On 9 July 1997 the Treasurer referred the international competitiveness of the Australian black coal industry to the Commission for inquiry and report within 12 months. The Commission is to identify ways of improving the international competitiveness of the Australian black coal industry which...

On 28 August 1998 the Treasurer referred the impact of competition policy reforms on rural an regional Australia for inquiry and report within 12 months of receiving the reference. The Commission is to assess the impact (both transitional and ongoing) of the competition policy and related...

In August 2002, the Commission was asked to look at the economic and social importance of the different industries in the Great Barrier Reef and its catchment. The Commission also would evaluate the costs and benefits of actions to address declining water quality which currently threatens the...

DEVELOPMENT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHALLENGE FACING THE HUMAN RACE BUT THE PROCESSES DRIVING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ARE BY NO MEANS FULLY UNDERSTOOD. HOWEVER, THE CORE CHALLENGE FOR DEVELOPMENT IS TO ENSURE PRODUCTIVE WORK AND A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. THIS CHALLENGE...

The international goal for rich countries to devote 0.7% of their national income to development assistance has become a cause célèbre for aid activists and has been accepted in many official quarters as the legitimate target for aid budgets. The origins of the target, however, raise serious...

Review of 'The End of Poverty' by Jeffrey Sachs

Raising school enrollment, like economic development in general, takes a long time. This is partly because, as a mountain of empirical evidence now shows, economic conditions and slowly-changing parental education levels determine children's school enrollment to a greater degree than education...

This paper demonstrates that the delivery of hardware inputs to Ghana’s basic education system – building classrooms and supplying textbooks – has had a substantial impact on higher enrollments and better learning outcomes. The Bank’s support for school building has been a major factor...