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This study forms a welcome addition to the growing number of works on the economic history of Southeast Asia. In his Foreword, Dr John F. Cady, the author of A History of Modern Burma, writes that Dr Cheng "has placed all students of Burma in her debt by this highly articulate and clarifying contribution to the country's economic history".

Rice --- Rice trade --- Rice industry --- Grain trade --- Lowland paddy --- Lowland rice --- Oryza sativa --- Paddy (Plant) --- Padi --- Palay --- Oryza --- History.

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This detailed account tells the background story of a privatised monopoly whose sharp practices embroiled a national government in scandal and shocked a nation that prides itself on the strength of its institutions. AWB Limited, the former Australian Wheat Board that in the 1990s was sold into the private sector, paid more than $US200m in kickbacks to the pariah regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, exploiting the provisions of the United Nations’ Oil for Food program by inflating the price of the wheat it sent there to disguise the pay-offs that secured the contracts. The ensuing uproar threatened the careers of key cabinet ministers in the Howard government and contributed to the rise and subsequent election victory of the Australian Labor Party’s Kevin Rudd.   There is no doubting wheat’s centrality as a commodity. Of all the basic foodstuffs, this versatile grain is a vital cog in the international trading mechanism, arousing passion and ambition in equal measure. The 60-year history of the Australian Wheat Board and its subsequent privatised incarnation is a fascinating—and much misunderstood—story that involves decision-makers at the highest level and commercial interests at their most competitive and rapacious. The board held a monopoly on Australian wheat exports for decades, seamlessly shifting into the private sector in 1995. Motivated by the misunderstandings surrounding this privatisation and the revelations that followed it in the mid-2000s, this volume sets the record straight with a comprehensive analysis of the genesis and development of an institution with its origins in mutuality that foundered in the perilous waters of cut-throat international trade. The author’s role as a strategic advisor in the privatisation ensures a uniquely informed perspective on a story that provides an object lesson in institutional management to governments around the world.

Australian Wheat Board. --- Wheat trade -- Australia. --- Wheat trade -- Government policy -- Australia. --- Wheat trade. --- Wheat trade --- Business & Economics --- Earth & Environmental Sciences --- Environmental Sciences --- Industries --- History --- Government policy --- History. --- Australian Wheat Board --- Environment. --- Political science. --- Environment, general. --- Political Science. --- AWB --- Australia. --- Wheat industry --- Grain trade --- Environmental sciences. --- Administration --- Civil government --- Commonwealth, The --- Government --- Political theory --- Political thought --- Politics --- Science, Political --- Social sciences --- State, The --- Environmental science --- Science --- Balance of nature --- Biology --- Bionomics --- Ecological processes --- Ecological science --- Ecological sciences --- Environment --- Environmental biology --- Oecology --- Environmental sciences --- Population biology --- Ecology