Factors Influencing Foreign Direct Investment of South African Financial Services Firms in Sub-Saharan Africa

This research investigates the key elements that South African financial services firms consider before making foreign direct investments in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) markets. The results show that South African financial services firms are most strongly influenced by the political and economic stability of the country in question as well as the profitability and long-term sustainability of its specific markets. The degree of available infrastructure in terms of Information and Communication Technology as well as the existence of credible financial systems was also viewed as highly important considerations affecting investment decisions in SSA. Given the uncertainty and ambiguity of most SSA markets, many South African financial services firms prefer to enter existing markets via a majority stakeholder joint venture with a local partner or via a new investment if the market does not currently exist. The nature of the financial services firm also seems to influence the entry method and once in a new country, most firms seem to prefer a full service presence. Additionally, the key motives cited for expansion northward were to broaden revenue bases and improve profit margins as well as to stay close to local customers.Foreign Direct Investment, Financial Services, Sub Saharan Africa

LASER LEVELING AND FEDERAL INCENTIVES

Our empirical analysis shows that federal tax and cost-sharing incentives significantly affect the profitability of laser leveling – a new irrigation technology which sharply reduces gravity water applications. However, the structure of the incentives may make slow rather than rapid adoption of the technology most profitable. Methodology plus results for a wide range of physical and economic conditions are given.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Bioinspired auditory sound localisation for improving the signal to noise ratio of socially interactive robots

In this paper we describe a bioinspired hybrid architecture for acoustic sound source localisation and tracking to increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) between speaker and background sources for a socially interactive robot's speech recogniser system. The model presented incorporates the use of Interaural Time Differ- ence for azimuth estimation and Recurrent Neural Net- works for trajectory prediction. The results are then pre- sented showing the difference in the SNR of a localised and non-localised speaker source, in addition to presenting the recognition rates between a localised and non-localised speaker source. From the results presented in this paper it can be seen that by orientating towards the sound source of interest the recognition rates of that source can be in- creased

The Effect of Taxes on Royalties and the Migration of Intangible Assets Abroad

Migration of intangible assets from the United States to foreign countries has become easier due to the ability of U.S. firms to create hybrid entities in their affiliates abroad and to reach favorable cost sharing agreements with them. This strategy was particularly encouraged by the U.S. adoption of "check-the-box" regulations in 1997. Rather than receive royalties from affiliates abroad, US parent firms have an incentive to retain abroad in low-tax countries a greater share of the return to their US R&D. Evidence from several sources for years that span the 1997 policy change indicate a significant response by US corporations in utilizing this strategy. BEA data indicate affiliate earnings and profits grew more rapidly than royalty payments to US parents. Payments to U.S. parents for technical services rose even faster, as would be called for under cost sharing agreements. Regression analysis of affiliate data shows that parent R&D was a more important determinant of royalty payments to U.S. parents than it was for affiliate earnings and profits in 1996, but by 2002 it played a larger role in earnings and profits than in royalties. Cost sharing payments from affiliates in Ireland and from pure tax havens (Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Luxembourg) are particularly significant, both economically and statistically.

Demand Shifts, Population Adjustments, and Labor Market Outcomes during the 1980s

In this paper we explore the effects of labor demand shifts and population adjustments across metropolitan areas on the employment and earnings of various demographic groups during the 1980s. Results show that, although earnings and employment deteriorated for less-education and black males in most areas in the 1980s, there was a good deal of geographic variation in the magnitudes of these changes. Shifts in labor demand across local areas contributed to this variation, and had greater relative impacts on the earnings and employment of these demographic groups. We also find that popu- lation shifts across areas, presumably due to migation, at least partially offset the effects of these demand shifts. But less-education workers showed substantially lower population adjustments in response to these demand shifts. These limited supply responses apparently contributed importantly to relatively greater deterioration of employment and earnings of these groups in declining areas during the 1980s.

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