Happiness and the Human Development Index : the paradox of Australia

According to the well-being measure known as the U.N. Human Development Index, Australia now ranks 3rd in the world and higher than all other English-speaking nations. This paper questions that assessment. It reviews work on the economics of happiness, considers implications for policymakers, and explores where Australia lies in international subjective well-being rankings. Using new data on approximately 50,000 randomly sampled individuals from 35 nations, the paper shows that Australians have some of the lowest levels of job satisfaction in the world. Moreover, among the sub-sample of English-speaking nations, where a common language should help subjective measures to be reliable, Australia performs poorly on a range of happiness indicators. The paper discusses this paradox. Our purpose is not to reject HDI methods, but rather to argue that much remains to be understood in this area

Frugivorous bird species diversity in relation to the diversity of fruit tree species in reserved and designated green areas in the federal capital territory, Nigeria

The diversity of frugivorous bird species in relation to tree species diversity was investigated in Designated and Reserved Green Areas of Abuja, Nigeria. The study estimated, investigated and examined trees species and avian frugivore in terms of their diversity. Point-Centered Quarter Method (PCQM) was used for vegetation analysis while random walk and focal observation was used for bird frugivore identification and enumeration. data was collected from six locations coinciding with the local administrative areas within the Federal Capital Territory. These were, the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abaji, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali. AMAC is designated as urban while the remaining five sites are designated as sub-urban. The highest number of fruit tree species was encountered in AMAC (30), followed by Abaji (29) while 27, 25, 19 and 11 fruit tree species were encountered in Kwali, Bwari Gwagwalada and Kuje respectively. The similarity or otherwise dissimilarity in fruit tree species composition between each pair of the enumerated sites showed Gwagwalada and Kuje as the most similar, and the similarity or otherwise dissimilarity in frugivorous bird species composition between each pair of the enumerated showed higher species similarity between the AMAC and each of the other sites, and between each pair of the sites than that of the fruit trees in the respective sites. Highest number of frugivore bird species was encountered in Kwali (41), followed by Bwari (39) and AMAC (38) while 35, 34 and 21 species were encountered in Gwagwalada, Kuje and Abaji respectively. The alpha (within-site) diversity of frugivore bird species at different sites using Simpson and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices showed that Gwagwalada is the most diverse of all the sites, followed by Kuje and Kwali respectively. The diversity indices of frugivores and fruit-trees were correlated, a weak relationship was observed (r= - 0.2323 and r = - 0.1626), and Null hypothesis was accepted. Also, ANOVA was carried out to test for significance between the sites and the tree physical structure parameters. The result showed no significant difference between the sites (Fcal=0.236603 and F Crit =2.901295), and the null hypotheses was accepted. Again, there was significant differences between the tree physical structure parameters (Fcal=20.58803 and F Crit =3.287382), the null hypothesis was rejected. It was therefore concluded that these reserved areas need more protection to enhance both the beta and alpha diversities in order to support more interactions.Keywords: Frugivores, Fruit trees, Diversity, Interaction, Green Areas, Urban ecosystem

An Interactive Effect of Human Capital Variables and Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study examines the interactive effects of the relationship between human capital investment components and economic growth in Nigeria for the period of 1986 – 2014. Although, various studies have focused on the relationship between human capital and economic growth all over the world but there is still a missing gap on the joint influence of human capital investment components on economic growth particularly in Nigeria. The study employs secondary annual data on education expenditure; health expenditure; real gross domestic product and gross capital formation obtain from the Central Bank Statistical bulletin, 2014 and analyze using Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) technique. The results of the study show that there is positive and significant relationship between the interactive effects of human capital components and growth in Nigeria. The study educates the government and policy makers on the importance of policy mix in terms of how human capital development enhances growth in Nigeria than embarking on the use of one policy instrument. The paper therefore contributes to knowledge by providing information on the interactive effects of education and health on growth in Nigeria

ANALYSIS OF INTER-TEMPORAL PRICING EFFICIENCY OF SORGHUM IN GUYUK LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined inter-temporal pricing efficiency of sorghum in Guyuk Local Government of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The sea- sonal price pattern of sorghum from1996-2006 was investigated using index number approach through the use of simple regression analysis. Average monthly storage cost of sorghum was estimated from the primary data collected. The findings revealed that female marketers dominated sorghum marketing in the study area and had one form of formal education or the other. Their marketing capital was mainly from personal savings with an initial investment capital of less that N10,000. There was the existence of seasonal variation in the price pattern of sorghum with an average monthly price rise of 8.97%, with September being the peak period and March being the lowest. Also, marketers were found to be efficient in sorghum marketing as revealed by the average monthly storage cost exceeding average monthly price rise of the commodity, thus establishing the existence of inter-temporal pricing efficiency