Challenges Facing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic, 1996-7

Based on high quality household survey data from 1996 and 1997, this paper analyzes the challenges facing non-farm household businesses in the Kyrgyz Republic. The non-farm businesses are small, concentrated in service activities, and rely on family labour. They are new enterprises established after the transition from central planning began, rather than state enterprises formed during the planning era and subsequently privatized. High taxes, low product demand, and high input prices are the three most cited challenges, while the problems facing small businesses do not include credit availability, capacity concerns, input availability, or labour costs. Frequent mention of licence difficulties and extortion, in addition to high taxes, indicates that the grabbing hand of the government is a major obstacle to private businesses. The government is also failing to maintain law and order; in 1996 a quarter of the businesses report violence among their three main challenges.     

A Closer Examination of the Impact of Zoo Visits on Visitor Behaviour

Zoos suggest that they can play a role in fostering conservation behaviour, but there is only limited research support for such claims. This article examines why there might be a difference between the stated potential for zoos to influence visitor behaviour and existing research findings. The present study utilises a research design, methods and instruments that provide more sensitive measures of conservation behaviour outcomes. In particular, a distinction is made between behaviours that were already known to visitors and new/unknown behaviours. Two behaviours communicated during a bird presentation at an Australian zoo (recycling and removing road kill from the road) were chosen to test. Results include that, 81% of the respondents recalled hearing the conservation actions during the presentation and 54% stated an intention to increase their commitment or start an action. In 38 follow-up telephone interviews six months after their visit, 26 stated that they had started or increased their commitment to an action. However, only three had started a new action and these were actions previously known to them. The results frame a discussion on actions that zoos may wish to target if they wish to communicate more successfully.     

Trade Policy in Canada and Australia in the Twentieth Century

The paper provides an analytical comparison of the evolution of trade policy in Canada and Australia and of the two countries' roles in international trade diplomacy. Despite similarities in history and resource endowment, these roles have differed substantially, especially during the third quarter of the twentieth century. The focus is on the reasons why Canadian and Australian attitudes and policies differed so markedly. The importance of the USA as a trading partner, differing economic experiences during the decade of the 1920s, and the more concentrated composition of Australian exports all played a part. Once in train, the position that Australia was different and need not participate in GATT tariff cuts as long as agriculture was excluded became the inertial position, while Canada played an active role in GATT's early development. After 1973 Australia's position as an outlier among high-income countries' trade policies was reversed, and Australian and Canadian trade policies again became similar in the 1980s.