechanical swans
>> >are on order. The current swans will be retrained to learn some
>> >new strokes and therefore enhance their outplacement;
>> >
>> >  - As you know, the eight maids-a-milking concept has been under
>> >heavy scrutiny by the EEOC. A male/female balance in the
workforce
>> >is being sought. The more militant maids consider this a
dead-end
>> >job with no upward mobility. Automation of the process may
permit
>> >the maids to try a-mending, a-mentoring or a-mulching;
>> >
>> >  - Nine ladies dancing has always been an odd number.  This
function
>> >will be phased out as these individuals grow older and can no
>> >longer do the steps;
>> >
>> >  - Ten Lords-a-leaping is overkill.  The high cost of Lords plus
the
>> >expense of international air travel prompted the Compensation
>> >Committee to suggest replacing this group with ten out-of-work
>> >congressmen.  While leaping ability may be somewhat sacrificed,
>> >the savings are significant because we expect an oversupply of
>> >unemployed congressmen this year;
>> >
>> >  - Eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming is a simple
case
>> >of the band getting too big.  A su

[PEN-L:9017] Re: LA Living Wage Passes!

[Marshall Feldman]

Bob,

Can you give us more information about this.  What does the ordinance do?
What is in the report you refer to?

Thanks.

>Posted on 18 Mar 1997 at 20:15:49 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:9004] LA Living Wage Passes!
>
>Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 17:14:23 -0800 (PST)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Robert Pollin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Finally, some very good news for the left and labor movement.  After
>a long, bitter struggle, the LA Living Wage ordinance passed 12 - 0, with
>three abstensions.  Mayor Richard Riordan had promised to veto the
>ordinance, but with a 12-vote majority, the ordinance is now veto proof!
>
>Though the coverage is still very small--directly probably about
>5,000 workers--it should help unions to fight for new wage norms throughout
>the city.
>
>This victory was the result of an extremely well organized and
>effective labor/progressive coalition.  Several people at UC-Riverside,
>including me, worked with the coalition in producing research, including a
>full scale study, "The Economics of the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance."
>
>There are great lessons here about what it takes to win something
>worthwhile.  One thing is that well-supported appeals to social justice
>really can be effective at the local level, where the dominance of big money
>corporate politics is far less pervasive--even in a big city like LA.
>
>-- Bob Pollin
>
>
>
>Robert Pollin
>Department of Economics
>Univesity of California-Riverside
>Riverside, CA 92521-0427
>(909) 787-5037, ext 1579 (office); (909) 788-8106 (home)
>(909) 787-5685 (fax); [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail)

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8836] Central City Malls

[Marshall Feldman]

Hi,

First, please forgive the multiple postings.  I'm posting this to several
lists in the hope of getting quick and useful responses.

A local reporter is doing an article on downtown, central-city malls.  This
is not from some disinterested standpoint: ground breaking for a large
mall in Providence (Providence Place) is scheduled for this spring.
The reporter interviewed me and asked two questions I could not answer,
and I'd really appreciate your help in answering them.

First, what do the business plans of these malls typically look like.  For
example, what return on investment do developers plan on?  Also, is there
a difference, either in cost or planning strategy, between suburban and
central city malls?  Are there any figures readily available on

   a) the overall financial package for specific malls or malls in general

and

   b) the public subsidy portion of such malls.


Second, are there any good studies of mall impacts?  I have a student who's
reviewing evaluations of enterprise zones, and she's finding they're pretty
lousy.  Is there a parallel literature on central-city malls, and is it any
better?


Please reply to me directly.  Your help will be most appreciated.

Thanks very much.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8786] Re: progressiveness & war

[Marshall Feldman]

Jim,

This worries me:

>My hypothesis is that the general rise of progressiveness from
>1952 to 1975-6 is a result of the cold war and two major hot wars
>(the need to legitimate the system in the eyes of the troops)
>plus the relatively non-globalized status of the US economy at
>the time (international competition was less important, making a
>welfare state easier).

Were any of the social democracies (e.g., in Scandinavia) ever so
self-contained that they didn't face international competition?
I don't think a purely "economic" explanation will cut it.

BTW.  Ian Gough argues along similar lines re. the distribution of
state revenues and expenditures in _The Political Economy of the
Welfare State_


Warm regards from Peace Dale.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8785] Re: Barkin

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 27 Feb 1997 at 12:49:34 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:8782] Barkin
>
>Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 09:31:57 -0800 (PST)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Does anyone know David Barkin's whereabouts? I'm told he's in Boston right now.
>
>Doug
>
>--
>
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>250 W 85 St
>New York NY 10024-3217 USA
>+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
>email: 
>web: 
>
>

I thought he was at the Lincoln Land Institute in Cambridge but that he
returned to Mexico last year.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8784] Re: Nike in San Francisco

[Marshall Feldman]

Richard Barff and one of his students at Dartmouth wrote a terrific article
in _Regional Studies_ a few years back.  It's called "Nike Just Did It,"
and it's about Nike's subcontracting strategies in S.E. Asia.  One thing
that's terribly clear from the article is that Nike could pay its own
workers great wages and still be exploiting the hell out of the people who
make Nike shoes.  Most Nikes are made under subcontract through carefully
groomed supplier networks.

>Posted on 26 Feb 1997 at 19:32:33 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:8777] Nike in San Francisco
>
>Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 16:25:18 -0800 (PST)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: D Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>/* Written  6:55 PM  Feb 24, 1997
>by [EMAIL PROTECTED] in gn:reg.indonesia
>From: John MacDougall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: IN: AP - Nike Machine Runs into Protest
>
>Well-oiled Nike machine runs into SF protest machine
>
>By RICHARD COLE, Associated Press Writer
>
>Feb 20
>
>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The multi-billion dollar Nike empire and its
>muscular sports machine rolled into town Thursday to launch a new store,
>but instead ran into the city's protest movement and eked out a public
>relations draw.
>
>Demonstrators carrying giant mock Indonesian shadow puppets gathered
>outside the new Nike Town super store's media opening to accuse the
>footwear company of exploiting workers in Asia.
>
>Walter Johnson, head of the San Francisco Labor Council, said he would
>call on the AFL-CIO to launch a national boycott of Nike products until
>25-cent-an-hour wages were raised and conditions improved.
>
>Caught in the crossfire was San Francisco 49ers record-smashing receiver
>Jerry Rice, who for 12 years has had a contract to promote Nike.
>
>Rice was visibly upset by questions about Nike's factories, saying he had
>heard of the controversy only when he arrived at the Union Square store
>Thursday. He finally stalked away from reporters.
>
>``I think it's unfair you guys throwing this in my face,'' Rice told
>reporters. ``I understand it's a situation that has to be dealt with, but
>it's also something you have to think about. You can't just respond right
>off the bat.''
>
>San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown displayed his political cross-training by
>sidestepping the controversy after oohing and aahing at the slick,
>expensive -- $79 for a U.S. soccer team shirt -- three-story retail store.
>Brown said he welcomed the jobs Nike was bringing to the city.
>
>``I'd love to have the same thing happen to people all over the world, but
>my first responsibility is obviously to San Francisco,'' the mayor said.
>
>Nike spokesman Jim Small defended his company's record, saying Nike pays
>at least the minimum wage in all its factories, and an average of 50
>percent more.
>
>Nike, he noted, is a member of a committee of apparel makers that will
>make recommendations to President Clinton next month on how to protect
>overseas employees of U.S. firms.
>
>``Nike will not tolerate the abuse of workers in our facilities,'' he
>said. ``We care about them.''
>
>But union organizers and advocates for Nike workers told a different story
>outside the Union Square building.
>
>Katie Quan, Northwest regional manager of the garment workers union, said
>Nike's contractors in Indonesia have consistently fought against efforts
>to organize their factories.
>
>``The labor leaders there have been fired and imprisoned,'' Quan said.
>
>Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange organized the protest and contrasted
>conditions she saw in visits to Indonesia with the plush Union Square
>environs of Nike Town, which opens Saturday.
>
>Phil Knight, chairman and chief executive officer of Portland, Ore.-based
>Nike, she noted, is one of the world's richest men.
>
>``Nike sweatshop workers in Indonesia make $2.20 a day -- well below the
>liveable wage, yet Nike continues to pour money into bloated megastores,
>into its CEO's $5.2 billion hoard, and on multi-million dollar promotional
>contracts with rich sports stars,'' Benjamin said.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8206] Re: Fwd: Re: long waves -- and a

[Marshall Feldman]

>Amplifying on Maggie's comments, the cotton gin changed things overnight
>because it did not require any substantial changes in other parts of the
>production system.  Electricity took decades to affect productivity
>substantially because the mills were fitted out to take power from a
>central source and to distribute it via elaborate systems of belts and
>pulleys.  Electricity did not help much until after the factories were
>rebuilt.

Which is partly why we might expect electricity to have more substantial
implications for long waves than the cotton gin did.  How does one
differentiate "societal technology clusters" whose impacts cross all
economic sectors from sector-specific ones?

>
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 916-898-5321
>E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8206] Re: Fwd: Re: long waves -- and a

[Marshall Feldman]

>Amplifying on Maggie's comments, the cotton gin changed things overnight
>because it did not require any substantial changes in other parts of the
>production system.  Electricity took decades to affect productivity
>substantially because the mills were fitted out to take power from a
>central source and to distribute it via elaborate systems of belts and
>pulleys.  Electricity did not help much until after the factories were
>rebuilt.

Which is partly why we might expect electricity to have more substantial
implications for long waves than the cotton gin did.  How does one
differentiate "societal technology clusters" whose impacts cross all
economic sectors from sector-specific ones?

>
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 916-898-5321
>E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8205] Re: long waves -- and a better qu

[Marshall Feldman]

To answer Doug's question,

Schumpeter distinguished between inventions (technological discoveries/
applications) and innovations (commercially viable applications).  Mensch,
among others, elaborates on this and argues that a technology can be around
for some time before it becomes the basis for a long wave.  I think it's just
a short step from this to argue that a technology may become an innovation
and be around for years before the innovation becomes a carrier technology.
Also, the logic of Schumpeter's argument does allow for a substantial gestation
time before take-off occurs (in the depression entrepreneurs invest in the
new technology, but dramatic growth and multipliers may be years down the
road and may depend on other contingent conditions being satisfied).  This
obviously leads to a sticky empirical issue: how to distinguish between
innovations at the low part of the S curve vs those that comprise the
societal stock of innovations but have not yet formed the basis for growth.

>Posted on 10 Jan 1997 at 11:41:16 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:8159] Re: long waves -- and a better question
>
>Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 08:36:50 -0800 (PST)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Doug Henwood)
>
>I don't know my Schumpeter very well, or long-wave theory either, but
>computers and related instruments have been around for quite a long time
>now - in use by governments since the 1950s, and by business since the
>1960s. Did earlier transformative technologies - steam engine, railroad,
>car, radio - take so long to have a long-wave upkick?
>
>Greenspan was citing a paper recently - is this what Rakesh meant by:
>
>>Paul David makes in his widely circulated paper
>>comparing the dynamo and the computer
>
>- that asserted that it took decades for the electric motor to have an
>impact on productivity. But what about the other world-transforming
>gadgets? Did they operate with a delay of 30 or 40 years?
>
>Doug
>
>--
>
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>250 W 85 St
>New York NY 10024-3217
>USA
>+1-212-874-4020 voice
>+1-212-874-3137 fax
>email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>web: 

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:8205] Re: long waves -- and a better qu

[Marshall Feldman]

To answer Doug's question,

Schumpeter distinguished between inventions (technological discoveries/
applications) and innovations (commercially viable applications).  Mensch,
among others, elaborates on this and argues that a technology can be around
for some time before it becomes the basis for a long wave.  I think it's just
a short step from this to argue that a technology may become an innovation
and be around for years before the innovation becomes a carrier technology.
Also, the logic of Schumpeter's argument does allow for a substantial gestation
time before take-off occurs (in the depression entrepreneurs invest in the
new technology, but dramatic growth and multipliers may be years down the
road and may depend on other contingent conditions being satisfied).  This
obviously leads to a sticky empirical issue: how to distinguish between
innovations at the low part of the S curve vs those that comprise the
societal stock of innovations but have not yet formed the basis for growth.

>Posted on 10 Jan 1997 at 11:41:16 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:8159] Re: long waves -- and a better question
>
>Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 08:36:50 -0800 (PST)
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Doug Henwood)
>
>I don't know my Schumpeter very well, or long-wave theory either, but
>computers and related instruments have been around for quite a long time
>now - in use by governments since the 1950s, and by business since the
>1960s. Did earlier transformative technologies - steam engine, railroad,
>car, radio - take so long to have a long-wave upkick?
>
>Greenspan was citing a paper recently - is this what Rakesh meant by:
>
>>Paul David makes in his widely circulated paper
>>comparing the dynamo and the computer
>
>- that asserted that it took decades for the electric motor to have an
>impact on productivity. But what about the other world-transforming
>gadgets? Did they operate with a delay of 30 or 40 years?
>
>Doug
>
>--
>
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>250 W 85 St
>New York NY 10024-3217
>USA
>+1-212-874-4020 voice
>+1-212-874-3137 fax
>email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>web: 

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:3919] Social relations

[Marshall Feldman]

Paul Sweezy's first chapter in _The Theory of Capitalist Development_ is
one of the clearest and most eloquent arguments for basing economics and,
more generally, social theory around social relations.  I would like to
make this point in my urban theory course next fall, but a more modern
reading with a less singular focus on Marx's economics would be far more
useful to me.  Can anyone suggest something along these lines?

Thanks.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:3918] Costs of Sprawl

[Marshall Feldman]

The book I referred to in my earlier posting as "The Cost of Sprawl" was
written by a graduate class at Pace University (I think).  It's different
from the official study done by the ULI (I think).  The book's overarching
method is to compare various costs across countries.  For example,
the book claims Sweden uses less energy per capita than the US, even though
Sweden has a colder climate.  The book also argues that such differences
are directly tied to urban form.

Incidently, cross-national comparisons do seem more fruitful than trying to
construct alternate scenarios as a research design for attacking this problem.
Much of the observations people made about development in the U.S. reflects
this country's political economy more than saying specific about the
costs of any one mode of urban form.  Mark Gottdiener's "Planned Sprawl"
may be of interest here, as would my own articles on U.S. housing and
fordism (with Richard Florida -- see the "International Journal of Urban
and Regional Research," c. 1989 and our paper in "Housing and Government:
Comparisons from Seven Countries" published in a Sage edited collection).

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:3917] Re: subsidies for sprawl

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 18 Apr 1996 at 17:42:55 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:3842] subsidies for sprawl
>
>Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 14:33:28 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Eban Goodstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Anybody out there familiar with a literature on:
>
>(1) the degree to which suburban development is subsidized?
>(2) estimates of the externality costs of sprawl?
>
>References would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Eban
>
>_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>
>Eban Goodstein  email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Department of Economics phone:  503-768-7626
>Lewis and Clark College fax:503-768-7379
>Portland, OR 97219

There was a very good book written in the 1970s called, "The Costs of
Sprawl."  You might also look at Ken Jackson's "The Crabgrass Frontier,"
Edel, Sclar, and Lauria's "Shakey Palaces", and Mike Davis' "Prisoners
of the American Dream".  The latter are more history than cost accounting,
but they do get into the political economy of suburbia.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:3731] Re: SSA

[Marshall Feldman]

>If anyone is interested, I can direct them to my writings on the
>myth of post-Fordism - as a critique of lean production and the
>Japanese system and discussions of the problem of innovation and
>long waves.

Yes, please post them here.  Thanks.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/874-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/874-5511
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:3477] Re: The Death of David Gordon

[Marshall Feldman]

I too am shocked and saddened at the news of David's death.  I was in New York
at the Urban Affairs meetings on March 15-17, and Bob Beauregard mentioned
David was in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant.  Today I came in
to catch up on my e-mail, and I saw David didn't make it.

To add my voice to our collective sorrow, I remember David from numerous
URPE activities in the 1970s.  Once while he was visiting his family in
Berkeley he took time out from his busy schedule to come to my apartment
and help me with my dissertation.  I was researching the relation between
class segementation, spatial patterns of housing and labor markets, and
the role of urban transportation in coordinating this system of inequality.
David gave me copies of the relevant sections of his own dissertation, which
used factor analysis to identify labor market segments, to use for my
own work.  He also engaged me in a very stimulating discussion about my
own research.  All this for a graduate student he hardly knew and certainly
had no need to spend any time with.


The following obituary mentions his contributions to labor and macro
economics.  Others have mentioned his contribution to feminist economics.
I want to add to this already impressive list his contribution to
radical urban political economy.  His reader, _Problems in Political Economy:
An Urban Perspective_, remains one of the most accessible and comprehensive
books in the area.  It illustrates David's gift for combining rigorous
theory and empirical evidence to shed light on crucial policy issues and
to unmask the hidden ideology in conservative economics.

As I returned from New York, I thought about revising my urban theory class for
next fall.  I thought about how helpful an updated version of this book would
be.  I realized how much was lost by David's intellectual journey taking him
to fry fish outside the urban arena.  Now, I realize how much more we will
miss the man himself.  Fare thee well, comrade.


>
>David M. Gordon (1944-1996)
>
> David Gordon, a leading economist of the left, died
>Saturday at the age of fifty-two; he succumbed to congestive
>heart failure while awaiting a heart transplant at Columbia
>Presbyterian Hospital in New York. At the time of his death
>he was Director of the Center for Economic Policy Analysis
>and Professor of Economics at the New School for Social
>Research.
>
> Gordon came from a family of economists. His father,
>the late Robert Aaron Gordon, was President of the American
>Economic Association while his mother, the late Margaret S.
>Gordon, was well known for her contributions to the
>economics of employment and social welfare policy. His
>brother Robert J Gordon is a prominent macroeconomist and
>Professor of Economics at Northwestern University.  David
>Gordon and his family have been referred to as the "Flying
>Wallendas of Economics."
>
> David Gordon is best known for his contributions to the
>theory of discrimination and labor market segmentation, his
>analysis of the institutions shaping long-term economic
>growth, and his trenchant criticisms of conservative
>economic policy. His contributions to labor economics,
>developed jointly with Richard Edwards and Michael Reich,
>challenged the conventional assumption of a single labor
>market and argued instead for the recognition of deep
>divisions along racial, gender, and class lines. His
>macroeconomic research involved theoretical, historical and
>econometric analysis of the impact of political and social
>as well as economic institutions on long-term investment and
>growth. He coined the term "social structure of
>accumulation" and is credited with founding the school of
>economic thought bearing that name.
>
> Gordon's Fat and Mean: The Myth of Managerial
>"Downsizing" and the Corporate Squeeze of Working Americans,
>to be published next month by Martin Kessler Books at The
>Free Press, has won lavish pre-publication praise. A review
>to appear in The Atlantic suggests that it will be one of
>the most influential public-policy books of the decade. The
>book documents the long term decline in the pay and living
>standards of American workers and what Gordon has termed the
>increasingly top-heavy bureaucratic structure of American
>corporations.
>
> As a student, Gordon wrote for the Harvard Crimson, and
>following his graduation from Harvard in 1965 he helped
>found The Southern Courier, a civil rights newspaper based
>in Atlanta. Throughout his life he maintained his interest
>in journalism, contributing an economics column to the Los
>Angeles Times and numerous articles to The Nation, as well
>as making frequent appearances on television and radio
>commentary programs.
>
> Gordon received his doctoral degree in Economics from
>Harvard University in 1971, taught briefly at Yale, and
>since 1973 has been a professor of economics at the New
>School for Social Research. Pointedly eschewing the career
>paths of the economics

[PEN-L:3006] Re: Anthony Giddens

[Marshall Feldman]

Well, most geographers I know (or what Andy Sayer calls "those in the
spatial sciences") think Giddens' thinking about space is too little too
late.  Doreen Massey, for example, in her _Spatial Structures of Production_
raised the question of how to think about global-local in a much more
extensive and insightful way.  I'm not saying Giddens is wrong, only that
he raises issues that others have long recognized.  Check out Ed Soja's
_Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory."

>Posted on 12 Feb 1996 at 12:22:27 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:2894] Anthony Giddens
>
>Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 09:17:48 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Chris Merrett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Anthony Giddens, as a sociologist, is also a closet geographer. His ideas about
>structure versus agency have lead him to think about the social construction of
>place. This has lead him to ponder the epistemological dilemma of linking
>global processes to local outcomes in a theoretically informed way that is not
>empiricist in nature. I believe that he has contributed to the social sciences
>by transcending disciplinary boundaries to tackle economics, geography,
>sociology and philosophy. I would also like to hear what other people think
>about Anthony Giddens.
>Cheers,
>Chris Merrett
>Western Illinois University
>Macomb, IL 61455
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:2818] Re: Urban Economics Tex

[Marshall Feldman]

Well, I really like Paul Knox's _Urbanization_.  It's not just "economics,"
but what progressive book on urban economics would be?

Also check out his book with John Agnew, _The geography of the world economy_.

Both books bring in work by authors like Wallerstein, Bordieu, Aglieta, etc.
to paint a very insightful picture of contemporary spatial forces.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:1345] Re: economic decline/help

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 25 Oct 1995 at 05:35:43 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:1108] economic decline/help
>
>Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 02:35:01 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (jones/bhandari)
>
>I am reading the former finance editor of Business Week Jeffrey Madrick's
>The End of Affluence: The Causes and Consequences of America's Economic
>Dilemma--a short, non-specialist overview of the US economy.
>
>Madrick advances an interesting claim (actually it could be taken as an
>indictment of the economics profession), and I am wondering whether he is
>right about this.
>
>"For all its ups and downs, [the post- WWII boom] produced the fastest,
>broadest-based economic growth and rising living standards a major economy
>has ever seen.  There is not one  forecast on record that suggested it
>might not last." (p.35)
>
>Is this true?
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>Rakesh

I don't know.  Would you call Baran and Sweezy's MONOPOLY CAPITAL a forecast?

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:1344] RE: why get rid of the Commerce D

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 31 Oct 1995 at 04:31:55 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:1184] RE: why get rid of the Commerce Department?
>
>Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 01:28:01 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Michael A. Lebowitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>In message Mon, 30 Oct 1995 10:13:24 -0800,
>  [EMAIL PROTECTED] (James Devine)  writes:
>
>
>> As for Peter Burns' question about the GOP actually stimulating
>> private investment and thus the economy: yes, they can do that.
>> But such a profits-led boom encourages investment to get further
>> out of line with consumer demand, implying greater tendency
>> toward recession.
>
>   This may be true for a closed capitalist economy or for capitalism-as-a
>whole, but why should it be true for one capitalist country? Ie., don't we
>have both a logical and concrete basis to recognise that any individual
>capitalist country can pursue successfully such policies--- as long as
>others are not doing the same, that is?
>   cheers,
> mike

Good point.  But given that the US is the world's largest economy, would
it make a difference if we did it versus, say, Britain?

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:1343] Re: steel experts?

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 30 Oct 1995 at 15:16:35 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:1173] steel experts?
>
>Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 12:08:24 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Doug Henwood)
>
>A subscriber of mine, Tom Lehmann, is looking for someone who knows the
>steel industry well and who is sympathetic to labor to talk about the
>industry and the general economic environment for a joint union-management
>seminar to be held in Lorain County, Ohio. Anyone interested in
>volunteering, or if you have any suggestions of people you'd be happy to
>volunteer, please contact Lehmann at 800-227-7113, ext. 2412 during
>business hours, Ohio time.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Doug
>
>--
>
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>250 W 85 St
>New York NY 10024-3217
>USA
>+1-212-874-4020 voice
>+1-212-874-3137 fax
>email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>web: 

Doug,

See if Ann Markusen (in the planning program at Rutgers) is available.
I also think John Metzger (visiting at U of Pittsburgh in Planning) did
work on the steel industry.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[PEN-L:105] Re: REGULATION (WAS Two Questions

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 1 Aug 1995 at 14:37:40 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:81] Two Questions
>
>Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 11:37:19 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Thomas Schumacher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Does anybody know if the papers from the International Conference on Regulation
>Theory in Barcelona (1988) were ever collected or published?

No, not in one place.

>
>Also, does anybody know of any work that's been done within the regulation
>school on consumption?  It seems that for Aglietta at least that one of the
>features of the shifts he outlines is the changes in patterns/practices of
>consumption, and yet most of the work coming after him has concentrated on
>either the labor process or the state.  Any leads?

Check out David Harvey's _The Condition of Postmodernity_.  Also see

Florida, Richard L and Marshall MA Feldman. 1988. Housing in US Fordism.
  Int. Jour. Urban and Regional Research 12(2): 187-210.

Feldman, Marshall and Richard L Florida. 1990. Economic restructuring
 and the changing role of the state in US housing. Pp. 31-46 in
 Government and housing: Developments in seven countries, ed. Willem van
 Vliet and Jan van Weesep, Vol. 36, Urban Affairs Annual Reviews, Newbury
 Park: Sage.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:5543] Re:suburbs/housing and SSAs

[Marshall Feldman]

Eric Nilsson writes:

>Marsh Feldman writes that the increase in homeownership in
>the US might permit workers to weather unemployment better
>then before.
>
>This is because even if workers are unable to make mortgage
>payments they typically have many months before the bank
>moves to take their homes away. Implied by this is
>that renters might soon be tossed on the streets after they are
>unable to make their rent payments.
>
>However, it can also take months to evict a renter, so it is
>unclear if homeownership is an advantage over renting. And,
>importantly, when a bank takes away a house from an
>unemployed worker the worker loses all the equity built up
>in the house -- a very big penalty for job loss.

Of course Eric is right.  But (1) the time to evict tenants also reflects
post-New Deal reforms, so it actually sustains our argument re. Fordism
and housing.  (2) Even so, the incentive to a landlord to evict depends
on overall market conditions (maybe the landlord can rerent and maybe not),
whereas the Bank almost universally has a disincentive to foreclose because
the bank only gets what's owed.  (3) Because the homeowner has some
equity to lose, the Bank is more willing to believe a homeowner will
eventually catch up in payments. A tenant, on the other hand, who is
behind in the rent can lose, at most, the back rent, so a landlord has
more reason to believe there is substantially more risk in letting the
tenant get behind (esp. when utilities are included in the rent).
So (and I have no empirical data on this) I think homeowners behind in
mortgage payments are less likely to be foreclosed than
renters behind in their rent are to be evicted.

>
>An interesting aspect of the recent decline in the prices
>of houses (particularly here in So. California) is
>that many people in the 1970s and 1980s made
>decisions about how much to save based, in part,
>on the belief that when they retired they could
>sell their home and make a huge capital gain. They
>could then move elsewhere where housing was
>cheaper and have lots of money left over to
>live on.
>
>However, with the decline in housing prices many
>people in California (and elsewhere) have found
>that they have (in retrospect) saved too little
>for their retirement.

Which, of course, could also happen if they put their savings in mutual
funds and the stock market took a dive.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:5481] Re: suburbs/housing and SSAs

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 12 Jun 1995 at 13:58:27 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:5461] Re: suburbs/housing and SSAs
>
>Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 10:31:18 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Eric Nilsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Marshall Feldman wrote that the run-up in housing prices led to a
>possible reduction in the cost of job loss.
>
>But might that only apply to those who bought their homes before
>the rapid rise in prices? Those who bought homes after prices
>went up rapidly found themselves stuck with huge monthly
>mortgage payments. For these folks, job loss might lead not
>only to the loss of income but the possibility of the loss of
>their home as they became unable to make their monthly payments.

Sure, but remember a few things.  First, before WWII around 60% of the
population rented, but by the '60's around 65% owned.  Forget house
price inflation for the moment and consider how the consumer credit
institutions preserved shelter for homeowners.  You have to miss several
installments before the lender comes to foreclose; this is most true for
housing, less true for consumer durables.  It particularly holds when
lenders hold mortgages in specific communities.  Thus, being out on strike
in a place like Lordstown in 1965 puts one at less risk than in say,
Flint in the '30s.

Second, house price inflation during the '70s was very uneven.  It applies
almost not at all to the midwest and east.  Much more to California (the
East Coast picked up in the '80s).  What you say is true, but remember that
housing turnover rates are class-specific (blue collar workers have lower
turnover rates than say white collar professionals) and age-specific.
In any case, turnover takes place among a small fraction of all owners.
So, workers in California who had homes before the boom and who either
cashed in or just smiled at their ballooning equity had an alternate
source of income.  Those who were not owners were generally young, but still
in the minority in most local labor markets.

In short, we argue, pase Aglietta who argues suburbanization lowered the
cost of labor power, that 1) suburbanization primarily structured demand,
2) it was wasteful and actually raised the cost of labor power
(institutionalizing norms that absorbed productivity increases in further
expenditures rather than in either savings or shorter working hours),
3) its specific institutional expression lowered the short-term cost of
job loss through the specific mechanisms designed to protect lenders.

The impacts of house-price inflation were relatively minor compared to these
larger patterns, confined to specific local labor markets, and within the
latter further lessened the overall cost of job loss.

>
>
>(Our library doesn't have the journal with Marshall's article in
>it so forgive me if this is discussed in the article.)
>
>Marshall also wrote,
>> One thing that regulationists sometimes overlook is the double dynamic
>> of the regime of accumulation (fordism here) and the relative place of
>> the individual country (social formation for the orthodox) in the world
>> system.  The US was fordism's global hegemon, and US fordism was a particular
>> flavor relying heavily on suburbanization instead of social democracy.
>
>Would you say a bit more about the link between US hegemony and the
>fact the US social formation relied heavily on suburbanization. What
>impact this have in your approach?

Sure, there are specific connections between the breakdown of the Bretton
Woods system and the internal problems the US was having with stagflation.
These, in turn, can be partly traced to the domestic financial system which
was strongly tied to housing, real estate, and postwar suburbanization.

>..
>..
>Eric Nilsson
>Department of Economics
>California State University
>San Bernardino, CA 92407
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:5442] Althusser Quote

[Marshall Feldman]

Hi,

In his eulogy for Louis Althusser (reprinted in _The Althusserian Legacy_,
ed. E. Ann Kaplan and Michael Sprinker. London: Verso, 1993) Jacques
Derrida quotes from Althusser's _Bertolazzi et Brecht_ (1962).  The quote ends
with the following sentence: "We share the same story -- and that is where
everything begins."  Can someone tell me where this essay is printed and
where it can be found?  Even better, can some one give the the original
French version of the quote?  Thanks.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:5434] Re: suburbs/housing and SSAs

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 8 Jun 1995 at 14:11:57 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:5374] Re: suburbs/housing and SSAs
>
>Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 11:10:56 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Eric Nilsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Marshall Feldman wrote
>
>>  In the case of US suburbanization, once the pieces were in place around
>> 1950 (adding the highway act in 1956), the geographic transformation DID
>> work fairly automatically for about 2 decades.
>
>What role do you think that the run-up of U.S. housing prices (particularly, in
>California) in the 1970s might have had on the operation of the
>"postwar SSA" in the U.S.? What is meaningless? What it a sign that
>something wasn't working right? Did it contribute to later problems
>in a Fordist regime of accumulation?

Yes.  :)

Seriously, we cover this in the article.  A profit squeeze in manufacturing
coupled with high inflation and innovations in financial institutions allowed
capital to flow into realestate in spite of New Deal firewalls between
segmented financial systems.  Disintermediation, as they say.  As a result,
the politics of banking changed, and long-time opponents (the big commercial
banks vs the S&L's) joined behind deregulation in order to get a piece of
the action.

Any time you have inflation in a sector like real estate (i.e. a large
chunk consisting of non-reproducable goods [land & location] with heavy
loadings of externalities and a consumer asset (not a good) to boot), you've
got trouble for the SSA.  The profit squeeze pushed capital out of the
main fordist sectors, the real estate euphoria sucked it out (how does Karl
say it, Messeur (sp?) tierre doing his ghost dance with Mme. Capital like two
vampires on the landscape? -- Pardon my French).  It accelerated the profit
squeeze for those workers who suddenly had another source of income (lowered
their cost of job loss) but rather than generate demand, the new wealth in
real estate was largely a game of musical chairs getting higher in place.
At the same time, housing costs put a rising floor on wages (socially
necessary costs of LP) exacerbating the profit squeeze.

One thing that regulationists sometimes overlook is the double dynamic
of the regime of accumulation (fordism here) and the relative place of
the individual country (social formation for the orthodox) in the world
system.  The US was fordism's global hegemon, and US fordism was a particular
flavor relying heavily on suburbanization instead of social democracy.
Although we do not follow up on this, I think much can be explained by the
debt structure in the US which the framers of the 1986 tax reform seem
to have understood quite well: they kicked the shit out of real estate.
Perhaps only getting rid of the homeowner's exemption would have done more.
(Actually, keeping the latter in place while getting rid of the various
depreciation and passive loss deductions tilted the scales even further
in favor of private homeownership.  So rental housing took it on the
chin, and renting as a safety net for owner-speculators lost some of its
carrying capacity).

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:5372] Re: Kondratieff

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 7 Jun 1995 at 12:42:27 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:5338] Re: Kondratieff
>
>Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 09:40:27 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Anthony D'Costa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Regarding small acale incremental technical changes that contribute to
>our understanding of Japanese technological prowess, see Tessa
>Morris-Suzuki's analysis of "social networks of innovation" beginning in
>Tokugawa Japan.

Can you give us the citation please?

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:5371] Re: Kondratieff

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 7 Jun 1995 at 22:14:16 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:5359] Re: Kondratieff
>
>Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 19:13:38 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Evan Jones - 448 - 3063" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>On 7 June Eric Nilsson wrote:
>My concern with a focus on K cycles and their relationship to
>institutional change is the following.
>
>I'm sympathetic to Eric's concern.
>Work like Segmented Work is too stylised; the fault is not so much
>its economism but its determinism.
>If one takes the post WWII long boom for example there were probably
>features that were institutionalised and which underpinned the whole
>period - e.g. the 'fordist' cluster of suburbia, consumer durables,
>consumer credit, unprecendeted family formation,etc.

You may want to consult the article Rich Florida & I wrote on this:

"Housing in US Fordism".  Internatinal Journal of Urban and Regional Research
12, 2 (June 1988): 187-210.

>On the other hand, the notion that the periods of favourable
>accumulation worked fairly automatically once set in place is silly.

It seems to me generalizing either way is silly.  It would depend on the
specific organization of accumulation.  In the case of US suburbanization,
once the pieces were in place around 1950 (adding the highway act in 1956),
the geographic transformation DID work fairly automatically for about
2 decades.  Then profit squeezes led to restructuring, and today's
suburbanization does not complete the circuit adequately.  Major tinkering
in the banking system did not get implemented until the late '70s when
things no longer worked so well.

>At the global level, cold war and some regional hot wars is crucial
>for Pax Americana underpinnings of the K-like long boom. But not even
>the most ardent hawks in 1945 could guess at the magnitude of
>devleopments until the Soviet UNion become the unviersal bogeyman
>after 1947 and Korea kicked it off in 1950.

But design and automatic operation are two separate questions.

>My reading of the post-WWII period in Australia is that the period
>bubbled along with mini-crises which had to be resolved, not least by
>the active deliberation of various agencies of the state (and by this
>I mean far more than textbook Keynesian macro manipulation).

This is an interesting question.  I believe regulationists distinguish
between regulatory crises (i.e. those within the regime) and transformatory
crises (i.e. those that change it).  Can we understand these mini-crises
as regulatory ones?

>In Australia, in particular, a major development which kept the long
>boom bubbling along in the 1960s was an extraordinary expansion in the mining
>sector, a phenomenon mostly unforeseen in the 1950.
>This development in turn had dramatic implications of a regional
>nature (meaning that the 'national economy' aggregates are hiding
>important internal developments), with the epicentre of activity
>moving from the more industrialised south-east States, to the
>periphery of north and west.
>
Very important and interesting questions.  Regulationists have a
tendency to homogenize the social formation.  In fact, uneven development
is the rule, and regulation theory often adds little to our understanding
of uneven development within even stable regimes.

>

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:4818] Re: joint production, mergers, and sp

[Marshall Feldman]

Pat,

I've got a rather long paper that compares the industrial organization
literature w/ the literature on flex-spec in regards to how they tread
mergers, etc. w/r.t. flexibility.  One central point is that no simple measure
of vertical integration using prices is possible because aggregation
(integration) in I/O matrices changes relative prices.  I can send you a
copy in return for comments & suggestions.

>Posted on 24 Apr 1995 at 18:44:10 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:4808] joint production, mergers, and specializati
>
>Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 15:39:53 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: patrick l mason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>X-Acknowledge-To: 
>
> Pen-lers:
>
> I'm like some help on references to joint production. I'm especially
> interested in articles/books which tie together joint production,
> mergers, and specialization.
>
> thanx, pat mason

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:4768] RE: New work on discrimination in

[Marshall Feldman]

Gary,

Thanks for the posting.  Can you give us the specific references?  I've
tried to highlight the ones needed.

>I don't agree that the studies have shown discrimination per se; I don't
>think any have, except for the "paired-testing" types (minority and white
>person with identical characteristics try to get a loan, get a job, ...).

Can you cite a recent published study via which we can bore into the lit?

>The studies most often replicated have shown that areas with many minority
>residents -- usually African American population percentage, for most
>studies -- have lower loan flows per eligible housing unit.  This "area"
>race effect is different than showing "individual" race effects aimed
>at specific minority applicants.

Again, please give at least on cite as a port of entry.

>
>The area race effects show, in Anne Shlay's term, the lack of a "fair
^^
 ref?

>very volume of these studies is, in a way, impressive -- because lots of
  ^^

Is there a review or academic summary?

>In response, HMDA data on individual applicants were produced thanks to
>a compromise worked out by the Southern Finance Project and others during
>the FIRREA negotations.  This richer data allowed richer tests on whether
>in fact there were still fewer loans to minorities once you took applica-
>tions into account.  The answer was, yes; but the conservative rejoinder

Have these studies been published anywhere?

>conservative scribes at the WSJ.  The revised Beantown tried to put
   
   ref?

>Area race effects can be the legacy of structural discrimination, not
>just of racist bankers.  And structural discrimination can be an amalgam
>of labor-market inequity, class dynamics, unequal wealth, etc.  I have a
>paper coming out later this year in the Rev. of Black Pol. Economy, which
 ^^
  do you know which issue?
>I agree completely with the need to look at spatial dimensions.  More and
>more I think this is a key.  The racial, of course, is spatial.  This is
>just where we need to add in, say, Robert Bullard and Melvin Oliver, to
>spice William J. Wilson.  The racial is also gendered, as is the class-

Again, people might want refs. to Bullard, Oliver, and Wilson.

>-- with John Veitch -- on LA.  The class/gender/racial separations that

published where?

>Lash and Urry that it's "ungovernable" -- but it's definitely polarized,
 ^
  cite?

>And as to literature.  The old radical stuff from the 1970's has a lot to
^
 anything in particular?

>that I've been learning a lot from the geographers and sociologists.  There's

which ones?  Where?

>a second look.  For those interested in such trends, a new "Los Angeles"
>school is arising -- with Ed Soja, Mike Davis, Allen Scott, Jennifer
>Wolch, Michael Dear at the center -- in response to the older "Chicago
>model".  Hey, we're just jealous about MJ coming back.  Why not Magic?

Some cites here would help too.  BTW, the "Los Angeles" school is not so
new (these folks have been plugging along since at least the mid-1970's)
and not so LA (see the intro to Mike Storper and Dick Walker's
_Capitalist Imperative_).  As far as I'm concerned, Manuel Castells nailed
the Chicago model from France in 1972 (_The Urban Question_).

Thanks again.  I'm familiar with some of the lit. here, but it would be
nice to know exactly what you're referring to and to fill in the gaps in
my knowledge.

Marsh Feldman   Phone: 401/792-5953
Community Planning, 204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
The University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:4300] Re: biotechnology

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 25 Feb 1995 at 17:20:05 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:4284] biotechnology
>
>Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 14:17:52 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Nicholas Witheford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>This is to ask if anyone can give me recommendations on  books and
>articles offering critical analysis of the political economy of  the
>biotechnology industry. I'm particularly
>interested in/ repelled by  the potential use of this technology as
>a means for capital to exercise quality control over the reproduction of
>labour power.
>With thanks in advance,
>Mutantly,
>Nick Witheford

I've published two articles on biotech, both of which approach the issue
from the point of spatial organization and economic development:

Feldman, Marshall M.A. 1985a. Biotechnology and local economic growth: The
American pattern. Pp. 65-79 in _Silicon landscapes_, ed. Peter Hall and
Ann Markusen. Boston: Allen & Unwin.

. 1985b. Patterns of biotechnology development. Pp. 93-107 in
_The future of urban form: The impact of new technology_, ed. John
Brotchie, Peter Newton, Peter Hall, and Peter Nijkamp. London: Croom
Helm.

Also check out,

Kenney, Martin. 1986. _Biotechnology: The university-industrial complex_
   New Haven: Yale University Press.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-5953
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:4299] Re: biotechnology

[Marshall Feldman]

One other thing I forgot to mention in my recent posting.  Ric McIntyre and
I recently completed a study of flexible manufacturing for the US Economic
Development Administration.  Part of the study covers industry case studies
for three industries, with Medical Instruments & Supplies being one (the
other two are Aircraft Components and Textile Finishing).  You might
be interested in this.  If so, send e-mail request to [EMAIL PROTECTED],
and ask her to send you a pricing for the report once we get our duplicating
account in place.  She'll send it to you in a month or so.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-5953
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:4080] Entry #963 of LISTS.FACSEN-L

[Marshall Feldman]

Enjoy this.
- Entry #963 of LISTS.FACSEN-L -

Posted on 7 Feb 1995 at 14:44:26 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)

important research

Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 14:39:58 EST
Reply-To: URI Faculty Senate List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Rosa Maria Pegueros <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

I thought this would brighten this cold afternoon--
RMP

...
Rosa Maria Pegueros e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of History   telephone: (401) 792-4092
217C Washburn Hall
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881-0817 "Women hold up half the sky."
Original message


[From [EMAIL PROTECTED]]

   The following is an e-mail I sent to Newt Gingrich, in the
wake of the discovery of his comments on the biological urge of
men to "hunt giraffes" and to wallow in ditches "like little
piglets":

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (John M. Scalzi, II)
Subject: Giraffe Poll by Journalist.

Dear Mr. Gingrich:

   My name is John Scalzi, and I am a columnist for the Fresno
Bee in Fresno, California. In the days since the unearthing of
your comments about men, women, combat, and the biological drive
for men to hunt giraffes, I have taken it upon myself to conduct
a poll to see whether that innate giraffe-hunting urge (and the
little piglet wallowing urge) is in fact alive and well in the
average American male.

   While the sample polled is statistically small (50 men,
basically whomever was handy at the time) and largely comprised
of white, college-educated, gainfully employed males, I
nevertheless feel that the information gleaned from this poll
will be of some value to someone, somewhere, some time. Perhaps
you yourself, should the subject of instinctual giraffe
slaughtering come up again. Certainly for me, as it takes up the
bulk of my column, to be published this Wednesday, January 25.

   Thank you for your time, and happy hunting and/or wallowing,
whichever the case may be.

1. Have you ever hunted a giraffe?
Yes: 0%
No: 100%

2. Have you ever had the urge to hunt a giraffe?
Yes:4%
No: 96%

3. Provided the right tools and the time, would you hunt a
giraffe?
Yes: 8%
No: 92%

4. If not a giraffe, would you hunt another African savannah
animal?
Yes: 20%
No: 80%

5. If you had to hunt an African savannah animal, which of the
following would you choose?
a) Zebra: 2%
b) Rhino: 6%
c) Meerkat: 12%
d) Boar: 42%
e) Any creature that appeared in "The Lion King": 36%

6. Do you think giraffe would taste like chicken?
Yes: 38%
No: 62%

7. Might it not make more sense not to hunt giraffe, but rather
to set up giraffe ranches?
Yes: 92%
No: 8%

8. When you see Geoffrey, the Toys 'R' Us giraffe, do you ever
get the urge to stick him with a spear?
Yes: 40%
No: 60%

9. Do you expect that Newt Gingrich has ever had the urge to
hunt a giraffe?
Yes: 74%
No: 26%

10. If Newt Gingrich were to hunt a giraffe, would he use tools,
or simply his own mouth?
Tools: 48%
Mouth: 52%

11. Would you rather hunt a giraffe, or wallow in a ditch like a
little piglet?
Hunt: 30%
Wallow: 70%

12. Would you generally describe yourself as a little piglet?
Yes: 22%
No: 78%

13. Would you describe Newt Gingrich as a little piglet?
Yes: 54%
No: 46%

14. If you could, would you hunt Newt Gingrich?
Yes: 58%
No: 42%

15. Would Newt Gingrich taste like chicken?
Yes: 18%
No: 82%

c.1995 John Scalzi

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-5953
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3844] Re: rationality

[Marshall Feldman]

>Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 11:35:33 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Robin Hahnel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>The essential issue, I believe, is whether or not particular social
>institutions promote socially productive or socially unproductive
>behavior. [I'm sure we could argue for a while about how to define
>what is socially productive and unproductive, but let's assume we
>could agree on that for the moment.] Well, how does an institution
>promote one kind of behavior rather than another? For the most part,
>or if you wish to be more cautious in statements, certainly to some
>extent, institutions promote one kind of behavior rather than another
>by making one kind of behavior individually rational, IR as you say,
>and other kinds of behavior individually irrational. People do NOT
>always have to behave in IR ways in order for this phenomenon to
>occur. And people are always "free" to choose to behave in ways that
>are NOT IR for various reasons -- one of which might be moral or pol-
>itical committments. As one who as frequently chosen individually
>irrational courses of action -- as I'm sure you are too -- I know that
>the pressure from social institutions does not always succeed in getting
>me to behave in a particular way. But, that does not obviate the fact
>the social institution promoted, or pressured me and others, to behave
>in a particular kind of way, and forced me to behave in a way that in
>some meaningful sense was counter to my own self-interests as I see
>them.

I don't see why we have to give such pride of place to a subjectivist
notion of individual rationality.  Institutions may promote one kind
of behavior over another, but it seems unnecssary to add that they do
so by making one kind of behavior IR.  Institutions constrain,
empower, and pressure for some behaviors over others, and it seems
almost besides the point to worry if individuals consciously choose
these behaviors.  I cannot plan an effective course of action counting
on my vassels' oaths of fealty to provide me with labor when I need it,
but I might be able to count on my savings account serving the same
purpose.  The prospects of feudal labor relations are so remote from
my real possiblities that I do not even consider them.  There must
be an infinite set of alternatives I do not even consider, my
actual actions must have an infinite set of implications I am not even
aware of; ditto for motivations. It seems more meaningful to talk of
the institutional detemination of the scope for possible conscious
action before we worry about the rationality of those actions.  In other
words, the path to human action does not necessarily pass through
consciousness.

>
>It is in this sense that I think progressive critics of capitalism
>can argue that markets and private enterprise promote socially unpro-
>ductive behavior. And I don't see how that conclusion is contradicted
>by the fact that many people -- perhaps all people -- to some extent
>resist the pressure to behave in the ways markets promote, and even
>that the very viability of market systems hinges on people NOT always
>behaving in the ways that markets push them.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3730] Positivism

[Marshall Feldman]

The following list of "strict" positivist doctrines comes from Giedymin,
Jerzy. 1975. Antipositivism in contemporary philosophy of social science
and humanities.  _British Journal of the Philosophy of Science_ 26: 275-301.

 1.  Identification of knowledge with science and mathematics.
 2.  Empiricism in the extreme form of either phenomenalism or physicalism,
 i.e. the ruduction of science to statements about directly observable
 facts and the elimination as meaningless of any sentence that is neither
 analytic nor empirical (synthetic in Justin's usage), e.g. of
 metaphysics.
 3.  The reduction of philosophy to the 'logic of science' and of mathematics.
 4.  Methodological naturalism ... i.e. the view that the social sciences and
 even humanities have basically the same aims and methods as the natural
 sciences.
 5.  Sociological relativism with respect to norms, in particular ethical ones.
 6.  Emphasis on the social value of science and on its practical applications.

Giedymin gets this from Bacon, Comte, and that crowd, the British empiricist,
notably Mill, and the Vienna LP group.  From this list, he proposes there are
64 (=2^6) possible definitions of positivism as the term is commonly used in
social sciences.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3729] The mother of all finals

[Marshall Feldman]

The following is posted for your enjoyment and course planning for the
new semester.  I have added my own final since my discipline was not
represented.

-- Cut Here ---

Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 16:38:01 -0500 (EST)
From: "John A. Sorrentino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]



-- Forwarded message --
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 16:35:02 -0500 (EST)
From: John A. Sorrentino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: The mother of all final exams (humor) (fwd)


FYI. :)

-- Forwarded message --
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 09:29:33 EDT
From: Fredric Menz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: The mother of all final exams (humor)


   Instructions:  Read each question carefully.  Answer all questions.

   Time limit:  2 hours.  Begin immediately.


   History:  Describe  the history of the Papacy from its origins to
   the present day, concentrating especially, but  not  exclusively,
   on  its  social, political, economic, religious and philosophical
   impact on Europe, Asia, America and Africa.   Be  brief,  concise
   and specific.

   Medicine:  You  have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of
   gauze, and a bottle of scotch.  Remove  your  appendix.   Do  not
   suture  until  you  work  has  been  inspected.  You have fifteen
   minutes.

   Public Speaking: 2500 riot-crazed  aborigines  are  storming  the
   classroom.   Calm  them.  You may use any ancient language except
   Latin or Greek.

   Biology:  Create  life.   Estimate  the differences in subsequent
   human culture if this form of  life  had  developed  500  million
   years  earlier,  with special attention to its probable effect on
   the English Parliamentary System.  Prove your thesis.

   Music:  Write  a piano concerto.  Orchestrate and perform it with
   flute and drum.  You will find a piano under your seat.

   Psychology: Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the
   emotional   stability,   degree   of  adjustment,  and  repressed
   frustrations of each of the following: Alexander  of  Aphrodisis,
   Rameses  II, Hammuarabi.  Support your evaluation with quotations
   from each man's work, making appropriate references.It is not
   necessary to translate.

   Sociology:   Estimate   the  sociological  problems  which  might
   accompany the end of the world.  Construct an experiment to  test
   your theory.

   Engineering:  The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have
   been placed on your desk.  You  will  also  find  an  instruction
   manual, printed in Swahili.  In 10 minutes, a hungry bengal tiger
   will be admitted to the room.   Take  whatever  action  you  feel
   necessary.  Be prepared to justify your decision.

   Economics:  Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national
   debt without increasing the rate of inflation, taxes, interest
   rates, the exchange rate, or the money supply.  Trace the possible
   effects of your plan in the following areas:  Cubism, the Donatist
   Controversy, and the Wave Theory of Light.  Outline a method for
   preventing these and other important spillover effects.  Criticize
   this method from the Chicago, Keynesian, post-Keynesian, Austrian,
   liberal, conservative, institutionalist, Virginia, and Marxian
   points of view.  Point out any deficiencies in your analysis.

   Political  Science:  There  is a red telephone on the desk beside
   you.   Start  World  War  III.Report   at   length   on   its
   socio-political effects if any.

   Epistemology:  Take  a  position  for or against truth. Prove the
   validity of your stand.

   Physics: Explain the nature of matter.  Include in your answer an
   evaluation  of  the  impact  of the development of mathematics on
   science.

   Philosophy: Sketch the development of  human  thought.   Estimate
   its significance.  Compare with the development of any other kind
   of thought.

   General   Knowledge:   Describe  in  detail.   Be  objective  and
   specific.

- Addition --

   Urban Planning: Summarize the patterns of spatial organization of Greater
   New York (between 1400 and 2000 AD0, Alexandria (during the Second
   Kingdom), Moscow (during the Czarist period), and one city of your
   choice represented in fiction.  Describe the social systems
   present in each urban mileau and their relation to urban form.  Critique
   each social system and form, being sure to take account of all Western
   and non-Western views of the good society since Plato, and paying special
   attention to Habermas in light of Althusser's critique of humanism and
   the former's critique of structuralism.  Construct a mathematical model
   of each urban region, identify the necessary changes in the social system
   to generate a city immune from your criticism, and use the model to prove
   that these changes would i

[PEN-L:3717] Re: rationality

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 11 Jan 1995 at 17:07:52 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:3702] Re: rationality
>
>Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 14:04:47 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Some comments with respect to the rationality discussion:
>
>
>Another way of putting this: if somebody has an alternative
>hypothesis about social behavior which can support investigation into
>the logic of social interaction, trot it out!  However, the existing
>interpretations are demonstrably consistent with claims that
>capitalism is exploitive, riddled with unjustified power relations,
>unfair, and inefficient.
>

How about individual action as rule-governed, as per much sociology?
Anthony Giddens, in particular, argues cogently, IMHO, that subjective
action is the skilled performance of knowledgable social actors who "know
the rules."  This is a rationality that intimately meshes structure and
agency.  My main criticism of Giddens is that such rules are embedded in
material social relationships, so that no amount of renegotiation could,
in the short run, change the fact that, for example, we must get our food
from supermarkets rather than community farms, we must sleep in the physical
space we call our home, etc.  Of course in the long run we can knock down
buildings and plant gardens, develop alternate lodging arrangements, etc.

Not that this notion of behavior is a form of socially constructed
behavior within which choice takes place.  Along with Giddens, I would
argue that more of human behavior can be explained by the social
constraints, pressures, and empowerment than by subjective choice
within said constraints, motivated by such pressures, and made possible
by said powers.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3716] Re: neoclassical 'tautoligies'

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 11 Jan 1995 at 17:37:49 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:3704] neoclassical "tautoligies"
>
>Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 14:33:55 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Robert Naiman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>>From [EMAIL PROTECTED]  Wed Jan 11 15:52:12 1995
>
>>I think that a lot of economists play a disingenuous game:
>>they take a non-tautological version of rationality, i.e.,
>>one that assumes that people are atomistically individualistic
>>with fixed tastes -- and all sorts of convenient ideological
>>overtones, since this sociopathic behavior is seen as
>>"rational," in some sense good -- but THEN defend this
>>concept and its ideological content by invoking the tautological
>>version.
>
>And we know this is true of neo-classical economics generally: take a
>term in general use, give it a technical definition which is quite
>different, then use the two interchangebly, thereby giving some very
>definite (and false) ideological assumptions the status of common sense.
>When challenged, retreat to the technical definition, disavowing the
>implicit claim of using the general term, say this is just a definition,
>justify the definition by a tautological argument.
>
>Another example: use the word "efficient" to get all the affective
>connotation of the word (not wasteful, wisest use, good). When
>questioned, point out that you simply mean "Pareto efficient" which
>is like the politician who when charged with being unethical says, "I
>broke no law." Anyone whose moral sense hasn't been deadened by the
>study of neoclassical economics can see that since one person having all
>the stuff while everybody else has nothing is a "Pareto efficient"
>outcome, the term bears little relation to the common sense definition
>of "efficient".
>
>-bob naiman

I think I've said this here before, but Sophie's Choice is my favorite
example of pernicious Pareto Optimality.  The Nazi guard gets more satisfaction
from having her choose to put one of her children to death; Sophie gets more
satisfaction from having one of her children live instead of both dying.
Both are better off than they would be without the choce, but the situation
turns our stomachs nonetheless.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3684] Re: rationality

[Marshall Feldman]

>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (John M Hall) wrote:
>>
>> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Nelson) wr
>i
>tes:
>> >  Given that this is *SCI*.econ, what would convince me would
>> >  be a formal definition of rationality that could be falsified
>> >  and that could be applied in a formal model.
>>
>> Given that you view falsification as the
>> necessary condition, why not accept Steve's (?)
>> definition of purposeful behavior? This definition,
>> hypothesis, is falsified when one person is found
>> doing something they know will not acheive what they
>> are attempting to accomplish.
>>

First, this would have to be modified to "doing something they THINK will
not achieve what they are attempting to accomplish."  Second, what does
"attempting to accomplish" mean?  Lots of NFL players kept on playing in
the 4th quarter last weekend even though they thought their chances of
winning were virtually nil.  Did what they were trying to accomplish
change during the game, or were they acting irrationally?  Third, a
more important point is that people often accomplish things they are
totally unaware of, or at least think little about.  When people marry
they reproduce the institution of marriage, but that's not their goal.
Neoclassical thought overwhelmingly ignores such unintended outcomes.
Fourth, there's a certain essentialism here in the form of the conscious
subject.  Lots of people smoke to get satisfaction, but perhaps a deeper
self wants survival.  People do not behave consistently or (what most
observers would consider) rationally.  The notion of rationality above
is an atomistic, instrumental rationality (i.e. considering individual
acts in isolation and solely in terms of means towards an end, without
considering the end itself).  Put this way, this "rationality" is
irrational on the face of it.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3625] Power and Method

[Marshall Feldman]

Hi,

I'm teaching a research methods course this spring, and one of the things
I do early on is to have the class understand the politics of methodology.
I would like to have a reading relating "scientific method" to the
development of 20th century capitalism (e.g. focusing on the rise of
big science, the relationship between positivism and the need to control
through indirect means, etc.).  Can someone suggest something suitable?

Thanks.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

[PEN-L:3624] Re: Prison Labor, Wal-Mart, Class

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 5 Jan 1995 at 18:38:20 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>[PEN-L:3617] Prison Labor, Wal-Mart, Class
>
>Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 14:29:45 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Cotter_Cindy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Highways aren't the only things U.S. prisoners build.  I was told
>the wooden furniture and bannisters at the CSUN library were
>built by prison labor.  I've also seen a classy full page ad in
>Governing Magazine for a southern state that wants to contract
>with anybody to produce practically anything or provide any
>service.  Well, perhaps not security guards
>
>I have mixed feelings.  I wouldn't want to compete for my
>living with someone paid virtually nothing and living at
>state expense.  On the other hand, leaving prisoners to
>molder useless in their cells at taxpayer expense doesn't
>sound like a great plan either.  Reducing the prison population
>would be a great idea, but there will doubtless be some we'd
>most all agree should be locked up.
>
>BTW, the most recent issue of Governing (Jan '95) has a
>cover article titled "The Mega-Store Monster" about the
>political furor aroused in small communities by the
>onslaught of Wal-Mart "and its kin."  (Is this the list where
>there was some discussion of that issue?  Sorry if I'm off
>the mark.)
>
>There's a statement in the article that relates to our
>earlier discussion of class:  "But the fact of the matter
>is, working-class and rural New York and New England
>residents don't spend a great deal of time worrying about
>the 'built environment' or the 'cultural landscape,' to use
>just two of the phrases that preservationists like to
>toss around.  They tend to be more impressed by the
>notion that clothes, towels and dishes will be a few
>dimes cheaper once the mega-store arrives, and that
>there will be a sizable increase in the number of
>part-time jobs available, albeit for low wages and
>spotty benefits."

A statement that seems to be shear fabrication.  Wal-Mart is
having an awful time getting into Vermont and building another
store about 5 miles from here.  Working class New Englanders may
not worry about "the built environment", but they do worry about
their way of life, property values, and the safety of their kids.
"The built environment" is an abstraction (but not a chaotic one), and
few lay people think in these terms.  Nonethelees, it is a real,
intimately related to everyday life, and the object of struggle.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Feed Hungry Kids

[Marshall Feldman]

Subject: FWD>Holiday Giving (fwd)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 15:32:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Marshall Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From garnet.berkeley.edu!walker Wed Dec 14 14:59:05 1994
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 11:50:07 -0800
Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
Sun Min Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
"santana@nature" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: FWD>Holiday Giving

>Date: 14 Dec 1994 09:17:43 -0800
>From: "Ron Choy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: FWD>Holiday Giving
>
>Mail*Link(r) SMTP   FWD>Holiday Giving
>
>Please forward, if you wish.
>
>--
>Date: 12/13/94 6:20 PM
>Subject: Holiday Giving
>
>-- Forwarded message --
>
>Want to do a kind thing for some hungry kids this holiday season?
>If not, press delete now. If you have a heart and a minute, read on.
>
>Sun Microsystems is donating $0.10 to a food bank each time an Internet
>user sends an email msg to any (or all) of the three addresses below:
>
>   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Doesn't matter what the msg contains; it could be an empty msg, full of
>invisible holiday spirit. Pick your favorite and send email there a few
>times. If *everyone* on the net were to BCC all three addresses with every
>msg they posted to a list for one day, the counter would top out almost
>instantly, so this is like a weird and wonderful test of Mass Human Kindness.
>
>You can do your part to help big fat international corporations make
>good on their Promises of donations to charities. It only takes 250,000
>msgs to reach the $25,000 Sun promised to donate to a Bay Area food bank
>for homeless families. Other corporations are donating to selected causes,
>including a banking firm in Washington DC that will donate up to $5,000 to
>the Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage (only 50,000 msgs...li'l baby
>birdies...furry baby rabbits... c'MON now! :)
>
>Other corporations are participating too: any firms wishing to add matching
>funds should contact Luther Brown at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. The
>announcement's in the Dec 94 Advanced Systems magazine (pg 22). Who knows,
>someday you might see companies all across the globe donating part of their
>obscene profits to children's charities in Sarajevo, San Francisco, Manila,
>Mogadishu, Bombay, Moscow, Port-au-Prince, Bucharest, Shanghai, Rio de
>Janeiro... everywhere Santa stops in.
>
>Remember: any user can send multiple msgs, so please be counted at least
>_once_, OK? There are not many such opportunities to directly affect
>something with your computer, and it doesn't take the Compassion of
>Siddhartha to see what's good about putting food in the mouths of little
>children with no home, wherever they are.
>
>Lobo
>
>-
>| Redwood Design Automation | The task of an educator should be to  |
>| Ph: 408-428-5473 (office) | irrigate the desert, not clear the forest |
>| 408-934-9918 (home)   |  __o  |
>| 408-894-2498 (fax)|  

Entry #1049 of LISTS.TCH-ECON

[Marshall Feldman]

Global capitalism under the informational mode of production reaches new
heights!

 Entry #1049 of LISTS.TCH-ECON -

Posted on 9 Dec 1994 at 21:33:42 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)

Good luck (fwd)

Date: Fri, 9 Dec 1994 20:57:24 -0500 (EST)
From: "John A. Sorrentino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]



-- Forwarded message --
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 1994 17:58:42 -0500 (EST)
From: ROBERT SCHOEN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "TSCHIRHART, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Good luck

Hope your meeting goes well with your old friend.  Here's an item hot off the
presses:

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In a joint press conference in St. Peter's Square
this morning, MICROSOFT Corp. and the Vatican announced that the
Redmond software giant will acquire the Roman Catholic Church in
exchange for an unspecified number of shares of MICROSOFT common
stock. If the deal goes through, it will be the first time a computer
software company has acquired a major world religion.

With the acquisition, Pope John Paul II will become the senior
vice-president of the combined company's new Religious Software
Division, while MICROSOFT senior vice-presidents Michael Maples and
Steven Ballmer will be invested in the College of Cardinals, said
MICROSOFT Chairman Bill Gates.

"We expect a lot of growth in the religious market in the next five to
ten years," said Gates. "The combined resources of MICROSOFT and the
Catholic Church will allow us to make religion easier and more fun for
a broader range of people."

Through the MICROSOFT Network, the company's new on-line service, "we
will make the sacraments available on-line for the first time" and
revive the popular pre-Counter-Reformation practice of selling
indulgences, said Gates. "You can get Communion, confess your sins,
receive absolution -- even reduce your time in Purgatory -- all without
leaving your home."

A new software application, MICROSOFT Church, will include a macro
language which you can program to download heavenly graces
automatically while you are away from your computer.

An estimated 17,000 people attended the announcement in St. Peter's
Square, watching on a 60-foot screen as comedian Don Novello -- in
character as Father Guido Sarducci -- hosted the event, which was
broadcast by satellite to 700 sites worldwide.

Pope John Paul II said little during the announcement. When Novella
chided Gates, "Now I guess you get to wear one of these pointy hats,"
the crowd roared, but the pontiff's smile seemed strained.

The deal grants MICROSOFT exclusive electronic rights to the Bible and
the Vatican's prized art collection, which includes works by such
masters as Michelangelo and Da Vinci. But critics say MICROSOFT will
face stiff challenges if it attempts to limit competitors' access to
these key intellectual properties.

"The Jewish people invented the look and feel of the holy scriptures,"
said Rabbi David Gottschalk of Philadelphia. "You take the parting of
the Red Sea -- we had that thousands of years before the Catholics
came on the scene."

But others argue that the Catholic and Jewish faiths both draw on a
common Abrahamic heritage. "The Catholic Church has just been more
successful in marketing it to a larger audience," notes Notre Dame
theologian Father Kenneth Madigan. Over the last 2,000 years, the
Catholic Church's market share has increased dramatically, while
Judaism, which was the first to offer many of the concepts now touted
by Christianity, lags behind.

Historically, the Church has a reputation as an aggressive competitor,
leading crusades to pressure people to upgrade to Catholicism, and
entering into exclusive licensing arrangements in various kingdoms
whereby all subjects were instilled with Catholicism, whether or not
they planned to use it. Today Christianity is available from several
denominations, but the Catholic version is still the most widely used.
The Church's mission is to reach "the four corners of the earth,"
echoing MICROSOFT's vision of "a computer on every desktop and in every
home".

Gates described MICROSOFT's long-term strategy to develop a scaleable
religious architecture that will support all religions through
emulation. A single core religion will be offered with a choice of
interfaces according to the religion desired -- "One religion, a
couple of different implementations," said Gates.

The MICROSOFT move could spark a wave of mergers and acquisitions,
according to Herb Peters, a spokesman for the US Southern Baptist
Conference, as other churches scramble to strengthen their position in
The increasingly competitive religious market.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Entry #1053 of LISTS.TCH-ECON

[Marshall Feldman]

More late breaking news on vertical integration!

 Entry #1053 of LISTS.TCH-ECON -

Posted on 10 Dec 1994 at 19:46:45 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)

Re: Good Luck (fwd)

Date: Sat, 10 Dec 1994 16:38:12 -0800 (PST)
From: "Richard M. Porter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Teaching Economics List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Association of
Environmental and Resource Economists <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

-- Forwarded message --
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 1994 16:02:55 -0800 (PST)
From: Darius Teter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: microsoft news release (fwd)


Vancouver (UP) -- In a surprise move Novell/Borland announced a new
partnership with the Islamic Republic of Iran to counter the Catholic
Office Suite of Microsoft/Vatican in the rapidly growing religious suite
market.  The Quattro Pro/Islam/Word Perfect bundle will offer similar
integrated applications such as Absolution from Guilt (Ab-Solve),
Blessings on Demand (GetBlessed 5.1), and Full Automated Religious Text
Retrieval (FARTeR).  In a joint statement, Novel chairman Herb Swine (who
is expected to change his name to Herb Beef in deference to their new
business partner) and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamanei, predicted that their
new religious suite will significantly increase customers' chances of
getting a place in Paradise, making them competitive with the
Microsoft/Vatican package.  Khamanei noted that although the learning
curve may be steeper for some western customers, the ultimate benefits
where more obvious because there is only one God, instead of the more
cumbersome trinity model offered by their competitors.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: Thought/quote to provoke thought

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 16 Nov 1994 at 15:59:13 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>Thought/quote to provoke thought
>
>Date: Wed, 16 Nov 1994 12:57:18 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "James Michael Craven" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>"...models and theories of 'traditional' economic geography seem to
>fall short. Studying 'economic regions' invites the danger of
>confusing appearance with explanation and, at best, tends to abstract
>regions from their context. The traditional approach to economic
>regions has been undermined by events as the very constitution of
>'urban' and 'regional' scales have been radically redefined through
>advances in telecommunications and the speed and volatility of
>economic restructuring. On the other hand, traditional approaches to
>systematic economic geography (locational analysis etc.) have become
>less convincing. This is because they rest so heavily on the
>assumptions of neo-classical economics (and in particular the
>assumption of rational behaviour on the part of firms and
>individuals) whereas in reality the influence of monopolistic and
>oligopolistic elements and the powers of national and regional
>governments have become significant factors in shaping economic
>landscapes. Moreover, the normative approaches of neo-classical
>economic models tend to make for an unfortunate bias towards the
>general and away from the variability that characterizes the 'real
>world' (Krugman 1991).
>
>...Political economy can properly claim to deal with economic and
>social realtions rather than hypothetical actors [e.g. "homo
>economicus"], with the spheres of production and consumption as well
>as the area of exchange, with tensions, conflict and crisis rather
>than equilibrium, and with an historical dimension rather than
>without one. The task, as Johnston (1984) has pointed out, is to
>develop an understanding both of the general economic forces and
>socioeconomic relationships within the world economy 'and' of the
>unique features that represent local and historical variability."
>
>From: "The Geography of the World Economy 2nd ed." by Paul Knox and
>John Agnew, Edward Arnold Publ. N.Y. 1994 p.4
>
>
>
>It seems that the "neoclassical paradigm"--the HIV virus of economics-
>--has spread and is spreading to other disciplines as well.

I'm not sure why you say that Jim.  The two quotes above seem to imply
the virus is dead (or at least in remission).  The fact that the leading
textbooks in economic geography are non-neoclassical should warm the
cockels of all good pen-l'ers hearts.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: Greenfield strategies

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 14 Nov 1994 at 15:25:44 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>Greenfield strategies
>
>Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 12:23:59 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Can someone guide me to references on the "Greenfield" practice
>of a company threatening to transfer production to an existing
>plant in an
>area with low union rates and/or high unemployment?
>Thanks to all respondents!
>
>Jesse Vorst*** The Revolution Knows No Time Zones! ***
>University College, University of Manitoba
>Winnipeg R3T 2M8 CANADA
>w: 204-474-9119
>h: 204-269-1365
>f: 204-261-0021
>time: central time (GMT-UTC -6 winter, -5 summer)
>e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Greenfield practices are only one of several ways of using space as an
instrument of class struggle.  Alternately, some greenfield practices are
not directly related to class conflict (e.g., moving somewhere because
it's cheaper to build new than rebuild).

Bluestone and Harrison's _Deindustrialization of America_ is old but still
a very good discussion of such practices.  Paul Knox's textbooks,
_Urbanization_ (Prentice Hall 1994) and _The Geography of the World Economy_
(with John Agnew, Edward Arnold 1994) are excellent entries into the
literature.  Also see Doreen Massey's _Spatial Divisions of Labor_
and Allen Scott's _Metropolis: From Division of Labor to Urban Form_
and his _New Industrial Spaces_.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: Atlas published

[Marshall Feldman]

>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Apologies for both the vulgar self-promotion and possible duplicate
>postings! Please feel free to repost, redistribute, tack on telephone
>polls, shout from rooftops, etc.
>
>JUST PUBLISHED!
>
>THE STATE OF THE USA ATLAS
>  The Changing Face of American Life in Maps & Graphics
>by Doug Henwood, 127 pages
>
>US and Canada: Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, ISBN 0-671-79695-X
>elsewhere: Penguin, ISBN 0-14-024302-X

No need to apologize Doug, this looks very interesting.  You did leave
off the price, however.  How much does S&S hit us up for with this?

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: 'Nobel' prizes in Econ.

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 12 Oct 1994 at 12:02:54 by TELEC List Distributor (011802)
>
>Re: "Nobel" prizes in Econ.
>
>Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 08:45:28 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Is there any room in game theory for power  - political, market, or
>class? Or is it just a game among equals and individuals?
>
>Doug
>
>Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Left Business Observer
>212-874-4020 (voice)
>212-874-3137 (fax)

Doug,

It's been 25 years since I took game theory.  Since I took it in an
OR program rather than in an economics program, our math was probably a
bit more complex and our social theory a bit more simplistic but less
naive.  One thing I recall game theory being good for is thinking about
different notions of power -- mostly Weberian (i.e. interpersonal) notions,
mind you, but power nonetheless.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: Broken vows & Coase

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 12 Sep 1994 at 11:15:13 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>Broken vows & Coase
>
>Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 08:14:01 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Well the vote was 10-0 for me to unzip my lips. I'll celebrate the
>occasion by asking a question instead of issuing a pronunciamento.
>
>Actually I think I asked this question some time ago, but don't recall
>getting much in the way of answers. Do PEN-Lers have, or know of, any
>critiques of Coase's theorem of why firms exist? Relatedly, are there any
>Marxian theories of the firm?

Well, in Coasian terms I don't know of any.  I.e. is there a Marxian theory
of why a rational capitalist would not have either one big firm or a completely
disintegrated one.  But if we leave rational decision making aside, I think
Marx's work on the concentration and centralization of capital (it's been a
while since I read Das Kap, but I think old greybeard had a fair amount of
stuff directly related to why new firms form too) is germaine here.
Also Marglin's What do bosses do? seems apropos.

>
>Doug
>
>Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Left Business Observer
>212-874-4020 (voice)
>212-874-3137 (fax)
>

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: underconsumption

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 5 Sep 1994 at 01:43:31 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>underconsumption
>
>Date: Sun, 4 Sep 1994 22:42:31 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (donna jones)
>

Donna Jones wrote a very informative posting giving a critique of
underconsumption theory.  In the hope of eliciting further comment,
I have a few comments of my own:

1) She points out that underconsumption crises can be self-correcting
   because capital moves out of sectors for which there is too little
   consumer demand, thereby reducing supply.  This sounds like a good
   explanation of the business cycle.  Since capital movements occur
   over time and space, these movements are very important to understanding
   capitalism, even if they are self-correcting mechanisms for an
   instantaneous capitalism on the head of a pin.


2) The alternative crisis theory she alludes to is that of a rising organic
   composition.  This too can be overcome (e.g. through uneven
   technological change that affects the value composition of capital).
   Moreover, certain patterns of change can lead to a decreasing organic
   composition and rising profit rates.  So why is this source of crisis
   necessarily more profound than underconsumption?

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Re: URPE = UPE?

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 31 Aug 1994 at 17:32:31 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>Re: URPE = UPE?
>
>Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 14:31:31 -0700
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: "Chris Barrett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>I do think some of the recent postings on the URPE name change issue
>are missing the serious point and attending instead to more trivial
>matters, such as what difference the name makes on resumes. The real issue
>concerns the audience accessible to those of us who believe there is
>a better [feasible] way.  Do we advocate via a boldly named forum
>like that we have now, with the consequence that many reasonable
>folks who might be open to our approaches and proposals self-select
>out, leaving us to talk  basically among ourselves?  Or do we water
>down the public image, infiltrating the mainstream, if you will,
>[rather like Cockburn on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal]
>but risk losing our identity and any coherence in our message in the
>process?
.. stuff deleted ..
>Chris Barrett

I think Chris' point is right on the money.  I sometimes cringe when I assign
RRPE articles to my class because I strongly suspect some students dismiss or
pigeonhole the article ahead of time because it comes from a "radical"
journal.  In part this stems from a strong subjectivist, pomo position
advocated by one of my colleagues, so that many of our students come
to think everything is relative and simply a matter of opinion.  Since RRPE
articles label the opinion for them, the students don't have to evaluate
the article for themselves.  Other journals, e.g. the Cambridge Journal of
Economics or even the Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics don't have this
problem (most of our students don't know the difference between a Post-
Keynesian and a Post-Office, so even though they recognize the latter journal
as having a particular slant, they have no idea what that slant is).
So a more innocuous title might make the journal more useful, although
I honestly don't know what else I would call it.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

An urban/regional course

[Marshall Feldman]

I may have posted this before, but because PEN-L hasn't been working too
well over the past month or two (at least here it hasn't), I may have
not have sent it to PEN-L or I may have missed some replies.


Since making the original posting, I have gotten feedback that a good strategy
is having students study local problems.  This seems a good idea, but how
does one have them integrate all the subject matter? For example, a very
rich local issue is a new mega-mall being constructed as a public-private
partnership in Providence.  This could bring in all sorts of topics:
central place theory, the theory of the state, gender, land values,
post-fordism, etc.  How does one split up the class to work on these
different aspects simultaneously while covering them sequentially in class
meetings?

Here's the original posting:


Hi,

I teach a course, "Spatial and Fiscal Relationships of Communities" to
second-years graduate students in a two-year community planning program.
The students have no required prior background in economics or geography.
I treat the course as a basic "urban theory" course, covering the
"classic" material in the field (e.g., central place theory, Weberian
location theory, the Chicago School's concentric zone theory, etc.) as
well as more recent stuff on globalization, flexible specialization,
economic restructuring, etc.  The texts I've used in the past are
Dicken and Lloyd's _Location in Space_ and Mike Davis' _City of Quartz_.

I am a bit dissatisfied with the way the course has gone the past few years.
There is an enormous amount of material to cover, and it is hard for students
to engage the material in a way they find interesting.  Davis' book, for
example, is often read as a dead history of Los Angeles rather than
an account with general lessons about the new global economy and its effects.

Does anyone out there teach a course like this or
have other thoughts on making the course more manageable and interesting to
students?

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

"Marginality confers legitimacy on one's contrariness."

Urban and Regional Course

[Marshall Feldman]

Hi,

I'm starting to think about the fall :^( and redesigning my course on
urban and regional theory.  It's an introductory course for graduate
students in community planning who have no economics or social science
prerequisites.  The course is called "Spatial and Fiscal Relationships
of Communities" and I generally teach it as a course in urban theory,
covering such "classic" things as Christaller's central place theory,
the Chicago School's concentric zone theory, etc. and more recent and
radical stuff like flex-spec, and the like.  Generally, I've used
Dicken and Lloyd's _Location in Space_ combined with Mike Davis' _City
of Quartz_ the past few years.  I'm a bit dissatisfied with the course
covering too much and covering things in too little depth.  Does anyone
out there teach a similar course and/or have suggestions?

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Objectivity in Textbooks

[Marshall Feldman]

The following quote is from Earl Babbie (1992), _The Practice of Social
Research_, 6th ed. (Wadsworth), p. 261:

A little-known survey was attempted among French workers in 1880.  A
German political sociologist mailed some 25,000 questionnaires to workers
to determine the extent of their exploitation by employers.  The rather
lengthy questionnaire included items such as these:

   Does your employer or his representative resort to trickery in order
   to defraud you of a part of your earnings?

   If you are paid piece rates, is the quality of the article made a
   pretext for fraudulent deductions from your wages?

The survey researcher in this case was not George Gallup but Karl Marx
(1880: 208).  Though 25,000 questionnaires were mailed out, there is no
record of any being returned.
-End of Quote


Does anyone have information about the survey (were any of the instruments
returned?).  What do people think of the gratuitous swipe at the end of
Babbie's mention of the survey?  It might be instructive to have students
rewrite Marx's questions to be less "biased" and to discuss Babbie's
presentation as a more subtle, sophisticated form of bias.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: Zoning the Workspace

[Marshall Feldman]

Sam Lanfranco write:

.. [lots of good stuff deleted]

>What we need is an ability to flexibly configure, reconfigure, archive and
>close down multiple virtual workspaces "in the same neighbourhood". The
>CSU site has become our community storage locker of sorts, but we still only
>have one meeting room. We need the capacity to set up sub-groups "on the fly"
>and we need to persuade ourselves to become "rapportours" to report back what
>happened in our block. This means we are going to have to figure out how to
>command more of the abundant resource (listservs, gopher sites, etc.) and how
>to 'ZONE" them for appropriate use. By zoning I don't mean passing virtual
>laws saying what is done where, I mean setting polite rules of conduct which
>govern what consenting adults can do where on "our" part of the internet.

.. [lots more good stuff deleted]


Sort of sounds like "gopher" or the Unix Usenet news, both of which have a
hierarchical structure.  If we're stuck with internet/bitnet mailing lists,
one possiblility would be more heavy moderation: with summaries of postings
and subject classification.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

No Subject

[Marshall Feldman]

Can anyone give me the full citation to Bertell Ollman's "Is there a
Marxian Ethic?"  Thanks.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

No Subject

[Marshall Feldman]

Can anyone give me the full citation to Bertell Ollman's "Is there a
Marxian Ethic?"  Thanks.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: Who holds S&L Mortgages?

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 16 Mar 1994 at 01:00:17 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>Who holds S&L Mortgages?
>
>Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 21:58:16 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Here's a question about S&L Balance Sheets:
>
>I was lecturing the other night to my adult-ed class at Baruch and
>was trying to talk about "disintermediation" and how all the nice
>homely local S&L's got stuck with 5% mortgages when interest rates
>skyed to 16% in the early 1980's.  Now one of my student's insisted
>that in today's "financially innovative" environment S&L's would
>never get burned again because they can get rid of the
>inherent interest rate risk of home mortgages through "swap" and other
>hedging strategies.  I responded that though they can diversify some
>of the risk, the asset base of the local S&L is still comprised mainly
>of home mortg's.  Moreover, New York State banking laws restrict how
>active an S&L can manage their loan portfolio - otherwise they
>would all become arbitrageurs and leave their nice safe offices out
>in Queens and get a plush corner office on Wall street.
>
>So, who out there in Pen-L land can help me with a useful response to
>this nice student (yes, he is visting from mainland China, and yes
>we had an interesting discussion about planning) before next Monday's
>class?
>
>Thanks
>Jason Hecht
>
>
>--
>Jason Hecht
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>48 West 68th Street, Apt. 3A
>New York, New York  10023-6015

Well, I'm not sure what the student means by "swap", etc., but here goes.

Many housing lenders sell mortgages on secondary markets and only collect
fees for servicing the loans.  This, however, is one-sided.  S&L deposits
are liquid, and depositers can withdraw their funds on short notice.
Thus, if the rate paid on deposits fall below market rates, deposits are
withdrawn and new deposits are not made.

So, why can't the S&L simply invest in a portfolio with a higher rate of
return?  Under old regulations, the simple answer was the bank is not
allowed to.  With deregulation, S&L's have more freedom, but someone,
somewhere must be holding the original low-interest mortgages.  Since
the latter are typically 30-year, fixed rate, they reflect an interest
rate gap between market rates and their own rates.  To the extent that
a bank holds such paper in its portfolio, it can either sell below-market-rate
paper at a deep discount or continue to hold the paper.  Either way,
the S&L's role of lending long and depositing short creates a precondition
for disintermediation.

The key point is not the S&L's increase liquidity under deregulation, but
rather its RELATIVE liquidity compared to other financial institutions.
With rapid inflation, it's like a game of musical chairs, with the institutions
having the lowest relative liquidity left holding the low-interest notes.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: Who holds S&L Mortgages?

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 16 Mar 1994 at 01:00:17 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>Who holds S&L Mortgages?
>
>Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 21:58:16 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Here's a question about S&L Balance Sheets:
>
>I was lecturing the other night to my adult-ed class at Baruch and
>was trying to talk about "disintermediation" and how all the nice
>homely local S&L's got stuck with 5% mortgages when interest rates
>skyed to 16% in the early 1980's.  Now one of my student's insisted
>that in today's "financially innovative" environment S&L's would
>never get burned again because they can get rid of the
>inherent interest rate risk of home mortgages through "swap" and other
>hedging strategies.  I responded that though they can diversify some
>of the risk, the asset base of the local S&L is still comprised mainly
>of home mortg's.  Moreover, New York State banking laws restrict how
>active an S&L can manage their loan portfolio - otherwise they
>would all become arbitrageurs and leave their nice safe offices out
>in Queens and get a plush corner office on Wall street.
>
>So, who out there in Pen-L land can help me with a useful response to
>this nice student (yes, he is visting from mainland China, and yes
>we had an interesting discussion about planning) before next Monday's
>class?
>
>Thanks
>Jason Hecht
>
>
>--
>Jason Hecht
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>48 West 68th Street, Apt. 3A
>New York, New York  10023-6015

Well, I'm not sure what the student means by "swap", etc., but here goes.

Many housing lenders sell mortgages on secondary markets and only collect
fees for servicing the loans.  This, however, is one-sided.  S&L deposits
are liquid, and depositers can withdraw their funds on short notice.
Thus, if the rate paid on deposits fall below market rates, deposits are
withdrawn and new deposits are not made.

So, why can't the S&L simply invest in a portfolio with a higher rate of
return?  Under old regulations, the simple answer was the bank is not
allowed to.  With deregulation, S&L's have more freedom, but someone,
somewhere must be holding the original low-interest mortgages.  Since
the latter are typically 30-year, fixed rate, they reflect an interest
rate gap between market rates and their own rates.  To the extent that
a bank holds such paper in its portfolio, it can either sell below-market-rate
paper at a deep discount or continue to hold the paper.  Either way,
the S&L's role of lending long and depositing short creates a precondition
for disintermediation.

The key point is not the S&L's increase liquidity under deregulation, but
rather its RELATIVE liquidity compared to other financial institutions.
With rapid inflation, it's like a game of musical chairs, with the institutions
having the lowest relative liquidity left holding the low-interest notes.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: New system

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 14 Mar 1994 at 10:59:09 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>New system
>
>Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 07:57:23 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>It's confusing not to have PEN-L listed as the source of a message; the
>new software makes everything look like pseudo-personalized direct mail.
>And, at least on this system (PINE 3.05, on a Sun UNIX), you can't reply
>to PEN-L; a reply goes to the author.
>
>Can this be fixed? Or is this the price of progress?
>
>Doug
>
>Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Left Business Observer
>212-874-4020 (voice)
>212-874-3137 (fax)
>
>

Some of us have mail systems that distinguish between the mailing list,
the mail's author, and other conceptually distinct entities involved
in the posting's origins.  In such systems, knowing the mail comes
from a particular individual IN ADDITION to knowing it is forwarded by
a particular list is very useful.  Whatever solution is found for
Doug's problem ought not take away the additional functionality enjoyed
by those of us with more capable mail processing software.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: New system

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 14 Mar 1994 at 10:59:09 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>New system
>
>Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 07:57:23 -0800
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>It's confusing not to have PEN-L listed as the source of a message; the
>new software makes everything look like pseudo-personalized direct mail.
>And, at least on this system (PINE 3.05, on a Sun UNIX), you can't reply
>to PEN-L; a reply goes to the author.
>
>Can this be fixed? Or is this the price of progress?
>
>Doug
>
>Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Left Business Observer
>212-874-4020 (voice)
>212-874-3137 (fax)
>
>

Some of us have mail systems that distinguish between the mailing list,
the mail's author, and other conceptually distinct entities involved
in the posting's origins.  In such systems, knowing the mail comes
from a particular individual IN ADDITION to knowing it is forwarded by
a particular list is very useful.  Whatever solution is found for
Doug's problem ought not take away the additional functionality enjoyed
by those of us with more capable mail processing software.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Liberalism

[Marshall Feldman]

I am a teaching fellow this year, and for our meeting next week we are
reading an article by Clark Kerr, "Knowledge Ethics and the New Academic
Culture" (_Change_ Jan/Feb, 1994: 9-15).  I remember Clark as Chancellor
at UC Berkeley and one of the guys we demonized in the sixties.

Well Clark's still at it.  On p. 13 he says:

  There are those who totally reject scholarship as being at the center of the
  academic enterprise.  A Harvard professor, for example, has written that
  the "primary function of Marxists in the university" is to "take part
  in what is, in fact, a class struggle"; and thus our "chief task must
  be to disrupt production"

The quotations are from Richard Lewontin, "Marxists and the University",
_New Political Science_ Vol. 1, Nos. 2-3, Fall-Winter 1979-80: 256-30.

I suspect old Clark takes this quotation out of context, perhaps one that
sees the university as the site of ideological struggle between progressive
and reactionary scholarship.  Unfortunately, our library does not have
the article so I can't look it up.  Can someone out there help me out?

BTW, Clark is curiously silent on universities that have business schools,
law schools, job placement offices, departments of government, etc.
I guess these are not forms of class struggle for scholars like Clark.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Liberalism

[Marshall Feldman]

I am a teaching fellow this year, and for our meeting next week we are
reading an article by Clark Kerr, "Knowledge Ethics and the New Academic
Culture" (_Change_ Jan/Feb, 1994: 9-15).  I remember Clark as Chancellor
at UC Berkeley and one of the guys we demonized in the sixties.

Well Clark's still at it.  On p. 13 he says:

  There are those who totally reject scholarship as being at the center of the
  academic enterprise.  A Harvard professor, for example, has written that
  the "primary function of Marxists in the university" is to "take part
  in what is, in fact, a class struggle"; and thus our "chief task must
  be to disrupt production"

The quotations are from Richard Lewontin, "Marxists and the University",
_New Political Science_ Vol. 1, Nos. 2-3, Fall-Winter 1979-80: 256-30.

I suspect old Clark takes this quotation out of context, perhaps one that
sees the university as the site of ideological struggle between progressive
and reactionary scholarship.  Unfortunately, our library does not have
the article so I can't look it up.  Can someone out there help me out?

BTW, Clark is curiously silent on universities that have business schools,
law schools, job placement offices, departments of government, etc.
I guess these are not forms of class struggle for scholars like Clark.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

References

[Marshall Feldman]

By popular demand, here are the two references I mentioned eariler this
week:

Eric Sheppard & Trevor J. Barnes. 1990. _The Capitalist Space Economy:
  Geographical Analysis after Ricardo, Marx, and Sraffa_. London: Unwin
  Hyman.

Sayer, Andrew. 1992. _Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach_. London:
  Routledge.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

References

[Marshall Feldman]

By popular demand, here are the two references I mentioned eariler this
week:

Eric Sheppard & Trevor J. Barnes. 1990. _The Capitalist Space Economy:
  Geographical Analysis after Ricardo, Marx, and Sraffa_. London: Unwin
  Hyman.

Sayer, Andrew. 1992. _Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach_. London:
  Routledge.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: space (i.e., where we actual stand

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 3 Mar 1994 at 02:21:43 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>space (i.e., where we actual stand)
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: 02 Mar 1994 22:30:28 -0800 (PST)
>
>I am not about to jump into Gil and Ajit's debates on GE and Sraffa.  Not
>my cup of tea.  But something Jim Devine said, along with the fact that I
>am teaching Urban this quarter, brought up on of my ongoing peeves.
>
>On march 2, Jim Devine said:
>> (Of course, time is another problem for
>>Walrasians: they can't deal with historical (i.e., real-world)
>>time, but only logical time.)
>
>At least as important as real time is real space, i.e., the real lacation
>of real economic activity. Neoclassical theory implicitly assumes that all
>activity, production, distribution, the auctioneer, exist at a single point in
>space.   I believe that *every* econ grad. student should be required to
>take a course in Urban, that includes location theory.  The addition of real
>space to the standard neoclassical model guarantees that perfect competition
>is *logically* impossible.  The best the neoclassicals can hope for is
>imperfect competition.  Bottom line, no firms are efficient in the standard
>sense, and no firm produces the optimal amount of output.  One had better
>like the second best, because the "best" is impossible.
>
>Doug Orr
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>

Two books I'd recommend on this issue, at somewhat different extremes
of the theoretical spectrum, are:

Sheppard & Barnes, The Capitalist Space Economy.  -- A post-Sraffa
   affair, with reswitching in space, etc.

Sayer, Andres, Method in Social Science, A Realist Approach -- Mostly
   philosophy of science, but it has good discussion of the conditions
   under which social science can safely ignore space.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: space (i.e., where we actual stand

[Marshall Feldman]

>Posted on 3 Mar 1994 at 02:21:43 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
>
>space (i.e., where we actual stand)
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: 02 Mar 1994 22:30:28 -0800 (PST)
>
>I am not about to jump into Gil and Ajit's debates on GE and Sraffa.  Not
>my cup of tea.  But something Jim Devine said, along with the fact that I
>am teaching Urban this quarter, brought up on of my ongoing peeves.
>
>On march 2, Jim Devine said:
>> (Of course, time is another problem for
>>Walrasians: they can't deal with historical (i.e., real-world)
>>time, but only logical time.)
>
>At least as important as real time is real space, i.e., the real lacation
>of real economic activity. Neoclassical theory implicitly assumes that all
>activity, production, distribution, the auctioneer, exist at a single point in
>space.   I believe that *every* econ grad. student should be required to
>take a course in Urban, that includes location theory.  The addition of real
>space to the standard neoclassical model guarantees that perfect competition
>is *logically* impossible.  The best the neoclassicals can hope for is
>imperfect competition.  Bottom line, no firms are efficient in the standard
>sense, and no firm produces the optimal amount of output.  One had better
>like the second best, because the "best" is impossible.
>
>Doug Orr
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>

Two books I'd recommend on this issue, at somewhat different extremes
of the theoretical spectrum, are:

Sheppard & Barnes, The Capitalist Space Economy.  -- A post-Sraffa
   affair, with reswitching in space, etc.

Sayer, Andres, Method in Social Science, A Realist Approach -- Mostly
   philosophy of science, but it has good discussion of the conditions
   under which social science can safely ignore space.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

Re: Nicholas Lemann on "The Myth of Community Development"

[Marshall Feldman]

On Thu, 27 Jan 1994 22:23:46 CST Anthony M. Orum (312)-996-3015 said:
>Dear Alex Hartley: I hope I am not pressing this issue too far, and in a
>sense I am testing the dialogic limits of H-Urban, but I am curious why
>you regard these programs as fruitless.  What is it about the core city
>in America today that resists change and renovation?  Is it the physical
>structures, alone, or do they rather represent the permanence of
>inequality in America?  Do you believe that all Americans will continue
>to forsake the city for the suburb; and if so, who, indeed, will or
>should care for those left behind in the central city?  Assuming the
>federal government is inept, or unable, to do so, is there any party to
>whom to turn -- or do you agree with Eric Mumford, that the problems
>lies, not in the stars, but in our values?

Unless our so-called "values" fall from the sky, there may be some underlying
practices that give rise to these "values."  So, even if Eric is right, there
may be hope yet if we can only identify the practices and change them.

Marsh Feldman
Community Planning  Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall   FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island   Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815

[For a copy of the complete conversation, including Eric Mumford's
comments, send a note to Listserv@uicvm or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with the message:

  GET LEMANN COMMDEVT

 -- Wendy Plotkin, H-Urban Co-Moderator]

Research Methods Summary (VERY LONG

[Marshall Feldman]

This is a summary of replies to a posting asking for input for a course
on "research methods."  It is organized around the topics in the original
posting.

 1 Introduction
  1.1 General Comments
 2 Textbooks on Social Science Research Methods
  2.1 List of Suggested Texts
  2.2. Comments on Suggested Texts
 3 Supplemental Reading
  3.1 List of Suggested Readings
  3.2 Comments on Suggested Readings
3.2.1 Data Analysis
3.2.2 Research Methods
  3.3 Anti-positivist Supplemental Readings
3.3.1 Suggested Anti-positivist Supplemental Readings
3.3.2 Comments on Suggested Anti-Positivist Readings
 4 Guides or Aids for Writing Theses and Thesis Proposals
  4.1 Suggestions
 5 Jump Starting a Thesis
  5.1 Suggestions
 6 Data Analysis: (SAS) Texts and Data
  6.1 Appropriate Statistical Software
6.1.1 SAS: Pro and Con
6.2.2 Alternatives to SAS
  6.2 Suggested Texts
6.2.1 Comments on Suggested Texts
  6.3 Data
  6.4 Should We Teach Data Analysis This Way?
6.4.1 Is Statistics Dangerous
6.4.2 Topics to Cover
 7 Topics and Issues in Social Science Research Methods Course
 8 My Plan for the Course
  8.1 The Data Analysis Lab
  8.2 Class Sessions
  8.3 Individual Work
 9 Conclusion

Since the summary is quite long, each section starts at the left
margin and is underlined with dashes to facilitate searches to topic
headings.  I have added my own comments and given credit where appropriate.
Text from my original posting is preceded by ">" and quotations from other
people are preceded by one or more vertical bars ("|").  I deliberately
reproduce the original questions from my original posting at the start of
each section so that people interested in a specific topic can go directly
there and see what the issue is.

I want to thank everyone who commented, I found your comments both useful
and fascinating.


1 Introduction


Here is my original posting:

>Hi,
>
>Pardon my posting of this to several lists.  I am casting my net widely
>in the hope of catching several fish.
>
>In the spring I will be teaching a research methods course to first
>year graduate students in a two-year community (urban) planning program
>leading to a professional masters degree (MCP).  The course has three main
>objectives: 1) having the students write an initial draft of their thesis
>proposals, 2) introducing them to social science research methods, and 3)
>learning sufficient computer data analysis skills to do data analysis for their
>theses.  There are several things I would like your input on.
>
>Textbooks on Social Science Research Methods
>
>
>I plan to use _Doing Urban Research_ by Gregory Andranovich and Gerry
>Riposa (Sage, 1993).  This book has several virtues.  It is short (98 p.
>of text), has class exercises, considers diverse theoretical orientations
>and considers non-positivist urban research (e.g., Mike Davis, Mark
>Gottdiener, etc.) to be today's mainstream, covers key issues (spatial
>levels of analysis, the unity of theory/basic/applied research, research
>design, data collection, qualitative research, and reporting research).
>Obviously, the coverage in such a short book is cursory.
>
>Still, I have some misgivings about the book.  It presents "the scientific
>method" as the standard Popperian account of deduction, hypothesis, etc.
>It emphasizes causality, and its notion of causality goes little beyond
>that of Hume and JS Mill.  Its abbreviated form and common-sense writing
>style may gloss over very complex issues while giving too brief treatment
>for students to master the material adequately.  Its treatment of epistemology
>and the philosophy of science is almost nil: I would like much more
>explicit discussion of the various epistemological "isms" (positivism, realism,
>subjectivism, rationalism, postmodernism, feminism, etc.).  The political
>implications of epistemological positions are never discussed.  Etc.
>Can anyone suggest another social science research methods text to use either
>instead or as a substitute?
>
>Supplemental Reading
>
>Partly to deal with these shortcomings, I want to use a "jigsaw" approach
>in class sections.  This teaching technique uses 3-4 supplemental readings
>per course period.  Students must read at least one of the readings, and
>in class they break up into groups in which the students collectively have
>read every reading.  They then share what they read with the other students
>in the group, and the group works together to answer a question or do a task.
>Then the groups report to the class, and class discussion focuses on the
>topic of the day.
>
>Different topics I'd like to treat this way include: the relation between
>theory, knowledge, and practice; causality; conceptions of science and
>human knowledge; the uses of research; the relation between theory and method;
>levels of analysis; defining research goals and objectives; literature
>reviews; research design; data co

Research Methods Summary (VERY LONG

[Marshall Feldman]

This is a summary of replies to a posting asking for input for a course
on "research methods."  It is organized around the topics in the original
posting.

 1 Introduction
  1.1 General Comments
 2 Textbooks on Social Science Research Methods
  2.1 List of Suggested Texts
  2.2. Comments on Suggested Texts
 3 Supplemental Reading
  3.1 List of Suggested Readings
  3.2 Comments on Suggested Readings
3.2.1 Data Analysis
3.2.2 Research Methods
  3.3 Anti-positivist Supplemental Readings
3.3.1 Suggested Anti-positivist Supplemental Readings
3.3.2 Comments on Suggested Anti-Positivist Readings
 4 Guides or Aids for Writing Theses and Thesis Proposals
  4.1 Suggestions
 5 Jump Starting a Thesis
  5.1 Suggestions
 6 Data Analysis: (SAS) Texts and Data
  6.1 Appropriate Statistical Software
6.1.1 SAS: Pro and Con
6.2.2 Alternatives to SAS
  6.2 Suggested Texts
6.2.1 Comments on Suggested Texts
  6.3 Data
  6.4 Should We Teach Data Analysis This Way?
6.4.1 Is Statistics Dangerous
6.4.2 Topics to Cover
 7 Topics and Issues in Social Science Research Methods Course
 8 My Plan for the Course
  8.1 The Data Analysis Lab
  8.2 Class Sessions
  8.3 Individual Work
 9 Conclusion

Since the summary is quite long, each section starts at the left
margin and is underlined with dashes to facilitate searches to topic
headings.  I have added my own comments and given credit where appropriate.
Text from my original posting is preceded by ">" and quotations from other
people are preceded by one or more vertical bars ("|").  I deliberately
reproduce the original questions from my original posting at the start of
each section so that people interested in a specific topic can go directly
there and see what the issue is.

I want to thank everyone who commented, I found your comments both useful
and fascinating.


1 Introduction


Here is my original posting:

>Hi,
>
>Pardon my posting of this to several lists.  I am casting my net widely
>in the hope of catching several fish.
>
>In the spring I will be teaching a research methods course to first
>year graduate students in a two-year community (urban) planning program
>leading to a professional masters degree (MCP).  The course has three main
>objectives: 1) having the students write an initial draft of their thesis
>proposals, 2) introducing them to social science research methods, and 3)
>learning sufficient computer data analysis skills to do data analysis for their
>theses.  There are several things I would like your input on.
>
>Textbooks on Social Science Research Methods
>
>
>I plan to use _Doing Urban Research_ by Gregory Andranovich and Gerry
>Riposa (Sage, 1993).  This book has several virtues.  It is short (98 p.
>of text), has class exercises, considers diverse theoretical orientations
>and considers non-positivist urban research (e.g., Mike Davis, Mark
>Gottdiener, etc.) to be today's mainstream, covers key issues (spatial
>levels of analysis, the unity of theory/basic/applied research, research
>design, data collection, qualitative research, and reporting research).
>Obviously, the coverage in such a short book is cursory.
>
>Still, I have some misgivings about the book.  It presents "the scientific
>method" as the standard Popperian account of deduction, hypothesis, etc.
>It emphasizes causality, and its notion of causality goes little beyond
>that of Hume and JS Mill.  Its abbreviated form and common-sense writing
>style may gloss over very complex issues while giving too brief treatment
>for students to master the material adequately.  Its treatment of epistemology
>and the philosophy of science is almost nil: I would like much more
>explicit discussion of the various epistemological "isms" (positivism, realism,
>subjectivism, rationalism, postmodernism, feminism, etc.).  The political
>implications of epistemological positions are never discussed.  Etc.
>Can anyone suggest another social science research methods text to use either
>instead or as a substitute?
>
>Supplemental Reading
>
>Partly to deal with these shortcomings, I want to use a "jigsaw" approach
>in class sections.  This teaching technique uses 3-4 supplemental readings
>per course period.  Students must read at least one of the readings, and
>in class they break up into groups in which the students collectively have
>read every reading.  They then share what they read with the other students
>in the group, and the group works together to answer a question or do a task.
>Then the groups report to the class, and class discussion focuses on the
>topic of the day.
>
>Different topics I'd like to treat this way include: the relation between
>theory, knowledge, and practice; causality; conceptions of science and
>human knowledge; the uses of research; the relation between theory and method;
>levels of analysis; defining research goals and objectives; literature
>reviews; research design; data co