Louis Dodson and Dianna A. DaSilva
The main thesis of this paper is that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) hold tremendous opportunities for enhancing the quality and coverage of public goods in…
Abstract
The main thesis of this paper is that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) hold tremendous opportunities for enhancing the quality and coverage of public goods in developing countries. Within this context, the paper examines, through a SWOT analysis, the opportunity for using Computer‐Assisted Instruction (CAI) to enhance the quality and coverage of education delivery in Guy ana at the General Secondary School (GSS) level. Its main conclusion in this regard, is that through the use of CAI, the negative effects which the shortages of trained teachers have on the quality of education delivery at the GSS level, can be reduced if not eliminated. Noteworthy, CAI can be used to support Conventional Teacher‐Centered Instruction (CTCI). In addition, it can serve to reduce urban‐rural inequal ity in terms of access to quality secondary education. The paper considers, however, that these opportunities must be predicated on an understanding of the character istic weaknesses of the education system and the related possible threats to effective application of ICT to education delivery. Of import are the informal dynamics that inter‐play in the use of certain ICT in schools, namely computers; the risk of erosion of local educational materials and tools for learning given current indigenous capacity weaknesses and the increased marketability of trained teachers for the foreign market where the application of ICT to learning occurs on a higher level. However, this paper suggests that with prudent policy approaches, the weaknesses can be overcome, the threats can be minimised and therefore the opportunities can be accomplished. In this regard, this paper concludes with policy recommendations.
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The entry into force of the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) marks the beginning of a new era of trade relations, from preferential treatment to reciprocity…
Abstract
Purpose
The entry into force of the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) marks the beginning of a new era of trade relations, from preferential treatment to reciprocity, between the member states of the European Union (EU) and the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. In light of the controversy regarding the impact of the agreement, an assessment is made on the static welfare impact it is likely to generate on consumers in Guyana.
Design/methodology/approach
The assessment is done through the application of a partial equilibrium model to the 2008 import and tariff data of Guyana. The model captures the static welfare effect that will be occasioned by a change in tariff on imports.
Findings
The study finds that there will be a static net welfare loss to the tune of US$31.01 million or 2.2 percent of Guyana's GDP obtained for 2008. The loss is due to a large trade diversion effect which is the product of the fact that over the years Guyana imported little from the EU relative to the rest of the world minus CARIFORUM sources.
Originality/value
Unlike its forerunner, the import data used in this study is for the year immediately before the entering into force of the EU-CARIFORUM EPA and reflects the exact amount of imports that will be liberalized by Guyana. In addition, the study is broader in scope as it focusses on the EU-27, which is the exact number of EU member states with whom Guyana has signed the aforementioned agreement. Subject to its exactness, the study is better positioned in having its findings be used as a yardstick, given the periodic mandatory review of the EU-CARIFORUM EPA.
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The attack on the institution of business is acelerating at a more furious pace. In this post‐Watergate era the momentum of the assault is being fuelled by the almost daily…
Abstract
The attack on the institution of business is acelerating at a more furious pace. In this post‐Watergate era the momentum of the assault is being fuelled by the almost daily revelations of corporate misdeeds. America's growing anti‐business mood may culminate in more government controls being imposed on the economy and possibly the nationalisation of some industries. Clearly, the implications for the social, political, and economic system are most serious. The problem is compounded by the artist, especially the writers of fiction. Both current novelists and those of previous eras have presented a consistently negative image of the typical businessman. Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol paint portraits of very ugly businessmen. Indeed, that same portrait is replicated by virtually every artist to the present day.
10. In selecting the places which we visited our aim was to see the manufacture of condensed milk and other dairy products under different conditions and to obtain as…
Abstract
10. In selecting the places which we visited our aim was to see the manufacture of condensed milk and other dairy products under different conditions and to obtain as representative an idea as possible of the circumstances under which the whole process, from the milking of the cow to the final stage of manufacture, was conducted. Accordingly we visited the following places:—
THE speech made by Lord Rosebery at the opening of the new Mitchell Library at Glasgow on October 16th has provoked a great deal of interest in the question whether books can ever…
Abstract
THE speech made by Lord Rosebery at the opening of the new Mitchell Library at Glasgow on October 16th has provoked a great deal of interest in the question whether books can ever really be considered “dead.” Lord Rosebery, in endeavouring to avoid the Scylla of platitude, foundered on the Charybdis of exaggeration. “I know,” he said, “I ought to feel elated at the fact that there is this number of books compressed within these walls, and that a number of people will take advantage of them and read them. I ought to, but I do not, I feel an intense depression at this enormous mass of books, this cemetery of books, because after all most of them are dead. I should like to ask Mr. Barrett in all his experience how many really living books there are in all the Mitchell Library? How many time‐proof books—I should rather call them weather‐proof books—are there in all the Mitchell Library? You have told me it has 180,000 books. This morning I asked him if there were not 100,000 that nobody ever asked for, and he declined diplomatically to reply, but if it be true and the percentage of living books be exceedingly small—and I am afraid we must all agree that it is very small, we cannot test the life of a book until after two or three generations have passed—if the number of living books is exceedingly small in proportion to the whole, what a huge cemetery of dead books or books half alive is represented by a great library like this. Of course, some of them are absolutely dead books that no human being out of a madhouse would ask for. Some are semi‐living, some strayed reveller or wandering student may ask for them at some heedless or too curious a moment. The depressing thought to me in entering a great library of that kind is that, in the main, most of the books are dead. Their barren backs, as it were, appeal for someone to come and take down and rescue them from the passive collection of dust and neglect into which most of them have deservedly fallen … Just think what a great mass of disappointment, what a mass of wrecked hopes and lives is represented by a Public Library. Here you have folios which our generation cannot handle, novels as vapid as soda‐water which has been open for a week, bales of sermons which have given satisfaction to no one but their authors, collections of political speeches even more evanescent than the sermons, bales of forgotten science, superseded history, biographies of people that nobody cares about—all these are the staple of the Public Library.”
Unions and worker cooperatives have long represented distinct approaches to building worker voice. This paper draws from observations of the work of the “Co-op Exploratory…
Abstract
Unions and worker cooperatives have long represented distinct approaches to building worker voice. This paper draws from observations of the work of the “Co-op Exploratory Committee” of 1199SEIU, the nation’s largest union local, which is seeking to expand the development of unionized worker cooperatives. Described by Martin Luther King, Jr, as his “favorite” union, 1199SEIU has a storied history of organizing frontline healthcare workers and includes large numbers of women of color and immigrant workers among its membership. Since 2003, it has also represented workers at Cooperative Home Care Associates, the nation’s largest worker cooperative. Drawing from discussions among union officials, co-op leaders, and rank-and-file union members about the potential role of unionized worker cooperatives within the labor movement, the paper examines the creative tension between stakeholder and democratic logics in efforts to expand this model. It argues that continued union decline, heightened interest in economic alternatives, and systemic frailties exposed by Covid-19 may create new opportunities for building unionized worker co-ops at scale.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which Benjamin Franklin's understanding of political economy was shaped by his association with the French school of writers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which Benjamin Franklin's understanding of political economy was shaped by his association with the French school of writers known as physiocrats.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper works from direct statements by Franklin in his published works and correspondence and biographical sources.
Findings
Franklin declared himself to embrace physiocratic principles and ideals but was not able to advance these ideals at home.
Research limitations/implications
Further details are undoubtedly available from sources not translated from French into English.
Practical implications
The course of history would have been significantly different had the physiocratic ideals become the basis for law and public policies.
Originality/value
The paper offers further evidence of the influence of the physiocratic school on Franklin, as one of the leading practical philosophers of his age.
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The modern company is having to become increasingly international, to look to overseas markets or even to set up operations within them. This internationalisation of the company…
Abstract
The modern company is having to become increasingly international, to look to overseas markets or even to set up operations within them. This internationalisation of the company means that some method must be found which lays down guidelines for formulating an overall international marketing strategy. If different international markets are seen as basic units of investment, the company should seek to obtain a balanced portfolio of markets, to enable it to allocate its scarce resources with maximum efficiency achieving stable growth in the long term.
Chad M. Fiechter, Megan N. Hughes, Sarah A. Atkinson, James Mintert and Michael R. Langemeier
Farmer sentiment may be an important indicator for the agricultural sector, similar to the way that consumer sentiment is linked to the general economy. This study uses the Purdue…
Abstract
Purpose
Farmer sentiment may be an important indicator for the agricultural sector, similar to the way that consumer sentiment is linked to the general economy. This study uses the Purdue University–CME Group Ag Economy Barometer to test the degree to which farmer sentiment is correlated with demand for United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct loan applications.
Design/methodology/approach
We estimate the dynamics between farmer sentiment and applications to FSA direct operating or farm ownership loans using monthly measures of farmer sentiment and loan applications from October 2015 to April 2023 and pairwise vector autoregression.
Findings
A negative relationship exists between farmer sentiment and FSA direct operating loan applications. In contrast, a positive relationship exists between farmer sentiment and FSA direct farm ownership loan applications. Together, the estimated nonzero relationships suggests that the Ag Economy Barometer may be a leading indicator for the Agricultural Economy and that FSA loan programs play a nuanced role in the agricultural credit market.
Originality/value
This study uses unique data sources to further the discussion on the link between farmer sentiment and real economic outcomes and the role of an important US Federal Government farmer lending program: FSA direct loans.
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I. Hoffman and J.S. Koga
Provides a bibliography of CD‐ROM for librarians, covering casestudies, costs, product evaluation guidelines, databases, CDI,downloading/copyright and CD vs. online, for use when…
Abstract
Provides a bibliography of CD‐ROM for librarians, covering case studies, costs, product evaluation guidelines, databases, CDI, downloading/copyright and CD vs. online, for use when making decisions about the adoption of CD‐ROM.