Search

This paper uses economic-base theory and input-output modelling to examine the structure of a regional rural economy in New South Wales, Australia, drawing important policy implications for economic planners. The most salient trend has been a shift in the area's dependence from agriculture to mining over the recent decade. However, the level of diversity of the region's industrial composition has altered very little. Mining is also contributing to significant net leakage of employment income from the region. Mining should therefore not necessarily be considered as the key future opportunity for economic development. Instead, a number of industry sectors, particularly those that foster innovation and technology, can be harnessed to drive future regional growth. In addition, a tourism marketing strategy promoting the region's food, wine and other distinctive attributes should play an integral role in future development planning. These prescriptions are highly transferable to similar rural economies experiencing a shift to mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Policy makers in the agricultural sector are confronted with challenges which might drive land use change and ultimately agricultural profitability to a substantial degree. The challenges include questions around climate variability, demographic changes, use of land for bio-fuel production and ensuring an increase in food production. As profitability triggers many agri-business decisions, knowledge about the existing socio-economic landscape and the economic profile of a region as well as potential impacts on profits provides useful contextual information when agricultural policies are designed. Given the upcoming challenges and their associated uncertainties, it is important to ensure that a map of agricultural profit can be reproduced in a scenario and simulation setting which will allow exploring uncertainties around the impacts on agricultural profits as well. There is however currently no flexible system in operation which allows for a consistent update of a map of agricultural profits in Australia or elsewhere. This paper describes a process that has been developed to produce a map of agricultural profit for Australia for the year 2005/2006. The process involves a complex data architecture that accounts for heterogeneous information that is collected by a variety of institutions across different scales. All information can be comfortably queried and query results can be forwarded for immediate processing and subsequent visualisation in a geographic information system (GIS). To facilitate the production of profit maps in the future, the system provides flexibility regarding an update of new economic information but it can also be linked to maps that show an updated distribution of land use. A map of agricultural profit on a large scale and regular updates thereof will help understand profit trends in time and across space. It will help identifying regions that have a lower economic profile and will inform decisions regarding the design of regulatory policies. As these maps are developed using national scale data, we do not recommend using the results at the farm level but we suggest using separate catchment scale profit assessments to calibrate the national scale profit map. The proposed system is well suited to be used in various land use management and economic scenarios and will represent a step forward regarding a scenario impact assessment on agricultural profits. It will also help understand the economic benefit of land use on a large scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We discuss the role and characteristics of water markets in Australia in facilitating efficient water allocation. Administrative, regulatory and/or political barriers to effective functioning of water markets are reviewed with a focus on the southern Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) region of Australia. A mathematical model is developed to estimate the costs of existing restrictions and the benefits from potential changes in water markets (e.g., removing barriers in temporary water markets). The modelling results reveal that expanding trade leads to an increase in mean annual net returns from AU $2502 million to AU $2590 million (i.e., an increase of AU $88 million). When the current volume restrictions, exchange rates, and trading charges are accounted for, mean annual net returns reduced from AU $2590 million to AU $2573 million (i.e., a reduction of AU $17 million). The exclusion of any of the three southern MDB states from the interstate water trading imposes significant costs. If South Australia, New South Wales or Victoria withdraws from the water market, net returns are reduced by AU $27 million, AU $31 million and $63 million, respectively. The paper outlines the policy implications of strategies to remove market barriers and to facilitate efficient and effective water trading. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]