Existing research on the determinants of FIFA's international soccer rankings suffers from serious statistical problems, particularly sample selection bias and nonnormal errors. The authors correct for this by extending the data set by an additional 100 countries. Furthermore, they find important roles for new variables in the form of the size of population and a long history of international soccer in explaining world football rankings. The authors also investigate the determinants of an alternative ranking measure to that constructed by FIFA.

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Within an allocation of time framework, a demand function for test match cricket in Britain is estimated using 248 observations of daily attendances drawn from 52 matches over the period 1984 to 1992. We find that the time intensity of international cricket does have a mild deterrence effect on attendance as earnings rise. Consistent with other studies in the economics of sport, there is evidence that uncertainty of outcome augments demand. However, it is cricket, demographic and day specific, rather than economic, variables which account for most of the demand variation. The introduction in 1991 of test match cricket on Sundays added over 4000 spectators to total attendances.

This paper explores issues of urban governance through a case study of a major, waterfront regeneration project in an English city (Bristol). The first part of the paper sets the development of this project within the broader theoretical context of urban regime theory and changing structures of governance in the city. The paper then outlines the attempts to build a city-wide consensus in Bristol around a viable development project in a situation marked by strongly conflicting views and contrasting visions of urban space. Political and planning processes are explored in some detail to identify the strengths and weaknesses of local governance structures. The paper concludes with some comments on the relevance of the case study for debates on urban regime theory.

The past decade has seen an increasing interest in the cultural economies of cities by public bodies keen to address issues of urban decline. This article documents recent developments on the South Bank of the Thames in central London where cultural investments appear to be clustered and where attempts have been made to give spatial and policy coherence to a range of new development projects. The local authority promotes the South Bank as London's new cultural quarter. However, this strategy is an opportunist and image-based response to dominant property speculation interests. The management of cultural production in this part of London reveals limits to local coalition building and the limited influence of local strategies on the development process. The article questions whether the cultural quarter is an appropriate scale for managing the development of cultural industries as a motor for economic development in particular. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000.