scholarly journals The effect of procurement strategies of milling companies on the price of maize

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-157
Author(s):  
Willem Rossouw ◽  
Jacobus Young

Since ultra-poor South Africans spend up to a fifth of their income on maize alone, the demand for this commodity is price-inelastic, i.e. consumers have no choice but to absorb price increases. As such the success of procurement strategies from milling companies will ultimately have a direct impact on the financial well-being of the poor. Even though derivative instruments are available to use as counter against market fluctuations, the price risk management success of groups with a concern on SAFEX suggests that this is not achieved as yet, ultimately to the detriment of consumers. The view exists that markets are efficient and the return offered by the futures exchange cannot consistently be outperformed. This paper argues the exact opposite, since the use of the proposed futures/options strategies result in returns superior to that of the market.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 85-110

Multiple crises have emerged in South Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. General well-being is in severe danger from the immediate effects of the virus and the longer-term impact of hunger due to a growing economic crisis. While the working-class majority struggle, there is a political struggle for political power playing out among factions in the ruling party. These tensions flared up in the wake of President Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment in July 2021, leading to widespread unrest and destruction. These experiences point to a failing economic system that neglected the poor. If this neglect continues, then this unrest may continue. In making this argument, I base my analysis upon the views of political luminaries such as Neville Alexander, Archie Mafeje, and Roger Southall. Their views are linked to the experiences of many South Africans during the pandemic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilia Mirgaziyanovna Yusupova ◽  
Irina Arkadevna Kodolova ◽  
Tatyana Viktorovna Nikonova ◽  
Bulat Talgatovich Yakupov

Author(s):  
Arindam Laha ◽  
Pravat Kumar Kuri

The outreach of micro-finance programme is considered to be a means enhance the economic well-being among the member means to enhance households through poverty alleviation. A wide cross-country variation in the outreach of micro-finance programme to the poor households is observed in the world. Despite the significant growth of micro-finance institutions and its active borrowers, the penetration of micro-finance lending services to the poor households in India is observed to be limited. In addition, there is a wide inter-state disparity in the achievement of micro-finance outreach in India especially among the poor households. A composite index has been constructed using the penetration, availability and usage indicators of micro-finance outreach to examine the interstate variations in the level of its achievement. Subsequently, attempt has been made to analyse the role of micro-finance in alleviating poverty across the states of India. The result shows that out of 27 states and Union Territories, only in seven states (Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Karnataka) outreach of micro-finance programme has made a significant impact on the reduction of poverty.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. e000582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Sood ◽  
Zachary Wagner

Life-saving technology used to treat catastrophic illnesses such as heart disease and cancer is often out of reach for the poor. As life expectancy increases in poor countries and the burden from chronic illnesses continues to rise, so will the unmet need for expensive tertiary care. Understanding how best to increase access to and reduce the financial burden of expensive tertiary care is a crucial task for the global health community in the coming decades. In 2010, Karnataka, a state in India, rolled out the Vajpayee Arogyashree scheme (VAS), a social health insurance scheme focused on increasing access to tertiary care for households below the poverty line. VAS was rolled out in a way that allowed for robust evaluation of its causal effects and several studies have examined various impacts of the scheme on poor households. In this analysis article, we summarise the key findings and assess how these findings can be used to inform other social health insurance schemes. First, the evidence suggests that VAS led to a substantial reduction in mortality driven by increased tertiary care utilisation as well as use of better quality facilities and earlier diagnosis. Second, VAS significantly reduced the financial burden of receiving tertiary care. Third, these benefits of social health insurance were achieved at a reasonable cost to society and taxpayers. Several unique features of VAS led to its success at improving health and financial well-being including effective outreach via health camps, targeting expensive conditions with high disease burden, easy enrolment process, cashless treatment, bundled payment for hospital services, participation of both public and private hospitals and prior authorisation to improve appropriateness of care.


1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Møller

South African psychologists have identified the improvement of quality of life as a major goal of the 1980s. This paper reviews the impact of satisfaction with personal aspects of life on perceived well-being. The results of an exploratory study of South African quality of life conducted among 5 587 individuals of all population groups are discussed. Findings confirm the salience of the personal domain and the positive influence of personal satisfactions on subjective well-being. However, results of regression analyses suggest that the relative contribution of satisfactions in the personal domain is too low to play a major role in improving the quality of life of all South Africans in the longer term.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahab E. Saqib ◽  
John K.M. Kuwornu ◽  
Ubaid Ali ◽  
Sanaullah Panezai ◽  
Irfan Ahmad Rana

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