Guidelines for the role of the public sector in promoting agricultural development with particular reference to Transkei

The paper reviews past and present agricultural development initiatives in Transkei, examining the reasons why these initiatives have, on the whole, proved to be a failure. The various constraints on agriculture are outlined, and proposals for overcoming these made. Against this background, the author discusses future strategies to promote increased agricultural production, and the role of the public sector in this.     

The use of multi-criteria decision-making methods in the integrated assessment of climate change: implications for IA practitioners

Integrated assessment (IA) considers interactions of physical, biological, and human systems in order to assess long-term consequences of environmental and energy policies such as limits on greenhouse gas emissions, and other strategies to negate climate change. Users of IA face the daunting task of interpreting large amounts of data and uncertainties. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods can help users process IA data, understand policy tradeoffs, and learn how their value judgments affect decisions. We held a workshop during which climate change experts tested several MCDM methods for using IA outputs to rank hypothetical policies for abating greenhouse gas emissions. Participants also evaluated several methods for visualizing tradeoffs under both certainty and uncertainty cases. This paper explores potential roles for MCDM in IA identified during the workshop, along with implications for IA design and implementation. We summarize the workshops’ results regarding intertemporal discounting (a type of MCDM weighting judgment), visualization of impacts, how MCDM methods can help users to incorporate their background knowledge, and how MCDM can improve understanding of tradeoffs and the importance of value judgments. A key result is that the interest rates IA experts recommend for discounting future impacts depend strongly on what type of impact is being discounted, as well as upon the exact phrasing of questions used to elicit rates from the experts.     

South African consumers' opinions and consumption of soy and soy products

Interest in soy foods has increased with consumer awareness of its health benefits, especially with soy‐related ingredients being utilized as one of the major sources of high‐protein fortification. The aim of the present study was to assess South African (SA) consumers' opinion of soy and soy products through different statements on consumption, taste, protein value and healthiness. The respondents (n = 3001) for this randomized cross‐sectional study were randomly selected from metropolitan and rural areas in South Africa. Trained fieldworkers administered questionnaires by conducting face‐to‐face interviews. Fourteen statements from four sections of the questionnaire (consisting of 17 food‐related topics in total), probing information on consumers' opinion on soy and soy products, were used. Data on 81% of the respondents (n = 2437), who had heard of soy before, were used for statistical analyses. The data were weighted to be representative of the total SA population based on gender, age and race. No practically significant differences among metropolitan and rural respondents' opinion, gender or age variables regarding any statement were found. A practically significant higher percentage (>60%) of respondents in the total population and within all race groups were positive about soy and agreed that soy is a good source of protein, has many health benefits, associated soy with meat substitutes, were aware of a number of meat substitutes and agreed that soy can replace meat in their diet. Medium to large practically significant differences were found between racial groups regarding certain statements. More Blacks and Indians (76% and 68% respectively) than Whites (25%) use soy. Almost two‐thirds of Indians (65%) and Blacks (64%) eat or drink soy products, compared with only 22% for Whites, indicating that the potential target market for soy products should be chosen accordingly. Higher percentages of Blacks than Whites also indicated that they liked the taste of soy, would use more soy if it was readily available and if a bigger product range existed and would replace cow's milk with soy milk, confirming that Blacks are more positive about soy and would use even more soy if a bigger range of soy products were available. The findings from the current study indicated that more than 70% of SA consumers believe that soy has many health benefits and more than 60% already use soy. Insight gained from this first study of its kind in SA provided valuable information to developers and marketers, and signified that consumer segmentation should be taken into consideration to focus on developing more acceptable soy products that appeal to these consumer segments that are more positive towards the taste of soy and might consume soy regularly. Within the discipline of Consumer Science, efforts to inform consumers about the advantages of soy in terms of its health benefits, and to support it in terms of a greater availability of more acceptable soy products at reasonable prices, would support the ideal of informed, responsible buying decisions across all socio‐economic groups.     

A darker side of knowledge transfer following international acquisitions

We consider a knowledge flow that dominates the international acquisition context but can actually harm foreign acquired firms' performance: non–location‐specific knowledge transfer from acquirers to acquired firms (N‐LSKT). Considering its behavioral consequences, we argue that such knowledge transfer often may destabilize existing power structures in foreign acquired firms prompting conflict and power struggles, and as a result negatively affects their performance. We find support for this adverse knowledge transfer effect. Only at very high levels of N‐LSKT, when acquirers are likely to extend their own capabilities and associated power structures more completely, do the performance effects improve. Further, predeal success of acquirers and post‐deal functional integration amplify, while acquirers' strategic control over the acquired firm alleviates the generally negative effects of N‐LSKT. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fractal structures and naive trading systems: Evidence from the spot US dollar/Japanese yen

This study investigates whether daily logarithmic returns on the spot US dollar/Japanese yen (USD/Yen) for the period 3 March 1987 to 8 September 1993 displayed an underlying fractal structure. The analysis employed a rescaled range (R/S) technique, and revealed USD/Yen persistence which favoured continued depreciation of the USD. The results suggest the presence of time or memory effects in the currency. These effects were arbitrageable by speculators who by holding long Yen positions were able to earn positive returns.     

The Factors Behind Put-Call Parity Violations of S&P 100 Index Options

This paper examines the determinants of intraday violations of put-call parity of S&P 100 Index options. In particular, tobit regression analysis is used to explain the fraction of daily observations that are apparently mispriced. Compared to a previous study, a much smaller fraction (21 percent) is found of option pairs that violate parity. Dividends are found to be significant, but inversely related to the frequency of violations. The other significant explanatory variable is the options' time to expiration. When the upper bound is violated, the coefficient is positive; i.e., calls are overpriced relative to puts more often for longer term options. The coefficient for the time to expiration is significantly negative for lower bound violations.     

Technical trading system performance in the Australian share market: Some empirical evidence

This study incorporates Australian All Ordinaries Share Price Index time series data over the period 1987–1991, and firstly considers the ability of technical trading systems to generate returns greater than a Buy-Hold control. Secondly it aims to test for the weak-form efficiency of the Australian Share Market. Efficiency is considered in both the statistical context and in terms of the trading system's net returns. Statistical test results provide the Australian share market to be weak-form efficient. In confirmation of this result, none of the trading systems employed were able to earn a return greater to the Buy-Hold control strategy once transactions costs were taken into consideration.The authors are Senior Lecturer and Associate Lecturer respectively, at the Department of Economics and Finance, University of Western Sydney — Macarthur, P.O. Box 555, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, fax: 61-46-266683. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the valuable comments received from M. Aiken and participants at the Third International Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets.