REGIONAL INEQUITY AND SOVIET CONCERN FOR RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN INDUSTRALIZATION
Regional inequity has been an important national issue in most industrial societies. Measures to reduce inequity usually include the location of more industries in rural and small-town areas. The USSR has always possessed a strong ideologically based concern for regional inequity, but it was not until the 1960's that the matter was given serious attention. The last three five-year plans have called for more industry in small towns and rural villages. Life in these areas is to be made more attractive, labor resources more fully utilized, local economies improved, and the out- migration of people reduced. However, there are obvious barriers to industrialization in rural and small-town areas, and as in most industrial nations, the reduction of regional inequity is a slow and difficult process.
INVESTMENT PRIORITIES IN SOVIET REGIONS
ABSTRACT The rate of capital return and marginal capital product in Soviet industry are estimated by geographic areas to discover whether the regional allocation of investment, particularly industrial capital, in the 1960s was guided by considerations of capital and labor productivity or by other motives. The underindustrialized western regions, where capital and labor productivity are satisfactory or high, have been slighted in favor of more easterly provinces. Regional investment allocation in recent years has been a subject of considerable disagreement. Proposals for regional specialization and large-scale projects for the exploitation of natural resources tend to divide Soviet scholars into pro-Siberian and pro-European factions.
The structure of electricity demand in the Brazilian household sector
Abstract The present structure of residential electricity demand is analysed by electricity consumption classes and end-uses. Nearly 70% of households consume less than 150 kWh/month and are responsible for 35% of total residential demand. Other determinants of electricity-use, such as income and place of residence, are also discussed. It is found that electricity demand is increasing faster than income as the country reaches appliances saturation in upper consumption levels. Water heating and refrigeration account for the major part of residential consumption. Residential conservation efforts have started introducing more efficient lighting equipment and refrigerators, but further work will have to be done to speed up the diffusion of efficient technology at costs that can be paid by consumers.