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Growth and Regional Trade in Africa: Some Empirical Evidence
No full textThe formation of regional trade agreements among countries at different levels of economic development poses the question of whether the composition of trade, rather than trade itself, is relevant for growth. This question has not been thoroughly and conclusively investigated in the case of trade between developing countries. This paper analyzes the empirical relationship between growth and intra-African export trade as well as exports to other parts of the world as observed through an inter-country cross-section. A production function model is specified and estimated using cross-sectional data from Sub Saharan African countries for the period 1985-2010.
The estimated results show that the trade ratios for aggregate exports, exports to HIC enter the growth equation positively and are statistically significant. The positive and significant coefficients of SSA-HIC export trade support the view that the SSA growth benefits more from trading with HIC (the North). On the other hand, the estimated coefficients of the intra-Africa exports and other exports to LDCs are negative or insignificant. This suggests that exports of SSA countries to other SSA or LDCs have played an insignificant role in the growth of SSA economies.The formation of regional trade agreements among countries at different levels of economic development poses the question of whether the composition of trade, rather than trade itself, is relevant for growth (Splimbergo, 2000). This question has not been thoroughly and conclusively investigated, especially for trade between developing countries. This paper analyzes the empirical relationship between growth and intra-African trade as observed through an inter-country cross-section. A production function model is specified and estimated using cross-sectional data from 46 African countries for the period 1985-2005
Information Access, Transparency, and Good Governance: the Alberta record
No full textThis paper was presented at the Canadian Political Science Association meeting in Victoria June 2013. It was part of a panel called: Rights Claims, Identity, and Citizenship in an Oil Economy. This panel explored the impact of having a resource economy on democracy in Alberta in three areas: transparency, culture, and worker safety. A robust conversation ensued after the paper presentations.Access to information is recognized worldwide as a crucial component of a democratic state because transparency helps to expose corruption, ensures due process in law, and encourages the citizen engagement that is central to citizen participation (Stefanick 2011). For newly emerging democracies, the concept of “open government” challenges previously accepted notions that the interests of society as expressed through the power of the state take precedence over the interests of individual citizens. Institutions such as the World Bank and the UN Development program identify transparency as a critical component of good governance (Shrivastava and Stefanick 2011); access regimes are where the “rubber hits the road” for creating transparency.
An evaluation of the functioning of access to information regimes provides not only an indicator of the “openness” of any particular government; it also can be used as an indicator of democratic health. Alberta has a long history as an early adopter of mechanisms to support government transparency – in 1967 it became the 3rd jurisdiction in the world to establish an administrative Ombudsman, and it established an access to information law a decade before the UK, Switzerland, and Germany. Nonetheless, the province has not escaped the criticism that it receives poor grades with respect to openness and transparency. This paper will evaluate the success of the Access to Information regime in Alberta in fostering the accountability that is crucial to good governance
Why think about culture in remix?
No full textRemix is touted as one of the most important practices within the field of open educational resources (OER). But remixing is still not mainstream practice in education and the barriers and limitations to remix are not well known. We will discuss some of the intersecting problems associated with the design and development or resources from the perspective of culture. We'll discuss the creation of a print and web-based booklet created to introduce the topic of OER to schoolteachers. The guide, the first of its kind available in Portuguese, was created through the remix and translation of existing resources available in English. Choosing design-as-remix raised a series of concerns related to licensing, attribution, context, and technical standards. We review the concerns related to culture and inequity within the OER movement, followed by the design choices and procedures, and finally the implications of these issues for the open educational resources movement
L1 and L2 Students Together: Online Education to the Rescue
No full textAnyone teaching in an ESL classroom knows that, with few exceptions, it is difficult teaching both L1 and L2 students at the same time. L2 students are usually inhibited by the oral fluency of L1 learners, and their needs are different. Online education allows both groups to study in the same courses at the same with no detriment to either and allowing both groups to achieve success.
We compare students taking three different courses: an EAP course, an ESP course, both of which attract a number of L1 learners, and a preparatory Writing course that attracts many L2 learners. This session explores how methods of instruction can affect a teacher’s ability to support both groups of learners, and we look at both qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences in the learner experience and outcomes.
It is impossible to standardize all the possible variables: all students are adults, but apart from that their situations and circumstances vary widely, and we do not know all of the pertinent factors affecting their learning outcomes.
Online education, and asynchronous delivery in particular, allows all students to receive individualized instruction. While there are varying amounts of possible student-to-student interaction on the courses, most interaction is between a student and his or her instructor. In this way, instructors can tailor their responses to specific student needs instead of expecting students to fit into a general pattern or cookie-cutter mode of instruction. The results are rewarding and interesting.This presentation explores a solution to the problem of L1 and L2 students taking the same course while addressing the specific needs of both. We examine the data from three courses, offered asynchronously online with both L1 and L2 students, to show how to address the challenge and achieve success
It's not only what we say but what we do”: Researching the rationales for the establishment of pay in five mixed sex, democratic worker cooperatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina
No full textAs I explored in my previous SSHRC* funded research in 2006, worker egalitcooperatives are based on the ideals of democratic participation and of egalitarianism: in general assemblies all the workers vote on the general principles under which the worker cooperatives are run, vote in [and out] their coordinators or managers and executive, and vote on capital and wage expenditures. However, what the research on worker cooperatives does not confront is how those ideals, and particularly these ideals of egalitarianism, can be subverted without careful attention to patriarchy, specifically as patriarchy circulates in rationales for pay. The purpose of this follow up project and this subsequent paper is to detail the impact of these rationales for pay on five mixed sex worker coops in Buenos Aires and their commitment to egalitarian relations between women and men: my main objective in this paper will be to explore whether the rhetoric of egalitarianism continues to match the reality of pay.As I explored in my previous SSHRC* funded research in 2006, worker cooperatives are based on the ideals of democratic participation and of egalitarianism: in general assemblies all the workers vote on the general principles under which the worker cooperatives are run, vote in [and out] their coordinators or managers and executive, and vote on capital and wage expenditures. However, what the research on worker cooperatives does not confront is how those ideals, and particularly these ideals of egalitarianism, can be subverted without careful attention to patriarchy, specifically as patriarchy circulates in rationales for pay. The purpose of this follow up project and this subsequent paper is to detail the impact of these rationales for pay on five mixed sex worker coops in Buenos Aires and their commitment to egalitarian relations between women and men: my main objective in this paper will be to explore whether the rhetoric of egalitarianism continues to match the reality of pay.
My specific objectives in this paper will be to analyse which rationales are used to justify equal pay between women and men; or conversely, which are used to justify unequal pay. This is to provide for others who are working within worker cooperatives an opportunity to learn what might work for them, given that they want to accomplish more egalitarian relations between women and men, pay as a tangible expression of that. It is also to provide other more conventional organizations an opportunity to use this information to analyse the rationales for pay, and then to construct more equal pay regimes. Pay rates between women and men and their rationales remain a problem even in the conventional academic literature, which continues to allude to the problems of analysing why women and men continue to be paid differently, the difficulty in analysing the rationales, and the difficulties of paying more equally.
This research on the rationales for pay in alternative modes of working like worker cooperatives ostensibly committed to egalitarian forms of organizing is shaped by my adherence to the legacies of Freud and Marx as they inform the work of the contemporary French philosopher Luce Irigaray [1993,a,b; 2000, 2004] and her work on rethinking our hierarchical symbolic structures as contiguous in order to make a place for sexual difference next to sexual difference, difference next to difference, rather than difference as necessarily lesser than the same or the norm [which in almost all of our organizational theory is in reality the unacknowledged male who masquerades as the same or the norm against which the different is always found to be lesser]. The uniqueness of this approach lies in my focus, informed by Irigaray, on how these rationales can be understood in terms of their expression of egalitarianism as contiguous, and the tangible expression of contiguity as paying every member, women and men, the same, or contiguous forms of organizing given tangible expression in equal pay between women and men
The iPad and Early Childhood Intervention
No full textThis paper presentation focuses on an exploratory study conducted with preschool children ages 3 to 5 with disabilities ranging from mild to severe, and the use of the iPad for learning. Preschool children and their families were provided with an iPad and early learning apps to try in the home for a period of 6 weeks. The children’s use of the iPad was evaluated before and after the trial period. The parents documented the use of the iPad and provided the researcher with extensive feedback. The outcomes were very positive. The learning that the children displayed was very surprising in a number of areas including improvement in printing skills, receptive and expressive language skills, pre reading skills, pre math skills, and puzzle completion. There are many practical implications of this study for implementing this tool with preschool children with disabilities, as parents and children were very comfortable implementing this tools for learning without support.This paper presentation focuses on an exploratory study conducted with preschool children ages 3 to 5 with disabilities ranging from mild to severe, and the use of the iPad for learning. Preschool children and their families were provided with an iPad and early learning apps to try in the home for a period of 6 weeks. The children’s use of the iPad was evaluated before and after the trial period. The parents documented the use of the iPad and provided the researcher with extensive feedback. The outcomes were very positive. Come to the session and hear about the results. The learning that the children displayed was very surprising. The practical implications of this study for implementing this tool with preschool children with disabilities will be explored and information that can be provided to parents to support the use of this tool will be shared
Philosophical Critique and Perceived Practical Irrelevance
No full textThe main activity was to offer a criticism of the way professional philosophy conceives of critical thought and how professional philosophy has contributed to its own decline as a voice in public affairs and indeed in the university system, a system that originates in philosophy (Plato’s Academy). The type of rigour espoused by philosophy is analyzed as one-sided and, as a consequence, eliminates from its purview modes of thought and awareness that are central to individual and collective life. This leads to a focus on highly specialized areas of research and thought whose relevance to what matters to people and communities has become increasingly attenuated.In a fascinating paper, “Ask the Philosopher,” Dimitrios Dentsoras shows how philosophers were once integrally engaged in society as agents of practical advice on how to govern and indeed on how to live. Over the centuries, beginning in Roman times, this social role has diminished to a point where professional philosophers are largely socially irrelevant. What has changed?
This paper outlines an argument that identifies a central contribution to its own demise that professional philosophy itself has made. That contribution has to do with how philosophical critique is conceived and operates. Philosophical teaching and publishing focus is on undermining opposing positions, or on eliminating opposition, rather than seeking deeper and genuine understanding. Examining certain elements of this eliminative function presents a possibility of seeing a renewal of philosophy’s previous functions of truth-seeking and accessing the Good
Dynamic Pricing for Subscription Services
No full textThis paper investigates the use of pricing schemes in subscription services that consist of various combinations of activation, subscription, and cancellation fees. When customers exclusively consider what is directly perceivable, the activation fee starts low and increases as the network grows (penetration strategy), whereas the cancellation fee starts high and decreases as the network grows (skimming strategy). The activation and cancellation fees take various other forms otherwise. The subscription fee remains low at the early stages and increases only when a reasonable number of subscribers is secured. Finally, the authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of their findings.This paper investigates the use of pricing schemes in subscription services that consist of various combinations of activation, subscription, and cancellation fees as applied in certain industries. It is assumed that customer attrition limits the diffusion of the service, but may also generate revenues. The authors demonstrate that, depending on the size of the service network, and the industry and market characteristics, such as customer activation and maintenance costs and customer sensitivities to different pricing components, the monopolist may find it optimal to choose any of the following pricing schemes: activation, subscription and cancellation fees; subscription and cancellation fees; subscription and activation fees; activation and cancellation fees; and a single activation fee, and a single subscription fee. Using a parametric model, the authors further show that, regardless of the chosen pricing scheme, when customers disregard the effect of the cancellation fee at the subscription and the effect of the activation fee at the termination stage, the activation fee starts low and increases as the network grows (penetration strategy), whereas the cancellation fee starts high and decreases as the network grows (skimming strategy). The activation and cancellation fees can take various other forms when customers consider their full effects. The subscription fee remains very low at the early stages and starts increasing only when a reasonable number of subscribers is secured. Finally, the authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of their findings
Cost Savings and User Perceptions of OER
No full textThe high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. I report on the adoption of a collection of open resources several across secondary schools and community colleges. Research is presented regarding cost savings, student/teacher perceptions, and the efficacy of using open texts
Supporting Persons with Developmental Disabilities and Co-occurring Mental Illness: An Action Research Project
Full text linkThis paper presents findings from a naturalistic action research project that implemented a WrapAround mental health promotion activity with six individuals dually diagnosed with a developmental disability and mental illness. The project was framed from a strengths based conceptual perspective and questioned how caregivers could better prepare developmentally disabled clients to anticipate and prevent a psychiatric mental health crisis before hospitalization occurs. Facilitators provided monthly health promotion meetings where clients at risk of experiencing a psychiatric crisis were helped to create a team of family members and paid caregivers to ‘wrap around’ them. The teams met regularly and facilitators guided discussions to focus on clients’ strengths, their goals and strategies for success. Data collected from 13 interviews with clients and members of their teams was analyzed to reveal three themes, our findings. First, regular meetings where clients seek and receive support from individuals they value can help address escalating symptoms of mental illness. Second, constant caregiver turnover heightens client anxiety, which in turn exacerbates illness. Third, limited paid in-service and networking opportunities are available to caregivers. These findings invite nurses in the psychiatric field to create similar opportunities to support PDD clients and those who care for them