Background. In 1985 the Indonesian Government decreed that 6.32 million hectares of forest plantation would be established within 15 years. By 2002, only 2 million hectares were realised. There were many reasons for this. A principal factor was social conflict at the community level. CIFOR s research shows that a sustainable supply of timber may be achievable through partnership schemes that encourage business and local communities to work together in sharing both the benefits and risks of investing in plantations. Despite recent private sector support for partnership schemes, there is evidence to suggest companies often do not have a clear idea of the measures needed to ensure tree growers full commitment.
Objectives. The main aims of this study are:
· to identify the key elements needed for viable, mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships
· to provide stakeholders implementing partnership schemes, or to those who might wish to, the type of information needed to help ensure the partnership s success, such as the expectations of tree grower partners.
Perhaps the one question facing trade economists with the most urgency is the effect of liberalization and other trade shocks on the welfare of workers, a question which has generated a large body of research. However, a feature shared by almost all of the extant trade literature on this is a reliance on static models, in which workers are assumed to be either instantly costlessly mobile, or perfectly immobile (we will discuss important exceptions below). This prevents the trade literature from even addressing, let alone answering, some central questions: What are the costs faced by workers who wish to move to a new industry in response to import competition? How long will the labor market take to adjust, and find its new steady state? Will that steady state feature a lasting differential impact on workers in the import-affllicted sector, or will arbitrage equalize worker returns in the long run? What are the lifetime welfare effects on workers in different industries, taking into account moving costs and transitional dynamics?
The subprime mortgage crisis already ranks among the most serious economic events affecting the United States (US) since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This study analyzes the key issues raised by the crisis. These issues are fundamental to risk bearing, sharing, and transfer in financial markets and institutions around the world. The hope is that the analysis in this paper will facilitate the design of new and efficient policies to mitigate the costs of the current crisis and to reduce the likelihood and costs of similar future events.
