Impact of off-farm income on food security and nutrition in Nigeria

While the poverty implications of off-farm income have been analyzed in different developing countries, much less is known about the impact of off-farm income on household food security and nutrition. Here, this research gap is addressed by using farm survey data from Nigeria. Econometric analyses are employed to examine the mechanisms through which off-farm income affects household calorie and micronutrient supply, dietary quality, and child anthropometry. We find that off-farm income has a positive net effect on food security and nutrition. The prevalence of child stunting, underweight, and wasting is lower in households with off-farm income than in households without. Using a structural model, we also show that off-farm income contributes to higher food production and farm income by easing capital constraints, thus improving household welfare in multiple ways.     

Geography, institutions, and the making of comparative development

While the direct impact of geographic endowments on prosperity is present in all countries, in former colonies, geography has also affected colonization policies and, therefore, institutional outcomes. Using non-colonized countries as a control group, I re-examine the theories put forward by La Porta et al. (J Law Econ Org 15(1):222–279, 1999 and Acemoglu et al. (Am Econ Rev 91(5), 1369–1401, 2001. I find strong support for both theories, but also evidence that the authors’ estimates of the impact of colonization on institutions and growth are biased, since they confound the effect of the historical determinants of institutions with the direct impact of geographic endowments on development. In a baseline estimation, I find that the approach of Acemoglu et al. (2001) overestimates the importance of institutions for economic growth by 28 %, as a country’s natural disease environment affected settler mortality during colonization and also has a direct impact on prosperity. The approach of La Porta et al. (1999) underestimates the importance of colonization-imposed legal origin for institutional development by 63 %, as Britain tended to colonize countries that are remote from Europe and thus suffer from low access to international markets.     

Dynamic pairs trading using the stochastic control approach

We propose a model for analyzing dynamic pairs trading strategies using the stochastic control approach. The model is explored in an optimal portfolio setting, where the portfolio consists of a bank account and two co-integrated stocks and the objective is to maximize for a fixed time horizon, the expected terminal utility of wealth. For the exponential utility function, we reduce the problem to a linear parabolic partial differential equation which can be solved in closed form. In particular, we exhibit the optimal positions in the two stocks.     

The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Global Seaborne Hard Coal Market: Are there Implications for the Future?

The global financial crisis in 2008 sent commodity markets spinning which caused demand to erode, price levels to quickly plummet and project financing costs to rise. In this paper, the authors examine the impacts the economic slowdown has had on the global seaborne hard coal market looking at the impacts for both coking (metallurgical) and thermal (steam) coals including pricing, supply availability, demand and aggregated mine level production costs. The hard coal market experienced a significant slow down; the commodity has bounced back strongly in 2010 driven by strong Asian demand at growth rates above historic levels and strong projections for the future.     

MATCHING SUBSIDIES AND VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS: A REVIEW

This paper provides a synthesis of the experimental literature on matching subsidies in the context of charitable giving. We classify results according to four different outcome variables frequently considered in the literature and address (i) short‐term effects of linear matching, (ii) the role of the matching rate, (iii) context‐dependence of behavioural responses, (iv) the relevance of the price of giving, (v) long‐term effects and (vi) nonlinear matching schemes. Based on this comprehensive review, we highlight several avenues for future research, such as putting stronger emphasis on competition in fundraising, long‐term effects or heterogeneity in responses.     

中国旅游教育发展现状与对策研究

通过对全国范围内200家旅游院校的调查,本文旨在指出中国旅游教育的特点和存在的问题,问卷显示,由于中国旅游业的不断发展,中国旅游教育院校的数量在10年中有了长足的发展。但是,在师资力量,学生实践经验以及国际化程度方面有待于进一步的提高。调查结果也显示了影响学生进入或留在旅游行业的因素中,薪酬是最重要的一个因素。     

Beyond workaholism: Towards a general model of heavy work investment

Although the term workaholism is widely used, little consensus exists about its meaning, and there is a great need for further theoretical and methodological advancement. We attempt to address this need by introducing the concept of Heavy Work Investment (HWI), and viewing workaholism as only one of its subtypes. Furthermore, we propose a model consisting of four main components: HWI, its possible predictors, its types, and its outcomes.In this model, using Weiner's (1985) attributional framework, we differentiate between situational and dispositional types of HWI, each with its own subtypes, as based on the predictors of such an investment. For example, financial-needs-based and employer-directed are situational subtypes, whereas workaholism and work-devotion are dispositional subtypes. Based on the proposed HWI model, we compare dispositional investors with situational investors.Finally, the measurement of HWI, as well as future research directions (study of situational investors, research across time and cultures, and exploration of inter-generational similarity/difference) is also discussed.     

Capstone or deadweight? Inefficiency, duplication and inequity in South Africa's tertiary education system, 1910-93

This paper presents time series on South African tertiary education.The data series presented cover inputs and outputs for the university,technical training and teacher training systems. Modern growththeory has emphasised the importance of human capital, thoughempirical studies have attempted to isolate human capital impactsthrough single aggregate measures that capture only a quantityof human capital dimension. While data analysis in the presentstudy is exploratory in nature, we show that strong qualitydifferentials exist both within and between different partsof the tertiary education system. The methodological implicationfor growth studies is that fully accounting for both the quantityand quality of human capital in aggregate human capital measuresthus faces significant measurement difficulties. The data alsoestablish that discrimination in the South African tertiaryeducation was not simply a question of underresourcing of Blackinstitutions. Quality of output was low, but attaining it wasfrequently very expensive.