The Quality of Smallholder Cloves in Maluku: The Local Response to Domestic Demand for a High-Quality Product 1

Indonesia's cloves meet higher quality Standards than most of her other agricultural commodilies. This paper presents the results of research on Ambon, Maluku, whose smallholder clove farming System is representative of the principal system used by Indonesien clove producers, in which cloves form part of a well-diversified agricultural portfolio. The paper examines the clove marketing system, the factors involved in clove quality, and the system of quality premia and penalties applied in the marketing of cloves. The largest buyers of cloves, the major kretek cigarette companies, demand high-quality produce, because of the highly competitive domestic market and their more recent attempts to penetrate the international market. These buyers transmit their preferences along the marketing chain through the well-defined incentive system, while poorer quality cloves are bought by smaller kretek producers. The result is a system in which high quality standards are maintained.     

From Plantations to Smallholder Production: The Role of Policy in the Reorganization of the Sri Lankan Tea Sector

The Sri Lankan tea sector has changed from one dominated by vertically integrated plantations to one where independent processors of black tea purchase their input (green leaf tea) from small, independent growers. This paper provides a unifying conceptual framework to characterize three major factors affecting the changes in vertical coordination arrangements (transaction, production, and management costs). Regulation and government policy have altered these determinants of organizational change. Transaction costs have been reduced by state intervention into the price for green leaf which subsequently lowered the risk of processors re-negotiating prices downward. Production costs, which continue to be dominated by labor expenses due to the lack of technological developments for harvesting, have increased more for plantations than independent producers due to union pressures.     

人民币作为国际储备货币的前景分析:以韩国的需求为例

文章使用附加惯性、贸易和外债约束以及带交易成本的MV-DCC-GARCH模型,求解2012年第三季度至2015年第四季度韩国央行外汇储备的最优币种结构,分析人民币成为韩国储备货币后的最优权重及其动态变化,并通过情景假设模拟人民币充当韩国储备货币的前景。研究发现:人民币占比对货币收益率的刻画方式高度敏感,在随机游走和完全预见假设下,人民币的平均最优权重分别为16.37%和10.85%,在非抛补利率平价假设下,权重降至2.49%;人民币的引入主要挤占主导性国际货币尤其是美元的份额,说明央行投资方向调整客观上会造成储备多元化;汇率波动加剧不利于人民币储备地位的稳定;人民币使用惯性的增强、跨境贸易中以人民币结算比例的提高以及以人民币计价的外债增加均能增加其份额。     

Indonesian Agricultural Development: The Awkward Case of Smallholder Tree Crops 1

The problems of transforming smallholder tree crops from traditional low-yielding to modern high-yielding technology are examined, using a meta production function approach to analyse the changes. The role of government in transformation is considered, and various ‘individual’ and ‘black’ improvement schemes implemented since the 1950s are analysed. Many of these schemes have not teen successful owing to poor planning and inadequate managerial and financial support, and their coverage has been small in relation to the huge areas needing improvement. The paper suggests a more modest ‘dispasal’ approach to transformation, concerned with setting up nurseries to provide better quality planting material and advice to individual fanners. But even this revised approach should be carefully planned and executed light of previous mistakes if it is to have widespread impact.     

Building a World Class Region: Regional Strategy in the South East of England

The South East of England sits uncomfortably within the English regional project. Public support for regional government is relatively low and political appetite for a debate on its future is limited. We argue that the South East poses a problem for English regionalism. The incorporation of this economic heartland is imperative if the project it is not only to be associated with economic development and regeneration in more deprived areas. However, the South East is fragmented and fraught with tensions that institutions of regional governance cannot easily overcome. In particular this relates to the highly differential economic trajectories of different economic sub-regions and to the institutional separation of the South East from London. The future of regional government in the South East of England and the role that the region plays in the wider English regional project remain highly uncertain.     

Cooperative patronage: The National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi in Kasungu District

This paper estimates the determinants of farmers' decisions to join a rural producer organisation, the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM), in Kasungu District. Data for the study were collected in June and August 2003 using household-level questionnaires and stratified random sampling, where strata were membership status and gender. Probit analysis of 250 farmers shows that off-farm sources of income, distance of the farmer's household from Kasungu District centre, age of the farmer, tobacco farming, education, household level land holding and gender determined the decision to join NASFAM. These results suggest that farmers should be informed of the potential benefits of participating in rural development efforts, and that rural communication and information infrastructure should be improved so as to reduce the costs of information access and transactions in general, if participation in organisations such as NASFAM is to be enhanced.     

The Role of Seedyam Procurement Arrangements for Yam Production Specialisation in the Smallholder Cropping System of Anambra State,Nigeria

Abstract: Seed yam constitutes a major input for the effective production of ware yam. This study was carried out to estimate the relative economic advantages of two alternative seed yam procurement arrangements to yam production specialisation in two geographically dispersed areas. The two arrangements are the seed yam credit in Anambra Local Government Area and the own stock supply of seedyam in the Abakaliki Local Government Area. Data were collected through structured personal interview schedules from 108 farming households. Results of the study indicated amongst other things that the quantity of seedyam, size of farm and cash return were greater in the credit than in the own stock seedyam arrangement. In addition, cash flow and risk incidence were more favourable in the credit arrangement. The study concluded by recommending the extension of some of the features of the credit system to other yam producing areas so as to improve the inherently low cash returns attributed to ware yam production. Résumé: L'igname de semence constitue un facteur déterminant pour une production rentable d'ignames de consommation courante. Cette étude a été faite en vue d'évaluer les avantages économiques comparatifs entre deux options d'arrangements relatifs à la spécialisation en production d'ignames dans deux régions géographiquement éloignées. Ces deux options concernent, l'une l'octroi de crédit pour l'acquisition d'ignames de semence dans la collectivité locale d'Anambra, et l'autre la fourniture du stock d'ignames de semence par les exploitants, dans la collectivité locale d'Abakaliki. Les données ont été collectées grâce à des interviews effectuées auprès de 108 exploitants agricoles. Les conclusions de l'étude indiquent, entre autres, que la quantité d'ignames de semence, la superficie de l'exploitation et les revenus en espèces étaient plus élevés dans l'option du crédit que dans l'option de la fourniture d'ignames de semence par les exploitants eux-mêmes. Par ailleurs, la trésorerie et le taux de risque se sont révelés plus intéressants dans l'option du crédit. L'étude a conclu en formulant une recommandation en faveur de l'extension de certaines clauses du système de crédit aux autres régions productrices d'ignames afin d'améliorer les faibles revenus qui caractérisent la production d'ignames de consommation courante.     

Flight to Quality in International Markets: Investors’ Demand for Financial Reporting Quality during Political Uncertainty Events

We examine whether international equity mutual fund managers shift their portfolios toward stocks with higher financial reporting quality (FRQ) during periods of high political uncertainty. Our study is motivated by two primary factors. First, prior research shows evidence of fund managers’ “flight to quality” (e.g., to less risky securities) during periods of uncertainty. Second, recent theoretical research concludes that stocks with higher FRQ are assessed as less sensitive to systematic risk (such as political uncertainty). We employ national elections as exogenous increases in systematic risk in the local markets and accordingly use an international sample of mutual funds that focus on local markets. We find that mutual fund managers shift their equity holdings to stocks with higher FRQ during election periods when political uncertainty is higher. Such a flight‐to‐quality effect is less pronounced for elections with larger expected electoral margins in the pre‐election period (i.e., when the incumbent is more likely to win the election) and for countries with higher transactions costs. In contrast, the effect is more pronounced when governments have greater involvement in the local economy. Our inferences are robust to alternative proxies for political uncertainty and FRQ and to numerous other sensitivity analyses.     

Poor health as a precursor to consumer debt distress in South Africa

While it is well documented that severe consumer indebtedness can lead to mental and physical health problems including unhealthy coping mechanisms, the pathways from poor health to financial strain is still an understudied area. Using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data, this study examines the relationship between poor health and debt distress while controlling for the possible endogeneity between these two conditions and some health-related variables. The results indicate that poor health significantly increases the probability of financial strain. Insofar as poor health is associated with catastrophic healthcare costs and income deprivation, for instance through inability to work, other factors affecting health such as socioeconomic status and insurance might shape the contours of consumers’ debt performances in the face of health risk. Ultimately, health may be creating a vicious circle in which poor health affects the capacity to earn income and accumulate assets, which limits access to quality healthcare.     

由欧洲五维健康量表衡量的健康相关生活质量的决定:来自中国北京的数据

本文通过检验由欧洲五维健康量表(EQ5D)衡量的中国健康相关的生活质量(HealthRelatedQualityofLife,HRQoL)与深受改革进程影响的社会、经济和医疗系统指标之间的关系,考察了当前的经济转型对中国人健康状况的潜在效应。本文的数据取自2000年北京家庭健康调查,包括了2994名年龄12岁或以上的中国受访者。我们利用结合OLS模型和2SLS模型的健康生产函数分析估计了健康相关的生活质量指标和社会、经济及医疗系统指标之间的关系。本研究有如下三个主要发现。首先,就业状况和财产状况是中国人口健康相关的生活质量的主要潜在决定因素。其次,对于中年组(35岁至65岁)、男性和患有慢性疾病者而言,失业对健康相关的生活质量的潜在影响甚至还要更大。第三,尽管医疗保险覆盖状况是医疗服务利用的主要的潜在决定因素,但后者与总体人口健康相关的生活质量的联系却相当有限。     

提高服务质量引导企业积极开拓国际市场——访中国对外承包工程商会会长刁春和

6月23日，民政部在人民大会堂隆重召开“全国性行业协会商会评估授牌大会”。并向获得3A以上评估等级的全国性行业协会商会颁发牌匾。中国对外承包工程商会（以下简称“承包商会”）在此次评估中获得最高级别5A等级。为此，本刊记者采访了承包商会会长刁春和。