Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Colorado, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [200]-205).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1989. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-181).

In the aftermath of the financial crisis where global aggregate demand is struggling, countries occasionally get accused of weakening their currency to gain competitiveness. The method of weakening the currency to gain competitiveness is explained by the Marshall-Lerner condition, which states that a devaluation in the long-term will strengthen the balance of trade. But is this policy always rational? And if not, which economies should avoid it? This study investigates whether the structure of the export industry can explain the varying response in the balance of trade from a devaluation. The Johansen Procedure with a Vector Error Correction Model is used to estimate long-run price elasticities of demand for exports and imports. The countries chosen are among the 30 countries with the lowest rank of economic complexity based on its output, listed by the Observatory of Economic Complexity. The exports of these countries are consisting of a single or a few goods, which enables for investigating how individual industries respond to a devaluation. The hypothesis is that there are differences between labour- and capital-intensive economies and that the former should respond more positive to a devaluation than the latter. The results indicate that there is a pattern, to the opposite of the hypothesis, where the capital-intensive economies respond more positive to a devaluation than the labour-intensive economies. This could be misleading due to underlying factors that should be controlled for to be able to produce reliable estimates. The Marshall-Lerner condition is fulfilled for two countries, Gabon and Niger, out of nine in the final sample.

The type of exchange rate regime a country should adopt and ideal level of the currency have has been an ongoing debate amongst academics, politician and trade unionists. The South African economic debate is currently dominated by debates on the appropriate level of the exchange rate of the rand. With the high volatility of the rand and the rapid appreciation of the rand in 2010 there have been calls for various sectors for government to intervene and devalue the rand. The premise is that devaluation will help counter the volatility of the rand and help stimulate South Africa’s export sector thereby resulting in an improvement of the trade balance. The aim of this research was to determine if there is a relationship between South Africa’s exchange rate and the trade balance and to determine if devaluation of the rand would have a positive influence on the trade balance. Furthermore the extent to which the trade balance would follow the J-Curve effect following devaluation was investigated. Using the long term trade balance model and Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) model between the analyses was done between South Africa and the BRIC countries. The conclusion reached was that a devaluation of the rand would not necessarily lead to a long term improvement of the trade balance and no evidence of the J-Curve effect was found. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to examine the phenomenon of institutional credential devaluation and the impacts on internationally-trained social workers in Canada. International social workers are recruited to immigrate to Canada based on their credentials and experience but some discover after immigrating that their qualifications are devalued which limits or prohibits their ability to engage in professional practice. This experience is recognized within the literature in other professions; however, there has been insufficient attention given to it within social work itself and to the various stakeholders involved. Using critical theory and interpretative phenomenological analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with internationally-trained social workers to gain insight into their experiences of devaluation and graduate degree repetition in Ontario universities. Extensive exploration of the institutional stakeholders in credential assessment, the field of social work and universities was also undertaken and provides systemic context to the experiences of international social workers. While internationally-trained social workers have high views of Canada prior to immigrating, these perspectives change upon encountering systemic devaluation and discrimination post-immigration. They describe confusion, frustration and powerlessness as they navigate through social work systems in seeking to gain recognition of their credentials in order to practice. When they eventually decide to return to Ontario universities to obtain the recognition they need/deserve, they experience continued devaluation. Instead of identifying different or better social work education in Ontario, they describe repetition of what they learned in their countries of origin, raising questions about the similarities and differences in international social work education. The personal costs and psychological impacts of these experiences are shared by the participants. The practices of social work and post-secondary institutions in creating systemic barriers to internationally-trained social workers are examined with recommendations for further research and policy and practice changes that will lead to greater justice and equity. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Executive functioning (EF) deficits may be associated with depressed states, although limited research has examined components of EF as endophenotypes of depression. This study assessed whether affective updating predicted depressive symptoms in a sample pre-selected for varying levels of depression via the affective n-back. In this task, participants determine whether the valence of a stimulus matches the valence of the stimulus presented two stimuli prior. Results suggested affective updating ability did not significantly predict depressive symptoms approximately over time, although higher accuracy in updating negative information was associated with more depressive symptoms approximately twelve weeks later. Moreover, accuracy in updating positive and negative information did not differ between groups. However, a trend emerged for depressed participants to be more accurate in updating negative information in the face of interfering positive information, compared to updating positive information with interfering negative information. The latter results are considered within the reward devaluation framework.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-173).

Generally, immigrants face different challenges adapting to their new environment while starting a new life in the new environment. One of these problems is related to employment as they find it difficult finding jobs in their host countries. A number of them are often jobless or having jobs that do not correspond with their educational qualification. This is one of the factors that influence the earnings of immigrants in the Swedish labour market. This study focused on the factors influencing the underutilization of immigrant’s foreign educational credentials in the Swedish labour market. The study is based on human capital theory, cultural shock theory and discrimination theory. Through qualitative research design, rich detailed data about the phenomenon was collected from participants that participated in the study. Findings of the study revealed that the two major factors that influence the underutilization of immigrant’s foreign educational credential in the Swedish labour market are structural factors and individual factors (lack of social network with Swedish natives, inability to fluently communicate in Swedish, and loss of professional knowledge due to lack of practice).