This thesis explores the labour market situation of low paid and unemployed adults in Australia during the mid-90s. The aim is to document evidence of the experiences of these individuals, with a view to understanding whether, in the Australian labour market, some workers may be trapped in a cycle of low pay and no pay. In short, have some workers become part of a secondary labour market in jobs where they have limited opportunities for sustained employment and earnings progression? This empirical investigation is undertaken within a dynamic framework. It unfolds evidence about the experiences of the low paid and the unemployed in the Australian labour market with both descriptive and econometric techniques and using data from a longitudinal survey, The Survey of Employment and Unemployment Patterns. The major themes examined include the dimensions and characteristics of low paid employment, earnings mobility and patterns of labour market transition of the low paid and the unemployed, job durations and the role of casual and part-time work on future employment prospects for the unemployed. Finally, this study takes a policy perspective and undertakes a detailed evaluation of how a specific government initiative may assist individuals who have become entrenched and reliant on income support in the Australian labour market. The main findings of this thesis indicate a diversity of experiences of low paid workers and the unemployed in the Australian labour market. For many, low paid work is a temporary experience. However, the cumulative evidence of this thesis also substantiates a significant negative relationship between previous unemployment, low pay and the labour market transition patterns of workers in the Australian labour market. The conclusion is that some workers are trapped in a cycle of intermittent work, involuntary job separations and unemployment. Information gathered about what may contribute to this labour market situation suggests an important role for the increasing incidence of casual and part-time work in the Australian labour market. While it is found that these jobs provide valuable work opportunities for the unemployed particularly in low paid work, the evidence suggests that over time, they may not be associated with a pathway to more secure permanent jobs. The broad implication of the findings of this thesis is that some individuals are trapped in a repeating cycle of low pay and no pay. Once entrenched, the extent to which this cycle can be broken by government intervention may be limited according to the policy evaluation undertaken in this thesis. Therefore, understanding more about this cycle and the labour market experiences of the low paid and the unemployed over the longer term should remain an important concern for policy in this country.

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.

Um grande problema atual do mundo é o efeito estufa causado pela combustão de petróleo e seus derivados. Além disso, as reservas de petróleo não são ilimitadas, nem renováveis. Uma maneira de minimizar o problema é a utilização de combustíveis renováveis, tais como o etanol, derivado da cana de açúcar. É o caso dos motores de ignição por centelha que usam o etanol há décadas no Brasil. Este trabalho descreve as tecnologias existentes para utilização de etanol em motores de ignição por compressão. Apresenta resultados energéticos e de consumo de mistura de etanol anidro com diesel em diversas proporções. Mostra como substituir parcialmente o Diesel pelo etanol hidratado em determinadas proporções, sem realizar a mistura de combustíveis. Os combustíveis entram no motor por caminhos diferentes. Finaliza realizando estudos econômicos da utilização do etanol etílico em conjunto com o óleo diesel. / A major problem in the world nowadays is the \"green-house\" effect, caused by the combustion of petrol and its derivatives. Besides, oil reserves are not lirnitless, nor renewable. One way to rninirnize this problem is by using renewable combustibles, like ethanol, derived from sugar cane. This is the case of ignition spark engines, that have been using ethanol for decades, in Brazil. This thesis describes the existing technologies for ethanol utilization in ignition compression engines. It also presents energy and consumption results for the rnixture of anhydrous ethanol and diesel, in different proportions. It shows how to partially replace the diesel by hydrated ethanol in certain proportions, without fuel\'s blend. The fuels enter into the motor by different routes. It finally describes econornic studies for the utilization of ethylic alcohol m association to diesel.

This study primarily examines the cultural and commercial practices of editors and publishers who commission and acquire content in independent Australian publishing houses. My research spans a 30-year transitional period in book publishing from 1970 to 2000 - a period marked by rapid and unstable shifts in publishing culture, reflecting wider social, political, economic and technological change. In a global market economy, more than ever before, the acquisition of local content is critical in fostering original ideas and works by Australian authors. A series of semi-structured interviews with editors and publishers provides a direct source of personal experience and professional industry-based knowledge. These narratives address and engage with individual and collective values, beliefs, assumptions and attitudes which reflect particular personalities and publishing styles. They also contribute to an understanding of the editors' and publishers' commissioning role, where knowledge and content are taken up and developed and publishing decisions are made. An analysis of editors' and publishers' responses further explores the diversity of commissioning and acquisitions environments in which they live and work. Publishing houses are profiled and works of fiction and non-fiction are identified and discussed in an attempt to unpack how and why they were commissioned and developed for publication, and to what social and cultural effect. The dynamics of organisational structure and publishing culture are explored by analysing general and specific publishing models. Editors and publishers discuss how publishing companies operate and offer insights into, and perceptions of, organisational structure and publishing culture and, importantly, how both impact on commissioning practice. Issues of identity, representation and institutionalisation are identified as they relate to developments and trends within publishing and public culture, as a whole, and the ways in which they intersect. This nexus of culture and power is explored through the cultural production of Australian content, and in particular, in Chapters Five and Six, with the impact of second-wave feminism on Australian publishing culture and cross-currents in the production and publication of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works.

This study addresses the ongoing implications of the realignment of the pharmaceutical industry knowledge base – from small molecule methods to new biomedical technologies – for the competitive positions of traditional pharmaceutical companies and biopharmaceutical start-ups. The theoretical approach draws on the modern theory of the firm and related concepts, to define and develop the concept of the business model. This is employed to guide the empirical analysis, which utilises a combination of data analyses and case studies based on several sources, including detailed company reports and alliance databases. The thesis analyses how the pharmaceutical companies have successfully adjusted their business models to meet the challenge of biotechnology and so retain their powerful position in the industry. Central to this has been the breadth and depth of knowledge transfer through alliance formation. Not only has this been critical to the adjustment process for the large pharmaceutical companies but also for the development of the many biopharmaceutical start ups. Nonetheless the business models of these smaller companies have many weaknesses, which have led to the erosion of the value of their initial strategic assets. Despite the poor financial performance of the vast majority of these firms, the biopharmaceutical sector as a whole has created significant value. This has been captured disproportionately by a handful of large fully integrated biopharmaceutical firms and, to a lesser extent, by the largest dozen pharmaceutical firms.

Over the last three decades, Australia and many other industrialised nations have seen major social and economic changes. For Australia, two of these have been increasing inequality of earnings and the growth in alternative forms of employment arrangements. For the US and a number of other countries, the prevailing explanation for the increase in inequality centres on the notion of skill-biased technological change (SBTC). This view is based on the consensus that technical change favours more skilled workers, as new technologies evolve and are introduced into workplaces. This explanation relates the increases in earnings inequalities to a shift in demand towards highly skilled workers and away from less skilled workers, and centres around the concept and measure of skill. In this context, this thesis investigates three central issues that relate to dimensions of inequality in the Australian labour market. First, has there in fact been increasing skill bias in the demand for labour, and how should skill best be measured in addressing this issue? Second, if increasing skill bias is confirmed, is there any evidence that this increase in relative demand for high skill labour is an important explanatory factor in the rise in earnings inequality? Third, can the increasing role of casual and part-time work in Australia be interpreted as, in substantial part, a response to skill bias in the demand for labour, and as indicative of rising inequality in the labour market? The main findings of the thesis are as follows. For the first question, there is evidence of skill-bias in the demand for labour both in the long and short term in total and full-time employment. Although there was clear evidence of skill bias in full-time employment for men and women, the extent was not homogenous across different job types. Secondly, earnings inequality continued to increase in occupations for men and women between 1989-1995 and 1997-2002, irrespective of the type of inequality measures employed. Moreover, in trying to explain the causes of increasing earnings inequality in full-time work, the analysis found that the O*NET measures of skill and knowledge provided some tentative evidence that supports the skill bias hypothesis in Australia. Thirdly, in the exploration of the relationship between skill bias, alternative job types and earnings inequality, the thesis finds some indicative evidence to suggest that the process of job type creation may imply a new dimension of increasing earnings inequality in the Australian labour market. The broad implications of these findings are tied to both increasing earnings inequality in full-time earnings and in household income inequality. This is particularly so for those households whose majority of members are low skilled and are dependent on casual and part-time work, and who on average work a small number of hours.