9,094 research outputs found

    Oil Security Short- and Long-Term Policies

    Get PDF
    Increasing oil security represents one of the most important policy actions, especially within IEA countries. Short and long term mechanisms could help such goal. On the short term side, revision of IEA emergency response oil stock system has been discussed. The attention is mainly focused on three issues: the high costs of stock management for private industries, the possible use of strategic reserves to smooth price when no high supply disruption has taken, the extension of IEA emergency system to non-OECD countries. The main actions specifically proposed by the European Commission are: an harmonisation of national storage systems, with the institution of public and private agency, a wider co-ordinated use of security stocks, and an increase in the physical amount of oil stocks. Long term measures for enhancing oil supply security can be seen on the demand-side and the supply-side. Main demand-side policies could be the following: energy saving and efficiency, investments in research and technology, and reduction of oil price inelasticity especially for transport sector. Main supply-side policies can be summarized into co-operation and institutional promotion for supply diversification of suppliers/routes. Main factors that could affect described policies could be the liberalization of international trade even in the energy sector and the increasing role of oil demand from developing countries.Oil, Security, Energy

    Western Australia and the evolving regional order: challenges and opportunities

    Get PDF
    Executive Summary: 21st century Asia is a powerhouse in the contemporary global economy. In a short period of time it has closed the development gap between the Region and the rest of the world. All indications suggest that this growth performance will continue into the foreseeable future.Australia’s high levels of economic growth over the last decade are directly related to Asia’s ‘economic miracle,’ with Western Australia playing a lead role in Australia’s regional economic engagement. Indeed, the State has accounted for nearly 50 per cent of Australia’s commodity export trade in recent years, concentrated overwhelmingly in Asia. In this sense Australia, and Western Australia in particular, are becoming increasingly ‘hard wired’ into the Region. This presents many opportunities but also challenges.The First Murdoch Commission was established to identify how these opportunities may be pursued and how the challenges may be addressed. The initial impetus was that future prosperity required well-informed strategies and policy settings to optimise potential benefits and sustainable gains.The broad context of the inquiry was the contemporary rise of Asia. This rise is a story of success, yet it is success accompanied by significant challenges. Deepening regional integration is an essential part of the story, with the effect of distributing risks as well as benefits. The ongoing performance of the Region is thus also a question about addressing major problems including rapid urbanisation, resources security, demographic burdens and environmental pressures.This insight underpinned the deliberations of the Commission and its investigation of how economic engagement and the growing interdependency of Western Australia, Australia and the Region can be pursued to enhance mutual benefit and long-term resilience.A distinct feature of the Commission’s investigations was its regional approach. This included the composition of the Commission’s membership, and a series of meetings and consultations with various stakeholder groups and individuals in major regional centres. This approach was taken precisely because Australia’s core interests are now closely intertwined with Asia’s continuing prosperity and stability.The Commission found that there is a strategic choice to be taken by Australia: whether to remain a mere exporter to the Region or to become a more active participant engaging in the Region. The former choice leaves Australia susceptible to the volatilities of a game that it has little capacity to influence. By contrast, the latter offers Australia far greater potential influence, opportunity and long-term benefit for its economic prosperity and wider future. Efforts in this space should not underestimate the major challenges confronting both the Region and the Australian economy, and how regional cooperation can provide ways to address these challenges.Western Australia provided a fertile case for the Commission to examine regional opportunities and challenges from the standpoint of a sub-national unit. There is potential for Western Australia to develop a more prominent role in the Region, and the Commission identified various possibilities at hand.The Commission concluded that greater regional engagement offered many benefits. This includes opportunities for Australia to contribute to addressing some of the major challenges in the Region, especially in areas such as food security and capacity building. Western Australia in particular has a lot to offer and a lot to gain in this respect

    U.S. Food Aid Reform through Alternative Dispute Resolution

    Get PDF

    Taxation in the Digital Economy

    Get PDF
    A robust and efficient tax administration in a modern tax system requires effective tax policies and legislation. Policy frameworks should cover all aspects of tax administration and include the essential processes of capturing, processing, analyzing, and responding to information provided by taxpayers and others concerning taxpayers’ affairs. By far the greatest challenges facing tax administrations in all countries are those posed by the continuing developments in the digital economy. Whereas societies are grappling to come to terms with the transitions from the third industrial or digital revolutions, revenue authorities grapple with the consequences for the sustainability of their tax bases and the efficient administration and collection of taxes. This book presents a critical review of the status of tax systems in Asia and the Pacific in the era of the digital economy. The book suggests how countries can maximize their domestic resource mobilization when confronted by the challenges that digitalization inevitably produces, as well as how they can best harness or take advantage of aspects of digitalization to serve their own needs. The full implications of the COVID-19 crisis are still too uncertain to predict, but it is clear that the crisis will accelerate the trend towards digitalization and also increase pressures on public finances. This, in turn, may shape the preference for, and the nature of, both multilateral and unilateral responses to the tax challenges posed by digitalization and the need to address them. This book will be a timely reference for those researching on taxation in digital economy and for policy makers.

    State-Owned Enterprise Reform

    Get PDF
    This United Nations Policy Note on State-Owned Enterprise Reform provides practical guidance on alternative policies to reform SOEs and manage natural resource rents. This Policy Note has been developed in cooperation with UN agencies, and has been officially reviewed by distinguished academics/ development specialists such as Jose Antonio Ocampo, Jomo K.S. and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.state-owned enterprises, management natural resource rents, development planning

    Public Procurement:Theory, Practices and Tools

    Get PDF

    Public Procurement:Theory, Practices and Tools

    Get PDF

    Public Procurement:Theory, Practices and Tools

    Get PDF
    This upper-level open access textbook uses an interdisciplinary perspective to discuss the ‘what and why’ of public procurement, providing insight into the ‘how’ of contemporary procurement in the public sector. The authors use theories and exemplary practices to show the next generation of public procurement professionals how public value can be created via the acquisition of works, supplies, or services by organizations operating in the public domain. Perfectly tailored to university students in public administration, law, economics, or management and those in executive education, the book first describes and explains the public procurement process, the concept of public value, the legal context of procurement and how the procurement function is organized in public organizations. The book subsequently explains how a procurement policy can be developed and translated into a procurement strategy, how tenders can be organized, suppliers selected, and contracts designed and evaluated. A final discussion chapter addresses the changes and developments in public procurement and how public procurement is moving forward. The reader of this innovative and accessible book will therefore not only learn what public procurement entails, but also how they can become a professional change agent in the field of public procurement. Forward-thinking and comprehensive, this book offers ideal reading for anyone interested in public procurement
    corecore