Jenifer Piesse

The Impact of Research-Led Agricultural Productivity Growth on Poverty Reduction in Africa, Asia and Latin America

Twenty percent of the world population, or 1.2 billion live on less than

Can GM-technologies help the poor? The impact of Bt cotton in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal

1 per day; 70% of these are rural and 90% in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Research led technological change in agriculture generates sufficient productivity growth to give high rates of return in Africa and Asia and has a substantial impact on poverty, currently reducing this number by 27 million per annum, whereas productivity growth in industry and services has no impact. The per capital cost of poverty reduction by means of agricultural research expenditures in Africa is

Equity Market Integration Versus Segmentation in Three Dominant Markets of the Southern African Customs Union: Cointegration and Causality Tests

144 and in Asia

Multi-Factor Agricultural Productivity, Efficiency and Convergence in Botswana, 1981-1996

180, or 50 cents per day, but this is covered by output growth. By contrast, the per capita cost for the richer countries of Latin America is over

Agricultural R&D, technology and productivity

11,000.

CAPM anomalies and the pricing of equity: evidence from the Hong Kong market

Abstract The results of a two-year survey of smallholders in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal show that farmers who adopted Bt cotton in 1999–2000 benefited according to all the measures used. Higher yields and lower chemical costs outweighed higher seed costs, giving higher gross margins. These measures showed negative benefits in 1998–99, which conflicts with continued adoption, but stochastic efficiency frontier estimation, which takes account of the labor saved, showed that adopters averaged 88% efficiency, as compared with 66% for the nonadopters. In 1999–2000, when late rains lowered yields, the gap widened to 74% for adopters and 48% for nonadopters.

Identification of corporate distress in UK industrials: a conditional probability analysis approach

Empirical tests of theories of financial market integration and segmentation have predominantly focused on developed OECD countries and the emerging markets of Asia Pacific. This study uses a unique panel of equity market indices from the principal Southern African Customs Union (SACU) markets. It tests the hypothesis of market integration using a cointegration approach. Markets that are found to be integrated are then tested for evidence of Granger causality through an error correction mechanism. Results obtained using VAR modelling techniques are compared to those using an ARDL model. While results lend support to existing trade, macroeconomic and developmental linkages and effects between and within the countries, there is some evidence for the presence of a regional factor common to African Emerging Markets that explains causality from Namibia to South Africa. The results support the view that institution building has progressed, which is considered to be a valuable contribution to growth promotion policies in SSA and market integration throughout financial markets in the SADC community.

On the organisation of agricultural research in the United Kingdom, 1945-1994: A quantitative description and appraisal of recent reforms

Abstract This paper applies the sequential Malmquist index to calculate multi-lateral, multi-factor productivity (MFP) indices for agriculture in the 18 districts and the commercial sector of Botswana from 1981 to 1996. The MFP index grew at an average rate of 1.7% per annum, led by the regions that specialize in livestock, which grew at well over 3% per annum. This growth was powered by technological change at 4% per year, but offset by technical efficiency falling at 2.4% per annum, as the commercial sector and the better regions exploited new technologies and infrastructure, whereas the less productive areas fell further behind the best practice frontier. Thus, convergence tests show that the gap between the more productive and the poorer regions widened.

Financial Development and Growth in Transition Countries: A Study of Central Asia

The relationships between basic and applied agricultural R&D, developed and developing country R&D and between R&D, extension, technology and productivity growth are outlined. The declining growth rates of public R&D expenditures are related to output growth and crop yields, where growth rates have also fallen, especially in the developed countries. However, growth in output value per hectare has not declined in the developing countries and labour productivity growth has increased except in the EU. Total factor productivity has generally increased, however it is measured. The public sector share of R&D expenditures has fallen and there has been rapid concentration in the private sector, where six multinationals now dominate. These companies are accumulating intellectual property to an extent that the public and international institutions are disadvantaged. This represents a threat to the global commons in agricultural technology on which the green revolution has depended. Estimates of the increased R&D expenditures needed to feed 9 billion people by 2050 and how these should be targeted, especially by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), show that the amounts are feasible and that targeting sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia can best increase output growth and reduce poverty. Lack of income growth in SSA is seen as the most insoluble problem.

Corporate Performance and Governance in Malaysia

Using a sample of equity stocks traded on the Hong Kong stock market, this study examines empirically the independent and joint roles of the more commonly hypothesized variables in explaining cross-sectional variation in average returns over the period from January 1980 to December 1994. Evidence indicates that beta, book leverage, earnings-price ratio and dividend yield are not priced, whereas significant book-to-market equity, market leverage (absorbed by book-to-market equity), size, and share price effects are observed. The findings should prove valuable in portfolio management and corporate financial decisions.