Martin T. Katzman

The Contribution of Crime to Urban Decline

The fact that crime is higher in the larger urban centers and in the central cities of metropolitan areas suggests that crime has contributed to suburbanisation. Previous studies have been unable to extricate crime from other causes of suburbanisation and central city decline. The present study of residential mobility isolates the effect of property crime from other neighborhood characteristics, such as accessibility to workplace and social composition. In Dallas it is found that the repelling effects of crime for potential movers is greater for families with children than without and for more affluent families, white and black.

The Economics of Adopting Solar Energy Systems for Crop Irrigation

In the United States more than 35 million acres, or 10% of all farmland, is irrigated with the aid of energy-intensive pumps. Practiced almost exclusively west of the Mississippi, irrigated agriculture produces 20% of all output of the American farm sector and nearly 100% in states like Arizona and New Mexico (Dvoskin and Heady, Sloggett). About 2.5% of the nations energy budget is devoted to on-farm activities; about 0.5% to irrigation (Council, Sloggett). While the energy expended on irrigation may appear small, it amounted to

The Flight of Blacks from Central-City Public Schools.

520 million in 1974, or

Paradoxes in the diffusion of a rapidly advancing technology: The case of solar photovoltaics

15 per acre. What the averages belie is the critical importance of energy costs for

Implementation of chapter 2 of ECIA in Texas

Black enrollments in central cities have declined because blacks are moving to the suburbs or enrolling in parochial schools. Also, the black birth rate is declining. What are the consequences of black suburbanization?

The influence of transportation improvements on interregional trade in Brazil

Abstract The economic approach to technological diffusion identifies several paradoxes that may hinder innovation. The anticipation of rapid technical improvement may be a self-defeating prophecy, as potential innovators wait. The propositions are exemplified by residential solar photovoltaic systems. While systems appear profitable in two sites in the mid-1980s, the optimal delay in adoption may be as long as ten years. A policy for accelerating diffusion is suggested.

Economic Prospects for Wind Farming: A Simulation Approach

Abstract The implementation of Chapter 2 of ECTA is occurring during a period of major curricular and school finance reform in Texas. Chapter 2 has been warmly received by state policy-makers and most school districts. The transaction costs of participating in Chapter 2 are clearly below those of the antecedent categorical programs. The relaxation of expenditure constraints has had a significant impact on resource allocation within former ESAA districts, which were the major losers of funds. Districts differ widely in items purchased and targeting of benefits. Further ways of reducing transactions costs are recommended.

Book Review: Regional Policies in Nigeria, India, and Brazil: edited by ANTONI KUKLINSKI. The Hague: Mouton Publishers. 1978. pp. 319. n.p

In this study the impact of transportation improvements on Brazilian interregional commodity flows are considered. The decreasing friction of distance is measured by two variants of the gravity model. First, distance coefficients are calculated for trade among all states in 1942 and 1962. Second, distance coefficients for each states imports are calculated separately and then related to state per capita income, for the year, 1962. Both the time-series and cross-section results indicate a significant diminution in the friction of distance in the course of Brazilian development. The degree to which trade has integrated the national economy is assessed by the convergence of agricultural prices. Not only have interregional price differentials tended to diminish, but regional price structures are becoming more similar. The interrelation of these price structures provides a method of regionalizing the Brazilian space-economy.

Book Review: Urban Danger: Life in a Neighborhood of Strangers: by SALLY ENGLE MERRY. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1981. pp. 278.

Several American utilities have contracted to purchase electricity from ‘windfarmers’, and many others are beginning to explore this option. The value of conventional fuel and capacity savings will influence the terms under which utilities enter these contracts. A quantitative assessment of these savings is undertaken using computer models that simulate the dispatching of conventional capacity and calculate the reliability of this capacity. These models identify the conventional costs avoided by utilities as a consequence of windfarming. The impact of various levels of windmill penetration is simulated in five sites in the USA, representing a wide range of average wind speeds. The cost of wind energy is less than the value of fuel savings alone for utilities which possess substantial oil- and-gas-fired generating capacity and which serve sites with winds above 12 m.p.h. In such sites, 1kW of conventional capacity is displaced by 2–5 kW windmill capacity. Increased windmill penetration reduces the value of fuel and capacity savings per kW.