The impact of trade liberalisation on the Indonesian food crop sector : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Economics at Massey University

Studies of agricultural trade policies in developed countries generally focus their attention on impacts in their own domestic markets. Less attention has been given to impacts on developing countries nor their need for special and differential treatment in multilateral trade negotiations. This study assesses the impacts of trade liberalisation by modelling the outcome of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. The removal of support in the industrialised nations on the Indonesian food crops sector was examined. Using the Static World Policy Simulation (SWOPSIM) model of world agricultural trade, the impacts on Indonesian consumption, production and net trade were estimated. The results indicate that Indonesian exports of corn would expand, and the country could also become an exporter of rice. Imports of sugar could expand partly as a result of a reduction in Indonesian sugar subsidies. While multilateral trade liberalisation that results in higher world prices may have a negative effect on food importing developing countries, this was found not to be the case for Indonesia (at least for the food crops studied). The increase in producer welfare would more than compensate for the fall in consumer welfare, government subsidy expenditures would fall and the country's trade balance would improve. In addition, continuing unilateral deregulatory and liberalisation measures in other sectors of the Indonesian economy, as well as in agriculture, will provide scope for the development of further new export opportunities

On History and Liberty: The ‘Revisionism’ of Bronisław Baczko

The ‘Warsaw School of History of Ideas’ is the name given to a ‘revisionist think tank’ which was led by the historian Bronisław Baczko from 1956 to 1968 in Communist Poland. This group reunited scholars like Leszek Kołakowski or Krzysztof Pomian around questions related to political believes, theological conceptions or utopian thought. Expelled from the University, B. Baczko left Poland and seek shelter in Geneva where he became a Professor of history of Ideas and historiography. In his new home, he developed an original vision on Enlightenment and the French Revolution

Financial Strategies in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A): The Case of Regulated Firms

In this paper, a general model of strategic behaviour of (regulated and non-regulated) firms in M&A is presented. For non-regulated firms, the model indicates that targeted firms issue new debt strategically. In this case, the firm's capital structure is chosen so that it maximizes the (ex-ante) market value of the firm. However, the focus of the paper is on regulated firms (mostly monopolies). For these firms, the model shows that managers, acting on behalf of shareholders, make their strategic decisions on debt issuing and investment, in anticipation of both the decisions of the regulatory body and the responses of financial markets. These decisions are aimed at influencing the probability that an acquisition occurs as well as the price the potential bidder will have to pay. However, such decisions are also made with a view to influencing the regulatory policies (maximum price or rate of return permitted), thereby mitigating the probability that, in the regulatory game, the regulator adopts an opportunistic behaviour. Application of these results to some real-world situations (such as regulated public utilities´companies) is straighforward.Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital and Ownership Structure, Economics of Regulation

Fine properties of Lp-cocycles which allow abundance of simple and trivial spectrum

In this paper we generalize [3] and prove that the class of accessible and saddle-conservative cocycles (a wide class which includes cocycles evolving in GL(d,R), SL(d,R) and Sp(d,R) Lp-densely have a simple spectrum. We also generalize [3, 1] and prove that for an Lp-residual subset of accessible cocycles we have a one-point spectrum, by using a different approach of the one given in [3]. Finally, we show that the linear differential system versions of previous results also hold and give some applications.Comment: 29 page

Natural history and conservation of pirarucu, Àrapaima gigas', at the Amazonian Várzea : red giants in muddy waters

The pirarucu, Arapaima gigas (Osteoglossidae, Teleostei), an important natural resource in the Amazonian flooded forest, has been exploited for centuries and is now threatened by overfishing. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to investigate the biology and ecology of this species so that sustainable management programmes can be put in place and the conservation of this fish ensured. Most of the research was carried out at Mamiraua Reserve, a protected area of Varzea forest in the Central Brazilian Amazon. Additional data were also recorded at the aquarium of the Amazonian Museum of Natural History, at Manaus, Brazil. A study of the main environmental aspects varzea aquatic systems, showed that the lakes at Mamiraua Reserve could be grouped into two main categories based on their limnological morphological features. The investigation of the fisheries management by local fishermen revealed that the use of traditional fishing technology was responsible for the maintenance of local stocks. However, recent technological changes had increased CPUE to alarming level. The analysis of pirarucu feeding habits demonstrated that pirarucus are specialised carnivores, living mainly on fishes. Other invertebrate species are also important in their diet. High degrees of food selectivity and strong seasonal changes in diet proved to be the most important factor affecting the seasonal growth of pirarucus. Pirarucu growth was examined by analysing the growth marks deposited on scales twice a year, at times of high ingestion of food. L was circa 2.5.m and k was about 0.18. No significant differences in growth patterns between the sexes were found. Ten cohorts or annual age classes were identified. These ranged from 0.80m to 2.25m in total length. Very high annual growth rates during the first years are replaced by moderate rates after the age of first sexual maturation. Maturity is reached when pirarucus are around 5 years of age, or about 1.65m in total length. Fecundity increases with age of females, and so does oocyte diameter. However, fecundity is divided between 4 to 6 clutches of gametes that can be used throughout the breeding season. Each clutch is spawned separately, in small batches with less than 500 eggs in average. This strategy probably protects pirarucu against the unpredictability of the environment and avoids reproductive failures - total loss of fertilised eggs - due to catastrophic events. By spawning eggs in separate batches pairs may breed again if the first attempt was not successful. Males perform parental care, protecting the nest and guarding the offspring for about 6 months. The typical red coloration of pirarucus is particularly evident in males after sexual maturation. Almost 70% of male body surface may be covered in bright red pigmentation, brighter than among females. It is proposed that red coloration signals the size and/or age of pirarucus, and is used in the context of sexual selection. Male-male competition and female choice of males are likely to be operating in this species. The information in this thesis leads to several recommendations for the conservation of pirarucus. Criteria for selection of lakes in a rotational system of fisheries management, and age-specific impact of fishing and natural mortality rates on the stock are major topics discussed. The aim is the maximisation of breeding stock and local natural recruitment. Pirarucu farming and large scale conservation actions are also considered. Suggestions for future research on the biology of conservation of pirarucus are made

Strong stochastic stability for non-uniformly expanding maps

We consider random perturbations of discrete-time dynamical systems. We give sufficient conditions for the stochastic stability of certain classes of maps, in a strong sense. This improves the main result in J. F. Alves, V. Araujo, Random perturbations of non-uniformly expanding maps, Asterisque 286 (2003), 25--62, where it was proved the convergence of the stationary measures of the random process to the SRB measure of the initial system in the weak* topology. Here, under slightly weaker assumptions on the random perturbations, we obtain a stronger version of stochastic stability: convergence of the densities of the stationary measures to the density of the SRB measure of the unperturbed system in the L1-norm. As an application of our results we obtain strong stochastic stability for two classes of non-uniformly expanding maps. The first one is an open class of local diffeomorphisms introduced in J. F. Alves, C. Bonatti, M. Viana, SRB measures for partially hyperbolic systems whose central direction is mostly expanding, Invent. Math. 140 (2000), 351--398, and the second one the class of Viana maps.Comment: 43 page