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Motivated by growing policy and research emphasis on the economic care values of housing (which assume homeownership), this paper investigates how housing figures within household care strategies and practices across tenure. We place housing in two broader frames. First, we attend to the care values of housing, conceptualising the purpose and value of housing across tenure through a political ethic of care. Second, we place housing within broader geographical imaginaries of housing and home, attending to how care practices are negotiated within and through the house-as-home. We then bring together two distinct but connected in-depth qualitative case studies, both located in metropolitan Sydney, Australia, to identify the affective, temporal and material dimensions of care and bring focus to the care work and opportunities that owner-occupied, private and social rented housing afford to residents. Tenure intervenes in possibilities for household caring. It is most fully actualised through secure ownership and inhibited for renters and social housing tenants. Evaluating affordances and constraints of tenure and how they drive household care strategies is crucial in a political climate where the care securities of homeownership are prioritised. It demonstrates the limits of liberal care philosophies and raises questions around attributions of care responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The political dilemma presented by the deployment of large-size low-carbon technologies (LCTs) is analysed using a simple dynamic model to investigate the relation between irreversible investments and learning-by-doing within a context of exogeneous uncertainty about the carbon price. It is shown that in some cases when information about the future carbon price is expected, the irreversibility effect holds and fewer LCT plants should be developed. In other cases, this result is reversed, and acquiring information can justify the early deployment of LCT. In particular, marginal reasoning is limited when learning-by-doing, and more generally endogenous technical change, is considered. When acquiring information is expected, the optimal policy can move from a corner optimum with no LCT deployment to an interior optimum with a strictly positive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing a carbon tax is difficult, partly because it suggests that current generations have to make sacrifices for the benefit of future generations. However, the climate change externality could be corrected without such a sacrifice. It is possible to set a carbon value, and use it to create ‘carbon certificates’ that can be accepted as part of commercial banks’ legal reserves. These certificates can be distributed to low-carbon projects, and be exchanged by investors against concessional loans, reducing capital costs for low-carbon projects. As the issuance of carbon certificates would increase the quantity of money, it will either lead to accelerated inflation or induce the Central Bank to raise interest rates. Low-carbon projects will thus have access to cheaper loans at the expense of either ‘regular’ investors (in case of higher interest rates) or of lenders and depositors (in case of accelerated inflation). Within this scheme, mitigation expenditures are compensated by a reduction in regular investments, so that immediate consumption is maintained. It uses future generation wealth to pay for a hedge against climate change. This framework is not as efficient as a carbon tax but is politically easier to implement and represents an interesting step in the trajectory towards a low-carbon economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keeping the global temperature increase below 2°C will require concerted mitigation action by both developed and developing countries. In the UN Framework Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord, developed countries have an obligation to provide finance for mitigation measures in developing countries. Estimates of incremental investment and incremental costs for mitigation action in developing countries are reviewed. These estimates cover developing countries as a group, individual countries and specific sectors. Many mitigation measures are more capital-intensive but have lower operating costs than the technologies they replace, so the incremental investment exceeds the incremental cost. There is no agreed basis for determining how much international financial support should be provided for mitigation measures in developing countries. Although the amount of international funding needed cannot be determined from the available analyses, it is likely to lie between the estimates of incremental cost and the incremental investment. The few estimates of incremental mitigation costs available suggest that these costs will rise substantially over the next two decades and exceed US$100 billion by 2030. The promises to increase international climate funding significantly over the next decade are encouraging, but it is not yet possible to determine whether the promised funding will be sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bali Action Plan and many other authoritative recent climate reports point to expectations that additional financing will be central to future international agreements to address climate change. Several donor governments have announced commitments to contribute significant additional amounts of funding to support climate change financing in developing countries. However, the context for financing of climate change mitigation is evolving rapidly, with significant implications for climate policy. Two key changes are the dramatic improvement in access to capital in many of the most rapidly growing, large greenhouse-gas-emitting, developing nations and the increasing shift of wealth to oil-exporting countries and Asian central banks. Energy investment is fundamental to development and is capital-intensive, and access to finance is not equally available across countries and for different types of investments. Less carbon-intensive, clean energy investments frequently remain more difficult to finance, due to their smaller scale and innovative nature. Taking climate risk into account as an element of financing is potentially consistent with the investor's need to balance risks with expected returns, but the methodologies, geographical scale, and data required are not yet commensurate with the time periods and project scope typical of financing for developing countries. The policy challenge is in making the financing available commensurate with the scale and short time available for addressing climate change. Most of the likely targeted financing programmes will not be adequate for this purpose. Rather, policy makers need to focus on creating adequate signals that climate change will be an important and continuing factor in government policies for the foreseeable future in ways that will affect investor expectations of relative risk and reward. If this is done, financing will follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent can Kyoto units issued pre- and post-2012 be used, and thus have a market value, under a range of post-Kyoto regimes/scenarios? Although the market value of these Kyoto units can be more easily recognized in certain scenarios than in others, this article shows that most post-Kyoto regime scenarios are compatible with such recognition. This depends not only on the particular design elements of the post-Kyoto regime implemented, but also on political decisions taken by national governments. There are incentives and disincentives for national governments to recognize such value in the absence of an international climate policy regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the risks associated with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (II) projects and how do these risks vary between countries? A composite indicator is presented for guiding procurement decisions in the carbon market and representing host country risks in emissions trading models. The indicator contains variables from a broad range of sources measuring the institutional environment for the Kyoto mechanisms, the regulatory environment, and the economic environment. Based on the indicator scores for 143 countries, rankings are produced for CDM and II host countries. The host country risks of investing in II projects are lowest in New Zealand, Denmark and Sweden. At the top of the CDM ranking are India, China, Mexico, Brazil and Chile. These results are similar to other rankings for CDM host countries, but not for II host countries. This is due to the fact that — unlike other rankings — the mitigation potential is not taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

WEI Y., LIU X., PARKER D. and VAIDYA K. (1999) The regional distribution of foreign direct investment in China, Reg. Studies 33, 857-867. This paper analyses the determinants of the regional distribution of both pledged and realized foreign direct investment (FDI) within China. The econometric properties of the panel data set are examined using a standardized 't-bar' test for unit root. The empirical results indicate that there exists a long run relationship between the spatial distribution of FDI and a number of regional characteristics. Provinces with a higher level of international trade, lower wage rates, more R&D manpower, higher GDP growth rates, quicker improvement in infrastructure, more rapid advances in agglomeration, more preferential policies and closer ethnic links with overseas Chinese attract relatively more pledged FDI. WEI Y., LIU X., PARKER D. et VAIDYA K. (1999) La distribution régionale de l'investissement direct étranger en Chine, Reg. Studies 33, 857-867. Cet article cherche à analyser les déterminants de la distribution régionale de l'investissement direct étranger en Chine, soit engagé soit réalisé. Les propriétés économétriques de l'ensemble des données établies à partir d'une enquête se voient examiner en employant un test 't-bar' normalisé de la racine unitaire. Les résultats empiriques laissent voir qu'il existe un rapport à long terme entre la distribution géographique de l'investissement direct étranger et un nombre de caractéristiques régionales. Les provinces qui attirent proportionnellement plus d'investissement direct étranger engagé sont celles qui ont un niveau de commerce international plus élevé, des taux de salaire moins élevés, un taux d'emploi dans la R et D plus important, des taux de croissance du PIB plus importants, une amélioration plus rapide de l'infrastructure, des progrès plus rapides en faveur de la notion d'agglomération, plus de politiques de faveur et des liens ethniques plus étroits avec les Chinois à l'étranger. WEI Y., LIU X., PARKER D. und VAIDYA K. (1991) Die regionale Verteilung ausländischer Direktinvestierungen in China, Reg. Studies 33, 857-867. Dieser Aufsatz analysiert die bestimmenden Faktoren der regionalen Verteilung zugesicherter und realisierter ausländischer Direktinvestierungen (Foreign Direct Investment= FDI) in China. Die ökonometrischen Eigenschaften des kombinierten Informationsträgers werden mit Hilfe eines standardisierten 't-bar Tests' für Einheitenlösungen untersucht. Die empirischen Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, daß es eine langjährige Beziehung zwischen der räumlichen Verteilung der ausländischen Direktinvestierungen und einer Anzahl regionaler Eigenschaften gibt. Provinzen mit höherem Volumen internationaler Handelsbeziehungen, niedrigeren Lohnraten, mehr Arbeitskräften in Forschung und Entwicklung, höheren Wachstumsraten, Bruttoinlandsproduktion, schnellerbewerkstelligten Verbesserungen der Infrastruktur, beschleunigtem Vorschreiten von Agglomeration, mehr Vorzugsentscheidungen und engeren ethnischen Beziehungen zu Chinesen in Überseeziehen verhältnismäßig mehr zugesicherteausländische Direktinvestierungen an. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

McGreevy T. E. and Thomson A. W. J. (1983) Regional policy and company investment behaviour, Reg. Studies 17, 347–358. The paper looks at the effectiveness of regional financial assistance from the perspective of the companies receiving such assistance. It notes that very little attention has been given to company behaviour and perception as opposed to macro-economic analysis of regional policy. The article is based on a survey of forty-nine Scottish manufacturing firms which had been offered regional selective assistance and sets out to examine: (1) methods of investment analysis and the role of regional incentives in this process; (2) to investigate what would have happened in the absence of such assistance; and (3) to establish which type of financial incentive was most influential. The results in the opinion of the authors do indicate that regional policy has a positive impact in providing investment and jobs in Scotland which would not have otherwise occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rees R. D. and Miall R. H. C. (1981) The effect of regional policy on manufacturing investment and capital stock within the U.K. between 1959 and 1978, Reg. Studies 15, 415–424. The impact of U.K. regional policy on manufacturing investment and capital stock is examined. This paper establishes that the distribution of both investment and capital stock within the U.K. varies with the changing phases of regional policy and that when the policy was at its strongest a sizeable proportion of U.K. manufacturing investment may have been diverted by the policy to the three main Development Area (DA) regions. No evidence was found for the hypotheses either that the policy had a greater effect the more capital-intensive the industry or that it influenced the capital intensity of existing industries in DAs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

MCNAUGHTON R. B. and GREEN M. B. (1989) Spatial patterns of Canadian venture capital investment, Reg. Studies 23, 9–18. This paper explores the spatial pattern of Canadian venture capital investment. Surveys of both venture capital investors and their portfolio firms provide new insights into this rapidly expanding industry. Venture capital investors are shown to be highly concentrated, and regionally biased in their portfolio selections. Log-linear analysis demonstrates a significant regional variation in the industrial sector characteristics of portfolio firms. The pattern of Canadian venture capital investment is interpreted as the aggregate result of the efforts of venture capitalists to minimize uncertainty, and reduce the inherent risk of their ventures. Prospects for continuing research are discussed. MCNAUGHTON R. B. et GREEN M. B. (1989) La distribution géographique du capital risque canadien, Reg. Studies 23, 9–18. Cet article examine la distribution géographique du capital risque canadien. Des enquêtes sur les investisseurs de capital risque et sur leurs portefeuilles permettent de nouvelles pénétrations de cette industrie en pleine croissance. Il s'avère que dans leur choix de portefeuilles les investisseurs de capital risque se concentrent fortement et se montrent préjugés dans leur localisation. Une analyse linéaire-logarithmique démontre une variation régionale sensible des caractéristiques des entreprises de portefeuille suivant leur secteur industriel. La distribution du capital risque canadien c'est le résultat global des efforts des investisseurs dans le but de minimiser le risque de leurs opérations. On discute des possibilités de recherches complémentaires. MCNAUGHTON R. B. und GREEN M. B. (1989) Räumliche Verteilung kanadischer Investierung von Risikokapital, Reg. Studies 23, 9–18. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die räumliche Verteilung der kanadischen Investierung von Risikokapital. übersichten über die Investoren von Risikokapital wie auch über ihre Portefeuillefirmen ergeben neue Einblicke in diese sich schnell ausweitende Form der Industrie. Risikokapitalinvestoren erweisen sich in ihrer Portefeuilleauswahl als stark konzentriert und regional voreingenommen. Eine Loglinearanalyse zeigt bedeutende regionale Variationen in den Industriesektoreigenschaften der Portefeuillefirmen auf. Die Verteilung der kanadischen Investierung von Risikokapital wird als das Gesamtergebnis der Anstrengungen der Risikokapitalisten interpretiert, die Unberechenbarkeit auf ein Mindestmass zu reduzieren und das ihm innerwohnende Risiko ihres Wagnisses zu verringern. Die Aussichten für weitere Forschungsuntersuchungen werden behandelt. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]