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Melanie Beresford

melanieberesford

Formal Name: Melanie Beresford

Personal Title: Associate Professor

Position: Associate Dean of Research; Associate Professor of Economics

Organisational Unit: Faculty of Business and Economics; Department of Economics

Qualification: BA Adel., MA Adel., MA Camb., PhD Camb.

Telephone: (+61-2) 9850-8491

Fax: (+61-2) 9850-8586

Email: melanieb@efs.mq.edu.au

Location: E4A 444

Profile

A/Prof Beresford studied Politics and History at Adelaide University before switching to Economics at the University of Cambridge. Her PhD entitled Unification and Economic Development in Vietnam was published by Macmillan and, together with Vietnam: Politics, Economics and Society (Pinter, 1988), established her as one of the leading scholars in the world on the political economy of Vietnam.

Since joining Macquarie she has been a co-recipient of Australian Research Council grants to conduct research on the transition to a market economy in Vietnam and on the clothing industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Her research on gender equity in the Vietnamese state budget was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.

A/Prof Beresford has conducted consultancies in Vietnam for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Oxfam Quebec, working with the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, National Assembly Committee on Economic and Budgetary Affairs, National Committee for the Advancement of Women and the Vietnam Women’s Union.

In 2002-2003 she was team leader of a major study for UNDP's Asian Regional Office and Bureau of Policy Development (New York) on Macroeconomics of Poverty Reduction in Cambodia. She has also carried out the evaluation of UNDP's gender equity program in Cambodia.

A/Prof Beresford has held visiting fellowships at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen; Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU; Institute of World Economy, Hanoi; and the Swedish Centre for Working Life, Stockholm.

Committee/Board Membership

  • Macquarie University Research Management Committee
  • Macquarie University Research Projects Panel
  • Innovative Universities European Union Centre, Macquarie Hub Advisory Board
  • Business and Economics Faculty Research Committee (chair)
  • Department of Economics Research Committee
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Contemporary Asia
  • Editorial Board, Macquarie Economics Research Papers
  • Business Academic Research Directors’ Network (BARDsNET), a sub-committee of the Australian Business Deans’ Council
  • BARDsNET Working Party on journal ranking (2007)
  • Vietnam Studies Association of Australia (founding Executive member, current member)

Student Supervision

  • Bhanu Bhatia (PhD candidate) “The effect of social capital on women”
  • Andrea Chareunsy (PhD candidate), "Analysing development strategies under social learning rules using a local interaction game in an underdeveloped society (Laos)"
  • Zhiming Cheng (PhD candidate), “Workers under market transition: the new urban poverty in China’s northwestern cities”
  • Tony Ghazi (PhD candidate), “Institutional framework for doing business in Lebanon”
  • Wei Li (PhD candidate) "Water Abstraction Charge: A Study of its Application and Impacts on Water Resource Protection in China"
  • Ivan Trofimov (PhD candidate), "Political Economy of Agricultural Protectionism and Liberalization: a Policy Entrepreneurship Perspective"
  • Laura Prota (PhD), "An analysis of exchange networks in transition: land, rice and labour markets in southern Vietnam"

Publications

Books

  • Towards Gender Budgeting for Vietnam, Women Publishers, Hanoi, 2005, 159 pp. (also in Vietnamese as Toi Ngan Sach theo Gioi tai Viet Nam, 188 pp.)
  • Reaching for the Dream: challenges of sustainable development in Vietnam, (edited with Tran Ngoc Angie), NIAS Press, Copenhagen, 2004
  • Economic Transition in Vietnam: foreign aid and trade in the demise of a centrally planned economy, with Dang Phong, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK, 2000, 165 pp.
  • Authority Relations and Economic Decision-Making in Vietnam: an historical perspective (with Dang Phong), Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, 1998, 117 pp.
  • National Unification and Economic Development in Vietnam, Macmillan, London, 1989, 296 pp.
  • Vietnam: Politics, Economics and Society, Frances Pinter, London, 1988, 242 pp.
  • A Manual of Political Economy (with B. McFarlane), Karrel Inc., Quezon City, Philippines, 1985, 201 pp.

Monographs

  • Impact of Macroeconomic Reform on Women in Vietnam, United Nations Development Fund for Women, New York, 52 pp. Also appeared in the same year in Vietnamese as Anh Huong cua Cai Cach Kinh Te Vi Mo doi voi Phu Nu o Viet Nam, UNDP/UNIFEM and Vietnam Women's Union, Hanoi, 1997, 64 pp.

Refereed journal articles

  • The Cambodian clothing industry in the post-MFA environment: a review of developments, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 14:4, 2009
  • Doi Moi in Review: the challenges of building market socialism in Vietnam, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 38:2, 2008
  • Cambodia in 2004: an artificial democratization, Asian Survey, 43:1, 2005
  • Role of the state in the Vietnamese transition: the process of state enterprise reform, Business and Society, 1:1, 2000
  • The Labour Movement of Vietnam (with Chris Nyland), Labour History, no. 75, November, pp. 57-80, 1998
  • A methodology for analysing the process of economic reform in Vietnam: the case of domestic trade (with Adam Fforde), Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 13:4, December, pp. 99-128, 1997 .
  • Regionalism and Regional Inequality in Vietnam and China (with B. McFarlane), Journal of Contemporary Asia, 25:1, pp. 50-72, 1995
  • The North Vietnamese State-Owned Industrial Sector: Continuity and Change, Journal of Communist Studies, March, pp. 55-76, 1995
  • The Vietnamese Economy 1979-93: Reforming or Revolutionising Asian Socialism? Asian Studies Review, 17:2, November, pp. 33-46, 1993
  • Industrial Relations in ASEAN and other Capitalist Countries (with Diana Kelly), Economic and Industrial Democracy (Stockholm), 14:1, pp. 89-107, 1993
  • Political Economy of the Environment in Vietnam (with Lyn Fraser), Journal of Contemporary Asia, 22:1, pp. 3-19, 1992
  • Vietnam: Socialist Agriculture in Transition, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 20:4, pp. 466-86, 1990
  • Vietnam: Northernising the South or Southernising the North?, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Vol.8, No.4, March, pp. 261-275, 1987
  • Household and Collective in Vietnamese Agriculture, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol.15, No.1, pp. 5-36, 1985
  • America's New Pacific Rim Strategy (with R. Catley and F. Pilkington), Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol.9, No. 1, pp. 67-74, 1979
  • The Subtle Anatomy of Capital (review article), Arena, No. 50, pp. 136-50, 1978
  • Doomsayers and Eco-nuts: A Critique of the Ecology Movement, Politics, Vol. XII, No. 1, May, pp. 98-106, 1977
  • The 'Technocratic Labor' Thesis: a Critique, Arena, No. 39, 1975

Book Chapters

  • ‘Cambodia’ in Anis Chowdhury and Iyanatul Islam (eds), Handbook on the Northeast and Southeast Asian Economies, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK and Northampton MA, USA, pp. 243-258, 2007
  • 'Vietnam: the Transition from Central Planning' (revised) in G. Rodan, R.Robison and (eds) The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Conflicts, Crises and Change, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp.206-32, 2006
  • 'Impact of regional integration on Vietnam's transition economy', Melba E. Falck and David S.G. Goodman (eds.) The Domestic Economic Impact of Regional Integration on the Countries of the Pacific Rim, University of Guadalajara Press, Mexico 2004
  • 'Uneven development: the impact of Vietnam's economic reforms on regional inequality' in Hy Van Luong (ed.) Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham MD, and ISEAS, Singapore, 2003
  • 'Vietnam: the Transition from Central Planning' (revised) in R.Robison and G. Rodan (eds) The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Conflicts, Crises and Change, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp.206-32, 2001
  • 'Democracy and Power in a Transitional One-Party Culture' (with Irene Norlund) in Ing-Britt Trankell and Laura Summers (eds), Facets of Power and its Limitations: Political Culture in Southeast Asia, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala, pp. 65-79, 1998
  • 'Market Socialism in Southeast Asia: Economics, Society and Politics in Vietnam 1975-96' (with Bruce McFarlane) in Kyoko Sheridan (ed.), Emerging Systems in Asia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 231-255, 1998
  • 1997 'Vietnam: the Transition from Plan to Market' in R. Robison and G. Rodan (eds) Introduction to the Political Economy of Southeast Asia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp. 179-204
  • 'Theoretical Debates on the Socialist Economy during the Current Reforms in Vietnam' in P. Groenewegen and B. McFarlane (eds) Socialist Thought in the Post Cold War Era, Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers and Centre for the Study of the History of Economic Thought, Manila and Sydney, pp. 93-104, 1994
  • 'Dismantling the 'Bureaucratic Subsidy System' in Vietnam' in Richard Robison and Kevin Hewison (eds), Southeast Asia in the 1990s, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 215-36, 1993
  • 'The Impact of Economic Reforms in the South' in Dean K. Forbes, Terence H. Hull, David G. Marr and Brian Brogan (eds), Doi Moi: Vietnam's Renovation Policy and Performance, Australian National University, Political and Social Change Monograph 14, Canberra, pp. 118-135, 1991
  • 'Industrial Reform in Vietnam', in Ian Jeffries (ed.), Industrial Reform in Socialist Countries: from Restructuring to Revolution, Edward Elgar, Aldershot, pp. 237-56, 1991
  • 'Vietnam's Trade with the Non-Communist World' in Peter Limqueco (ed.), Partisan Scholarship: Essays in Honour of Renato Constantino, JCA Publishers, Manila, pp. 411-19, 1989
  • 'Issues in Economic Unification: Overcoming the Legacy of Separation', in David G. Marr and Christine P. White (eds), Postwar Vietnam: Dilemmas in Socialist Development, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, pp. 95-110, 1988
  • 'Socialist Markets' in C. Mackerras, R. Cribb and A. Healy (eds), Contemporary Vietnam: Perspectives from Australia, University of Wollongong Press, Wollongong, pp. 105-117, 1988
  • 'Agriculture in the Transition to Socialism: the Case of South Vietnam', in Mats Lundahl (ed.), The Primary Sector in Economic Development, Croom Helm, London, pp. 370-95, 1985
  • 'A Turning Point for Australia, 1942-52' (with Prue Kerr) in K. Buckley and E.L. Wheelwright (eds.), Essays in the Political Economy of Australian Capitalism, Vol. IV, Sydney, 148-171, 1980
  • 'A Kaleckian Analysis of the Australian Economic Crisis' (with B. McFarlane), in P. Boreham and G. Dow (eds.), Work and Inequality, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1980

Other Papers and Presentations

  • ‘Markets as Networks: economics of the rice trade in a Red River delta village of Vietnam’, 7th EUROSEAS (European Southeast Asian Studies Association) Conference, Naples, 12-14 September 2007
  • A Shortage of Sheilas: why so few women economists at Macquarie (with Andrea Chareunsy), Macquarie Economics Research Papers, No. 1/2006, February 2006
  • Keynote address:  ‘Doi Moi in Review: state, society and politics’, 1st High-level Roundtable on 20 years of Doi Moi, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, January 2005
  • Transformation of the planning system in Vietnam, Macquarie Economics Research Papers, Economics Department, Macquarie University, no. 8, 25 pp., 1999
  • 'A Methodology for Analysing the Process of Economic Reform in Vietnam: the case of Domestic Trade', (with Adam Fforde) Australian Vietnam Research Project Working Papers no. 2, March, 29 pp., 1996
  • 'Political Economy of Primary Health Care in Vietnam' in Paul Cohen and John Purcal (eds) Health and Development in Southeast Asia, Australian Development Studies Network, pp. 104-119, 1996
  • 'Some Perspectives on the Transition to a Market Economy in Vietnam', Keynote address in A. Barthels (ed.) Intercultural Interaction and Development: Converging Perspectives, UTS, Sydney pp. 32-37, 1996
  • 'Democracy and Power in a Transitional One-Party Culture' (with Irene Norlund), NASEAS Annual Conference Proceedings, Nordic Association for Southeast Asian Studies, Uppsala, 1995 .
  • 'Foreword' in C. Gates, I. Norlund and Vu Cao Dam (eds) Vietnam in a Changing World, Curzon Press, London, pp. vii-ix, 1995
  • 'Economy and Environment' in Benedict J.T. Kerkvliet (ed.), Dilemmas of Development: Vietnam Update 1994, Political and Social Change Monograph no. 22, Australian National University, Canberra, pp. 69-88, 1995
  • 'Interpretation of the Vietnamese Economic Reforms 1979-85', Australian Vietnam Research Project Working Papers no. 1, January, pp. 1-16, 1995
  • 'Prospects for Growth in the Vietnamese Economy' in R. Braddock (ed.), Vietnam: Which Way Now?, Macquarie University Asia-Pacific Research Institute, Sydney, pp. 17-24, 1993
  • 1993 'Some Key Issues in the Reform of the North Vietnamese Industrial Sector', Political and Social Change Working Paper, no. 9, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. 16 pp.
  • 'Political Economy of Reform in Vietnam' in Hans Hendrischke (ed.), Market Reform in the Changing Socialist World, Centre for Chinese Political Economy, Macquarie University, Sydney, pp. 101-121, 1992
  • Industrial Relations in ASEAN and other Capitalist Countries (with Diana Kelly), in Mark Bray (ed.), Teaching Comparative Industrial Relations, ACIRRT, Monograph No. 2, University of Sydney, pp. 86-100, 1991
  • War and Revolution in Southern Vietnam, Teaching History, Vol. 22, No. 4, January, pp. 3-9, 1989
  • Revolution in the Countryside: Report of a Visit to Vietnam in October-November 1985, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 391-434, 1986

Consultancy Reports

  • Synthesis report (with R. Barker) Rapid growth of selected Asian economies: Lessons and implications for agriculture and food security, FAO, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Policy Assistance Series 1/3, Bangkok, 2006
  • Policy Reform and the Transformation of Vietnamese Agriculture (with Dang Kim Son, Nguyen Ngoc Que, Pham Quang Dieu, Truong Thi Thu Trang), in Rapid growth of selected Asian economies: Lessons and implications for agriculture and food security: Republic of Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Policy Assistance Series 1/3, Bangkok, pp. III.1-49, 2006
  • Terminal Evaluation Report, 'Partnership for Gender Equity', UNDP Cambodia and Royal Government of Cambodia, Ministry of Women's and Veterans' Affairs, Phnom Penh, 2004.
  • Macroeconomics of Poverty Reduction in Cambodia, (with Nguon Sokha, Rathin Roy, Sau Sisovanna and Ceema Namazie) UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Program, New York 2004, 208 pp.
  • Terminal Evaluation Report, 'Strengthening capacity for implementation of the National Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women 1996-2000',VIE/96/011, UNDP, Hanoi, February 2000
  • Vietnam's Public Investment Program 1996-2000: a Gender Analysis, Report prepared for the Ministry of Planning and Investment under the UNDP Technical Assistance Project VIE/94/015, Hanoi, July-August, 27 pp., 1996
  • The Impact of Macroeconomic Reform on Women in Vietnam, UNIFEM, Hanoi, December, 51 pp., 1994
  • Employment and Labour Productivity in the Australian Beef Cattle, Sheep and Dairy Industries, United Nations Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa, 1977

 

Research

Research Interests

  • Political economy of developing and transition economies
  • Vietnam's transition from central planning to a market economy
  • Gender and development
  • Poverty and inequality
  • Social networks

Research Grants

  • Australian Research Council, ‘The Clothing Industry in the Asia Pacific: Managing Constant Change’ with AH Vickers (Sydney University), V Crinis. R Ganguly‑Scrase, K Hannan (University of Wollongong), BC Prasad (University of the South Pacific), AN Tran (California State University Monterey Bay) 2007-10.
  • Macquarie University, ‘A new model of agricultural development in Vietnam’ 2005-06,
  • Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) ‘Gender analysis of fiscal policy in Vietnam’ 2001-03.

Current Projects

The ARC-funded project examines the dynamics of the garment industry in the Asia-Pacific region. We will be tracing regional and international networks, connecting them to patterns of legal and illegal movements of businesses, goods, money and people, in order to show how changes in trans-national business affect daily working life. The project highlights the outcomes of trade liberalisation in the region and the impacts of insecurities created by this rapidly changing industry.

My other major research project is on the role of social networks in Vietnamese agricultural development. The principal aim is to reconceptualise the processes of capital accumulation, social stratification and economic development by viewing agricultural value chains as social networks. Funding from Macquarie University has enabled me to carry out a small-scale study in two Red River delta villages where it was found that the structure of these networks affects farm organisation, competition and the profitability of farming and trade in rice, leading to changes in income distribution and thereby in savings and investment. Further studies are planned for other regions of the country.