Suchergebnisse

This thesis examines the relationship between media reporting and Sydney's construction as a global city over the period 1983-2008. Following Friedmann, Sassen and others it views globalisation as a process of consolidation in command and control functions in the global economy, financed through the massive creation of liquidity via expanding debt, and enabled by producer services located in a network of 'global cities'. Theoretically, it considers major debates in urban sociology and the sociology of journalism and seeks to reconcile approaches in the two fields to achieve a theoretically coherent framework for analysis that can encompass the changing political economy of Sydney and the ways in which media representation is related to this process. In globalisation studies it examines the meta-theoretical post-industrial/ network society arguments associated with Bell and Castells, and compares them with the neo-Marxist spatiality theses associated with Harvey and Arrighi, and Foster and Magdoff on financialisation. It then discusses the global cities literature in the context of Australian urban studies. In media sociology it starts with the debate about source-journalist power relations. Following Schlesinger and Benson, it offers a critical evaluation of Bourdieu's field theory. It then adopts a framework drawing on Bourdieu, together with Harvey and Lefebvre on spatiality and Gell on temporality, to consider the complexity of dynamic power relations between journalists and other sources of power. There follow two complementary empirical case studies of communication contests over (i) debt-induced growth in the Sydney residential real estate market and (ii) the demutualisation of the largest Australian general insurer, NRMA Insurance Group Ltd. The case studies examine the differing field relations of journalistic reporting and investigation of those activities in select newspapers. It argues that the journalism was deeply engaged with and/or influenced by the interests and activities of its sources in the ...

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In this paper we first consider alternative measures of efficiency. We explain why simple partial productivity measures are inadequate as the basis of overall measures of efficiency, and outline two alternative approaches. The first is technical efficiency - the degree to which output is maximised for a given level of inputs (or conversely inputs are minimised for a given output) - and the second is cost efficiency, the degree to which costs are minimised for a given level of output. Cost efficiency implies technical efficiency but also allocative efficiency - choosing a cost minimising mix of inputs. We explain why we prefer to measure cost efficiency, both in terms of what governments and regulators are interested in and in terms of practical data problems. We then examine applications of cost function analysis to two areas. The first is rail privatisation in Britain. British experience has seen a large increase in traffic, but also a similar increase in costs. We review attempts to understand and explain both the increase in passenger train operating cost and infrastructure cost using cost function analysis. The second is European rail reform. Countries in Europe have adopted a wide variety of approaches to rail reform, and studies using a mix of European and other countries should be able to shed light on the important question of what works best in different circumstances. Finally we consider how efficiency analysis techniques need to develop in future to address current weaknesses and tackle new challenges.