Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This research presents an innovative measure of the spatial auto-correlation of minorities. The proposed measure reflects the real-world clustering pattern of residential segregation and, as such, taps the clustering dimension of segregation as understood by policymakers. The mechanics underlying this measure begins with the mapping of polygonal areas surrounding points of heavily black, Hispanic, or Asian population within a city. The centroid points of census blocks heavily populated by a minority are plotted within the silhouette of the study city and thiessen polygon cells mapped around each point. The area of each cell is calculated and the distribution of these cell areas is identified. Next, using the same city, points are randomly assigned within the silhouette of the city. Thiessen cells are mapped around each of these random points and cell areas are calculated. The distribution of these randomly generated cell areas is statistically compared with the distribution of the cell areas generated using the real-world block centroid points. Similarity between the distributions suggests the absence of patterned segregation, while a degree of difference suggests the degree of minority residential clustering. This paper illustrates this method by applying it to the purposively selected cities of Richmond, Corpus Christi, and Fremont to measure the clustering patterns of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, respectively.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The influential volume Varieties of Capitalism (2001) introduced a distinction between Britain, the US and other liberal market economies that excel at radical innovation, and coordinated market economies such as Germany that are better suited to incremental innovation in mature industries. This liberal-coordinated distinction has come in for sharp theoretical and empirical questioning. An excellent pair of test cases for the incremental innovation argument is the renovation of the auto industries in Japan, a coordinated economy, and Korea, an economy in uneasy transition from developmentalism to liberalization. Competitive success in autos depends upon incremental innovation, deep reserves of tacit knowledge, and the ability to incorporate tens of thousands of parts in tightly coupled yet frequently changing designs. The most efficient producers, such as Toyota, tend to have deep and stable relations with workers, suppliers and government. Yet even they face pressures from newer, lower-cost producers such as Korea’s Hyundai, and labor-intensive parts producers in China. The latter, in turn have difficulty moving beyond low-end production.
An examination of the Japanese and Korean auto industries suggests that only cautious affirmation can be given to the coordinated model. While Toyota has firmly and successfully refined its traditional approach, much of the rest of the Japanese industry has moved in a modestly more liberal direction. In Korea, Hyundai succeeded in upgrading its design and manufacturing capabilities despite failure in almost all areas—finance, corporate governance, supply networks, and labor relations—to incorporate coordinated approaches. In both countries, the spread of inward and outward foreign investment complicates efforts to maintain or forge the relationships underlying economic coordination.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: There are occasions when it pays to be someone else. In recent, and particularly western, history there grew a dynamic by which black people and other people of color deliberately and intentionally obscured their ethnic (if not genetic) background in order to adopt a white social identity. Such “passing” has been attempted and achieved almost since it became necessary; some passing is unintentional and undesired by an individual who has no control over the sorting and categorization others will engage in. Additionally, passing is no longer (or perhaps never was) limited to ethnic identity, nor is passing the only available strategy for avoiding the downside of being a racialized person in a given society. For example, Kenji Yoshino has ably described the strategy of “covering,” which unlike passing is not a complete suppression of one’s racial character, but rather a method of minimizing or downplaying those aspects of who we are that may subject us to subordinating behaviors. Yet it appears that passing, or even covering, are often counterproductive strategies in the modern context. Instead, I suggest that it is increasingly necessary, especially in a politically correct pseudo-liberal American community not to pass or cover but to “claim.” I propose claiming as the process by which one publicly asserts, if not reappropriates, his or her non-white, non-majoritarian social identity in order to comply with the racialized or essentialized expectations of the outsider. This paper explores the reasons why such reappropriation may be necessary and how it may be achieved.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: No abstract available at this time.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Can small open economies sustain their leadership in globalizing industries? Can state policies facilitate this and how? The paper examines these questions using two Canadian industries as examples. The first, the Canadian auto industry is vibrant and growing (in contrast to the same industry in the US Midwest). The second is the fuel cell sector, an industry embodying a new wave technology, which is costly to develop and in which Canadian firms have, thus far, played a leading role. These questions will be examined using the sectoral and regional innovation systems literatures. The paper will examine the different policy contexts in which the industries operate and their relative importance. For both industries the policy context is three levels, national, regional, and international, but different sector characteristics (history, numbers and size of players, revenue, and R&D intensity) translate into different dependencies, expectations and opportunities. The paper will argue that overlap of sectoral and regional innovation systems geographically but not in terms of production and/or research and development raises questions about the responsibility for the promotion of the interface and the longer- term implications for the continuing growth and dynamism of both sectors of its absence.