Magister Commercii - MCom / This study estimates the impact of the real exchange rate’s performance on economic growth in South Africa from 1990 to 2016 based on quarterly data. A review of the literature reveals that the real exchange rate can have either a positive or a negative effect on economic growth. The empirical analysis began with testing for stationarity of the variables by applying the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Peron (PP) tests. This was followed by the co-integration test of the model. The unit root test results show that all variables except the exchange rate were integrated at order one, that is I (1), while exchange rate volatility is integrated at order zero that is I(O). Also, the co-integration analysis indicated that variables are co-integrated. Employing the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) technique to estimate the results, the relationship between real exchange rate and economic growth was estimated. Findings further show that in the short run, economic growth is positively responsive to the real exchange rate while in the long run, a negative relationship exists between the two variables. The results in the short run suggest that the exchange rate hurts economic growth. A 1% point increase in the real exchange rate (RER) causes a reduction in economic growth by 379 per cent. A rise in the RER affects the trade balances between exports and imports, which results in more imports in the country than exports and the devaluation of the rand stipulates imports in the short run, which leads to the gross domestic product to increase. The study recommends that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Monetary Committee, together with the South African government, should develop a policy that will pursue a prudent monetary policy. A stabilise real exchange rate will enhance the economic activities that will attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and create an environment conducive to investment that will boost economic growth of South Africa.

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My thesis project zooms in on Masmo to the southwest of Stockholm. Specifically a subway exit, built on Masmo Mountain during the 1960s, but never finished. The site features a very unique location on the border between the quite urban Million Programme era architecture of central Masmo, and the completely untouched forest in the nature reserve right next to it, Gömmaren. For 60 years, the Masmo Mountain has been discussed in Huddinge municipality as a potential site for future construction, yet nothing has ever been constructed. I think this might be because of the challenges the location poses regarding how to merge an urban site with one that is completely undeveloped. These topics are examples of what this thesis project seeks to explore: What qualities are there that are worthy of preserving when dealing with architecture in precious environments? Is it possible to improve certain qualities of a natural site that are neglected in its current state, such as accessibility, or do all additions aggravate the essence of nature and make the site less exquisite? What sacrifices are necessary to make in order to provide high quality environments for the inhabitants, and do they conflict with the interests of visitors, or could they possibly coincide?

In this doctoral dissertation, I broadly study the impact of information on economies from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Specifically, I study how strategic agents in a heterogeneous interacting network make decisions under incomplete information and how their actions are affected by the parameters that define the incompleteness of the information, with an emphasis on the social value of information. I then estimate the impact of information disclosure on the stock market by studying the specific example of the annual CCAR and DFAST bank stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve. This dissertation consists of two chapters. In the first chapter, I study a game of heterogeneous strategic interactions under incomplete information. I characterize the equilibrium actions and compare them to the benchmark constrained-efficient allocation. I parameterize the available information in terms of pairwise information commonality and accuracy and study how changing the said commonality and accuracy affects the social welfare. I also study how the structure of interactions between players affects the social value of information. I find that the extent of the inefficiency of the economy dictates the social value of information. I provide a complete characterization of the comparative statics of the social welfare with respect to commonality and accuracy for completely efficient economies. I find that when interactions are heterogenous, it is possible for social welfare to be non-monotonic with respect to information commonality, a behavior unseen in economies with homogeneous interactions. For inefficient economies, I provide sufficient conditions under which the social welfare exhibits monotonic behavior. In the second chapter, I study the predictability of the results of the annual Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test (DFAST) conducted by the Federal Reserve. I find that these results are highly predictable on year-to-year basis. I also find a high degree of predictability within the adverse scenario and the severely adverse scenario results within a given year. I find that that these predictable trends hold over time, from 2012 to 2020. I also try to ascertain the impact of the announcement of these results on the stock market and find no statistically significant effect. Lastly, I study the fixed effect impact of the disclosure events on the stock and options market. I find that while there are individual instances of significant impact, there is no significant impact across the years. I discuss potential implications of these patterns for the further development and application of stress testing.

The conservation benefits of animals in captivity are limited to education and genetic preservation. However, where species or sub-species are critically endangered, the release of captive bred animals into the wild can be used as a strategy to supplement existing populations or to form new founder populations. Cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus born in captivity have no prior experience of survival in wild circumstances. Captive bred cheetahs are currently the greatest source of individuals. This project worked in conjunction with IUCN reintroduction guidelines and pre-existing recommendations in an attempt to develop an ideal methodology of reintroducing captive bred cheetah into the wild. Three captive bred cheetahs, one female and two males, were reintroduced onto Makulu Makete Wildlife Reserve, a predator proofed reserve in the Limpopo province of South Africa, as part of an experimental rehabilitation project. The cheetahs had to lose their homing instinct, be habituated to researchers, become accustomed to eating venison, chewing skin, infrequent large meals and strength development within the three months spent in the enclosures. The cheetahs were habituated to the field researchers on foot and to research vehicles for ease of monitoring. A soft release methodology was used to ease the cheetahs into the environment. Upon release they were tracked twice daily to observe behavior and interaction with their environment. The duration of the project was 20 months which includes enclosure time. The establishment of a home range indicated that the resource need of the cheetahs was satisfied. Eight habitat types were identified in the study area and all cheetahs encompassed part of each in their home range. Though the hunting instinct was present in all the cheetahs, the appropriate hunting techniques and prey selection had to be learned overtime. There was no difference between what was stalked and what was caught. From the observed kills, prey weight ranged from small <40 kg to medium <160 kg. This weight range is comparable to wild cheetahs that select prey within the same range. Each cheetah hunted every four to five days and consumed three to five kilograms of meat per day. Nine prey species were identified, two of which were not detected during direct observations. In the collection of scat, the trained dog found approximately a scat per hour while each direct observation by the researchers took approximately 10 hours. These captive bred cheetahs had to learn how to hunt and how to select appropriate prey thus addressing learned behavior versus instinct. Given the frequency and intensity of injuries sustained and the extensive human influence in the form of veterinary treatment, the reintroduction was not a success. However the techniques developed and modified are relevant for future endeavors‟. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

Federal and state descriptions of gifted and talented services include identifying and developing leadership talent, but in many states, services are not mandated or funded. Consequently, leadership development is often left to extracurricular programs (e.g., student organizations, athletics). The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) provides school-based military-focused leadership education and opportunities to apply emergent leadership skills. This qualitative descriptive study examined leadership talent development in JROTC and the postsecondary paths participants chose. A self-report survey was distributed to graduating seniors enrolled in JROTC in Texas public high schools and semi-structured interviews were conducted with JROTC instructors across the state. The findings highlighted characteristics of students in the sample who chose to pursue military-focused education or careers after high school and themes about the experiences and key considerations related to choosing postsecondary paths. JROTC instructors supported students with differentiated development plans and information about flexible pathways to reach postsecondary goals. Students benefitted from broad definitions of success, exposure to career options, realistic self-assessment, and alignment between intentions and preparation.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Knowledge of the feeding ecology of an organism helps us to better understand predator-prey relationships and aspects of species biology, ecology and life-history traits. Understanding the feeding ecologies of snakes is challenging because snakes are generally secretive and often difficult to observe when foraging in the wild. Traditionally, studies attempting to quantify the diets of snakes relied on observing direct predation events, dissecting dead specimens, or microscopy of gut and stomach contents to identify prey species. However, investigations using traditional methods can result in an incomplete understanding of prey utilised by particular snakes. Analysis of prey DNA in snake faeces is a useful method to obtain accurate information on diet.

The field of macroeconomics has increasingly turned its attention towards understanding the state dependent effects of macroeconomic policies, the idea being that different macroeconomic conditions—e.g., the state of the business cycle, or the distribution of income over the population—can cause a single economic policy shock to propagate differently through the economy. I turn this thinking around in this dissertation, and instead ask whether the policies that we study are, in practice, “single economic policy shocks” or are, instead, aggregates of multiple policies with different effects. In chapter 1, I decompose monetary policy into an interest rate component, and a component that captures macroeconomic information provision. In chapter 2, I discuss the consequences of tariff policy in light of the view that tariffs in the United States are extremely heterogeneous and, on average, regressive in nature. In chapter 3, I return to monetary policy, asking whether more-transparent communications from the Federal Reserve have allowed for a more effective transmission of monetary policy. To summarize my findings, in all cases I find that the economic consequences estimated using disaggregated policy measures differ substantially from the consequences estimated using aggregated measures.

In the first chapter of this dissertation, I ask what role bank presence plays in improving health of households. To explore this question, I use a policy of the Reserve Bank of India from 2005 that incentivizes banks to set up new branches in underbanked districts, defined as having a population-to-branch ratio larger than the national average. In a regression discontinuity design, I compare households in districts just above and just below the national average. Six years after the policy introduction, households in treatment districts are a third less likely to be affected by an illness in a month. They miss fewer days of work or school due to an illness and have lower medical expenses. Ten years after the policy was introduced, I observe persistently lower morbidity rates, higher vaccination rates, and lower risks associated with pregnancies. I provide evidence that two previously understudied aspects of banking contribute to the effect: households gain access to health insurance and health care providers gain access to credit. In equilibrium, I observe an increase in healthcare demand and supply. In the second chapter of this dissertation, co-authored with Naz Koont, we provide first empirical evidence that consumer peer effects matter for banks’ deposit demand. Using a novel measure that depicts for each county how exposed peers are to a specific bank in a given year, we tightly identify the causal effect of peer exposure on deposit demand through a fixed effects identification strategy. We address key empirical challenges such as time-invariant homophily. We find that a one percent increase in a bank’s peer exposure leads to a 0.05 percent increase in deposit market share. This effect has become stronger over time with the rise of the internet and social media, which facilitate cross-county communication. Peer exposure is especially relevant for smaller banks and customers that have access to the internet.

Magister Legum - LLM / The research will evaluate and discuss the importance of Deposit Insurance Systems (DIS) and the necessity of having this system. Important to the evaluation is an analytical consideration of how the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the National Treasury (NT) and other global financial bodies proposed the approach thereof. Insofar as most jurisdictions had already adopted the DIS as encouraged by the international financial institutions, the study shall determine whether it is plausible for South Africa to derive guidance in her approach taking into account the potential risks posed by the safety-net.