Have Lower Real Wages Helped Industrial Restructuring in Romania?

A reduction in real wages arising from price liberalisation has been a standard feature of economies undergoing industrial restructuring. In this article, the impact of real wages on industrial performance is examined using a panel dataset of Romanian industries from 1990-96. Using both static and dynamic panel estimation, real wages are found not to be negatively associated with either output or employment. These results are consistent with a view that an institutionalist approach, aimed at improving productivity, may be more likely to achieve the long-term objective of successful industrial restructuring than standard adjustment programmes based on neo-classical theory.     

Study: The Lack of Significant Association of the Catechol-O-Methyl Transferase (COMT) Gene Polymorphism in Violent Offenders with Mental Retardation

Abstract:  Little is known about criminality of cognitively impaired people and also there have been no reports on the relationship between catechol- O -methyl transferase (COMT) and committed Mental Retardation (MR) subjects. In the present study, the association between committed (violent offences) MR subjects and genetic variants of COMT were investigated by using polymerase chain reaction and based restriction fragment length polymorphism methods. During 6 years of follow-up, 36 violent offenders with mild MR were investigated. Thirty-six control volunteers were included in the study as a control group. H/L polymorphism of the COMT gene was investigated in these two groups. In conclusion, the COMT gene genotype distribution and allele frequency is not significantly different between the two groups ( p  > 0.05). This result suggests that the H/L polymorphism of the COMT gene does not show an association with the potential of "commits-violent offense" of Turkish subjects with mental retardation, compared with control group.     

Inclusive growth,human capital development and natural resource rent in SSA

This paper seeks to achieve two objectives. First, we argued for the increase in government expenditure on education and health to examine the possibility of achieving inclusive growth. Second, financing gap model was employed to estimate the potential growth in GDP per capita that is accruable to the economy if government use natural resource rent to finance increase in expenditure of education and health. Relying on dataset for 18 SSA countries, among the results obtained showed that both government expenditures are found to be significant for explaining growth in SSA. However, augmenting health expenditure with natural resource appears to be more significant for making growth process inclusive. Also, the results of the simulation exercise indicate that increasing government expenditure on health would increase GDP per capita growth by over 3.1 %. The policy implication of this is drawn based upon the results obtained.     

Variation of δ2H, δ18O & δ13C in crude palm oil from different regions in Malaysia: Potential of stable isotope signatures as a key traceability parameter

A total of 33 crude palm oil samples were randomly collected from different regions in Malaysia. Stable carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C) was determined using Flash 2000 elemental analyzer while hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) were analyzed by Thermo Finnigan TC/EA, wherein both instruments were coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The bulk δ²H, δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C of the samples were analyzed by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA). Unsupervised HCA and PCA methods have demonstrated that crude palm oil samples were grouped into clusters according to respective state. A predictive model was constructed by supervised OPLS-DA with good predictive power of 52.60%. Robustness of the predictive model was validated with overall accuracy of 71.43%. Blind test samples were correctly assigned to their respective cluster except for samples from southern region. δ¹⁸O was proposed as the promising discriminatory marker for discerning crude palm oil samples obtained from different regions. Stable isotopes profile was proven to be useful for origin traceability of crude palm oil samples at a narrower geographical area, i.e. based on regions in Malaysia. Predictive power and accuracy of the predictive model was expected to improve with the increase in sample size. Conclusively, the results in this study has fulfilled the main objective of this work where the simple approach of combining stable isotope analysis with chemometrics can be used to discriminate crude palm oil samples obtained from different regions in Malaysia. Overall, this study shows the feasibility of this approach to be used as a traceability assessment of crude palm oils.     

Foreigners Dying in Istanbul

Abstract:  The study included 411 deaths selected from 14,647 medicolegal deaths autopsied in the Morgue Department of Forensic Medicine Institute Directorate, affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, between 1998 and 2002. Data were collected from court documents, coroner's investigation reports, and autopsy reports. The parameters of age, gender, nationality and origin, cause and place of death in foreigners dying in Istanbul were evaluated in the study. Out of 14,647 medicolegal deaths, 3.5% were foreigners from 34 different nationalities. The nationality with the highest rate of foreigner deaths (34%) was Romanian. Out of 411 deaths, 74.3% were male and 25.7% were female. Of all cases, 64.4% were tourists visiting Istanbul and 35.6% had a job in Istanbul. Of 146 foreigners employed in Istanbul, 94.5% did not have a work permit, while only 5.5% had a work permit.     

Social Protection Policy or a Political Largesse: Disability Fund Efficacy Assessment and Roadblocks to Sustainable Development Goals

ABSTRACT

Social protection policies have been tools for fighting social exclusion, inequality and reducing poverty incidence among vulnerable populations in developing countries. In this regard, the government of Ghana through the institution of the disability fund has demonstrated a commitment to advancing the cause of people with disabilities. In assessing policy efficacy, the realities on the ground, as well as policy challenges, 130 persons with disability (PWDs) and 10 Key Informants (KIs) were recruited from across five regions. In addition to conducting face-to-face interviews with PWDs, the study conducted a number of interviews with key informants (KIs). The study findings concluded amongst other things that, the policy is plagued with challenges such as limited information about the fund, fund access difficulty and disbursement delays. It was also revealed that; the policy is saddled with opacity and partisan politics. To ensure efficiency and expedite the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, the research proposed for policy restructuring. In addition to introducing financial literacy and management training for beneficiaries, the study proffers decoupling the fund management from political structures to help meet the objectives for which it was incepted.