Waqf,perpetual charity,in a general system theory of tawhidi metascience

This article is premised on the intercausal socioeconomic embedded model of ethical design of perpetual charity in Islam called waqf. Such a model is formalized according to the theory of unity of knowledge in the light of the Primal Ontology of Divine Oneness called Tawhid in the Qur'an. Tawhid is argued to be the only foundational Law of Islam respecting “everything.” The implications of such an epistemic treatment in respect of waqf as an example of the whole class of charities in Islam is shown to be unlike the dissociative and human opinionated nature of what has now come to be known as “shari'ah‐compliance.” The Islamic shortfall of “shari'ah‐compliance” and its segmentation as opposed to organically unified synergy between the socioeconomic and moral/ethical variables of the objective criterion called the Well‐being Function have deprived the entire study of the present days' Islamic economics, finance, and banking from its true epistemological core of Tawhid as Law. To restore this true foundation in Islamic thought, a theory of metascience of Tawhid is presented. Waqf in Malaysia is studied as an example from the perspective of Tawhidi unity of knowledge, contrary to its existing dissociative presence in the ethically exogenous socioeconomic treatment under “shari'ah‐compliance.”     

ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CONSUMER LIFESTYLES – USING A JAPANESE ENVIRONMENTAL INPUT–OUTPUT TABLE AND THE LINEAR EXPENDITURE SYSTEM DEMAND FUNCTION

In this study, we undertake some hypothetical experiments and predict the environmental effects of some changes in consumer behavior, using the Japanese Input–Output Table and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey for 2000. We estimate the demand function in a linear expenditure system (LES) and attempt to determine how changes in consumer behavior affect the environmental load induced by household consumption, using the ‘willingness to pay’ concept. Furthermore, we define an index to show the eco-efficiency of consumer behavior. Through such a study, we can determine what action is appropriate for a ‘sustainable consumption’ society. If some change of consumer behavior greatly improved utility while increasing the environmental load, then technological progress to reduce the environmental load must be stimulated. However, if other changes in consumer behavior increase the environmental load while not improving utility very much, then such changes should be strongly discouraged.     

The moderating role of construal level on the evaluation of emotional appeal vs. cognitive appeal advertisements

This article proposes that construal level moderates consumer evaluation of different appeals (emotional vs. cognitive appeals) in advertisements. Low-level construal is associated with close psychological distance; this condition implies that people with low-level construal can feel an emotion more intensely than those with high-level construal. Consequently, consumers with low-level construal could positively relate with the emotional appeal ad, and they would evaluate an ad with emotional appeal more favorably than an ad with cognitive appeal. However, this effect does not occur among consumers who construe information at high-level, due to the fact that they are able to focus on the central and positive features of different appeals.     

Time-varying Armington elasticity and country-of-origin bias: from the dynamic perspective of the Japanese demand for beef imports

Elasticities of substitution, often called Armington elasticities, reflect incomplete substitutability because of perceived product characteristics. This study divides the determinants of the Japanese demand for beef imports into two factors: (i) substitution elasticity and (ii) country-of-origin bias, and demonstrate how these measurements are associated with trade policy and food scare events. The Japanese beef industry serves as a case study to evaluate the multifold impact of import liberalisation and a series of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreaks. A time-varying parameter model is used to shed light on the dynamic effects of the import liberalisation and BSE outbreaks on the measurements. The estimation results reveal that the estimated substitutability and country-of-origin bias are very sensitive to the BSE cases, but not to the process of trade liberalisation. The results also confirm that as a result of the BSE outbreaks, the major factor of the Japanese demand for beef imports has changed from relative prices to the country-of-origin effect, thereby emphasising the importance of a traceability system and promotional activities, which would help in the formation of the country-of-origin effect.     

Reducing Agricultural Income Vulnerabilities through Agroforestry Training: Evidence from a Randomised Field Experiment in Indonesia

Although agroforestry is recognised as a means to stabilise farm income, little work has been done to differentiate farmers based on their incomes, their capacity to diversify crops, and the economic outcomes of agroforestry adoption. By distinguishing between high- and low-income farmers, this paper examines how agricultural training affects agroforestry promotion, and evaluates its relevance for the poor, the extent of its adoption, and its economic consequences. We found that although training generally increased participants’ knowledge of agroforestry, it increased crop diversity only for low-income participants. We also detected the presence of information spillovers from participants to non-participants, which may increase crop diversity among non-participants and consequently reduce the measurable impact of training. When income heterogeneity is considered, we found that the low-income participants benefited more from increasing their incomes and expanding their social networks than the higher-income participants. We also found that agroforestry adoption helped to reduce income volatility.     

THE EMERGENCE OF EXTENDED METROPOLITAN REGIONS IN INDONESIA: JABOTABEK AND BANDUNG METROPOLITAN AREA

The Jakarta Metropolitan Region (Jabotabek) is advancing to the Bandung Metropolitan Regions (BMA) and vice versa. In fact, these two metropolitan regions are being physically integrated by giant corridors of urban regions, stretching from Serang to Cikampek, and from Bandung to Jakarta, shaping an extended metropolitan region, also called a mega-urban region. There are many factors contributing to this process, i.e. large-scale housing and new town, industrial estate, and toll road development. However, this development has created many environmental problems that should be taken into consideration in formulating development policy for the future in order to avoid environmental collapse.     

Redevelopment along arterial streets: The effects of light rail on land use change

We use difference-in-differences approaches and parcel-level data from Minneapolis to estimate the effects of light rail on land use change using alternate definitions of treatment area. Results using circular buffers corroborate previous findings that light rail has virtually no effect on land use change in our study area. In contrast, light rail increases the likelihood of land use change along arterial streets that cross the line at station areas. To accurately model the effects of public transit projects on urban land use, one must consider how potential riders access station areas, rather than assuming accessibility improves radially around a station.