Form Of Trading Research Articles

Livelihood resilience among street hawkers during Covid-19 lockdown in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, Ghana

PurposeThe study assesses the livelihood resilience strategies among street hawkers during COVID-19 lockdown in the Awutu Senya East Municipality in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachUsing the explanatory case study approach, 12 participants (hawkers) were sampled with the aid of the purposive and convenience sampling techniques. An interview guide was used to collect data.FindingsThe study found that street hawking business, prior to the COVID-19 lockdown was a lucrative venture. The COVID-19 lockdown however had mental, psychological and economic effects on the street hawkers in ASEM causing stress, anxiety. loneliness, loss of business capital, and loss of jobs. Hawkers nevertheless demonstrated resilience in their psychological well-being by adopting strategies such as patronizing digital/social media platforms for funny content and entertainment. Hawkers also showed economic resilience through selling products on digital/social media platforms, relied on personal savings, received social support from family members and religious bodies. Government policies and interventions in the form of free water and electricity played a crucial role in building resilience of street hawkers during the COVID-19 lockdown.Practical implicationsThe study shows that hawking is a vital avenue for entrepreneurial engagement reducing barriers to entry in formal trading, hence should be considered as key economic venture in the country’s economy. Again, the findings of the study deepen the understanding of stakeholders on the effects of COVID-19 on the psychological and economic life of street hawkers and offers insights into managing both psychosocial and financial stress during crises, emphasizing the potential benefits of resilient strategies for more effective crisis management. The study findings provide insights for government and policymakers on the experiences and coping mechanisms of the vulnerable groups and communities, particularly hawkers during the pandemic.Originality/valueThe study qualitatively assesses the psychological and economic effects of the COVID-19 lockdown and the livelihood resilience strategies employed by street hawkers during the COVID-19 lockdown in ASEM, Ghana.

The Prospects for Legalizing Crypto Trading in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has signaled growing acceptance of block-chain technologies and informal crypto activity, although formal trading is not yet enabled. Crypto currencies grow in global popularity; Uzbekistan has an opportunity to become a regional leader in crypto adoption and innovation. However, regulatory uncertainty and restrictive policies currently deter domestic crypto trading and block-chain investment. This article analyzes the crypto landscape in Uzbekistan, barriers to formal crypto markets, benefits and risks of legalization, and provides targeted policy recommendations focused on governance, licensing, taxation, and consumer protection. With smart legalization efforts, Uzbekistan can foster crypto innovation while managing risks. Prohibitive restrictions and lack of regulatory clarity deter domestic innovation and growth of formal crypto. Enabling licensed exchanges and streamlining crypto entrepreneurship could create high-skill jobs, attract investment. The global race for crypto leadership has overlooked consumer harm from price crashes, frauds, hacks, and ransom ware now surfacing across inadequately regulated markets.

Enhancing Rural Wellbeing: Unravelling the Impact of Economic Diversification in Sarawak

This study delves into the multifaceted dynamics of economic diversification in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, as well as the deep implications for rural wellbeing. Specifically, the aim of the study is to look into various economic diversification measures and their impact on the Iban rural community in Sri Aman, Sarawak. Sarawak, endowed with abundant natural resources and a diverse cultural legacy, has embarked on a transformative journey towards economic diversification in order to support sustainable development and enhance rural populations' livelihoods. This study used a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and in-depth interviews. It was found that the majority of households have increased their income by diversifying their sources of income by engaging in both farm and non-farm activities, such as formal and informal trading, wage labour, and remittances. The benefits of livelihood diversification can be seen in the community's decreased reliance on a single activity, the development of infrastructure, the survival of the Iban culture, and the resilience of the community.

Water Markets: Mapping Scientific Knowledge

Water is a vital resource for citizens’ economic and social development. However, the uses to which it can be put often conflict. Possible solutions to mitigate disputes involve political options, scarce economic resources, and the search for mechanisms to ensure its adequate allocation. For over half a century, countries such as Australia, Spain, Chile, and the western states of the United States have been considering the possibility of using markets for rights of use. They are defined as formal or informal trading exchanges of rights, whose aim is to improve efficiency, ensure security of supply, and make allocations more flexible. In this context, the aim of this article is to show a current picture of the scientific production related to Water Markets using the comparative bibliometric study of the documents indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases as a tool. The advanced search of relevant terms resulted in the retrieval of 261 papers from WoS and 305 from Scopus, with a time limit of 2020, which make up the ad hoc basis of the analysis. From this basis, it can be deduced that the subject of the Water Market has been present in the scientific literature on a more or less regular basis since the beginning of the 1990s. However, it has emerged as a topical issue in recent years, being in a phase of exponential growth, which means that interest in the area is likely to continue in the coming years.

Evaluating the Feasibility of Water Sharing as a Drought Risk Management Tool for Irrigated Agriculture

Droughts can exert significant pressure on regional water resources resulting in abstraction constraints for irrigated agriculture with consequences for productivity and revenue. While water trading can support more efficient water allocation, high transactional costs and delays in approvals often restrict its wider uptake among users. Collaborative water sharing is an alternative approach to formal water trading that has received much less regulatory and industry attention. This study assessed how the potential benefits of water sharing to reduce water resources risks in agriculture are affected by both drought severity and the spatial scale of water-sharing agreements. The research focused on an intensively farmed lowland catchment in Eastern England, a known hot-spot for irrigation intensity and recurrent abstraction pressures. The benefits of water sharing were modelled at four spatial scales: (i) individual licence (with no water sharing), (ii) tributary water sharing among small farmer groups (iii) sub-catchment and (iv) catchment scale. The benefits of water sharing were evaluated based on the modelled reductions in the probability of an irrigation deficit occurring (reducing drought risks) and reduced licensed ‘headroom’ (spare capacity redeployed for more equitable allocation). The potential benefits of water sharing were found to increase with scale, but its impact was limited at high levels of drought severity due to regulatory drought management controls. The broader implications for water sharing to mitigate drought impacts, the barriers to wider uptake and the environmental consequences are discussed.

The paradoxical effects of market fragmentation on adverse selection risk and market efficiency

Unlike the US’s Regulation National Market System (RNMS), the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) does not impose a formal exchange trading linkage or guarantee a best execution price. This raises concerns about consolidated market quality in increasingly fragmented European markets. We investigate the impact of visible trading fragmentation on the quality of the London equity market and find a non-linear relationship between fragmentation and adverse selection risk. At moderate levels of fragmentation, order flow competition reduces adverse selection risk and enhances market efficiency by reducing arbitrage opportunities. Contrarily, high levels of fragmentation heighten adverse selection issues.

Cattle transhumance and agropastoral nomadic herding practices in Central Cameroon

BackgroundIn sub-Saharan Africa, livestock transhumance represents a key adaptation strategy to environmental variability. In this context, seasonal livestock transhumance also plays an important role in driving the dynamics of multiple livestock infectious diseases. In Cameroon, cattle transhumance is a common practice during the dry season across all the main livestock production zones. Currently, the little recorded information of the migratory routes, grazing locations and nomadic herding practices adopted by pastoralists, limits our understanding of pastoral cattle movements in the country. GPS-tracking technology in combination with a questionnaire based-survey were used to study a limited pool of 10 cattle herds from the Adamawa Region of Cameroon during their seasonal migration, between October 2014 and May 2015. The data were used to analyse the trajectories and movement patterns, and to characterize the key animal health aspects related to this seasonal migration in Cameroon.ResultsSeveral administrative Regions of the country were visited by the transhumant herds over more than 6 months. Herds travelled between 53 and 170 km to their transhumance grazing areas adopting different strategies, some travelling directly to their destination areas while others having multiple resting periods and grazing areas. Despite their limitations, these are among the first detailed data available on transhumance in Cameroon. These reports highlight key livestock health issues and the potential for multiple types of interactions between transhumant herds and other domestic and wild animals, as well as with the formal livestock trading system.ConclusionOverall, these findings provide useful insights into transhumance patterns and into the related animal health implications recorded in Cameroon. This knowledge could better inform evidence-based approaches for designing infectious diseases surveillance and control measures and help driving further studies to improve the understanding of risks associated with livestock movements in the region.

Effect of post-slaughter handling during distribution on microbiological quality and safety of meat in the formal and informal sectors of South Africa: A review

Global reports on illnesses and deaths related to food consumption continue to raise concern in most countries. This has led to diligent efforts to improve the manner in which food is handled. Hygienic handling of carcasses after slaughter is critical in preventing contamination and ensuring meat safety in both formal and informal meat trading sectors. However, in the informal sector, regulations as prescribed in the Meat Safety Act No. 40 of 2000, which have been set to protect consumer health, are not always adhered to. Although these regulations are put into practice in the formal sector, meat safety challenges associated with meat handling during distribution continue to raise concern. The distribution stage is the most critical period, during which the quality of meat can easily be compromised. Furthermore, meat inspection at the abattoir covers only visual assessment, without considering microbiological tests. Meeting food safety requirements set by government regulations remains a challenge to almost all food processors. This paper reviews the impact of post-slaughter handling on carcass quality and its implications for meat safety during the distribution stage in the formal and informal sectors in South Africa. It also details how meat handling in the informal meat trade exposes consumers to high health risks and recommends that governments create legislation that would be applicable to carcasses produced in the informal sector to align this sector with the regulations governing food production. Keywords: Bacterial contamination, informal meat trade, legal requirements, meat handling, meat safety

US Interstate Underground Trade Flow: A Gravity Model Approach

AbstractIn this paper we model interstate trade in US shadow economies using a traditional gravity model, updated to control for factors that encourage (discourage) underground exchange among formal sector trading partners. Using data on interstate trade flow from the US Census Bureau, and a unique dataset measuring US state-level shadow economy size, we develop a first-ever estimate of interstate underground trade flow (UTF) for the US. Using a UTF ratio, measured as the portion of state

A Decade in the Life of a Market: Visible Market Fragmentation, Quality and Efficiency

In contrast to the Reg NMS regime in the US, the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) does not impose a formal exchange trading linkage or guarantee the best execution price. This raises concerns about consolidated market quality in an increasingly fragmented European trading environment. We investigate the impact of visible trading fragmentation on equity market quality on FTSE 100 stocks over the period 2004 to 2014. We find a U-shape relationship between fragmentation and adverse selection costs. At lower levels of fragmentation, order flow competition reduces adverse selection costs and improves market transparency. However, there is a fragmentation threshold where implied adverse selection costs could increase with visible fragmentation. Visible fragmentation also stimulates market efficiency by reducing arbitrage opportunities.

US Interstate Underground Trade Flow: A Gravity Model Approach

In this paper we model interstate trade in US shadow economies using a traditional gravity model, updated to control for factors that encourage (discourage) underground exchange among formal sector trading partners. Using data on interstate trade flow from the US Census Bureau, and state-level shadow economy size estimates from Wiseman (2013), we develop a first-ever estimate of interstate underground trade flow (UTF) for the US. Using a UTF ratio, measured as the portion of state i’s aggregate value of underground exports flowing into state j, we investigate the relationship between UTF and policy governing marijuana consumption in each state. Results suggest a negative (positive) relationship between the UTF ratio and marijuana decriminalization when state i (state j) is the only state among trading partners to relax its regulation. Additionally, when both trading partners decriminalize marijuana consumption, this relationship is positive. This may suggest that states recognize an increased cost to exporting underground goods to states where the good is prohibited; when the rules make it quasi-legal to produce and sell at home. Alternatively, states that decriminalized marijuana appear to increase their consumption of underground imports (or at least the value of those imports) all around.

Pairs trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

ABSTRACTPairs trading strategies aim to profit from temporary deviations in some underlying relationship between the prices of two stocks. The trader takes appropriate long and short positions in the two stocks and waits for their prices to revert back to the underlying relationship or even to deviate in the opposite direction from the current deviation, at which time the trader may exit at a profit. We formulate formal trading rules that implement pairs trading strategies and discuss their profitability and risk by means of back-testing on stocks listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

Segmented Skilling: Static and Dynamic 'New Economy' Skills

There are at least three problems in the measurement of skill - aggregation, dynamism, and codification. Skill is an individual and collective capacity, expressed in performance and reflected in outcomes. Aggregate measures relying on proxies such as occupational entry qualifications may not provide the best picture of segmentation and mobility processes. Statistics on training effort have the potential to create a misleading picture of an industry's or firm's commitment to skill-based innovation by failing to distinguish ad-hoc, just-in-time measures to maintain the current capability of a firm's workforce from interventions designed to develop a creative, adaptive capability. To be measured, skills must first be named. Workplace-level skill development requires frameworks for identifying growth opportunities. In exploring these three problems in the Australian and New Zealand context, the paper proposes a dynamic framework for classifying approaches to skilling (not confined to formal trading) on the basis of their contributions to adaptive capability, proposing three types of skill: threshold, platform and growth. The codification problem is particularly severe in 'new economy' service industries, and the paper critiques the attempt to capture under-specified service skills in concepts such as 'soft skills' or 'employability skills.' It suggests an alternative framework for classifying the adaptive and generative processes of workplace learning and their outcomes - an analysis that may have relevance beyond the service sector.

Insider Trading Law and Economics

This text analyses an article published in the American Law and Economics Review by Mrs. Laura N. Beny, entitled ‘Do Insider Trading Laws Matter? Some Preliminary Comparative Evidence’, and extracts the proposed theory by tracing its methodological order. Mrs. Beny’s article publishes preliminary results from an empirical exploration. The main thesis in this article is that formal insider trading laws matter to the financial structure and performance of the stock market. To analyze this article, we will identify the fundamental theses in the article, the path of argumentation employed to confront these theses with observations and the conclusions drawn from these observations. We will then recognize particularly the discovery context employed in its argumentation. The article is then confronted with findings observed in reality to verify its theses.

Do Insider Trading Laws Matter? Some Preliminary Comparative Evidence

Despite the longstanding insider trading debate, there is little empirical research on insider trading laws, especially in a comparative context. The article attempts to fill that gap. I find that countries with more prohibitive insider trading laws have more diffuse equity ownership, more accurate stock prices, and more liquid stock markets. These findings are generally robust to controlling for measures of disclosure and enforceability and suggest that formal insider trading laws (especially their deterrent components) matter to stock market development. The article suggests further avenues of empirical research on the specific mechanisms through which insider trading laws might matter and the political economy of their adoption.

Do Insider Trading Laws Matter? Some Preliminary Comparative Evidence

Despite the long-standing insider trading debate, there is little empirical research on insider trading laws, especially in a comparative context. The article attempts to fill that gap. I find that countries with more prohibitive insider trading laws have more diffuse equity ownership, more accurate stock prices, and more liquid stock markets. These findings are generally robust to controlling for measures of disclosure and enforceability and suggest that formal insider trading laws (especially their deterrent components) matter to stock market development. The article suggests further avenues of empirical research on the specific mechanisms through which insider trading laws might matter and the political economy of their adoption. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.

External Costs of Agricultural Production in the United States

Agricultural production affects environmental and human health. Many consequences are borne involuntarily rather than chosen because no formal market trading takes place for ecosystem functions or health attributes. These impacts, or externalities, may be quantified indirectly by assigning dollar values through a process called valuation, which informs agricultural production and policy decisions. This study estimates external costs of agricultural production in the United States in the areas of natural resources, wildlife and ecosystem biodiversity and human health. Valuation studies are reviewed and revised to compile aggregate figures. External costs are estimated at $5.7 to $16.9 billion (£3.3 to £9.7 billion) annually. Impacts due to crop production are figured to be $4969 to $16,151 million per year. Livestock production contributes $714 to $739 million to external costs. Using 168.8 million hectares of cropland in the United States, external cost per cropland hectare is calculated at $29.44 to $95.68 (£16.87 to £54.82). Further research is needed to refine these estimates and include categories not covered in this study. The societal burden of these costs calls for a restructuring of agricultural policy that shifts production towards methods that lessen external impacts.

Conceptual Framework for Growth Triangles

In recent years, while the significance of regional trade and trading blocs within Asia region (AFTA, APEC, ASEAN, SAARC, EAEC, etc.) has gained considerable interest among the policy-makers and researchers alike, tangible accomplishments, in terms of enhanced economic cooperation and trade liberalisation among the trading blocs, are still muted [Thant et al. (1998), p. 23]. Several reasons and problems have been cited for the limited success of these formal trading blocs, particularly in the Asia region, namely:

THE SO2EMISSIONS TRADING PROGRAM: COST SAVINGS WITHOUT ALLOWANCE TRADES

Title IV of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act initiated a historic experiment in incentive‐based environmental regulation by permitting electric generating facilities to trade allowances for emission of sulfur dioxide. To date, relatively little allowance trading has occurred. However, the costs of compliance have been much less than anticipated. The purpose of this paper is to address the apparent paradox—that the allowance trading program may not require (very much) trading in order to be successful. Title IV represented two great steps forward in environmental regulation: (i) a move toward performance standards and (ii) formal allowance trading. The first step has been sufficient to date for improving dynamic efficiency and achieving relative cost‐effectiveness.

GRAIN AS A TRADING COMMODITY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA / GRAAN AS 'N HANDELSKOMMODITEIT IN SUIDELIKE AFRIKA

It is a well known that not all trade in southern Africa is recorded. Recorded trade therefore gives a skew picture and this paper specifically attempts to estimate and investigate unrecorded trade in the region, using the grain market and the “grain trade ratio”. Unrecorded trade occurred in most southem Africa countries and no recorded trade is observed for South Africa during the period 1986–1991. This corresponds to the time when South Africa was politically excluded from formal trading in southern Africa. The grain trade ratio (grain trade as percentage of grain production) is decreasing. The paper examines why the trade ratio decreased when national policies emphasized local food production programmes, market liberalization and more open trade in the region.