Bhajan Grewal

This paper is concerned with the implications of the knowledge economy for the spatial distribution of economic activity in Australia, and with the role played by foreign direct investment and multinational enterprises (MNEs) in influencing that distribution. There are clearly two antithetical sets of forces in play globally: those working towards greater geographical dispersion of economic activities and those working towards increased geographical concentration of those activities. Globalisation and localisation have therefore become opposite sides of the same coin. That is, at the same time as economic activities, and perhaps particularly those of MNEs, are becoming dispersed around the world they are also being increasingly concentrated in particular regions or 'sticky places'. An important part of this process is the emergence of clusters of asset augmenting activities, whereby MNEs and local firms concentrate many of their activities in small regional areas, inter alia...

(ACIAR) was established in June 1982 by an Act of the Australian Parliament. ACIAR operates as part of Australia's international development cooperation program, with a mission to achieve more productive and sustainable agricultural systems, for the benefit of developing countries and Australia. It commissions collaborative research between Australian and developing-country researchers in areas where Australia has special research competence. It also administers Australia's contribution to the International Agricultural Research Centres. Where trade names are used this constitutes neither endorsement of nor discrimination against any product by the Centre. ACIAR seeks to ensure that the outputs of the research it funds are adopted by farmers, policymakers, quarantine officers and other beneficiaries. In order to monitor the effects of its projects, ACIAR commissions independent assessments of selected projects. This series of publications reports the results of these independent studies. Numbers in this series are distributed internationally to selected individuals and scientific institutions, and are also available from ACIAR's website at <aciar.gov.au>. The contribution of agricultural growth to poverty reduction (IAS 76)  3 The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) commissions research that leads to more productive and sustainable agriculture for its developing-country partners. In line with Australia's development-assistance strategy, ACIAR's program of research has adopted a greater focus on poverty reduction over the past decade. The success of this approach was highlighted in the Australian Government's response to the review of aid effectiveness, with the acknowledgement that agricultural research remains an important driver of agricultural productivity. The Government's response endorses ACIAR's role in research and recognises the impressive results from its work. There is general consensus that, since 1980, there has been a significant reduction in poverty in many developing countries, with some countries achieving ahead of time the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015. Many studies pointed to the strong link between agricultural growth and poverty reduction. Nevertheless, the interest of government policymakers and the donor organisations in agriculture declined from the 1980s onwards, regaining momentum only when the price of staple food crops started to rise sharply in the mid 2000s. Vietnam—all of which have been substantial long-term research partners with ACIAR. The poverty status of each country was examined in terms of monetary (unidimensional) indicators and an emerging alternative indicator, the Multidimensional Poverty Index. The key linkages between agricultural development and poverty reduction are defined, with the forms of rural development most conducive to …

This paper examines how selected countries; namely, the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada have responded to the increasing international mobility of labour with reference to their immigration policies in the context of an increasingly internationalised, connected and knowledge-intensive global economic system where competition for ‘skilled labour’ and the ‘best and brightest’ is accelerating. In particular, this paper discusses the profound impact of India and China on global labour flows. This analysis notes that despite their large contribution as labour exporters, especially in terms of skilled workforce, India and China have not been specifically targeted by the above-mentioned migrant recipient nations. This study suggests that Australia needs to rethink its immigration policy as part of a wider effort to renew and modernise its economic development and nation-building strategies in the 21st century. This is necessary in order to continue bui...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review studies focusing on the magnitude of money laundering and their effects on a country’s economy. The relevant concepts are identified on the basis of discussions in the literature by prominent scholars and policy makers. There are three main objectives in this review: first, to discuss the effects of money laundering on a country’s macro-economy; second, to seek measurements from other scholars; and finally, to seek previous findings about the magnitude and the flows of money laundering. Design/methodology/approach In the first part, this paper outlines the effects of money laundering on macroeconomic conditions of a country, and then the second part reviews the literature that measures the magnitude of money laundering from an economic perspective. Findings Money laundering affects a country’s economy by increasing shadow economy and criminal activities, illicit flows and impeding tax collection. To minimise these negative effects, it i...

... The WRDS includes the following 12 nominated areas (shown in yellow in Map 1): the municipality of Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet AR, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia Hui AR, Qinghai, Xinjiang Uygur AR, the Inner Mongolia AR and the Guangxi Zhuang AR. ...

China’s current system of fiscal transfers suffers from severe weaknesses. The absence of a clear and coherent principle for distribution of fiscal transfers is a major weakness and results in the current distribution that favors the wealthier provinces. Furthermore, fiscal transfers have failed to secure a better alignment of budgetary expenditures with national priorities. Against this background, this paper examines how refocusing of China’s fiscal transfers could help in better achieving national economic priorities. The paper analyses the issue of whether fiscal capacity equalisation should become the dominant principle for future distribution of fiscal transfers, or whether categorical fiscal equalisation - using fiscal transfers targeted at national priorities - would be more effective in progressing towards China’s vision of a harmonious society. It is concluded that fiscal equalisation is not the right approach for China and an alternative approach is proposed according to which fiscal transfers are targeted at national priorities. Finally, after noting that the current status of management of specific purpose payments in China is quite deficient, a framework for more effective intergovernmental fiscal coordination and monitoring the implementation of outcome-focused fiscal transfers is outlined.

Even though the British North American Act 1867 established the Canadian federation with a dominant federal government, Canadian provinces today enjoy much greater fiscal autonomy than they inherited from the constitution. Provincial governments have access to virtually all taxes, raise more in tax revenue than the federal government and enjoy a high degree of autonomy in respect of priorities for public spending. Canada’s fiscal decentralization is in contrast to Australia’s experience, which has evolved over time towards greater fiscal centralization. This paper examines the evolution of Canadian federalism from the perspective of incomplete contract theory, according to which residual rights over policies are a source of political influence when negotiating intergovernmental fiscal arrangements. In both countries, federal and subnational governments have been engaged in the same kind of conflict for greater power over policies. The difference between the two countries has been, however, that unlike the Australian States, the Canadian Provinces have successfully resisted the pressures put by the federal government and have regained their fiscal power that was once lost in the wake of the Second World War.

Shahnawaz Malik, -ul-Hassan, Mahmood and Shahzad Hussain Additional contact information Shahnawaz Malik: Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. -ul-Hassan, Mahmood: Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. Shahzad Hussain: Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.

In most federations, the distribution of intergovernmental financial transfers is based on the principle that relatively weaker jurisdictions (in fiscal terms) receive more resources per capita than the other jurisdictions, although not every country has put in place a systematic approach to the application of this principle, and the practice differs from one case to another. In Australia, Canada and Germany, relatively more formal and systematic approaches are adopted for this purpose, even though there are important differences in each country's coverage of fiscal equalisation and the associated institutional arrangements. In India too, there is a strong redistributive element in the distribution of central government grants to the States, but the approach is again different from that in the other countries. Not only do Australia and India share the objective of geographic redistribution, but in recent years suggestions have been made to modify some features of India's approach to grant distribution, which, if implemented, would bring the two countries' approaches closer. In particular, this would be the case if the work of the Finance Commission were to cover the entire revenue budget of the States, not just the non-plan revenue budgets, and if the Finance Commisioner were to be either made a permanent body or serviced by a permanent secretariat. The Finance Commision could then becomes an organisation similar to the Commonwealth Grants Commision in Australia in terms of its coverage and tenure. The main question posed in this paper arises because even then important differences will remain in what each commision is required to do and how it approaches its brief. Focusing on these substantive differences, the paper considers whether or not they should be maintained in future.

Since the 1994 fiscal reforms, China's national public finances have been in a strong position , but public finances of local governments (including provincial, city and county governments) have been always under stress. This is because local governments in China are responsible for financing the provision of basic economic and social services, as well as for urban infrastructure, but they have limited access to tax revenues, have no power to introduce new taxes or to increase rates of existing taxes, and are prohibited under the 1994 Budget Law from borrowing. Consequently, local governments are heavily dependent on non-tax revenues and fiscal transfers from the central government. In spite of the prohibition on borrowing , most local governments have been borrowing informally for many years and the central government has ignored this breach of the Budget Law. Now the size of local government borrowing has reached levels that are causing concerns for the sustainability of local public finances and the stability of the Chinese banking system. This situation raises many policy issues , some requiring urgent policy interventions and other requiring medium-term policy responses. Thus, there is a need for broadening provincial powers over taxation, reforming intergovernmental fiscal transfers, and formally recognizing provincial borrowing powers. However, the focus of this paper is on the incidence of local debt on provincial and sub-provincial public finances, an aspect of local debt that has not attracted sufficient attention in the literature. The concentration of local debt and contingent liabilities at sub-provincial levels and the new annual limit imposed by the State Council on local debt in 2015 are discussed. Lessons learned from Australia's experience in relation to the management of subnational borrowing are also discussed, as these appear to be highly relevant to China's current situation .

China's government launched the Western Region Development Strategy in 2000 with the aim of boosting economic development in 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous administrative regions in the western part of the country. This paper presents the results of an assessment of the progress made so far and makes suggestions for better performance in the future. We conclude that although the

In this paper, we find that the stated objectives of China’s western region development strategy are not being met, and we suggest some changes to China’s regional growth strategy for better outcomes in the future. Responding to China’s rising regional disparities, the Government of China implemented in 2000 a strategy with the aim of boosting economic development of the western