Devpolicy Talks

The 2013 Pacific and PNG Update provides a forum for the discussion of the latest economic, social and political developments in the region. The Update was hosted by the Development Policy Centre, and supported by: the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Economic Management Technical Assistance Project; and the Asia and Pacific Policy Studies, the flagship publication of the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU in partnership with Australian Aid, AusAID.

The panel consisted of:

• Seini O'Connor, Pacific Plan Adviser at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, presenting on 'The Pacific Plan and the future of Pacific Regionalism'
• Bob Warner, Director of Pacific Research Partnerships at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, presenting on 'Lessons in regional integration from the Caribbean'
• Matthew Dornan, Research Fellow at the Development Policy Centre, presenting on 'Pooled service delivery in the Pacific'

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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The 2013 Pacific and PNG Update provides a forum for the discussion of the latest economic, social and political developments in the region. The Update was hosted by the Development Policy Centre, and supported by: the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Economic Management Technical Assistance Project; and the Asia and Pacific Policy Studies, the flagship publication of the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU in partnership with Australian Aid, AusAID.

Panel 1b on small island states consisted of

• Tebao Awerica from the Office of Te Beretitenti on 'The economy in Kiribati'
• Siosi C. Mafi (Joyce), Governor of the Reserve Bank of Tonga, on 'The economy in Tonga'
• Seve Paeniu, an Independent Consultant, on 'Common challenges in micro states: Nauru and Tuvalu'
• Noumea Simi, Assistant CEO of the Samoa Ministry of Finance, on 'The economy in Samoa'

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

The 2013 Pacific and PNG Update provides a forum for the discussion of the latest economic, social and political developments in the region. The Update was hosted by the Development Policy Centre, and supported by: the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Economic Management Technical Assistance Project; and the Asia and Pacific Policy Studies, the flagship publication of the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU in partnership with Australian Aid, AusAID.

The session was opened by Professor Tom Kompas, Director of the Crawford School.

Christopher Edmonds, Senior Economist in the Pacific Department of the ADB, provided a regional overview and launched the latest Pacific Economic Monitor.

Panel 1a on Melanesia and Timor-Leste consisted of:

• Satish Chand, from UNSW, presenting on Growth and inequality in Melanesia
• Anthony Hughes, an independent consultant from the Solomon Islands, presenting on The economy in Solomon Islands
• Biman Prasad, from USP, presenting on The economy in Fiji
• Helder Lopes, Regional Economic Policy Advisor in the Ministry of Finance of Timor-Leste, presenting on The economy in Timor-Leste
• Odo Tevi, an independent consultant from Vanuatu, presenting on The economy in Vanuatu

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Papua New Guinea recently completed its second national household consumption survey, potentially enabling poverty comparisons with baseline estimates from 14 years earlier. But the methods used by the recent 2009/10 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) differ in important ways from those of the 1996 PNG Household Survey (PNGHS) which makes poverty comparisons more difficult.

This talk describes the two surveys and the poverty estimates derived from them, and discusses the apparent trends from the poverty comparisons that are possible. Special attention is paid to the poverty situation in Port Moresby, for which longer term comparisons are possible (by also using the Urban Household Survey of the 1980s) that are less affected by changes in survey methods.

John Gibson is a Professor in the Department of Economics, University of Waikato and a Senior Research Associate of Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. Since receiving his PhD from Stanford University he has worked in Cambodia, China, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. His recent publications have appeared in the Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and Journal of Health Economics.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Two important trend reversals have taken place in global inequality over the last 25 years: the inequality between countries has started to decrease after two centuries of steady increase and the inequality within many countries has started to rise after a long period of stability, in particular in developed countries.

After documenting this evolution, Francois Bourguignon, former Chief Economist at the World Bank, focused on two sets of questions. First, is globalisation the main cause behind this paradoxical change in global inequality? Second, if it is the case, what should be done to prevent further rises in within-country inequality that could derail the process of globalisation and, at the same time, the progress towards less unequal standards of living across countries?

Francois Bourguignon is professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is a specialist in the economics of development, public policy, income distribution and inequality and has authored many academic papers and books. Prior to his current appointment, he held the position of Chief Economist at the World Bank from 2003 to 2007.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

People with disability are among the poorest and most marginalised in developing countries. One estimate is that there are one billion people with disability worldwide, including 20% of the world’s poorest. The challenge of making development disability-inclusive has traditionally received little attention, but that is now changing. AusAID has been playing a leadership role with its Development for All strategy (2009-2014).
Members of AusAID’s Disability-Inclusive Development Reference Group will be reflecting on their own personal stories, on reforms and programs they have been involved in, and on what is needed to obtain a fair go for people with disability in developing countries.

Is disability-inclusive development just the latest aid fad? Can poor countries afford to look after their citizens with disability? What can donors do? What have they achieved? This esteemed panel addressed these questions and many more in what turned out to be a very rich and insightful discussion from the leaders in this important field of development and human rights.

Speakers:

• Monthian Buntan, Thai Senator and member of UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Setareki S. Macanawai, CEO of the Pacific Disability Forum
• Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Coordinator, Office for Disability and Inclusive Development, USAID
• Stephen Howes Director, Development Policy Centre, ANU

A transcript of the event is available at the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Having achieved historically unprecedented economic growth over recent years, African countries now face the challenge of structurally transforming their economies. However, the politics of how to do this remains controversial. The standard international advice on good governance and the adoption of a ‘golden thread’ of sound institutions is not supported by historical and comparative evidence.

The key thing is not getting the right institutions but having a political settlement that allows economic rents to be harnessed to development purposes rather than used to cement a pragmatic bargain among ethically or otherwise divided elites. In view of the likely predominance in Africa of competitively clientelistic trajectories, attention should be focused on creative ways of mitigating their negative implications for economic transformation.

These are among the headline findings of Africa Power and Politics Program (APPP) a five-year research program led by ODI with research teams in Ghana, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, and partners in the US and France.

David Booth was Director of APPP during 2007-12 and now coordinates a follow-on project on Initiating and Sustaining Developmental Regimes in Africa. Before joining ODI in 1998, he was Professor of Development Studies at the University of Wales, Swansea. He was also a managing editor of the Journal of Development Studies and Development Policy Review.

This presentation summarizes the findings of the APPP research program.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

Ume Wainetti is National Coordinator of the PNG Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC), the body charged with coordinating the national response to gender-based violence.She has years of experience in leading PNG’s response to gender-based violence.

In this public forum, Ume Wainetti explored the gains made, the promising approaches, and the challenges ahead for an effective response to gender-based violence in PNG. In particular, she argued for the critical need to fill the missing gap in case management to ensure that survivors in PNG have a better chance of getting the services and support they need.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

In his universally acclaimed and award-winning book The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier argues that fifty failed states-home to the poorest one billion people on earth-pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. In this public lecture, Professor Collier explored how the private sector can engage to help the bottom billion.

[Note: Variable sound level as Professor Collier paced at varying distances from recorder during presentation]

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].

The annual aid budget is the most important event for the aid sector. And it is a time when the entire sector converges on Canberra for the budget lock up. Devpolicy seized this opportunity to host a morning-after aid budget breakfast at the ANU where we provided fresh but in-depth analysis on what the budget means for the sector. Devpolicy's Tony Swan and Stephen Howes delivered their analysis. We also heard from Angus Barnes, a member of the executive at IDC Australia, and the new head of Oxfam Australia Helen Szoke. This podcast includes Q&A from the event.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X for updates on blog posts, publications and events.

You can send feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].