For the Sake of a Credible Climate Change Policy in Australia - Revisiting the Nuclear Energy Option

This article models the impact on the costs of introducing nuclear power into Australia’s energy mix. Energy from nuclear plants progressively replaces that from coal and a proportion of energy from gas by 2050. Cost savings are found to be substantial by reducing the need to purchase overseas abatement and by reducing carbon taxes. The analysis is presented in the belief that sound policy-making requires that all energy options should be on the table, notwithstanding the fact that there are many other considerations, apart from cost, in the adoption of nuclear energy in Australia.

Prospects for Meeting Australia’s 2020 Carbon Targets, given a Growing Economy, Uncertain International Carbon Markets and the Slow Emergence of Renewable Energies

The carbon emissions of Australia’s future energy consumption are compared with the emissions targets implied by the cuts in carbon emissions committed to by the Australian government for 2020 and 2050. Analysis shows that even the seemingly modest cut of 5% of carbon emissions by 2020 cannot be met without substantial contributions by low carbon sources that are in addition to the contribution of 20% of electricity supply mandated by the government. The choices in renewable energy are constrained by the need for base-load power to constitute a large proportion of energy supply but the short lead time to 2020 precludes sources that require more development or lengthy planning processes. The official forecasts of energy generation assume a large proportion of Australia’s emissions will be offset through international emission trading. However the prospects for the development of international carbon market are presently poor. The conclusion is that, even with a domestic price on carbon, the Australian government’s 2020 targets for carbon emission reductions are unlikely to be met and should be revised downwards.carbon targets; carbon intensity; energy mix; energy growth; renewable energy

Discretion and Cyclicality in Irish Budgetary Management 1969-2003

This paper addresses the topic of cyclicality and discretion in Irish fiscal policy. In particular, we show that the level and nature of cyclicality varies across different expenditure components and we introduce a new definition of feasible discretion to take account of political imperatives in budgetary management. We find that overall government expenditure is acyclical and is most heavily influenced by a fiscal parsimony objective. Automatic stabilisers are efficiently counter-cyclical, feasible discretionary government consumption growth is orthogonal to economic fundamentals while feasible discretionary investment growth is strongly pro-cyclical. Using official growth forecasts, we show that feasible discretionary investment growth is deliberately pro-cyclical.

Efficient and Equitable Forest Rent Capture in Three Pacific Island Nations: Opportunities and Impediments in Forest Policy Reform

Various contrasts may be observed in the way three Pacific island countries - Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands and Vanuatu - exploit their natural forest endowments. The modes of exploitation, the efficiency of forest revenue systems and the sustainability of forest allocation mechanisms are analysed. It is argued that equity issues are also important in forest policy given that forests in all three countries are under customary tenure. The forest revenue system in PNG is criticised for being inefficient and inequitable. In the Solomons the rate of logging is found to be unsustainable, being linked to the country's economic crisis. In Vanuatu a logging ban has stimulated timber processing, but probably at a cost to the economy, and has failed to confer sustainability on the industry. Changes to forest revenue systems and forest allocation procedures that would enhance efficiency, equity, sustainability and conservation are identified, along with impediments to these changes

How clean and green is coal seam gas?

Coal seam gas extraction is set to become a huge industry in Queensland, where massive contracts are being written to supply gas to China and Japan after 2014. Liquid natural gas companies have already boosted the state’s economy with about $50billion of investment in coal seam gas extraction and its processing into LNG for export. Moreover, the Queensland government will eventually reap about$1billion a year in royalties. However, conflicting claims about whether the gas is ”greenhouse friendly” abound. The differences in the findings turn on assumptions about the quantity of gas that escapes into the atmosphere from coal seam gas operations, and the gas’s global-warming potential

Food Superstores, Food Deserts and Traffic Generation in the UK: A Semi-Parametric Regression Approach

This study contributes another route towards explaining and tackling ‘food desert’ effects. It features the estimation of a (semi-parametric) trip attraction model for food superstores in the UK using a composite dataset. The data comprises information from the UK Census of Population, the NOMIS (National Online Manpower Information System) archive and traffic and site-specific data from the TRICS (Trip Rate Information Computer System) databases. The results indicate that traffic to a given food superstore, ceteris paribus, increases with household car ownership, store parking provision, site size (floor space), and distance to the nearest competitor. Furthermore, increases in public transport provision are shown to be associated with increasing car trips. This latter effect is discussed in the light of planning policy for development control purposes and a role linked to the reinforcement of ‘food deserts’. The results also reveal activity-specific household economies of scope and scale. It is suggested how these may also further perpetuate unsustainable development and ‘food desert’ characteristics.Traffic Generation, Food Superstores, Food Deserts, Activity Based Travel, Sustainable Development, Modelling

F20RS SGFB No. 2 (Rucksacks)

A Finance Bill To allocate a maximum of Six Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty-Eight dollars ($6,588.00) from the Student Government Legislative Surplus Account to fund Twelve ALICE (All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment) Rucksacks for the LSU Army ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) Ranger Challenge Tea

National Renewal and Strategic Change -First lessons from an Early-Mover in Deregulation

The scope and pace of economic liberalisation in New Zealand have been judged by the OECD as the most extensive of any undertaken in a developed economy during the past decade. This paper reports on a project aimed at determining how and at what rate New Zealand businesses have adapted to this major deregulation of their commercial environment. We first describe the nature of reform in New Zealand, and then we develop a qualitative model of the adjustment processes set in motion by deregulation. The process of strategic adaptation is represented as a continuum comprising four stages: stability, survival, sharpbending and sustained adaptation. This model is embellished with evidence on actual changes that have been observed in New Zealand business since deregulation. We conclude that, after eight years of substantial economic reform, the majority of businesses have not fully adapted to the new environment

Economic instruments for environmental and natural resource conservation and management in the South Pacific

Trends in natural resource exploitation and consumption patterns have increased the need for resource conservation and pollution control in the South Pacific. The need for greater government resources, implied by the intensification of environmental management, has coincided with budgetary restraints in the South Pacific that have often been severe. Economic (as opposed to command and control) instruments are of increasing interest because they possess the potential to shift from government to producers or consumers the onus to comply with environmental measures. In this paper, argument about the applicability of economic intruments in conservation and management in developing countries in general and the South Pacific in particular, is prefaced by a brief exposition of the theory and a description of the types of instruments. (The typology follows Panayotou (1995).) An analysis of some twenty case studies in the South Pacific enables some conclusions to be drawn about the conditions necessary for the application of economic instruments and enables some recommendations to be made about their adoption. The paper reports on work in progress and as such acknowledges gaps. Meanwhile comments are welcomed by the author

Prognostic indicators in patients presenting with the nephrotic syndrome

Prognostic indicators in patients presenting with the nephrotic syndrome. Clinical data from 246 patients presenting with a nephrotic syndrome and biopsy-proven glomerular disorder were analyzed, using statistical survival techniques, to determine which of several variables (sex, age, plasma creatinine, diastolic blood pressure and 24-hour urinary protein loss) were associated with subsequent end-stage renal failure. The best prediction of outcome could be made at one year (N = 121); then plasma creatinine (P < 0.001) and heavy proteinuria (P = 0.049) were the best determinants. For a given plasma creatinine level, heavy urinary protein was associated with a worse outcome. The incidence of end-stage renal failure was greatest three to four years from the date edema first developed. Plasma creatinine and urinary protein values, collected four-monthly throughout the study period, were analyzed as time-dependent covariates. A relationship was found between the prevailing risk of renal failure and earlier heavy proteinuria (P < 0.001). Spontaneous complete remission of proteinuria was associated with a highly favorable outcome (P = 0.001) and normal, or impaired but stable, renal function