Ethics and Government: Preliminary Considerations

This symposium reproduces several of the papers presented during the international conference sponsored by the Queensland University of Technology Centre for the Study of Ethics, at Parliament House, Brisbane, 11-13 February, 1999. The theme of the conference was 'Government and Business: Integrity and Accountability'. The papers have been revised following discussions within a research colloquium associated with the conference. They were initially presented within a strand entitled 'Competition, Marketisation, Public Services and Public Ethics' which explored ethical issues for contemporary government within different national contexts (New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Australia) around the impact of economic policies that have reframed the role of government primarily as a servant of the international market.     

Corruption is bad for growth (even in the United States)

We estimate the impact of corruption on growth of output per worker in U.S. states. We improve on existing studies of the cost of corruption by using a better specified empirical model, focusing on a study population that is less likely to be affected by parameter heterogeneity, and controlling for endogeneity using political variables to instrument for corruption. We find that corruption plays a significant and causal role in lowering growth and investment across the states.     

Welfare-Consequentialism: A Vaccine for Populism?

This article is about two ideologies. Welfare-consequentialism holds that government should adopt the policies that can rationally be expected to maximise aggregate welfare. Populism holds that society is divided into a pure people and a corrupt elite, and asserts that public policy should express the general will of the people. The responses of world governments to the coronavirus pandemic have clearly illustrated the contrast between these ideologies, and the danger that populist government poses to human wellbeing. The article argues that welfare-consequentialism offers a vaccine for populism. First, it rebuts populism’s claims about who government is for and what it should do. Second, the pessimism and distrust that make people crave populism can be satiated by successful welfare-consequentialist government. Finally, welfare-consequentialism’s sunny narrative of progress can be just as compelling to people as populism’s dark story has proven to be.     

Institutionalising ethics in the queensland public sector: Discussion of research into ethics education for public officials

This paper presents a case for a comprehensive approach to the institutionalisation of ethics in public sector organisational contexts. It argues that education and training have a central role in such strategies. The setting for this discussion is the State of Queensland, Australia, which is currently implementing a public sector ethics program. In particular, the author reports and analyses research conducted in the State of Queensland, Australia, in the latter half of 1993. The research explored the expectations of Queensland public sector managers as to the nature of ethics education programs. Analysis of the research supports the view that, with some reservations, public sector managers indicate significant support for the institutionalisation of public sector ethics in an educational framework.     

Preliminary Observations of Arthropods Associated with Buried Carrion on Oahu

Several studies in Hawaii have focused on arthropod succession and decomposition patterns of surface remains, but the current research presents the first study to focus on shallow burials in this context. Three domestic pig carcasses (Sus scrofa L.) were buried at the depths of 20–40 cm in silty clay loam soil on an exposed ridge on the leeward side of the volcanically formed Koolau Mountain Range. One carcass was exhumed after 3 weeks, another after 6 weeks, and the last carcass was exhumed after 9 weeks. An inventory of arthropod taxa present on the carrion and in the surrounding soil and observations pertaining to decomposition were recorded at each exhumation. The longer the carrion was buried, the greater the diversity of arthropod species that were recovered from the remains. Biomass loss was calculated to be 49% at the 3‐week interval, 56% at the 6‐week interval, and 59% at the 9‐week interval.     

Invasion of the western Ampelmännchen

Since the unification of Germany in 1990, academics have debated the consequences of the integration of the former German Democratic Republic with the Federal Republic of Germany. We explore the rise of the Ampelmannchen within the context of the Ostalgie industry to argue that East Germans have turned to one imported institution as a vehicle for the expression of their interests and identity: the market. In contrast to other GDR icons, the Ampelmannchen is finding popular resonance because it is entirely untainted by the negative aspects of GDR life. Its economic success contributes to the creation of an eastern cultural identity.