The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): In Brief

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) among 12 Asia-Pacific countries, with both economic and strategic significance for the United States. If approved, it would be the largest FTA in which the United States participates. The 12 countries announced the conclusion of the TPP negotiations on October 5, 2015, after several years of ongoing talks. The President released the text of the agreement and notified Congress of his intent to sign on November 5, 2015. Congress would need to pass implementing legislation for a final TPP agreement to enter into force for the United States. Such legislation would be eligible to receive expedited legislative consideration under the recent grant of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), P.L. 114-26, if Congress determines the Administration has advanced the TPA negotiating objectives, and met various notification and consultation requirements. TPP negotiating parties include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Through the TPP, the participating countries seek to liberalize trade and investment and establish new rules and disciplines in the region beyond what exists in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The FTA is envisioned as a living agreement that will be open to future members and may become a vehicle to advance a wider Asia-Pacific free trade area. It is a U.S. policy response to the rapidly increasing economic and strategic linkages among Asian-Pacific nations and has become the economic centerpiece of the Administration’s “rebalance” to the region. The TPP has slowly evolved from a more limited agreement among four countries concluded in 2006 into the current 12-country FTA agreement, with the United States joining the negotiations in 2008. Japan, the most recent country to participate, joined the negotiations in 2013. This significantly increased the potential economic significance of the agreement to the United States, because Japan is the largest economy and trading partner without an existing U.S. FTA among TPP negotiating partners (thus having greater scope for trade liberalization with the United States). The United States already has FTAs with 6 of the 11 other countries participating. Malaysia and Vietnam also stand out among the TPP countries without existing U.S. FTAs, given the rapid growth in U.S. trade with the two nations over the past three decades and substantial presence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that will be affected by the TPP’s SOE provisions. Views on the potential impact of the agreement vary. Proponents argue that the TPP has the opportunity to boost economic growth and jobs through expanded trade and investment opportunities with negotiating partners that currently make up 37% of total U.S. goods and services trade, involves writing new trade rules and disciplines, and deepening U.S. trade and investment integration in what many see as the world’s most economically vibrant region. The agreement would eventually eliminate all tariffs on manufactured products and most agricultural goods. It also includes new trade disciplines on issues such as digital trade barriers, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and regulatory coherence, among other provisions. Opponents voice concerns over potential job loss and competition in import-sensitive industries, and how a TPP agreement might limit U.S. ability to regulate in areas such as health, food safety, and the environment, among other concerns. The Obama Administration, joined by many analysts as well as many policymakers in the region, has argued that the strategic value of a potential TPP agreement parallels its economic value, contending that the agreement would strengthen U.S. allies and partners and reaffirm U.S. economic leadership in the region. The President has repeatedly highlighted the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in crafting global trade rules, notably with reference to potentially alternative Chinese initiatives. China is not a party to the TPP. Others argue that past trade pacts have had a limited impact on broad foreign policy dynamics

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Negotiations and Issues for Congress

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a potential free trade agreement (FTA) among 12, and perhaps more, countries (Figure 1). The United States and 11 other countries o f the Asia-Pacific region—Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam—are negotiating the text of the FTA. With over 20 chapters under negotiation, the TPP partners envision the agreement to be “comprehensive and high-standard,” in that they seek to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers to trade in goods, services, and agriculture, and to establish or expand rules on a wide range of issues including intellectual property rights, foreign direct investment, and other trade-related issues. They also strive to create a “21st-century agreement” that addresses new and cross-cutting issues presented by an increasingly globalized economy. The TPP draws congressional interest on a number of fronts. Congress would have to approve implementing legislation for U.S. commitments under the agreement to enter into force. In addition, under long-established executive-legislative practice, the Administration notifies and consults with congressional leaders, before, during, and after trade agreements have been negotiated. Furthermore, the TPP will likely affect a range of sectors and regions of the U.S. economy of direct interest to Members of Congress and could influence the shape and path of U.S. trade policy for the foreseeable future. This report examines the issues related to the proposed TPP, the state and substance of the negotiations (to the degree that the information is publicly available), the specific areas under negotiation, the policy and economic contexts in which the TPP would fit, and the issues for Congress that the TPP presents. The report will be revised and updated as events warrant

An exploratory study of constructive differentiation by managers of multi-ethnic workforces in Indonesia and Malaysia

Indonesia and Malaysia are two of Australia\u27s closest geographical neighbours and represent major trading partners; Malaysia, as one of the economic success stories of Southeast Asia and Indonesia, as the third most populous nation in the world are politically and economically of great significance to business in Australia. Both have experienced racial rioting, the former as recently as 1998, and the later in 1969. Much of the tension that has led to these riots centres around the relationship between the ethnic Chinese communities in these countries and the other ethnic groups, particularly the Pribumi in Indonesia and the Bumiputera in Malaysia. Ethnic Chinese control much of the wealth in these two countries, even though they constitute 3 percent of the population in Indonesia and 27 percent in Malaysia. Understanding the dynamic of the relationship between these groups in a business contact is of immense value to Australia business, particularly in consideration of the wealth of the ethnic Chinese and the proximity of these nations. This research attempts to contribute to that understanding by comparing the management of ethnic groups in each country. This will facilitate the determination of the destination of Australian foreign investment in this region, as well as provide insight for cross-cultural managers. The research is made more significant by the present lack of literature in this area, particularly of a comparative nature. The research suggested, from in depth interviews with ten Indonesian and Malaysian managers that in general, Malaysian managers show a greater degree of positive differentiation in the management of ethnic groups than Indonesia managers, as well as commenting on some of the ramifications of this. This must be qualified by pointing out that there appears to be significant common ground in their respective approaches, but the research suggests that on the whole, Malaysian managers differentiate more positively. The research was limited by a number of factors including time, lack of existing literature and sample size. A number of assumptions were also made, including that the managers interviewed are representative of their respective nations, they were honest in their responses and that mangers tend to follow the wider societal trends in their respective nations. Further research needs to be done not only to support this research, but also to determine the extent of the apparent difference in approach between Malaysia and Indonesia

Self-regulation in multiple sclerosis: the role of illness cognitions and coping in adjustment

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological condition, which affects around 2.5 million people worldwide. At a time when there is yet no recognised cure, it is imperative that MS patients learn to cope and adjust well to living with the illness. However, research has found high rates of psychological distress associated with MS (Minden & Schiffer, 1991). This highlights the need for research to investigate the psychological factors, which make MS patients vulnerable to psychological distress. One popular social cognition model called the Self-Regulation Model (Leventhal et al., 1980) has been found to successfully predict adjustment in a range of chronic illnesses. However, previous research applying the SRM to understand adjustment to MS has been limited. The current research therefore represented the first attempt to successfully apply the full SRM to an MS population prospectively. The present thesis is comprised of three studies and employed a mixed quantitative and qualitative research design method. Studies 1 (N=103) and 3 (N=150) were both quantitative studies, which applied an extended SRM model to clinical samples of MS patients and assessed indices of psychological distress over time. Study 2 (N=15) however was a qualitative study, designed to investigate MS patients experiences of living with the condition. By combining both quantitative and qualitative methods, the findings provided a fuller understanding of the psychological factors underlying successful adjustment to MS. Overall the findings provided some support for the utility of the extended SRM in predicting adjustment to MS and highlighted the importance of positive mind states and acceptance for successful adjustment to the condition. The findings also had a number of clinical implications, which are also discussed

Species sensitivity of zeolite minerals for uptake of mercury solutes

The uptake of inorganic Hg2+ and organometallic CH3Hg+ from aqueous solutions by 11 different natural zeolites has been investigated using a batch distribution coefficient (Kd) method and supported by a preliminary voltammetric study. The effect of mercury concentration on theKd response is shown over an environmentally appropriate concentration range of 0.1-5 ppm inorganic and organometallic Hg using a batch factor of 100 ml g−1 and 20 h equilibration. Analcime and a Na-chabazite displayed the greatest methylmercury uptakes (Kd values at 1.5 ppm of 4023 and 3456, respectively), with mordenite as the smallest at 578. All uptake responses were greater for methylmercury than for the inorganic mercuric nitrate solutions, suggesting a distinctive sensitivity of zeolites to reaction with different types of solute species. It is likely that this sensitivity is attributable to the precise nature of the resultant Hg-zeolite bonds. Additionally, both the Si-Al ratio and the Na content of the initial natural zeolite samples are shown to influence the Kd responses, with positive correlations between Kd and Na content for all zeolites excluding mordenite

Investigating the transfer of toughness from rubber modified bulk epoxy polymers to syntactic foams

Syntactic foams are lightweight, high specific strength materials used in the aerospace and naval 10 industries. Their utility is limited by their brittleness. The epoxy polymer matrix in an epoxy/hollow 11 glass microsphere (GMS) syntactic foam was modified using carboxyl-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile 12 (CTBN) rubber with the aim to increase fracture toughness. The microstructure and fracture properties 13 were investigated, and compared to CTBN modified bulk epoxy polymers. The formation of complex CTBN microstructures was responsible for the increase in fracture energy, from 193 J/m2 14 for the unmodified syntactic foam, to 296 J/m2 15 at 12 wt% CTBN modification. However, this increase is much smaller than for the CTBN modification of bulk epoxy polymers, where an increase from 101 J/m2 16 to 1112 J/m2 17 was measured for the same CTBN concentration. There is little toughness transfer from the 18 bulk epoxy polymers to the syntactic foams, attributable to small interstitial regions between the GMS, 19 restricting plastic zone size. A statistical approach to the analytical modelling of fracture energy in the 20 bulk epoxy polymers highlights the importance of considering the underlying distribution of rubber 21 particle and void sizes. The increase in fracture energy achieved in this work can increase the overall 22 usefulness of syntactic foams in structural applications

The interaction of economic and political inequality in Latin America

We investigate how economic inequality can persist in Latin America in the context of radical falls in political inequality in the last decades. Using data from Colombia, we focus on a critical facet of democratization - the entry of new politicians. We show that initial levels of inequality play a significant role in determining the impact of political entry on local institutions, policy, and development outcomes, which can impact future inequality. A vicious circle emerges whereby policies that reduce inequality are less likely to be adopted and implemented in places with relatively high inequality. We present evidence that this is caused both by the capture of new politicians and barriers to institution and state capacity building, and also by the fact that politicians committed to redistribution are less likely to win in relatively unequal places. Our results, therefore, help to reconcile the persistence of economic inequality with the new political context

The bispectrum of matter perturbations from cosmic strings

We present the first calculation of the bispectrum of the matter perturbations induced by cosmic strings. The calculation is performed in two different ways: the first uses the unequal time correlators (UETCs) of the string network - computed using a Gaussian model previously employed for cosmic string power spectra. The second approach uses the wake model, where string density perturbations are concentrated in sheet-like structures whose surface density grows with time. The qualitative and quantitative agreement of the two gives confidence to the results. An essential ingredient in the UETC approach is the inclusion of compensation factors in the integration with the Green's function of the matter and radiation fluids, and we show that these compensation factors must be included in the wake model also. We also present a comparison of the UETCs computed in the Gaussian model, and those computed in the unconnected segment model (USM) used by the standard cosmic string perturbation package CMBACT. We compare numerical estimates for the bispectrum of cosmic strings to those produced by perturbations from an inflationary era, and discover that, despite the intrinsically non-Gaussian nature of string-induced perturbations, the matter bispectrum is unlikely to produce competitive constraints on a population of cosmic strings

CMB lensing and primordial squeezed non-Gaussianity

Squeezed primordial non-Gaussianity can strongly constrain early-universe physics, but it can only be observed on the CMB after it has been gravitationally lensed. We give a new simple non-perturbative prescription for accurately calculating the effect of lensing on any squeezed primordial bispectrum shape, and test it with simulations. We give the generalization to polarization bispectra, and discuss the effect of lensing on the trispectrum. We explain why neglecting the lensing smoothing effect does not significantly bias estimators of local primordial non-Gaussianity, even though the change in shape can be >~10%. We also show how tau_NL trispectrum estimators can be well approximated by much simpler CMB temperature modulation estimators, and hence that there is potentially a ~10-30% bias due to very large-scale lensing modes, depending on the range of modulation scales included. Including dipole sky modulations can halve the tau_NL error bar if kinematic effects can be subtracted using known properties of the CMB temperature dipole. Lensing effects on the g_NL trispectrum are small compared to the error bar. In appendices we give the general result for lensing of any primordial bispectrum, and show how any full-sky squeezed bispectrum can be decomposed into orthogonal modes of distinct angular dependence.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures; minor edits to match published versio