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Examines trends, 1960-87, in population, retail and service activity, and manufacturing activity for a random sample of 202 nonmetro villages. Finds slowest growth or absolute decline in the 1980s. Suggests a stronger position for the small town as a residential center, rather than a retail or production center. (SV)

An American geographer analyzes patterns and trends relating to the distribution of ethnic group populations at the level of Macedonia's 123 municipalities (major civil divisions), utilizing data reflecting the two most recent census enumerations in 1994 and 2002 and interviews in Skopje in 2002 and 2004. Geographic concentrations of ethnicity correlate with economic and political indicators that have a significant bearing on the country's development potential and underlie current tensions in the country.

Finland's status as a modern democracy is surprising considering its remote location, lack of natural resources and troubled history. While the country has become increasingly urbanized, sound development projects in Finland's rural areas have helped those outside the cities to prosper. Each development setting is studied independently, as a unique set of personnel and environmental factors, before any development plan is offered. It is hoped that the successes of Finland can be transferred to other developing economies in Eastern Europe.

Books reviewed: A. Stewart Fotheringham and Michael Wegener (eds.), Spatial Models and GIS: New Potential and New Models . Aura Reggiani (ed.), Spatial Economic Science: New Frontiers in Theory and Methodology . Jean-Claude Thill (ed.), Geographic Information Systems in Transportation Research . Barbara Dluhosch, Industrial Location and Economic Integration: Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces in the New Europe . Jean-Marie Huriot and Jacques-François Thisse, Economics of Cities: Theoretical Perspectives . Manfred M. Fischer and Yee Leung (eds.), GeoComputational Modelling: Techniques and Applications . Eduardo A. Haddad, Regional Inequality and Structural Changes: Lessons from the Brazilian Experience . Manfred M. Fischer, Luis Suarez-Villa, and Michael Steiner (eds.), Innovation, Networks and Localities . Marjolein C.J. Caniëls, Knowledge Spillovers and Economic Growth: Regional Growth Differentials across Europe . Martin van der Velde and Henk van Houtum (eds.), Borders, Regions, and People . Peter W. J. Batey and Peter Friedrich (eds.), Regional Competition . John E. Anderson and Robert W. Wassmer, Bidding for Business: The Efficacy of Local Economic Development Incentives in a Metropolitan Area . Philip Hanson and Michael Bradshaw (eds.), Regional Economic Change in Russia . Gred Hise and William Deverell, Eden by Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline of retail and service establishments in rural villages has been attributed to competition from urban centers and to local population decline. These, factors are both related to urban accessibility, although not in the same way, causing a complex relationship between urban accessibility and business change in villages. Retailers in villages with greater urban accessibility may stiffer greater competition from urban merchants, but are more apt to witness a growing population in their local area, which in turn can facilitate business survival. We examined this set of relationships with a national sample of villages for the 1950-70 period. Using a path model and multiple regression, we show that under most circumstances, consistent with the above considerations, the weak association between urban accessibility and retail change is due to a negative direct effect of urban accessibility on retail change being offset by a positive indirect effect operating through population change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into the change in retail and service activities in a sample of Wisconsin villages. A documentation of recent trends in trade activities by village and a review of the patterns of change by individual functions are likewise presented. The findings are intended to update previous research and to provide a more detailed description of trends in individual activities. Retail activities were plotted according to their frequency of occurrence in the sample at each time to depict which activities were increasing or decreasing in importance. Village population was then compared with the functional offering at each time and population change was compared with change in the number of functions.