Impact of conservation agriculture technology on household welfare in Zambia

This article examines the determinants and impact of conservation agriculture (CA) technology adoption on farm household welfare in Zambia. To account for selection bias from both observable and unobservable factors, an endogenous switching regression model is employed to estimate the impact of the technology on continuous outcomes like farm output, throughput accounting ratio (TAR), poverty gap, and severity of poverty. A recursive bivariate probit model is however used for the estimation of impact of adoption on a binary outcome like poverty headcount. The empirical findings demonstrate that the adoption of CA technology increases maize output, and farm TAR and reduces household poverty. Moreover, the results reveal that farmers’ years of schooling, social networks, access to credit, extension services, and machinery as well as soil quality positively influence adoption of CA technology.     

Can Micro Health Insurance Reduce Poverty? Evidence From Bangladesh

This article examines the impact of micro health insurance on poverty reduction in rural areas of Bangladesh. The research is based on household‐level primary data collected from the operating areas of the Grameen Bank during 2006. A number of outcome measures are considered; these include household income, stability of household income via food sufficiency and ownership of nonland assets, and the probability of being above or below the poverty line. The results show that micro health insurance has a positive association with all of these indicators, and this is statistically significant and quantitatively important for food sufficiency.     

The Impact of the UK Price Codes on Accounting Functions in Organisations: A Power Perspective

The literature on pricing has hardly used the concepts of organisation theory to emphasise the internal factors that seem to influence the mechanics of pricing decisions. It is this missing theme to which this article attempts to draw attention by arguing that pricing decisions are influenced by organisational subunits ‘power which is not necessarily constant over time. This was made possible by examining the impact of the Price Commission, which operated in the UK between 1973 and 1979, on companies’ pricing decision making processes.     

Entrenched Board in New Public Firms： An Empirical Study of Chinese IPOs

This study empirically investigates the impact of managerial entrenchment on firm financial performance of Chinese firms initial public offerings （IPOs）. Using 142 firms listed in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange （SZSE）, which was collected from the Guotaian Research Service Center （GTA-RSC） databases, this study uses two proxies to measure firm performance and three proxies to measure managerial entrenchment. The two proxies for firm performance are Tobins＇ Q and return on assets （ROA）, and the three proxies for managerial entrenchment are entrenchment 1, entrenchment 2, and entrenchment 3. These three entrenchment proxies are derived from the principal component analysis （PCA）. Though previous studies of managerial entrenchment and firm performance variables suffer from endogeneity, with respect to the corporate governance it is unclear as to which variables are endogenous and which are exogenous. This study confirms that the data are linear and no endogeneity issue should be address in this study, but only heteroskedasticity, non-normality for Tobins＇ Q are a problem, therefore, the regression method employed for Tobins＇ Q is the generalised least square （GLS） and the ordinary least square （OLS） between estimators for ROA. The regression result for Tobins＇ Q reveals that managerial entrenchment is negatively impact on firm performance. The results are in contradiction to the stewardship theory for new firms whereas the managerial entrenchment for new firms is positive. Furthermore, only one entrenchment proxy yields a significant coefficient. In conclusion, the negative results of entrenchment proxies were caused by the different institutional structures and legal systems which are the Chinese corporations that are still largely owned and controlled by a state and hence the centralised state controlled was responsible for all managerial actions.     

How should Central Banks Respond to Non-neutral Inflation Expectations?

This paper investigates the net real inflation effect on output in ten countries, comprising both advanced and developing countries. An indicator is introduced to compute the net inflation effect on output (NIEO) based on the difference between two concepts of core inflation, where both are computed using the decomposition of VAR residuals. We find that for all countries, when inflation is increasing the NIEO is significantly positive and is negative during periods of decreasing inflation. Typically, countries which follow anti-inflationary policies if the NIEO is of small magnitude suffer relatively minimal damage in output, whereas if the same policies are undertaken when the NIEO is large the damaging effects on output could be much greater. This suggests that the NIEO could be a useful indicator of the likely effects of policy, especially for countries which have frequent episodes of high inflation, and in those countries which employ inflation-targeting policy, as the timing of monetary policy actions could be optimized to take account of this real effect of inflation.     

DOES EDUCATION REDUCE INCOME INEQUALITY? A META‐REGRESSION ANALYSIS

This paper reexamines the effects of education on inequality through a comprehensive meta‐regression analysis of the extant empirical literature. We find that education affects the two tails of the distribution of income: Education reduces the income share of top earners and increases the share of the bottom earners. Education has been particularly effective in reducing inequality in Africa. Some of the results suggest that secondary schooling appears to have a stronger effect than primary schooling, though this finding is not always robust. The heterogeneity in reported estimates can be largely explained by differences in the specification of the econometric model and measure of inequality and education.     

Managing External Risks for International Architectural,Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Firms Operating in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States

International projects involve both uncertainties raised domestically and external risks in international transactions. Through a questionnaire survey and case studies among architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms operating in the Gulf, this study found 36.5% external risk factors that should be contemplated before the award of contracts and 53.9% afterward to ensure smooth running. An external risk breakdown structure (E‐RBS) and a framework for foreign AEC firms operating in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states were developed for users to identify and respond to external risks in a more systematic manner. International firms outside Malaysia are strongly advised to use the framework for risk forecasting and mitigation when operating in the Gulf.     

FOOD SECURITY AND LOW‐INCOME HOUSEHOLDS IN THE MALAYSIAN EAST COAST ECONOMIC REGION: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

This research, conducted to analyze the level of food security among poor and low‐income households in the east coast economic region of Malaysia, uses primary data of 460 families from the E‐Kasih poor households database, based on a cluster random sampling technique. Food security levels were measured using the United States Agency for International Development Household Food Insecurity Access model. Findings indicate that 52.8% of households are food secure, 23.3% mildly food insecure, 14.3% moderately food insecure, and 9.6% are severely food insecure. These findings are very important to assist policymakers to achieve Vision 2020 and the targets of Malaysian National Plans regarding food security, socioeconomic development, and the alleviation of poverty. The involvement of private sector and community‐based organizations are important to combat short run, seasonal, and event‐related risks, as well as for the development of appropriate mitigation and adaptation options to ensure sustainable food security at household level in Malaysia.     

Setting the course for quality assurance in higher education

While the application of quality management and total quality management in higher education (HE) are discussed in literature, quality assurance (QA) of academic programs—the main services offered by higher education institutes (HEIs)—is yet to be fully understood. Scepticism prevails on how the principles of QA—having origin in manufacturing sector—can be applied in HE. The main question addressed in this article is ‘how the academic processes can be designed for QA?’ This paper suggests the use of systems approach for a number of reasons: first systems approach brings wide range of stakeholders into organisational consciousness. Second, it allows deployment of QA strategically through the development of a mission for the HEI. Third, it allows alignment and realignment of academic processes with the mission of the HEI. Finally, it allows systematic management of QA implementation with an essential focus on continual improvement. The mentioned elements are embodied in a framework consisting of a list of diagnostic questions to guide the integration of QA into academic processes. The framework should help HEIs integrate QA into academic programs with continual improvement as an essential ingredient.     

The determination on taxable income of land and building sectors in the implementation of autonomy and increasing income in North Sumatra,Medan, Indonesia

Regional autonomy, as the implementation of Law no. 32 of 2004 and Law no. 33 of 2004, provides an opportunity for the Regional Government to autonomously complete its economic development based on the potential of economic resources in its territory. This article focuses on the value of tax object sales (NJOP) using primary data to analyze stakeholder perceptions and secondary data for path equation analysis. The results showed simultaneously variables of economic growth and population density significantly affect the NJOP at 95% confidence level. Partially, the variable of economic growth and population density significantly influence to NJOP at 95% confidence level.