Bureaucratic, corporate/market and network governance : shifting spaces for gender equity in education

Education as a field of policy, research and practice has been reconfigured over four decades by economic, social and cultural globalization in conjuncture with neoliberal policies premised upon markets and new managerialism. One effect has been shifting boundaries between, and understandings of what constitutes the public and the private with regard to the role of the state vis-á-vis the formation of gendered subjectivities and civil society and the gendering of public– private relations in and between family and work. Drawing on feminist readings of Bourdieu and critical policy sociology, I consider the implications of a move from bureaucratic educational governance framed by state welfarism to corporate or market governance framed by the post-welfare state, and consider whether particular constructions of globalization and corporate/market governance lead to network governance. Network governance, it is argued, is premised on new forms of sociality and institutional reconfigurations of knowledge-based economies and a spatialized state that coordinates rather than regulates multiple public– private providers. The question is how each mode of governance frames various possibilities and problems for gender equity in education.

A cost-based equity weight for use in the economic evaluation of primary health care interventions: case study of the Australian Indigenous population

Background : Efficiency and equity are both important policy objectives in resource allocation. The discipline of health economics has traditionally focused on maximising efficiency, however addressing inequities in health also requires consideration. Methods to incorporate equity within economic evaluation techniques range from qualitative judgements to quantitative outcomes-based equity weights. Yet, due to definitional uncertainties and other inherent limitations, no method has been universally adopted to date. This paper proposes an alternative cost-based equity weight for use in the economic evaluation of interventions delivered from primary health care services.

Methods : Equity is defined in terms of 'access' to health services, with the vertical equity objective to achieve 'equitable access for unequal need'. Using the Australian Indigenous population as an illustrative case study, the magnitude of the equity weight is constructed using the ratio of the costs of providing specific interventions via Indigenous primary health care services compared with the costs of the same interventions delivered via mainstream services. Applying this weight to the costs of subsequent interventions deflates the costs of provision via Indigenous health services, and thus makes comparisons with mainstream more equitable when applied during economic evaluation.

Results : Based on achieving 'equitable access', existing measures of health inequity are suitable for establishing 'need', however the magnitude of health inequity is not necessarily proportional to the magnitude of resources required to redress it. Rather, equitable access may be better measured using appropriate methods of health service delivery for the target group. 'Equity of access' also suggests a focus on the processes of providing equitable health care rather than on outcomes, and therefore supports application of equity weights to the cost side rather than the outcomes side of the economic equation.

Conclusion : Cost-based weights have the potential to provide a pragmatic method of equity weight construction which is both understandable to policy makers and sensitive to the needs of target groups. It could improve the evidence base for resource allocation decisions, and be generalised to other disadvantaged groups who share similar concepts of equity. Development of this decision-making tool represents a potentially important avenue for further health economics research.

Alternative naming strategies : family versus individual brand names

Increased competition in the consumer goods marketplace has resulted in too many brands chasing too few consumers. In an attempt to ease pressure on margins, and both brand and product range profitability, marketers would be well advised to reinspect their policies towards brand naming and the attendant costs associated with those policies. Is it really necessary for each new product to be individually named? If it is, then what are the strategic and financial implications of this decision? Why is it that the practice in some companies is to resort to a string of unrelated brand names whereas the practice elsewhere is to use an umbrella family name, with or without, a brand name as a suffix? The answers to such questions are by no means obvious and closer inspection of the issues relating to naming policy fails to yield any consensus let alone a definitive approach. This article seeks to depict the alternative naming strategies engaged by marketers and to focus on those considerations that would favour a family name in preference to an individualised brand name. The article concludes with recommendations that are drawn from current literature and the experience of marketers with a view to determining those circumstances that may influence the formulation of a more appropriate naming policy.

Geared equity investments : a case study of tax arbitrage down under

Geared Equity Investment (GEI) contracts are an over-the-counter financial derivative product offered by Macquarie Bank, Ltd. to individual investors in Australia and New Zealand as a managed-risk investment in local shares carrying significant tax shield benefits. Upon issuance, a geared equity contract has three stakeholders: (1) the investor; (2) the issuer; and (3) the national tax authority. We assess the value of these contracts to each stakeholder and their support for tax arbitrage. We find that the national tax authority provides a significant subsidy to GEI contracts via tax shield benefits. These benefits support investor tax arbitrage in certain cases and issuer tax arbitrage in all cases examined.