Exporting detention : Australia-funded immigration detention in Indonesia

Since 2000, Australia has provided significant levels of funding and resources to encourage Indonesia to use immigration detention to deter asylum seekers from making the onward journey to Australia. In this way Australia has effectively extended its domestic policy of immigration detention beyond its own national borders. The provision of Australian funding for detention in Indonesia has resulted in an increased propensity of Indonesian officials to detain. This article examines the outcomes and implications of this transfer of immigration detention policy for asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia. It draws on interviews conducted with individuals who have spent time in Indonesia’s immigration detention centres, and Indonesian immigration officials, to assess the conditions of the detention centres. The particular arrangement between Australia and Indonesia, however, fails adequately to protect the human rights of immigration detainees. Ultimately, the detention of asylum seekers in Indonesia serves as one more barrier to finding effective protection in the Asia-Pacific region.

Export-led growth hypothesis: evidence from Papua New Guinea and Fiji

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the export-led growth hypothesis for Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates the export-led growth hypothesis for Fiji and PNG who have been facing dismal economic growth performances over the last couple of decades.

Findings – Findings of the study suggest that for Fiji there is evidence of export-led growth in the long-run, while for PNG there is evidence of export-led growth in the short-run.

Originality/value – The findings of this paper have important messages for policy makers given that export sectors in both countries investigated are underdeveloped due mainly to a sustained period of political instability.

Entrepreneurship : industry policy priorities and entrepreneurial education in Australia

Four fields of national policy - general economic policy, industry policy, education policy and specific research and development policy - are strongly interrelated. Unfortunately, in Australia, policy makers in the four fields have not recognized that the discipline of Entrepreneurship - with its emphasis on managing the innovation process - holds the key to effective co-ordination between the four vital policy areas. The paper argues that innovation strategy, not cost reduction or research expenditure, is the key to developing successful, export-oriented products and world competitiveness. Viable innovation strategy depends on the relationship between government, capital availability, development capital and industrial developers. In turn, this relationship requires a cadre of entrepreneurial business managers educated not in the 'traditional' MBA mainstream but in the discipline of Entrepreneurship, specifically focused on learning the practical skills involved in venture evaluation and management of the innovation process. The paper concludes by describing the philosophy and performance of Swinburne University of Technology's School of Innovation and Enterprise, a school at the forefront of entrepreneurial education in Australia and thus a school with important implications for the nation's industry policy priorities.

Tax policy when countries compete for third market exports

We examine the welfare and other consequences of tax policy in a third market export model where duopolists located in two countries compete in prices. With tax competition between governments, we allow for welfare-maximizing governments in the two countries to delegate tax setting responsibility to policy-makers who have different objectives than the governments. The unique equilibrium in the tax competition environment involves both governments delegating tax setting responsibility to tax revenue-maximizing policy-makers. This equilibrium yields higher welfare for both countries than the outcome when the governments delegate to welfare-maximizing policy-makers. The paper also compares tax competition with tax harmonization and shows that when the entire export market is served, tax harmonization improves the welfare of the country that houses the low cost firm, while the other country may be immiserized.

Institutional reform and export competitiveness of central and Eastern European economies

Following their political and economic independence in 1989, a group of ten Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) embarked on major institutional reforms to modernise their economies in order to become an integral part of the global economy. This chapter provides an overview of the main institutional reforms undertaken in the CEEs and their effects on export competitiveness. The chapter focuses on selected meso and macro institutional reforms, namely price liberalisation, competition policy, trade and foreign exchange, privatisation, and corporate governance. The results show that institutional reforms in the CEEs were rapid and generally successful. All CEEs became members of the European Union (EU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Institutional reforms contributed significantly to improved efficiency and growth in the export sector. The results also suggest that further reforms are needed to improve competition policy and corporate governance, both of which are still below the standards found in Western industrialised countries.