The South African Reserve Bank presents an annual balance sheet for the South African household sector constructed from macro-economic data estimates. Broad asset and liability classes are presented which can be disaggregated with the use of micro-level data obtained directly from households. At the time of the study, however, micro-level data on the different asset and liability classes accumulated by households was not available. The main objective of the study was to disaggregate and measure the asset and liability base of South African households in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas using micro-level data. The study used a mixed methodological approach, consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data and was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on the recognition and measurement of household assets and liabilities. Economic theories that explain asset and liability accumulation were reviewed and international surveys on household net wealth measurement scrutinised. A heuristic model of a financial position section for the South African household sector was developed. In the second and qualitative phase, online and face-to-face focus group deliberations were conducted with experts in the field of household finance to ensure that the newly developed financial position section would robustly recognise and measure all possible household asset and liability classes. In the third and quantitative phase, the financial position section was included in an omnibus survey and data was collected from a representative sample of 2 606 households in South Africa. The weighted data was segmented in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas and presented as statements of financial position based on the classification, recognition and measurement principles of “The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting 2010”. Composition analyses presented a secondary objective, namely to explore the effect of identified independent demographic variables on asset and liability accumulation. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) identified meaningful interaction effects for (1) age, income and area; (2) income and age; (3) education, income and age; and (4) education and income on asset accumulation and an age and income interaction effect on liability accumulation. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on the contemporaneous effect of age, income, education and area of residence on household asset and liability accumulation and provides information on South African household net wealth not yet available. The disaggregated asset and liability base will assist policy makers both at micro- and macro-economic level with the overview and management of South African household net wealth. / Business Management / D. Com. (Accounting Science)

This research set out to ascertain whether the employers of domestic workers within the Msunduzi Area do comply with the requirements of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector. For domestic workers who were exploited during the apartheid era, this determination was perceived as a mechanism that would liberate them (Department of Labour, 2005, p.7). Trade unions use collective bargaining as a tool to fight for employee rights. Domestic workers are unionised, but their trade unions are not as powerful as their counterparts in the private sector (Department of Labour, 2005, p.7). According to Huber (2001, p.20), one of the reasons domestic workers were excluded from most labour laws was the belief that it would be difficult to check whether or not each individual employer complied with the laws. This problem still exists and needs to be solved. Government laws were meant to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation (mainly farm and domestic workers), but what is actually happening is that, rather than protecting employees from exploitation, they serve as corrective action. They are only implemented when there is a case between an employee and the employer. The government has a responsibility to protect vulnerable employees such as domestic and farm workers. The mechanism instituted by the government to protect domestic workers was through the promulgation of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Service Sector, which lays down minimum working conditions for domestic workers (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). The main aim was to alleviate exploitation of domestic workers by the employers due to the power imbalance between these two parties (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). This study compares what the employer offers to an employee in terms of wages, working hours, meal intervals and leave. From the observation of the research, little research has been done on the compliance or non-compliance with Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Service Sector, within the Msunduzi Region. The outcome of the findings from this research were that the minimum salary for those employees who work more than five days are R727,60 instead of R861,90 and for those domestic workers who work for five days a week it is an average of R528,93 instead of R567, 79. The results indicated that many of the standards set down by the government are clearly not being met by the employers of domestic workers, for example minimum wages are not being paid and maximum hours are being exceeded. The determination stipulated that the maximum hours that should be worked a week is 45 hours and a maximum of nine hours per day; this was not in line with the standards, seeing that the average amount of time worked per week by respondents was 46.9 hours and 9.3 hours per day. As far as meals are concerned Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Worker Sector, indicated that the standard should be an hour meal interval for every five hours worked. Respondents from this study disagreed that they were given an hour-long lunch time and reflected that the average time taken for meals was only 30 minutes. Finally, domestic workers need to have annual leave of 21 consecutive days (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). This standard was not being met, as the average number of days being given for annual leave is 16.5 days. Maternity leave should be given as four consecutive months for domestic workers. It was found that 89,3% of domestic workers were given maternity leave of less than the stipulated four consecutive months. Domestic workers should be given five days' leave for family responsibility (Department of Labour, 2005, p.9). The respondents indicated that this was not adhered to, as the average number of days being given to the domestic workers for family responsibility was 1.4 days. Only 13,8% of domestic workers were granted five days' family responsibility leave and approximately 67,6% received less than five days for family responsibility leave. The study recommended that there should be some kind of government policy of doing consistent spot checks in different areas in the Msunduzi Area and possibly the rest of the country. This will require the Department of Labour to increase its manpower. More labour inspectors will be needed to ensure that this whole area is sufficiently monitored. The study revealed that union officials need to devise means and ways of coming into contact with domestic workers. Employers were expected to have a copy of Sectoral Determination 7: Domestic Service Sector available, within easy access of domestic workers. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Families and households in census data with a focus on the methodological aspects of the data Abstract Over the past few decades, significant changes in the family and household structure have been observed. Nevertheless, demographic behaviour does not have to be the only factor affecting these changes. Therefore, the thesis brings a comprehensive look at the family and household and focuses more on the methodological aspects of its structure and development evaluation. The first part of the thesis is rather a methodological work and introduces a detailed household methodology of one of the most important data source on families and households. Over the last half- century, the population and housing census has allowed a monitoring of household formation in the Czech Republic. Despite the efforts, new technologies, data collection and processing methods have required a change of the household concept in the last census. Since then, the time series have not been fully comparable. For the first time, household type derivation was based on automated process only, using a predefined algorithm. This algorithm, drafted by the author of the thesis, is also introduced in a separate chapter. The thesis also includes analytical chapters discussing the long-term development of the family and household structure...

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 C355 / Master of Science

This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter uses credit card data to estimate the impact of increasing minimum payments on delinquency, payments, spending, and write-offs. The identification strategy exploits an unusual institutional feature: borrowers can use their account to make purchases with both revolving loans (on which minimum payments increased) and term loans (on which there was no change). Payment increases by delinquent borrowers are insufficient to match increasing minimums, resulting in lower cure rates and an increase in write-offs. Affected borrowers migrate away from these accounts by decreasing charges and increasing payments, consequently lowering the interest earned by the bank. The second chapter analyzes the response of consumption, debt, and delinquency to an anticipated increase in cash-on-hand in the presence of liquidity constraints. It uses account-level data from a North American bank that allows clients to make purchases using credit card and term loans on the same account. Term loans are paid off in a predetermined number of equal monthly installments. The end of a term loan therefore generates a predictable increase in cash-on-hand relative to months in which payments were required. Consistent with a model in which consumers are potentially liquidity constrained, consumers \textit{ex-ante} identified as unconstrained do not increase their credit card expenditures, constrained consumers increase both their credit card expenditures and balance, and consumers for whom the credit card is the marginal source of funds decrease their balance. The propensity to take out a new term loan increases for all consumers, whether constrained or not. About 4% of unconstrained consumers delay taking out a new term loan until the original loan is repaid, contrary to theoretical predictions. Paying off the term loan reduces financial delinquency and the probability of default. The third chapter analyzes the comovement of personal savings and income using administrative data provided by a North American bank that records the sum of monthly direct deposit income into its clients' checking accounts. It investigates how permanent and transitory income changes are smoothed by checking account balances. Transitory income changes, whether positive or negative, have only transitory effects on checking account balances, suggesting that consumption is excessively sensitive to them compared to theoretical predictions. Permanent income changes lead to permanent adjustments in consumption and modest permanent adjustments in checking account balances, consistent with theoretical predictions. There is evidence of anticipation of future income changes as much as three months in advance.

The research attempted to demystify the Zimbabwean land reform that was spear headed by war veterans’ in Zimbabwe. This research investigated the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in 2000 on Household Food Security. It was generally assumed that the programme did not improve Household Food Security. To verify that assertion the research used questionnaires in a survey research design. The questionnaires were administered to 322 household heads that had been selected by the random stratified sampling method in Mutare District. The results established that Household Food Security in Mutare District improved after the implementation of the FTLRP. The national grain storage however was depleted because the new farmers reduced the production levels set by the former white farmers. The research therefore recommends an orderly and sustainable transition of Land Reform in future programmes to enhance national grain reserves. This also further improves the Household Food Security.

Theoretical models predict that ambiguity is an asset pricing factor in addition to risk, however few of them have been tested in the real market. This thesis tests one of the hypotheses that, investors’ propensity to invest in stocks is reduced when ambiguity in the marketplace increases. The hypothesis is tested by using equity fund flows and households’ equity holding as measurements of the market participation, and using dispersion in analysts’ forecasts about aggregate returns as measurement of ambiguity. The results confirm this hypothesis, since the increases in ambiguity are significantly and negatively related to equity fund flows, as well as the likelihood that the average household invests in equities. Moreover, the results also find that the fund flows in non-dividend paying stocks are more sensitive to the changes in ambiguity, and investors transfer capital from the equity market into more liquid asset classes during high-ambiguity periods. In addition, this thesis also tests whether there is heterogeneity in individuals’ ambiguity aversion, and examines the psychological roots of ambiguity aversion. FNE theory explains ambiguity aversion as the result of fearing negative evaluation from others. It predicts that married households are more ambiguity averse; while households with higher income and education, or households that are more mature, are less ambiguity averse. On the other hand, self-evaluation theory explains ambiguity aversion as the result of minimizing anticipated regret. It predicts that households that are more optimistic, or have less income, are less ambiguity averse; while households that have negative market experience, or have higher income, are more ambiguity averse. The results show that married households, or households with high income / negative market experience, are more ambiguity averse; and households that are more optimistic / more mature, are less ambiguity averse. Therefore, both theories have successful predictions, suggesting that the ambiguity aversion is the combined result of the two motivations.

Petitions of different kinds are emerging as an increasingly used source for studies of early modern Sweden and beyond. Supplications offer historians great opportunities to examine claims coming from people of various backgrounds, and the larger complex of contemporary ideas these arguments were built on. In these documents, petitioners often bring up the issue of poverty. The purpose of the thesis has been to elucidate this language of poverty and the ideas and values behind its invocation, through studying how people described and used it in their communication with the County Administration of Uppsala between 1730 and 1734. The study has shown that statements of poverty were deployed by a large variety of people, but women were more prone to speak about it than men, especially in echelons above the peasantry. Poverty was used in several ways: to denote a subordinate relation in the social hierarchy, as an enhancer of plight or as something which was not deserved as the petitioners had fulfilled the duties expected of them. By calling themselves poor or emphasizing their blameless destitution, supplicants could ask for the County governor’s protection, try to establish themselves as deserving of help or invoke notions of Christian compassion. Behind the statements of poverty lay ideas of hierarchy and reciprocity set out in the Lutheran Table of Duties, which provided a base for the supplicants’ claims for help.

abstract / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health