http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/media/ Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, Book Launches, Events http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/images/wattle/wattle_rss.jpg http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/media/calendar/ crawford.webmaster@anu.edu.au (Webmaster) Date 16 May 2012 Time 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Venue Berri Resort Hotel, Riverview Drive, BERRI SA The ABARES Berri Regional Outlook conference

With a conference program tailored to the region, don’t miss this chance to hear from speakers across four sessions at the ABARES Berri Regional Outlook conference on Wednesday 16 May 2012.

Delegates will hear commodity forecasts, discuss industry trends, access information, make new contacts in their community, be exposed to new approaches to traditional issues while gaining an understanding of global issues that affect their region

Discover a new perspective at the Berri Regional Outlook conference.

Conference - Wednesday 16 May 2012
Location – Berri Resort Hotel, Riverview Drive, BERRI SA 5343
Registration - from 8.30am, conference 9am – 5pm
Cost - $98 (inc GST)

Contact - conferences@daff.gov.au ]]> Date 16 May 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue Seminar Roo 6, Crawford School of Public Policy, #132 Lennox Crossing, ANU Course overview

Professorial Fellow Dr Leo Dobes will review the literature on adaptation to climate change, including the various methodologies being discussed and advocated by a range of stakeholders, including governments at all levels. In particular, the course will address risk management, vulnerability and resilience indexes, and the use of multicriteria analysis and cost-benefit analysis in the context of uncertainty. Participants will also have an opportunity to workshop with their peers and participating experts. Guest Presenter Dr Subho Banerjee, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, will detail the prevailing views of the Federal Government on adaptation policy. Dr Wendy Craik, Presiding Commissioner of the Productivity Commission inquiry into 'Barriers to Effective Climate Change Adaptation' will provide insights into the current stage of the inquiry. Fellow ANU Guest Presenter Associate Professor Andrew MacIntosh will present a detailed case study of the Victorian coastal climate hazard framework with regard to coastal development applications, and with a focus on the risks of regulation and maladaptation to climate change.

Course convenor

Following a D Phil (Oxford), Leo Dobes worked for almost 30 years in various public service positions ranging from the diplomatic service to the Australian Treasury. In 1992 he established an Environment Branch within the Australian Bureau of Transport Economics, publishing a number of important reports on the costs and benefits of mitigating emissions in the transport sector. He is now one of Australia's leading economists on climate change adaptation, and serves as an occasional advisor to the World Bank and the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. ]]> Date 16 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm Venue Seminar Room B (Arndt Room), Coombs Building, Fellows Road, ANU The community known today (in somewhat of a misnomer) as the Sri Lankan Malays, whose ancestors came to the island predominantly from across present-day Indonesia beginning in the late 17th century, has a fascinating yet little-studied past and a challenging present.

Thinking about the Malays of Sri Lanka means going beyond some conventional spatial and temporal categorizations and considering a range of interactions and crossings: Malay exiles and soldiers crossed the Indian ocean to arrive at an unfamiliar land; they "crossed" from Dutch to British rule; they were Muslims in a predominantly Buddhist and Hindu region, preserving their Austronesian language, the lingua franca of Southeast Muslims while living in South Asia and interacting in Tamil, Sinhala and English in their daily lives. As soldiers in colonial armies they lived and fought in Sri Lanka and South India while looking to the Indonesian/Malay ‘heartlands’ and the Middle East for historical and religious inspiration.

In this paper I present some thoughts and findings based on research conducted in Indonesia and Sri Lanka over the past two years. In particular I focus on my British Library-funded project to survey and document surviving Malay manuscripts and books in Sri Lanka, materials that hold a wealth of information about a remarkable diasporic Indonesian community. ]]> Date 17 May 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue Seminar Room 5, Crawford School of Public Policy, #132 Lennox Crossing, ANU Course overview

The course will review why a price was firstly placed on carbon and how the initial price per tonne was worked out. How will these pricing mechanisms eventually work in the marketplace? How will renewable energy, energy efficiency and land-based actions be supported in practice?

What are the cornerstones of the regulatory framework? How will Australia’s carbon market develop, what will be the role of offsets and inter-national trading? How will price limits work, and what prices are expected in the trading phase? How will renewables, low emissions technology and low emissions manufacturing be financed and supported? Finally, what are the prospects for future policy reform?

Course convenor

Dr Frank Jotzo is Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Director of the Centre for Climate Economics & Policy, and Deputy Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute. He has been an advisor to the Garnaut Climate Change Review and the Indonesia's Ministry of Finance and written papers for the Prime Minister's Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. Frank is a consultant to the World Bank, and a Lead Author of the Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is a sought-after commentator and an influential contributor to the public policy debate in Australia and internationally. ]]> Date 17 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Miller Theatre at Old Canberra House This presentation aims to draw attention to the roles gender plays in determining the ways rural poor experience and interact with the forces of global environmental and economic changes. It is based on my proposed research in different agro-climatic zones in remote rural areas of the Himalayan state of Nepal focusing on the argument that rural women and men, especially those living in geographically vulnerable and remote areas, are experiencing a phase of rapid change. These changes are, first of all, environmental: the effects of climate change are far-reaching and threatening to alter the ways people have conventionally used their land and water resources for subsistence. Secondly, the changes are economic in nature, arising from the complex challenges presented by liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. Due to the pressure of these twin forces, not only are livelihoods and household food security coming under threat, new gender roles are evolving. As the environmental, social, and economic contexts of women’s productive work change, they present women with new opportunities and challenges. Feminisation of agriculture is one of these effects, defined broadly as a more active role by women in food production.

Mohanraj Adhikari is a PhD student at the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program (RMAP) in the Crawford School of Public Policy. Mr. Adhikari received his Master's degree in Natural Resource Management at International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands. He has an extensive professional experience in issues related to food security, livelihoods and rural development especially in the Mid-Western and Far-Western regions of Nepal. ]]> Date 17 May 2012 Time 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Venue Acton Theatre, Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU The ODI Fellowship scheme recruits intelligent, adventurous post-graduate economists to work in the public sectors of developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific on two-year placements. The scheme represents an exciting opportunity for recent or current post-graduates to undertake practical work in a developing country and assist in directly shaping national or sectoral policy. Fellows work in government ministries, central banks or regional organisations as economists or planning officers undertaking a range of assignments including: budgeting; macro-economic planning and forecasting; advising on regional and international trade issues; mainstreaming HIV/AIDS issues into wider government policy; advising on natural resource management; climate change finance; and overseeing privatisation programs. <br /> <br />At this public seminar, Susan Baron will discuss the fellowship scheme and provide details on the recruitment and application process for 2013-2015 posts. Matthew Morris will talk about his experience as an ODI Fellow in Papua New Guinea. Topics of discussion will include: objectives of the scheme; fellowship posts; entrance requirements; selection and recruitment; administrative and financial arrangements; and career prospects on conclusion. <br /> <br />If you are a recent or soon to be recent post-graduate in economics or a related field and are considering the next step in your career, we warmly invite you to come along and learn about, what could be, an exciting opportunity for you. <br /> <br />This event is hosted by the Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, with the Crawford School Student Association. <br /> <br />Further information about the Development Policy Centre: devpolicy.anu.edu.au <br /><br /> » <a href="http://crawford.anu.edu.au/pdf/events/2012/20120517-Flyer-DevPolicy-ODI-Fship.pdf">view flyer [PDF,325KB]</a> ]]> Date 18 May 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue Acton/Seminar Room 6, Crawford School of Public Policy, #132 Lennox Crossing, ANU Professor Amin Saikal

One of the world's most eminent scholars of the Middle-east will review the zone of crisis covering the problem-ridden states of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.

Sabre-rattling in both Iran and Israel holds ominous portent given a nuclear-endowed Israeli state and Iran's unconcealed quest for nuclear weapons capability. How secure is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's current political position?

Will Pakistan manage to keep Islamic insurgency at bay and its military and ISI under control? How secure is Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from extremists?

How much of a threat does a resurgent Taliban pose to the Karzai Government? Is the West maintaining the peace but still losing the war to win the hearts and minds of the free Afghan people?

Will Iraq's ruling coalition hold together against rising sectarian discontent? Will its fledgling democracy withstand PM Nouri Al-Maliki's personal consolidation of power? In fact, is Iraq bearing all the hallmarks of a failing state?

Eminent scholar Professor Amin Saikal will analyse the common threads underlying waning stability in these diverse states and examine the likely future role of the US and other major powers. ]]> Date 18 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Acton Theatre, Level 1 J.G. Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government <br />that took power in Britain in May 2010 has embarked on a <br />very ambitious programme of cuts to public spending, largescale <br />structural changes in public services, especially health, <br />and a supposed radical shift away from “Big Government” <br />towards what David Cameron calls the “Big Society”. <br /> <br />In this seminar Professor Talbot will explore questions <br />including, how far have these policies been implemented, <br />what are their effects so far, and what are the likely prospects <br />of ‘success’? <br /> <br />Professor Talbot’s main area of expertise in is public services and public management reform. He has been studying central government in the UK for more than two decades and has given evidence to Parliament more than two dozen times, on issues including public spending and Civil Service reforms. Professor Talbot has also advised a wide range of international public sector organisations and/or carried out research in countries as diverse as Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Tanzania, India, Bangladesh, Japan, Hong Kong, Malta and Sweden and <br />spoken at conferences and seminars in over two dozen countries. <br /> <br />Further information about the Crawford School: crawford.anu.edu.au <br /> <br />Light lunch provided ]]> Date 21 May 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue Springbank/Canberry Rooms, Crawford School of Public Policy, #132 Lennox Crossing, ANU In this Masterclass, Colin Talbot, an internationally recognised expert on public administration and the influential outgoing Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Public Administration, will analyse decades of experiments in strategic reform of the Public Sector spending system in the United Kingdom such as the Public Service Agreements (PSAs) and multi-year spending reviews (SRs); the latter initiated under New Labour but continuing under a Coalition Government.

Colin will also explore the outcomes of various initiatives such as the Strategy Unit to aid overall government planning, the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit to drive performance in core areas, 'cross-cutting' reviews & PSAs aimed at facilitating joined-up government and agency Capability Reviews designed to enhance civil service capacity.

Janine O'Flynn will review recent Australian as well as international experiences broadly in 'strategic' government. Participants will be invited to contribute their own experiences with 'strategic' government in Australia. The Presenters will build a framework for shared analysis and discussion so that participants can gain valuable insights and knowledge from two decades of international experimentation in 'strategic' government. ]]> Date 21 May 2012 Time 9:30 am - 3:30 pm Venue Crawford School of Public Policy, #132 Lennox Crossing, ANU The 16th iteration of the China Scholarship Council: Administrators' Course will be held on 21 May to 10 August. The upcoming cohort is composed of 36 middle to top level administrators and will add to more than 400 Vice-chancellors, deans, department heads, senior administrators and academics who have participated in this long-running Program since 2003.

The three-month Program is sponsored by the China Scholarship Council(CSC) as well as individual Universities from various regions of China. The Program aims to build the capacity of university administrators to work within the challenging environment of evolving Chinese government policy towards its universities that is aimed at pushing around 100 of the top Chinese Universities into the World’s Top 500 Universities Rankings within the next two decades.

The Crawford School Executive Education (CSEE) Program will expose participants to Australian best practice in managing tertiary institutions with a focus on building research and teaching excellence, strategic multi-modal marketing technologies and brand management, HR practices, revenue stream diversification through business sponsorships, alumni foundations, bequests and philanthropy, trends in research and teaching management practices, changing paradigms in pedagogical philosophy, the global trend towards client centred educational practices such as digital/online or distance education methodologies and other client-orientated delivery practices, course evaluations and feedback as well as pastoral care and counselling services.

Participants will be introduced to participating ANU departments and their administrative and academic staff as well as undertake study visits to Universities Australia, Charles Sturt University, the Goulburn Police College, ADFA, TAFE and CIT and local schools. ]]> Date 22 May 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue Crawford School of Public Policy This two-day session is the fourth of the seminar series exclusively for senior staff members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). This session will cover the following three main modules: the economics of climate change, environmental economics and policy and resource economics and policy. ]]> Date 22 May 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue Seminar Room 5, Crawford School of Public Policy, #132 Lennox Crossing, ANU Course overview

Evidence-based policymaking requires careful analysis of the available data: what statements can we confidently make and to what extent can we extrapolate data for policy development, analysis and services delivery evaluation?

Statistical data is frequently used to measure performance or assess the effectiveness of government policy and services delivery. However, statistics can also be selectively quoted to bolster or destroy policies. Evidence-based policymaking is the new mantra and this frequently involves delving into statistical data to establish the evidence that may support the various policy options or prescriptions available to the Government of the day. When public servants are evaluating the likely impact of a particular policy at the local level, they may need to turn to census data to develop a community profile or establish a baseline. Can we freely use such data without examining the assumptions that were used to establish them? How confident can we be about the sources and to what extent can the data be extrapolated to support our propositions? Dr Nicholas Biddle will take non-statisticians through an enjoyable exercise of interpreting and understanding statistics and demystifying this field for any befuddled non-statisticians in the APS. Participants will consider their own personal queries or issues and learn through interactive exercises to confidently interpret and analyse such data.

Course convenors

Dr Nicholas Biddle has extensive experience with the development and use of official statistics with a strong background in statistical and quantitative methodology. A Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU, he recently returned from a visit to Stanford University. Nicholas worked for seven years in the Methodology Division of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), developing and using official statistics. He is an engaging and enthusiastic presenter with a consistent research and teaching focus on the application and policy relevance of empirical data. ]]> Date 22 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Acton Theatre Level 1, J.G. Crawford Building, Lennox Crossing, ANU The World Bank recently released a Pacific Futures document which emphasises an economic geographic perspective to development in the Pacific. In this seminar Dinuk Jayasuriya attempts to provide evidence for the Bank’s position by drawing on his paper (joint with the World Bank) that shows nations that have both small populations and are remote face a significant disadvantage in terms of their growth prospects. This is important for the Pacific Island countries, which represent 9 out of the top 11 ‘small’ and ‘remote’ countries. The paper estimates the average per capita growth penalties faced by Pacific Island countries as between 1.34 and 4.48 percentage points per annum during the period 1995 to 2009. The paper uses cross-sectional OLS and system GMM dynamic panel estimators in its analysis. The results could have important policy implications relating to whether Pacific Island countries should receive aid flows. <br /> <br />Dinuk Jayasuriya is a post-doctoral fellow at the Development Policy Centre. His research interests include program evaluation and Pacific development issues. Prior to this he worked for the World Bank Group in the Pacific. Dinuk's co-author, Vivek Suri, is currently the Lead Economist for the World Bank, Pacific, based in Sydney. <br /> <br />Light lunch will be provided. ]]> Date 22 May 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 Indonesia and the world have recently faced significant commodity price spikes, including the staple, rice. ASEAN has responded with a food security framework and plan, including of increased regional government stocks, more open trade, and greater R&D, in contrast to the past actions of individual Member States, including Indonesia, of increased trade restrictions and a self-sufficiency push. Is Indonesia better off by continuing with such past policies rather than embracing a broader mix of policies including regional stocks, more open trade, greater R&D and social safety nets? A partial equilibrium model, which captures expectations and private/government stockholding drivers, is used to assess these options for Indonesia. ]]> Date 22 May 2012 Time 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Venue Molonglo Theatre Crawford Over the past decade Africa's real GDP growth rate has doubled, and is forecast to grow by
5.4% in 2012, in comparison to the world economic growth of around 4%. Today, the rate of return on foreign investment
in Africa is higher than in any other developing region. There is now an increasing awareness
in Australia of business opportunities in Africa, and Australia's mining investment alone in
Africa is estimated to exceed $20 billion.

Dr Matthew Durban of the Australia Trade Commission will be the keynote speaker whereafter there will be a panel discussion chaired by the South African High Commissaioner which will include the High Commissioner for Kenya and the Ambassador of Egypt. ]]> Date 23 May 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Venue Acton Theatre, Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU Australia and Papua New Guinea's relationship is unique: sharing a common border and a history. Recently, the two countries have also come to share a concern for the rising prevalence and potential for transmission of tuberculosis (TB), including a multi-drug-resistant strain in the Torres Strait cross-border region.

Both the Australian and PNG governments want to ensure the availability of health services that provide appropriate care for sufferers of TB without exacerbating the emergence of drug resistance. How to best achieve this aim is not always clear and has been controversial. An initial step is to understand where and why individuals look for health care, and what services result in the best outcomes. The key stakeholders in ensuring this is integrated into policy are those directly involved in the uptake and delivery of TB services.

This public forum will bring together the views of community members, clinicians and policy makers directly impacted by this issue, along with researchers working to develop effective strategies for control of TB in the region.

Panel Members include:

> Dr Kamalini Lokuge, Medical Epidemiologist, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, ANU
> Professor Tom Kompas, Professor of Economics and Director, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
> Dr Paul Aia, Director National TB Program, National Department of Health, PNG
> Cr Kebei Salee Koeget, Local-level Government Ward Member for Sigabaduru, PNG
> Dr Tom Konstantinos, Director, Queensland Tuberculosis Control Centre
> Mr Benedict David, Prinicipal Health Specialist, AusAID
> A representative of Saibai Island Council - TBC
]]> Date 25 May 2012 Time 9:30 am - 11:00 am Venue Seminar Room 1, Stanner Building ]]> Date 29 May 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B (Arndt Room), Coombs Building 9 ]]> Date 30 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm Venue Seminar Room B (Arndt Room), Coombs Building, Fellows Road, ANU The main aim of my presentation is to examine the tension amongst the Indonesian government and Islamic organisations in dealing with the plurality of interpretation within Islamic tradition and at the same time maintaining the unity and harmony of the Muslim ummah. I provide two case studies here: first, the issue of determining the first and the end of Ramadan and also 10 Zul Hijjah (for Ied al-Adha). Due to different methods of hisab (astronomical calculation) and ru’yah (sighting a new crescent), Islamic organisations (Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama and Majelis Ulama Indonesia) have produced different fatwas. At the same time, the Government should make announcement on which dates to begin or to end fasting. The questions are: which fatwas the Government should choose? What are the reactions of Islamic organisations that have different views with the Government decision? There is also tension in the society in celebrating different dates of Ied al-fitri and Ied al-adha. Second, in the case of halal certificate, Department of Health, Department of Religious Affairs, Department of Industry and the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) together with the Parliament are still examining who has the authority to investigate all the ingredients, to issue the fatwa, and to put halal label in the product. Currently, MUI issues a halal certificate based on the voluntarily application from the company. This might be considered as an unofficial law. Once the Parliament passed the bill, the practice might become compulsory. This will give effect that a particular interpretation of the halalness of meat and non-meat products will become the official law. How about other non-official interpretations? There is also a competition between Department of Religious Affairs and the MUI as the first thinks it falls into its authority, whereas the latter insists that a halal certificate is a written fatwa which falls into its ‘jurisdiction’. This question of authority reflects the tension and dilemma of the role of the Government, particularly the Department of Religious Affairs, in trying to regulate and facilitate Muslims affairs. ]]> Date 30 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Acton Theatre, Level 1, J.G. Crawford Building, Lennox Crossing, ANU The 2011 State of the Environment (SoE) report is bolder than previous national SoE reports in several ways. With encouragement from the responsible Ministers and the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC), graded ‘report-card’ style assessments are included to provide insight into the state and trends of aspects of the environment, the pressures upon it, and the effectiveness of management. These also include an indication of strength of the evidence for assessments with a ‘level of confidence’. In addition, SoE 2011 has a greater focus on the resilience of Australia’s coupled social-ecological systems, as well as discussion of remaining and future risks, and for the first time in national SoE reporting includes outlooks for the future. These steps were intended to stimulate dialogue both about the conclusions themselves and the adequacy of information on which they were based. One key conclusion is that Australia has many of the ingredients for governance and information systems capable of dealing with the sorts of linked environmental, social and economic challenges Australia might face in the next few decades, but that if the nation fails to build on these ingredients wisely and quickly the negative consequences could be considerable. <br /> <br />Professor Cork is an ecologist and futurist. As an ecologist he spent 25 years at the CSIRO researching the interactions between natural ecological systems and human wellbeing around the world. As a futurist he played a leading role in developing scenarios for the World’s social-ecological futures for the United Nations’ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and has run similar projects with government and non-government groups around Australia. He has worked extensively as an advisor to governments on policy issues and as a government employee developing and implementing environmental policy. He now works privately as a futurist, strategist and ecological advisor as the Principal Consultant of EcoInsights and leads a major project on the resilience of Australia in the private sustainability R&D organisation Australia21. He is an adjunct Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He was a member of the committee that prepared the 2011 National State of the Environment Report. <br /> <br />light lunch will be provided. ]]> Date 31 May 2012 Time 11:00 am - 12:30 pm Venue Seminar Room 1, Stanner Building ]]> Date 31 May 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Coombs Seminar Room C "Coping with the deluge – the socioeconomic impact of the new mining boom, North Western Province, Zambia. What the literature tells us."

Margaret O'Callaghan was working with the UN in Zambia at the start of the new copper boom when she realized that she was seeing the beginnings of a major social and economic transformation, one which was important to document. Margaret will provide an overview of the mining boom in Zambia as well as the relevant literature. She will also discuss some of the issues arising from an initial analysis of the material including the need for a coordination of study approaches as well as multi-sectoral development planning to help ensure that prevailing poverty levels are reduced, not increased.

Margaret is currently an independent scholar and consultant. ]]> Date 31 May 2012 Time 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm Venue Weston Theatre, Level 1, JG Crawford Building 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU Julie Bishop MP is Federal Member for Curtin and the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. She holds a strong interest and commitment to the improvement of Australia-PNG and Australia-Pacific relations, to aid effectiveness, and to a strong focus for our aid program on the Asia-Pacific region. She has visited the Pacific region extensively, and has just returned from her most recent trip to PNG.

At this public lecture, Ms. Bishop will address the latest issues related to Australian aid, and to the challenges facing PNG and the Pacific, and to Australia's role in this critical region

Further information about the Development Policy Centre: devpolicy.anu.edu.au

This event is hosted by the Development Policy Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University and is supported by funding from the ANU Research School of Asia and the Pacific.

Followed by refreshments ]]> Date 1 June 2012 Time 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Venue Seminar Room 1.04, Coombs Extension, ANU Kaushik Basu is Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He is on leave from Cornell University where he is Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies. Until 2009 he was Chairman of the Department of Economics and during 2006-9 he was Director of the Center for Analytic Economics at Cornell.

Earlier he was Professor of Economics at the Delhi School of Economics, where in 1992 he founded the Centre for Development Economics and was its first Executive Director. He is also a founding member of the Madras School of Economics.
He is currently (the 4th) President of the Human Development and Capabilities Association, which was founded by Amartya Sen. He has held advisory posts with the ILO, the World Bank, the Reserve Bank of India and was, for several years, a member of the steering committee of the Expert Group of Development Issues set up by the Swedish Government. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Exim Bank of India.

In May 2008 he was awarded one of India’s highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan, by the President of India. ]]> Date 5 June 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B (Arndt Room), Coombs Building 9 We show that deviations from long-run stability of product prices are optimal in the presence of endogenous producer entry and product variety in a sticky-price model with monopolistic competition in which price stability would be optimal in the absence of entry. Specifically, a long-run positive (negative)rate of inflation is optimal when the benefit of variety to consumers falls short of (exceeds) the market incentives for creating that variety under flexible prices, governed by the desired markup. Plausible preference specifications and parameter values justify a long-run inflation rate of two percent or higher.Price indexation implies even larger deviations from long-run price stability. However, price stability (around this non-zero trend) is close to optimal in the short run, even in the presence of time-varying flexible-price markups that distort the allocation of resources across time and states. The central bank uses its leverage over real activity in the long run, but not in the short run. Our results point to the need for continued empirical research on the determinants of markups and investigation of the benefit of product variety to consumers.

» view paper [PDF,965KB] ]]> Date 6 June 2012 Time 7:15 am - 8:45 am Venue The Lobby Restaurant SES Breakfast Series. (All SES)

An address by, Professor Sandford Borins Phd, Professor of Strategic
Management, hosted by the Australian Public Service Commission and
the HC Coombs Policy Forum at the Crawford School of Public Policy.

The SES breakfast series provides participants with a forum to hear from and interact with leading speakers on contemporary issues.

Professor Borins will discuss his most recent research on innovation in government, which focuses on applications between the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovations in American Government Awards in 2010. His research provides answers to questions such as:
- what are its building blocks?
- where do innovations originate?
- what obstacles must they overcome and how do they?
- how can government organisations become more supportive of innovation?

Sandford Borins is Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto. He has been a visiting professor at the
Harvard Kennedy School and the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, and Scholar-in-Residence in the Ontario Cabinet Office.
He is the author of Governing Fables: Learning from Public Sector Narratives (2011) and Innovating with Integrity (1998). Innovation is a major focus of his research in his capacity as a research fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School.

Visit our website at www.apsc.gov.au/seslearn or
please contact 02 6202 3522.

FEES - $115.00 (GST inclusive)
REGISTRATION - www.apscregistration.gov.au
]]> Date 6 June 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Weston Theatre, Level 1, JG Crawford Bldng 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU

Story-telling is as old as humankind. Yet it is also new, in that recently we have increasingly turned to it as a method of communication and persuasion in political and policy discourse. Practitioners who have taken ‘the narrative turn’ see story-telling as more effective than the traditional rationalistic and evidence-based approach in establishing an emotional connection with an audience. In this presentation, I will outline a model of organisational narratives and apply it to political narratives as well as narratives used by public sector organisations.

Innovation represents a priority for public sector organisations having to meet the challenges of a changing environment, wicked problems, and the pressure to improve service despite having to make do with diminishing resources. Innovation awards provide an opportunity for the public sector’s innovators to tell their stories. My current research is based on recent applications to the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovations in American Government Awards, which represents a rich database of stories about innovation. I will apply the tools of narrative analysis to these stories to develop lessons about both innovation and story-telling in the public sector.

Sandford Borins is Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto. He has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, and Scholar-in-Residence in the Ontario Cabinet Office. He is currently a research fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School.

He is the author of numerous articles as well as nine books, including Governing Fables: Learning from Public Sector Narratives (2011); Innovations in Government: Research, Recognition, and Replication (2008) and Innovating with Integrity (1998).

This event is supported by the Australian National Institute of Public Policy and the HC Coombs Policy Forum with funding from the Australian Government under the ‘Enhancing Public Policy Initiative’.

This lecture will be followed by light refreshments.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED ]]> Date 6 June 2012 Time 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Venue Molonglo Theatre, JG Crawford Bldng 132, Lennox Crossing, ANU The phrase, how ministers think, usually gives rise to answers which are flippant, superficial or derogatory, or all three. But public administration needs something more thoughtful. Even more serious answers, explicit or implicit, project onto politics various professional versions of the search for truth. This rarely goes anywhere nearly as far its advocates imagine. <br /> <br />Politicians employ a form of rationality unique to electoral democracy, and responsive to the distinctive features of public life: competition; publicity; and uncertainty. <br /> <br />Professor French’s research covers such matters as why evidence-based policy is at best a very partial answer; why much normative political theory is of limited use to politicians and senior officials; and why the market can support better provision of public goods and services, but business management is no solution to the administrative and policy challenges of government. <br /> <br />Professor Richard French holds degrees from the University of British Columbia and Oxford (D. Phil.). After several years in the Canadian public service, including assignments in the Privy Council Office, he taught at McGill University, Montreal. Subsequently elected to the National Assembly of Quebec, he was Minister for Communications in the Liberal Government of the mid-1980s. He has held several senior executive positions in business, including vice-president of Bell Canada and CEO of TATA Communications, a mobile communications firm in Andhra Pradesh, India. He has recently been vice-chairman (telecommunications) of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), a post he left in July 2007. His most famous work is How Ottawa Decides; his recent writings have been about political capital. <br /> <br />This lecture is presented by the HC Coombs Policy Forum at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, in partnership with the Public Policy Institute at the Australian Catholic University. <br /> <br />Followed by light refreshments. <br /> <br />REGISTRATION REQUIRED ]]> Date 12 June 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 ]]> Date 19 June 2012 Time 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Venue Coombs Seminar Room C The Mining Boom: Capital and the Chiefs in the “New” Copperbelt, North Western Province Zambia.

Dr. Negi will use a historical and ethnographic approach to explore the history of the tribal Chiefs in NWP, Zambia and will discuss how their role has changed and evolved politically, economically, and socially with the influx of big mining companies to the region.

Dr Rhohit Negi is an Assistant Professor with the School of Human Ecology at The University of Ambedkar, Delhi, India. ]]> Date 19 June 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 This paper models the perverse impact of increased devolution of funds from higher to lower level governments on tax revenues collected by the latter, an issue largely ignored by the extant literature. We theoretically model the cost of taxation and use this and the ratio of transfers that augment the local wage rate to those that do not to explain tax collected at the village level using a unique data set for India and permit mutual endogeneity of tax collected and transfers. The cost of tax collection and the ratio of transfers that augment the local wage rate (to those that do not) have significant negative effects on tax collection, thus validating the conclusions of the theoretical model. These results are particularly relevant to India where it has been presumed that fiscal devolution would lead to increased public expenditure and that such expenditures would be consistent with the preferences of the local population. ]]> Date 26 June 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 In this paper we investigate the impact of two financial crises, triggered by the burst of bubble in the Japanese financial stock and real estate market, and that of in the U.S. on Japanese economy. These two financial crises are sometimes referred as "credit tsunami" and we called "financial tsunami". Financial crisis triggered by the burst of Japanese bubble can be called Japanese tsunami and that of U.S. bubble burst can be called U.S. tsunami.

There are two hypotheses by using the number of bankruptcy and profit decreases. The Japanese tsunami damaged the financial industry, while the US tsunami did the manufacturing industry closely related to the US and the other countries through the international trade. We retest these hypotheses by using the evaluation of investor or market: a risk premium for bonds issued by such industries. If both hypotheses are correct, policy should be prescribed with an emphasis in manufacturing industry while the lessons from the Japanese tsunami are not necessarily applicable to the slump by the US tsunami.

We found that the Japanese tsunami mainly damaged Japanese financial industries, while U.S. tsunami damaged both Japanese financial and non-financial industries. ]]> Date 29 June 2012 Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Venue Seminar Room 1, Stanner Building (37), Lennox Crossing, ANU Ever since the First Assessment Report on Climate Change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1990, there is an ongoing debate on the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions for the future. Based on a modified version of the Kaya Identity we argue that the observed reduction in carbon dioxide intensity (CO2/GDP) from 1971 to 2008 was mainly a result of nonrecurring attempts to reduce the energy intensity of production (Energy/GDP) e.g. an extension of the service economy as well as the off-shoring of pollution intensive production. Using meta-significance testing (Stanley, 2005; 2008) based on 80 studies on the relationship between energy and economic growth, we find that, in fact, energy and growth are strongly interlinked, so that a slowdown in the decrease in energy intensity or even a recurring increase is possible.

Ceteris paribus, this would also entail an increase in carbon dioxide intensity. We suggest that the only strategy to achieve sustainability is to reduce the multiplier between carbon dioxide intensity and energy intensity, namely the carbon dioxide intensity of energy (CO2/Energy). As a consequence, if our projections are true, the time frame to do so is smaller than normally assumed. ]]> Date 3 July 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 ]]> Date 17 July 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 ]]> Date 14 August 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 ]]> Date 24 September 2012 Time 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Venue This two day conference is intended to bring together a range of participants across a number of disciplinary areas including: intellectual property law (IP), international economic law, traditional knowledge and protection of genetic resources, anthropology, cultural heritage and policy, and development studies.

The Conference will focus on the challenges and opportunities for innovation, creativity and access to knowledge in the Pacific region, particularly in response to the new demands raised by globalization,
climate change, the knowledge economy and intellectual property requirements in multilateral and bilateral trade agreements.

The focus will be on learning from experiences in the region to date by presenting case-studies about what works and what does not work and why. Conference participants will be asked to identify a range of strategies that can be used to promote innovation, creativity and access to knowledge, and highlight current cultural, institutional and regulatory obstacles to them. Experiences from countries facing similar issues
outside the region are also welcome.

Provisional panel topics include:

> > * Community management of tangible and intangible resources: The
> > challenges and opportunities
> > * Enforcement mechanisms for effective protection of intangible
> > resources
> > * Harnessing customary innovation and resource management strategies
> > * The challenges of copyright laws for education in the PICs
> > * Strategies for securing food security in the PICs
> > * The potential of cultural industries for development
> > * Control over access to knowledge in the PICs
> > * Public health and private monopolies: strategies to maximise
> > access to medicines
> > * IP in Free Trade Agreements
> > * IP and development

It is envisaged that the proceedings of the conference will be published in a special journal issue or else as an edited volume (both peer-reviewed). This conference is part of an ARC funded discovery project investigating the impact of intellectual property laws on development in Pacific Island countries.

See http://www.ippacificislands.org
We are now calling for:

> > * abstracts of papers to be presented
> > * expressions of interest to chair panels
> > * expressions of interest in alternative panels around the
> > conference themes

Please note that some funding is available for Pacific Island speakers.

This call will be open until 15 April.

Please contact Miranda Forsyth at miranda.forsyth@anu.edu.au and Eduardo Ramirez at eduardo.ramirez@anu.edu.au with abstracts, proposals and questions. ]]> Date 25 September 2012 Time 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Venue Seminar Room B, Coombs Building 9 This paper presents consistent time series of import and export price indices as well as volume indices of Indonesia’s foreign trade for 1870-2010. Indonesia’s foreign trade data have been accumulated as part of the Asian Historical Statistics Project at the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University and at the International Institute of Social Research in Amsterdam. The series were derived on the basis of data from 4 incompatible commodity classification systems covering the periods 1870-1927, 1926-1947, 1948-1972 and 1973-2010. They allow closer scrutiny of long-run trends of Indonesia’s terms of trade, as well as a re-evaluation of the macro-economic impact of short-term changes in the terms of trade, and a comparison of long-term trends with recently estimated international data. The paper discusses the estimation procedures used to compile the price and volume indices of Indonesia’s export and imports. The paper will also offer a first impression of the impact of long-term changes in the terms of trade on Indonesia’s economy, in the light of the currently available literature on this issue. ]]>