Political instability and growth in dictatorships

We model growth in dictatorships facing each period an endogenous probability of “political catastrophe'' that would extinguish the regime's wealth extraction ability. Domestic capital exhibits a bifurcation point determining economic growth or shrinkage. With low initial domestic capital the dictator plunders the country's resources and the economy shrinks. With high initial domestic capital the economy eventually grows faster than is socially optimal.     

Australia's New Federalism: Recipes for Marble Cakes

In July of 1990, the prime minister of Australia announced aprogram to achieve a closer partnership between the three levelsof government. His concern was the degree of bureaucratic overlapin the Australian federation and the hindrances to mobility,portability, and uniformity which made the Australian economymore balkanized than Europe post-1992. The announcement capitalizedon dissatisfaction with Australian federalism that had beengrowing in the 1970s and 1980s, and its timing coincided witha range of catalysts making the current climate favorable forchange. The new federalism unleashed a process of review andreform across some forty program or subprogram areas over aneighteen-month period with a prime objective to attain roleclarification for the three levels of government in shared functionalareas, somewhat akin to the German horizontal model of federalrole allocation. The process survived a political challengethat toppled the prime minister, aspects of the new federalismforming a key element of that challenge. Constitutional changeis also part of the agenda and already the Australian experienceholds a number of lessons for other federal systems.     

The identification of Linda Agostini. The significance of dental evidence in the Albury ‘Pyjama Girl’ case. A case report

The discovery in 1934 of the badly burned, pyjama clad body of a young woman protruding from a roadside culvert near Albury, N.S.W., led to one of the largest investigations in the history of Australian crime. Two simple errors, made by a local dentist with no previous experience in forensic odontology called by the police to examine the teeth of the victim, resulted in a delay in identification for 10 years. This paper examines the background of the odontological evidence which ultimately led to the identification of the victim and the conviction of the offender.