Policies,Interventions and Institutional Change in Pastoral Resource Management in Borana,Southern Ethiopia

The Borana rangelands of Southern Ethiopia are characterised by extensive livestock production under a communal land‐use system that has evolved in response to variable rainfall and uncertain production conditions. However, the last two decades have witnessed an increasing privatisation of rangelands for crop production and private grazing. The results of a quantitative assessment are used to develop a framework for assessing the drivers of change and their long‐term implications. It is concluded that certain national policies have resulted in conflicts of authority between traditional and formal systems, creating an avenue for spontaneous enclosures, associated conflicts and decreasing human welfare.     

Migrant Indebtedness: Bangladeshis in the GCC Countries

Labour migration affects family economics in at least two ways: one is the outflow of indispensable family resources to meet the expenses incurred in the migration process and the other is the transfer in cash or kind from migrants to their non‐migrating families. This study primarily addresses the former flow, that is sources of funds for migration and resulting migrant indebtedness. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi migrants in the GCC countries, this study explores the economic cost of migration, the extent of migrant indebtedness, and the implications of remittances on migrant families. This research exposes the complexity and multiplicity of the economic costs of migration to the GCC countries and reports that Bangladeshi migration to the Gulf states runs on debt, with migrants and their families indebting themselves in the migration process.     

DOES NATION BUILDING SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH?

Nation building, the allocation of economic aid conditional on military assistance in conflict and post‐conflict environments, has cost the world trillions of dollars over the last half century. Yet few attempts have been made to quantify the potential economic growth effects for the recipient country from the provision of this aid. Using a 45‐year panel dataset, we construct a measure of nation building using a three‐way interaction term between military assistance, economic aid, and conflict regime. Considering that slow growing and problem‐prone countries may be less likely to receive aid, we instrument for economic aid by estimating donor‐to‐donee aid flows in a first‐stage procedure. Using this approach, we find that spending on nation building has positive growth effects during conflict periods, but that these effects disappear after conflict. (JEL F3, F4, O5)     

Integration policy in Singapore: a transnational inclusion approach

A number of models of integration have been developed to highlight the experiences of immigration and integration in the Western world. However, the existing models do not adequately capture the complexities of contemporary international immigration and integration, especially the integration process in the light of migrant transnationalism in Asia. This study examines the models of integration through a case study of Singapore. This paper introduces a new concept ‘transnational inclusion’ to conceptualize Singapore's initiative to embrace its transnational global Singaporeans as well as its transnational immigrants, estimated to make up one-fourth of the total population. The paper shows that a transnational inclusion model of integration can provide better insights into the dynamics of transnationalism and integration in today's complex migration scenario. We point to Singapore's integration approach that regards integrating migrants into the different spheres of the society as a process rather than an end.     

A clustering approach to detect multiple outliers in linear functional relationship model for circular data

Outlier detection has been used extensively in data analysis to detect anomalous observation in data. It has important applications such as in fraud detection and robust analysis, among others. In this paper, we propose a method in detecting multiple outliers in linear functional relationship model for circular variables. Using the residual values of the Caires and Wyatt model, we applied the hierarchical clustering approach. With the use of a tree diagram, we illustrate the detection of outliers graphically. A Monte Carlo simulation study is done to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. Low probability of masking and swamping effects indicate the validity of the proposed approach. Also, the illustrations to two sets of real data are given to show its practical applicability.     

Nonparametric Bayes estimation of gap-time distribution with recurrent event data

Nonparametric Bayes (NPB) estimation of the gap-time survivor function governing the time to occurrence of a recurrent event in the presence of censoring is considered. In our Bayesian approach, the gap-time distribution, denoted by F, has a Dirichlet process prior with parameter α. We derive NPB and nonparametric empirical Bayes (NPEB) estimators of the survivor function F?=1?F and construct point-wise credible intervals. The resulting Bayes estimator of F? extends that based on single-event right-censored data, and the PL-type estimator is a limiting case of this Bayes estimator. Through simulation studies, we demonstrate that the PL-type estimator has smaller biases but higher root-mean-squared errors (RMSEs) than those of the NPB and the NPEB estimators. Even in the case of a mis-specified prior measure parameter α, the NPB and the NPEB estimators have smaller RMSEs than the PL-type estimator, indicating robustness of the NPB and NPEB estimators. In addition, the NPB and NPEB estimators are smoother (in some sense) than the PL-type estimator.     

Improved quality control charts for monitoring the process mean,using double-ranked set sampling methods

Statistical control charts are widely used in the manufacturing industry. The Shewhart-type control charts are developed to improve the monitoring process mean by using the double quartile-ranked set sampling, quartile double-ranked set sampling, and double extreme-ranked set sampling methods. In terms of the average run length, the performance of the proposed control charts are compared with the existing control charts based on simple random sampling, ranked set sampling and extreme-ranked set sampling methods. An application of real data is also considered to investigate the performance of the suggested process mean control charts. The findings of the study revealed that the newly suggested control charts are superior to the existing counterparts.     

The Politics of Regional Inequality in Ghana: State Elites,Donors and PRSPs

Through an analysis of Ghana's HIPC Fund which was established as part of the PRSP process, this article shows how aid‐financed efforts to reduce regional inequality in Ghana have failed. Dominant political elites agreed to policies reducing regional inequality in order to have access to aid funding but, once approved, these funds were allocated on quite different criteria in ways that marginalised the poorest. This analysis reinforces the growing recognition that developmental outcomes in most poor countries are shaped not so much by the design of ‘good’ policies per se, but more importantly by the power relationships within which policy‐implementing institutions are embedded. Aid donors seem unable to grasp this important lesson fully, and so their capacity to contribute to reducing regional inequality remains limited.     

Examining the relationship between religiosity and happiness in Medan,Indonesia: The mediating role of self-control,self-regulation,and life satisfaction

Social harmony and community wellbeing can be addressed by promoting life satisfaction and happiness within society. As part of the attempts to understand and promote life satisfaction and happiness within society, this study examined how religiosity can contribute to these two outcome variables. More specifically, this study examined the mediating effect of self-control, self-regulation, and life satisfaction on the relationship between religiosity and happiness. Six hundred and twenty-eight middle (628) adults from Medan, Indonesia were recruited through stratified sampling. They completed five self-report scales on Subjective Happiness Scale; Satisfaction with Life Scale; Centrality of Religiosity Scale; brief Self-control Scale and Self-regulation Scale. Data were analyzed by applying Structural Equation Model (using the LISREL software 8.80), which provides simultaneous examination of variance between endogenous and exogenous variables. Results revealed that people who reported higher level of religiosity also scored high on self-control and self-regulation scales, life satisfaction, which, in turn, are related to more happiness. The finding provides evidence for more specific mechanism in which religiosity contributes to life satisfaction and happiness of the individuals and consequently society wellbeing. Theoretical and practical implications related to the findings are discussed.