WHAT DOES A DRY SEASON MEAN TO THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY? A CGE INVESTIGATION

In this paper, by applying a Computable General Equilibrium model for Western Australia (called WAG), the impact of the 2002 dry season on the State’s wider economy is quantitatively analysed. An estimate of 40 percent loss in the production of five major groups of agricultural commodities is simulated into the model. The model results show that the State’s economy-wide total production declines by 2.3 percent. In 2001-02 dollar terms this production decline is worth more than $2.5 billion. The gross state product (GSP) for WA declines by more than one percent. The total value of the State’s exports and employment decline by 5.2 and 1.7 percent respectively.Agriculture, drought, CGE model, Production Economics,

Can Microfinance Reduce Economic Insecurity and Poverty? By How Much and How?

The paper suggests that, rather than through its narrow, direct financial impact, microfinance may prove to be more potent in reducing insecurity and poverty through its indirect, broader impact leading to a more egalitarian initial endowment distribution that is necessary for the "take-off" of an equitable growth process. The paper begins by examining the distinctive roles of micro credit, micro savings, and micro insurance programs in dealing with poverty and insecurity, and highlights the complementariness that exists among these programs and how this complementariness can be used to overcome the weaknesses of the individual programs.Poverty, Economic insecurity, Micro credit, Micro savings, Micro insurance, Micro finance, Non Government Organizations (NGO)

Agricultural Processing and the WA Economy: A General Equilibrium Analysis

This paper investigates the impact of an expansion in agricultural processing on the Western Australian economy by modifying and applying a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) economic model of Western Australia (called WAM). WAM was used to simulate the effects of a $1 million expansion in eight agricultural processing industries. The results show that there is a range of positive impacts from agricultural processing. On average, a$1 million expansion in agricultural processing is estimated to increase the State’s GSP (Gross State Product) by $649,000, and total output by$1.9 million. The expansion of the Wine and spirits industry is estimated to have the largest impact while the Textile fibres, yarns and woven fabrics industry has the smallest impact on the Western Australian economy.Agricultural processing, CGE model, Agribusiness,

Economic Growth, CO2 Emissions, Electricity Production, and Consumption Nexus in Bangladesh

This paper seeks to find the causal relationship between economic growth, electricity consumption, carbon emissions, electricity production from oil, and electricity production from gas. The data were taken from World Development Index (WDI) for the period of 1972-2014. For stationarity checking, visualization and some econometrics techniques like ADF and Phillips-Perron test have been adopted. For testing the long-run relationships among the variables, the Johansen cointegration testing procedure has been considered. This test ensured that there are long-run relationships among the variables. To capture the short-run dynamics, a VECM test has been done, and to find the direction of causation, the Granger causality approach has been tested. The results find that there was a bidirectional causality from CO2 emissions to gross domestic product (GDP) and from electricity production from gas to GDP where unidirectional causality was found from GDP to electricity consumption and electricity production from oil to GDP. CUMSUM and CUSUM approaches have also been considered to test the stability of the parameters. Policy implications of the research indicate that Bangladesh should give importance to low carbon emission technologies to reduce the CO2 emissions level with a view to keeping Bangladesh safe from natural calamities along with economic growth. JEL Classifications: C32, O13, Q4

Living Standards and Western Australian Agriculture Research Overview and Key Findings

This paper presents an overview and key findings of the collaborative research carried out on the Western Australian agriculture sector at the Economic Research Centre (ERC), University of Western Australia. The Department of Agriculture Western Australia (DAWA) and the Australian Research Council (ARC) jointly supported this research. Under the ARC’S ‘Strategic Partnerships with Industry Research and Training’ Scheme DAWA took part in this research as the ‘industry partner’. The paper discusses the background of the research; the development of the database and the economy-wide model for WA agriculture; and summary and major finding of the research. Several colleagues have contributed to the successful completion of the project. Ken Moore was the key person who encouraged initiate the project. Celia Cornwell, and Graeme Wilson subsequently continued their support until its completion. Professor Ken Clements has provided intellectual and logistic support to the project. Helal Ahammad has been the key expert in developing the State’s economy-wide model and the database. Inputs from Ye Quang and Peter Johnson have also been helpful in completing the project. This paper is benefited from the comments by Ross Kingwell and Lucy Creagh and from the editorial assistance provided by Malcolm Howes

An Analysis of Productivity growth in Western Australian Agriculture

The objective of this paper is to analyse productivity growth of Western Australian broadacre agriculture. For the period 1977/78 to 1997/98, the growth of aggregated outputs, inputs and the total factor productivity (TFP), of broadacre agriculture in WA is estimated by applying a non-parametric approach. The productivity performance of WA agriculture is compared with that of other Australian states. An attempt is made to identify the factors, which may explain productivity growth in WA agriculture. TFP growth in WA agriculture is estimated to be 4.2 percent p.a.. Compared to other Australian states, only South Australian agriculture has experienced a higher rate of productivity growth. Within WA, the wheat-sheep zone has the highest TFP growth of 4.7 percent p.a.. Among the broadly defined industry groups, the crop industry experienced the highest TFP growth of 6.6 percent p.a.. Besides the influence of seasonal conditions, the transfer and adoption of new technologies appear to have a positive impact on the TFP growth in WA agriculture

Cost Minimization of a Competitive Firm

One of the economists’ missions is to predict the behavioral responses of consumers or firms on the assumption that optimizing continues. Once this capability is developed, economists try to manage “today” to optimize future economic return of the inputs. Techniques to predict future performance vary from an educated guess based on an appropriate analogy to very complex analytical and numerical calculations and approximations. However, what they all have in common is that they analyze performance in past to say something to obtain constrained optimal output in future. Considering Lagrange multiplier technique applied to a firm’s cost minimization problem subject to production function as an output constraint, an attempt has been made in this paper to apply necessary and sufficient conditions for optimal values. We gave interpretation of Lagrange multiplier and showed that its value is positive. Examining the behavior of the firm; that is, if the cost of a particular input increases, the firm needs to consider decreasing level of that particular input; at the same time, there is no effect on the level of other inputs; also that when the demand of product increases, the firm should consider increasing its level of inputs: capital, labour and other inputs, have been derived.Lagrange Multiplier, Optimization, Cost Minimization, Cobb-Douglas Production Function.