Assessing Inflation Targeting in Latin America With a DSGE Model

In this paper we assess Inflation Targeting with a unique treatment and control group of strictly Latin American countries. We estimate a small Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model to determine whether economic behavior within an economy fundamentally changes under Inflation Targeting. We find that although Inflation Targeting central banks appear to be if anything, slightly more aggressive in responding to inflation than Non-Inflation Targeting central banks, this has not resulted in more forward looking inflation expectations by economic agents.

Equitable Damages in Nova Scotia

Section 2 of the Chancery Amendment Act 1858 (Lord Cairns\u27 Act) conferred jurisdiction upon the Court of Chancery to award damages, in certain instances, either in addition to or in substitution for an injunction or specific performance. Lord Cairns\u27Act was based upon the report of the Chancery Commissioners who recommended that courts of equity should be empowered to award damages in a suit for an injunction, or for the specific performance of a contract. It may have been thought that the raison d\u27tre of Lord Cairns\u27 Act would have ceased upon the commencement of the Judicature Act 1873. However, Lord Cairns\u27Act did not merely enable the Court of Chancery to award those damages which could be awarded by a common law court. This issue was finally settled by the decision of the House of Lords in Leeds Industrial Cooperative Society v. Slack

The Australia-Japan Defence and Security Relationship: Past, Present and Future

The thesis is a security practitioners\u27 past, present and future view of the Defence and Security Relationship between Australia and Japan. It examines security prospects as a rising hegemon challenges an extant one. It proposes the creation of a pragmatic regional security architecture based on alignments between like-minded nations

The future of the construction industry and the implications for construction project management and education

Developing an understanding of the future is an important aspect of every planning process; planning in the construction industry is no different. Construction is an industry that is very closely linked to the economy and society as a whole. As such, when developing an understanding of the future of the construction industry, it is important to understand the future of the economy and society as a whole. This document puts forth visions for the construction industry based on an understanding of economic, social, and environmental factors. The world is at an interesting crossroads. There are great problems being faced throughout the world while simultaneously amazing new tools are being developed. The construction industry has often been characterized as a fragmented industry that is slow to change. Given the state of current and probable future affairs, the construction industry may begin to experience change at unprecedented levels. It is important for organizations within the construction industry and institutions for construction education to remain constantly cognizant of the state of the future. This study provides a look into the future and serves as a foundation for additional research into the future of the construction industry

Employment Training Programs and Acculturation of Native Peoples in Canada's Northwest Territories

Theories of cultural diffusion and acculturation specify the conditions under which new behaviour, norms, and values are adopted. Both education and employment in modern enterprises have been identified as highly conducive to acculturation. This paper focuses on formal employment training as a possible agent of cultural change among native peoples in Canada's Northwest Territories. It analyzes all job training programs administered by governments over the 1971-83 period, presenting systematic data on them for the first time. During this period, the official Canadian government position about northern development was that the needs of indigenous peoples were to prevail over resource exploitation. At the same time, northern residents were to be offered training so that they might benefit from economic development by taking part in the expanding wage economy. Hence, officially, native peoples were to have a "choice of futures" - to be enabled to combine elements of southern and northern ways of life or to choose freely between them. But choices may be subtly shaped. Here we examine the structure rather than the explicit content of job training programs. We show that most programs operated by governments have been delivered in such a way as to stimulate rapid acculturation among trainees, by requiring relocation, the use of English, and adherence to fixed schedules. In recent years, some shift in program structure has been evident, so that the programs are delivered in a manner that better accommodates northern indigenous cultures. This raises the perennial, thorny question of whether segmented and obvious cultural contact is preferable to diffuse and co-optive interaction.Key words: Canadian North, Northwest Territories, employment training, acculturation, modernization, program implementationMots clés: Grand Nord canadien, Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formation pour l’emploi, acculturation, modernisation, mise en application des programme

Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children’s Elementary Education

We examined the perceptions of teachers and parents about family involvement in urban schools. The study generated from several others that we have been conducting about teaching in high poverty, urban schools. Using focus groups, our purpose was to learn how we could better prepare teachers for urban schools. The data revealed that teachers are frustrated with a lack of parental involvement in literacy activities at home and at school. Parents, however, expressed distrust toward the local elementary school because they felt the faculty has been biased against African American and Latino children and their families. Consequently, the parents said they deliberately decided not to participate in school activities. Parents explained they would only work with teachers who respected and valued their children. Results of our study point to the importance of helping new teachers learn strategies for developing strong trusting relationships and effective communication strategies when working with urban families

TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON ORGANISATIONAL VIABILITY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Published ArticleViability connotes a system’s ability to become ultra-stable through effective self-regulation of its internal processes and information processing among its subsystems. Applying this to an infrastructure delivery system (IDS) context, this study proposes that an IDS can successfully deliver on client requirements only if they attain and maintain viability. Research into the influence of National Culture (NC) on an IDS’s viability appears to be lacking; hence this study. Adopting a multi-case study, qualitative research design, this study explores three IDSs involved in the delivery of infrastructure projects in two different NC contexts; Nigeria and the United Kingdom. 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted across the cases to provide for an in-depth understanding of existing interactions between participants in these delivery systems: client/project sponsor; main contractor and sub-contractors and to understand the influence of the prevailing national culture on such interactions, if any. Findings indicate that NC in project delivery environments influence the ability of IDSs to attain viability, especially as it pertains to the sustenance of Team Quality Attributes (TWQ) within the system. Based on these findings, it is expected that in modelling IDSs for viability, adequate consideration should be given to the prevailing NC by project managers and planners

An Analysis of Critical Literacy in Featured Manuscripts Appearing in Two Major Literacy Journals (2011-2020)

Literacy journals provide an important resource for teachers’ professional development. Although school districts offer in-service education for their faculty and teachers often attend conferences and workshops sponsored by professional teaching organizations, journal reading remains an important source of information for teachers’ ongoing learning. In this study we examined what elementary teachers would learn about teaching critical literacy from reading major journals in literacy education. Critical literacy served as our focus because of the increasing importance of readers knowing how to recognize political, social and cultural perspectives embedded in the texts that they read. Content analysis served as our research method in which all volumes of The Reading Teacher and Language Arts published between 2011 and 2020 were examined. Results yielded 20 manuscripts meeting our criteria, and these clustered into two categories: (1) manuscripts describing effective critical literacy projects in elementary classrooms; (2) manuscripts discussing the use of children’s literature for teaching critical literacy. Given recent national events relating to racial and ethnic injustice throughout the country, we recommend that literacy journals place greater emphasis in publishing manuscripts that help teachers include a critical literacy lens into the lessons they teach children

Stories That Matter: An Analysis of Teacher Candidates’ Compositions About Social Justice Events in Their Lives

Abstract This study generated from our interest in learning about social justice events in the lives of teacher candidates in our programs of study. In many schools of education, including our own, social justice is a concept that is integrated into the curriculums, yet there is wide variation as to how this is actually done. A unique aspect of this study was that more than half of the candidates were matriculated in an alternate teacher education program where the majority of candidates are people of color. Using narrative analysis, we examine 48 written narratives composed by teacher candidates about events relating to social justice in their lives. Results indicated that candidates’ narratives clustered into two themes and six categories: The themes consisted of stories about self or family members and to other stories about people in their communities. The categories pertained to racism, bullying, sexuality/gender identity, homelessness/elderly and social violence, with the stories about racism as being the most frequently described. Our findings are discussed in light of the importance of understanding the life experiences of today’s teacher candidates, especially when there is greater diversity in their color and ethnicities than previous generations of teachers. These social justice stories offered us the opportunity to learn about the saliency and the emotional effects of social justice events in our teacher candidates’ lives, and we suggest ways our programs might be improved to better prepare future candidates for teaching in today’s racially and culturally diverse schools