Suchergebnisse

Costa Rica is a small Central American nation that has gained an international reputation as a leader in environmental conservation. This has formed the base for its highly successful and lucrative small-scale ecotourism industry. However, there are threats from high rates of deforestation and expanding large-scale tourism that is trading on strong environmental credentials, so it is appropriate to conduct this policy analysis on such a significant ecotourism area. The paper develops an ecologically sustainable economic framework, drawing on the works of Adolph Lowe (1893-1995) and Michal Kalecki (1899-1970), to examine the Costa Rican experience and then analyse lessons for general policy development of any ecotourism area. The analysis is conducted from a political economy (and not a tourism management) perspective on the trade-offs between small-scale and large-scale ecotourism. ; C1

Thirty years ago, in April 1975, Milton Friedman, came to Australia to declare that the world economic situation manifestly unsound.[1] Friedman asserted on that trip what Michael Kalecki predicted in his 1943 article would be the response of 'captains of industry' to Keynesian macroeconomic policies; it was that '…government expenditure financed by borrowing will cause inflation' (Kalecki, 1990: 348). A chorus of Australian businessmen and mandarin economists came out in support of Friedman, leading to the demise of Keynesian macroeconomic policy and the rise of neo-liberal policies. Milton Friedman, at the time was the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago; and acknowledged head of the 'Chicago School' of monetary economics, called 'monetarism'. A year later, in 1976, Friedman received the 'Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel', confirming his status in the financial community and the neo-liberal mainstream of the economics profession during this period. At the time he was also a regular contributor to Newsweek magazine. ; C1

Theme 1. The challenge to reclaim pluralism in economics -- Theme 2. Role of history of economic thought in the path to pluralism -- Theme 3. Pluralism begins : classical ideas, yesterday and today -- Theme 4. Pluralism develops : twentieth century alternatives -- Theme 5. Mainstream economics and neoliberalism : resistance to pluralism -- Conclusion : the road to reclaiming pluralism in economics.

Until the end of the early 1970s, from a history of economic thought perspective, the mainstream in economics was pluralist, but once neoclassical economics became totally dominant it claimed the mainstream as its own. Since then, alternative views and schools of economics increasingly became minorities in the discipline and were considered 'heterodox'. This book is in honour of John Edward King who has an impressive publication record in the area of economic theory with specific interest in how economic thought in the past shapes current economic theory and enforces certain paths of economic policy and economic development. This book is divided into five themes based on King's interests. The first theme looks at the challenge in trying to reclaim pluralism in economics. The second faces head-on the direct collision of mainstream economics with history of economic thought and heterodox economics. The third addresses classical economic ideas, their central influence in the past and how they can still primarily guide modern pluralist economics. The fourth examines Post Keynesian and Kaleckian economics with a view to providing a more coherent and extensive branch of heterodox economics. The final theme critiques the policy of neoliberalism that has entrenched itself in capitalist economies which have led to financial, industrial, labour, and behavioural/consumerist crises. This text aims to provide a clear path for pluralism to serve the economics discipline as its standard bearer, and to no longer be merely a heterodox challenge to the mainstream. This book is of interest to those who study history of economic thought, political economy and heterodox economics.

AbstractThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed to by all member countries of the United Nations, require urgent action on the world's most pressing problems. Success requires bottom‐up participation of local stakeholders. This case study of Timor‐Leste—a fledgling, fossil fuel‐supported economy—maps the awareness and commitment of grassroots stakeholders to the SDGs and the roadblocks to localisation. Guiding this paper is Habermas' view of societal evolution and communicative action, which aids analysing the socio‐political and structural dynamics affecting SDGs localisation in a developing nation. This study reveals stakeholder inability to articulate a clear vision for the SDGs, lack of human capital and funds, a weak public‐administrative system, strong socio‐political nuances, and poor governance infrastructure to support multi‐stakeholder relationships. This paper provides insights for developing a more nuanced and robust public intervention to support local stakeholders that will enable knowledge, cultural and communication transformations required for successful SDGs localisation.

Economic resilience of regions under crises: a study of the Australian economy, Regional Studies. Identifying patterns of economic resilience in regions by industry categories is the focus of this paper. Patterns emerge from adaptive capacity in four distinct functional groups of local government regions in Australia, in respect of their resilience from shocks on specific industries. A model of regional adaptive cycles around four sequential phases - reorganization, exploitation, conservation and release - is adopted as the framework for recognizing such patterns. A data-mining method utilizes a k-means algorithm to evaluate the impact of two major shocks - a 13-year drought and the Global Financial Crisis - on four functional groups of regions, using census data from 2001, 2006 and 2011. © 2015 Regional Studies Association.

The increasing demand for technology-enabled public sector services drives state agencies to launch information and communication technology (ICT) projects. The Australian and German state agencies are taking a proactive role towards technological change by employing so-called ICT change agents. These ICT change agents introduce, diffuse, manage and implement ICT within projects. Despite the mobilisation of change agents, there is scant research on the formal and informal roles of these key individuals within public sector projects. This article bridges that gap by providing valuable insights into the activities of public sector ICT change agents. It is based on empirical research from six case studies in Australian and German state agencies. Findings from these studies indicate that public sector ICT change agents position organisations to take advantage of cutting edge technologies by performing a great variety of formal and informal roles. Formal roles are performed in order to accomplish set formal project tasks, while informal roles help to speed up rapid ICT adoption and innovation through the change agents' informal networks. The findings are delineated in a framework for future research which shows that formal and informal roles impact on the outcomes of public sector ICT projects. Adapted from the source document.