From Maputo to Malabo: public agricultural spending and food security in Africa

Africa is the world’s biggest battleground in the fight against hunger. African governments and the international development community have increasingly focused on finding ways and means to end hunger and ensure the right and access to food for the continent’s burgeoning population. Public spending on agriculture is one such measure. This study examines the role government spending on agriculture has played in enhancing the state of Africa’s food security over the past 25 years. We examine the existing relationship between the two, whether this relationship varies over time and space, and whether it depends on the amount spent. We explore various aspects of food security and check whether spending on research and development follows the same patterns as the overall public agricultural spending. We find some evidence of significant beneficial effects of public agricultural spending on food security but only for the countries which allocate greater proportions of their budgets to agriculture. Spending on agricultural research and development also shows a positive impact on Africa’s food security. There also exists some evidence supporting the temporal effects of public spending. We consider that the Maputo Declaration commitment to allocate at least 10% of public spending to agriculture pertinent.     

Comparing technological hype cycles: Towards a theory

The notion of ‘hype’ is widely used and represents a tempting way to characterize developments in technological fields. The term appears in business as well as in academic domains. Consultancy firms offer technological hype cycle models to determine the state of development of technological fields in order to facilitate strategic investment decisions. In Science, Technology and Innovation Studies the concept of hype is considered in studies on the dynamics of expectations in innovation processes, which focuses on the performative force of expectations. What is still lacking is a theory of hype patterns that is able to explain the different shapes of hype cycles in different contexts. In this paper we take a first step towards closing this gap by studying and comparing the results of case studies on three hypes in three different empirical domains: voice over internet protocol (VoIP), gene therapy and high-temperature superconductivity. The cases differ in terms of the type of technology and the characteristics of the application environment. We conclude that hype patterns indeed vary a lot, and that the interplay of expectations at different levels affects the ability of a field to cope with hype and disappointment.     

Six sporting worlds. A cluster analysis of sports participation in the EU-25

The aim of this study was to identify clusters of European nations grouped by sports participation outcomes (organizational context and intensity of sports participation), in order to provide sensible groupings for international comparisons. Sports participation data for the EU-25 were distracted from the 2004 Eurobarometer survey. Both a hierarchical as a K-means clustering method was used to identify groupings of countries that are homogeneous in terms of sports participation profiles. Six clusters of countries could be identified: (i) non to average fitness countries; (ii) active club countries; (iii) average non-organized countries; (iv) average school countries; (v) active multi-context countries; and (vi) very active countries. Considerable differences in sports participation profiles between European countries are made clearer when viewed across clusters of countries grouped by actual outcomes. This empirically derived taxonomy has advantages over ad hoc systems for comparing sports participation and for deciding which countries appear to have the most comparable participation profiles. Moreover, it shows that policy strategies to increase sports participation in European countries need a differentiated approach and have to take account for the fact that the provision and intensity of sport is at a quite different level in all six sporting clusters.     

Extreme coexceedances in new EU member states’ stock markets

We analyze the financial integration of the new European Union (EU) member states’ stock markets using the negative (positive) coexceedance variable that counts the number of large negative (large positive) returns on a given day across the countries. A similar analysis is performed for the old EU countries. We use a multinomial logit model to investigate how persistence, asset classes, and volatility are related to the coexceedance variables. We find that the effects differ (a) between negative and positive coexceedance variables (b) between old and new EU member states, and (c) before and after the EU enlargement in 2004, suggesting a closer connection of new EU stock markets to those in Western Europe.     

Preparing for disaster: a comparative analysis of education for critical infrastructure collapse

This article explores policy approaches to educating populations for potential critical infrastructure collapse in five different countries: the UK, the US, Germany, Japan and New Zealand. ‘Critical infrastructure’ is not always easy to define, and indeed is defined slightly differently across countries – it includes entities vital to life, such as utilities (water, energy), transportation systems and communications, and may also include social and cultural infrastructure. The article is a mapping exercise of different approaches to critical infrastructure protection and preparedness education by the five countries. The exercise facilitates a comparison of the countries and enables us to identify distinctive characteristics of each country’s approach. We argue that contrary to what most scholars of security have argued, these national approaches diverge greatly, suggesting that they are shaped more by internal politics and culture than by global approaches.     

Smooth transition patterns in the realized stock–bond correlation

This paper explores the time variation in the stock–bond correlation using high-frequency data. Gradual transitions between regimes of negative and positive stock–bond correlation are well accommodated by the smooth transition regression (STR) model. We find that the regimes are systematically related to movements in financial and to a minor extent macroeconomic transition variables. In particular, the most informative transition variables are the short rate, the yield spread, and the VIX volatility index. Importantly, both in-sample and out-of-sample evaluation criteria show that multiple transition variable STR specifications considerably outperform single transition variable STR models. Our results are robust to different forecast horizons.     

Realized bond—stock correlation: Macroeconomic announcement effects

The authors investigate the effects of macroeconomic announcements on the realized correlation between bond and stock returns. It was found that it is not so much the surprise component of the announcement, but the mere fact that an announcement occurs that influences the realized bond—stock correlation. The impact of macroeconomic announcements varies across the business cycle. Announcement effects are highly dependent on the sign of the realized bond—stock correlation, which has recently gone from positive to negative. Macroeconomic announcement effects on realized bond and stock volatilities are also investigated. Our results are robust across 8:30 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. announcements. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 27:439—469, 2007     

Models of care in outpatient cancer centers

While rapid changes in the treatment of cancer have been driven by research-based evidence, innovations in cancer care delivery have lagged behind that seen in cancer treatment. A literature review and ten semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify models of care in the ambulatory oncology setting to be adopted by a comprehensive cancer center. Four models were identified from the literature review but none were widely recognized or adopted by administrators. Findings suggested some common themes that should be included in an optimal model of care. These themes are in support of the burgeoning efforts seen in the promotion of interprofessional education and practice for quality improvement. Unique challenges related to the contextual factors in the ambulatory oncology settings suggest quality improvement interventions should be tailored to meet the specific needs of the care facility and its workforce.