Developing Equtiable and Affordable Government Responses to Drought in Australia

Once again in 2002 Australian taxpayers are being called on to provide relief to drought-affected farmers. Under the National Drought Policy which has been in place since 1992, support is provided by the Commonwealth Government predominantly in two forms: interest rate subsidies to assist farm businesses and a special welfare payment, the Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment. Support is available under these programs only to farmers in geographically defined areas which have been declared to be experiencing 'exceptional circumstances'. This paper describes a number of problems with this approach and suggests an alternative form of drought relief based on the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, which is more equitable between farmers, less regressive in its impact on tax payers, and less open to politicisation.

Income Contingent Loans for Drought Relief: Delivering better outcomes for farmers and taxpayers

Australia’s National Drought Policy is considered to be one of the most advanced in the world, recognising as it does the reality of climate and focusing on adapting farm management to climatic uncertainty rather than simply subsidising agriculture in low rainfall areas. But while the underlying principles of the Policy seem to be sound, after nearly two decades of implementation and incremental changes to the instruments applied under the policy have resulted in the loss of the risk management message, ongoing use of the exceptional circumstances provisions and growing inequities between farmers, and between farmers and non-farmers. In this paper we argue that the objectives of the Policy need to be reaffirmed and key policy changes made to ensure the outcomes of the policy more closely align with its intentions. We analyse financing policy issues and propose the introduction of an income contingent loan (ICL) for drought relief as an equitable and efficient policy instrument for delivering relief to farm businesses experiencing drought, and perhaps for other adverse circumstances. It is argued that such a policy reform would allow farm businesses to take advantage of ICL insurance benefits associated with default protection and income smoothing, while at the same time minimising taxpayer contributions to drought relief.drought relief; income contingent loans; rural policy

Income Related Loans for Drought Relief

There is arguably a consensus that the current approach to drought relief is in need of reform and possibly replacement with an improved government financial assistance mechanism. Grants to farmers, in the form of interest rate subsidies, have several difficulties, which in summary are as follows: i. There are typically too few financial resources to be drawn from government to address adequately and equitably the needs of farms in a dire drought situation. ii. The rationing arising from (i) means that access to assistance requires complex eligibility criteria, resulting in application and administrative processes that are complex and thus expensive for both farmers and government. iii. Grants for drought relief are financed by contributions from all taxpayers, and it is very likely to be the case that this is regressive. Average taxpayers will be less wealthy and have fewer other economic advantages than the majority of farmers assisted through drought relief. This paper outlines the potential advantages and challenges associated with the implementation of income related loan arrangements for drought relief as a possible alternative to the existing interest rate subsidy scheme. The conceptual basis of income related loans is explained, and reference is made to the application of policies of this type in other areas of government financial intervention. The paper addresses the administrative challenges associated with such a policy reform, with reference to the idiosyncrasies of agricultural financing. An illustrative example is offered of what an income related loan applied to drought assistance might mean for the time stream of both revenue for the Commonwealth budget and repayment obligations for farms differing by economic size.income related loans, drought policy, agricultural subsidies

Will Polish nationals feel at home in Scotland after Brexit?

How does it feel to be a Polish national in Scotland after the EU referendum? Kate Botterill (Edinburgh Napier University) discusses how the result and subsequent uncertainty affected them, and the strategies they have adopted to deal with it. Post-Brexit, the Scottish Government want a different approach to migration from the rest of the UK, which may lead to stronger identification with Scotland among many Poles living in the country. Nonetheless, Scottish public attitudes towards migration appear to be hardening

Balancing values in the agricultural policy process

[Introduction]: Since the introduction of agriculture into the international trade debate in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, there has been increased focus on the nature of agricultural support policies in the developed countries. Concepts such as “multi-functionality” have drawn attention to the multiple goals that governments attempt to pursue through agricultural policy and the negotiating construct of the “Green Box” has been introduced to accommodate “legitimate” non-trade concerns such as environmental protection, regional development programs and direct income supports for farmers that are not related to production levels or prices. The Green Box is one of three “boxes” of domestic support, the other two being the Amber Box which contains support measures subject to limits under the Agriculture Agreement and the Blue Box which covers subsides that are tied to programs that limit production. The Green Box provides recognition within the international negotiations that governments use agricultural policies to achieve a variety of objectives from income support to environmental protection. This paper proposes a means for identifying the nature of the balance that is struck by governments between different values competing for support through agricultural policy settings

Proton charge and magnetic rms radii from the elastic epep scattering data

The elastic electron-proton scattering data are analysed in order to determine proton charge and magnetic rms radii, r_E and r_M. Along with the usual statistical error, we try to estimate a systematic error in the radii, caused by the inadequacy of particular form factor parameterization employed. The range of data to use in the analysis is chosen so as to minimize the total (statistical + systematic) error. We obtain r_E = 0.912 +- 0.009 (stat) +- 0.007 (syst) fm, and r_M = 0.876 +- 0.010 (stat) +- 0.016 (syst) fm. The cross-section data were corrected for two-photon exchange. We found that without such corrections obtained r_E and r_M are somewhat smaller while the quality of fit is worse.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Numbers slightly changed due to discovered error in minimization program. Sec.III revised, discussion of G_E behaviour added

Novel colours and the content of experience

I propose a counterexample to naturalistic representational theories of phenomenal character. The counterexample is generated by experiences of novel colours reported by Crane and Piantanida. I consider various replies that a representationalist might make, including whether novel colours could be possible colours of objects and whether one can account for novel colours as one would account for binary colours or colour mixtures. I argue that none of these strategies is successful and therefore that one cannot fully explain the nature of the phenomenal character of perceptual experiences using a naturalistic conception of representation

Underperforming policy networks : the biopesticides network in the United Kingdom

Loosely integrated and incomplete policy networks have been neglected in the literature. They are important to consider in terms of understanding network underperformance. The effective delivery and formulation of policy requires networks that are not incomplete or underperforming. The biopesticides policy network in the United Kingdom is considered and its components identified with an emphasis on the lack of integration of retailers and environmental groups. The nature of the network constrains the actions of its agents and frustrates the achievement of policy goals. A study of this relatively immature policy network also allows for a focus on network formation. The state, via an external central government department, has been a key factor in the development of the network. Therefore, it is important to incorporate such factors more systematically into understandings of network formation. Feedback efforts from policy have increased interactions between productionist actors but the sphere of consumption remains insufficiently articulated