What\u27s Really Needed to Effectuate Resource Protection in Communities

This article examines the challenges presented by the complexity of environmental laws at the local level, through the use of a case study. It documents the important role that comprehensive planning and local regulations play in protecting the natural resources in our communities. In considering lessons learned, this article also considers what else is needed to continue protecting the environment at the local level. First, there is an overwhelming need for municipalities to develop a regional strategy to protect their natural resources. Second, local laws play an important role in protecting natural resources. While we often think of the state and federal statutes as being the guardians of our waterways and air, more and more local laws are catching what falls through the cracks of the state and federal system. Third, it is very challenging to be an effective local official. The system is complex; the job requires a tremendous amount of time and dedication, awareness and education. It\u27s no wonder that many supervisors and mayors run unopposed or that it is difficult to find volunteers to serve on local boards. Fourth, if we don\u27t focus on supporting the development of local leadership, then all the discussions about local environmental law and smart growth will be for nothing because the ideas will fall on fallow ground. Local officials need training, financial support and enhanced community process, within a regional framework

Irish Perceptions of the Great Depression

This paper traces how the Great Depression was perceived in 1930s Ireland. Perceptions were complicated by internal political developments. Fianna Fáil, upon acceding to power in 1932, rapidly expanded protection and engaged in (near balanced budget) fiscal expansion. Despite the tariff war with Britain triggered by the land annuities dispute, Ireland appears to have weathered the storm better than most other European economies. The contemporary writings of academic economists reflected the influence of Lionel Robbins and the Austrian School, while – to paraphrase Ronan Fanning – the winds of change in Irish economics blew much more vigorously in the corridors of the public service.Great Depression, Ireland, Irish Economic Thought, Irish Economic Policy

The Conway-Maxwell-Poisson distribution: distributional theory and approximation

The Conway-Maxwell-Poisson (CMP) distribution is a natural two-parameter generalisation of the Poisson distribution which has received some attention in the statistics literature in recent years by offering flexible generalisations of some well-known models. In this work, we begin by establishing some properties of both the CMP distribution and an analogous generalisation of the binomial distribution, which we refer to as the CMB distribution. We also consider some convergence results and approximations, including a bound on the total variation distance between a CMB distribution and the corresponding CMP limit.Comment: 26 page

Mr. Whitaker and Industry:Setting the Record Straight*

After 16 years of unbroken Fianna Fáil rule, the first four of the five general elections of the period 1948-1963 saw sitting governments unseated. Economic policy pivoted: protectionism was abandoned; foreign direct investment welcomed and an application for membership was made to the EEC. Whitaker’s Economic Development appeared in 1958. Lemass took over from de Valera as Taoiseach in 1959. The ‘long 1950s’ remains of enduring fascination to Irish historians. Conventional wisdom accords the bulk of the credit for the turnaround in policy to Seán Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce in most Fianna Fáil governments since 1932 and Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966, and T. K. Whitaker, Secretary of the Department of Finance from 1956 to 1969. This arguably downplays the importance of the intensified electoral competition of the time, and undervalues the achievements of the second inter-party government, which introduced export profits tax relief – the genesis of Ireland’s low corporation tax regime – in 1956. Fine Gael and Labour had long advocated liberalising the restrictions on foreign ownership of industry before Fianna Fáil finally yielded (Bew and Patterson, 1982, McCarthy, 1990). Whitaker’s particular role in the reform process is – to our minds – seriously misrepresented by Walsh and Whelan (2010) in a recent paper in this journal. The present note assesses their main assertions in this regard in the light of information available from the archival records.

Spatially and Temporally Explicit Energy System Modelling to Support the Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Infrastructure – Case Study for Wind Energy in the UK

Renewable energy sources and electricity demand vary with time and space and the energy system is constrained by the location of the current infrastructure in place. The transitioning to a low carbon energy society can be facilitated by combining long term planning of infrastructure with taking spatial and temporal characteristics of the energy system into account. There is a lack of studies addressing this systemic view. We soft-link two models in order to analyse long term investment decisions in generation, transmission and storage capacities and the effects of short-term fluctuation of renewable supply: The national energy system model UKTM (UK TIMES model) and a dispatch model. The modelling approach combines the benefits of two models: an energy system model to analyse decarbonisation pathways and a power dispatch model that can evaluate the technical feasibility of those pathways and the impact of intermittent renewable energy sources on the power market. Results give us the technical feasibility of the UKTM solution from 2010 until 2050. This allows us to determine lower bounds of flexible elements and feeding them back in an iterative process (e.g. storage, demand side control, balancing). We apply the methodology to study the long-term investments of wind infrastructure in the United Kingdom

Bridging the digital divide: the role of community online access centres in Indigenous Communities

This paper presents data from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing to highlight the low levels of computer and internet usage by Indigenous Australians. This result is not surprising given the well documented connection between education, income, and use of these technologies. In addition to these demand-side factors, access will also be influenced by the availability of services and evidence shows that internet access is not as easy in remote areas as it is in urban centres. One possible way of addressing the digital divide between capital city dwellers and other Australians is through the development of community online access centres. Using evidence from the literature and from fieldwork in New South Wales, the paper considers some factors that are likely to make these centres more successful. These include a strong commitment by the community to the development of a centre and a close integration of the centre with community activities. It is also important that significant funds be budgeted to training for all involved including centre staff and community members

Implications of developments in telecommunications for Indigenous people in remote and rural Australia

This paper considers the implications of changes in the technological and regulatory environment in the telecommunications industry in Australia for Indigenous Australians living in remote and rural areas. This group is particularly vulnerable to falling on the wrong side of the 'digital divide' because of their geographical location and their low socioeconomic status. The paper surveys some of the important features of the industry that have implications for the provision of telecommunications services in rural and remote communities. These include economies of scale and scope, network externalities and the social and economic significance of the industry. The next section highlights some of the components of the regulatory environment that have particular implications for rural and remote Indigenous communities. These include price controls, the access regime, the Universal Service Obligation and the Customer Service Guarantee. Some of the government programs aimed at raising the quality of telecommunications services in rural and remote Australia are also discussed. The paper presents evidence on the current availability and quality of services and the demand for these services in rural and remote Australia. The evidence suggests that the telecommunications services available to these communities are inferior to those in urban Australia but given the nature of the industry, particularly the economies of scale and scope, the substantial government intervention has helped to reduce the gap. The available evidence also shows that Australians in remote and rural areas are less likely to utilise the new services such as mobile phones and the internet than Australians in urban centres. Technological developments offer the opportunity to reduce the disadvantages of location for rural and remote communities. For example, improved communications may be helpful in the provision of health and education services and for preserving Indigenous culture. There is also scope for expanding the export from these communities of arts and crafts and reducing the market power of suppliers of goods and services to these communities. However, it is important to recognise that technology alone will not solve all the problems facing rural and remote Indigenous communities in Australia. Recognition of the cultural and social environments of rural and remote Indigenous communities will be necessary to make these technological developments work for the people living there