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Lagged variables play an important role in cross-sectional models in geography and regional sciences. This paper starts with an overview of the situations in which they may be required. Lagged variables also pose serious problems from a statistical point of view: multicollinearity and the determination of the length of the lag. Some common approaches to these two problems are discussed and evaluated. As an alternative a linear structural equation approach is presented, where the lagged variables are compressed to latent variables in a measurement model. The relationship between the lagged variables, thus compressed, and the dependent variable is expressed in the structural model. Both the measurement model and the structural model are estimated simultaneously. The paper ends with an application. A model of urban immigration for the thirty-three largest Dutch cities is estimated.

Strengths of the US census system -- found in its rules for counting persons by their place of residence, voluntary householder participation, & supervision by federal rather than local government -- have served as safeguards against biased counts. The 1980 Census was complicated by several problems, including an increase in the number of households, increased public concern about privacy & confidentiality, methods for counting aliens, & unusually intense interstate migratory activity. Population movements of the 1970s have particular significance for the realignment of congressional seats: as a result of the 1980 Census, states in the South & West will gain 17 seats lost by states in the northeast & north central regions. Criticism of the implementation of the 1980 Census is provided from a survey of 100 US cities carried out by the US Conference of Mayors. 2 Tables. D. Dunseath.

Changes in US local government structure in the post-WWII period, particularly as affected by the internationalization of the economy, are analyzed. The evolution of a worldwide economy resulted in new foreign & domestic policies in the US & other nations, including foreign economic & military aid, detente, & the promotion of so-called "democracy" worldwide. Changes in the state systems of Western industrialized countries are detailed, eg, expansion of the welfare state, social & political unrest, & (particularly in the US) decay of cities organized along the outmoded, localized economic order. The potential revitalization of US local governments is assessed along with current counterstresses: penetration from above by state & federal bureaucracies, & horizontal regroupings of partisan & interest groups at the local level. Comparisons are drawn with other state systems where local "democratization" has been attempted, eg, Italy. L. Whittemore.

The rapid expansionof historical demography as a discipline has meant a growing number of studies of past migration (excellent examples are Tugault, 1973; Chatelain, 1976; Piore, 1979), although migration still receives considerably less attention than does fertility or mortality. The study of industrializing cities during the nineteenth century has focused interest on those patterns of migration that caused rapid urban population growth (Anderson, 1971; Anderson, 1980; Crew, 1979; Thernstrom, 1970). Most of these recent studies of internal migration are based on localized information over relatively short periods of time. They provide us with demographic data of unprecedented precision, but the local nature of such studies accentuates their dependence on currently accepted generalizations as guides in the search for and interpretation of evidence.

The earliest European settlement in the New World, the Spanish fort Navidad, was built on orders of Cristobal Colon in the 15th Century. In 1519 Veracruz was built was built on Mexican shores. The number of newly founded settlements and cities grew quickly. Some of them were built on top of pre-Columbian settlements, but much of the spatial planning was influenced by Spanish practices. The Importance of ancient European authors like Vitruvius can be seen for example in the Mexico DF. Such urban planning theories were formally embedded into urban planning and urban rights establishment by the crucial Decree of Felipe II of 13th of July, 1573. The document influenced Spanish urban planning until the end of the Spanish rule.
English abstract/description written by Michał Gilewski

ABSTRACTPolicy analysts, as well as politicians, have shown great interest in assessing both short‐term and long‐term consequences of public policies in recent years. Recent time‐trend studies have attempted to depict the time dimension of policy consequences through extensions of regression techniques. This study examines three linear trend models which have been used to depict policy impact through time‐series analyses, and identifies the relative advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of each model. The three models are applied in a quasi‐experimental time‐series design to time‐series of per capita state expenditures for large cities, in eight states, over a twenty‐year period. Differences in degrees of multicollinearity and autocorrelation inherent in the three models are discussed, and the model providing the most conservative coefficient estimates is identified.

Abstract. 'Savages,' as Europeans considered the Americans of ancient times, never built the great Mayan centers. The builders of great cities in Meso‐America were a well‐organized group with an adequate land base and a rather sophisticated technology. From 300 B.C. to 900 A.D. the Maya developed and perfected an agriculture‐based economy with a well developed commerce, writing, art, science, religion and government, as well as an advanced architecture of monuments, palaces, temples and pyramids. Their civilization reached intellectual heights unique in the Western Hemisphere. What conditions caused its decline and fall? Interpreting the geographic and historical record in the light of the relevant social sciences, one can say a complex of circumstances: ecological abuse, exploitation of the working population, mismanagement, militarism, bad weather, famines, and epidemics.

In the searchfor innovations which might generate productivity gains in local govern ment, substantial attention has focused on the utilization of computers and automated information systems. The evaluations of more than 2,600 local government personnel in 42 American cities reveal that local governments have enjoyed some productivity gain attributed to computer applications, particularly with respect to increased work volume. Employing contingency theory as a conceptual framework, this article then assesses whether between-government variations in these productivity gains can be accounted for by size contingencies, technological contingencies, political contin gencies, or the user-technician interface. It is established that intergovernmental variations in productivity gains from computers are most powerfully associated with the nature of the user-technician interface and are somewhat associated with political contingencies.

This article is an exploratory assessment of whether or not black mayors, as compared to white mayors, demonstrate patterned differences in their policy preferences and expenditures. It is hypothesized that black mayors are inclined to spend more on welfare related items than on other budgetary items. Employing urban expenditure data over time in six cities and focusing upon seven expenditure categories, it is found that, as a rule, black mayors do not differ greatly from white mayors in the way they spend. However, their preferences do seem to differ. Black mayors, even when they would like to, are constrained from spending according to their preferences. It is argued that differences in expenditure patterns are highly conditioned by environmental and structural factors. Suggestions are made for further research.

Examined are issues critical to the study of police response to white collar crime. Lack of attention to this issue in criminal studies is in part due to variance in definitions of white collar crime. Further, investigation is often more a matter of interpretation than of hidden pursuit, & victims may themselves be part of a criminal operation. Although police regularly work on bad check cases, they are generally neither trained nor motivated to investigate more sophisticated kinds of fraud to any depth. Data on white collar crime investigations (N = 3,500) in 15 cities from a National District Attorneys' study show police involvement to be consistent but minor. The potential for higher-level police action in white collar crimes is concluded. 1 Table. Modified Author Summary.

While contributions of a quarter-century to the literature on central city-suburb relationships indicate that within a metropolitan context surburban exploitation of central cities may not exist, there is no lessening of the desire to reduce imbalances within a particular Ur service delivery sector. Assessed is the impact of an Ur administrative policy intervention aimed at shifting the burden of supporting a municipal service to those who actually use & benefit from it. An interrupted time-series quasi-experimental design is merged with a data analysis strategy employing integrated moving average models. This evidence endorses the adoption of user charges for certain Ur services as an effective strategy open to Ur bureaucracies for redressing Ur public finance imbalances. 1 Table, 3 Figures, Bibliography. HA.

Presented are some preliminary findings from a major study conducted in two major cities of police service delivery to the elderly. The elderly's need for special police attention is discussed, & findings from a survey of 913 persons over age sixty are analyzed as they address police operations. Data indicate that most older persons have positive attitudes toward the police. However, those elderly citizens who have either called the police or reported a higher willingness to call are much more dissatisfied with them than the elderly population at large. Reasons for this dissatisfaction are explored. Unrealistic expectations, their causes, & the elderly's attitudes toward themselves & their social role are discussed. Recommendations are proposed to improve police service delivery to the elderly. Modified HA.

This study argues that as automated information systems in local governments are more oriented to providing top management with information, top managers gain control vis-à-vis lower level managers and staff. clients, and lay policy officials. A measure of "management oriented computing" is developed which indicates the degree computing is oriented to serving top management. This index is related to both the hypothesized payoffs and the hypothesized preconditons of computing being oriented to serve the interests of top management. Survey response datafrom most of the larger U.S. cities and counties tend to support the power shift hypothesis and identify certain local government milieus most conducive to management-oriented computing. These milieus tend to be characterized by administrative reform values and top management control of computing decisions.

The Disaggregated Residential Allocation Model (DRAM) is a modified Lowry derivative model which follows the Wilson entropy formulation. The model is a component of the Integrated Transportation and Land Use Package—ITLUP. As a part of ongoing work with DRAM, it has been calibrated for several US cities by use of conventional late twentieth-century data sets. Because of the work of the Philadelphia Social History Project a nineteenth-century data set for Philadelphia became available for use. This provided a unique opportunity to try calibrations of DRAM on this century-old data and thus attempt to validate the general structure of the model. The results of these calibrations suggest a rather high degree of descriptive validity and consistency with macro-behavioral theories of spatial allocation.

The disproportionate readiness of ethnic minorities to join voluntary associations & to engage in political action has been explained as being due to 'ethnic community'. Random samples were taken of the populations of three central Conn cities as described by B. London (see SA 24:2/76H8553). Indices of ethnic & community identification & of self-alienation as a factor leading to compensatory social activism are computed. Self-alienation plays a significant role in explaining membership in sociable, but not in issue-oriented organizations. Ethnic identification is the single strongest explanatory variable for political participation, outweighing all other variables combined. This supports the ethnic community analysis of such activism, but rejects the compensatory behavior explanation of it, at least for contemporary minority populations. 3 Tables. W. H. Stoddard.