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Bounds test cointegration approach to examine factors contributing to declining maternal mortality ratio in Sudan (1969-2015)
Get PDFAbstract. Unlike other studies in the field of maternal health, the objective of this study is to examine the contribution of some socioeconomic, demographic and health care factors to the declining trend of maternal mortality ratio MMR in Sudan over the period 1969-2015. The study employs econometric techniques including the OLS, cointegration methods of Johansen and autoregressive distributed lag ARDL bounds tests and Granger causality analysis. The OLS shows that economic growth measured by GDP has significant bad affect on MRR but it has more significant good effect when measured by GDP per capita GDPP. Declining fertility rates lead to declines in MMR. Health expenditure has no effect on MMR. The ARDL bounds test shows existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between MMR and its explanatory variables. In both the short run and long run, declines in MMR are explained by GDPP and fertility but badly affected by GDP. In contrast, health care factors have no effects on MMR. Granger causality test shows a unidirectional relationship running from economic growth measured by GDP and GDPP to MMR with no sign of feedback effect. Bidirectional relationships between MMR and fertility rate, MMR and health expenditure, as well as between MMR and the number of physicians per 100,000 people have been established. The study recommends that the government should ensure stable and inclusive economic growth. There is a need to increase resources to maternal and reproductive health with emphasis on the number of physicians per 100,000 people in order to move forward to the SDGs.Keywords. Maternal mortality, GDP, Fertility, Health care, Cointegration, ARDL, Sudan.JEL. C13, C32, C51, H51, I15
Public relations perspectives on electoral reforms as a panacea for consolidating Nigeria’s democracy
Get PDFAbstract. Electoral reforms have been considered as sustainable means of improving on the quality of elections in Nigeria, this is especially as it avails the country, tremendous opportunities in admitting new policies such as new techniques, technologies and improved systems of protecting the welfare of electorates. It is evident from the literature that, public relations overtime has been a unifying factor in accelerating Nigeria’s democracy and sustaining its need for periodic elections and encouraging the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Based on the level of malpractices and issues associated with the conduct of elections in Nigeria, it was concluded in this paper that, there are several benefits attached to the process of electoral reforms in Nigeria, hence, it gives government the opportunity to revamp its electoral policies through campaigns, introduction of new technologies, voting and more importantly, the nature of conducting elections bearing in mind that, poorly adopted electoral policies normally lead to the outbreak of crisis from aggrieved parties. It is recommended amongst others that, government at all levels should consider periodic electoral reforms as a strategy for development and as such; they should ensure that only people with credibility are charged with the mandate of presiding over electoral reform committees (ERC).Keywords. Electoral reforms, Public relations, Democracy and elections.JEL. D72, D73, D78
A peace journalism approach to understanding the role of the media in the land disputes in Kenya
Get PDFAbstract. Kenya is generally recognized as one of the most conflict prone countries in Africa, at least amongst those with a stable form of government. Kenya in recent years have been plagued by violence in the form of communal, radical islamists violence, land disputes, ethnic violence, hate speech, amongst others. The government have tried different ways of combating and mitigating this violence that has become a recurring problem in the region, however the disputes and conflicts seems to go on abated. Scholars from all over the world have studied on the role of the media in conflict management and have arrived at different conclusions – some found out that media contributes significantly to violence and can even be the cause of violence while others say the mass media can be a tool to promote peace and peace co-existence. This therefore aims to find out the how the Kenyan press reports conflict. The aim is to find out whether or not they make use of peace journalism approach to reporting on conflict. The findings of this study shows that the Kenyan press is not contributing to peace and is in fact inciting violence judging by the choice of words used in the news stories.Keywords. Kenya, Land conflicts, Journalism, Peace journalism.JEL. D71, D72, D74, F51
Interrelationships between Violent crime, demographic and socioeconomic factors: a preliminary analysis between Central-Northern European countries and Mediterranean countries
Get PDFAbstract. The paper here investigates possible relationships between violent crime, migration and unemployment. Results seem to show an association between some crimes - such as theft, assaults and sexual violence- and immigration but not between intentional homicides and immigration. Preliminary evidence also suggests that intentional homicides are associated with high rates of unemployment, linking this violent crime to socioeconomic and situational factors within countries. In addition, unlike commonplace opinions, statistical evidence here reveals that rich countries have levels of violent crime higher than poor countries. Especially, violent crime in central-northern European regions (geo-economic areas with high GDP per capita, e.g., Germany, Finland, Norway, etc.) is higher than Mediterranean countries with lower GDP per capita (e.g., Greece, Italy, Spain, etc.). These conclusions are of course tentative. There is need for much more detailed research into the relations between unemployment, immigration and violent crime to explain general causes of these social issues in modern economies. This study concludes with some socioeconomic implications and explanations. Keywords. Violent crime, Violence, Theft, Sexual violence, Intentional homicides, Immigrants, Migration, Unemployment, Europe, Poverty, Mediterranean countries.JEL. C10, I30, J10, J11, J15, J20, J60, J61, J62, O15
Improving a business: Case study of a front-line organization
Get PDFAbstract. This paper is a case-study of a retail business, located in the Washington DC metropolitan area, based on one of the authors work experiences. The authors apply Deming’s organizational theory, as well as Harvey’s, Ivanov’s, and several other theorists’ ideas to evaluate the organizational system and work processes of this corporation at the front-line. Based on this study, the authors develop several general recommendations to management that may apply to all organizations facing similar issues, and also hope this paper continues the theoretical development of systemic organizational principles.Keywords. Organizational systems, W. Edwards Deming, Jerry B. Harvey, Organizational improvement, Management diseases.JEL. A10, A13, A14
The socio-economic and business relationships between Turkish and Nigeria
Get PDFAbstract. Nigeria is a country colonized by Britain in 19th century and got its independence in 1960 with the condition of remaining as one of the Commonwealth of Nations. Nigeria is a West African Nation with apopulation of 200 million people. Is a country endowed with many natural resources and at the same time the highest petrol exporter among African countries. Nigeria has also huge amount of Natural Gas. The country has 910.802 km2 of land mass. %49.9 of Nigerians live in urban centres while %51.1 live in village areas. As a result of the fall of petrol prices in 2014 Nigeria’s economy has decreased by -%6.3 and later appreciated a litle bit by %2.7. In 2016 the economy has decreased by -%2.2. The inflation rate in 2015 was %9 while it doubled to %18.8 in 2016. The major challenges of Nigeria’s economic growth are the lack of enough investors, energy bottleneck, bad leadership and inadequate Access to fund for private sector. Another problem faced by the economy of Nigeria is bribery and corruption. Additionally, the Boko Haram crises make foreign investors to run away from the country. The attacks on oil companies, wells and installation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region together with the abduction of foreign nationals have negatively affected Nigeria’s economy. As a result of these poverty and joblessness become the order of the day. Nigeria being rich in petrol and natural gas resources can be said to become Turkey’s strategic business partner. Turkey Nigeria relationship dated back to 1960s. Since this period to date, Turkey and Nigeria cooperated in the areas of economic development, education and defence. There are almost 3 thousand Nigerian studentsstudying in different Universities across Turkey. In 2015 25 thousand Nigerian tourists visited Turkey. In the last years due to the ability of 19 Turkish Universities to be among the best Universities in the world, Turkey has experinced great flood of foreign students. Due to this the review of the economic resources of the two countries will benefit both. In this work Turkey-Nigeria economic relationships would be examined and analysed. Keywords. Education, Health, Trade and socio-economic relationship, Nigeria, Turkey.JEL. F10, F13, F18
Debt, equity, universal banking and Islamic finance: A note
Get PDFAbstract. This brief note looks at the suggested use of universal banking as a tool to mitigating risk in financing operations’ arising at both ends of the market – demand and supply. It concludes that the issue of adopting universal banking in the Islamic system is of little significance for risk reduction. It essentially raises the issue of mega banks versus smaller units in the Islamic system where the discretion would opt for the latter. Keywords. Equity versus debt financing, Universal banking, Islamic finance.JEL. D10, D11, E20
Influence of human resources development on green accounting performance
Get PDFAbstract. The investors in the contemporary world consider environmental responsibility as one of the most vital elements. In this case; green accounting refers to the act of identifying, tracking, analyzing, and reporting the cost information and materials associated with an organization’s environmental elements. It is an initiative that maintains the GA quality through its mandate of recruiting, compensating, developing, training, and advancing the company’s human capital. Green accounting plays a primary role in tackling the underlying social and environmental challenges. Based on this consideration, the organizations often make investment decisions by comparing social and private costs with the social and private benefits. This conceptual paper discusses the influences of HRD on GA and offer implications for theory and practices. Keywords. Human resources development, Green accounting, Social responsibility.JEL. O10, O15, O19
What drives housing consumption in China? Based on a dynamic optimal general equilibrium model and spatial panel data analysis
Get PDFAbstract. This paper examines the housing sales in China from 2004 to 2015 utilizing an optimal dynamic general equilibrium theoretical framework combined with a macroeconomic model. The spatial panel econometric empirical results suggest that housing prices and economic growth have increased housing sales in China. However, since house is considered as a special commodity in China, and unemployment show negative impacts on housing sales.Keywords. Energy use, Housing values, Optimal dynamic general equilibrium, Spatial panel econometrics, China.JEL. Q41, R31, E10
An empirical assessment of exchange arrangements and inflation performance
Get PDFAbstract. This article provides empirical support for the hypothesis that different exchange rate regimes have an impact on inflation in advanced, emerging and developing countries. The effects of different exchange rate regimes on inflation performance are examined through least squares dummy variables regressions using panel data on 125 countries for the post-Bretton Woods (1974-1999) period. Also, this article addresses the issue of measurement errors in the classification of exchange rate regimes by using four different classification schemes. Three de facto and one de jure classifications are used. Consequently, the sensitivity of these results to alternative exchange rate classifications is also tested. The empirical findings indicate that countries with fixed regimes tend to have a lower inflation rate compared to floating and intermediate exchange rate regimes, particularly in emerging and developing countries.Keywords. Exchange rate regimes, Inflation.JEL. E31, F31, F33