A Macroeconomic Perspective on Skill Shortages and the Skill Premium in New Zealand (journal article)
By Weshah A. Razzak and Jason C Timmins
from Australian Economic Papers Vol 47 No1 March 2008 , pp.74–91
"Qualification and occupation-based measures of skilled labour are constructed to explain the skill premium – the wage of skilled labour relative to unskilled labour in New Zealand. The data exhibit a more rapid growth in the supply of skilled labour than the skill premium, and a very large increase in the real minimum wage over the period from 1986 to 2005. We estimate the rate of increase in the relative demand for skills and the elasticity of substitution. The data are consistent with skill shortages and a skill-bias technical change. We examine the effects of the minimum wage, capital complementarity, and the exchange rate on the skill premium. We also test whether the demand for skills and the elasticity of substitution varied across industries and over time."
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
The Science of Thinking Smarter (journal article)
By Diane Coutu
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 86 Issue 5, May 2008, pp. 51-54
"Advances in neurobiology have demonstrated that the brain is so sensitive to external experiences that it can be rewired through exposure to cultural influences. Experiments have shown that in some people, parts of the brain light up only when they are presented with an image of Bill Clinton. In others, it's Jennifer Aniston. Or Halle Berry. What other stimuli could rewire the brain? Is there a Boeing brain? A Goldman Sachs brain? No one really knows yet, says Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, who has spent much of his career exploring the mysteries of neuroscience with laypeople. As tempting as it is to try to translate the growing advances to the workplace, he warns, it's just too early to tell how the revolution in neurobiology is going to affect the way executives run their organizations. "If we understood how the brain knew how to pick up a glass of water and drink it, that would represent a major achievement," he says. Still, neuroscientists are learning much that can be put to practical use. For instance, exercise is good for the brain, and long term stress is harmful, inevitably hurting productivity in the workplace. Stressed people don't do math very well, they don't process language very efficiently, and their ability to remember -- in both the short and long terms -- declines. In fact, the brain wasn't built to remember with anything like analytic precision and shouldn't be counted on to do so. True memory is a very rare thing on this planet, Medina says. That's because the brain isn't really interested in reality; it's interested in survival. What's more, and contrary to what many twentieth-century educators believed, the brain can keep learning at any age. "We are lifelong learners," Medina says. "That's very good news indeed." "
Don't Just Capture Knowledge -- Put It to Work (journal article)
By Katrina Pugh and Nancy M Dixon
from Harvard Business Review Vol 86 Iss 5 May 2008, pp.21-22
"The article refers to the systematic collection and circulation of knowledge in an organization as a knowledge harvest and reports on a method of knowledge harvesting that was developed by Intel Solution Services (ISS), the information-technology consulting unit of Intel. Making knowledge more productive starts with identifying the knowledge seekers and getting them involved in gathering information. The example is the ISS health-care-consulting team's Future Hospital program in Germany where Wi-Fi innovations improved the marketing department's effectiveness."
Author: Julian Talbot, Miles Jakeman, Risk Management Institution of Australasia
Provides "a framework for formalising risk management thinking in today’s complex environment and details the security risk management process in a format that can be applied by executive managers and security risk management practitioners." - page 9.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Cultural Ministers Council. Creative Economy Roundtable
Recommendations include: improving access to broadband infrastructure, simplifying copyright provisions, business skills training, establishing partnerships between the education and creative sectors, and creating funding models that increase the commercial potential of the sector.
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."
India and the Making of a Hegemon (journal article)
By Badrul Khan
from AQ Vol 80 No 1 Jan - Feb 2008, pp. 29 - 36
"This article discusses the evidence pointing to India being a hegemonic power. It also discusses India's relationship with China."
Storing Knowledge
By Mark Story
from Management Today Issue 42 Mar 2008, pp. 34- 37
"Good knowledge management ensures continued access to employees' know-how, even when they move on. The author investigates how one organisation‘s systems mean they no longer rely solely on what‘s in the heads of individual staff."
What Women Want (journal article)
By Jocelyn Biddle
from Management Today Issue 42 Mar 2008, pp. 12 - 16
"Rather than any single cause, it is becoming clearer that the reasons why women continue to be poorly represented at high levels is the sum of many obstacles."
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Managing and leading people (journal article)
By Angus McLeod
from Training Journal Mar 2008, pp. 58-61
"This is the second part of a two part article on developing a coaching style of management."
Contact the Library to request this article.
Training Managers to Manage (journal articles)
By Peter Liddle
from Training Journal Mar 2008, pp. 46 - 49
"The author asks why new managers aren't given more training and support to enable them to manage properly."
Contact the Library to request this article.
Chinese Investment in Australia (journal article)
By James Laurenceson
from Economic Papers Vol 27 No 1 March 2008, pp. 87 - 94
"Chinese investment in Australia is emerging as an important part of the Australia - China economic relationship. This paper overviews the major characteristics of Chinese investment in Australia up to the present: it's volume, form, sectoral distribution, and major players. It then discusses the policies that have been driving recent increases in investment and those that are likely to have a more profound impact over the longer term."
Contact the Library to request this article.
Australia's Direct Investment in China: Trends and Determinants (journal article)
By Zihui Ma, Ruilong Yang and Yin Zhang
from Economic Papers Vol 27 No 1 March 2008, pp. 70 - 86
"China has been the largest foreign direct investment recipient among developing countries, and Australia's direct investment in China is also growing steadily. This article investigates the trends and determinants of Australia's direct investment in China. Evidence presented in this paper indicates that Australia's direct investment in China is above the equilibrium level and that its regional distribution is correlated with economic and policy factors."
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Comparative Advantage and Australia - China Bilateral Trade (journal article)
By Yu Sheng and Ligang Song
from Economic Papers Vol 27 No 1 March 2008, pp. 41 - 56
"Bilateral trade between Australia and China has expanded in recent years. This paper examines the determinants of bilateral trade at the two-digit commondity level using a modified gravity model with explicitly specified revealed comparative advantage incorporated. Key commodties such as agricultural products, iron ore, petroleum, textiles and clothing, and machinery goods are considered to estimate net welfare in terms of added value deriving from bilateral trade. The findings have policy implications for forging future trade and economic cooperation between Australia and China."
Contact the Library to request this article.
Managing and leading people (journal article)
By Angus McLeod
from Training Journal Feb 2008, pp. 56 - 59
"This article is the first part of a two part article describing a simple methodology for managing individuals."
Contact the Library to request this article.
