James C. Hite

Fiscal Stress in Rural America: Some Straws in the Wind

pairing the ability of households to maintain their customary standards of living-generally reflects reductions (or slow growth) in jobs or income. Economic stress is often highly localized. Localities with highly specialized economic bases are vulnerable to market disturbances that affect only a few industries but reduce jobs and income in particular communities. Prolonged economic stress will lead to localized fiscal stress. Fiscal stress is unexpected declines in tax revenues, and (or) unplanned increases in expenditure demands that the tax base cannot support. Fiscal stress may lag behind economic stress because the time profiles of tht. economic base and the tax base may differ. Lags in property tax assessment may mean that temporary declines in real estate values are not registered on the tax base. During periods of economic stress, individual taxpayers may have difficulty paying taxes, but there may be little immediate tax revenue impact. Localized economic stress may sometimes have little impact on the fiscal condition of local governments because of the role played by the state. Generous state aid to political subdivisions or a larger state share of responsibility for public services may prevent local fiscal stress from following local economic stress.

Rural Development, Privatization and Public Choice: Substance Depends upon Process

Whether or not privatization facilitates rural development depends upon what rural development means. In practice, rural development often is the result of a struggle between rent defenders and rent seekers. A positivist concept of rural development is proposed, and the institutions of public choice are examined to determine how they might influence privatization decisions. The conclusion is that whether or not privatization improves efficiency of adjustment in rural economies depends upon the specifics of political deals required to achieve a particular act of privatization.

Competition and lodging room rates

Abstract Though an important component of commerce and tourism, the accommodation industry has received little economic analysis, particularly in terms of predictive modeling. This paper develops an empirical model of pricing in the lodging industry based on traditional microeconomic price theory. Additionally, three questions are addressed: Do establishments with low occupancy rates tend to raise price to increase revenues, or lower price to increase business? Which approach should they choose? How much competition exists in the industry?

Implications for Land Grant Universities of the Changing Political Economy of Agricultural and Rural America: Discussion

Despite the fact that the tones of the two papers are quite different, Jerry Skees and George McDowell have succeeded in massaging most of my biases regarding our problems in the land grant university system. I agree with the thrusts of both papers in so far as they go. There has been a failure of leadership within the research and extension hierarchy, but there has also been a failure of agricultural economists to diagnose and act upon changes in the social environment within which many of us practice our profession.

THE USE OF CENTRAL PLACE THEORY AND GRAVITY-FLOW ANALYSIS TO DELINEATE ECONOMIC AREAS

A growing awareness of the need for a comprehensive approach to regional and local planning for studying urban and rural areas as parts of an interrelated socio-economic system has stimulated interest in the problem of delineating economic regions, areas, and sub-areas. The Office of Business Economics, U. S. Department of Commerce, has designated 173 economic sub-areas in the U. S. for purposes of planning by federal agencies. State governments are also busy delineating planning areas for state and local agencies. Ten such planning areas were designated in South Carolina by executive order of the Governor in March 1969. Presumably, future public policies and programs in such fields as natural resource management, industrial development, housing, and highway construction, etc., will be designed and implemented on the basis of these spatial delineations.

Emerging Property Rights Issues in Resource Economics: Discussion

At first glance, these three papers may seem to have little in common. Wunderlichs paper dwells upon philosophical issues in defining fairness, Baties upon methodological alternatives, and Runges upon advances in property rights theory. Yet, considered together, the papers show the diverse nature of the property rights issues that now concern resource economists. Wunderlichs concerns are of a very fundamental kind, reminding us that before Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, he had written The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and that modern economics is as much an

Public Choice and the Quality of Life: Research Processes and Problems in Nonpecuniary Economics

In examining the processes and problems of researching a public choice theme, it is well to begin by noting that the fundamental concept of all recent public choice theory is application of the Benthamite motivational model of utility-maximizing individuals to analysis of human choice in nonmarket settings (Buchanan pp. 16-18). It is assumed that if utility maximization is a valid premise upon which to analyze marketplace choices, it is an equally valid one for analysis of other kinds of choices. Fidelity to the Benthamite model deserves emphasis, for if public choice research cannot be rooted solidly in utility theory, the economist finds himself with little to offer beyond the scope of the simple financial analysis which might better be done by an accountant.

An Economic—Ecologic Model for Evaluating the Environmental Repercussions of Area Development

T HE acquisition of new industry has been the major goal of many rural areas in the United States in the years since World War II. Faced with rapid mechanization of agriculture and decline in farm influence, many areas have ignored the environmental costs associated with industrial development and have welcomed any and all industrial prospects. In the late 1960s, however, came a noticeable shift in emphasis; acquisition of industry began to be viewed as a mixed blessing, and local leaders began to be questioned often about the environmental consequences of particular types of areas in economic growth. Industrial development groups found themselves hard-pressed to answer many environmental questions. Techniques for quantifying the trade-offs between area economic growth and environmental quality are needed if planners and public administrators are to respond to these questions and identify the paths of developments that will do minimum environmental damage. One possible approach to analysis of the environmental repercussion of area economic development is modification of the basic static Leontief model. Such a model can be structured to show not only interindustry transactions, but also intersystem flows between an area economy and the local ecosystem. The model contains two basic elements: (1) the Leontief inverse of an area input-output matrix and (2) an environmental matrix containing data on resource use or residual emission per dollar of gross output for each sector in the input-output matrix. Operational implementation of the model is achieved by post-multiplying the environmental matrix by the Leontief inverse. The results show both the direct and indirect effects on resource use and re-