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Mortgage activity has commonly been measured with two variables: the volume of loans and the success rate of applications. I argue that these measurements represent distinct portions of the overall mortgage market and correspond to different social, racial, and economic attributes. Using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 1991 and 1992 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, I compare a variable measuring the percentage of loan applications denied with a variable measuring the number of loans per 1,000 housing units. I find that these two variables display disparate spatial patterns, that they are associated with different census tract characteristics, and that they correspond to separate dimensions of social geography. These differences suggest that the evaluation of bank performance in meeting fair housing objectives depends on how this performance is measured. Both measurements are useful, but care must be taken in their application. Key Words: mortgage market, social geography, variable measurement, financing.

This study utilizes linguistically disaggregated region-to-region migration data between 1981 and 1986 to demonstrate that French and English speaking Canadians react differently to place attributes. A series of log transformed linear regression models suggest that the two populations differ very little in their response to traditional labor market variables but that they diverge dramatically in their response to the linguistic composition of each region. Each group prefers regions with a greater percentage of their own co-linguists, but Francophones are less sensitive than Anglophones to linguistic composition. Key Words: migration, Canada, ethnicity, language.

Mutual understanding and affirmation of each group's cultural and territorial identities pave the way for harmony in a multinational society. Territorial and linguistic differences between the French-Canadian and English-Canadian identities in Canada have posed a threat to the political stability in the country. The juxtaposition of multiple spatial identities initiates changes due to cultural and linguistic differences, which vary in intensity with time.

A study of the effect of population change on political and cultural interactions between French-speaking and English-speaking Canadians reveals that linguistic landscape and nature and direction of population change determine future political and linguistic directions. Linguistically distinct migration fields cause the projected decline of English presence in Quebec. The retention of French in other regions of Canada may prove difficult and encourage a greater devolution of power to regional entities.