While the phenomenon of risk is something that people generally try to minimise in their lives, the concept of adventure tourism presents an interesting set of circumstances in that tourists actually seek, or at the very least accept, the risk of sustaining physical injury during the adventure tourism experience. This makes adventure tourism unique when compared to all other types of tourism. In order to explore and add value to this difference, the aims of this study are to determine the importance of experiencing risk in choosing to participate in different adventure tourism activities, to understand the motivations, levels of satisfaction, and post-activity intentions of adventure tourists, so that specific marketing strategies may be developed. A total of 612 people were surveyed both before and after taking part in three different adventure tourism activities (whitewater rafting, bungy jumping, and sailing). It was found that prior experience in the given activity did not present itself as a factor that lowered risk as a motivation, that no motivational differences existed between nationalities, and that varying levels of inferred satisfaction are present. Marketing strategies for each of the activities, based on multivariate motivations, are recommended.

The paper is on Malaysia, an emerging market, which had enjoyed strong economic activity with growth of 8-9% p.a. for a decade before the Asian financial crisis hit the region in 1997. The local currencies in the region came under pressure as capital took flight from the region. Credit and trade receivables became difficult. Assets and share values plunged dramatically as demand fell. A number of companies which had expanded rapidly through acquisitions and diversification with heavy borrowings in the past became insolvent. Investors and other stakeholders lost money with the failure of the companies. Many blamed the inadequate financial information and poor corporate governance as agency issues for their loss. Using the data of companies with poor earnings that were subsequently placed on the KLSE PN4 list, the study confirmed previous studies that earnings affect share prices. The share prices fell with negative earnings and remained low with declining earnings up to the PN4 announcements in 2001. Earnings management was evidenced by the use of the statistical model and the high standard deviation. There was, however, a marked change in 2005. Good management practices and transparency in financial information promotes growth.

This study is concerned with the development of entrepreneurship in young Thais, studying at high school level through an entrepreneurship encouragement program undertaken during the recent period of Thailand's economic recovery. This program is considered new to the country since it focuses on high school participants, a target-group untapped by most existing business incubation programs. In addition, it also takes significant account of the experiential learning method for entrepreneurship development. The research shows that the program had substantial, yet limited impact in encouraging its participants to become future entrepreneurs. This was due to the individual background, parental influence, and differences in their own beliefs that played an essential role in supporting or hindering young Thais towards entrepreneurship. Quantitative and qualitative research methods, used in conjunction, were used to portray the overall effectiveness of this program; such a mixed method is not commonly practiced in most entrepreneurship program evaluations. Quantitative research was used primarily to give representative results on how well the specific program objectives had been achieved by the participants as well as to select representatives of the program for the qualitative data gathering. Qualitative research was utilised to capture testimonials of program impacts and to obtain a comprehensive interpretation of participants’ perceptions, evaluation of program effectiveness, and the factors that support or hinder their development towards entrepreneurship. The study suggests that this short-term entrepreneurship encouragement program had limited success; success was dependent on both personal and external factors relating to each participant. It showed that one’s prior condition was a significant determinant of the varying level of success. The program was able to encourage the participants with relatively limited business experience towards entrepreneurship, specifically in stimulating more awareness and knowledge in developing entrepreneurial competencies. For those participants with an established background in business, the program provided a period of incubation that encouraged them to become entrepreneurs; it provided them with an opportunity of real business implementation that increased their prospects of success in future entrepreneurship. The concrete success levels revealed by the study suggests that this short-term entrepreneurship encouragement program might best position itself by providing an initial selection process to separate the ‘entrepreneurto- be’ from the ‘will not be’. The selected ‘entrepreneur-to-be’ could then be further groomed to be one of the successful entrepreneurs to play an important role in driving the long-term economic growth of Thailand.

Australia currently adopts the floating exchange rate system; therefore the value of the Australian dollar is subject to volatility due to the influence of changing domestic and international economic circumstances. This volatility of the Australian exchange rate system is an issue that affects the majority of Australian businesses. With over fifty percent of Australian trading invoiced in foreign currencies, movements in the value of the Australian dollar can potentially improve or worsen Australian companies’ financial performance, and consequently, affect the national economic indicators. The importance of managing these currency risks not only stimulates countless studies attempting to capture a set of factors that are most relevant in contributing to the volatility of the Australian exchange rate system, but also encourages research attempting to develop an optimal hedging model that can assist Australian businesses to manage foreign exchange risk. From the review of existing literature, there appears to be a noticeable gap between theory and practice. Indeed, there exists a vast literature that looks at traditional financial derivatives such as options, futures, forward, and swaps for example, the Black-Scholes model is used for options pricings in the share and foreign exchange market. However, there is a paucity of research focusing on the leveraged spot market, both from an empirical and theoretical point of view. This thesis aims to minimize this omission by developing a model of speculation as well as a model of hedging, providing a theoretical framework and empirical simulations. Our model of speculation, developed in Chapter 3, adapts Krugman’s (1991) model of target zones, in order to theoretically determine the optimal number of leveraged spot contracts taken by a speculator. Moreover, using historical data on interest rates and spot rates, we conduct a simulation to provide insights into how changing economic factors affects the speculator’s position in the real world. In Chapter 4, we extend this model to show how speculation gains can be hedged with forward contracts. Traditional hedging methods involve the use of money markets and forward contracts; however, in Chapter 4, we describe how leveraged spot contracts can be used for hedging purposes. Moreover, we show that under some circumstances, the leveraged spot contract hedge outperforms these traditional hedging methods

In this paper we investigate the economic, political, institutional, and societal factors that encourage entrepreneurial activity. We do so by applying Bayesian Model Averaging, which controls for model uncertainty, to a panel data set for 33 countries. Our results indicate that the general state of macroeconomic activity, the availability of financing, the level of human capital, fiscal policies implemented and the type of economic system are the main determinants of the level of entrepreneurship. We also document a non-linear, U-shaped relation between distortionary taxation and entrepreneurial activity. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Activity, Total Early-Stage Activity (TEA), Global Entrepreneurial Monitor (GEM), Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA), Panel Estimation. JEL Classification: B30, B53, C11, C23, J20, M13, O10, O40

The desirability of economic growth is an emerging question in contemporary development studies. A dominant view both within the literature and public policy is that economic growth is desirable as it is the best means to increase social welfare and enhancing social welfare is a rational objective of society and governments. Economic growth increases social welfare through improving health outcomes, food intake and access to other basic needs. However, the costs of achieving economic growth are often not fully considered, as welfare analysis of economic growth is limited within the literature. This thesis focuses on Thailand as a representative developing economy. Over the last twenty-five years, 1975-1999, Thailand has experienced some of the world’s highest and most constant rates of economic growth. Thailand is an appropriate case study because its remarkable levels of economic growth have resulted in it becoming a model country for other developing countries to emulate. Economic growth is defined as the change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita between specified time periods. In the mainstream literature, GDP per capita is often used as a measure of social welfare. Therefore, it is argued that economic growth (increases in GDP per capita) enhances social welfare. This relationship between economic growth and social welfare is questioned within this thesis. This relationship fails to consider a number of important economic costs and non-welfaristic impacts of economic growth on social welfare. Costs of economic growth include increased pressure on social relationships and environmental degradation, whilst non-welfaristic issues include distribution, poverty and intergenerational equity. However, these costs and non-welfaristic issues can be included in measures of social welfare through the operationalisation of social choice theory. Social choice theory allows the incorporation of these costs and issues through social welfare functions. Social welfare functions are the means by which normative social choice theory can be implemented. Social choice theory refers to the normative process of ordering alternative social states on the basis of choices, preferences and value judgments of members of that society. The use of a social choice approach to determine the desirability of economic growth is appropriate. Welfare economic analysis of economic growth based in social choice theory includes the costs and benefits of achieving economic growth and a systems perspective of society. This social choice approach is justified as it provides an operational framework for quantifying, measuring and interpreting the objective and subjective elements of economic growth on social welfare. Numerical and operational implementation of social choice theory to real life situations are limited within the literature. This thesis will undertake social welfare analysis of the Thai experience of economic growth by operationalising social choice theory through two social welfare functions. The first social welfare function adjusts national income (a figure similar to GDP per capita) by adopting certain welfare economic criteria, particularly systems analysis and cost-benefit analysis. It extends the work of previous GDP adjusted studies. Within this function national income will be adjusted to consider the costs and benefits arising from achieving economic growth. Comparisons of this measure of social welfare (adjusted national income) and unadjusted national income will assist in determining the desirability of economic growth. The second social welfare function is based on achieving a sense of well-being. It utilises a concept of hierarchical needs in a new form. Within this approach, social welfare includes non-welfaristic considerations such as liberty, social relationships and self-actualisation. Therefore, the fulfillment of specified hierarchical needs can be used to measure social welfare. The results of this social welfare function will be used to test the veracity of the results of the first social welfare function A brief welfare analysis of economic growth’s desirability in the context of certain contemporary development issues, sustainability and globalisation, is also undertaken. The results of these welfare analyses are expressed as time series. All the time series trends show that despite constant increases in economic growth, social welfare in Thailand at times fell or remained unchanged. Based on this empirical welfare analysis, this thesis concludes that achieving economic growth often increases social welfare and is therefore desirable, but not at all times. Suggestions that economic growth may decrease a nation’s aggregate social welfare are limited within mainstream literature. Within both empirical studies, during periods of high economic growth, social welfare fell at certain times and remained relatively unchanged at others. This experience is described as stunting economic growth as this economic growth has “retarded the progress” of social welfare. Stunting economic growth is undesirable. Finally, a number of illustrative policy frameworks to reduce periods of stunting economic growth and increase social welfare are suggested.

This thesis presents an interpretation of foreign direct investment (FDI) by Chinese firms. The research is motivated by the phenomenon that, compared with foreign investment in China, direct investment from China has so far attracted relatively little attention from researchers. The development of China's outward direct investment exhibits distinctive features. It was expanded rapidly in a relatively short time and was directed heavily to a few developed countries, namely, the United States, Canada and Australia. In addition, it is not evident that Chinese investors possess clear international competitive advantages. Existing mainstream theories of FDI from developing countries cannot provide a ready explanation of the underlying rationale for the pattern of China's FDI. Given the difficulties in providing a convincing explanation of the pattern of China's outward FDI by using mainstream theories, this thesis develops a network model of FDI by formalising network ideas from business analysis for application to economic analysis, and interprets China's outward FDI in terms of the network model. This thesis holds that Chinese firms were engaged in FDI for various network benefits. Accordingly, the geographic distribution of China's outward FDI reflected the distribution of network benefits required by Chinese firms and the relevant cost saving effects for obtaining such benefits. As the functioning of networks relies on elements of market economies, the development of China's outward FDI was affected by the progress of marketisation in China. China's outward FDI has a very short history and comprehensive data on industrial composition and overseas subsidiaries' operation are not yet available. This has ruled out the possibility of more specific testing with formal econometric analysis. Rather, the method of approach is essentially descriptive and the interpretation is mainly based on qualitative analysis.

In affluent communities, it is difficult to think about clothing without considering issues of fashion. Yet, in analyses of the garment industries, fashion is rarely considered in detail, and is certainly not analysed as a structuring force over the configuration of garment production industries. Yet through fashion, garments as commodities are complexly embedded in social and cultural processes and in the specificities of place. Although the structures of the global garment production industries have been the subject of numerous studies from a variety of theoretical perspectives, none hitherto have addressed the influence of fashion on the structures and locations of garment production. This thesis begins with the idea that fashion is a complex and influential form of knowledge. It explores the effects of fashion ideas on the global garment system through a case study of the ideas and commodity flows that bring fashions and garments to the Australian market. It traces the interconnections between global knowledge flows and global commodity flows in a manner attuned to the relationships between knowledge, power, industrial organisation and the capture of surplus value from the production system. The analysis highlights how Australia's position in garment production is framed by its geographical position on the periphery of the fashion world.

This thesis investigates the contribution to the growth in expenditure on medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from three inter-related sources: (i) the addition of new medicines offering an expanding range of treatments for disease, (ii) PBS processes for determining the prices of medicines and their conditions of listing and (iii) the demand by patients for PBS medicines. In doing so it uses trend analysis presented in both tabular and graphic form, expenditure decomposition techniques based on index and indicator numbers, and econometric analysis. Using novel techniques and interpretations, it addresses some key aspects of decomposition analysis including the treatment of new and disappearing goods and the potential bias arising from changing market shares among substitutable medicines. The analysis is undertaken for the period from 1991-92 to 2005-06. An important consequence of the cost-effectiveness and reference pricing techniques used by the PBS, is that the quantity index calculated within the decomposition of PBS expenditure can be interpreted as a measure of the quality-adjusted amount of medicines consumed by patients. This is virtually equivalent to the growth in expenditure of about 12% per annum. On average prices of medicines fell over time, modestly in nominal terms and to a greater extent in real terms. Based on the results of econometric analysis, new evidence is presented on the relative influences of copayments, safety net limits, the number of PBS medicines listed and their conditions of listing on the demand for PBS medicines by different categories of patients. Elasticities with respect to patient price are in the range -1.1 to -1.4 for General Non-Safety Net patients and in the range -0.5 to -0.9 for Concessional Non-Safety Net patients.

Heavy economic dependence on oil revenues has come under scrutiny in most oil producing countries, including the Sultanate of Oman. The main catalysts for this have been the gradual decline of oil production, depletion of oil reserves, fluctuations in oil price and high rates of population growth in many of these countries. The Omani government has initiated economic strategies with the aim of diversifying Oman’s economy. In the absence of any previous studies on this aspect of Oman’s economy, the aim of this research is to explore the prospects for the development of the knowledge economy and to identify the key knowledge economy factors for achieving sustainable economic development in Oman. The analytical framework used consisted of three distinct phases. First, a benchmarking process was used for assessing Oman’s readiness in relation to the knowledge economy. This phase revealed a low level of readiness in respect of the key knowledge economy pillars. Secondly, interviews of nine relevant senior government officials resulted in the identification of five knowledge economy drivers that could lead Oman into successfully establishing a knowledge economy. Finally, a non-parametric quantitative approach was used on a data set collected through a survey targeting 310 major service companies in Oman. The results of this analysis appear to complement those of the previous two phases of analysis in emphasizing the importance of the four main knowledge economy pillars. Even though two additional factors namely training support and ICT status were also identified as being important for Oman, the additional factors are not outside the four pillars of the knowledge economy, but represent specific dimensions of Oman’s economy.