Lawrence A. Brown

The causes of tropical deforestation in Ecuador: A statistical analysis

Abstract This paper reports a statistical analysis of the causes of agricultural colonization and land clearing in eastern Ecuador. The results bolster many of the arguments that have been made about the social forces driving tropical deforestation. In general, the prospect of capturing agricultural rents stimulates settlement of tree-covered hinterlands. Accordingly, the presence of roads and urban centers attracts rural settlement. Colonists also prefer to go where soils are suitable for crop or livestock production, all else remaining the same. In addition to being a function of population pressure, the extent of land clearing is shown to be a consequence of tenure insecurity. These results suggest that institutional reform is needed to encourage conservation of tropical forests.

Macrolevel Theory and Local-Level Inequality: Industrial Structure, Institutional Arrangements, and the Political Economy of Redistribution, 1970 and 1990

This study assesses the explanatory power of macrolevel political economy theory for redistribution across local areas. We focus on contentions about the role of industrial structure and institutional arrangements in income growth and inequality in two periods, 1970 and 1990. Specific hypotheses are derived from the Social Structures of Accumulation approach. These include (1) that redistribution processes have shifted, with manufacturing employment and institutional arrangements between capital-labor and state-citizens less able to generate local growth and reduce income inequality than in the past, and (2) that effects of manufacturing employment on inequality are partly contingent on local institutional context. These hypotheses are tested for U.S. counties using regression models that conceptualize geographic processes through spatial diffusion effects and nesting of counties within states. Results support most baseline, 1970 relationships suggested by theory. Other findings run counter to political e...

On the Use of Markov Chains in Movement Research

*A number of helpful comments were received from participants in the Regional Analysis Workshop, University of Chicago, 1970, especially Brian J. L. Berry, Forrest R. Pitts, and Paul J. Schwind. 1 The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application of finite Markov chain analysis to geographic problems with particular emphasis upon applications that in the authors opinion have been given inadequate attention by geographers. However, no attempt is made to compare the Markov chain applications suggested here with other approaches to the problems discussed, so as to enable evaluation of one approach versus another. This task is left for the researcher concentrating upon the particular problems. t ms; the second focuses upon the Markov chain as a model of geographic process. Throughout, familiarity with the finite Markov chain model is assumed.2

Search Behavior in an Intra-Urban Migration Context: A Spatial Perspective

This paper examines spatial search behavior related to intra-urban migration. Its approach is to draw upon related studies to derive expectations with regard to search patterns, and to test these through empirical analysis. This involves identifying and measuring distance, directional, and sectoral spatial biases, for which an algorithm is presented that employs a map transformation and standard ellipse analysis.

Spatial variation in migration processes and development: a Costa Rican example of conventional modeling augmented by the expansion method.

The ways in which migration and development have been linked in previous research in Third World settings are reviewed. Intercantonal migration in Costa Rica is analyzed, first in terms of a conventional model and then in terms of a paradigm of migration that focuses on place-to-place variations in development milieu. The results show there is spatial variation in the role of most variables and that these variations follow a reasonably consistent pattern with regard to development conditions. A series of maps graphically illustrates the importance of a spatial frame of reference.

Market-Led Pluralism: Rethinking Our Understanding of Racial/Ethnic Spatial Patterning in U.S. Cities

Vast differences between the U.S. city of today and that of a quarter-century and half-century ago call for a rethinking of conventional frameworks that provide an explanation of clustering/segregation along racial/ethnic lines. Accordingly, we put forth a new framework, market-led pluralism, that better fits todays realities. Existing frameworks—assimilation, stratification, and resurgent ethnicity—miss a central element of todays racial/ethnic residential mosaic, the market makers. At the center are housing developers who continually unveil new urban spaces with culturally open communities; lending agencies that, encouraged and supported by government policy, provide highly affordable mortgages to an increasingly wide range of households; real estate brokers and agents for whom the discriminatory practices of the past are illegal, profit reducing, and often beside the point in todays marketplace; consumers whose preferences emphasize class-type elements such as amenities in housing and neighborhood, tempered by affordability; and communities that impose their own development agenda, or lack thereof, on the housing market. The efforts of these market makers are facilitated by pervasive and fluid information (e.g., via the Web, e-mail, cell phone); procedures that are more systematized, automated, and transparent; and well-working market mechanisms. Fleshing out market-led pluralism is done in five steps focusing on (1) building (developers-builders), (2) lending (banks, mortgage agencies, government policy and entities), (3) selling and renting (real estate practices, including discrimination), (4) consuming (buyers, renters, their preferences), and (5) local communities (annexation, zoning, development agendas, cooperative agreements among communities). Empirical support for the framework is drawn from secondary data and key-informant, protocol-driven interviews, largely focused on the Columbus, Ohio, metropolitan statistical area.

Place, Migration and Development in the Third World: An Alternative View

1. Introduction 2. What is Third World Development? 3. Aggregate Migration Flows and Development, with a Costa Rican Example 4. Individual Migration and Place Characteristics Related to Development in Venezuela 5. Individual Labour Market Experiences and Place Characteristics Related to Development in Venezuela 6. Policy Apects of Development and Regional Change (I) Population movements from Ecuadors Rural Sierra (II) The Juxtaposition of National Policies and Local Socioeconomic Structures in Ecuador 8. Third World Development as the Local Articulation of World Economics and Political Conditions, Donor-Nation Actions, and G.vernment Policies: Concluding Observations

Toward a development paradigm of migration with particular reference to Third World settings.

This chapter is concerned with human migration within developing countries particularly the processes underlying these movements rather than their manifest patterns. Attention is directed to the following in the elaboration of this concern: conceptual models of the migration process which provide a framework for ordering the inquiry; actual studies of migration in the settings of developing countries from the perspective provided by operational largely economic models and then from alternative perspectives provided by the vast amount of research on the subject; and selected interrelationships between migration and development processes. The result is a development paradigm of migration that posits that the relative importance of each of the various aspects of the migration process is dependent upon certain structural characteristics of society that are altered during the course of development. The articulation of this linkage provides a paradigm that appears to be singularly applicable to migration in traditional developing or advanced societies. The operational models of migration in developing countries tend to emphasize pull rather than push factors in migration. Yet they give most attention to the role of economic activity in the modern sector and neglect both conceptually and operationally several pull factors related to the unique circumstances of the developing world. Attention is called to the informal sector of the labor market; to rural nonfarm/small scale enterprise employment opportunities; to the role of family extended family and acquaintances; and to the confounding effects of class differences and of circular and seasonal migration strategies. The fundamental theme of this discussion is that migration in 3rd world settings must be related to the structure of the society in which it occurs. The expectations concerning migration patterns and processes at different stages of development of the paradigm outlined in this chapter are borne out by comparing migration experiences of nations such as the U.S. with those of the 3rd world.

Intra-urban migrant lifelines: A spatial view

The term intra-urban migrant lifeline refers to the sequence of residential movements made by a household within a single urban area. This study examines spatial aspects of lifelines and the relationship between such aspects and the spatial structure of the city. Spatial aspects are defined in terms of distance, directional, and sectoral biases. A variety of techniques for identifying such biases are critically discussed. The approach applied is one that transforms the spatial pattern of migrations so as to accent the spatial biases in question. Measurement of the biases is accomplished by application of standard ellipse techniques to the transformed distributions. Data for the study traces migrant lifelines for a sample of households in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the period 1950 through 1965. Differences in locational and social-economic characteristics of households are shown to be reflected in the spatial morphology of their respective lifelines. In general the migrant lifelines show a fairly restricted distance bias, a directional bias towards the center of the city, and a low degree of sectorality. This is in contrast to expectations generated by previous work on lifelines. Reconciliation of the findings here with previous findings employs a model that considers both the space preferences of intra-urban migrants and the set of vacancies available to them.

On place utility and the normative allocation of intra-urban migrants

This paper arises out of the fact that place utility, a basic factor in behavioral conceptualizations of migration processes, has not been specified in operational terms. This is done here through a model that assigns intraurban migrants to destination areal units within the city, using a normative linear programming framework based on behavioral considerations. Measures of place utilities for each areal unit and of comparative place utilities for each pair-wise permutation of areal units are provided by the shadow prices of the dual of the linear programming model. The primal of the model allocates migrants so as to maximize the household’s gain from migration. This is measured by the increase in its realized aspirations with respect to a residence site, tempered by the search effort involved in acquiring the site. Implementation of the model utilizes both questionnaire and published data from Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the year 1966 to 1967. Conformity between predictions of the model and real-world characteristics is such that it is concluded that the basic form of the model is sound. It is also concluded that the posited relationships between place utility and behavior in searching for and selecting a new residential site are reasonable and can lead to valuable insights into place utility and its functioning in the intra-urban system. Due to some misallocation of migrant flows, however, we further conclude that the model should be revised into a recursive format for future use.