The Development of English Economic Vocabulary to 1776: the Formation of a Disciplinary Language. The language of economic science is fundamental to all social theory - and indeed, to how modern societies perceive themselves. Where does that vocabulary - both the language and the concepts carried by that language - come from? How did it develop? The aim of this research project is to clarify the answers to these two questions, up to the time at which political economy or economics became a matur ....The Development of English Economic Vocabulary to 1776: the Formation of a Disciplinary Language. The language of economic science is fundamental to all social theory - and indeed, to how modern societies perceive themselves. Where does that vocabulary - both the language and the concepts carried by that language - come from? How did it develop? The aim of this research project is to clarify the answers to these two questions, up to the time at which political economy or economics became a mature intellectual system - in Adam Smith's 1776 "Wealth of Nations". This will be the first such systematic and comprehensive book-length study of the formation of this disciplinary language ever attempted.Read moreRead less
Enhancing services to Australian children and families: linking workforce characteristics, job quality, and quality and outcomes in social services. This project aims to promote best practice in child and family welfare services, and to improve the industrial and social recognition of child and family welfare work in Australia. The CIs will construct an analytical framework for explaining the links between the nature and deployment of the child and family services workforce, service delivery sys ....Enhancing services to Australian children and families: linking workforce characteristics, job quality, and quality and outcomes in social services. This project aims to promote best practice in child and family welfare services, and to improve the industrial and social recognition of child and family welfare work in Australia. The CIs will construct an analytical framework for explaining the links between the nature and deployment of the child and family services workforce, service delivery systems and outcomes, and social policy regimes, with wider application to other personal social services. Judicious use of international comparison will assist identification of best practice. The project will inform policy and research in social service provision to vulnerable families, and the aged and disabled.Read moreRead less
The Global Governance of Tax and Financial Services: Who Regulates, Who Wins, Who Loses. This project analyses the role of power in the global economy, specifically, whether powerful states can establish global rules concerning tax and financial services by coercion. Large states working through international organisations have floated global tax and financial standards that would regulate international competition for mobile investment but also impose disproportionate costs on small states. If ....The Global Governance of Tax and Financial Services: Who Regulates, Who Wins, Who Loses. This project analyses the role of power in the global economy, specifically, whether powerful states can establish global rules concerning tax and financial services by coercion. Large states working through international organisations have floated global tax and financial standards that would regulate international competition for mobile investment but also impose disproportionate costs on small states. If coercion is cheap and easy to use in solving economic disputes large states will be able to impose these standards on small states. If not, large states will instead have to compromise or offer compensation to establish effective regulations.Read moreRead less
Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside' ....Currencies of Care: Establishing the scope of performance indicators in child and family welfare services. This project aims to establish the scope of performance indicators for assessing outcomes in welfare services in urban, regional and rural contexts. Its significance lies in the analysis of outcomes, in addition to service outputs, and in advancing understanding of performance assessment beyond a narrow focus on urban service delivery environments. The project combines UnitingCare Burnside's experience in and commitment to delivery of high quality services with the CIs' interdisciplinary expertise in evaluation of caring work. Anticipated outcomes include development of a conceptual framework for performance assessment which will be used by the industry partner in managing and delivering services.Read moreRead less
The Clothing Industry in the Asia Pacific: Managing Constant Change. The dynamics of the garment industry have been central to industrialisation. This study will be the first examination of the changing nature of clothing manufacture. By tracing regional and international networks, and connecting them to patterns of legal and illegal movements of businesses, goods, money and people, it will show how changes in transnational business affect daily working life. It will highlight the outcome of tra ....The Clothing Industry in the Asia Pacific: Managing Constant Change. The dynamics of the garment industry have been central to industrialisation. This study will be the first examination of the changing nature of clothing manufacture. By tracing regional and international networks, and connecting them to patterns of legal and illegal movements of businesses, goods, money and people, it will show how changes in transnational business affect daily working life. It will highlight the outcome of trade liberalisation on the Asia Pacific, and contribute to safe-guarding Australia by providing a better understanding of the insecurities created by this rapidly changing industry.
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APEC, the WTO and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs): which way forward for Japan's agricultural trade liberalisation? Japan is an important market for Australian farm products, but high import barriers prevent the full potential of this market from being realised. Japan has consistently presented stiff opposition to agricultural trade liberalisation - in APEC, at the WTO, and in bilateral free trade negotiations. The project, by identifying which negotiating arena is most likely to deliver ....APEC, the WTO and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs): which way forward for Japan's agricultural trade liberalisation? Japan is an important market for Australian farm products, but high import barriers prevent the full potential of this market from being realised. Japan has consistently presented stiff opposition to agricultural trade liberalisation - in APEC, at the WTO, and in bilateral free trade negotiations. The project, by identifying which negotiating arena is most likely to deliver an agreement to liberalise agricultural trade, will contribute to the advancement of Australia's economic and trading interests. Improving access to the Japanese market for agricultural products in the context of a broader trade agreement will generate substantial dividends for Australian farmers as well as tangible benefits for the wider community.Read moreRead less
Labour Force Challenges in the Building and Construction Industry: Skills Infrastructure and Migrant Workers. The project examines the sustainability of present labour supply arrangements in the building and construction industry in the context of restructuring and reorientation of the major construction companies and the intensification of pyramid sub-contracting arrangements. This will highlight the challenges engendered by the changing pattern of training and skill accreditation, sourcing an ....Labour Force Challenges in the Building and Construction Industry: Skills Infrastructure and Migrant Workers. The project examines the sustainability of present labour supply arrangements in the building and construction industry in the context of restructuring and reorientation of the major construction companies and the intensification of pyramid sub-contracting arrangements. This will highlight the challenges engendered by the changing pattern of training and skill accreditation, sourcing and recruitment arrangements, and industry resort to immigrant and short-term and clandestine migrant workers. The analysis of labour supply arrangements will inform a better assessment of the capacity of the industry to improve construction standards and promote technological advances, and thereby contribute to charting a new strategic vision.Read moreRead less
Selling their Souls: Between bound and free labour/imperial capital and the late colonial state in Asia and Australia. The role of unfree labour has been central to the debate on colonialism and the spread of global trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Much has been written about particular colonies, but little examines colonial labour as part of a global phenomenon. This project does so by comparing companies, workers and the state across a number of European colonies. It a ....Selling their Souls: Between bound and free labour/imperial capital and the late colonial state in Asia and Australia. The role of unfree labour has been central to the debate on colonialism and the spread of global trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Much has been written about particular colonies, but little examines colonial labour as part of a global phenomenon. This project does so by comparing companies, workers and the state across a number of European colonies. It asks theoretically innovative questions, syntheses extant research, and requires new archival research. Findings, to be published in international journals and monograph series, will contribute to historical and contemporary debates on the impact of globalisation on labour.Read moreRead less