A Count Data Model of Technology Adoption

This paper investigates the main determinants of the adoption of flexible production technologies (FPTs), using a plant-level dataset of Portuguese manufacturing industry. Besides using a new dataset, this paper extends the framework of previous studies on technology adoption by taking into account the effect of demand uncertainty as an additional determinant of adoption. In order to examine this relationship, several econometric models for count data are estimated. These models deal with the discrete nature of the dependent variable and firm specific unobservable characteristics arising from the cross-section context. The main findings of the paper are: (i) rank effects and technological regimes are important determinants of technology adoption, as put forward in previous models of technology diffusion; (ii) demand uncertainty has a significant positive impact on the likelihood of adopting FPTs, which suggests that technological heterogeneity is important when modelling firms' investment decisions; (iii) the estimates were improved after controlling for excess zeros and overdispersion that characterizes our data.     

NORTHERN TERRITORY

As a consequence of the constitutional development which has occurred in the Northern Territory since 1976, a veritable administrative revolution has taken place. The devolution of State-type functions from Commonwealth to local control and the legal establishment of a Northern Territory government on 1 July 1978 necessitated fundamental changes to the administrative structure. However, the pace and scale of change, so dramatic a feature of the period between 1977 and 1979, were much less pronounced in 1980 which was a year of relative stability. In political terms, the highlight of 1980 was the Legislative Assembly elections in June which resulted in the return of the Country-Liberal Party government. Its continuation in office was an important factor in ensuring a climate for administrative stability.     

Police Officers Do Not Need More Training; But Different Training. Policing Domestic Violence and Abuse Involving Children: A Rapid Review

Journal of Family Violence - Although the police have been identified as a key service provider when responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA), very few studies have investigated their...     

The role of valuation and bargaining in optimising transboundary watercourse treaty regimes

In the face of water scarcity, growing water demands, population increase, ecosystem degradation, or climate change, transboundary watercourse states inevitably have to make difficult decisions on how finite quantities of water are distributed. Such waters, and their associated ecosystem services, offer multiple benefits. Valuation and bargaining can play a key role in the sharing of these ecosystems services and their associated benefits across sovereign borders. Ecosystem services in transboundary watercourses essentially constitute a portfolio of assets. While challenging, their commodification, which creates property rights, supports trading. Such trading offers a means by which to resolve conflicts over competing uses and allows states to optimise their ‘portfolios’. However, despite this potential, adoption of appropriate treaty frameworks that might facilitate a market-based approach to the discovery and allocation of water-related ecosystem services at the transboundary level remains both a challenge and a topic worthy of further study. Drawing upon concepts in law and economics, this paper therefore seeks to advance the study of how treaty frameworks might be developed in a way that supports such a market-based approach to ecosystem services and transboundary waters.     

The Best Interests of the Child and the Sentencing of Offenders with Parental Responsibilities

There is a growing body of empirical research demonstrating that sentencing and other criminal justice decisions often have a detrimental, even traumatic impact upon an offender’s dependent children. Judges must balance numerous factors when making sentencing decisions, generally encompassing the protection of the public, the seriousness of the offence, and the personal circumstances of the offender. Should the probable impact of a sentence on an offender’s dependents be a significant factor to be weighed with these other factors in the process of sentencing? More specifically, when a court is sentencing an offender with parental responsibilities, does it have a duty to inquire about the potential impact of the sanction on the offender’s dependent child or children? Must it consider the principle of the best interests of the child or a child’s right to family life as a separate legal consideration in constructing a sentence? International human rights standards suggest that it does. After reviewing existing evidence on the potential hardship of sentencing decisions for an offender’s dependent children, the authors examine the experience of six countries in interpreting and applying these standards in their domestic laws, policies, and practices. They discuss some options for sentencing reforms in the broader context of efforts to reduce high rates of imprisonment in many countries and the need to address the differential impacts of criminal sanctions for primary caregivers and their children.     

Still not in Force: Should States Support the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention?

On 21 May 1997, at the UN General Assembly, an overwhelming majority of States voted for the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses – a global overarching framework governing the rights and duties of States sharing freshwater systems. To date, the Convention counts 17 Contracting States – 18 short of the number required for entry into force. This article examines whether and why States should support the Convention towards ensuring its entry into force. We first look at the governance of international watercourses in order to illustrate the relevance of the Convention. The article also examines the Convention's drafting and negotiation process, the subsequent practice of States, some possible reasons slowing down ratifications and the likelihood of entry into force in the foreseeable future. Noting the widespread State support for the Convention in 1997, we conclude that, while various reasons have possibly prevented that support from translating into entry into force, the need for an effective UN Watercourses Convention has not diminished. In view of current human and environmental threats to the world's water resources, coupled with the poor governance of transboundary watersheds, the potential role that the Convention could play, once in force and widely ratified, as discussed, may in fact be more critical than ever.     

Land grab/data grab: precision agriculture and its new horizons

ABSTRACT

Developments in the area of ‘precision agriculture’ are creating new data points (about flows, soils, pests, climate) that agricultural technology providers ‘grab’, aggregate, compute and/or sell. Food producers now churn out food and, increasingly, data. ‘Land grabs’ on the horizon in the global south are bound up with the dynamics of data grabbing, although hitherto researchers have not revealed enough about the people and projects at issue. Against this backdrop, this paper examines some key issues taking shape, while highlighting new frontiers for research and introducing the concept ‘data sovereignty’, which food sovereignty practitioners (and others) need to begin considering.