Macroeconomic impact of natural disasters on a small island economy : evidence from a CGE model

Natural disasters are common in the Pacific Island countries. Fiji has been affected by many of these disasters. The most recent cyclone exerted substantial damage to infrastructure, agricultural and industrial activity in Fiji. The aim of this article is to incorporate these damages into Fiji's computable general equilibrium model and examine the short-run macroeconomic impact. Among the key results, it is found that cyclones negatively impact private income, consumption, savings, real GDP and real national welfare.

Fiji national budget 2003 : building a resilient economy?

This paper examines three key issues arising from the 2003 Fiji National Budget: the emphasis on tourism as a driver for economic growth; a 25 per cent increase in the VAT; and the 7 per cent increase in the sugar tax. The authors argue that, rather than increasing taxes, the government should focus on creating a sound investment climate, including secure access to land, which will benefit the tourism and sugar industries, and look to better collection strategies for the taxes that are already in place.

Kurunuavanua: Fijian bodies and the economy of war

In Kurunavanua (the trembling of the earth) Bolatagici investigates representations of Pacific Island masculinity, Fiji and the economy of war. Her ongoing research is concerned with neo-colonial encounters between the US, Australia, Britain and Pacific Island nations. This exhibition is informed by research into the exploitation of the Pacific by comparing the participation of Fijian soldiers in the nuclear tests at Christmas Island in the 1950s to the current recruitment of Fijians to work for Private Security Military Companies in the Middle East.

Cross-field effects and temporary social fields : a case study of the mediatization of recent Australian knowledge economy policies

This paper utilizes Bourdieu's conceptual frame to examine the mediatized effects of policy processes concerned with the growth and support of knowledge industries in Australia. These policies span education, science, research and other knowledge industries (such as venture capital firms and intellectual property law). The paper argues that some policy processes are best represented as temporary social fields. The nature of these fields can be described by the kinds of cross-field effects that they produce, A case study of an Australian knowledge economy policy, The chance to change, and associated policy processes demonstrates the broad analytic capacities of Bourdieu 's conceptual frame for policy analysis, when combined with the concepts of cross-field effects and temporary social field developed here.

Financial liberalisation in Vietnam : impact on loans from informal, formal and semi-formal providers

This paper commences with an overview of the Vietnamese financial sector and a survey of the main reforms to this sector implemented since the late 1980s. A descriptive analysis is then provided, which compares some key characteristics of pre- and post-financial reform borrowing and savings activities using the Vietnam Living Standard Surveys of 1992/93 and 1997/98.

Representing Fijian bodies and the economy of war

This paper traces representations of the black body, which I have related to contemporary masculine identities in Fiji. I have linked historical representations to what I perceive as the ongoing commodification of the Fijian body and argue that opportunities that have arisen from conflict in the Middle East have had a significant impact on employment opportunities for Fijians. I have framed the discussion around a description and analysis of my own photographic and installation artworks produced between 2007 and 2009.

On their own terms : indigenous communities, development in the new economy

Around the world Indigenous Peoples are struggling to rebuild their 'nations' and improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their people. As a group they constitute an emerging market of more than 500 hundred million people. Participation in the global economy through entrepreneurship is widely accepted as the key to success by most Indigenous people. Importantly, most want this participation to be 'on their own terms' terms in which traditional lands, history, culture and values play an important role. Using regulation theory, we explore the feasibility of the emerging Indigenous approach to development and conclude that is theoretically sound. Then we present a case study on the Osoyoos First Nation that illustrates how the community has use entrepreneurship to participate in the broader economy 'on its own terms'.