Improving access to land in the Pacific remains a difficult problem. This paper presents results from a field survey conducted in 12 randomly selected settlements in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, to investigate how settlers acquire land for housing. The analysis shows that several means for land acquisition is used; ranging from...

'Corruption' may be the dark side of the relationship between personal relationships and the work of organisations. The paper considers how studies of Public Administration, and related ideas such as bureaucracy, management and governance, have viewed personal relationships. It then links these views to corresponding approaches to preventing corruption. The third part of the paper...

This brief is on the theme of corruption and anticorruption— a timely topic given the recent headlines over the AWB payments in Iraq. It provides three perspectives: a diagnosis of the causes and cures for corruption, an economic analysis of corruption and the links between democracy and corruption. The articles included are: Democracy and political...

This policy brief provides three perspectives on water. The first is an economic evaluation of the national plan for water security announced by Prime Minister John Howard on 25 January, the second is an a review of how to assess the trade-offs between water use and environmental flows, and the third contribution examines an often...

Avian influenza is a deadly disease that can spread rapidly through poultry. There are many documented cases of transmission from birds to people, but as yet only rare instances of human to human transmission. Nonetheless, public health officials are concerned about the possibility of a human pandemic, and many countries have policies of banning imports...