對於私部門儲蓄（private saving）之組成成分──公司儲蓄（cor- porate saving）與家庭儲蓄（household saving）間究竟存在著什麼樣 的互動關係，因涉及政府之租稅重分配政策是否可提升私部門儲蓄的課題 ，一直是關心資本形成的經濟學者所爭論的焦點。本文即希望透過 Granger- Sims檢定法則，首次透過因果關係的角度澄清兩者之間的關連 關係，確立可能存在的因果方向及型態，以作為政府施政時的參考。臺灣 地區之實證結果顯示：公司儲蓄(SC)、家庭儲蓄(SH)不論在所得稅負變數 是否存在下，均呈現同向之回饋因果關係。個體儲蓄決策過程中，超理 性 (ultra rationality)並不存在，一旦公司儲蓄、家庭儲蓄兩者之一有 所增減，必帶動另一者作同方向之變動，對整體私部門儲蓄率之變動只有 加劇而無抵消之效果。是故在所得稅負重分配政策的採行上，政府須審慎 考慮其對私部門資本形成所帶來之負面打擊。

<p>This thesis investigates the theoretical dimension of fuel transition in developing countries; and assesses the role of socio-cultural factors as determinants of fuel choice at household level. Past research has focused on income as a determining factor for fuel transition, as depicted by the energy ladder model, and the more development oriented energy leapfrogging model. This thesis challenges this notion by providing empirical evidence from Catembe, Mozambique; suggesting that socio-cultural factors are just as important determinants for household energy transition. By applying psycho-anthropologic research techniques, a series of qualitative and quantitative results from 402 households in Catembe, provide a framework for understanding the core factors responsible for household cooking energy choice. It was determined that factors such as taste preferences, cooking practices, local cuisine, kitchen type, gender relations and fuel preferences are culturally determined, and significantly influence on the adoption of modern cooking technologies. To demonstrate the importance for considering such factors, the introduction of an ethanol cook-stove is simulated and evaluated in terms of its applicability to user needs and preferences in Catembe. Results show that despite meeting developmental objectives, the stove falls short in conforming to the culinary traditional of intended beneficiaries.</p>

<p>This paper reports on environmental impacts and health hazards as a result from inadequate management of organic household waste in developing countries. It gives details of water and soil contamination, air pollution and spread of diseases through expanding breeding grounds for pathogens, vectors and rodents. To manage this waste flow sustainably, decentralised composting and anaerobic digestions technologies have been studied to give an overall picture of existing appropriate technologies, including: windrow, box/bin/barrel, THM, aerated static pile, in-vessel, vermi, ARTI compact biogas digester and BARC’S NISARG-RUNA. Comparing different technologies showed that it is crucial to consider local conditions and markets when choosing which method to implement. However, the manual composting methods: windrow/box/bin/barrel, THM and vermi, are more likely to be appropriate in regard to current conditions in developing countries. A comparison between the environmental impacts of anaerobic digestion and composting did not result in a clear indication of which technology is most favourable. However, in the literature studied, biogas production showed an overall better energy balance, and composting a better result regarding nutrient recycling and xenobiotic compounds. In terms of the mitigation effect on global warming, the results varied essentially depending on the technology used and its loss of methane during the biogas production process. Finally, this paper investigates common constraints for implementation of the above-mentioned technologies, as well as recommendations for future projects. The study of general constraints revealed the need for directing attention to education, key consequences and benefits, co-operation, exchange of knowledge and bottom-up driving forces, for sustainable and successful implementation of organic household waste management practices in developing countries.</p>

<p>The issue of women&rsquo / s access to land is a developmental issue. From a fundamental research view point, this study aims to explore the circumstances in which women access land in South Africa. The study examines the inequalities that may arise in the context of land access, land acquisition / land use, activities taking place on land and closely related issues focusing specifically on women in general, and women headed households in particular. The study is based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, occupational groups, education, province of residence and ethnic groups. Bringing together the demographic variables and land related variables, the study captures the structural changes between 2004 and 2007. Using 2004 and 2007 GHS secondary data requested from Statistics South Africa, cross tabulation and bivariate statistical analysis by means of SPSS software was performed. The results obtained indicate that the inequality against women&rsquo / s access to land still persists. Some women have access to land for agricultural purpose but few own it. The findings suggest that a number of factors including age, place of residence, marital status, ethnic group, literacy, educational level, of women are associated with the ability of women to access and acquire land. The sustainable livelihood framework is a theory that guided this study. Diversification is commonly used to prevent time of risks and shocks. In general, the study shows that the proportion of women who had access to land was 16% in 2004. This figure dropped to 14% in 2007.</p>

<p>The objective of this study was to investigate some socio-demographic aspects and implications of youth unemployment in Galeshewe Township. The study makes use of descriptive statistics to analyze and interpret data collected from a random survey of 947 young persons aged between 18 and 35 years old. An individual questionnaire was administered during the interviews. The results indicate that most unemployed youths are between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine years and the majority of them are females. About 58.5% of the unemployed youths have completed secondary education, with 8.9% of them having obtained a tertiary diploma or degree. The majority of the youth do not have previous work experience and this handicaps their ability to secure employment. Most of these young people originate from areas outside Galeshewe. The views collected from the unemployed youth point to the need for government to ensure that tertiary education is accessible in the city in order to improve the level of education of the youth. The government also needs to provide more targeted job creation schemes, especially to those who did well at matriculation level, and to also empower the youth through other skills acquisitions as well as training and programmes that are available.</p>

This thesis investigates the theoretical dimension of fuel transition in developing countries; and assesses the role of socio-cultural factors as determinants of fuel choice at household level. Past research has focused on income as a determining factor for fuel transition, as depicted by the energy ladder model, and the more development oriented energy leapfrogging model. This thesis challenges this notion by providing empirical evidence from Catembe, Mozambique; suggesting that socio-cultural factors are just as important determinants for household energy transition. By applying psycho-anthropologic research techniques, a series of qualitative and quantitative results from 402 households in Catembe, provide a framework for understanding the core factors responsible for household cooking energy choice. It was determined that factors such as taste preferences, cooking practices, local cuisine, kitchen type, gender relations and fuel preferences are culturally determined, and significantly influence on the adoption of modern cooking technologies. To demonstrate the importance for considering such factors, the introduction of an ethanol cook-stove is simulated and evaluated in terms of its applicability to user needs and preferences in Catembe. Results show that despite meeting developmental objectives, the stove falls short in conforming to the culinary traditional of intended beneficiaries.

This business plan is about a system that integrates the process of diet from planning, execution, and result tracking. The author has noticed the wide penetration of smart phone in Taiwan, and the unique benefit of health care mobile device application software (“Apps”) in preventing diseases and managing individual health that traditional medical service fall short to offer. She also has witnessed the growing trend of ecommerce in Taiwan that the items being traded online have further expended to food and grocery. Her idea is to link the diet plan, grocery shopping, and body measurement tracking all together on the same platform to provide household a simple, efficient, and effective way to lead a health life. The system of this business plan doesn’t involve with any new technology, either is it the first diet related software on the market. But it is the first one that links the process with online food and grocery shopping, which is able to help consumers save a lot of time. Another competitive advantage is, unlike competitors offering single objective/method of diet, the nutrition knowledge on this system is designed to be open-sourced, which means it can be applied on diet of all purposes. Consumers are able to choose the diet method that is most effective on them. The business plan is meaningful to carry out. First of all, the usage of Apps is proved to have the positive effect on users’ health. It helps them to understand the linkage of their behavior and health level. It also increases users’ self-accountability on their own health. Second, this system is expected to boots behavior of cooking at home by mitigating the pain in shopping and providing incentive by it with diet. Cooking at home is foundation of healthy eating. The two together is able to enhance the health consciousness and health management implementation at both individual and household level. If wildly adapted, it will be able enhance overall health level of the nation. It will save medical expense, and burden on national health insurance. People of Taiwan will live in a high quality life with better health status. This business is also profitable to carry out, if executed properly. Unlike other items, food and grocery are things that customers have to purchase periodically. Thus, it brings in most stable and sustainable sales. The reason online food and grocery grows slower than other items is because it required substantial trust from customers, which is possible to achieve with sufficient quality control and promotion. Once it is built, such revenue is more resilient than other items which can stand economy downturn. The online shopping of this system is also designed to be an open platform which linked with multiple sellers. The revenue is transaction fee. By investing in this attractive and value added system to customers, investors will be able to enjoy the benefit from growing online food and grocery market. However, since this system doesn’t involve with new technology, it might be mimicked by competitors quickly. The key to success is to attract as many users as possible in a short period of time, leaving no room of survival for late comers. Therefore, this business is more suitable for blue-chip internet/software companies, like Yahoo, or eBay, or Amazon in US, books.com in Taiwan(博客來) …etc. With their existing experience in system development, customer service, and abundant capital, they are able to make this move fast and accurate. To them, developing this business is like opening another revenue stream with the least effort.

This thesis explores the workings of co-operation. It proceeds by way of a two-case comparative study, where the units of comparison are local consumer co-operatives: the Newcastle upon Tyne Co-operative Society Ltd., situated in the north-east of England, and Konsumentföreningen Solidar in Malmö, in the south-west of Sweden. We get to follow the two societies through minutes from member meetings, and from several other data sources, from their dates of birth to 1970. This material is utilised for cross-case and within-case comparisons as we follow the interaction between the societies and their environments, between organisational structure and decision-making, and between different factions within the societies. The primary purpose is to charter, understand, and explain the complexities brought out by the empirical inquiry. But in doing so, we also discern more general underlying principles for variations in the workings of co-operation. While this makes the thesis into an exploratory endeavour, it also contains an attempt to map the historiography of co-operation in Britain and Sweden: themes and research questions are construed so as to make a contribution to both literatures. One such contribution is the description and analysis of two separate organisational logics, of their dynamics, conditions, effects, and development over time.

<p>This study assesses the present level of household water access and the willingness to pay in South Africa. Although the general literature informs that progress has been made in positing South Africa above the levels found in most African countries, there are some marked inequalities among the population groups and across the provinces, with some performing well and others poorly in this regard. The study looks at the extent to which households differ in terms of water access and willingness to pay according to the province of residence. The study focuses on household heads / male and female, through different social and demographic attributes, by taking account of variables such as age, education&nbsp / attainment, geographic areas, and population group to name but a few. The data used in this study comes from the 2007 General Household Survey (GHS) conducted by Statistics South Africa. The scope is national and employs cross tabulation and logistic regression to establish relationships and the likelihood of living in a household with access to safe&nbsp / drinking water in South Africa. Results presented in this study suggest that the difference is determined by socio- demographic characteristics of each household such as age, gender, population group, level of education, employment status income, dwelling unit, dwelling ownership, living quarters,household size and income. It throws more light as to what needs to be taken into account when considering demand and supply of and priorities for water intervention from the household perspective.</p>

This study deals with the consequences for household economy in connection with unemployment. Various mechanisms that influence the relationship between unemployment and the reception of supplementary benefits are described and analyzed. The labour market, the social insurance system and the adjustment strategies of families are fields of particular interest to this study. The economic systems of support that have developed are dominated by the unemployment insurance. Those, whose unemployment benefits have ceased or who for some other reason are not covered by the insurance, have to resort to supplementary benefits. The differences in level between working, receiving unemployment benefits or supplementary benefits can be described in terms of a scale of income. The aspect of the scale varies strongly between different types of families. The empirical point of reference for this dissertation is the close-down of a pulp industry (Ncb in Köpmanholmen 130 km south of Umeå in the north of Sweden). The development of those made redundant has been studied with regard to reception of supplementary benefits, income and adjustment strategies. Data about income and supplementary benefits were collected from registers at the local tax charge office and the local administration of social services. 83 out of 444 households were interviewed about adjustment strategies. The close-down in question proved to be exceptional in many aspects. The expected "social catastrophe" never occured due to the economic upswing, raised unemployment benefits and ambitious labour market policy efforts, among other things. Only a very small minority of those made redundant have received supplementary benefits after the close-down. This has been the case although many of those made redundant have been removed from the open labour market with a subsequent lowering of their income level. Amongst those made redundant many different patterns of adjustment havè been observed. It appears that those who lack work after a couple of years after the close-down are often characterized by passivity, whereas those who have been employed are often characterized by activity. Finally the variation in patterns of adjustment can be seen as a social policy problem. Judging from the results a combination of the institutional and marginal social policy strategies would be desirable. Reform schemes can be suggested that are based on a wish to supplement the preventive and institutional social policy with selective features where the adjustment strategies of families should provide an important resource potential. / digitalisering@umu