South Asian Journal of Social Studies and Economics

This work is undertaken to investigate the impact of the capital market operation on a developing the economy with the Nigeria experience over the period 1983 to 2016. The study employed the parametric test of Pearson regression to describe and analyze the various indices of the study such as market capitalization, all share index, number of listed securities, number of listed companies and gross domestic product (GDP). The study found that the most significant component of the Nigerian Capital Market is the Market Capitalization and demonstrates a significant correlation with the Nigeria economy. The other variables tested show less than 0.05 correlations implying that individually they also have a significant impact on the GDP meaning that these components have no significant effect on Nigeria economy. Reasons for this are the relatively small size of the few companies listed on the market while most big companies are still owned and funded by the government. The study recommends a comprehensive review of capital market regulations and fresh government policies to encourage the listing of companies to enlarge the market size. This study is beneficial for exposing the relatively small size of the capital market and this tends to foster their inability to contribute meaningfully to economic development during the period.

Aims: This study examines the impact of agricultural landownership on poverty and food security in Sri Lanka. The current study enriches the literature by extending traditional two way poverty classification into four groups: Extremely poor, poor, vulnerable non-poor and non-poor and quantifies the impact of agricultural landownership on each type of poverty. Similarly, the impact of agricultural landownership on food security is also estimated considering the four types of food security such as, extremely food insecure, food insecure, vulnerable to food insecure and food secure, based on minimum dietary energy requirements.

Methodology: The analysis is based on the secondary data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of Sri Lanka. Ordered Probit Models were estimated to examine the impacts of agricultural landownership on poverty and food security to accomplish the objectives of the study.

Results: The results highlight that the probability of being non-poor of the households with agriculture land is higher by 6.42% compared to the households without agricultural lands. Similarly, having agriculture land also reduces the probability of being extremely poor, poor and vulnerable to poverty by 0.1%, 2.2% and 4.1% respectively. In addition, the empirical findings indicate that ownership of agricultural land lessens the probability of being extremely food insecure (0.8%), food insecure (1.4%) and vulnerable to food insecure (0.7%). Moreover, the probability of being food secure of the households with agricultural lands is higher by 0.9% compared to the households without agricultural lands.

Conclusion: Therefore, the study emphasizes the significance of agricultural landownership to mitigate the poverty and food insecurity which ultimately enhances the household wellbeing. Hence, the current study strongly recommends implementing appropriate policies to address land-right related issues faced by developing countries ensuring long term wellbeing of the households.

The purpose of this research is to explore the factors that influence microfinance loan default in Sri Lanka. Both a deductive and a quantitative approach were employed. A structured questionnaire was designed by 5 Likert-scale. Questionnaires were distributed among 133 microfinance loan borrowers in the region of the Matugama Divisional Secretariat using convenient sampling. SPSS version 22 used to perform the exploratory factor analysis. The findings of this study confirmed three factors useful to explain microfinance loan default in Sri Lanka. These are the actions of the Microfinance Institute to control loan defaulting; the characteristics of the borrowers’ family and loan group; and macro-economic issues. The findings of this study could be used by managers of Microfinance Institutes to manage their credit risk and customer portfolio. Certain policy implications such as possibility of granting access to Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka, accessing credit history of customers and government decisions directing Microfinance Institutes to request securities from its customers are few of them.

There has been changes in the young housewives’ activities, as currently, they not only carry out domestic activities in the house, but also go outside of the house. Activities, such as taking children to school, become part of domestic roles, then meeting other young modern mothers and forming group. This group then raises the “mahmud (mamah muda)” or young moms term. Changes in traditional reproductive roles in the domestic sector are interesting to be analyzed using the Morphogenesis Theory by Margaret Archer. This theory acknowledges that there is an asymmetrical relationship between external structures that are relatively autonomous with internal cultures, and at the same time, there is a reciprocal relationship between the two. The cultural case of this young mothers groups could be used as an example of this Morphogenesis theory.

Constructivist paradigm study using this kind of phenomenological approach was able to explain how the process of morphogenesis change occurred, by conducting in-depth, open-ended interviews to ten mothers in their 30s whose children are in kindergarten/elementary school. This study was able to answer the research purpose, which was young moms, is the reality of changes in structure-culture and culture-structure, produced through the causality of both groups through communication of symbolic convergence that is the exchange of information (material) into symbols (non-material).

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a public health concern globally, characterized by impairments in cognitive process, social functioning, communication skills, behaviours and interests. These problems require a multidisciplinary approach through an early intervention programme (EIP) which is remarkably expensive. To date, the knowledge of EIP costs for ASD children in Malaysia remains unknown. This study estimated the annual average costs of EIP for ASD children from the societal perspective (total average costs, education costs, treatment costs, and living costs), the relationship between the total annual average costs of EIP and its predictors. A cross-sectional cost analysis study using simple random sampling according to proportion was conducted among 280 parents of ASD children receiving EIP services in Klang Valley. The data were collected using interview-based questionnaire and proforma. The Activity-based Costing Technique was used to estimate the EIP-related costs. The non-parametric test was used for bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression for the predictors. The result showed that the total annual average costs of EIP, average education costs, average treatment costs, and average living costs per ASD child were estimated at RM15,158; RM3,896; RM1,948; and RM4,409 respectively. There was a significant association (P = .05) between total annual average costs of EIP, and its contributing factors; family income, ASD level, programme characteristics, and family support. Multiple regression analysis showed that 27% of the total annual average costs of EIP can be predicted by the combination of these factors; EIP types, EIP frequency, centre-based type, ASD level and family income. In conclusion, the study determined the total annual average costs of EIP and its predictors. This information is beneficial as evidence to assist the decision on future resource allocation by the policy maker.