Productivity Growth in Thailand and Indonesia: How Agriculture Contributes to Economic Growth

Total factor productivity growth in the agricultural, industry and services sectors is studied in this paper for two countries: Thailand and Indonesia, over the period 1981 to 2002. A feature of the analysis is the decomposition of aggregate total factor productivity growth into two components: productivity growth in individual sectors; and the reallocation of resources from low productivity to high productivity sectors. The results show that in both countries virtually all factor productivity growth at the sectoral level derives from agriculture, but the reallocation of resources away from agriculture was a much larger source of aggregate productivity growth.total factor productivity growth, Thailand, Indonesia

A Multiple Method Evaluation of the Mid Essex Memory Assessment and Support Service

On 3rd February 2009, the Department of Health published “Living well with dementia: A National Dementia Strategy”. This proposed a series of changes to the way services for people with dementia are organised and delivered, from raising awareness and understanding through to “living well” with dementia, whether in the community or in long-term care. This report outlines the work undertaken by Bournemouth University in response to the “Specification for evaluation of newly created memory services in Mid Essex.” (July 2009). It details the consultancy and research advisory/ assistance role in order to comprehensively evaluate the pilot memory service- which commenced in January 2009. The approach was essentially a pragmatic service evaluation utilising existing data, supplemented with additional reviews in order to allow comparison between the new service and previous provision. In addition it makes recommendations which can inform future provision and where necessary improvements. The model identified the component elements of the new service (patient pathway) as well as those previously offered through an initial scoping exercise. From these elements it was possible to obtain comparisons utilising quantitative and qualitative outcome measures. The report identifies a range of positive benefits from the MASS provision and makes recommendations for the future

Two steps forward, one step back: Achievements and limitations of university-community partnerships in addressing neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage

This article discusses a partnership initiative that involved a major Australian research university (University of Melbourne), a local government and a network of local community service organisations. The partnership projects aimed to promote public access to university infrastructure for poor and marginalised residents, enhance the local value of research and teaching activities, and create employment opportunities. The article draws on an evaluation of the partnership, which focused on four keynote projects. It found that the partnership appeared to achieve positive outcomes for residents but was limited by tensions associated with the university’s ambivalent commitment to the value of such partnerships. These tensions remained difficult to resolve because they signalled present contestation over the foundational values of contemporary public universities.Keywords: university-community partnerships, neoliberalism, neighbourhoods, community developmen