No description available.

No description available.

This thesis analyses the material and ideological dimensions of the knowledge economy with particular reference to New Zealand. The emergence of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of transnational capitalism precipitates the co modification of information, communication and knowledge. This process is obscured by the ideological construction of techno-futurism. Techno-futurism is a combination of technological determinism and futurism that appropriates notions of progress. In the pages which follow, historical analyses of this ideology inform the subsequent critique of knowledge economy discourse. In New Zealand knowledge economy discourse contained techno-futurist elements and deflected attention from the global absorption of national capitalism. In this context the Catching the Knowledge Wave Conference (KWC), held in Auckland in the first days of August 2001, is examined. I argue that the instigators and organisers of the conference were enmeshed within the business culture of finance capital and ICTs. Textual analysis of keynote addresses reveals the ideological dimensions to knowledge wave and knowledge economy talk. These dimensions are; entrepreneurialism, knowledge as (economic) progress, and globalism.

The three essays in this dissertation progressively answer the following questions: (a) How important are constraints? (b) Who benefits from removing constraints? (c) When does a constraint for a single market predominantly affect closely related markets? These questions are applied in the context of time, weather, and minimum wage constraints, respectively. The first essay demonstrates that constraints matter. A data envelopment analysis capacity utilization methodology is used to measure impacts on sales from a sequential relaxation of the time and income constraints. Using a subsample bootstrap to estimate confidence intervals, results show that time matters more than income, particularly in fall and winter when other activities compete for gardening time. The second essay shows that the poor are least likely to gain from the relaxation of non-income constraints. A theory of demand is developed in which consumers face multiple constraints. Then, a structural model is used to econometrically estimate the effect of global warming on demand, using nursery data on flowering plants. The model shows that there exists a tipping point around 64 degrees Fahrenheit, above which demand ceases to be climate-constrained. The third essay shows that a constraint in a single market can sometimes have more profound consequences on other, more distantly related markets. First, it is proven that if a series of markets are structured like a chain-- where only own and neighboring prices matter--then a shock to one market decreases with distance. The case of minimum wages in Oregon is investigated using a large panel dataset for all workers in Oregon using a first difference econometric model. It is determined that the ripple effects of the minimum have even larger effects on higher-wage earners, disconfirming the chain pattern. High substitutions between low and high wage groups may explain the pattern. Altogether the essays further the understanding of constraints to demonstrate that (a) constraints significantly affect economic outcomes, (b) if one constraint is lifted, those individuals alternately-constrained are left behind from any benefits, and (c) constraints to a single market may have unintended and sometimes larger effects on 'farther' markets. / Graduation date: 2012

Linear economic models were utilized to predict effects of various environmental control policies on individual firms. Four different linear models were specified and in some instances relatively minor changes in specification were made which resulted in additional sub-models. Models varied as to numbers and types of fixed factors, variable cost relationships, market products, and fixed factor requirements. Once each model or sub-model was described five or six policies were theoretically applied to that model. Policies used were: taxing market products, taxing variable factors, taxing a non-market externality (external diseconomy), a standard on the quality of the externality, subsidizing variable factors and subsidizing fixed factors. It was assumed that the non-market externality would be produced in a fixed ratio with market products. Furthermore, the assumption was made that alternative production techniques were available to the firm. The important aspect of the various techniques was that the proportion of the externality generated by a market product varied by production method. Consequently, strong emphasis in the analysis was placed on determining whether or not a given policy could induce the firm to switch to a lower externality generating production method. In addition to the strictly theoretical analysis a linear irrigated farm model was described. The farm model produced irrigation return flows which were considered to be creating stream pollution. From the theoretical analysis likely policies for controlling return flows were ascertained. Some of these policies were then applied to the farm model. Specifically, a water tax (variable factor tax) and a constraint on delivered water were administered to the farm model. Based on the theoretical analysis taxing market products did not appear to be a particularly desirable policy. For some models, the market product tax actually increased externality production. A tax on externality production (effluent tax) seemed to give the most consistent effects of all policies across all models. The externality tax either reduced or had no effect on externality production. The biggest shortcoming of the externality tax appeared to be administrative. Before the tax can be used the externality must be identifiable as to source. Consequently, a search was made for policies which generated results similar to the externality tax yet were not subject to the same administrative problem. It appeared that under specific conditions a variable factor tax, a tax on specialized fixed factors or a combination of a tax-subsidy scheme could be effective alternative policies. However, these latter policies, if improperly applied could result in increased externality production. Taxes as high as 65 cents per acre inch of water were applied to the farm model. Depending on assumed conditions the water tax resulted in reduced irrigation return flows. When labor was constrained tax levels needed to be higher to reduce return flows compared to the case where labor was not constrained. Placing a restraint on delivered water also reduced return flows. Again, when labor was constrained this policy was not as effective as when labor was unconstrained. The water tax policy reduced net returns to the farm model considerably more than the constraint on delivered water. The main difference in net revenues was attributable to the total water tax bill rather than reductions from other added costs and/or enterprise changes. / Graduation date: 1972

Several agricultural and related industry groups in the Pacific Coast states have expressed concern about the competitive position of these states in the production of feed grains and livestock products. This study was directed toward the investigation of these concerns. In order to permit the real world situation, with its accompanying multivariable reality, to be reduced to workable size, a linear programming model was designed. The 48 contiguous states were divided into five regions with smaller regions in the western United States to permit a more detailed analysis of the West. The quantities of feed grains produced in each state were determined and summed for the states in a region. The quantities of fed beef, pork, broilers, turkeys, eggs, and milk (the products of the major grain consuming classes of livestock) demanded in each state were computed. A matrix of transportation costs between regions was developed for feed grains and for the livestock products of the model. Regional weighted average prices received by farmers for each feed grain and for each livestock product were determined. The model was then utilized to indicate production of all the livestock products required for consumption by region at the least cost of producing the products. Optimal solutions were obtained using 1968 and 1969 relative prices and these solutions were analyzed. The analysis indicates that generally the states which are deficit in beef, pork, broiler, and egg production have a slight economic advantage in producing these products for local consumption until the locally produced feed supply is utilized. Each region in the model produced the milk consumed in that region. Region I (Oregon and Washington) has traditionally been self-sufficient in turkey production, and Region III (California) has been a turkey exporting state. According to the model, both of these regions should import the turkey consumed in the region to derive optimum economic benefits. These conclusions are based on the relative prices and transportation costs that existed in 1968 and 1969. After the solutions were obtained, the price of wheat in Region I was varied using a parametric procedure available with the linear programming package. Results of this analysis using 1968 and 1969 relative prices were described. The parametric analysis indicated that at the 1968 price of wheat in Region I more than twice the quantity of wheat allocated to livestock feeding in the basic model could have been economically utilized and would have reduced costs of producing the livestock products consumed in Region I. The 1969 wheat price in Region I was sufficiently low that the parametric analysis indicated an allocation of over four times the quantity used in the basic model for livestock feeding. The basic model utilized 1,043,000 tons of wheat for livestock feeding. It can be concluded from the analysis that Region I could have utilized much larger quantities of wheat for livestock feeding than was allocated for feeding in the basic model. Based on the relative feed ingredient costs that existed in 1968, Region I producers of pork, broilers, eggs, and milk are competitive with other regions in supplying the quantities of these products demanded for regional consumption. The 1969 relative prices made Region I even more competitive in producing pork, broilers, eggs, and milk, and added beef production as an economically advantageous alternative. These conclusions are based only on feed ingredient and transportation costs. If non-feed costs and relative feeder cattle costs for beef production are included, Region I producers appear to have a slight margin for producing beef,for local consumption until locally produced feed supplies are exhausted. / Graduation date: 1972

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy