Globe: Asian Growth and Trade Poles: India, China, and East and Southeast Asia

Using a global general equilibrium trade model, this study analyzes the impact on developing countries, of (1) the dramatic expansion of trade by India, China, and an integrated East and Southeast (E&SE) Asia trade bloc and (2) productivity growth in the region. China is an integral member of the E&SE Asia bloc, with strong links through value chains and trade in intermediate inputs, while India is not part of any trade bloc. The analyses consider the importance of their different degrees of integration into regional and global economies, focusing on potential complementarities and competition with other developing countries.

Resilience of Post-disaster Emergency Response Networks: Evacuation Response and Texas School Districts

Studies of collaborative public management have relied on a number of concepts that are time-bound. Collaborative networks rely on trust and stable expectations – both elements that have strong temporal elements. Despite this attention, there has been less research into the evolution of collaborative relationships than one would expect – especially using large-N quantitative methodologies. This is due in part to the methodological difficulties of studying relationships across time using survey methodologies. This paper reports results from two surveys of school districts immediately following Hurricane Katrina that asked about their collaborative relationships – including whether they continued collaboration more than a year after the hurricanes. The results suggest that organizational structure plays the largest role in determining whether organizations maintain collaborative relationships

The Evolution of Emergency Management Networks: The Brazos County, TX Evacuation Network from 2000-2009

Emergency management is a field in which collaborative activities are inescapable. Emergency planning and response increasingly involves a diverse array of actors across field (emergency management, public health, law enforcement, etc.), sector (government, nonprofit, and for-profit), and level of government (local, state, and federal). The necessity of collaboration is built into the logic of escalation in the Stafford Act and the nature of emergency events as boundary spanning threats. While the necessity of collaboration is clear, the dynamics of this collaboration are less well understood. This paper assesses the temporal dynamics of an emergency management network in a moderately sized community in central Texas. The evolution of the network between 2000 and 2009 make clear that actors are both quick to join and to leave the network while the network maintains its centralized character throughout the time period

Globe: A SAM Based Global CGE Model using GTAP Data

This paper provides a technical description of a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model that is calibrated from a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) representation of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database. An important feature of the model is the treatment of nominal and real exchange rates and hence the specification of multiple numéraire. Another distinctive feature of the model is the use of a ‘dummy’ region, known as globe, that allows for the recording of inter regional transactions where either the source or destination are not identified.

Policy Dilemmas in India - The Impact of Changes in Agricultural Prices on Rural and Urban Poverty

Trade policy reforms which lead to changes in world prices of agricultural commodities or domestic policies aimed at affecting agricultural prices are often seen as causing a policy dilemma : a fall in agricultural prices benefits poor urban consumers but hurts poor rural producers, while a rise yields the converse. Poor countries have argued that they need to be able to use import protection and/or price support policies to protect themselves against volatility in world agricultural prices in order to dampen these effects. In this paper, we explore this dilemma in a CGE model of India that uses a new social accounting matrix (SAM) developed at the Indira Ghandi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai. The SAM includes extensive disaggregation of agricultural activities, commodity markets, labor markets, and rural and urban households. This SAM includes 115 commodities, 48 labor types and 352 types of households, (classified by social group, income class, region, and urban/rural). The CGE model based on this SAM can be used to explore the linkages between changes in world prices of agriculture and the incomes of poor rural and urban households, capturing rural-urban linkages in both commodity and factor markets. The results indicate that the inclusion of linkages between rural and urban labor markets is necessary to fully explore, and potentially eliminate, the dilemma. A fall in agricultural prices hurts agricultural producers, lowers wages and/or employment of rural labor, and in some cases spills over into urban labor markets, depressing wages and incomes of poor urban households as well. In these cases both rural and urban poverty increases. The paper explores the strength of these commodity and factor market linkages, and the potential spillover effects of policies affecting agricultural prices.Doha negotiations, India trade policy, World prices, Labour Market, CGE model

Walley School Community Arts Center Feasibility Study

The Walley School community arts center initiative began in the fall of 2011 as a joint project between the Town of Bristol and Roger Williams University’s School of Architecture. Shortly thereafter, the Gabelli School of Business was asked to development a business case for the project. Four students in the course “Management 439: Business Planning” took on the Walley School as their team project for the semester. The business case study was developed in conjunction with the Town of Bristol, the initiative’s steering committee, Roger Williams University’s Community Partnerships Center, the School of Architecture and the School of Construction Management. After a year of student work and public workshops, the conclusion has been made that it would be programmatically, architecturally and financially feasible to reopen the Walley School as a community arts and education facility for the Town of Bristol

Reach Out in a New Direction: Applying Public Relations Best Practices to Academic Outreach

Public relations isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies or high-profile celebrities. The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Thinking about outreach in these expansive terms goes beyond simple promotional activities, media relations, or marketing tactics, and the message should resonate with librarians. Building “mutually beneficial relationships” is at the very core of public services, and serving multiple publics should also be a familiar concept as libraries strive to reach a multitude of audiences. This poster presentation explores key public relations best practices to enhance outreach with illustrative examples from a successful campaign at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Trying a new approach for VCU Libraries, the Director of Communication and Public Relations and public services librarians collaborated to create an integrated campaign focused on understanding VCU’s diverse audiences and how to reach them using a consistent message with appealing imagery and concise writing. These efforts culminated in a scalable and sustainable approach for all our publics--from the masses that walk into the building to academic departments--even individual students