Integrating trade in education services between Australia and India : complementarities and challenges

Purpose: The multilateral liberalisation of trade in education under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has achieved little progress. In a bid to overcome this lacklustre education trade liberalisation under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the purpose of this paper is to examine education trade bilateralism between Australia and India as an alternative to multilateralism. The end is to maximise bilateral trade liberalisation in education as a means to facilitate dynamic productivity gains, export opportunities, market competition, and FDI in the sector. The combined effect of this bilateralism would help accelerate economic growth in both countries, which is likely to generate domino effects on other WTO members, thereby contributing to the multilateral liberalisation of trade in services under the WTO. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology is analytical, based on pertinent empirical and secondary information. Findings: Strong complementarities and synergies are found for the integration of trade in education services between Australia and India. Of the major exporters of education services, Australia enjoys the most competitive edge and comparative advantage in the Asia-Pacific. India faces strong demands for quality education services due to its economic reforms and expansion requiring knowledge-based workforce for high efficiency and productivity and has become a major importer of education services in the region. Originality/value: The paper identifies new means of consolidating Austr alia and India's existing trade, niche areas of further opportunities, and potential challenges to be confronted for greater economic integration through trade in education. The originality of the paper lies in its core message that education trade bilateralism can be a valuable stepping stone, in many instances, to multilateral trade in education.15 page(s

The Internalization of Environmental Capital in a Keynesian Model of Income Determination

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Unfashionable economics selected contributions of Amartya K. Sen: 1998 economics nobel laureate

Professor Amartya Kumar Sen was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 1998 in recognition of his “several key contributions to the research on fundamental problems in welfare economics”, as noted in the Nobel citation. This paper examines three major areas of economics, which it calls “unfashionable economics”, and in which Sen's contributions have been particularly notable. These areas are inequality, poverty, and hunger and famine. The paper argues that Sen's pioneering research in these areas has not only helped to resolve some theoretical and/or policy issues, it has also made a significant contribution to generating public interest in the problems that face some of “the most impoverished members of society “, in the words of the Nobel citation. In addition to putting Sen's work in the context of established thinking in the relevant areas, the paper demonstrates how his contributions have helped to improve our understanding of the issues involved, and how such advances have influenced policy-making. To make the paper accessible to the interested non-specialist, the paper uses a style of exposition that is less technical even where the issues involved are of a highly technical nature.