Economic Policy Reforms Research Articles

The performance of the Australian welfare system in a time of neoliberal economic reform

Abstract“Neoliberalism”, both as a body of theory and as a set of policies and practices, is commonly seen as unsympathetic, even antagonistic, to the welfare state. In the period from the mid‐1980s to the global financial crisis of 2007–08, Australia underwent very considerable “neoliberal” economic policy reform. What happened to the Australian welfare system and to Australia's socioeconomic egalitarianism in this period? To shed light on that question three kinds of trend are tracked. The first is household taxes and social expenditure in both cash and kind, using fiscal incidence analysis where the main metric is “net benefits”. The second is economic inequality, as measured by the distribution of incomes and wealth. The third is the performance of the labor market, as measured by earned incomes and unemployment rates. The article concludes with an attempt to integrate the evidence collected from these three sources. The general conclusion is that the Australian welfare system did not follow the pessimists' predictions. The welfare system grew in size and redistributive quantum. Wage levels rose strongly, while unemployment rates fell. Overall, income inequality increased to a small extent, though mainly before the full economic reform process was in place, while wealth inequality changed little.

Response of net primary production to land use and land cover change in mainland China since the late 1980s

Land use and land cover patterns in mainland China have substantially changed in the recent decades under the economic reform policies of the government. The terrestrial carbon cycle, particularly the net primary productivity (NPP), has been substantially changed on both local and national scales. With the growing concern over the effects of the terrestrial carbon cycle on global climate changes, the impacts of land use and cover change (LUCC) on NPP need to be understood. In this study, variations in NPP caused by LUCC (e.g., urbanization and conversion of other land use to forest and grassland) in mainland China from the late 1980s to 2015 were evaluated based on land cover datasets and NPPs simulated from the Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach model. The results indicate that the national total losses in NPP attributed to urbanization reached 1.695 TgC between the late 1980s and 2015. A large proportion (63.02%) of the total losses was due to the transformation from cropland to urban land. Urban expansion decreased the monthly and total NPPs over southern China, which includes the South China Region, Southwest China Region, and the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze River. However, the total NPP increased in the majority of urbanized areas in Northern China, including the Huang–Huai–Hai Region, Inner Mongolia Region (MGR), Gan-Xin Region (GXR), and Northeast China Region; monthly NPP in GXR and MGR increased throughout the year. By contrast, the conversion to grassland or forestland increased the monthly and total NPPs of Northern China, suggesting that returning to forestland and grassland could increase the carbon sequestration capacity of terrestrial ecosystems in mainland China. Among the sub-regions, the Loess Plateau Region contributed the largest increase in NPP, which was prompted by the conversion to grassland and forestland.

Factors affecting farmers' satisfaction with contemporary China's land allocation policy – The Link Policy: Based on the empirical research of Ezhou

Since the launch of economic reform and openness policy in the late 1970s, Chinese cities have witnessed significant growth and sprawl, resulting in a large amount of farmland converted for urban construction. Given the need to both protect farmland and provide options for urban development, the central government proposed the Link Policy in 2005. Under this scheme, farmers are relocated into centralised communities by consolidating their original homestead into farmland, and enabling the transfer of land quotas for urban construction. The implementation of the Link Policy has restructured rural farming and lifestyles but studies on the Link Policy from a farmer's perspective are limited. This paper investigates farmers' satisfaction with the Link Policy and explores the underlying factors. Using Ezhou in Hubei Province as a case study, face-to-face interviews were undertaken with farmers in centralised communities to understand their satisfaction with the Link Policy. Interview data were coded and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to identify the factors affecting farmers' satisfaction. The results show that farmer's willingness to participate, knowledge of the Link Policy, living conditions before resettlement, and the compensation for resettlement had significant influence on satisfaction with policy implementation. We suggest that meaningful consultation and improved communications between farmers and local governments are needed to enhance the social acceptability of policy outcomes. To minimize the social impacts of resettlement, urbanised villages would be prioritised in project implementation and a long-term supporting scheme should be offered by local government to assist farmers in their lifestyle transition.

Aid Curse with Chinese Characteristics? Chinese Development Flows and Economic Reforms

The emergence of China as a major development partner requires a reassessment of traditional donor-recipient dynamics. In addition to using new rhetoric like ‘South-South cooperation’ or ‘Win-Win’, China has also eschewed classifications and practices of the traditional donors of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Donor Assistance Committee (DAC). Yet this ‘new approach’ and wilful ignorance is unlikely to spare China from the same issues confronted by traditional donors. In this paper, we consider the extent to which Chinese development efforts may disincentive difficult economic reforms by providing recipient governments with a budgetary cushion. Using panel data covering 122 countries during 2000-2014 period, we find that the presence and persistence of Chinese development aid inhibits broader economic policy reforms, after addressing endogeneity concerns using instrumental variable approach. These findings are robust to a number of alternative specifications, data, instruments and approaches and are suggestive of an institutional aid curse ‘with Chinese characteristics’ as insidious as the one which has plagued some traditional donor-recipient relationships.

Price Determinants of Affordable Apartments in Vietnam: Toward the Public–Private Partnerships for Sustainable Housing Development

Since the Doi Moi policy of economic reform in 1986, Vietnam has experienced economic development and housing market growth with increasing foreign direct investment. While high-end apartment development has dominated since the emergence of the privatized housing market, more recent focus is on the affordable apartment segment with the remarkable surge of middle-income households in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). While most previous studies have analyzed housing price determinants based on locational classification, this study is based on the affordability framework of the housing market in HCMC. It aims to investigate the price determinants of affordable and unaffordable apartment units using the hedonic regression model. The study identified common factors between the two types of apartments, such as vertical shared access and proximity to downtown, as well as unique factors for each, such as more high-rise towers, foreign development, proximity to main roads, and shopping malls only for the affordable segments. The findings have valuable implications, not only for future investors and developers in setting up successful housing development strategies, but also for the public sector in strongly encouraging public–private partnerships for sustainable housing development in Vietnam.

Noise and Signal in the Latest History of Australasian Economic Thought

A History of Australasian Economic Thought offers fine examples of effective, entertaining use of archives. Rather than a history of economic thought, this book mostly offers a ‘panoramic’ social history of economics, economists and their policy preferences from the 1920s–1990s. The storytelling method produces more noise than signal in the sense that the development and clash of various intellectual traditions in Australasian economics over time gets lost in the personal and institutional details. Key terms are either ill-defined or used loosely: economics profession, innovation, originality, theoretical and theoretician, economic dogma, monetarist, neoliberal economics, neoclassical economics. There is also much obfuscation concerning the influence of Keynes’s ideas (as distinct from Keynesian economics) in Australasia. Treatment of the last quarter of the 20th century inexplicably eschews readily available archives. Later chapters serve as platforms for a not so subtle critique of ideas purportedly responsible for market-oriented economic policy reforms in Australasia.

Introduction

China has been undergoing significant social and economic structural changes since launching its policy of economic reform and opening up in 1978. This has involved a transformation from a centrally planned economy, where there is no role for the market, to a market-oriented economy in which market principles play a major role. During the last four decades, great achievements have been made in terms of economic growth and social well-being. To name a few indicators: the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country increased from USD 189.65 billion in 1980 to USD 10.866 trillion in 2015, positioning China as the second largest economy in the world, with an average annual growth rate over 10%. Meanwhile, poverty levels have greatly improved. The poverty headcount ratio at USD 1.90 a day (2011 PPP) has decreased dramatically, from 42.15% in 1981 to 10.68% in 2013. The rapid economic growth, combined with the reform of the Hukou registration system, has also accelerated the migration flow from rural areas to urban areas. The population living in urban China in 2015 reached 763 million, making the urbanisation level of 55.61%, almost three times that in 1980. With the rapid growth of the urban population, the welfare-based public housing provision system founded in the central planning era could no longer meet the increasing housing demand of urban residents. Thus, in 1994, comprehensive housing reforms were implemented, aiming to privatize the public housing sector and promote a housing allocation system based on market principles. The milestone of housing reform occurred in 1998, when the government completely suspended the traditional housing allocation system, making the housing market the only way to access housing services (Wang et al. 2012). The emergence of the private urban housing market spurred both housing transactions and prices. In 1998, the housing area traded on the market was approximately 108 million square metres on an average transaction price of 1854 yuan/m2. These two figures were nearly ten and three times higher in 2014, soaring to 1.05 billion square metres and 5933 yuan/m2, respectively. At the regional level, rapid economic development has been accompanied by increasing inequality. Soon after the launch of the economic reforms, some coastal regions, Guangdong and Zhejiang in Eastern China, for example, grew quickly, due to the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), advanced technologies and equipment, and favourable policies of the central government. The ‘core’ position of these regions in the national economy was further enhanced through a self-reinforcing process (Anderson 2012, p.127), shaping a core-periphery economic structure in China. In 1980, the regional gross product of Eastern China accounted for 43.69% of total GDP in China, while in 2014 this ratio increased to 51.16%, reflecting the polarization of economic activities. Reflecting the distribution of economic activities, the inequality in the cost of housing between regions is also striking. In 2014, the average sale price in 35 main cities in mainland China was approximately 8599 yuan/m2, with the standard error also high, at 4651 yuan/m2, making the coefficient of variance 0.54, thus indicating a high degree of heterogeneity across this city-level housing market. The left panel of Figure 1.1 shows the spatial distribution of average house prices. It is apparent that the prices in the coastal cities of Eastern China are generally greater than the prices of inland cities. However, the picture of house price dynamics is a little different. From 2002 to 2014, the rapid growth in house prices, on average 11.38% per year, seems to be anational phenomenon and there is very little variance between the annual growth rates in different cities; the coefficient of variance is only 0.18, much lower than that of the house price level. Perhaps the most prominent spatial pattern of house price growth rate is that the northeastern cities experienced the lowest price appreciation during the period 2002-2014. This dissertation is fundamentally concerned with the spatial patterns of house prices and their dynamics across cities in China. Although literature on the Chinese housing market has been emerging in recent years, little is known about the spatial interaction of regional housing markets. The following four chapters will be dedicated to responding to questions concerning the emerging market: Why is there a core-periphery structure in the distribution of interurban house prices? To what extent are the house price developments across cities similar? How do house price dynamics in one city affect the house price changes in other cities? The investigation of the spatial dimension of the Chinese housing market has been always hampered by the quality of the data, especially when analysing house price dynamics. This situation has inspired the pursuit of research to construct house price indexes that reflect the house price changes as accurately as possible. In line with a key theme of this study, particular a

Oil Prices and GCC Stock Markets: New Evidence from Smooth Transition Models

Our paper examines the effect of oil price changes on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets using nonlinear smooth transition regression (STR) models. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our empirical results reveal that GCC stock markets do not have similar sensitivities to oil price changes. We document the presence of stock market returns’ asymmetric reactions in some GCC countries, but not for others. In Kuwait’s case, negative oil price changes exert larger impacts on stock returns than positive oil price changes. When considering the asymmetry with respect to the magnitude of oil price variation, we find that Oman’s and Qatar’s stock markets are more sensitive to large oil price changes than to small ones. Our results highlight the importance of economic stabilization and reform policies that can potentially reduce the sensitivity of stock returns to oil price changes, especially with regard to the existence of asymmetric behavior.

The Trend of the Gini Coefficient of China (1978-2010)

This study proposes a new approach to analyse the effects of an overlap term on the calculation of the overall Gini coefficient and estimates China’s Gini ratios since the adoption of the economic reform and open-door policies. A decomposition of the Chinese Gini coefficient for 1978–2010 reveals that the key factor contributing to income inequalities is the income disparity between rural and urban inhabitants. We further investigate the features of this income inequality between rural and urban areas and employ statistical approaches to evaluate the effects of urbanisation and rural-to-urban average income on nationwide income inequality. The results show that accelerating the pace of urbanisation is mainly responsible for decreasing China’s income disparity. Drawing on these results, we conclude with suggestions for related policies.

Oil Prices and GCC Stock Markets: New Evidence from Smooth Transition Models

Our paper examines the effect of oil price changes on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets using nonlinear smooth transition regression (STR) models. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our empirical results reveal that GCC stock markets do not have similar sensitivities to oil price changes. We document the presence of stock market returns' asymmetric reactions in some GCC countries, but not for others. In Kuwait's case, negative oil price changes exert larger impacts on stock returns than positive oil price changes. When considering the asymmetry with respect to the magnitude of oil price variation, we find that Oman's and Qatar's stock markets are more sensitive to large oil price changes than to small ones. Our results highlight the importance of economic stabilization and reform policies that can potentially reduce the sensitivity of stock returns to oil price changes, especially with regard to the existence of asymmetric behavior.

Oil Prices and GCC Stock Markets: New Evidence from Smooth Transition Models

Our paper examines the effect of oil price changes on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets using nonlinear smooth transition regression (STR) models. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our empirical results reveal that GCC stock markets do not have similar sensitivities to oil price changes. We document the presence of stock market returns’ asymmetric reactions in some GCC countries, but not for others. In Kuwait’s case, negative oil price changes exert larger impacts on stock returns than positive oil price changes. When considering the asymmetry with respect to the magnitude of oil price variation, we find that Oman’s and Qatar’s stock markets are more sensitive to large oil price changes than to small ones. Our results highlight the importance of economic stabilization and reform policies that can potentially reduce the sensitivity of stock returns to oil price changes, especially with regard to the existence of asymmetric behavior.

Old History in the "New" Cuba

This article examines the reasons why racism persists in Cuba more than fifty years after the 1959 Revolution in which Fidel Castro promised Afro-Cubans to eradicate racism from the island. More specifically, it investigates Cuba’s racist history and concludes that the enduring problem cannot be resolved by economic and social policies alone. While Fidel Castro introduced social and economic reform, his prohibition of discussion on the controversial topic of race relations due to his desire to maintain control prevented a resolution of institutional racism. 
 After the fall of the USSR, the Cuban government implemented temporary economic liberalization policy reforms that remain today.3 Under Raúl Castro’s leadership the economy continues to expand.4 However, as the economy broadens by moving towards a free-market model, there is an increase in both economic and social exclusivity stemming from the racist history of slavery on the island. Thus, Afro-Cubans lack the ability to participate in the free market aspect of the Cuban economy, placing them at an economic disadvantage. While current literature discusses Cuba in terms of either economic or social factors, authors Drake and Davidow take a holistic approach by investigating the relationship between Cuba’s enduring history of social and economic inequality that Afro- Cubans encounter today. Finally, the authors introduce proposals promoting greater racial equality for Afro-Cubans.

The Role of the Economic Reform Policies in Attracting the Foreign Direct Investment in Iraq : A Case Study

The Role of the Economic Reform Policies in Attracting the Foreign Direct Investment in Iraq : A Case Study

한한(韓寒), 문화영웅인가 공공지식인인가 : 그의 소설과 블로그 분석을 중심으로

More than 30 years have elapsed since China initiated its economic reform policies. Han Han, a critic of Chinese economic reform policy, and the Balinghou’s (people born Post- 1980’s, 八零后) leading author, was born in a post-Socialist China. Han Han is also a race car driver, a power blogger, a movie film director, and a creative writer.BR So this begs the questions, why are nearly 6 million Chinese, mostly Balinghou’s, born after1980’s and 90’s, so wildly excited about Han Han? What traces does his literature leave? What is it about Han Han’s socially critical blogs that attracts so many young readers? What about his first film? What meaning and influence does each these leave?BR The purpose of this research is to examine the transformation of Han Han’s literary work and blog from its role as a post-Socialist producer to becoming a leading agent in its cultural industry. Utilizing Critical Cultural Studies, this research will probe the following topics through the lens of literature and cultural production mechanism:BR How does cultural policy of Socialist Chinese Administration affect the writer’s work?BR How does a publishing company’s success affect the book’s publication longevity?BR How does the readers and writers relationship result in such a major fan following?BR Han Han brought forth the “Han Han phenomenon” in post-Socialist China, and he now is called a “cultural hero”. Also, through societal criticisms discussed in his blog, he’s also considered a master of social commentary for many young, working professionals.BR Han Han’s literature works and blog show a very clear understanding of both the literary and cultural mechanisms for the Balinghou in post-Socialist China. Han Han is able to use his extensive knowledge of these Chinese ideologies to probe the country’s culture, political leanings, and the position of the Balinghou in this rapidly changing nation.BR

The Regional Coordination of Strikes and the Challenge for Union Reform in Vietnam

ABSTRACTSince the launch of the economic reform (Doi Moi) policy in the early 1990s, the union system of Vietnam has seen little change: the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) retains its monopoly, its political affiliation to and reliance on the Communist Party, while at the workplace, the VGCL‐affiliated enterprise unions are too dependent on the management to represent workers’ rights and interests. ‘Collective bargaining by riots’ has become the only way for rank‐and‐file workers to improve their working conditions. This article draws on more than a decade of research to show that informal organization of workers in some companies has grown to such an extent that the de facto leaders initiate bargaining with the employers and, when negotiations fail, they organize strikes. These strikes are usually settled in favour of the workers, causing a change in wage levels and leading to spontaneous ‘copycat’ strikes in neighbouring companies. This informal coordination of strikes across workplaces not only aims at achieving economic goals such as wage rises but has recently been used to express workers’ discontent with government policy. The nature of the strike waves has shifted gradually from economic to political; together with external pressure, this has pushed the top leadership of Vietnam to initiate serious trade union reform.

Transformations of the Romanian agricultural paradigm under domestic economic policy reforms: An analysis during 1960–2011

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the transformations of the Romanian agricultural paradigm under the domestic economic policy reforms. An econometric approach is adopted by analyzing the evolution of Romanian agriculture between 1960 and 2011 from the perspective of its implications on residential land economy. This methodological choice relies on its high degree of applicability and its ability to reveal the massive transformation of the Romanian agricultural paradigm during the period under focus. Two regression models have been developed in the attempt to analyze the evolution of total value added and labor productivity in agriculture. The results obtained during the research confirm that Romanian agriculture exhibits determinant and significant elements able to trigger a massive change of paradigm.

‘The government is the cause of the disease and we are stuck with the symptoms’: deinstitutionalisation, mental health advocacy and police shootings in 1990s Victoria

The deinstitutionalization of mental health services in Australia happened first and most rapidly in the state of Victoria. In the final decades of the 20th Century, a period of immense economic and social policy reform accelerated this shift. Policy change appeared to be guided, at least in part, by ideals of human rights and citizenship. However, these same principles could be undermined in the vacuum of services created by deinstitutionalization and the broader restructuring of the welfare state. One expression of this paradox was a reported increase in violent encounters between police and those in states of distress and mental crises. Another example of paradox was rights-based mental health law, which both increased procedural safeguards for involuntary psychiatric intervention but also perpetuated differential treatment of persons with psychosocial disability on the basis of unfounded beliefs. This article will examine the intersections of policing and mental health policy in order to examine how boundaries of normality and disablement were contested during a transitional period of mental health law and policy.

Non-cooperative and cooperative policy reforms under uncertainty and spillovers

When countries need to implement costly economic policy reforms, these often imply uncertainties about their effectiveness for the home country and their spillovers to other countries. We develop a model to show that under these circumstances countries implement too few or too many policy reforms. From a social perspective, too many reforms follow if the spillover effects of reforms become sufficiently uncertain. Since centralization of policies to correct inefficient policies is often not possible, we look for alternative instruments that can restore the efficient level of reforms. We compare subsidizing reform efforts with insuring against bad outcomes, and argue that subsidies are advantageous in terms of requiring less information for implementation.

The Significance of Business Interest Associations in Economic Policy Reform: The Case of Australian Taxation Policy

Taxation reform has dominated Australian politics over the past twenty-five years. Despite this prominence on the political agenda, until recently Australian governments have lacked the capacity to consolidate key elements of this tax reform agenda. While the problematic nature of Australian tax reform can be explained in part by macro-level variables, this protracted policy deadlock has also influenced historical patterns of business-government intermediation. The article argues that the evolution of the Australian tax policy network over the study period was prompted by both associational and state actors reassessing their strategies in the context of the political failure of tax reform proposals. These developments provide empirical insights into the ongoing debate relating to the factors which lead to the formation and evolution of sectoral level policy networks. The article concludes that while the increasing levels of business mobilization experienced over the study period enhanced the electoral via...

Business and Economic Reform Policies in Kuwait: The Case of the Capital Market Authority

Despite economic reform policies in Kuwait being mainly based around the empowerment of the private sector, the discourse concerning economic policies rarely addresses the role of the country’s existing business community in promoting or stalling such reforms. The private sector in the Gulf is generally perceived as politically passive, due to its state dependency. The article questions such representation of the political role of businesses. It suggests, first, that Kuwaiti merchants retain their political influence through formal and informal means, and are therefore able to shape economic policy-making according to their interests. Secondly, through analysis of Kuwait’s Capital Market Authority reform, it shows that not all initiatives aimed at improving the business environment and liberalising the economy are welcomed by the dominant private sector players. Thus, it is often the business community itself that uses its methods of political influence to halt and reverse certain economic reform policies.