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Do we need to focus beyond remittances from female migrants? Development of a Women's Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI)
No full textA presentation in a session discussing the uses and impacts of three different empowerment indexes: The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI) and the Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI) across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The presentations are followed by a panel discussion. The interdisciplinary panel, inclusive of an researchers and policymakers will engage in the discussion to answer the following questions:
To what extent do these quantitative indexes go beyond the analysis of differentiated roles, experiences, and perception gaps?
Does this body of research facilitate policy discussions to explore and address the underlying structural causes, norms, and power relations that underlie differences in empowerment?
What else is needed for gender-transformative policy changes
Performance persistence of socially responsible investment funds
No full textSocially Responsible Investment (SRI) considers social, ethical, and environmental elements of investment strategies. SRIs are now well-established, offering a variety of products to investors. Sustainable investments are popular among institutional investors as well as retail investors. Most companies have incorporated sustainable practices and sustainability reporting into their operations. SRIs have grown into a widely-followed investment practice, as there are dozens of new funds and pooled investment vehicles focusing on socially conscious investing. The fund industry is more focused on embracing sustainability practices in its operations.
The aim of this study is to analyze the performance persistence of SRI funds in the United States (US) from 2001 to 2021 including two significant financial crisis and non-financial crisis. First, we examine the performance persistence of SRI funds before, during, and after the 2008 global financial crisis. Second, the performance persistence of SRI funds before and during the COVID-19 pandemic is investigated. If performance of SRI funds persists over the two global crises, investors can use our results to guide their investment decisions and make investment decisions accordingly.
We use Carhart (1997) and Fama French (2005) models to measure the performance of SRI funds. Carhart (1997) model consists of four factors: risk, price, company size, and momentum factor. Fama French (2005) model was an extended version of Fama French (1993) model. This model consists of risk, price, company size, profitability, and investment factors to explain the fund returns. Next we follow Hendricks, Patel, and Zeckhauser (1993) and Carhart (1997) recursive methods to analyze the performance persistence of SRI funds. Funds are categorized into ten portfolios based on the previous year's performance. Finally, we compute and analyze the monthly performance of each portfolio.
The results from both Carhart (1997) and Fama French (2005) models are consistent. The results indicate that performance persistence can be seen in the best performing funds before and during the financial crisis. However, the best performing funds do not guarantee future success post the financial crisis. For the worst performing funds, we found that they continue performing poorly during and after the financial crisis. The results show that the worst performing funds had negative returns before the COVID-19 pandemic; performance persistence is absent in the best performing funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Identifying fund performance persistence in different market conditions is important for investors because it provides valuable information that can help them make better investment decisions, manage risk, build a diversified portfolio, evaluate investment strategies, and better understand how a fund may perform in different market conditions. By monitoring funds’ performance persistence, fund analysts can identify potential problems early and make necessary adjustments to their recommendations. Fund analysts can enhance their reputation as trusted advisors by providing informed recommendations
The tourism productivity challenge: Are we measuring the right factors and is productivity growth unlimited?
No full textThe OECD, UNWTO, and numerous countries national data gathering organisations report that their tourism industry underperforms in terms of productivity when compared to other industries. While not disagreeing with the facts arrived at by the tools used to measure productivity, this paper challenges the rhetoric that the tourism industry has significant productivity gains available to it, and the presented view that growth is unlimited - in doing so the paper seeks to develop a deeper understanding of productivity in a service-intensive industry such as tourism. It further presents an argument for refining and potentially re-defining the term ‘productivity’ with reference to the tourism industry, which requires a deeper understanding of what tourism operators presently consider appropriate productivity measures
Boardroom gender diversity and investment inefficiency: New evidence from the United Kingdom
No full textResearch Question/Issue: Motivated by the recent regulatory reforms, in the forms of the UK Corporate Governance Code (UK CGC) in 2011 and the enaction of section 414C of the Companies Act 2006, to increase female representation on corporate boards, this study investigates the effect of boardroom gender diversity (BGD) on investment inefficiency (IE). These reforms were aimed at enhancing corporate governance by allowing a pool of female directors into directorship positions and bringing fresher and independent perspective of female directors, thus strengthening board monitoring and its internal control systems. This study therefore seeks to understand whether and how female directors align managers' and shareholders' interests by improving investment efficiency.
Findings: Using a sample of UK listed firms from 2005 to 2018, this study provides the first empirical evidence on the impact of BGD on IE. Consistent with our theoretical predictions, we find a negative and statistically significant association between BGD and IE. Furthermore, in a difference-in-differences analysis, we find a significant impact of UK CGC on the BGD-IE relationship. We also identify three possible channels (board dynamics, stewardship effect, and information environment) through which BGD is likely to affect IE. Finally, we also document that the said relationship is more pronounced in firms with three or more female directors, which is consistent with critical mass theory, and that BGD mitigates concerns surrounding both the underinvestment and overinvestment decisions. Our main results are robust to endogeneity bias, alternative measures of BGD and IE, and controlling for potential bias with a two-step investment estimation method.
Policy Implications: Our findings have important implications for regulators, policy-makers, and other corporate stakeholders. Most importantly, the recent policy initiatives on improving representation of female directors can strengthen board monitoring and could reduce inefficient investments
Cooperative membership and adoption of green pest control practices: Insights from rice farmers
No full textReducing the use of chemical pesticide while preserving crop yield is a practical strategy that makes agricultural production economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Although the adoption of green pest control practices can help achieve such a goal, its adoption rate remains quite low. This study explores whether membership in agricultural cooperatives improves smallholder farmers' adoption of green pest control practices, utilising farm-level data surveyed from rice farmers in China. To enrich our understanding, we also investigate how the adoption of green pest control practices mediates the effects of cooperative membership on chemical pesticide expenditures. An endogenous switching probit model and a bootstrap-based mediation method are employed to achieve these goals. The empirical results show that cooperative membership significantly increases the probability of adopting physical pest control practices (e.g. pest-killing lamps or sticky plate traps) and biological pest control practices (e.g. biopesticides) by 6% and 19%, respectively. Cooperative membership significantly reduces chemical pesticide expenditures through its mediation effect on improving the probability of adopting biological pest control practices. There is also a complementary relationship between physical and biological pest control practices in pest management of rice production. The adoption of physical pest control practices significantly increases rice yield, while the adoption of biological pest control practices does not
A conceptual hydrological model of semiarid Andean headwater systems in Chile
No full textSemiarid Andean headwaters are key components of the hydrological system of north-central Chile as this is the main source of runoff which supports ecosystems and population located downstream. This study develops a conceptual hydrological model of the Chilean semiarid Andes headwaters, based on an integrative critical analysis of the current state of published research in the region. We combine a plethora of literature focused on isolated hydrological units including extensive literature on glacier and snowpack hydrological processes and less abundant literature on permafrost landforms, groundwater dynamics and other hydrological features. Among others, we identify important knowledge gaps related to the hydrogeomorphological understanding of permafrost area and its interaction with groundwater, as well as deep aquifer recharge and circulation. These two research topics are necessary next steps to better constrain model predictions of catchment response to future climatic scenarios associated with decreasing water contribution from glaciers and precipitation
A new robust hybrid model based on support vector machine and firefly meta-heuristic algorithm to predict pistachio yields and select effective soil variables
No full textPistachio production is an economically important crop that grows in arid environments. To predict yield and sustainably manage the use of natural resources such as soil and water, we modelled the effect of soil properties by classification and regression tree, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines and developed a new hybrid model of support vector machines and the firefly meta-heuristic algorithm. We sampled soils from 124 pistachio orchards in Iran and analyzed them for a range of parameters. Available phosphorus and potassium, exchangeable sodium percentage, soil salinity, gypsum, calcium carbonate and gravel were selected as predictors in the subsequent model based on correlation coefficients, sensitivity analysis and ANOVA hypothesis testing. For modeling, the optimized values for the Kernel function parameters in the hybrid model of ζ, ε and γ were 8.76, 0.001 and 0.99, respectively, while the ideal numerical combinations for p and k parameters in the k-nearest neighbors model were 0.3 and 5, respectively. We checked the difference between the models using paired t-tests which showed that improvements were significant. According to the results, k-nearest neighbors, classification and regression tree and support vector machines algorithms could explain 83, 84 and 88% of the variation of pistachio yield, respectively, but improved to 94% in the hybrid model because it was more able to efficiently capture non-linear relationships. Soil available phosphorus was the most important determinant of pistachio yield, with soil salinity, exchangeable sodium percentage, potassium, gypsum, calcium carbonate and gravel ranked in order of decreasing importance. These outputs can help planners and farmers to better manage soil properties to increase pistachio yield and sustainable production
Companion species mitigate nutrient constraints in high country grasslands in New Zealand
No full textBackground: Experimental work using pot trials and mesocosm studies has indicated that species combinations are more effective than single species mitigating the soil nutrient constraints that limit pasture productivity in New Zealand’s hill country, but there is little field evidence to support this.
Aim: We question whether coexistence of species provides an opportunity to facilitate enhanced uptake and improved procurement of key soil nutrients in these mid-altitude grasslands.
Methods: Native and exotic legumes and co-occurring plant species were sampled according to whether they were growing together in close proximity or in single species patches. Foliar concentrations of nutrients were compared.
Results: Nutrient concentrations in a native broom, Carmichaelia petriei, were higher when it was growing in combination with native tussock grasses. Higher concentrations of eight nutrients were recorded in foliage of an exotic legume, Lotus pedunculatus, when it was growing with native grasses or within the acuminate foliage of Aciphylla aurea (golden spaniard). Foliar concentrations of only P and Mn were elevated in white clover (Trifolium repens) foliage when it was growing in combination with grasses.
Conclusions: These findings point to mutual facilitation of nutrient uptake by combinations of species growing together. Some species that are less desirable from an agricultural perspective improve acquisition of soil nutrients by the plant community. Novel native species assemblages represent a potential opportunity to refine pasture management, facilitating optimal exploitation of nutrients. This could reduce fertiliser requirements and enhance and protect native biodiversity in pastoral grasslands
From tents and maps to vans and apps: Exploring camping mobilities
No full textMobile camping in a tent or vehicle is an increasingly popular way for tourists to experience place and movement as part of their leisure travel. Allowing tourists to save money, stay close to attractions, and maximise flexibility in their travel, camping provides a convenient accommodation option for domestic and international tourists alike. In the past, camping research has often been conceptualised using theories related to place. Contemporary camping can be interpreted as increasingly mobile in both the movement of people and information, which complements traditional conceptualisations of camping in the literature and in management approaches. Through 17 exploratory qualitative interviews with camping managers in the Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts of New Zealand, this research considered camping manager perspectives on the increasing mobility of camping in New Zealand. Qualitative analysis of these interviews, using Cresswell’s mobilities concepts as a framework, revealed a dynamic camping landscape inextricably enmeshed with complex political meanings about campers and movement. The findings allow the characterisation of campers as Self-Sufficient Spenders, Basic Budgeters, and Kiwi Classics—each representing distinct profiles in relation to mobilities notions of rhythm and speed. Subsequently, we suggest that the increasing mobility of camping needs to be acknowledged both in management approaches and future conceptualisations of camping
Food-related lifestyles and the online sharing of food experiences
No full textIntroduction
Segmentation is a useful tool in social marketing and enables marketers to target consumers for specific interventions. This is notable in promoting food-related interventions that shift consumer behaviour towards better dietary behaviours for both the planet and its people (Kolodinsky & Reynolds, 2009). The food-related lifestyles (FRL) instrument, like lifestyles more generally, is useful for segmentation in consumer marketing. Specifically, the FRL approach considers lifestyle a mediator between consumers’ values and perceptions of—and behaviour towards—food-related objects (Brunsø et al., 2021). Whereas consumer values are a central factor in successful social marketing and behaviour change campaigns (Kolodinsky & Reynolds, 2009), FRL captures the relationship between food products and their role in actualising consumer values. The FRL instrument consists of three dimensions: food involvement (the degree of involvement a consumer has with food), innovation (consumers’ interest in exploring novel foods), and responsibility (the importance placed on the sustainability and ethics of food production) (Brunsø et al., 2021). Moreover, this instrument can be augmented with additional supplementary life values to explore specific themes of responsibility (Brunsø et al., 2021). This is particularly important within the context of social marketing where understanding other life-related values that influence behaviour in relation to food responsibility is very useful