Journal Archive
Volume 29, Issue 2, 1999
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Articles:
- Ninth Annual Colin Clark Memorial Lecture – Economic Nationalism and Performance: Australia from the 1960s to the 1990s (Ted Evans)
- On the Wrong Track? An Analysis of the Suitability of Contracting Out for Rail Track Maintenance (Richard Denniss and Phillip Toner)
- The Political Economy of Development: Empirical Evidence from Fiji (Rukmani Gounder)
- Thrift, Productivity and the Real Rate of Interest in Australia (K.M. Hawtrey)
- Credit Unions: Filling Finance Gaps in Rural Communities (Deborah Ralston and Diana J. Beal)
- Ethical Rules and the Demand for Free Range Eggs (John Rolfe)
- Impact of Tropical Cyclone Warning Information on Incomes of Commercial Tourist Accommodation Operators along the Queensland Coast (M. Campos and L. Drake and K.A. Anaman)
- Book Reviews:
- Globalising Australian Capitalism by Bob Catley (A.G. Lougheed)
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- Globalising Australian Capitalism by Bob Catley (A.G. Lougheed)
Ninth Annual Colin Clark Memorial Lecture – Economic Nationalism and Performance: Australia from the 1960s to the 1990s
Ian Castles
Pages: 103-107
Abstract:
Full Text PDF (4.06MB)
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On the Wrong Track? An Analysis of the Suitability of Contracting Out for Rail Track Maintenance
Richard Denniss and Phillip Toner
Pages: 117-131
Abstract:
This article critically evaluates the arguments advanced to support the extension of competitive tendering (otherwise known as contracting-out) to rail track maintenance within the corporatised NSW rail industry. It is argued that the economic characteristics of track maintenance are such that focussing on short-term cost minimisation may lead to reduced efficiency from a whole-of-government and economy wide perspective. Issues of equity are also considered, particularly in relation to increases in unemployment in regional areas. It is concluded that the adoption of a wider perspective, and a wider definition of efficiency than short-term cost minimisation, substantially reduces the desirability of contracting out.
Full Text PDF (4.90MB) (Pages: 117-119)
Full Text PDF (6.90MB) (Pages: 120-131)
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The Political Economy of Development: Empirical Evidence from Fiji
Rukmani Gounder
Pages: 133-150
Abstract:
This paper presents an empirical analysis of the impact of political instability on Fiji’s economic growth. Fiji experienced two military coups after the 1987 election of the Labour and National Federation Party coalition government. Following the common practice, a “neoclassical” growth model is used to estimate the effect of military coups on Fiji’s economic growth. The empirical results reveal that short-run and long-run relationship between political instability and economic growth adversely affected the economy. Fiji experienced a decline in exports and in public and private investment, and an outflow of skilled labour in the post coup period. The lack of these factors led to sluggish growth. The direct effect on the marginal productivities of labour, capital and exports indicate that decreases in the marginal productivity are primarily due to capital and labour. The indirect effects of political instability of each of the factors of production reveal that adverse effects of the coups have reduced the availability of factors of production.
Full Text PDF (6.95MB)
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Thrift, Productivity and the Real Rate of Interest in Australia
K.M. Hawtrey
Pages: 151-167
Abstract:
In a small open economy, it is common to regard the domestic interest rate as a function of the world rate plus a local risk premium. At the same time, Irving Fisher’s longstanding theory of the real interest rate emphasises the twin domestic forces of consumer thrift and producer productivity. This paper tests for a relationship between the Fisher variables and Australia’s real interest rate. It is found that these two variables explain well the observed stationarity of the Australian real rate of interest since the early 1980s, indicating that thrift and productivity provide a robust theoretical framework for the macroeconomic factors that determine the risk premium.
Full Text PDF (6.20MB) (Pages: 151-155)
Full Text PDF (5.60MB) (Pages: 156-167)
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Credit Unions: Filling Finance Gaps in Rural Communities
Deborah Ralston and Diana J. Beal
Pages: 173-186
Abstract:
The Hawker Inquiry (1999) investigated the provision of regional financial services in Australia and was principally concerned with the economic and social effects of the current redistribution of the delivery of banking services. The establishment of credit unions in rural communities has been seen as one means to fill the financial services gap when banks close. This paper reports in detail the contribution made by the entry of credit unions to four rural communities after, variously, 10-22 months of establishment. Additionally, the paper comments on some of the institutional barriers which have prevented credit unions from providing a full range of financial services and warns that credit unions will not survive within these communities if they are unable in the longer term to attract sufficient loans business.
Full Text PDF (6.20MB)
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Ethical Rules and the Demand for Free Range Eggs
John Rolfe
Pages: 187-203
Abstract:
In this paper, two contingent valuation experiments to estimate values for animal welfare are reported. The focus of the experiments was to demonstrate the application of non-market valuation techniques for this purpose, and to determine whether the applications are invalidated by any association of the amenity to be valued with ethical and moral themes. Such an association has been suggested, in several formats, to underlie potential scoping effects. The experiments show that little evidence can be found to suggest that any association between free range eggs and ethical and moral themes causes particular valuation problems. However, accurate estimation of the welfare of battery hens is difficult, because animal welfare concerns may only be one reason why free range eggs are purchased. Also, the potential use of consumer purchase prices as references to value may make consumer surplus estimates problematic.
Full Text PDF (6.70MB) (Pages 187-191)
Full Text PDF (6.41MB) (Pages 192-203)
Full Text PDF (6.50MB) (Pages 204-206)
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Impact of Tropical Cyclone Warning Information on Incomes of Commercial Tourist Accommodation Operators Alogn the Queensland Coast
M. Campos and L. Drake and K.A. Anaman
Pages: 207-215
Abstract:
An economic evaluation has been undertaken of the impact of warning information issued by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology about tropical cyclones on the revenues of operators of hotels, motels and other commercial tourist accommodation dwellings along the Queensland Coast. The impact was investigated using a combination of cross-sectional and time-series data for the period 1986-1996. Tropical cyclone warning information is found to have an effect on the revenues of commercial tourist accommodation operators. However, this effect is small when considered as a proportion of total revenues of commercial tourist accommodation operators.
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