The well-being of South African university students from low-income households

ABSTRACT

The role of higher education in development and social mobility is now widely acknowledged and globally recognised. In South Africa in particular, graduates have greatly increased employment prospects. This paper takes up the importance of addressing South African university students’ multi-dimensional well-being in the light of global higher education development agendas. Considering poverty and development in the space of higher education – specifically in the lives of youth from low-income households in South Africa – I draw on two waves of life history data from undergraduate students at five universities. Material-cultural conditions for a threshold of well-being emerged powerfully in every single student narrative, indicating a need for some rethinking of capability deprivation and poverty. This paper conceptualises three broad hardship categories specific to higher education, considering the multiplicity of factors and complexity of low-income in student experiences and achievements. Even though the theoretical framing draws on Sen’s capability approach and its attractive moral perspective, the paper also foregrounds students’ material well-being as significant in understanding how education can advance change, and not only reproduce social inequalities. The challenge remains, how do we reconcile resources and capabilities, and to link freedoms to financial analysis in evaluating the lives that students value?     

INTERACTIONS OF QUANTITY,PRICE AND POLICY: MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS

A combination of reasoning and simple regression equations are used to examine the recent history of some aspects of the dairy industry. Attention is dawn to some of the pitfalls in attempting to quantify dairy demand and supply relationships. Elasticities are generally confirmed to be low, with the exception of the demand for cream; though it is suggested that the supply of milk may be less unresponsive to price change than is often maintained. The results obtained are related to milk marketing policy.     

Casino Revenues and Retail Property Values: The Detroit Case

We analyze the effects of commercial casinos on retail property values in the Detroit urban area. Accounting for property characteristics and proximity to the casinos, casinos are found to have a significantly positive influence on retail property values. The effect is stronger within a 5-mile radius of the casinos, suggesting that casinos have a complementary, rather than substitution, effect on other businesses. This provides some of the first micro-level empirical evidence to support the “drawing power” of casinos and the impact of consumer spending on surrounding businesses. The model developed and tested in this study can be applied to other casino jurisdictions to gain further evidence on the impact of commercial casinos.     

The cultural affinity hypothesis and mortgage lending decisions

This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the cultural affinity hypothesis put forth by Calomiris, et al. (1994) in the mortgage lending market. This hypothesis implies that white loan officers, because of a lack of familiarity with minority applicants, will rely more heavily on characteristics that can be observed at low cost (e.g., objective loan application measures) in evaluating the creditworthiness of minority applicants relative to white applicants. Using a cleansed sample of 1,991 loan applications drawn from data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the results of the analysis were consistent with the cultural affinity hypothesis. In particular, we found that marginal black and Hispanic applicants appeared to be held to higher quantitative standards on such objective factors as credit history and debt obligation ratios than were similarly situated marginal white applicants.     

The Seasoned‐Equity Issues of UK Firms: Market Reaction and Issuance Method Choice

Abstract:   This study examines the seasoned equity issues of companies traded on the London Stock Exchange. Recent regulatory changes have allowed UK firms more discretion in choice of issue approach, and this has led many firms to issue through placing in preference to a rights issue. Having first documented the trend towards increasing use of placings, we go on to identify an interesting subset of placings that are less likely to be anticipated by the market, and find a significant positive market reaction to such placings, which contrasts with the significant negative reaction we find for issues by rights. We also examine the choice of seasoned equity issuance method, focusing on the choice between placings versus rights issues. We develop a model to explain the choice of equity issue method that achieves a high level of predictive accuracy.     

Trust-Based Relationships in Local Government Contracting

This article examines issues of trust and competition as they relate to a number of services provided by British local government. The first section outlines the changing policy context of competition for local authority services and is followed by a discussion of the nature of trust under contracting, drawing on elements of (primarily) economic theory to identify the features of contracting which we would expect to find in a 'low trust world'. The authors ask whether these features appear to be present in contracting and point to some features of the CCT legislative framework which may help to explain this. After reviewing private sector practice, the extent to which it could be replicated under CCT is examined.     

A proposed method for the analysis of public health policy in less developed countries

The study of public health policy in the less developed countries (LDCs) is handicapped by both lack of adequate data and gaps in conceptual apparatus. A new conceptual model is proposed that would be used for future policy analyses to assess what changes in health status of population in LDCs can be expected as direct functions of increased health service resources, and of improved environmental and econosociocultural conditions.While direct policy analysis is ill-advised at this time due to data inadequacy, the model is illustrated using data presently available for twenty-five relatively homogeneous sub-Sahara African countries. Within the limitations of available data, the findings suggest that reductions in mortality in the region might best be achieved by making appropriate health resources available to the populations. Study findings also suggest that physicians contributed more during the study period to the variance in physical health status than did medical assistants.