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.

Notable structural changes have taken place in the world sheepmeat market over the 1960-80 period. Imports into the major consuming countries of the EEC are declining as a result of changing tastes, higher import barriers and other factors. World exports have steadily increased however, and sales diversified into a number of alternative, expanding markets. Little quantitative information exists on these markets. An econometric model was constructed to analyse the changes on a global basis. The model covers production, consumption and trade in the main importing and exporting regions over a twenty one year period. These components form a dynamic, simultaneous system which solves for the world price. It allows the impact of changes in any particular market to be evaluated in terms of the effect on other markets and international prices. Simulation analysis is employed to test the effects of various shocks to the market, and to evaluate the impacts of certain policy changes, such as those recently implemented in the EEC. The changes are assessed against a Base simulation, which also provides a forecast of the market situation through the 1980's. From the conclusions various policy implications are drawn with respect to NZ's exports.

[No abstract supplied]

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.

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.

This paper relates openness to the decline in inflation by using panel data for six OECD (the USA, Japan, Canada, Portugal, Finland, and Australia) countries over the period from 1980 to 2006. I obtain industrial level data for twenty industries in each of the six countries in the timeframe and estimate the effects of increases in openness, through its effect on productivity and markups on inflation. The methods used to construct the variables in this paper follow methods introduced in Chen, Imbs and Scott (2004), and the estimations follow Chen, Imbs and Scott (2007). The results suggest openness reduces the rate of inflation in the short run. Furthermore, it also reduces short run productivity and markups. The long run results are ambiguous, however. The evidence that openness leads to anti-competitive effects in the long run is weak. JEL Classification: E31, F12, F14, F15, L16 Keywords: Openness, Prices, Productivity, Markups

This dissertation is concerned with enhancing the utility of social capital by developing and testing a comprehensive and measurable framework as a tool for researchers, policy-makers, and development theorists and practitioners. A framework was developed for measuring the degree to which different forms of social capital reside in a community and for distinguishing community-to community variations. The Framework was also designed to identify the accumulation of social capital in relation to structural characteristics within a community, and to identify what advantages might be associated with variants of social capital. The pursuit of the understanding of social capital has been convened within narrow disciplinary fields and has reduced the notion in definition, purpose, and utility. Much of the literature and past research has focused on approximations to identify social capital that are field-specific and representative of, at best, markers of social capital, rather than social capital itself. For this reason, this dissertation is concerned with developing a robust framework that has the potential to embrace the nature and extent of social capital across these disciplinary fields, while providing insight into the forms, influences, and trajectories of social capital. The utility of the Social Capital Framework that was developed for this dissertation was examined by transforming the Framework into a survey tool for administering in two communities to identify applicability and sensitivity for identifying the degree to which variants of social capital reside. The results showed that the Framework was able to distinguish the degree to which different forms of social capital existed, and how the social capital accumulates in relations to structural variables, in particular, gender. The Framework’s utility was not universal across all forms of social capital and showed that further enhancements are required, particularly, if it is to enable social capital to be attributed to forms of advantage. The results also identified areas where future research would be of value, particularly, in examining the trajectory of people’s forms of social capital.

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.

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.

International migration and development have been traditionally treated as separate policy portfolios; however, today the two are increasingly viewed as interlinked. While the development status of a country could determine migration flows, migration can, in turn, contribute positively to national development, including economic, social and cultural progress. Consequently, if migration is not well managed, it can pose development challenges to a country’s development and progress. Therefore, partnership through greater networking between countries of origin and destination is needed to fully utilise the development potential of migration. For Tuvalu, migration has remained a vital ingredient for economic development and more importantly, the welfare of its people. The implementation of New Zealand’s Pacific Access Category (PAC) scheme in 2002 offered for the first time a formal migration opportunity for permanent or long-term migration of Tuvaluans. The PAC scheme allows 75 Tuvaluans per year to apply for permanent residence to work and live in New Zealand, provided they meet the scheme’s conditions. The goal of this research is to investigate, more than five years after PAC’s implementation, the ways in which long-term migration of Tuvaluans, through the PAC scheme, has benefited Tuvalu. To give a broader perspective on the issues explored in this study, the views of Tuvaluan leaders, as significant players in traditional Tuvaluan society, are included, in addition to the perspective of migrants’ families in Tuvalu and the migrants themselves in New Zealand. Combining transnationalist and developmental approaches as a theoretical framework, this thesis explores how Tuvalu’s mobile and immobile populations, through articulation of transnationalism, enhance family welfare, and grassroots and national development. The eight weeks’ fieldwork in Tuvalu and Auckland demonstrated that the physical separation of Tuvaluans from one another through migration does not limit the richness of the interactions and connections between them. In fact, the existence of active networking between island community groups and other Tuvaluan associations in Auckland and in Tuvalu strengthens the Tuvaluan culture both abroad and at home, thus ensuring strong family and community coherence. Maintaining transnational networks and practices is identified as of great significance to grassroots and community-based development in Tuvalu. However, the benefits of long-term migration can only be sustained as long as island loyalty, or loto fenua, and family kinship stays intact across borders, and networking amongst families, communities and church remains active.