1,721,016 research outputs found
Don't wait for Copenhagen: implications of the international climate change impasse for Australia and APEC
No full textStephen Howes, ANU Professor of Economics and key contributor to the Garnaut Climate Change Review, says an effective response to climate change requires a mix of unilateral and multilateral action - and individual countries must demonstrate good faith. Just as APEC has promoted unilateral trade liberalisation, it should encourage its member countries to compete with each other to reduce emissions and develop new technologies. Waiting for Copenhagen would do nothing to discourage free-riding countries
Climate change negotiations: unravelling or shifting gear?
No full textClimate change efforts are becoming more decentralised, writes Stephen Howes in Inside Story
THE CONTRAST between the hype in the lead up to last year’s Copenhagen climate change conference and the subdued silence which precedes this year’s conference in Cancun in December could not be starker. If Copenhagen collapsed under the weight of inflated expectations, Cancun cannot but surprise on the upside, given that expectations of what it might achieve are already so low.
This is just one illustration of the huge shifts that have taken place in the world of climate change mitigation over the last twelve months. The changes are not unidirectional. Some have been for the better, some for the worse, and some are ambiguous…
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Photo: Global Call for Climate Action
 
Australian aid to Afghanistan: submission to the foreign affairs, defence and trade reference committee
Full text linkThis submission is written by Professor Stephen Howes, Director of the Development Policy Centre and Mr Jonathan Pryke a researcher at the Centre. Professor Howes has twenty-five years of experience working in and on aid and development in the AsiaPacific region. Formerly Lead Economist for India with the World Bank and Chief Economist with AusAID, he was a lead author of the Core Group Report on Aid Effectiveness (2006), the review of Australian aid to PNG (2010) and the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness (2012). He currently serves on the Board of CARE Australia. Jonathan Pryke graduated from the ANU in 2011 with a Masters in Public Policy and Masters in Diplomacy. Ms Alicia Mollaun also contributed to this submission via the provision of a literature survey. Ms Mollaun is a PhD student at the Crawford School working on American aid to Pakistan. She has worked for the Australian Government with PM&C and DFAT, and is currently on leave from DFAT
Climate change and fiscal policy
No full textAs part of the APEC Finance Ministers‘ Policy Initiatives of 2008, the World Bank was asked to prepare studies on the current state of economic policies concerning climate change and recommendations for strengthening these policies.
This report was prepared as part of the APEC Finance Ministers‘ Policy Initiatives of 2008. Under this initiative, the World Bank was asked to prepare studies on the current state of economic policies concerning climate change and recommendations for strengthening these policies. This is one of the background studies which have been prepared. The background studies and a synthesis report based on these studies were presented to APEC bodies such as the Senior Finance Officials Meetings in September 22, 2010. The final versions are being tabled at the Finance Ministers‘ meetings in November, 2010.
The authors of the report are Stephen Howes and Leo Dobes from the Australian National University
Pacific Economic Survey 2008
No full textPacific Economic Survey 2008 is the first of a series of annual surveys that will provide an overview and update of economic developments in the Pacific island region and Timor-Leste. Each survey will also include separate chapters on particular issues of importance to the region. This year’s survey examines the challenges of better connecting the Pacific through improved telecommunication, aviation and shipping services. There has been an encouraging upturn in economic growth in the Pacific. After negligible growth in the early years of this decade, regional economic growth increased to 3.5 per cent in 2004, averaged 2.8 per cent between 2005 and 2007, and is forecast to reach 4.5 per cent in 2008. While not as strong as growth in North and South Asia, the gap between growth rates in the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean regions is narrowing. Pacific Economic Survey 2008 covers the 14 Pacific island members of the Pacific Islands Forum and Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste is included because it shares many of the development challenges of the Pacific island nations and because of its close proximity. The survey was guided by a regional steering group of leading regional figures from the Pacific and senior AusAID staff. The principal authors of the Survey were AusAID Chief Economist Dr Stephen Howes and AusAID economic adviser, Matthew Morris, who drew on expertise from the region and around the world
Violence against women in PNG: how men are getting away with murder
Full text linkIn this Lowy Institute Analysis, Jo Chandler presents a devastating picture of the endemic violence against women in Papua New Guinea. She highlights the courageous efforts of PNG civil society to change attitudes and assist the victims, and the role Australia is playing to help PNG address the problem.
Key findings:
Violence against women is not only a humanitarian concern but also a significant obstacle to PNG’s development and prosperity.
There are economic, social, and cultural drivers of violence and women face immense hurdles in obtaining justice.
The Australian Government should make the issue a regular and prominent feature of the bilateral agenda and press the PNG Government to take greater responsibility for the proble
Australia’s seasonal worker program: demand-side constraints and suggested reforms
No full textExamines Australias Seasonal Workers Program (SPW) and reccomends a series of reforms to lift employer demand.
Summary
Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) permits workers from eight Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste to work in Australia for a period of fourteen weeks to six months. The program centers on the horticulture sector, but is currently being trialed in four other sectors that were also perceived as suffering from labor shortages: accommodation, aquaculture, cotton and sugar cane.
The number of Pacific seasonal workers in Australia has progressively increased since 2008, but remains small in comparison both to the overall number of foreign workers operating in these sectors, mainly backpackers, and to New Zealand’s equivalent Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme.
In 2011, Stephen Howes and Danielle Hay carried out a survey examining employers’ views of the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS), which preceded the SWP. Since this survey, there has been no further examination of why take-up remains low. This paper reports on the results of a comprehensive survey of employers and industry bodies across the horticulture sector. The findings confirm that the lack of an aggregate labor shortage due to the prevalence of illegal workers and backpackers in the horticulture industry remains the key constraint on employer demand for the SWP. In addition, there is still a lack of awareness of the scheme. This is particularly acute in states and territories with few Pacific seasonal workers. Growers who are aware of the scheme feel that its costs and risks need to be reduced. The reputation of the SWP is still poor amongst non-participating growers, but moderately positive amongst Approved Employers and participating growers, though these latter groups find the scheme’s administrative requirements burdensome. Encouragingly, one in four non-participating growers express an openness to taking on seasonal workers.
Based on these findings, the report recommends a series of reforms to lift employer demand. Key recommendations include: increasing funding for compliance activities to reduce the number of illegal workers in horticulture; either removing or reducing the second-year visa extension for backpackers working in horticulture, or generalizing it to all sectors; removing the upfront costs for returning workers and covering those for new workers through a revolving fund; reducing the minimum fourteen week work requirement; giving employers a greater role in worker selection; advertising the SWP through a targeted group of horticultural industry bodies; streamlining reporting requirements to government; and easing labor market testing requirements for participating growers
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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