The effect of inflation and real wages on productivity: new evidence from a panel of G7 countries

This article examines the effect of inflation and real wages on productivity within a panel unit root and panel cointegration framework for the G7 countries over the period 1960 to 2004. The main contribution of the article is to provide panel long-run estimates of the effect of inflation and real wages on productivity in the G7 countries over this period. The article finds that for the panel as a whole a 1% increase in real wages generates a 0.6% increase in productivity, while the effects of inflation on productivity are statistically insignificant for most of the individual countries and for the panel as a whole.

Investigation of educator adoption of knowledge media

Human development has occurred against a timeline that has seen the creation of and diffusion of one innovation after another. These innovations range from language to complex computing and information technologies. The latter are assisting with the distribution of information, and extend to the distribution of the human species beyond the planet Earth. From early times, information has been published and mostly for a fee to the publisher. The absorption and use of information has had a high priority in most societies from early times, and has become institutionalised in universities and institutes of technical learning. For most in Western societies, education is now a matter of ‘lifelong learning’. Today, we see higher education institutions, worldwide, adapting their organisational structures and operating procedures and forming strategic alliances with communications content providers and carriers as well as with information technology companies. Modern educational institutes seek productivity and efficiency. Many also seek to differentiate themselves from competitors. Technological convergence is often seen by management to be a saviour in many educational organisations. It is hoped that lower capital and recurrent costs can be achieved, and that competitors in an increasingly globalised industry can be held at bay by strategic use of knowledge media (Eisenstadt, 1995) commonly associated with distance education in the campus setting. Knowledge media set up costs, intellectual property costs and training costs for staff and students are often so high as to make their use not viable for Australian institutes of higher education. Against this backdrop, one might expect greater educator and student use of publisher produced textbooks and digital enhancements to the textbook, particularly those involved in distance education. A major issue is whether or not the timing of instructor adoption of converging information technology and communications technologies aligns with the wishes of both higher education management and government, and with those who seek commercial gain from the diffusion and adoption of such technologies. Also at issue is whether or not it is possible to explain variance in stated intentions to recommend adoption of new learning technologies in higher education and implementation. Will there occur educator recommendation for adoption of individual knowledge media such as World Wide Web access to study materials by students? And what will be the form of this tool and others used in higher education? This thesis reports on more recent changes in the technological environment and seeks to contribute to an understanding of the factors that lead to a willingness, or unwillingness, on the part of higher education instructors, as influencers and content providers, to utilise these technologies. As such, it is a diffusion study which seeks to fill a gap in the literature. Diffusion studies typically focus on predicting adoption based on characteristics of the potential adopter. Few studies examine the relationship between characteristics of the innovation and adoption. Nearly all diffusion studies involve what is termed discontinuous innovation (Robertson, 1971). That is, the innovation involves adoptees in a major departure from previous practice. This study seeks to examine the relationship between previous experience of related technologies and adoption or rejection of dynamically continuous innovation. Continuous and dynamically continuous innovations are the most numerous in the real world, yet they are numerically the least scrutinised by way of academic research. Moreover, the three-year longitudinal study of educators in Australian and New Zealand meets important criteria laid down by researchers Tornatzky and Klein (1982) and Rogers (1995), that are often not met by similar studies. In particular the study examines diffusion as it is unfolding, rather than selectively examining a single innovation and after the fact, thus avoiding a possible pro-innovation bias. The study examines the situation for both ‘all educators’ and ‘marketing / management educators’ alone in seeking to meet the following aim: Establish if intended adopters of specific knowledge media have had more experience of other computer-based technologies than have those not intending to adopt said knowledge media. The analytical phase entails use of factor analysis and discriminant analysis to conclude that it is possible to discriminate adopters of selected knowledge media based on previous use of related technologies. The study does not find any generalised factor that enables such discrimination among educators. Thus the study supports the literature in part, but fails to find generalised factors that enable unambiguous prediction of knowledge media adoption or otherwise among each grouping of educators examined. The implications are that even in the case of related products and services (continuous or dynamically continuous innovation), there is not statistical certainty that prior usage of related products or technologies is related to intentions to use knowledge media in the future. In this regard, the present study might be said to confirm the view that Rogers and Shoemaker's (1971) conceptualisation of perceived innovation characteristics may only apply to discontinuous innovations (Stratton, Lumpkin & Vitell, 1997). The implications for stakeholders such as higher education management is that when seeking to appoint new educators or existing staff to knowledge media project teams, there is some support for the notion that those who already use World Wide Web based technologies are likely to take these technologies into teaching situations. The same claim cannot be made for computer software use in general, nor Internet use in general.

Narrativization of actuality : convergence of form and genre in film and television

The thesis concerns the treatment of actuality in film and television, particularly the narrativization of actuality images, and the context of their placement within audio/visual texts. Several instances of the convergence of media form and genre are analyzed, and the conventions of classificatory systems and boundaries that pertain to film and television representations are reconsidered in light of changes in the conventions of genre. The distinction between, and convergence of fictional and non-fictional conventions of narrative are therefore central to the thesis, as are the related issues of viewer response, the nature of subjectivity in the viewer, the connectivity of text and culture, and the relations of actuality to the text. The thesis traces the narrativization of actuality through textual, formal and genre boundaries, adopting a ‘line of flight or deterritorialization’ that enables the thesis to ‘change in nature and connect with other multiplicities.’This line of flight passes through the conventional separation of genre groupings and texts, and, similarly, has been applied in the thesis as a rationale for the diminution of theoretical boundaries. A multiperpectival approach is applied to the permeability of, or transcendent relations of the analysis to the boundaries between genres, between texts and culture, and between actuality and virtual representation. In the thesis there is also a theoretical deterritorialization that consents to a pluralism of theory, which is an approach demonstrated by Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus. The model of multi-perspectivalism adopted in the thesis engages in establishing connections and similarities between theories, rather than emphasizing contradictory and exclusive practices. The Foucauldian notion of the rules of formation in discourse, Nichols’ theories of documentary representation of reality, Bordwell’s schematic interpretation, and several other positions are critiqued, as the line of flight embarked upon in the thesis intersects with, and passes through both textual and theoretical boundaries. The thesis consists of two parts: firstly, a location of theoretical perspective, in which the issues of theory pertaining to actuality and narrative are explicated, and the methodological approach of the thesis is defined. The second part commences with an analysis of the most familiar instances of actuality in film and television, with particular attention to documentary forms. It then engages in the analysis of films that represent actuality but which, in the process of narrativization, display a convergence of genre conventions. The films selected for analysis include Steven Speilberg's Schindler's List, (1993) Oliver Stone's JFK, (1991) and Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump, (1994) and Contact, (1996). Hence the thesis is concerned with the application of a pluralist theoretical approach, with, however, an emphasis on the Deleuzo-Guattarian notions of rhizome and assemblage. Within this theoretical frame, the connections between actuality and the audio/visual text are explicated, and the formation of text as ‘a rhizome with the world’, is analyzed across a range of examples.

Measuring worker productivity : frameworks and measures

Worker productivity is a combination of time off work (absenteeism) due to an illness and time at work but with reduced levels of productivity while at work (also known as presenteeism). Both can be gathered with a focus on application as a cost indicator and/or as an outcome state for intervention studies. We review the OMERACT worker productivity groups’ progress in evaluating measures of worker productivity for use in arthritis using the OMERACT filter. Attendees at OMERACT 9 strongly endorsed the importance of work as an outcome in arthritis. Consensus was reached (94% endorsement) for fielding a broader array of indicators of absenteeism. Twenty-one measures of at-work productivity loss, ranging from single item indicators to multidimensional scales, were reviewed for measurement properties. No set of at-work productivity measures was endorsed because of variability in the concepts captured, and the need for a better framework for the measurement of worker productivity that also incorporates contextual issues such as job demands and other paid and unpaid life responsibilities. Progress has been made in this area, revealing an ambivalent set of results that directed us back to the need to further define and then contextualize the measurement of worker productivity.

Accounting convergence of intangibles : value relevance of R & D accounting treatment

The rapid globalization of markets has resulted in further acceleration of the worldwide convergence of accounting standards, including the development of high-quality and globally consistent accounting standards for both domestic and cross-border financial reporting. Prior studies report that earnings value relevance of U.S. companies is decreasing, and the decline is partially attributable to the immediate expensing of intangibles, like research and development (R&D). Being one of the areas of divergence, accounting for R&D was highlighted as one of the seven short-term convergence projects by the FASB and IASB. Australia's adoption of IFRS in 2005 presents an empirical setting to evaluate the value relevance of different accounting treatments for R&D, and ultimately assist financial accounting standard setters in the U.S. and abroad in finding an appropriate accounting treatment for R&D.

Labour productivity trends in Australian manufacturing : some time series properties

Labour productivity plays a significant role in economic growth, labour demand and employment situation of a particular economy. In this light, the presence of a structural break in productivity, and its unit root property, has important consequences for the overall economy and in major sectors such as manufacturing. In this article, using some recently developed unit root tests, we examine: (i) the null hypothesis of a unit root in the log-level of labour productivity for 38 manufacturing subdivisions against the alternative of trend stationarity over a three-decade period; and (ii) the presence of a structural break in the series, and whether the break has had a permanent or a transitory effect on manufacturing labour productivity. Our main finding is that shocks to labour productivity have had a transitory effect, implying that policies are likely to have only short-term effects.

National and international financial reporting standard convergence and the relevance for non-participants in capital markets : a preparer perspective

This study presents some implications of recent policy moves to enhance the harmonization of financial reporting and disclosure by adopting international financial reporting standards. In particular the impact on small organizations that do not participate in capital markets is considered. The results of a survey of practitioners indicate a perception that the non-capital market sector is likely to be significantly affected by additional reporting burden that convergence with international financial reporting standards imposes. On the whole the results show there was concern that the traditional users of the financial reports of organizations who do not participate in capital markets, would have limited if any, use for financial reports that conformed to international financial reporting standards, The results of this study have implications for nations such as Malaysia and New Zealand, which are currently engaging in the differential reporting debate.

Productivity measurement of the construction industry in Australia

This research adopts the Malmquist total factor productivity model with Lovell's decomposition and renovated partial factor model to evaluate changes of productivity levels in Australia's construction industry. Research results find that the average annual productivity levels for Australian states are slowly growing, except for Queensland's total factor and capital productivities.

New Zealand higher education in the age of technological convergence

There are competing discourses within New Zealand higher education on the impact of the converging 'forces' of technology, globalisation and corporatisation. Educational leadership in NZ exhibits a demonstrably weaker response compared with the literature and elsewhere. The current behaviour of media organisations may be indicative of any future educational response.