A Multifractality Measure of Stock Market Efficiency in Asean Region

This paper investigates the presence of multifractality property of the daily composite stock price index of the six countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) region using the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). Covering the period from January 2, 2006 to June 28, 2013, the countries under study are the following: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. If multifractality is present, then the traditional time series models of fractional Brownian motion and GARCH processes are inadequate to capture the stylized facts observed in financial time series which include long-range correlations and broad fat-tail distributions. The study also employs a sliding window MFDFA to obtain the dynamics of the local Hurst exponents which can be used as a measure of market efficiency. The findings suggest that the stock price indices of the six countries under study have the properties of multifractality. These suggest that the traditional time series models of fractional Brownian motion and GARCH processes are not appropriate and a call for a better model which incorporates multifractality and non-Gaussian distributions is made. Moreover, an efficiency ranking of stock markets of the six countries under study is provided. This result is important to guide investors seeking profit opportunity which is dependent upon market efficiency. It is also important to help policy makers decide to implement institutional reforms aimed at increasing market efficiency. Keywords: Efficiency, Financial Markets, Multifractality, Hurst Exponen

Assessing the Employment Conditions and Patterns of Help-outs among Selected Agrarian Reform Cooperatives in the Banana Industry

Employment is one of the key concepts that support every country’s economic activity. Its significance and contribution affect key players in all sectors, as it is vital in production, distribution, and consumption of commodities. Among all the industries, agriculture takes the largest share when it comes to labor force participation. The agricultural sector of the Philippines is composed of informally employed workers who face various issues in hiring, contracts, worker pay, workloads, and etc. These informally employed workers include “help-outs” who work in the Agrarian Reform Cooperatives (ARCs) managed by the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs). Due to the nature of work, these workers engage in different working arrangements which determine their farm setting. Thus, this is an exploratory study conducted to assess the working conditions and patterns of help-outs employed in the selected ARCs, namely SFARBEMCO, AMS-MARBEMCO, and AMS-KARBEMCO, in Davao del Norte. A total of 103 help-outs were interviewed. Linear and logit regression were both employed to test significance of relationships. The results show that most of the help-outs in the ARCs are well-off. Significant factors that affect their probability of being well-off include gender, rating of happiness, employment category, cooperative, and relationship to their ARB. However, issues identified in the employment patterns include ambiguous employer -employee relationship, payment of working slots, precarious contracts, unreasonable pay, and lack of social security

Economic Valuation of Tourism Services of Lake Holon, South Cotabato

The tourism potential of the municipality of T’boli, South Cotabato, is highlighted by the presence of Lake Holon. The study aims to measure the economic value of tourism services of the lake. Since no market exist for a natural resource, this study used a surrogate market based method which is the zonal travel cost method (ZTCM) in quantifying its value. ZTCM uses the number of visitors to the site coming from different places which were then grouped into zones. The visitation rate from each zone can then be estimated as a function of its corresponding travel cost. The demand function that will be generated is used to extract the economic value of tourism services of the lake. Data were obtained from 224 respondents of which 80% were from South Cotabato and the rest were from other regions of the Philippines. Information on respondents’ place of origin, travel expenses, travel time, visit duration, and income were collected. The place of origins were categorized into four zones based on their distance from the lake. The findings reveal that the economic value of tourism services of Lake Holon is estimated to be around PhP 224 million annually. This information will aid the local government planners and policy makers in drawing up a tourism development plans and related legislations around the lake

Factors Affecting Farmer’s Decision to Remain in Organic Rice Production: The Case of Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, Philippines

Only few farmers in the municipality of Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, continue to produce rice through organic farming. Although the price of organic rice is relatively higher compared to the conventional one, the majority of the organic rice farmers reverted back to conventional farming. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the influences that affect the decisions of organic rice farmers in Magsaysay to remain in organic farming through logistic regression analysis. Moreover, this study employed cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to evaluate the benefits and costs associated with organic and conventional rice production. Sixty farmers participated in the survey; 20 were organic farmers (out of 21 members of MOFARMCO) and 40 (out of 124) were previously organic farmers who reverted back to conventional farming methods. The result of the logit model showed that family labor size, perception on organic farming, and age significantly influence the decisions of rice farmers to remain in organic farming. Meanwhile, the cost-benefit analysis revealed that although the yield per hectare obtained in organic farming was less, it was still more profitable due to higher selling price and lower cost of production. In order to expand the use of organic farming in Magsaysay, it is important for the local government units and nongovernment organizations to formulate an organic farming promotion policy taking into consideration the results of this study. Moreover, this study recommends policy formulation and regulation to strengthen market development as well as the conduct of research and development programs to increase yield from organic farming

Factors Affecting the Perception of Farmer-Beneficiaries on the Implementation of CARP Support Services: The Case of Macarimbang Agrarian Reform Cooperative in Maguindanao, Southern Philippines

Several impact assessment studies were done to evaluate the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) where they reported positive socio-economic outcome. However, some experts claim that the program, despite its gains, has a backward effect. This study evaluates the implementation of CARP support services based on the perception of the farmer-beneficiaries in Macarimbang Agrarian Reform Cooperative of Maguindanao, Southern Philippines. A total of 73 farmers who are beneficiaries of the CARP projects were selected through random sampling and interviewed. Tobit model was used to analyze the relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the farmer-beneficiaries and their perception on the implementation of the programs’ usefulness, which was measured using a 5-point Likert scale, under each project component of CARP: Social Infrastructure Local Capacity Building (SILCAB), Sustainable Area-based Rural Enterprise Development (SARED), and Access Facilitation and Access Enhancement (AFAE). Results revealed that the socio-economic factors significantly affect the perception of the respondents towards CARP support services. Farmers with larger household size, farm size, and farm income tend to be more satisfied of the said programs while the opposite is true for respondents who are members of an organization. By substituting the mean of each variable to the Tobit model, it generated a result of 4.271, 4.400, and 0.604 for SILCAB, AFAES, and SARED, respectively. The farmer-beneficiaries believe that SILCAB and AFAES programs are useful to them, while SARED is not. Hence, SILCAB and SARED, whose main objectives are to capacitate and empower the farmer-beneficiaries and to introduce various alternative livelihood activities, respectively, should be given priority by CARP

A Forecast for Cocoa Bean Farm Gate Prices in Davao Region, Southern Philippines, Using Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity

The Davao Region is one of the top cocoa producers in Southern Philippines. The region aims to invest in cocoa production by enticing cocoa bean farmers to increase their production of the said commodity. This is possible if their cocoa beans produced have a good farm-gate price. Thus, this study was done to forecast the cocoa bean farm-gate prices in the Davao Region. The data for monthly cocoa bean farm-gate prices in Davao Region for the period of January 1990 to December 2015 was used as an input to the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) to come up with a time series model. Mean squared error (MSE), root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and Theil’s inequality coefficient (U-statistics) were used as the forecasting accuracy criteria in identifying the best fit model. The results of the study revealed that the time series data was influenced by a positive linear trend factor and also indicates that no seasonal factor exists. Moreover, the best model is GARCH (1, 2). Furthermore, a ten-year forecast was done for fiscal years 2016–2025. By discovering the price movement of the cocoa beans in the next ten years, farmers should maximize their production and sell their produce when the prices are estimated to increase. In contrast, when the prices are estimated to decline, farmers should use storing techniques and employ timed planting decisions in order to lessen the reduction of their profits

The Effects of Soil Erosion on Rice Productivity and Its Impact on Household Welfare Levels

Soil erosion is one of the major problems of agriculture, especially in rice production. With the critical role of irrigated rice production in the country’s supply of rice and the negative effects of soil erosion on rice farming, there is a need to measure the effect of soil erosion on the productivity as well as its impact on household welfare levels. We compared farm productivity, household income and expenditure levels, and children’s food and nutritional intakes of irrigated rice farming in areas with no and slight erosion in General Santos City. Utilizing the Bureau of Agricultural Research geo-coordinates of Mindanao’s soil erosion areas, we used the geographic information system to identify irrigated rice areas with varying erosion levels. The results of the Cobb-Douglas production estimates show that the presence of slight erosion in irrigated rice farms has no statistically significant effect on farm productivity relative to the farms in no erosion areas. Comparison of yield, income, expenditure, and food and nutritional intakes of children showed no statistical difference as well. Thus, the presence of slight erosion is not a threat to the household rice production, income, and consumption relative to no erosion irrigated rice farms. However, in this context, varying erosion levels (i.e., high erosion versus no erosion) must be investigated further in order to provide more comprehensive information regarding the effect of soil erosion on productivity, expenditure, and food and nutritional intakes in irrigated rice farming