Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy

During the last three decades, developing countries have made enormous strides in opening up their protected domestic markets to international trade and foreign investment. Yet most countries have not simply opened up their markets. They have also instituted a range of policies to encourage exports, attract foreign direct investment(FDI), promote innovation, and favor some industries over others. This leads to the following question: is openness to trade and FDI alone sufficient to achieve high growth rates in developing countries? If harnessing the gains from globalization requires additional policies, can we identify them? While some types of complementary policies, such as building roads and ports, are not controversial, others are. Bhagwati's suggestion to "attract foreign funds" implies tilting incentives in favor of foreign investors, which means abandoning policy neutrality. Our goal in this chapter is to explore the popular but controversial idea that developing countries benefit from abandoning policy neutrality vis-a-vis trade, FDI and resource allocation across industries.Trade, Foreign Investment, Industrial Policy, Developing Countries

New graduate registered nurse practice readiness for Australian healthcare contexts: a collective instrumental case study

For new graduate registered nurses (NGRNs) practice readiness, or the ability to enter the healthcare setting and practice competently as a registered nurse (RN) is essential for safe patient care and meeting the needs of healthcare providers (individuals and institutions) (HCPs). A NGRN's level of practice readiness can affect transition to the RN role, retention rates and patient safety. Studies aimed at exploring the preparation and transition of NGRNs from student to RN suggest that NGRNs are not 'practice ready'. Researchers that have investigated the concept of practice readiness describe it as a multidimensional concept that is poorly defined and shaped by context. Researchers examining the practice readiness of Australian NGRNs have focussed on specific geographic areas and healthcare contexts; undergraduate nurses (UGNs); or involved graduates from other professions. Minimal research has been undertaken to explore the perspectives of healthcare professionals working with NGRNs in Australian healthcare settings across diverse geographic locations. While growing evidence implies that NGRNs are not practice ready, a common understanding of NGRN practice readiness and how practice readiness is achieved, measured and determined remains unclear and variable. As a result, inconsistencies in expectations exist between HCPs, NGRNs and education providers. Such inconsistencies can lead to NGRNs having difficulty meeting HCPs' expectations, adjusting to their new role and providing a safe standard of care. Using a multiple case study approach, the concept of NGRN practice readiness from the perspective of healthcare professionals in Queensland, Australia is explored. Four case studies of healthcare institutions in four different geographic locations were completed. Constructivism and symbolic interactionism were used as the theoretical framework to help explain how individual HCP's perception, context and practice intersect to conceptualise descriptions and meanings of NGRN practice readiness. Methods employed for data generation and collection included individual and focus group interviews; document review; field notes; and memos. Individual and cross-case analyses were conducted using selected grounded theory methods of coding and categorising of data; concurrent data collection and analysis; constant comparative analysis; and memo writing. Data from each case were integrated and interpreted against the research questions to provide an in-depth understanding of NGRN practice readiness. The cross-case analysis identified four major categories: Dominance of context; Determining practice readiness; Defining practice readiness; and Developing practice readiness. The findings highlight how decisions about practice readiness are informed by HCP's personal and professional context. Practice readiness is defined as a multidimensional concept encompassing personal, clinical, industry and professional capabilities. Findings indicate that acquiring the required level of practice readiness relies on factors present in a NGRN's pre- and post-registration education and clinical experiences and occurs across a 4-year continuum of learning that includes a NGRN's first year of practice, where the NGRN makes the final transition from student to professional RN. Recommendations from this study will inform policies and practices that aim to improve NGRN practice readiness and consequently their transition, integration and retention in the healthcare workforce

Chapter 63 – Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries

In this chapter we explore the popular but controversial idea that developing countries benefit from abandoning policy neutrality vis-a-vis trade, FDI and resource allocation across industries. Are developing countries justified in imposing tariffs, subsidies, and tax breaks that imply distortions beyond the ones associated with optimal taxes or revenue constraints? We refer to this set of government interventions as “industrial policy.” We explore the theoretical foundation for industrial policy and then review the related empirical literature. We follow this with a broader look at the empirical work on the relationship between trade and FDI and growth. In this review we find no support for “hard” interventions that distort prices to deal with Marshallian externalities, learning by exporting, and knowledge spillovers from FDI. Nevertheless, we still envision an important role for what we refer to as “soft” industrial policy. The goal is to develop a process whereby government, industry and cluster-level private organizations can collaborate on interventions to increase productivity. We suggest programs and grants to help particular clusters by improving the formation of skilled workers, technology adoption, regulation and infrastructure

Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries

In this paper we explore the popular but controversial idea that developing countries benefit from abandoning policy neutrality vis-a-vis trade, FDI and resource allocation across industries. Are developing countries justified in imposing tariffs, subsidies, and tax breaks that imply distortions beyond the ones associated with optimal taxes or revenue constraints? We refer to this set of government interventions as "industrial policy". We explore the theoretical foundation for industrial policy and then review the related empirical literature. We follow this with a broader look at the empirical work on the relationship between trade and FDI and growth. In this review, we find little evidence that countries benefit from "hard" interventions that distort prices to deal with Marshallian externalities, learning-by-exporting, and knowledge spillovers from FDI. We discuss an alternative set of "soft" industrial policies that deal directly with the coordination failures that may arise within the sectors or clusters where the country has a comparative advantage.

Teachers developing assessment for learning: impact on student achievement

While it is generally acknowledged that increased use of formative assessment (or assessment for learning) leads to higher quality learning, it is often claimed that the pressure in schools to improve the results achieved by students in externally-set tests and examinations precludes its use. This paper reports on the achievement of secondary school students who worked in classrooms where teachers made time to develop formative assessment strategies. A total of 24 teachers (2 science and 2 mathematics teachers, in each of six schools in two LEAs) were supported over a six-month period in exploring and planning their approach to formative assessment, and then, beginning in September 1999, the teachers put these plans into action with selected classes. In order to compute effect sizes, a measure of prior attainment and at least one comparison group was established for each class (typically either an equivalent class taught in the previous year by the same teacher, or a parallel class taught by another teacher). The mean effect size was 0.32

Altering Social Cue Perception Impacts Honey Bee Aggression With Minimal Impacts on Aggression-Related Brain Gene Expression

Gene expression changes resulting from social interactions may give rise to long term behavioral change, or simply reflect the activity of neural circuitry associated with behavioral expression. In honey bees, social cues broadly modulate aggressive behavior and brain gene expression. Previous studies suggest that expression changes are limited to contexts in which social cues give rise to stable, relatively long-term changes in behavior. Here we use a traditional beekeeping approach that inhibits aggression, smoke exposure, to deprive individuals of aggression-inducing olfactory cues and evaluate whether behavioral changes occur in absence of expression variation in a set of four biomarker genes (drat, cyp6g1/2, GB53860, inos) associated with aggression in previous studies. We also evaluate two markers of a brain hypoxic response (hif1α, hsf) to determine whether smoke induces molecular changes at all. We find that bees with blocked sensory perception as a result of smoke exposure show a strong, temporary inhibition of aggression relative to bees allowed to perceive normal social cues. However, blocking sensory perception had minimal impacts on aggression-relevant gene expression, althought it did induce a hypoxic molecular response in the brain. Results suggest that certain genes differentiate social cue-induced changes in aggression from long-term modulation of this phenotype

Parametric human modelling to determine body surface area covered by sun-protective clothing

Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the main environmental risk-factor for cancer of the skin. Sun-protective clothing provides a physical barrier that reduces the UVR dose reaching the skin and European and Australian standards for sun-protective clothing set minimum clothing coverage requirements. Body Surface Area Coverage by clothing (BSAC) is calculated by means of indirect or direct methods, which are laborious and do not support computer-based apparel design. To support the sun-safe specification and design of garments, parametric digital human models and protective clothing mesh covering the minimum Body Surface Area specified in AS/NZS 4399:2017, were created making use of MakeHuman v1.1.1 and Blender software. The Whole Body Surface Area (WBSA) and the BSAC were calculated employing code developed in Blender. Thus, different groups of subjects were analysed to explore BSAC. The method assists in the evaluation of exposed body areas in a wider spectrum of different occupations. Practitioner summary: Sun-protective clothing provides a physical barrier that reduces the UVR dose reaching the skin’s surface. Body Surface Area Coverage (BSAC) by clothing is an important determinant of the sun protective capabilities of a garment. In this study, BSAC is calculated using parametric digital human modelling

Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy

During the last three decades, developing countries have made enormous strides in opening up their protected domestic markets to international trade and foreign investment. Yet most countries have not simply opened up their markets. They have also instituted a range of policies to encourage exports, attract foreign direct investment(FDI), promote innovation, and favor some industries over others. This leads to the following question: is openness to trade and FDI alone sufficient to achieve high growth rates in developing countries? If harnessing the gains from globalization requires additional policies, can we identify them? While some types of complementary policies, such as building roads and ports, are not controversial, others are. Bhagwati's suggestion to "attract foreign funds" implies tilting incentives in favor of foreign investors, which means abandoning policy neutrality. Our goal in this chapter is to explore the popular but controversial idea that developing countries benefit from abandoning policy neutrality vis-a-vis trade, FDI and resource allocation across industries

Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy

During the last three decades, developing countries have made enormous strides in opening up their protected domestic markets to international trade and foreign investment. Yet most countries have not simply opened up their markets. They have also instituted a range of policies to encourage exports, attract foreign direct investment(FDI), promote innovation, and favor some industries over others. This leads to the following question: is openness to trade and FDI alone sufficient to achieve high growth rates in developing countries? If harnessing the gains from globalization requires additional policies, can we identify them? While some types of complementary policies, such as building roads and ports, are not controversial, others are. Bhagwati's suggestion to "attract foreign funds" implies tilting incentives in favor of foreign investors, which means abandoning policy neutrality. Our goal in this chapter is to explore the popular but controversial idea that developing countries benefit from abandoning policy neutrality vis-a-vis trade, FDI and resource allocation across industries

Social Competence Treatment after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Interactive Group Treatment versus Non-Interactive Treatment

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a replicable group treatment program for improving social competence after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design Multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing two methods of conducting a social competency skills program, an interactive group format versus a classroom lecture. Setting Community and Veteran rehabilitation centers. Participants 179 civilian, military, and veteran adults with TBI and social competence difficulties, at least 6 months post-injury. Experimental Intervention Thirteen weekly group interactive sessions (1.5 hours) with structured and facilitated group interactions to improve social competence. Alternative (Control) Intervention Thirteen traditional classroom sessions using the same curriculum with brief supplemental individual sessions but without structured group interaction. Primary Outcome Measure Profile of Pragmatic Impairment in Communication (PPIC), an objective behavioral rating of social communication impairments following TBI. Secondary Outcomes LaTrobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), Goal Attainment Scale (GAS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist – (PCL-C), Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18), Scale of Perceived Social Self Efficacy (PSSE). Results Social competence goals (GAS) were achieved and maintained for most participants regardless of treatment method. Significant improvements in the primary outcome (PPIC) and two of the secondary outcomes (LCQ and BSI) were seen immediately post-treatment and at 3 months post-treatment in the AT arm only, however these improvements were not significantly different between the GIST and AT arms. Similar trends were observed for PSSE and PCL-C. Conclusions Social competence skills improved for persons with TBI in both treatment conditions. The group interactive format was not found to be a superior method of treatment delivery in this study