Crisis? What crisis? Australia after(?) the economic crisis

The global economic crisis is not over for Australia. Instead, its effects have been delayed rather than avoided. China’s economic stimulus delayed the impact of the crisis, but as Chinese economy rebalances and its growth slows, Australian policy-makers will have to deal with a series of structural economic vulnerabilities exacerbated by the resources boom. These vulnerabilities include declining demand for resources and high levels of private debt. Australian policy-makers – both political and bureaucratic – maintain through their words and actions that Australia will continue to benefit from Chinese and Asian growth well into the future and that the economy will transition away from the mining boom with few policy innovations required apart from fiscal rectitude. Policy-makers do not view Australia’s growing China dependence as a problem. The paper argues that Australia’s ‘modified’ economic liberal policy framework aims to reinforce Australia’s current economic ‘strengths’ and neglects the significance of economic vulnerabilities and the need for a more diverse economic structure. The embrace of economic liberalism is not total, as many commentators note, but the policy framework enables policy-makers to reject policy activism and justify smaller government

Targeting Employment Expansion, Economic Growth and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Outlines of an Alternative Economic Programme for the Region

This paper outlines the elements of a development-targeted economic framework aimed at creating decent employment opportunities as a strategy for realizing core human development goals in Africa. Four policy areas form the core of the paper: monetary policy and inflation, exchange rate policy, development finance and financial sector reforms, and public investment and fiscal policy. This paper draws heavily on three large UNDP-sponsored studies of employment-oriented economic policies in Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. The paper aims to discuss the elements of an alternative, development-targeted economic framework for African countries in general and, in doing so, the analysis draws on examples, research, and statistics from a wide range of countries.Africa, macroeconomics, employment, finance, exchange rates, inflation.

Modelling Agricultural Diffuse Pollution: CAP – WFD Interactions and Cost Effectiveness of Measures

Within the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the design of effective and sustainable agricultural and water resources management policies presents multiple challenges. This paper presents a methodological framework that will be used to identify synergies and trade-offs between the CAP and the WFD in relation to their economic and water resources environmental effects, and to assess the cost-effectiveness of measures to control water pollution, in a representative case study catchment in Scotland. The approach is based on the combination of a biophysical simulation model (CropSyst) with a mathematical programming model (FSSIM-MP), so as to provide a better understanding and representation of the economic and agronomic/environmental processes that take place within the agricultural system.Bio-economic Modelling, Water Framework Directive, Common Agricultural Policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The importance of ideas: an a priori critical juncture framework

This paper sets out an improved framework for examining critical junctures. This framework, while rigorous and broadly applicable and an advance on the frameworks currently employed, primarily seeks to incorporate an a priori element. Until now the frameworks utilized in examining critical junctures were entirely postdictive. Adding a predictive element to the concept will constitute a significant advance. The new framework, and its predictive element, termed the “differentiating factor,” is tested here in examining macro-economic crises and subsequent changes in macro-economic policy, in America and Sweden

Economic Linkages Across Space

We develop a diagrammatic framework that can be used to study the economic linkages between regions or cities. Hitherto, such linkages have not been the primary focus of either the theoretical or empirical literatures. We show that our general framework can be used to interpret both the New Economic Geography and Urban Systems literatures to help us understand spatial economic linkages. We then extend the theoretical framework to allow us to consider a number of additional issues which may be particularly important for analyzing the impact of policy. Such policy analysis will also require empirical work to identify the nature of key relationships. In a final section, we consider what the existing empirical literature can tell us about these relationships.Spatial linkages, Urban systems, New Economic Geography, Urban and regional policy

Economic Development Strategies: Examples from Europe and Australia

By looking at very different aspects of regional economic development theory and policy as well as geographical areas, this paper provides a foundation of economic strategies applicable to many regions. The focus is set on a flexible and holistic approach to be able to include a wide range of economic development and wellbeing indictor and to offer an alternative to the neoclassical development framework. The European regional policy is used as an example to analyse policy in a theoretical economic development framework. The Australian example is a practical case study of a small rural shire showing the issues individual regions are facing when they are dealing with regional development on a local level.

Monetary Policy and the Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates

The recent financial crisis and global economic slowdown have renewed interest in monetary policy options when the policy interest rate is at or near zero. This article examines how different monetary policy frameworks might help to lower the risk and economic cost of such a scenario. The authors present an analytical framework for examining monetary policy at the zero bound, particularly the role of inflation expectations in lowering the real interest rate. The influence of inflation targeting on inflation expectations and how forward guidance or a conditional commitment to future monetary policy may augment traditional monetary policy actions are also examined. The authors then examine recent research on the efficacy of price-level targeting (PLT) at the zero bound, which demonstrates that a credible PLT framework can reduce the likelihood of hitting the zero bound and lessen the economic costs of remaining there. PLT is also found to offer stabilization advantages in "normal" times, although these hinge critically on the degree of credibility of the PLT regime.

Migration and Economic Growth: a 21st Century Perspective

While there is extensive literature on the determinants of migration and its microeconomic effects, the New Zealand theoretical or empirical literature specifically examining the effects of migration on economic growth is not as comprehensive. In New Zealand there has been an implicit underlying assumption that immigration is good for economic growth, as evidenced by the attempted use of immigration to resolve particular labour market problems. This paper uses the growth accounting policy framework to discuss the mechanisms through which immigration can impact economic growth. It reviews the contemporary literature with a view to identifying how immigration policy may be adjusted to improve the potential returns to growth from immigration in New Zealand.Migration, immigration, emigration, economic growth, growth accounting framework, New Zealand

Monetary Policy In Islamic Economic Framework: Case of Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract When we accept money and its functions in the Islamic economic framework, the same as all other economic systems, we should consider monetary policy as an important available tool for governments to pursuit macroeconomic objectives. But the problem is that, in the conventional economic system, the interest rate plays a critical role for executing monetary policy while in the Islamic economic framework, interest rate is forbidden according to Shariah rules and we are not allowed to use interest based instruments for monetary policy. The dominant view between Islamic scholars is that, since interest based instruments like open market operation is forbidden in Islamic economics, hear, we should only use monetary aggregate instruments like credit ceiling for executing monetary policy. But in reality, many Islamic countries do not restrict theirselves to only monetary aggregate instruments; instead, they use widely profit rate instruments like Musharakah certificates as a substitute for interest based instruments. What we discuss in this paper is the explanation for this gap between theory and practice in the monetary policy of Islamic economic system. Comparing interest based instruments and monetary aggregate instruments from economic point of view shows that, when we use interest based instruments, there is more macroeconomic stability in goods and money markets after executing monetary policy. This advantage of interest based instruments over monetary aggregate instruments has made monetary officials of Islamic countries like Islamic republic of Iran, use extensively profit rate instruments like Musharakah certificates for executing monetary policy.Islamic Economics; Islamic Monetary Policy; Iranian Monetary System

AGGLOMERATION AND THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE SPATIAL ECONOMY

We consider the literatures on urban systems and New Economic Geography to examine questions concerning agglomeration and how areas respond to shocks to the economic environment. We first propose a diagrammatic framework to compare the two approaches. We then use this framework to study a number of extensions and to consider several policy relevant issues.Urban systems