Brexit: How Will UK Agriculture Fare?

There is little doubt that Brexit would have significant implications for UK agriculture, a sector with strong trade links to the EU and strong reliance on CAP income support. This article reports preliminary results from employing a Computable General Equilibrium Model, a Partial Equilibrium Model and Farm Level Models to explore selected trade and domestic policy scenarios post‐Brexit. These allow for the estimation of changes in producer prices, production and farm incomes against a baseline scenario of continued EU membership. Under a Free Trade Agreement with the EU, agricultural impacts are relatively modest. By contrast, unilateral removal of import tariffs has significant negative impacts on prices, production and incomes. Adoption of the EU's WTO tariff schedule for all imports favours net importers (e.g. dairy) and harms net exporters (e.g. sheep). Given the strong dependence of most UK farms on direct payments, their removal worsens negative impacts of new trade arrangements and offsets positive impacts. Impacts vary across different types and sizes of farm, but also regionally. However, the period of adjustment to new trade and domestic policy conditions may prove very challenging for a large number of farm businesses.     

Can Banks in Emerging Economies Benefit from Revenue Diversification?

This paper investigates the effect of revenue diversification on bank performance and risk. Using a panel dataset of 226 listed banks across 11 emerging economies and a new methodological approach, System Generalized Method of Moments estimators (System GMM), the results in this paper provide empirical evidence of the impact of the observed shift towards non-interest income generating activities on insolvency risk and bank performance. The core finding is that diversification across and within both interest and non-interest income generating activities decrease insolvency risk and enhance profitability. The results also show that these benefits are largest for banks with moderate risk exposures. By extension, these results have significant strategic implications for bank managers, regulators and supervisors who share a common interest in boosting bank performance and stability.     

Tourism in Tropical Africa A review of literature in English and research agenda

Literature on tourism in tropical Africa is reviewed to indicate the current and future roles of tourism in tropical African countries. Attention is then directed to research issues whose investigation may lead to the development of guidelines for the extension, regulation, and management of tourism. These issues are arranged under the following headings: inventory, demand, types of tourism, economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts, environmental impacts, infrastructure, regional patterns, international cooperation, and tourism futures.     

Exploring cost dominance in crop farming systems between high and low pesticide use

The purpose of this paper is to assess cost dominance in direct inputs between arable crop-based systems using low or high pesticide levels per hectare. Our investigation departs from a traditional efficiency analysis and aims at comparing two minimal direct cost functions excluding pesticide expenses. This means that we evaluate the gap between two efficient frontiers instead of focusing on individual farm inefficiency scores. Our only objective is to compare two optimal cost benchmarks for systems respectively defined with high or low pesticide levels per hectare by varying their scale and output mix. A robust approach frontier is introduced to control the influence of potential outliers and unobserved heterogeneity. Based on 707 French crop farms observed in 2008, our simulations show that agricultural practices using less pesticide per hectare are unambiguously more cost-competitive in terms of direct inputs while inducing no other substitution costs. This cost dominance is a robust phenomenon regardless of the size and scope of crop activities, which supports more ecofriendly practices.     

An Exploratory Study of Managers' Perspective of Work‐Life Balance in Nigeria: A Case Analysis of the Nigerian Banking Sector

This study describes an exploratory research of managers' perspective of the concept of work‐life balance (WLB) policies and practices in Nigeria. This is done through in‐depth case studies of 20 banks in the banking sector. The data set is comprised of responses from 102 middle line managers in the Nigerian banking institutions. A review of the extant literature on WLB initiatives in the banking sector revealed that there is a dearth of knowledge on WLB policies and practices in an African context. In an attempt to fill the gap in the literature, this study examines the range and scope of WLB practices, managers' perception of WLB, and the forces helping or constraining to shape the choices of work life balance practices and policies. The findings reveal that there is diversity in terms of how middle‐line managers understand and experience WLB initiatives in Nigeria. Another finding highlights the practice of favoritism in most banks using WLB initiatives. In addition, the study shows that cultural sensitivity affects how WLB is appreciated and utilized. The study suggests some policy implications in the form of support for WLB policies in this context. © 2013 Crown copyright.     

Identity,Ethnic Embeddedness,and African Cuisine Break-Out in Britain

This exploratory study appraises the limitations and process of African food/restaurant enclave ventures by examining issues around immigrants’ economic empowerment and inclusion. Using the platform of Sub-Saharan Africa gastronomy, identity, and multicultural practices, 35 semi-structured interviews with British-Black African restaurateurs and ethnic/nonethnic clientele were conducted. Through grounded theory methodology, the study contextualizes the broader discourse of ethnic enclave to capture an evolving and under-researched phenomenon. Findings indicate that prejudice, socio-cultural issues, financial limitations, lack of awareness, and image and perception of Africa are critical factors working against the acceptability of Black African food in Britain. The implication for continuous development of competencies and skills of African entrepreneurs in a multicultural British society is enormous. Also important is the intervention of African governments in developing their tourism sector. The value of the article resides in its explanations of the process of break-out and the fundamental factors inhibiting break-out/diffusion of ethnic enterprises from the standpoint of ethnic gastronomy. Thus, the article contributes to discussions on aspect of immigrants’ embeddedness in host country by identifying the image and perception configurations of Black Africa as preventing Black African cuisine break-out into the British mainstream’s consciousness.     

Global Expansion of Renewable Energy Generation: An Analysis of Policy Instruments

This study analyzes the degree to which renewable energy policies, in particular feed-in tariffs and renewable portfolio standards, facilitate renewable energy generation growth across a wide range of countries using an original cross-national dataset of 164 countries between 1990 and 2010. Results provide evidence that both policies are important predictors of renewable energy market growth. The dependent variable is operationalized first as the percentage of total electricity from renewable energy and second as the annual increase in total renewable energy generation in a country. Results are robust to several alternative model specifications including those that exclude hydroelectric generation in the construct of renewable energy. The degree to which feed-in tariffs are endogenous, however, is not conclusive. Besides the prominent role of these policies, results reveal that factors related to annual increases in renewable energy differ from those related to an overall transition toward greater reliance on renewable energy. This suggests that simply increasing renewable generation does not necessarily decrease reliance on fossil fuels or help countries make the shift to a clean energy economy.     

样品处理方法对雷公藤叶中雷公藤甲素含量测定结果的影响

探讨用高效液相色谱法测定雷公藤叶中雷公藤甲素含量时,样品处理方法对含量测定结果的影响。分别用石油醚除杂—70%甲醇水提—氯仿萃取,乙酸乙酯提取—氧化铝柱分离,石油醚除杂—乙酸乙酯提取—氧化铝柱分离3种方法处理样品,采用HPLC法测定雷公藤甲素含量。结果为:石油醚除杂—70%甲醇水提—氯仿萃取处理得到的雷公藤甲素峰分离效果最好,色谱峰保留时间为19.732 min,与标准品的保留时间基本一致,含量高出后2种方法处理样品所得到的雷公藤样品溶液约4倍以上。在制订雷公藤叶中雷公藤甲素含量测定标准时,建议采用石油醚除杂—70%甲醇水提—氯仿萃取方法进行样品处理。     

Ethnic Enclaves to Diaspora Entrepreneurs: A Critical Appraisal of Black British Africans' Transnational Entrepreneurship in London

In this article, the author examines the transition from ethnic enclave to diaspora/transnational entrepreneurship by Black African ethnic entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom through interview/case study approaches. Key issues at stake are whether diaspora/transnational entrepreneurship is a kind of adaptive process in self-actualization, economic empowerment, or competitive advantage or a strategy of reintegration with the country of origin. Leveraging duality of opportunities results in subjective successful business performance and personal contentment of the diaspora entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurship is crucial to business growth in Africa. This is particularly true with diaspora transfers to Africa playing a significant role in social, economic, and business developments.