Volume 3 Issue 1 (1985)
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EMERGING BIOTECHNOLOGIES: SOME ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY
Biotechnology is one of a number of technologies that may improve productivity and competitiveness in the rural and non-rural industries. As in other areas of research in Australia, the biotechnology…
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INDUSTRY PROTECTION AND ADJUSTMENT: THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE
Australian industrial policy is primarily concerned with protecting the manufacturing sector by the use of tariffs and quotas. Over the last decade and a half successive governments have announced an…
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TRADE UNION REACTION TO TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE: THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CHAIN SYSTEM OF SLAUGHTERING IN THE MEAT EXPORT INDUSTRY
The labour process paradigm is used to analyse a major case study of technological innovation in the meat export industry. This was the reorganisation of mutton slaughtering in the 1930s…
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TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE INFORMATION ECONOMY: THE EXAMPLE OF QUEENSLAND
This paper presents the results of a study which identifies the extent of the Queensland information sector and assesses the role of information technology within it. In terms of employment,…
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TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT: A CANADIAN PRIORITY
During the summer of 1984 three special reports on aspects of technology development — all addressed to the Government of Canada — were published, the first by a federal Task…
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COMMUNICATION AND THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE
This paper explores the concept of an infrastructure of human understanding and a new approach to communication research using a logic of positions. Communication is not, as is sometimes supposed,…
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CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE: DEVELOPING A SYSTEM FOR EDUCATING MORE EFFECTIVE AGRICULTURALISTS
The need for competency-based tertiary education to meet the demands of contemporary agriculture is explored. The response at one Australian agricultural college has been a fundamental reform of its curricula.…
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MARKET FAILURE AND GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: ECONOMIC THEORY VERSUS POLITICAL PRACTICE
The economic justification for government support for science and technology has been commonly based on the concept of market failure. The general theoretical argument is that governments should intervene in…
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A SURVEY OF MICROCOMPUTER OWNERSHIP AND USAGE
In this paper we present the results of a survey designed to collect information on the use of microcomputers and attitudes towards them. The survey was conducted by mail in…