| Heartland centres "provide ?one-stop shops? in rural areas where the local population may access a range of government and other related services. Heartland Services began in 2001 and there are now 28 rural centres around New Zealand, with two urban centres being developed for Christchurch and Auckland. The overall results of an evaluation of Heartland Services show that the initiative is working well, with rural New Zealanders? improved access to services owing much to improved interagency collaboration and the commitment and resourcefulness of local co-ordinators.
| By Ministry of Social Development , Newzealand . | Miscellaneous Policy Resource. |
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| Maintaining Social Ties: Social Capital in a Global Information Age "
Recent research has documented that social and economic relations remain strikingly local, especially when viewed in the light of many discussions of globalization. The main evidence for this is that the density of social and economic exchanges declines far more with distance and the crossing of national borders than could possibly be explained by transportation and border-related costs. One hypothesis explaining this localization in the face of global information is that social capital ? defined by the OECD as ?networks, together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within and among groups? ? both supports and is supported by frequent interactions. There is less available empirical evidence about how the various types of local, civic, regional, national and international social capital are created and destroyed, and how the different types of social capital are related to one another. John Helliwell, winner of the Donner Prize, surveys evidence suggesting that the relations among social capital of different types, and of different radii, are complementary rather than competitive. If these results should turn out to be generally applicable, he suggests, in an optimistic vein, adding social capital of types needed to better support international and global cooperation can be done without threatening the nature and value of local loyalties. Published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy | By Institute for Research on Public Policy , Canada. | Miscellaneous Policy Resource. |
| Genetically Modified Food. Public opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops has not been based solely on concern about biological risks. Economic risks have been widely cited too: the fear that the world's food supply will be concentrated in the hands of a few large firms, the fear that such firms will engage or are already engaging in anti-competitive practices, and the fear of the transfer of ownership rights over genetic resources to the private sector. This essay by Dietmar Harhoff, Pierre Régibeau and Katherine Rockett assesses whether these fears are justified. "Genetically Modified Food: Evaluating The Economic Risks" is published by Economic Policy | By Economic Policy, Switzerland. | Food and Agriculture Policy Resource. |
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