Hungernomics: explaining food trade sustainability

This study explores the relationship between the total exports and total imports of the food industry in Sarawak from 1961 through 2007. We examined the sample period of the pre-1997 crisis (1961-1996) and the full sample period (1961-2007) to investigate disparities for pre- crisis sample. Analysis was carried out using standard econometric procedure and Dynamic OLS estimation for the annual observations of the two sample period. This study’s major findings are: (1) long run relationships were detected in the full sample period whereas they were absent in the pre-crisis period; (2) imbalances in food were found to be weakly sustainable for the full sample; (3) for every ringgit increase in imports, exports rose by RM0.803 for the full sample, revealing that imports grew at a rate faster than exports. This finding suggests that reducing the size of imports may improve imbalances in Sarawak’s food industry

Monitoring health inequalities: life expectancy and small area deprivation in New Zealand

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in health are of great concern, and life expectancy provides a readily understood means of monitoring such inequalities. The objectives of this study are to (1) measure life expectancy by socioeconomic deprivation and ethnicity, and (2) describe trends in the deprivation gradient in life expectancy since the mid-1990s. METHODS: Three years of national mortality data have been combined with mid-point population denominators to produce life tables within nationally determined levels of small area deprivation (NZDep96) for three ethnic group: European, Mäori and Pacific peoples. This process has been repeated for the periods 1995–97, 1996–98, 1997–99 and 1998–2000. RESULTS: There was a strong relationship between increasing small area deprivation and decreasing life expectancy. Through the mid- to late 1990s, males living in the most deprived small areas in New Zealand experienced life expectancies at birth approximately nine years less than their counterparts living in the least deprived areas; for females the corresponding difference was under seven years. Mäori and Pacific life expectancies at birth were lower than those of Europeans at each level of deprivation. Over the study period (1995–2000) the gradient in life expectancy across deprivation deciles remained stable. CONCLUSION: Small area deprivation analyses of life expectancy could be repeated routinely at regular intervals, which would provide a useful approach to monitoring trends in socioeconomic, geographic, ethnic and gender inequalities in mortality

Design development post contract signing in New Zealand:Client's or contractor's cost?

By offering fixed-price contracts for designs supplied by clients, contractors legally warrant that they can build what has been designed and do so within their fixed price. Yet detailed drawings are often issued during construction in response to contractors' requests for information on the basis that they cannot otherwise build what has been designed. Claim-entitlement decisions are often made by construction professionals (architects, engineers and quantity surveyors) without legal training in contractual interpretation, potentially varying who pays for design development after contract signing, contractors or clients. Prior studies have addressed buildability obligations relating to ground conditions and foundations. This study applies key principles of contract law to consider who should pay for instructed drawing details post contract signing under the New Zealand standard NZS 3910:2013, 'Conditions of contract for building and civil engineering construction', in terms of (a) when a variation claim may be accepted; (b) the effect of contractor involvement on design development; and (c) the effect if claimed from a building subcontractor to a consultant manager (no head contractor). A claim-entitlement flow chart and a table comparing the head contractor's and consultant construction manager's obligations provide practical guides for contract administrators. Identifying terms prone to interpretation informs contract drafters towards reducing ambiguity for contract users and therefore the potential for dispute