For Whom the Bells Toll

In his presidential address to the Regional Science Association over thirty years ago, William Alonso presented the case for “Five Bell Shapes in Development” and argued that “the developed countries will enter fully in to the realm of the right-hand tail of these curves” (p. 16) and that this transition might result in several surprises. He proposed, therefore, that we should study the right tail of these “curves” as well as interactions among them. Much of what Alonso suggested has come to pass, although his prognostications were not always exact. And although he touched on several issues of relevance to regional scientists, the discipline has been slow to move away from a growth-centered paradigm. The strength of regional science—the capacity to consider economic, demographic, and geographical aspects of an issue simultaneously—has yet to be focused on some of the “right-hand” challenges that have arisen, population loss, for example. In this article, we provide a review of regional science research within the context of Alonso’s five bells and hypothesize how Alonso’s propositions might differ in today’s world. We then focus more specifically on one particular area: population loss. Using these examples allows us to highlight how regional science might contribute to the conceptualization of “right-hand tail” development challenges, especially where theory, issues of spatial scale, and interregional dependencies are concerned.

Quality of life research in North Vojvodina

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the research pertaining to the quality of life of citizens in four municipalities in North Vojvodina. The empirical research was conducted by the Regional Science Association from Subotica during 2008. It mainly deals with the analysis of subjective indicators and viewpoints which suggest what could be of great assistance in improving the quality of life in the region. I have come to the conclusion that citizens are moderately satisfied with their quality of life and they are mostly concerned about their environment. Different nations have slightly different opinions about evaluation of social and political situation and the majority of the population is more critical. According to the respondents, political stability of the state and improvement of macroeconomic indicators could contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of families and individuals. .