The impact of need for cognition on primacy and regency effects in the employment interview

The order of interview questions during the interview may influence candidate ratings, giving an unfair advantage to some candidates. This study was done to test the effect of the interviewer\u27s need for cogniton, the desire to use cognitive energy, on primacy and recency effects during the employment interview. A transcript of competency-based behavior description interivew questions was given to nearly 300 participants. Evidence was found for recency effects only, and no significant differences were found that could be attributed to the interviewer\u27s need for cognition

Risk Mitigation through Diversified Farm Production Strategies: The Case in Northern Mozambique

Mozambique, like many other parts of the low-income world, faces perennial challenges with food security. With a rapidly growing population and arable land on the decline, sustainable agriculture is vital to managing the already depleted natural resources of Sub-Saharan Africa more effectively while increasing food security. Food security issues for subsistence farmers in most low-income countries are a product of endogenous (crop yields) and exogenous (currency fluctuations as many agricultural inputs are imported) factors. In Mozambique the value of the local currency, meticals, has decreased by approximately 50% since January 2015 compared to the U.S. dollar. While this makes exporting products out of Mozambique more attractive in a relative sense, it negatively effects those industries which rely on imported inputs such as animal feed and inorganic fertilizer. In response to this exogenous currency crisis, research was conducted in Nampula, Mozambique during the summer of 2016 on a method for implementing crop diversification to reduce the risk that accompanies the devaluation of the metical. This research was undertaken on a poultry operation which is heavily dependent on imported maize and soya. Similar to the market structure of the poultry industry in the United States, all birds are grown by individual out growers who typically also have small plots of land to farm. Objectives for the project included 1) perform on-site crop production evaluations, 2) determine profitability for various row crops, and 3) simulate alternative production practices to increase crop profitability. Of the crops grown (tomatoes, maize, and cabbage), maize required the least labor, lowest initial investment, and the highest probability of breaking even. This research concluded that if poultry producers in Mozambique who rely on imported feed grew maize simultaneously it would reduce the dependency on imported maize and reduce income variability associated with exogenous currency fluctuations. Implementing a program such as this could increase revenue streams as well as reduce variability, thereby enhancing regional food securit

Risk Mitigation through Diversified Farm Production Strategies: The Case in Northern Mozambique

Mozambique, like many other parts of the low-income world, faces perennial challenges with food security. With a rapidly growing population and arable land on the decline, sustainable agriculture is vital to managing the already depleted natural resources of Sub-Saharan Africa more effectively while increasing food security. Food security issues for subsistence farmers in most low-income countries are a product of endogenous (crop yields) and exogenous (currency fluctuations as many agricultural inputs are imported) factors. In Mozambique the value of the local currency, meticals, has decreased by approximately 50% since January 2015 compared to the U.S. dollar. While this makes exporting products out of Mozambique more attractive in a relative sense, it negatively effects those industries which rely on imported inputs such as animal feed and inorganic fertilizer. In response to this exogenous currency crisis, research was conducted in Nampula, Mozambique during the summer of 2016 on a method for implementing crop diversification to reduce the risk that accompanies the devaluation of the metical. This research was undertaken on a poultry operation which is heavily dependent on imported maize and soya. Similar to the market structure of the poultry industry in the United States, all birds are grown by individual out growers who typically also have small plots of land to farm. Objectives for the project included 1) perform on-site crop production evaluations, 2) determine profitability for various row crops, and 3) simulate alternative production practices to increase crop profitability. Of the crops grown (tomatoes, maize, and cabbage), maize required the least labor, lowest initial investment, and the highest probability of breaking even. This research concluded that if poultry producers in Mozambique who rely on imported feed grew maize simultaneously it would reduce the dependency on imported maize and reduce income variability associated with exogenous currency fluctuations. Implementing a program such as this could increase revenue streams as well as reduce variability, thereby enhancing regional food securit

Shifting sludge:Marginalised taxpayers and tax administration

Tax administration has evolved over time. It has shifted from a local operation, where taxes were administered by peers, to a centralised –and increasingly digitalised, distant, and non-human –function. This change brings efficiencies to the tax authority but can create frictions for more marginalised taxpayers. These frictions, or sludge, can make it more difficult for taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations, even if they want to. This paper calls for a greater understanding of the sludge created by frictions in tax administration. To do so, policymakers and the tax administrators would benefit from undertaking a comprehensive sludge audit of existing and future practice to understand a) whether this sludge can be removed, and b) what additional support may be needed for marginalised taxpayers

Simple Interest

Following the deadline for payment protection insurance claims, which passed last year, David Massey and Amy Lawton explain that tax problems can arise when compensation payments are made. Key points ● Do not assume that the taxable element of a client’s PPI compensation payment will be trivial. ● Few individuals will have paid the correct tax. ● The payment received may not be the same as that shown in the documents. ● The time limit for repayment claims for 2016-17 is 5 April 2021

Environmental taxation as a form of environmental protection: exploring the carbon reduction commitment

This thesis looks at the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme. This is a green tax on energy consumption that targets large businesses not already covered by the EU ETS or CCAs. The CRC has been reformed on numerous occasions and will now come to an end in 2019. Importantly, the CRC has received relatively little academic attention, especially in legal scholarship. Drawing upon 31 original, semi structured interviews with regulatees, solicitors and the Environment Agency; and a quantitative analysis of emissions under the scheme, this PhD will begin to tell the story of how the CRC has been perceived by those who pay it. This is an account of how different regulatory aspects send deeper messages to regulatees. In particular, this thesis considers: stability; competence of the regulator; nudging; positive incentives; and the efficiency of the CRC. As such, this thesis draws on a wide range of literature in order to analyse the above themes in light of the original data from the empirical study. This thesis concludes that how regulation is packaged and presented to regulatees is critical and can affect how they engage with a regulatory scheme such as the CRC