Low-Paid Employment and Unemployment Dynamics in Australia (journal article)
By Hielke Buddelmeyer, Wang-Sheng Lee and Mark Wooden
from Economic Record Vol 86 Iss 272 2010, pp. 28 - 38
"This article uses longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA) Survey to examine the extent to which the relatively high rates of transition from low-paid employment into unemployment are the result of disadvantageous personal characteristics or are instead a function of low-paid work itself. Dynamic random effects probit models of the likelihood of unemployment are estimated. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions, we find that, relative to high-paid employment, low-paid employment is associated with a higher risk of unemployment, but this effect is only significant among women. We also find only weak evidence that low-paid employment is a conduit for repeat unemployment."

Galvanizing Philanthropy (journal article)
By Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Susan J Colby
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 11, Nov 2009, pp. 108-115
"Philanthropic organizations, exempt from the accountability imposed on business by markets or on government by voters, are free to experiment and take risks. But they have little experience in objectively evaluating their own performance or figuring out how to improve it. Regardless of the economic climate, the authors say, developing a philanthropic strategy is an iterative process -- one they've labeled "getting clear, getting real, and getting better." Getting clear means selecting a few strategic anchors -- people, problems, or philosophies the institution truly cares about -- and using them to guide decisions about programs and grantees. In addition, hard evidence should be examined in light of values and beliefs. Getting real means pragmatically assessing the resources and time required to bring about desired change and soliciting candid feedback from the field. Getting better means regularly reviewing the organization's entire funding strategy in light of both outside perspectives and nonfinancial assets. Ditkoff and Colby outline the traps that funding institutions must avoid if they are to optimize their resources and organizational outcomes, and they offer stories from the James Irvine, Bill & Melinda Gates, Annie E. Casey, David and Lucile Packard, and Edna McConnell Clark foundations as examples of success. The pursuit of excellence, they say, can be imposed only by philanthropic investors themselves."

When jobs disappear. (journal article)
from Economist, 3/14/2009, Vol. 390 Issue 8622, p71-73
Abstract: This article discusses the problem of rising unemployment around the world. The downturn in hiring during the recession that began in 2007 is compared with those of six other economic downturns that have occurred since 1945. The challenges posed to economic adaptation by the rigidities of the social safety nets established by the welfare state and constraints on geographic mobility associated with the housing market are described.

When Economic Incentives Backfire (journal article)
By Samuel Bowles
from Harvard Business Review Vol 87 Iss 3 Mar 2009, pp. 22-23
"The article offers the author's views on economic incentives and questions the effectiveness of social policy that is based on rewards and economic incentives. Topics include a tax on plastic grocery bags in Ireland, self-interest and public ethics, the idea of economist Richard Titmuss who claimed that incentives reduce supplies, and an experiment with incentives in Israel."

Improving Partnership Governance: Using a Network Approach to Evaluate Partnerships in Victoria (journal article)
by Jeanette Pope and Jenny M. Lewis
from Australian Journal of Public Administration, Volume 67, Issue 4 (p 443-456)
"Partnerships of various kinds are now widespread, but evaluating them is complicated. This
article examines the usefulness of a network approach for analysing partnership effectiveness,
where the central concern is governance. The approach is based on interviews, and for this
evaluation they were conducted with 120 people from 10 different partnerships in Victoria.
A detailed examination of network structures uncovers important features of partnerships,
yielding crucial information about them as governing entities, and providing feedback to
partners on where effort needs to be spent on relationship building. This article adds to the
existing knowledge about what makes partnerships effective, and to the toolkit available for
evaluating them."

Promoting change through research and evidence-informed practice: a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project between a university and a local authority (journal article)
by Jess McEwen et al.
from Evidence and Policy, Vol 4 No 4, November 2008, pp. 391-403
This article reports on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project between a local authority and a university, the aim of which is to encourage a culture of evidence-informed practice and continual improvement across the local authority's Family Services Directorate as part of its performance management framework and to ensure that the Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care (DH, 2001) is fully implemented. The article describes the successful completion of some of the key stages of the project, including developing and implementing an improvement strategy aimed at increasing levels of engagement with research and evidence-informed approaches to practice.

Funding the practice of learning: exploring the relationship between funders and grant recipients (journal article)
by Sheila March et al.
from Evidence and Policy, Vol 4, No 4, November 2008, pp. 293-310
This article reviews the King's Fund's efforts to establish shared priorities for learning with grant applicants, to improve Londoners' health through community-level projects. The Fund used partnership working for its Partners for Health grant programme, an innovative framework contrasting with the typical, more narrow and limited, model for funding relationships. The related focus on learning required robust evaluation plans from grant applicants, based on the 'realistic evaluation' approach. This shift to grant-aid relationships based on partnership and learning produced varied reactions, and raises far-reaching issues about the challenges presented by partnership that feed into broader debates about the place of partnership in public services.

The Future of Food: How Science Will Solve the Next Global Crises (journal article)
from Wired, November 2008
Forty years ago, advances in fertilizers and pesticides boosted crop yield and fed a growing planet. Today, demand for food fueled by rises in worldwide consumption of meat and protein is again outpacing farmers ability to keep up. It's time for the next Green Revolution.

The 50 Best Inventions of the Year (journal article)
from Time, November 4, 2008
From a genetic testing service to an invisibility cloak to an ingenious public bike system to the world's first moving skyscraper — here are TIME's picks for the top innovations of 2008.

The Futurist Rising (journal article)
by Ann-Maree Moodie
from Management Today, October 2008
Whether they are called social researchers, trend trackers, economic forecasters or cultural trend commentators, futurists are enjoying something of a surge in popularity as business grapples with tough economic times and an uncertain future.

OUTLOOK 2009 - Recent Forecasts from World Future Society for 2009 and Beyond. (cover story)
from Futurist, Nov/Dec 2008, Vol. 42 No. 6, pp 1-9,
The article highlights various information on the prospective development in the U.S. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace infers that China's economy will surpass that of the U.S. by 2035 and is believed that workers in Asia are becoming more skilled and educated. On the other hand, it is also believed that tourism is anticipated to nearly double its international tourist arrivals worldwide, from 842 million in 2006 to 1.6 billion in 2020, wherein China will be the greatest source of tourists and the most popular tourist destination. Meanwhile, the internet technology is enabling consumers to disseminate information for product information, rather than simply relying on professional critics.

Fat Is Good for Business (journal article)
By Rob Moodie
from The Australian Economic Review Vol 41 No 1, Mar 2008, pp. 85 - 89
"This article discusses the costs of obesity, the causes and some intervention policies in the Australian context."

Economics and Obesity (journal article)
By Kostas Mavromaras
from The Australian Economic Review Vol 41 No 1, Mar 2008, pp. 78 – 84
"The economic consequences of obesity are very similar in principle to the general consequences that follow the development of any long-term health-reducing epidemic in that they include increased health care expenditure, productivity losses at the microeconomic
and macroeconomic levels, increased deprivation and many other associated negative economic and social outcomes. In this contribution we abstract from the economic consequences of obesity, simply accepting that these can be considerable and long lasting and that they should, therefore, be taken very seriously by policymakers. The serious consequences of obesity are the principal motivation for this contribution, but not its focus. The purpose of this contribution is to concentrate on the causes of obesity and in doing so to explain the possible contribution that the discipline of economics can make in understanding the fundamental incentives and resulting lifestyles that characterise the obesity epidemic."

OECD factbook 2007 : economic, environmental and social statistics
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"More than 100 indicators covering such areas as the economy, agriculture, education, energy, environment, foreign aid, health and quality of life, industry, information and communications" (and more).

Now available in Library & Research Services' Reference Collection.

Sharing, privacy and trust in our networked world: a report to the OCLC membership
Source: OCLC
"We know that privacy is important to users, and to librarians, but we also know that sharing and open access matter."

Microtrends : the small forces behind today’s big changes
Penn, Mark J. & Zalesne, E. Kinney
Findings include: it is increasing women who drive technology, "retired" people are continuing to work, and that "new geeks" are the most sociable people.
Contact the library to request this book.

Economic evaluation of a community-based early intervention program implemented in a disadvantaged urban area of Queensland.
by Matthew Manning, Ross Homel and Christine Smith
An article from Economic Analysis and Policy 36 (1/2) pp. 99-119
Children raised in socio-economically disadvantaged regions have an increased probabilities of school failure, delinquency, drug abuse and juvenile crime. The Pathways to Prevention project attempts to reduce these risks in a disadvantaged community through the implementation of child-focused (school-based) and family-focused (community-based) interventions.