The paper examines the macroeconomic effects of social diversity in the United States. Employing ... more The paper examines the macroeconomic effects of social diversity in the United States. Employing a cross-sectional dataset for 48 states, we find mixed empirical evidence for the impact of diversity on Gross State Product (GSP) per capita growth: racial diversity reduces GSP growth, while linguistic diversity raises GSP growth. Our findings suggest that because English is used frequently by non-native speakers barriers to communications based on race are more pronounced and enduring than those based on linguistic differences. The results provide a justification for establishing 'weak ties' across diverse racial groups as a means to enhance economic performance.
We evaluate the economic significance of linguistic barriers to communication in 226 US cities fr... more We evaluate the economic significance of linguistic barriers to communication in 226 US cities from 1980 to 2010. We address the question: to what extent do linguistic barriers across social groups inhibit the benefits of knowledge exchange? The empirical results show that linguistic, racial and composite diversity increase the average income of working age population in American cities. This positive effect of diversity, however, diminishes the higher is the proportion of foreign-born population who lack English fluency. We call this the 'paradox of diversity'. Overall, our findings provide important policy insights about how social diversity may enhance economic performance within cities.
We analyse the threats of global environmental change, as they relate to food security. First, we... more We analyse the threats of global environmental change, as they relate to food security. First, we review three discourses: (i) 'sustainable intensification', or the increase of food supplies without compromising food producing inputs, such as soils and water; (ii) the 'nexus' that seeks to understand links across food, energy, environment and water systems; and (iii) 'resilience thinking' that focuses on how to ensure the critical capacities of food, energy and water systems are maintained in the presence of uncertainties and threats. Second, we build on these discourses to present the causal, risks and options assessment for decision-making process to improve decision-making in the presence of risks. The process provides a structured, but flexible, approach that moves from problem diagnosis to better risk-based decision-making and outcomes by responding to causal risks within and across food, energy, environment and water systems.
This review assesses existing data, models, and other knowledge-based methods for valuing the eff... more This review assesses existing data, models, and other knowledge-based methods for valuing the effects of sustainable land management including the cost of land degradation on a global scale. The overall development goal of sustainable human well-being should be to obtain social, ecologic, and economic viability, not merely growth of the market economy. Therefore new and more integrated methods to value sustainable development are needed. There is a huge amount of data and methods currently available to model and analyze land management practices. However, it is scattered and requires consolidation and reformatting to be useful. In this review we collected and evaluated databases and computer models that could be useful for analyzing and valuing land management options for sustaining natural capital and maximizing ecosystem services. The current methods and models are not well equipped to handle large scale transdisciplinary analyses and a major conclusion of this synthesis paper is that there is a need for further development of the integrated approaches, which considers all four types of capital (human, built, natural, and social), and their interaction at spatially explicit, multiple scales. This should be facilitated by adapting existing models and make them and their outcomes more accessible to stakeholders. Other shortcomings and caveats of models should be addressed by adding the 'human factor', for instance, in participatory decision-making and scenario testing. For integration of the models themselves, a more participatory approach to model development is also recommended, along with the possibility of adding advanced gaming interfaces to the models to allow them to be " played " by a large number of interested parties and their trade-off decisions to be accumulated and compared.
... EISBN13: 9781599049632. Author(s): Nazmun N. Ratna (The Australian National University (ANU),... more ... EISBN13: 9781599049632. Author(s): Nazmun N. Ratna (The Australian National University (ANU), Australia); Anne Dray (The Australian National University (ANU), Australia); Pascal Perez (The Australian National University (ANU), Australia); R. Quentin Grafton (The ...
The paper examines the macroeconomic effects of social diversity in the United States. Employing ... more The paper examines the macroeconomic effects of social diversity in the United States. Employing a cross-sectional dataset for 48 states, we find mixed empirical evidence for the impact of diversity on Gross State Product (GSP) per capita growth: racial diversity reduces GSP growth, while linguistic diversity raises GSP growth. Our findings suggest that because English is used frequently by non-native speakers barriers to communications based on race are more pronounced and enduring than those based on linguistic differences. The results provide a justification for establishing 'weak ties' across diverse racial groups as a means to enhance economic performance.
We evaluate the economic significance of linguistic barriers to communication in 226 US cities fr... more We evaluate the economic significance of linguistic barriers to communication in 226 US cities from 1980 to 2010. We address the question: to what extent do linguistic barriers across social groups inhibit the benefits of knowledge exchange? The empirical results show that linguistic, racial and composite diversity increase the average income of working age population in American cities. This positive effect of diversity, however, diminishes the higher is the proportion of foreign-born population who lack English fluency. We call this the 'paradox of diversity'. Overall, our findings provide important policy insights about how social diversity may enhance economic performance within cities.
We analyse the threats of global environmental change, as they relate to food security. First, we... more We analyse the threats of global environmental change, as they relate to food security. First, we review three discourses: (i) 'sustainable intensification', or the increase of food supplies without compromising food producing inputs, such as soils and water; (ii) the 'nexus' that seeks to understand links across food, energy, environment and water systems; and (iii) 'resilience thinking' that focuses on how to ensure the critical capacities of food, energy and water systems are maintained in the presence of uncertainties and threats. Second, we build on these discourses to present the causal, risks and options assessment for decision-making process to improve decision-making in the presence of risks. The process provides a structured, but flexible, approach that moves from problem diagnosis to better risk-based decision-making and outcomes by responding to causal risks within and across food, energy, environment and water systems.
This review assesses existing data, models, and other knowledge-based methods for valuing the eff... more This review assesses existing data, models, and other knowledge-based methods for valuing the effects of sustainable land management including the cost of land degradation on a global scale. The overall development goal of sustainable human well-being should be to obtain social, ecologic, and economic viability, not merely growth of the market economy. Therefore new and more integrated methods to value sustainable development are needed. There is a huge amount of data and methods currently available to model and analyze land management practices. However, it is scattered and requires consolidation and reformatting to be useful. In this review we collected and evaluated databases and computer models that could be useful for analyzing and valuing land management options for sustaining natural capital and maximizing ecosystem services. The current methods and models are not well equipped to handle large scale transdisciplinary analyses and a major conclusion of this synthesis paper is that there is a need for further development of the integrated approaches, which considers all four types of capital (human, built, natural, and social), and their interaction at spatially explicit, multiple scales. This should be facilitated by adapting existing models and make them and their outcomes more accessible to stakeholders. Other shortcomings and caveats of models should be addressed by adding the 'human factor', for instance, in participatory decision-making and scenario testing. For integration of the models themselves, a more participatory approach to model development is also recommended, along with the possibility of adding advanced gaming interfaces to the models to allow them to be " played " by a large number of interested parties and their trade-off decisions to be accumulated and compared.
... EISBN13: 9781599049632. Author(s): Nazmun N. Ratna (The Australian National University (ANU),... more ... EISBN13: 9781599049632. Author(s): Nazmun N. Ratna (The Australian National University (ANU), Australia); Anne Dray (The Australian National University (ANU), Australia); Pascal Perez (The Australian National University (ANU), Australia); R. Quentin Grafton (The ...
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