Argues that the hyperinflation of 1984-5 has 2 basic determinants--the collapse of external finance and conflict over burden sharing; and 2 proximate determinants--a steadily depreciating peso and excessive monetary growth. Looks at how the New Economic Policy and its 'credibility gaining' political strategy of supressing the labour movement and winning the support of international financial institutions helped cool inflation to its present level. (SJK)
Some see the regional equity perspective as placing undue emphasis on intersectoral cooperation and the complementarity between growth and equity. Is regional equity a departure from an Advocacy Planning paradigm in which values are central, justice is key, and decision making is contentious? We try to reconcile the perspectives and use case studies of Fresno and San Antonio to explore when conflict yields new alliances and when it produces stalemate. We conclude with lessons for advocacy planners operating at the regional scale in which the lack of government and need for governance necessitate new skills of collaboration, (principled) conflict, and community building.
THIS ARTICLE ARGUES THAT CENTRAL BANK INDEPENDENCE (CBI) CAN RAISE PRIVATE INVESTMENT THROUGH SIGNALLING COMMITMENT TO REFORM AND SUGGESTS THAT SUCH AN EFFECT MIGHT BE LARGER IN DEMOCRACIES WHERE CBI CAN ALSO LIMIT POPULIST ACCESS TO ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING. RANDOM EFFECTS REGRESSSIONS ON PRIVATE INVESTMENT BEHAVIOR IN A SAMPLE OF 20 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES SUPPORT THESE HYPOTHESE.
Evaluates the demographic distribution of potentially hazardous facilities and health risks associated with ambient air toxics exposures among public schoolchildren in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Geographic information system analysis was combined with multivariate statistics to compare enrolment and demographic information for students who attend district schools with the spatial pattern of land use, locations of toxic emissions and facilities, and calculated indices of estimated lifetime cancer risk and respiratory hazards associated with exposure to toxic air emissions. District schools are more likely to be located in census tracts containing potentially hazardous facilities; however, these tracts actually have slightly lower cancer and respiratory health risks associated with air toxics when compared to other tracts in the district. Demographic comparisons among school sites indicate that minority students, especially Latinos are more likely to attend schools near hazardous facilities and face higher health risks associated with outdoor air toxics exposure. (Original abstract - amended)
Environmental justice offers researchers new insights into the juncture of social inequality and public health and provides a framework for policy discussions on the impact of discrimination on the environmental health of diverse communities in the United States. Yet, causally linking the presence of potentially hazardous facilities or environmental pollution with adverse health effects is difficult, particularly in situations in which diverse populations are exposed to complex chemical mixtures. A community-academic research collaborative in southern California sought to address some of these methodological challenges by conducting environmental justice research that makes use of recent advances in air emissions inventories and air exposure modeling data. Results from several of our studies indicate that communities of color bear a disproportionate burden in the location of treatment, storage, and disposal facilities and Toxic Release Inventory facilities. Longitudinal analysis further suggests that facility siting in communities of color, not market-based "minority move-in," accounts for these disparities. The collaborative also investigated the health risk implications of outdoor air toxics exposures from mobile and stationary sources and found that race plays an explanatory role in predicting cancer risk distributions among populations in the region, even after controlling for other socioeconomic and demographic indicators. Although it is unclear whether study results from southern California can be meaningfully generalized to other regions in the United States, they do have implications for approaching future research in the realm of environmental justice. The authors propose a political economy and social inequality framework to guide future research that could better elucidate the origins of environmental inequality and reasons for its persistence.
Examines the relationship between the location of hazardous waste facilities & the demographic characteristics of residents in Los Angeles County, CA, drawing on two proprietary datasets & publicly available statistics on all 82 treatment, storage, & disposal facilities in the county. Findings indicate that hazardous waste facilities are most likely to be located in industrial areas inhabited largely by working-class people of color. Rising income has first a positive, then a negative, impact on the probability of being located near a hazardous waste site. Race & ethnicity remain significant even when % African American/Latino are evaluated as separate groupings. 3 Tables, 2 Figures, 28 References. Adapted from the source document.