Tourism and Foreign Investment in Australia: Trends,Prospects and Policy Implications

Processes of internationalisation and structural economic change have had profound impacts on the pattern of regional economic activity in Australia. The 1980s was a decade of rapid growth in foreign investment, reoriented to the property and services sector, including tourism. It was also a boom time for international tourism, which emerged as the nation's leading export industry. In addition to the national gateway city of Sydney, the rapidly growing coastal cities of Gold Coast and Cairns in Queensland emerged as major international tourism destinations underpinned by significant levels of foreign investment, particularly from Japan. The 1980s boom years for tourism and foreign investment are revised and raises policy implications raised for the longer-term development of tourism and the role of foreign investment.     

SOME SPATIAL INTERPRETATIONS OF ALTERNATIVE OPTIMAL AND SUBOPTIMAL SOLUTIONS TO THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

T he CALCULATION and economic interpretation of alternative solutions and sub-optimal solutions to the transportation problem of linear programming are discussed and illustrated with particular reference to their application in the Soviet wood-processing industry.     

The economics of UK nuclear weapons policy

The Trident replacement decision has an economic aspect that cannot be ignored, namely, its costs. This article presents a cost-benefit framework for assessing the replacement decision and its alternatives. The replacement decision is presented against the background of the defence economics problem showing the opportunities for substitution and the need for difficult defence choices in a world of uncertainty. A framework for choices is outlined showing the range and type of information needed for sensible decision-making in this area. A range of conventional force alternatives is estimated as well as alternative civil spending. The impact of the replacement decision on the UK submarine industrial base is assessed, including the challenges of reaching a partnering agreement and negotiating an incentive contract with a UK monopoly supplier. The cost figures used for the Trident replacement are illustrative only and show how the programme can be evaluated.     

CONTROL OF RESOURCES AND THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN ALBERTA

Recent petrochemical developments in Alberta are part of a global redistribution of the industry toward raw material locations. A small group of companies has secured control of these raw materials within Alberta and, as a consequence, the power to determine the future pattern of petrochemical development within the province. This pattern will reflect the requirements of the companies rather than the economic policy objectives of the Alberta government.
Les développements récents dans ľindustrie de la pétrochimie en Alberta font partie ďune redistribution globale de ľindustrie vers ses sources de matières premières. Un petit groupe de sociétés a réussi à prendre le contrle de ces matières premières en Alberta, et, par conséquent, le pouvoir de déterminer les directions dans lesquelles ľindustrie pétrochimique évoluera dans cette province. Dans une telle situation, la politique économique du gouvernement de ľAlberta cèdra la place aux besoins prioritaires déterminés par les sociétés elles-měmes.     

On the Causes of Perforations in Archaeological Domestic Cattle Skulls

We have undertaken a preliminary survey of the occurrence of cranial perforations which have been noted on the posterior portion of archaeological cattle skulls. The interest arose from the authors independent encounter with unusually high frequencies of this condition in assemblages from Bruges and Lincoln and the subsequent search for an explanation. A rapid literature survey and direct contact with other colleagues in the field showed that the phenomenon is widespread in European material and represented throughout a range of time periods and geographical locations. It is also clear that a variety of diverse but untested theories have been proposed by various workers in an attempt to explain the condition. A number of possible aetiological factors are discussed in an attempt to establish the most likely explanations. On the basis of this brief survey, which includes the evaluation of additional archaeological evidence from some of the assemblages, it would appear that parasites, tumours and infection can be ruled out as causal factors. Although not clearly established, it is suggested that a congenital or yoking pressure origin is more likely. If this is the case, then the presence of cranial perforations in domestic cattle may provide important information regarding the temporal and spatial spread of a specific congenital condition or yoking practice. Only a wider survey of both archaeological and modern comparative material (including other bovid species) will enable a full appraisal of the yoking versus congenital hypothesis.