Dean Parham, University of Adelaide Alumni and research economist specialising in productivity analysis, has written an article for The Australian Financial Review:
“Some commentators have latched onto a recent uptick in labour productivity growth, but overall (multifactor) productivity continues to flatline. because capital productivity continues to decline.”
The full article can be read here: The Australian Financial Review – Dean Parham – 23 April 2013
What is meant by the term productivity? It’s a word that’s used a lot and usually with a very grave voice saying it’s in decline. But what does that mean, is it a permanent state and is it linked to our wages? Listen here for the full interview with Amanda Vanstone on her ABC National Radio show Counterpoint.
Dean Parham is a research economist specialising in productivity analysis.
Until 2008, he was an Assistant Commissioner at the Productivity Commission in Canberra, where he led the Commission’s ‘flagship’ program of research on Australia’s productivity performance. This work helped to highlight the importance of productivity growth and the policy-relevant factors that can foster improved productivity performance. His work has been widely published in Productivity Commission reports, journal articles, book contributions, invited conference papers and working papers.
Since leaving the Commission, Dean has continued to investigate productivity and economic performance on various research projects with private, government and university agencies. Major appointments have been at the Australian Treasury and now as a Visiting Researcher at the Productivity Commission.
Click here to listen to the interview.
The School of Economics takes great pleasure in congratulating our PhD student Chaohua Dong who has won a University Doctoral Research Medal for 2012.
These prestigious medals have been awarded to students in recognition of outstanding thesis outcomes.
Congratulations Chaohua!
University of Adelaide ranks equal second in Australia for Quality of Research in Applied Economics
On December 6 the Australian Research Council released the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2012 results, which assess research excellence across the nation’s higher education sector by assigning research fields a ranking between 1 and 5. An ERA score of 3 indicates performing at “world standard”, with 4 referring to outcomes “above world standard”.
In Economics overall and in the field of Applied Economics (1402) the University of Adelaide achieved a score of 4, ranking equal second in the country in Applied Economics.
The full ERA 2012 listings by institution can be viewed online at the Government ERA website
Head of School, Associate Professor Mandar Oak, convened an Australia-India Services Dialogue Roundtable Workshop at the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne, on November 2nd, 2012, sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Commonwealth of Australia. Researchers and policy makers from Australia and India exchanged their research and ideas in the development and application of policy related research in the service sector. The services business sector in both economies was examined for options in direct business relations as well as in the scope for cooperation in order to compete in third country markets.
The Dialogue focused on four themes:
Presentations from the following workshop speakers are now available below:
Professor Binod Khadria, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Skilled migration and how it affects other sectors, namely IT, health, higher education (student mobility)
Professor Rupa Chanda, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
Trends in services output, employment, FDI and liberalization and regulatory reform issues in different services and PTA developments
Professor Arpita Mukherjee, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi
Services and inclusive growth including growth paradigms in the sectors like logistics, energy, retail and audiovisual
Neville Roach, Chairman, Advisory Board for Australia and New Zealand, Tata Consultancy Services and Member of the International Advisory Committee, Australia India Institute
Opportunities in ICT Services and Education Services – On Shore and Off Shore. Imperative for collaboration to alleviate insufficiency of skills and institutional capacity in both countries
Mr Andrew McCredie, Executive Director, Australian Services Roundtable
The potential to build bilateral services trade and its value for productivity
Associate Professor Philippa Dee, Crawford School, ANU
The Role of Services in India’s Possible Economic Futures
Paul Murphy, Executive Officer, North Asia Investment and Services Branch, DFAT
Current policy issues in services within the Australian and Indian economies and those which are examined in other forums, including the WTO and in bilateral agreements
Professor Dixit with Emeritus Professor Geoff Harcourt
The 2012 Harcourt Lecture: Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Governance presented by Professor Avinash Dixit (details posted below on July 30th) was a full house. We were delighted that Emeritus Professor Geoff Harcourt was able to be present.
Links:
Prof Kym Anderson presented his research at the ‘Circle of Economists’ session 13 at the 2012 ‘Les Rencountres Economiques’ in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Watch Prof Anderson’s talk and read his paper on What roles for farm technology and trade policies in feeding the planet?
The School of Economics is proud to present our 2012 speaker, Professor Avinash Dixit, The John J. F. Sherrerd ’52 University Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He is also a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Economics at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, and a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.
All are welcome to this Free Public Lecture.
Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Governance
Less-developed countries and former socialist countries wish to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), but are often handicapped by the insecurity of property rights and contracts in their country. To try and ensure greater security, potential investors and governments attempt to devise alternative special arrangements and institutions. However, these arrangements only imperfectly cope with the bad governance, which has a impact on the volume and form of investments that they are willing to make.
However, firms with experience of coping with poor governance in their home country enjoy some advantage when investing in other host countries with similarly weak governance; this helps to explain the emergence of outward foreign direct investment from developing countries.
The lecture will present an overview of these issues and suggest actions for firms and governments to improve the quantity and quality of foreign direct investment.
The Harcourt Professorship
The Harcourt Professorship was established by generous donations in celebration of the 25 years of infectious enthusiasm and distinguished scholarship which Geoff Harcourt gave to the School of Economics. Each year, the Endowment invites a global leader in a field of economics to share their knowledge and experience not only with economic students and staff, but also the broader community.
DATE: Thursday 6 September, 2012
TIME: 5:30 – 6:30pm
VENUE: Napier Building LG24, North Terrace, The University of Adelaide (Map)
TO REGISTER: please email: litsa.morris@adelaide.edu.au
ALL WELCOME
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Food Security Group Mission to China
Under the leadership of Executive Dean Professor Christopher Findlay, in late April 2013 the University of Adelaide undertook a Commonwealth Government-funded Group Mission to Beijing, to develop food security and sustainable futures research needs in consultation with multiple organisations in China, and working particularly closely with the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The transition of food demand and agricultural production in China is accelerating with significant implications for the rest of the world, and especially for Asia. A set of key issues associated with food security are of very great significance in the Australian relationship with China and the region, and research on the design and implementation of policy to approach food security needs and implications in both countries is urgently required.
The inter-disciplinary Group Mission was funded by the Australian Government’s Australia-China Science and Research Fund (ACSRF).
Contact for further information: simon.ladd@adelaide.edu.au
Reaching conclusions – the teams from the University of Adelaide and the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at a Group Mission workshop in April. Participants pictured include Bai Junfei, Yang Jun, Huanag Jikun, Tan Yan, Wang Xiaobing, Douglas Bardsley, Andrew Watson, Wendy Umberger, and Christopher Findlay.