Managing the Gulf of Papua Prawn Fishery: Sustainability, Maximum Returns and Cooperation between Commercial Fishing and Indigenous Fishing Communities

In many fisheries around the world, harvesting capacity is excessive and fish stocks are under threat. The Gulf of Papua prawn fishery (GPPF) presents a different set of management challenges. Limited property rights and fishing capacity, along with tension between a commercial fleet and indigenous fishing communities over access, have resulted in a relatively underdeveloped resource, conflict and considerable losses in economic returns. This article details the results of a joint project between the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) in Papua New Guinea and supporting Australian institutions on the management of the GPPF. The analysis indicates a catch target that maximises sustainable returns at biomass levels larger than biomass at maximum sustainable yield, thus protecting the resource, and a simple plan to share access to the inshore fishery. Both strategies are being implemented by the NFA. Together, they present one of the few very good examples of how to 'get things right' in the use and management of a fisheries resource, providing 'win-win' outcomes for Papua New Guinea

Rural Reform and Fiji's Indigenous Sugarcane Growers: An Application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis

We examine the performance of Fiji's indigenous sugarcane growers, measuring their technical efficiency using a stochastic frontier production function. Of particular interest are the cooperative or communal farming structures among new entrants into Fiji's sugar industry. These structures are emerging in response to government rationalisation policies in agricultural support-from individuals to groups-and the growing emphasis from the indigenous community on economic activity to reflect community requirements, values and imperatives. Our study finds that growers who are members of a cooperative group have higher levels of technical efficiency than growers who live in villages and that their performance is on par with galala or independent growers. Group structures are used as vehicles to centralise management decision-making and pool resources, thereby overcoming experience and capital accumulation constraints. The research also shows that these structures provide a vital mechanism for aligning cultural values and legitimising individual economic activity that has communal benefits. This finding is not only important for Fiji's struggling agricultural sector, it points a way forward for other South Pacific island nations and other countries where agricultural intensification is carried out on communally owned land

Sydney Water : Pricing for Sustainability

We examine how scarcity pricing can be used to assist with urban water demand management in Sydney in low rainfall periods using an estimated aggregate daily water demand function. Modelling shows that current water supplies and water prices are inadequate to prevent Sydney reaching critically low water storage levels should there be a low rainfall period similar to what occurred in 2001 2005. Simulations indicate that, in low rainfall periods, the water price needed to balance supply and demand exceeds the marginal cost of supplying desalinised water. The policy implication is that even with expected increases in supply (groundwater withdrawals, recycling), Sydney water prices must be substantially raised over their current levels, preferably at predefined water storage trigger levels, in response to low rainfall periods.water, pricing, sustainability

Pricing Sydney water

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The value of information in biosecurity risk-benefit assessment: an application to red imported fire ants

Policy makers are confronted daily with uncertainty, especially in complex areas like biosecurity. One way to improve decision-making and reduce uncertainties is to collect more information. Information is costly – whether the value of improved decision-making justifies the cost is a fundamental question facing policy makers. This paper addresses that question by making three practical contributions for binary choices (such as whether to implement or forego a particular policy). First, it analyses the determinants of the value of information, and how that value changes with features of the problem. Second, it uses this analysis to derive simple rules of thumb which provide upper bounds on the value of additional information. Third, it provides a practical application of the value of information in deciding whether to attempt eradication of the red imported fire ant.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Sydney Water: Pricing for Sustainability

We examine how scarcity pricing can be used to assist with urban water demand management in Sydney in low rainfall periods using an estimated aggregate daily water demand function. Modelling shows that current water supplies and water prices are inadequate to prevent Sydney reaching critically low water storage levels should there be a low rainfall period similar to what occurred in 2001-2005. Simulations indicate that, in low rainfall periods, the water price needed to balance supply and demand exceeds the marginal cost of supplying desalinised water. The policy implication is that even with expected increases in supply (groundwater withdrawals, recycling), Sydney water prices must be substantially raised over their current levels, preferably at pre-defined water storage trigger levels, in response to low rainfall periods.water, pricing, sustainability

Technology choice and efficiency on Australian dairy farms

Deregulation of the Australian dairy industry, specifically the removal of price subsidies to ‘market milk’, as well as ongoing drought in many dairy regions, has placed considerable pressure on farm cash income and a search for ways in which dairy farms can be made to operate more efficiently. Using traditional farm survey data and a unique biannual data set on farm technology use, this paper estimates a stochastic production frontier and technical efficiency model for dairy farms in New South Wales and Victoria, determining the relative importance of each input in dairy production, the effects of key technology variables on farm efficiency, and overall farm profiles based on the efficiency rankings of dairy producers. Results show that production exhibits constant returns to scale and although feed concentration and the number of cows milked at peak season matter, the key determinants of differences in dairy farm efficiency are the type of dairy shed used and the proportion of irrigated farm area. Overall farm profiles indicate that those in the ‘high efficiency group’ largely employ either rotary or swing-over dairy shed technology and have almost three times the proportional amount of land under irrigation.Australian dairy farms, dairy production and efficiency, dairy technology, stochastic production frontier, Livestock Production/Industries,

Incentives and Static and Dynamic Gains from Market Reform in an Emerging Profits Models.

This paper develops a dynamic model to account for the enhanced incentive effects that result from market reform in the form of a move toward private property rights and competitive market.INCENTIVES ; ECONOMIC REFORM ; PROPERTY RIGHTS

Kerjasama Undip-UGM Atasi Penjiplakan Karya

Undip dan UGM menjalin kerjasama untuk mencegah penjiplakan karya ilmiah dengan piranti lunak yang di buat oleh UGM

“ Opini Book Fair 2010” di Undip

Lembaga Pers Mahasiswa Fisip Mengadakan acara “ Opini Book fair 2010