Academic literature on the topic 'Fields of Research – 340000 Economics – 340200 Applied Economics'

In the face of escalating health care expenditure, OECD countries are turning to a variety of cost-containment strategies. This thesis analyses three such mechanisms. In Part I, I consider the use of coinsurance to limit the demand for health care. Because coinsurance reduces the elasticity of demand with respect to the price of health care, consumers facing low coinsurance rates may be charged a higher price by doctors. Such discriminatory pricing enables the doctor to extract surplus created in the insurance market, and therefore reduces the effectiveness of coinsurance. I show that in equilibrium, some consumers remain uninsured. I also show how this problem is solved if the doctor and insurer enter into managed care style arrangements. Such arrangements improve insurer and doctor profitability, and restore complete insurance market coverage. In Part II, I consider the design of fundholding schemes which encourage doctors to restrict expensive treatment to severely ill patients. I show that such schemes may be undermined by a patient-doctor side contract. In the face of such patient-doctor collusion, the fundholding scheme may be made collusion-proof by increasing its "power". I show that the optimal collusion-proof scheme may pay the doctor more than his reservation wage. An alternative solution to patient-doctor collusion is to use a partial fundholding scheme that requires some additional co-payment from the patient. Part III analyses New Zealand's internal market reforms. Introduced in 1993, the reforms involved the separation of funding and provision of health care, and were intended to simulate a competitive market environment, thereby improving the incentives of government owned health care providers to be efficient. On the supply side, I look at the internal restructuring of hospitals into private-sector clones. I argue that this commercialisation failed to take account of informational issues within the hospital. On the demand-side, I examine the suitability of internal markets for eliciting optimal innovation from the hospital sector. Again, I find that a standard argument, namely that increased competition leads to innovation, is questionable in the context of the internal market.
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This thesis set out to explore the forces that determine the rise and fall of industrial leadership. It attempted to do this by applying an industry life cycle model to the shipping industry. The industrial life cycle was posited on the basis of existing literature, particularly the growth of knowledge, evolutionary and institutional literature, which lend themselves to patterns of industrial growth and entrapment. On this basis, this thesis set out to examine whether industrial leadership can be explained by a four-staged process of imitation, catch up, advance and entrapment. However, this thesis has exposed something more complicated. Processes of imitation, catch up advance and entrapment were shown to be at work in the shipping industry, but they were tempered by the effects of military and political forces that may not be exogenous, and the trend from regionalism to globalisation. The original model did not encompass early indigenous developments that are not based on imitation that do not immediately lead to a position of advanced leadership. In this light, a better description of the first stage would be capability building.

Marine Protected Area (MPA), as a fisheries management tool has been promoted by both national and local conservationists and has provided de facto illustrations of integrated coastal management (ICM) in the Philippines. However, conflict is inevitable in the implementation of public policy such as the MPA because of contrasting objectives and expectations from various stakeholders. Coupled with non-human (e.g. MPA size) and human (e.g. mismanagement) threats, conflict becomes a hindrance to MPA effectivity. In the Philippines alone, only 10-20% of the 500 MPAs are attaining their objectives. This study presents an overview of MPA management and examines the interaction between the civil society and market forces of institutional arrangements in the case of North-Eastern Iloilo (NI) in the Philippines. It discusses overall scenarios that resemble conflict between various national, local and international sectors, assessing MPA success factors and the expected implications from such implementation. Results from key informant, focus-group discussion and social survey show that there are problems on MPA management in the region. Using data and strategic analyses, it presents that minimisation of conflicts amongst actors should be the primary goal of the NI municipalities. In addition, MPA size and membership to organisations are also significant factors of success. Moreover, the analysis from a simple correlation to complex Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) conclude that information on MPA regulation does not directly contribute to the improvement in MPA management. It implies that a focus on informing stakeholders about the benefits of having an MPA and its regulations is ineffective. The focus should be on the reduction of conflict between economic actors - for free riding problems are currently occurring, thus minimising conflict by conflict resolution and proper incentives. However, there are still remaining challenges on MPA management, for not all factors are incorporated on this study. The challenge now is on how to identify the remaining factors and integrate them into policies and implementations to improve the overall condition of coastal communities.

According to Porter (1990), there are certain characteristics of a country that allow its industries to create and sustain competitive advantage, or prevent them from doing so. The objective of this study was to identify and compare the sources of competitive advantage or disadvantage for the Uruguayan and New Zealand beef industries. To accomplish these objectives, Porter’s Diamond Framework was selected as the theoretical framework to assess the competitive advantage of nations. Two case studies “the Beef Industry in Uruguay” and “the Beef Industry in New Zealand” were carried out. The information was obtained from secondary sources and open-ended interviews to key informants in both countries. Uruguay and New Zealand possess observable similarities, such as size, population, similar farmland area, and an economy based on agriculture with low levels of subsidies and trade regulations. In addition, the industries in both countries target the international market. Considering beef production, these countries produce beef based on pastures; hence, they have similar seasonal fluctuations in slaughter and in the product offered into the market. These similarities make these countries interesting to compare. On the other hand, Uruguay and New Zealand have differences. They are in different stages of economic development, and have cultural, sociological and educational differences. The beef industry is the most important economic activity in Uruguay, as can be illustrated by the resources allocated in this sector and in the volume and value of exported beef. In New Zealand, the beef industry is less important; however, it constitutes an excellent complementary activity for sheep and dairy productions. Both beef industries also have differences in their levels of productivity, stock compositions, stock categories, age of slaughtered animals, sanitary status, and locations in relation to markets. This suggests different sources of competitive advantage. The results show that the Uruguayan beef industry has a weaker diamond than its New Zealand counterpart does. However, the industry in Uruguay has been increasing the use of resources in comparison to other pastoral activities such as dairy and sheep. In contrast, the New Zealand beef industry, despite having a stronger diamond than the Uruguayan beef industry, has a secondary role behind the sheep and dairy industry. There are two clear limitations for the Uruguayan beef industry. First, the performance of the primary sector is poor. Second, the Uruguayan exported beef receives a lower price than the New Zealand product, and has difficulties for gaining access to certain markets. These two characteristics were identified as the most dissimilar for both industries. The selected research design and theoretical framework were adequate to accomplish the objectives. Although most of Porter’s findings were not supported in this study, using the framework allowed the development of an exhaustive analysis of the possible factors affecting the sources of competitive advantage in both industries. Comparing diamonds in different countries has not been done before; therefore, this research provides empirical evidence of the advantages and disadvantages of using this framework for international comparisons. Finally, the information presented in this research did not intend to suggest possible strategies or policies to increase the competitiveness of both industries. However, the results are likely to provide useful information for further studies in these industries.

In recent years corruption has come to be considered as a pervasive phenomenon, and a major obstacle in the process of economic development. However, there exist few studies that discuss the factors that cause corruption and why some countries are more corrupt than others. This research contributes to that rather scanty literature and focuses on the causes of corruption. More importantly, the study empirically investigates various causes of corruption, in particular the role of economic development, democracy and economic freedom in explaining the observed variations in corruption across countries, and the nexus between democracy and economic freedom in combating corruption. The study first tests the reliability of the recent quantitative innovations in the study of corruption in terms of the Corruption Perception Index, constructed by Transparency International. Using theoretical and empirical analysis, various hypotheses regarding corruption and its determinants are examined using panel data for 100 countries during the period 1995 to 2004. The empirical findings show that the subjective indexing process of corruption perception eventually converges to a common consensus. In evaluating the relationship between economic development and corruption, the results suggest that income per capita, education, unemployment, income inequality, economic freedom and democracy are among the factors which determine and help explain the cross-country differences in corruption. Furthermore, the assessment of the relationship between democracy and corruption shows that an ‘electoral democracy’, represented by ‘political rights’, is not in itself sufficient to reduce corruption. Instead, for low levels of corruption to exist, the presence of an advanced fully-formed mature democracy is required. A characteristic of a mature democracy is the existence of an environment where the probability of being caught, if acting corruptly, is very high. In addition, the examination of the interaction between economic freedom and democracy suggests that economic freedom reduces corruption in any political environment, and the effect is substantially larger with a high level of democracy. The interesting and important findings of the analysis indicate that there exists a non-linear relationship between corruption and the level of income as well as democracy. The findings suggest that developed countries have succeeded in controlling corruption through higher levels of economic development along with the economic and political freedoms that their peoples enjoy.

This thesis explores claims that organic agriculture may be an empowering development strategy by investigating the impacts of conversion to organic farming systems on the lives of small-scale farmers in Cambodia. The thesis interrogates the diverse uses and abuses of the term =empowerment‘ in development rhetoric and argues for an empowerment model that is derived from farmers‘ self-defined concepts of development. This model was used to conduct a qualitative case study involving semistructured interviews and focus groups with members of organics initiatives in seven diverse Cambodian communities. Results indicate that many farmers in all communities felt that their most important objective was not only to achieve food security, but to be able to grow sufficient rice to feed their family. Farmers joined the organics initiatives primarily to improve their health and reduce the cost of farming inputs. As a result of joining the initiatives, all farmers (including both certified and non-certified organic farmers) felt they had improved their health and food security. Most farmers also increased incomes, created stronger family and community ties and felt they had more control over their livelihoods. These benefits were not, however, distributed equally amongst individuals or communities. Very poor and isolated farmers could not generally access benefits. The three main factors that determined the impact of the organics initiatives on farmer empowerment were identified as: the individual‘s level of resources, the strength of the farmer group, and the policies and values of the supporting organisation. The implications for future initiatives are, firstly, the tremendous potential for farmers and wider rural communities to benefit from organic agriculture as a development strategy. However, this study also shows that if organics is to be viable for low-resource people, it may be necessary to promote both resources and techniques in organics initiatives. Also, a focus on building strong relationships both within the farmers group and linkages with local and wider stakeholders may enhance long-term sustainability of organics initiatives.

Neo-liberalism has become the dominant approach to economic development since the 1980s. Based on the economic principle of “efficiency”, the Washington Consensus and its supporters have avidly promoted the neoliberal orthodoxy as the ideal blueprint for the economic development of all countries in every region. However, as this thesis has discovered, the efficiency of public policy is weighed not by its conformity to an ideology but on how effective it responds to the economic and social problems of the population in question. In recent years Tonga has endured severe economic shocks which have pushed its low growth economy to the brink of economic crisis. In response to this crisis, the Government has chosen greater economic liberalisation and private sector – led growth to lead the economy to recovery. The Washington Consensus and its international supporters claim that this is the best policy response for Tonga due to the belief that greater liberalisation leads to greater efficiency. This thesis however believes that at the current dire state of the economy, it is not enough for Tongan public policy to just conform to international views on efficient economic development but to ensure that its economic development policies address the economic and social needs of the general Tongan population. With this in mind, this thesis investigated the role of agriculture in economic development. It identified that for an agriculture-based country such as Tonga, at low levels of growth, agricultural development is fundamental to long term economic growth. This research also revealed that agricultural growth is maximised through trade hence suggesting increased focus on agricultural export development. Based on these findings, this research project set out to verify the efficiency of Government agricultural policies by identifying the views of agricultural exporters and comparing these with Government approaches to agricultural export development in Tonga.

As economies develop, novel products are created and markets for these products arise. Genetically modified food (GMF) is an example of such a novel product and provides economists with the opportunity to investigate an infant market. Of particular interest with GMF is the impact of consumer reactions on the market. The response of consumers to GMF and their willingness to pay for it has emerged as an important factor in the development of this technology. This research investigates these consumer responses. Prior research suggests that two aspects of consumer behaviour may be relevant for the GMF market. First, consumers may react differently to different types of GMF, so that some products are potentially more economically viable. Secondly, some consumers appear to prefer not having GMF at all. Consumer behaviour is often framed according to neoclassical economic theory. Consumer preferences over goods and the attributes of those goods are generally held to have certain properties. The aspects of consumers' reactions to GMF noted above, however, may be in conflict with two properties of preferences in neoclassical theory. First, preferences over food attributes are not separable, but may interact with each other. Secondly, some consumers may have preferences regarding GMF that are not continuous. As a result, aggregate impacts of introducing GMF may be difficult to measure, which raises a third issue for investigation, aggregation. Finally, an alternative model of consumer behaviour is bounded rationality, which theorises that choices may be discontinuous as a result of specific protocols. It also suggests that consumers seek to make good-enough choices, rather than attempting to maximise their satisfaction. Thus, optimisation or maximisation is the fourth issue considered in this thesis. In order to investigate these properties of consumers' preferences, a choice experiment survey was developed. The strength of a choice experiment for examining these issues is its focus on the impact of each product attribute on a respondent's choices. Thus, it may be possible to identify potentially discontinuous choice patterns and to identify choices affected by interactions between GM technology and other food attributes. Results from a neoclassical analysis of the survey data suggest that some consumers consider the type of benefit created with GM technology in making their choices. In addition, one-quarter to one-half of respondents may have had discontinuous preferences with respect to GMF. Reactions to GMF appear related to respondents' attitudes, but not to socio-economic or demographic descriptors. As a result, aggregate measures of the impact of GMF may not fully account for consumers' responses. A boundedly rational model also has reasonable goodness of fit, and may provide a different perspective on consumer behaviour. It is hoped that the results of this research provide a better understanding of consumer behaviour regarding GMF and, by extension, of the process of consumer adoption of novel products. It is further hoped that this attempt to incorporate choice protocols into discrete choice analysis will provide a useful example for further research.

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) is home to the largest tuna fishery stock in the world. However, Pacific Island members of the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Commission (WCPTC) argue that their share of the economic rent from the tuna catches taken out of the Pacific region is very small, being on average only about 6% of the total net benefit, when compared to the share earned by Distant Water Fishing Nations (DWFNs). Kiribati is one of the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), which relies heavily on its fishery for its economic development and sustainability. Kiribati earns 40% - 50 % of its government revenue from fisheries access fees paid by DWFNs for tuna caught in the the Kiribati EEZ. The Government of Kiribati (GoK) believes that Kiribati could get greater benefit if they develop their own domestic tuna fishery. This study uses Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and SWOT Analysis to investigate whether domestication of the tuna fishery is the right move for Kiribati or not. The CBA reported in this thesis adapted a model developed by Campbell (2004) to investigate and evaluate fisheries policy in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However the model in this thesis is reflective of the situation and case of Kiribati. In analyzing the different options identified in this study, the CBA indicated negative (-) NPV(s) for the medium-sized vessel option and positive (+) NPV(s) for the large-sized vessel option. The SWOT analysis however, complemented the CBA by further investigating the tuna domestication options in the economic, social and business and business environment of Kiribati. The SWOT analysis indicated that the existing situation and business conditions in Kiribati appears to favor the small to medium sized vessel options which are less risky than the large purse seine vessel option.

There are two competing theoretical debates about the impact of ownership concentration on organisational outcomes, namely efficient-monitoring hypothesis and conflict-of-interest (strategic-alignment) hypothesis. New Zealand has a distinctively concentrated ownership structure. This raises an important research question: Does concentrated ownership in New Zealand perform an efficient monitoring or opportunistic function? This question remains unanswered due to the very limited research on ownership structure in New Zealand. This research considers three specific where studying the function of ownership concentration is likely to be insightful. Three contexts are: CEO compensation scheme, corporate voluntary disclosures and investor perception of ownership structure in the stock market. This research further contributes to the existing literature by decomposing ownership into four mutually exclusive groups, namely financial institution-, government-, management- and other company-controlled ownership structures. The different impacts of ownership concentration under each type of controlling ownership structure are investigated. The findings of Essay One reveal that concentrated ownership is a significant contributor to the poor CEO compensation pay-for-performance relationship in New Zealand listed companies. However, reduced ownership concentration promotes the alignment between CEO compensation and firm performance. These results imply that large shareholders in New Zealand do not play a monitoring role in curbing managerial power; rather it exacerbates the poor relationship between CEO compensation and firm performance. In Essay Two, regression results show that companies characterised by financial institution-controlled ownership structure tend to make significantly fewer (more) disclosures at high (low) concentration levels. In contrast, firm observations in the high concentration group with government- and management-controlled ownership structures have considerably higher voluntary disclosure scores compared with their low concentration counterparts. With respect to the linearity assumption, the relationship between ownership concentration and voluntary disclosure practices unveil a non-linear pattern, indicating that the efficiency of large shareholders’ monitoring varies with the level of intensity of ownership concentration. The results of Essay Three demonstrate that ownership concentration in general is positively associated with information asymmetry observed around annual report release date. This is supportive of investor-adverse selection towards ownership concentration, and such an adverse selection problem is strongly associated with financial institutional and managerial shareholdings. Also, ownership concentration decreases stock liquidity, so no result is found in line with the ownership concentration liquidity hypothesis. When voluntary disclosure is taken into account, regression results suggest that disclosure significantly attenuates information asymmetry risk related to ownership concentration. This effect is particularly pronounced for firms with management-controlled ownership structure. Findings highlight the importance of corporate disclosures under concentrated ownership structure in eliminating information asymmetry and enhancing market efficiency in New Zealand.