Estimating Cross-Country Differences in Product Quality,”

Abstract We develop a methodology for decomposing countries' observed export product prices into quality versus quality-adjusted-price components. In contrast to the standard approach of equating export price with quality, our methodology accounts for cross-country variation in product prices induced by factors other than quality, e.g. comparative advantage or currency misalignment. Even though variation in quality-adjusted prices is unobserved, it can be inferred from countries' trade balances with the rest of the world. Holding observed export prices constant, for example, countries exhibiting trade surpluses must be offering higher quality (i.e., lower quality-adjusted prices) than countries running trade deficits. We implement the methodology by estimating the evolution of manufacturing product quality among the United States' top 45 trading partners. Preliminary results reveal substantial cross-sectional variation in product quality growth between 1980 and 1997 that is not apparent in export prices alone. China and Ireland, in particular, experience relatively rapid gains in manufacturing quality

Identifying Business Practices Promoting Sustainability in Aboriginal Tourism Enterprises in Remote Australia

Aboriginal tourism entrepreneurs operating in remote regions of Australia draw on their 60,000 years of heritage to offer unique and distinct cultural experiences to domestic and international tourists. Living and operating in remote climates presents challenges to achieving successful and sustainable enterprises, including extreme weather, substandard infrastructure, distance from policy makers, distance from markets and the commercialisation of culture, which is customarily owned by and for use by traditional custodians, to produce and deliver a market-ready tourism product. However, many remote Aboriginal tourism entrepreneurs nevertheless achieve success and sustainability. This paper builds on the work of Foley to identify the characteristics of successful remote Aboriginal tourism enterprises and Aboriginal entrepreneurs in remote areas and the resourceful and creative business practices used by remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs to overcome barriers to success and finds that ongoing connections to community and culture are a key factor in that success. It also draws on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals to identify how the characteristics of remote tourism entrepreneurs and enterprises promote or inhibit the achievement of sustainability and suggests that they offer a framework for effective support of remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs. It concludes by noting that the industry would benefit from further investigation of the contributions made to sustainability by remote Aboriginal tourism enterprises and their stakeholders