Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 228-237.

The LIFT Program was introduced by the Canadian Wheat Board and the Federal Cabinet in March of 1970. The program was designed to reduce the number of acres seeded to wheat in the spring of 1970 and thereby reduce the size of wheat stocks in Canada. The objectives of this study of the LIFT Program were; 1. to determine which factors were important in predicting the extent of participation by individual farmers in the LIFT Program; 2. to determine how effective the LIFT Program was in reducing wheat acreage. Data for the study was collected by means of interviewing a random sample of farm operators in the grain growing areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the factors which were most important in predicting the extent of participation in the LIFT Program. The importance of qualitative variables was analysed by chi-square and analysis of variance techniques. The following eight variables were found to be important in predicting the extent of participation in the LIFT Program. 1. number of bushels of wheat on hand per cultivated acre 2. age of operator 3. knowledge of the LIFT Program 4, acres of wheat in 1969 5. grade completed in school by operator's wife 6. "attitude towards change" score 7. attitude towards the LIFT Program, and 8. percentage of summer fallow in the normal crop rotation. These eight variables explained 61.94% of the variation in the extent of participation in the LIFT Program. It was concluded that knowledge of the LIFT Program, attitude towards the LIFT Program, dissemination of information about the program by group methods and by government sources all had an important influence on the extent of participation. It was further concluded that the LIFT Program either directly or indirectly influenced about two thirds of the wheat acreage reduction that occurred in 1970. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Bibliography: pages 71-75. / After more than two decades of phenomenal economic expansion, Botswana now faces the challenge of slowing economic growth, rising unemployment and increasing poverty. The minerals sector, which dominated economic growth since the late seventies, has served the economy well in the past, but social and economic developments have reached a juncture where the broad strategic direction of the economy needs to be re-evaluated. The need to diversify the economy to reduce its reliance on mineral commodities has long been acknowledged by government. One of the sectors of the economy earmarked for diversification was the manufacturing sector. However, in spite of government efforts to promote this industry, the sector's contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has remained small and even declined in recent years. An investigation into those structural features of the economy which are responsible for this record and impose limitations on the sectors' future development is therefore of great relevance. This study attempts such an investigation by focusing mainly on one aspect of the problem: those features related to booms in the minerals sector. More specifically, the study examines the effect of the real exchange rate and real wage rate movements. It also uses case study and survey data to gain insight into other major factors responsible for industrial development and to corroborate the conclusions reached on the basis of macro-economic data. The data collected suggest that Botswana has managed its mineral windfalls relatively well. It shows that the major effects through which mineral windfalls corrode competitiveness of industry -- real exchange rate appreciation and real wage rate increases have been successfully avoided. It is argued, therefore, that the country's industrial backwardness does not necessarily arise from booms in the mining sector. This conclusion is supported by the firm survey which found that low productivity, high utility costs and the lack of skilled labour to be the major impediments to industrial development. The study is intended as a contribution to understanding of the impact of mineral windfalls on the industrial development process in Botswana, but it also offers some policy prescriptions. The major policy recommendations that emerge are that wage rate increases should be tied to productivity improvements, productivity should be raised to international levels through training and the exchange rate be managed in such a manner that it does not undermine the ability of industry to compete in the Southern African Customs Union market.

This study defines the need and practicality of measuring and determining the metrics and success indicators for an international commodity marketing office for a bulk material resource mining corporation and more particularly for the recently established international marketing office of the specific corporate. The methodology of the study offers the industry a comprehensive investigative process to prove the viability of various quantifiable and qualifiable metrics and success indicators as well as value proposition potentials for an international commodity marketing office were found. The expected and high priority functions of the international marketing office were Customer relationship management and Competitive & Market intelligence The measurement criteria are collated within 4 main groupings namely General, Products, Markets and Financial. The specificity of the monitoring points and the fact that they are derived from non-financial and non marketing bases proves that their determination and measurement is viable and will further increase the potential value added by a coal commodity marketing office. Based on similarities between coal commodity market drivers and drawing this relation back through the generality of the bulk commodity marketing concepts and processes, the same benefits and or metrics may also be true for all commodities and their relevant marketing offices.

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This paper examines a fragment of the evident cultural exthange occurring along the U.S. — Mexico border in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Many Nogales youth are absorbing American popular culture through purchasing American popular culture commodities, such as music. The paper raises questions of how and why the Nogales youth purchase their pop culture commodities, and of the interpretations the Nogales youth make of said commodities' symbolic significance. After methodologies and context of the study are discussed, the paper defines popular culture and its relationship to commodity production. It then focuses on how the youth access their pop culture products and the factors that influence their buying decisions. At its end, the paper compares the interpretations of the Nogales youth with those of American youth in terms of pop culture goods.

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / This study aims to make a contribution to the better understanding of the role commodities play in a portfolio, specifically in a South African investment portfolio. It considers the interactions between a fully collateralised commodity index and South African equities, bonds, property and cash. The study uses historical data to asses if commodities provide addition benefits to an investment portfolio, namely, additional returns, diversification and as an inflation hedge. The analyses used in this study are performance analysis, correlation studies and portfolio optimisation. Based on the evidence presented in this study we show that there were some benefits to adding commodities to a South African investment portfolio, namely, using commodities to diversify a portfolio and as an inflation hedge. However, commodities did not provide sufficiently large enough returns to justify their high volatility and as such would not be an appropriate stand alone investment in the South African context.

This dissertation investigates the role commodity exports are playing in making the hegemonic policies of Latin America's new progressive governments viable and the repercussions these are having on economic development. At the core of the analysis there is a study of those mechanisms which are making possible Kirchenerism's policies of industrialization, social redistribution and international autonomy viable, and, how these are reliant on reinforcing the commodity exporting economy in the country. Using Argentina as a case study the dissertation argues that this post-neoliberal progressive project is embedded in an essential paradox. This hinges on the way in which a more progressive post-neoliberal organization of capitalism is entrenched in reinforcing Argentina's subordinated integration into global capitalism as a commodity provider - a process which, in turn, is strengthening the country's dependent integration into the international economy. The Argentine soy complex is taken as a case study to provide an empirical base to the argument and provides a site for testing the main hypothesis of this study. The argument revisits the Latin American tradition of dependency theory. It explores to what extent the post-neoliberal political economy in Argentina, even if progressive, is reliant on commodity exports which are strengthening a situation of dependency that is then obstructing the prospects for long term economic development. Chapter 2 explores how the Latin American tradition of dependency can provide a valuable setting to study the political economy of post-neoliberalism in the region. In chapter 3, I argue that a precise look at the current organization of how capital is realized in Argentina can show that the core of the processes of capital accumulation and social reproduction, embraced by Kirchenerism, represents a post-neoliberal rupture. Chapter 4 shows how the key hegemonic policies for Kirchenerism - of industrialization, social redistribution and international autonomy - are possible because of the recent growth of the commodity exporting economy. Chapter 5, establishes how Kirchenerism is reliant on the good performance of the soy complex in order to sustain these policies and, in chapter 6, there is an illustration of how the new situation of dependency hinders economic development prospects by using the soy complex as a case study. The major contribution this dissertation offers is an increased understanding of the political economy of these new progressive governments. In particular, the analysis shows the essential role that commodity exports have had in sustaining the key policies of these projects and also how the sustainability of a more social democratic organization of capitalism is hindering long term prospects for economic development.

A Teoria da Transição Florestal prevê recuperação das florestas a partir de alterações no foco da economia, onde os setores terciário e secundário substituiriam o setor primário. Críticos desta hipótese afirmam que a transição ocorre por meio do deslocamento da produção agropecuária ao exterior, enquanto os países produtores passariam por uma expansão da agricultura, perdendo cobertura florestal. Outros autores refutam o argumento de que o comércio internacional seria o principal canal de ligação entre a Transição Florestal em países importadores e o avanço das fronteiras agrícolas nos países produtores. Diante da divergência dos modelos explicativos, o presente estudo busca avaliar se o comércio internacional de commodities agrícolas promove o deslocamento das áreas de desmatamento de países importadores de commodities para países exportadores. Foram analisados dados de exportações e importações de soja em grão e óleo de palma pelos principais países nesses mercados, confrontando-os com dados de variação histórica da cobertura florestal nacional entre os anos de 1990 e 2015. Os resultados apontam que o comércio internacional de commodities agrícolas opera como um canal de realocação entre o ganho de florestas em países importadores e o desmatamento em países exportadores / The Forest Transition Theory predicts that forest recover arises from changes in the focus of the economy, where the service and industry sectors replace the agriculture sector. Critics affirm that the transition occurs through the displacement of agricultural production abroad, while producing countries would undertake agriculture an expansion and lose forest cover. Other authors refute the argument that international trade would be the main linkage between the Forest Transition occurrence in importing countries and the advance of agricultural frontiers in producing countries. Considering the divergence between explanatory models, this study seeks to assess whether the international trade of agricultural commodities promotes the displacement of deforestation areas from importing countries to commodity-exporting countries. Data of exports and imports of soya bean and palm oil from the main countries in these markets were confronted to the historical variation of national forest cover between 1990 and 2015. Results point out that international trade of agricultural commodities operates as a relocation channel between forest gains in importer countries and deforestation in exporter ones

A Teoria da Transição Florestal prevê recuperação das florestas a partir de alterações no foco da economia, onde os setores terciário e secundário substituiriam o setor primário. Críticos desta hipótese afirmam que a transição ocorre por meio do deslocamento da produção agropecuária ao exterior, enquanto os países produtores passariam por uma expansão da agricultura, perdendo cobertura florestal. Outros autores refutam o argumento de que o comércio internacional seria o principal canal de ligação entre a Transição Florestal em países importadores e o avanço das fronteiras agrícolas nos países produtores. Diante da divergência dos modelos explicativos, o presente estudo busca avaliar se o comércio internacional de commodities agrícolas promove o deslocamento das áreas de desmatamento de países importadores de commodities para países exportadores. Foram analisados dados de exportações e importações de soja em grão e óleo de palma pelos principais países nesses mercados, confrontando-os com dados de variação histórica da cobertura florestal nacional entre os anos de 1990 e 2015. Os resultados apontam que o comércio internacional de commodities agrícolas opera como um canal de realocação entre o ganho de florestas em países importadores e o desmatamento em países exportadores / The Forest Transition Theory predicts that forest recover arises from changes in the focus of the economy, where the service and industry sectors replace the agriculture sector. Critics affirm that the transition occurs through the displacement of agricultural production abroad, while producing countries would undertake agriculture an expansion and lose forest cover. Other authors refute the argument that international trade would be the main linkage between the Forest Transition occurrence in importing countries and the advance of agricultural frontiers in producing countries. Considering the divergence between explanatory models, this study seeks to assess whether the international trade of agricultural commodities promotes the displacement of deforestation areas from importing countries to commodity-exporting countries. Data of exports and imports of soya bean and palm oil from the main countries in these markets were confronted to the historical variation of national forest cover between 1990 and 2015. Results point out that international trade of agricultural commodities operates as a relocation channel between forest gains in importer countries and deforestation in exporter ones