Issue 1

The paper reports on an eleven-region, European Union-funded research project on Regional Innovation Systems (RIS). The RIS concept is relatively new, though increasingly being used by academics and policy-makers to seek to fashion a new approach to regional policy in which innovation capabilities of regional firms and organisations are emphasised. The key research findings are that regions warranting the RIS designation are found in Europe, but that by no means all regions have functional, systemic innovation. Most firms’ R&D activities in Europe are remarkably regionally and nationally focused. Direct effects of globalisation mainly affect large firms. Regions are also important for supply-chain relations and inter-firm co-operation. Innovation is nowadays seen as a core business activity for many firms because their customers demand higher quality products and services at lower cost. Despite this, much of the enterprise support infrastructure for small and medium-sized firms is not reaching them satisfactorily and is generally in need of overhaul.

PHILLP COOKE

Page Number - 3

In this study the economic contribution to the Western Australian economy from international students studying at Curtin University of Technology is assessed. Overall, it is estimated that the 1,957 international students attending Curtin in 1994 contributed $42.Sm in direct expenditure to the State economy. The inclusion of indirect or flow-on effects increases the contribution to $54.Sm which is equivalent to increasing state product by 0.12 per cent and generating approximately 1000 jobs.

A.M. DOCKERY, M. THORPE, P. I. HASLEHURST

Page Number - 23

Since the fall of the Whitlam government in 1975, budgetary policy of the Commonwealth has been framed generally in the context of fiscal restraint. The need to fight inflation by reducing budget outlays and deficits remained a constant theme with the Commonwealth governments under Prime Ministers Fraser, Hawke and Keating. Commonwealth payments to the States, having reached high levels during the Whitlam years, were targeted for restraint throughout the subsequent period. A distinctive feature of the measures adopted for this purpose by the Fraser governments was the sharp reduction in the specific purpose payments to the States, while several guarantee provisions protected the growth of general-purpose payments. In contrast, as the Hawke-Keating governments applied cuts mainly to general-purpose payments, the share of specific purpose grants increased to more than half of total payments by 1994-95. At the same time, the States' share of public sector outlays on social welfare has increased relative to that of the Commonwealth, especially in the past decade. This shift in the fiscal boundaries of the Commonwealth and the States is examined in this paper. The long-term sustainability of the emerging boundaries is questioned, particularly in the absence of a corresponding extension of their revenue resources. Questions are also raised regarding the possible impact of interstate differences in welfare expenditure on interstate migration.

BHAJAN S. GREWAL, PETER DAVENPORT

Page Number - 37

A composite index rates and ranks twelve East Asian and Pacific countries (Australia, China , Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea , Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan , Thailand), and Canada and the United States for economic integration for two categories. The categories are the speed of integration derived from changes between the early 1980s and the early 1990s, and the initial level of integration derived from initial values in the 1980s. The indicators used are real trade as a share of GDP. Institutional Investor rating, FD! as a share of GDP, and manufacturing export as a share of GDP. For the speed of integration index, Singapore ranked first and Australia ranked last, while for the initial level of integration index , Singapore again ranked first but The Philippines ranked last.

EDWARD NISSAN

Page Number - 57

The mining industry is a major part of the regional economy of non­ metropolitan Australia, providing in some cases the sole justification for settlement and development in some regions. This paper suggests that role is being changed rapidly as the production system of the industry changes to favour the outsourcing of services. Outsourcing has been analysed extensively in the study of producer services growth. There is the argument for outsourcing rests on the need for flexibility and knowledge that need to be incorporated into production; that insight is used here to understand the recent past and likely long term future of the mining industry in non-metropolitan Australia. The analysis shows that outsourcing has grown rapidly in recent years, and that the location of the offices of the firms supplying these outsourced services are primarily located in Sydney and Perth. That shift has yet to be felt in big job loss in non metropolitan regions, as the needs of production still require large local employment in many cases. However, it is possible that the outsourcing has reduced the number of knowledge intensive jobs in mining regions as the employees in these activities fly in to provide their services. The paper explores the consequences of that outcome on non-metropolitan regions generally.

KEVIN O'CONNOR, LORNA KERSHAW

Page Number - 73

Are disparities in per capita incomes between Statistical Divisions in Victoria increasing? Ls there evidence of concomitant changes in population in these areas? In this study, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census data for Victoria from 1981 to 1996 was fitted to boundaries for the 1996 Statistical Divisions (SDs) and analysed to assess changes in income distribution between and within SDs. The dispersion of per capita income between Victorian SDs has increased over this period. The distributions of income within SDs, assessed using the Gini coefficient as a measure of income distribution, have improved.

ROWAN J. O'HAGAN

Page Number - 87