Skill and Australia's productivity surge

Skill and Australia’s Productivity Surge examines the changing demand for skills and the effect of increased skill on productivity growth. It finds that Australia’s productivity surge post 1993-94 was mainly due to factors other than the increase in the skill of the workforce.skill - productivity - labour - MFP - employment

Productivity and the structure of employment

The paper examines the structure of employment defined by industry, skill, age, part-time and casual employment status and the distribution of earnings. Employment patterns, and changes in employment profiles, are examined for differences between high productivity growth industry sectors and low productivity growth industry sectors.productivity - employment - labour - workforce - education - occupation - unemployment - skills

Productivity in manufacturing: measurement and interpretation

This paper examines recent productivity performance in Manufacturing, with particular focus on the causes of its decline. In particular, this paper: analyses Multifactor productivity (MFP) change and its proximate causes (value added, labour and capital inputs) for Manufacturing as a whole estimates MFP change and its components at the subsector level within Manufacturing examines factors influencing the productivity performance of Manufacturing and three of its largest constituent subsectors (as they have contributed most to recent trends in aggregate performance). Authored by Paula Barnes, Leo Soames, Cindy Li and Marcelo Munoz. Key points: Multifactor productivity (MFP) growth in Manufacturing was negative over the most recent complete productivity cycle (2003-04 to 2007-08), in contrast to the positive growth in the previous cycle. This large decline was atypical for Manufacturing, and since then MFP has continued to decline (although more slowly). Manufacturing\u27s MFP decline was a major contributor to flat market sector MFP. There is no overarching systemic reason for the large decline. Rather, various subsector-specific factors, such as lags between investment and output; unmeasured increases in quality; and lower capacity utilisation all contributed. Some factors reflect temporary responses to changing competitive conditions. Faster rates of input growth (capital and hours worked) and slower output (value added) growth were the \u27proximate causes\u27 of this Manufacturing MFP decline. Petroleum, coal, chemical and rubber products (PCCR), Food, beverage and tobacco products (FBT), and Metal products (MP) collectively accounted for two-thirds of the decline between cycles. Influences on each subsector were diverse. PCCR output declined in absolute terms over the most recent cycle (after growing over the previous cycle), and yet there was a large increase in capital investment. Petroleum refineries invested to meet new environmental standards, but the improved fuel quality is not fully reflected in the output measure, and thus in MFP. Value added per unit of output also declined, as greater volumes of feedstock and refined fuel were imported in response to reduced output from domestic oilfields. For plastic products, increased production by overseas firms with lower input costs and the appreciation of the Australian dollar led to strong import competition. Domestic production declined, leading to underutilised capacity. Higher demand for fertilisers and explosives led to very large investments to expand chemical production, but there was a lag before output increased. Food and beverages output growth slowed, yet hours worked increased significantly. Slower output growth was associated with a decline in exports and a loss of domestic market share for some products — reflecting input cost pressures, appreciation of the Australian dollar, and, in cases such as wine, drought. Consumer preferences also drove changes in the composition of output that increased the input intensity of production — for example, there was growth in smaller scale, more labour intensive, non-factory bakeries. But the decline in MFP in FBT may have been overstated due to challenges in measuring improved output quality and reductions in the capital stock. Metal products was different, with faster output growth and even faster input growth. Fabricated metals output grew strongly to meet increased demand from the Construction and Mining sectors. Metal products was responsible for most of the capital growth in Manufacturing, largely to expand alumina refining capacity. However, the inevitable lag between investment and ensuing output led to lower measured productivity. The MFP decline in Manufacturing has slowed in the current incomplete cycle. MFP growth in PCCR and FBT remains negative and it is marginally positive in MP

Distribution of the Economic Gains of the 1990s

„h Australia¡¦s surge in productivity growth in the 1990s fuelled an acceleration in growth in total income and average income (income per person in Australia). ¡V Annual average income growth accelerated from 1.4 per cent in the 1970s and 1980s to 2.5 per cent in the 1990s. ¡V Faster productivity growth accounted for over 90 per cent of the acceleration. „h The income growth of the 1990s was distributed evenly between labour (wages and salaries) and capital (profits). The labour and capital shares in economywide income were stable throughout the 1990s. Concerns that productivity-enhancing factors have adversely affected the income-earning potential of labour appear to be unfounded at the aggregate level.economic gains - distribution - living standards - income - productivity - employment - wealth - consumption - education - health - housing - environment - working hours

Distributed energy resources and energy communities: exploring a systems engineering view of an emerging phenomenon

This working paper is part of Work Package 4 of the NEWCOMERS project and explores the interface of two popular concepts in energy transition discourse: distributed energy resources (DERs) and energy communities (ECs). DERs are expected to play an increasingly prominent role in the creation and operation of decarbonised and decentralised energy systems. ECs have been proposed, by the European Commission amongst others, as holding the potential to empower energy consumers, making them active participants in energy systems who use, own and manage DERs. On the surface, ECs appear to be well positioned to develop DERs in the realisation of decentralised and decarbonised energy futures. This working paper examines and ultimately challenges this assumption. To take a closer look at contemporary EC activity, the paper first clarifies what DERs are conceptually, and then applies this understanding to the 10 NEWCOMER ECs to assess the extent to which they employ DERs within their current and potential future operation. Based on a review of the literature, we suggest the concept of DERs is a system engineering view of energy systems. We define DERs as technologies and activities that contribute to establishing low-carbon, renewables-based energy systems; that can be drawn on when necessary to manage renewable energy systems; and that are located on the distribution network, often on the customer side of the meter. In doing so we highlight that what characterises DERs is their capability – rather than merely their potential – to support the management of renewables-based energy systems. This is an important distinction that is often overlooked in the literature. Analysing our NEWCOMERS case studies through a DER lens reveals that distributed generation based on renewable sources is the most prominent type of DER delivered by our case studies. Their main contribution to power networks is increasing the amount of renewably generated electricity and reducing demand for grid-sourced electricity. Other services, such as storage and demand-side management, are offered by only a small number of cases. Although the ECs we assessed use many of the technologies that have the potential to be a DER, they often do not exploit that potential. The difference is in the purpose of technologies ECs employ and the activities they undertake, which is usually not concerned with energy system operation. By implication, ECs are not configured in a way that makes their technologies or activities resources for system management. A possible (partial) explanation for the limited development of DERs by ECs is that there are currently few incentives for ECs, or indeed other energy system actors, to contribute to system balancing at the level of distribution networks. If ECs are to support emerging decentralised, renewables-based energy systems through deploying technologies that can be drawn on when necessary to balance energy systems, then a variety of incentives will be required. This implies that in advancing the energy transition, it is important to consider both the value ECs may offer networks through the increased deployment of DERs, as well as the value energy systems may offer communities. More broadly, our examination suggests that the DER and EC lenses are contrasting ways of thinking about energy systems, their intersection emphasising that energy systems must embody and deliver multiple values to a variety of system stakeholders

Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Inhabiting Stands of Reed Canary Grass Phalaris Arundinacea on Islands in the Lower Chippewa River, Wisconsin

We used pitfall traps to assess ground beetle diversity (Coleoptera:Carabidae) on two islands in the lower Chippewa River, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, with rapidly expanding populations of reed canary grass, Phalaris arundinaceae. We collected 233 individuals belonging to 17 species over four, 3-9 day sampling periods, May-August 1994. All species have been documented in Wisconsin and most are considered habitat generalists. Agonum fidele, A. extensicolle, Anisodactylus harrisii and Bembidion quadrimaculatum oppositum comprised 70% of all species collected. Seven species were common to both islands, with 13 species collected on Canarygrass Island and 11 species on Ski Jump Island. Carabid species diversity (Shannon’s H=2.01) was greatest on Canarygrass Island

Smartening local energy in Europe: a comparative analysis of three cases and their implications for supporting transformative governance practices

Achieving global sustainability goals, while maintaining or increasing access to energy services, calls for agile and many-faceted responses. The pursuit of ‘smart local energy systems’ is one such response that involves a paradigm shift, taking the concept of an energy system away from large-scale power plants and fuel stores towards more flexible configurations to harness renewable energy flows, with highly distributed physical assets, actors, skills and controls. Smart local energy requires citizens, industry, utilities and government bodies to collaborate and learn together in order to develop effective modes of governing that meet sustainability goals and provide reliable, accessible energy services. In this article, we introduce practical implications of creating more localised energy systems with the aid of digital technologies. We then analyse three emerging European energy communities in terms of their actors, activities and alliances, to build an understanding of governance practices within and beyond the communities that are capable of fostering transformative change towards sustainability. From this, we argue that maintaining progress towards smart local energy systems requires transformative governance within and beyond initiatives. It requires local governance arrangements that are agile and responsive to new actors and activities as well as to broader external circumstances

New Voices on the Harlem Renaissance: Essays on Race, Gender,and Literary Discourse

Emily J. Orlando is a contributing author, “‘Feminine Calibans’ and ‘Dark Madonnas of the Grave’: The Imaging of Black Women in the New Negro Renaissance.” This volume of essays, privileging mostly new scholars in the field of Harlem Renaissance studies, is a representative sampling of the kind of literary scholarship and continuing study needed for this period, also often referred to as the New Negro Renaissance. As a body, the collection recognizes the evolving literary discourse that reflects interdisciplinarity and fluidity among boundaries of race, class, gender, sexuality, and pedagogy. Aimed at scholars, college teachers, upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and those with special affection and interest in the era, these essays are divided into three sections: exploring the modernist project through Harlem Renaissance writers\u27 views of art, using empire and gender as focal points; critiquing the politics of color and race, sexuality and hybridity; and examining the pedagogical and technical aspects of poetry, fiction, and other art forms. The essays on empire and gender are very different, showing the dialogic quality of the era itself. However, both feature Alain Locke and The New Negro, first published in 1925. The first argues that Locke engages in the rhetoric of empire as he advances notions that, as the superior race, African Americans can enhance African art while using it to improve their status in America. The second compares visual images of women in Locke\u27s book to illustrations by Gwendolyn Bennett and Lois Mailou Jones, to explore women\u27s and men\u27s depictions of each other during the era. Taken together, the second section of essays, on Dorothy West, Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman,and Countee Cullen, treat multiple migrations, from social, economic, and racial passing to sexual and homoerotic identification. The third section includes essays about Langston Hughes and teaching the Harlem Renaissance through literature and the arts. While one essay views Hughes as a source through which to teach composition, the other uses a technological and jazz lens to examine Hughes\u27s poem, The Weary Blues . The final essay advocates a more integrative approach, teaching the era as an interdisciplinary, collaborative movement involving literature and the arts, and thereby emphasizing the ways the artists themselves saw, lived, and contributed to the cultural life of their time. --Publisher descriptionhttps://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/english-books/1004/thumbnail.jp