Skill Composition,Fertility, and Economic Growth

While high fertility persists in the poorest countries and fertility declines with per capita income in developing countries, fertility and per capita income are now positively associated across most developed countries. This paper presents a model where a U‐shaped relationship between overall fertility and per capita income reflects within country differences in workforce skill composition and household choice of occupation, fertility, and childrearing. The fraction of skilled workers rises with economic growth. By allowing for both differences in the fertility of skilled and unskilled workers and purchased childrearing inputs, we explain a poverty trap with high fertility, fertility decline with economic development, and the possible reversal of fertility decline in a developed economy where most workers are skilled.     

Implementation of whole of government reports in Australia

The 20-year history of whole of government reports (WGR) implementation in Australia has some important lessons for other countries. These include factors that need to be considered regarding the process, the positive influences that contributed to successful implementation that are worth replicating, and negative influences and pitfalls to avoid. Effective implementation requires commitment to realistic objectives, timetables and scale.     

The prospects for synthetic fuels in the UK

This is an attempt to answer the question: “What happens when oil and natural gas production start to decline?” Forecasts of the world production and demand for oil and gas are reviewed briefly and it is concluded that large scale production of synthetic oil from coal and oil shale in particular will have to start by about 2000, and that energy intensive processes for the production of fuels such as methanol and hydrogen from non-fossil sources will have to start on a large scale during the period 2000–2030.     

A Free,Open-Source Tool for Identifying Urban Agglomerations using Point Data

This paper describes a software tool for identifying urban agglomerations in low-information settings. The framework outlined in this paper is designed to work using point data. Our tool and all required data are provided free and in open-source format. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of using point-based geographies in regional analysis, discusses the practical and ethical challenges of distinguishing urban from rural regions, details the function of our software, and directs the interested reader to the source code. The paper also examines the tool's outputs for Sri Lanka and compares them with published United Nations urbanization figures. Our outputs indicate that Sri Lanka's urban population is significantly undercounted in official statistics.     

Usefulness of consolidated government accounts: A comparative study

This comparative empirical study on consolidated government accounting reforms in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Sweden reveals contextual differences affecting their adoption and usefulness. It can help policy-makers, public managers, and academics understand the gap between claims associated with the adoption of accounting technologies and their usefulness, as well as provide insights into dichotomies between their global proliferation and localized adaptations.     

Large-scale transitional procurement change in the aerospace industry

The importance of a socialised perspective when involved in a change programme is demonstrated through an empirical study of large-scale purchasing transition in an aerospace company. Alternative change management frameworks are employed to assist in the sense making of intended actions and realised outcomes to re-configure purchasing activities. Sequential stepwise frameworks are critiqued showing the context-driven political and social factors that impinged on the implementation of a planned change strategy. The findings illustrate the complexity of change, and conclude by highlighting the importance of synthesising shifting contexts with action.     

Short reports

The aim of the study was to evaluate a hospital-based injury recording system on hip fracture registration in elderly persons aged + 65 years from 1994 through 2008, and to examine the agreement between the number of validated fractures and the number of fractures reported to the Norwegian Patient Registry using three different sources: (1) Medical records, (2) Patient administrative system and (3) The hospital's hip fracture record to the Norwegian Patient Registry from 2002 through 2008. The injury recording system included 582 hip fracture events and 535 (92%) were confirmed through the medical records. Reasons for non-verification were different coding failures. Searching the patient administrative system using ICD codes identified 16 hip fractures not included in the fracture registry between 2002 through 2008. The total number was the same as the number of hip fractures reported to the Norwegian Patient Registry using ICD codes alone for identification. The conclusion is that on well-defined diagnosis like hip fractures, local fracture registries may obtain a high degree of reliability if different sources are available for quality control. Well-functioning patient administrative systems may be used to study numbers of hip fractures.     

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE EFFECTS OF FISCAL POLICY

The macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy are analyzed using a Keynesian growth model. Comparative static analysis shows that the long‐run effects of an increase in public spending and a decrease in taxation on economic growth and government budget balance depend on the relative size of marginal propensity to consume and invest and could be positive under certain conditions. Empirical estimates show that consumption and production structure have changed significantly from 1930s to 2007; both positive and negative effects on growth and budget balance of the same fiscal policy are found in different time periods.     

Stages of Organizational Transformation in Transition Economies: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach

How do organizations previously dominated by the state develop dynamic capabilities that would support their growth in a competitive market economy? We develop a theoretical framework of organizational transformation that explains the processes by which organizations learn and develop dynamic capabilities in transition economies. Specifically, the framework theorizes about the importance of, and inter‐relationships between, leadership, organizational learning, dynamic capabilities, and performance over three stages of transformation. Propositions derived from this framework explain the pre‐conditions enabling organizational learning, the linkages between types of learning and functions of dynamic capabilities, and the feedback from dynamic capabilities to organizational learning that allows firms in transition economies to regain their footing and build long‐term competitive advantage. We focus on transition contexts, where these processes have been magnified and thus offer new insights into strategizing in radically altered environments.