Modelling price transmission and volatility spillover in the Slovenian wheat market

Interdependence between first and second moments of producer and consumer wheat prices in Slovenia is assessed, in light of the recent major historical events that the country has undergone, as well as the recent rumours of cartel agreements between millers causing a decline in farm-gate prices, while leaving consumer prices untouched. A threshold vector error correction and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model with exogenous variables is applied. Results indicate that price-level adjustments mainly favour retailers by increasing their marketing margins. Important second-moment interactions are also identified. Increases in international wheat stocks reduce producer prices, while higher interest rates increase their instability.     

Changing consumption patterns in rural Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Despite rapid urbanization, more than 75% of the people still live in rural areas. The density of the rural population is also one of the highest in the world. Being a poor and low‐income country, however, Bangladesh's main challenge is to eradicate poverty by increasing equitable income. The gross domestic product of Bangladesh is growing steadily, and the country has outperformed many low‐income countries in terms of several social indicators. Bangladesh has achieved the Millennium Development Goal of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary school enrolment. A sharp decline in child and infant mortality rates, increased per capita income, and improved food security have placed Bangladesh on the track to achieving the status of a middle‐income country in the near future. All these developments have influenced the consumption patterns of the country. This study explored the consumption scenario of rural Bangladesh. Data were collected through direct observations and semi‐structured interviews. Information regarding the consumption of food, clothing, housing, education and medical facilities were collected, and qualitative methods were applied to the data analysis. The findings of this study suggested that the consumption patterns of rural Bangladeshis are changing over time along with economic and social development.     

The Coastal Community Perception on the Socio-Economic Impacts of Agro-Tourism Activities in Coastal Villages in Malaysia

This paper is concerned with the socio-economic impacts of agro-tourism activities in coastal villages listed as Desa Wawasan Nelayan (DWN) in Malaysia. The paper discussed the impacts of the two major components of socio-economics dynamics, namely social and economic activities. This account highlights a number of discussions with specific reference to DWN in Malaysia. It identifies the similarities and differences with regard to socio-economic impact, and it is expected that these points will be of practical use for other agro-tourism areas around the globe, and help to increase interest in agro-tourism activities.     

A Conditional Role-Involved Purpose-Based Access Control Model

This paper presents a conditional role-involved purpose-based access control (CPAC) model, where users dynamically activate conditional roles in accordance with the context attributes. Based on conditional role, access permissions are assigned that represent what can be accessed for what purpose to roles under certain conditions. On the other hand, conditional purpose is applied along with allowed purpose and prohibited purpose in the model. It allows users using some data for certain purpose with conditions (for instance, Tony agrees that his income information can be used for marketing purposes by removing his name). The structure of a CPAC model is defined and investigated. Access purpose is verified in a dynamic behavior, based on user attributes, context attributes, and authorization policies. Intended purposes are dynamically associated with the requested data object during the access decision. An algorithm is developed to achieve the compliance computation between access purposes and intended purposes and is illustrated with role-based access control (RBAC). Access purpose authorization and authentication in the model are studied with the hierarchical purpose structure. The model separates authorization of access purpose from access decision that improves the flexibility of private data control.     

城市创新文化建设的国际比较分析

以东京、巴塞罗那和曼彻斯特三个典型的创新型城市为对象,从环境条件(可视层)、制度行为(制度层)和价值理念(精神层)三个层面对其城市创新文化建设进行了比较分析。得出对我国创新型城市创新文化建设的启示:从传统文化中汲取养分,倡导创新观念、营造创新氛围;规划文化发展,整合创新资源,培养、引进各类优秀人才;完善创新机制,激发创新活力。     

Real Exchange Rate Changes and the Trade Balance: The Evidence from Pakistan

This study uses quarterly data from July 1980 to June 2006 to explore the relationship between changes in real exchange rate and the trade balance of Pakistan. Applying the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration, we examine the existence of a possible long-run relationship. We find the following: (1) a long-run relationship between the series exists, and (2) the coefficient of elasticity is negative and statistically significant, which does not support for the J-relation.

Given this, the policymakers should take a conservative approach in using currency devaluation to cure the fundamental disequilibrium in the balance of payments. It is likely that such policy may not produce the desired outcome—i.e., the trade balance may not improve.     

R-estimation of the parameters of a multiple regression model with measurement errors

We consider the theory of R-estimation of the regression parameters of a multiple regression models with measurement errors. Using the standard linear rank statistics, R-estimators are defined and their asymptotic properties are studied as robust alternatives to the least squares estimator. This paper fills the gap of the rank theory for the estimation of regression parameters with measurement error models. Some simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the R-estimators.     

Analysis of rural activity spaces and transport disadvantage using a multi-method approach

Current knowledge about the relationship between transport disadvantage and activity space size is limited to urban areas, and as a result, very little is known about this link in a rural context. In addition, although research has identified transport disadvantaged groups based on their size of activity space, these studies have, however, not empirically explained such differences and the result is often a poor identification of the problems facing disadvantaged groups. Research has shown that transport disadvantage varies over time. The static nature of analysis using the activity space concept in previous research studies has lacked the ability to identify transport disadvantage in time. Activity space is a dynamic concept; and therefore possesses a great potential in capturing temporal variations in behaviour and access opportunities. This research derives measures of the size and fullness of activity spaces for 157 individuals for weekdays, weekends, and for a week using weekly activity-travel diary data from three case study areas located in rural Northern Ireland. Four focus groups were also conducted in order to triangulate quantitative findings and to explain the differences between different socio-spatial groups. The findings of this research show that despite having a smaller sized activity space, individuals were not disadvantaged because they were able to access their required activities locally. Car-ownership was found to be an important life line in rural areas. Temporal disaggregation of the data reveals that this is true only on weekends due to a lack of public transport services. In addition, despite activity spaces being at a similar size, the fullness of activity spaces of low-income individuals was found to be significantly lower compared to their high-income counterparts. Focus group data shows that financial constraint, poor connections both between public transport services and between transport routes and opportunities forced individuals to participate in activities located along the main transport corridors.     

Shadow Banking Credit Intermediation： Determinants of Default Risks in Securitization and Collateralization

The growth in shadow banking system over the past few years is acknowledged as the key risk to Malaysia＇s financial stability. This is because that it is associated with growth in the household debts extended by the shadow banks. In line with initiatives by the Bank Negara Malaysia （the Central Bank of Malaysia） to enhance surveillance on the activities of the shadow banks in Malaysia, this study attempts to examine the determinants of default risks of shadow banks restricting to focus on their two main activities： securitization and collateralization. The results provide empirical evidence that future methodology to examine the systemic risks in the shadow banking system may need to account for additional explanatory variables that measure collateralized assets that are being intermediated.