<p>The effectiveness of the South African Land reform Programme has been at the centre of debates amonng land reform activists and within government. Empirical evidence shows that land reform has not only been moving at a slow pace, but has also had limited impact on the livelihoods of beneficiaries, due to the fact that many land reform farms have operated at a very low level since being transferred to their new owners. This study looks at performance of land reform in South Africa, using the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme in the Nothern Cape as an example.</p>

This dissertation consists of four studies on the role of institutions, education and institutional reform in economic development. Three of the studies examine empirical aspects of the issue and the fourth provides an analysis of policy implications. A key theme of the dissertation is the recognition that institutions, both formal and informal, are important for development. The observation that some developing economies have been unable to substantively improve institutional structures, creates a vital agenda for studying institutional change. The first study empirically investigates the impact of education, both quantitatively and qualitatively, on the informal institution of social capital measured as social trust. Differences in levels of education are considered to find the separate effects of primary, secondary and tertiary education. The relationship between education and social trust levels in countries is found to be positive. The sample is further split into developed and developing countries which also substantiates the main hypothesis. The results can be interpreted as schooling playing a transformative role in the society. The second study develops a framework for studying education inequality and institutional development. A range of economic, political and social measures of institutional quality are used in a cross-country analysis. The study confirms that the cross-country differences in institutional variables are influenced negatively by the education inequality. Several competing hypotheses of institutional improvement are used to test the sensitivity of the results. The sample is further split into OECD and non-OECD countries, with no new results arising from this split. The third study investigates the relationship of education inequality and institutional quality using panel data techniques and an alternative data set of institutional measures, than the one used in the second study. This study initially estimates the relationship using the pooled OLS and fixed effects models. The issue of persistency in institutional variables is then investigated by using a system GMM estimator. The evidence suggests that the impact of reducing education inequality is associated with improvements in institutional quality. The fourth study analyses the implications from the first three studies with reference to the institutional reform agenda. Insight is given for improving the reform process. Areas of context specificity and sequencing of reforms are dealt with, using country examples. The intuition from this essay is that educational equality is a deliberate initiative which needs to be carried out through policy initiatives, although the process adopted would depend on the specific economy. It is suggested that there is a need to change the fundamental focus from emphasis on altering formal rules, to considering the current underlying structures in societies as a constraint, in developing a way forward to improving the reform agenda.

The intention of this thesis is to explore and discuss the experiences of consumers and carers with psychiatric disability support services. In particular their participation in service development and delivery and the degree to which their relationship with services and providers has influenced this participation, is explored and discussed. These relationships are particularly relevant in the context of the dynamics that determine power and the strategies that consumers have adopted so that they become more empowered and have control over their own lives. / Consumers and their carers are placing greater demands on the mental health service system within Victoria. Reforms to mental health and psychiatric disability support service delivery and practice have resulted in deinstitutionalisation, recognition of fundamental human rights and changes to mental health legislation. Participation by consumers and carers in service development and delivery has been viewed by governments as necessary and important in contributing to care, treatment and support systems. / The National Mental Health Policy developed by the Australian Health Ministers paid substantial attention to the need to include consumers and carers in decisions that shape mental health services. These are underpinned by the World Health Organisation’s doctrine that people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care. (WHO 1990, p. 14). In Victoria, the National Mental Health Policy lead to the development of a framework for mental health services that reinforced consumer and carer participation in service development and delivery. / A qualitative methodology was used for this investigation. In-depth interviews were conducted with consumers and carers to gain a thorough understanding of their experiences and perceptions of the current mental health system. A review of available literature on the developing mental health consumer movement and on the concepts and practices of empowering strategies was undertaken. The opportunities for participation in the design, development and delivery of services in the context of actual experiences, are discussed with consumers and carers with particular emphasis on consumers’ perceptions of power and empowerment. / The transition from institution to community, known as deinstitutionalisation, has not been an easy one to accept by consumers and carers alike. The changes to service design and delivery with a greater focus on community and out reach services, and the necessary changes in attitudes by providers toward consumers as a result of these changes, have established major challenges for the mental health and psychiatric disability support services sector. Consumers and carers argue that the rhetoric inherent in the decision to implement deinstitutionalisation policies and practices that have lead to a shift to services primarily delivered outside of institutions, needs to be taken to another level. They want to ensure that they are recognised and accepted as bringing essential knowledge and experience to a service system that should be designed to support consumers and carers who face life altering circumstances as a result of a mental illness. / The information provided by consumer participants suggests that the reforms to some degree have provided them with more opportunities to take control over their own lives particularly in relation to their involvement in community based psychiatric disability support services. However, they describe the attitudes of providers as remaining the greatest barrier to advancing consumer participation. Carers on the other hand describe their experiences with psychiatric disability support services as disempowering. Their disillusionment with the mental health system is attributed to the lack of support and their perceived lack of recognition in their role as carers.

The dissertation investigates support by economists for the global policy shift away from unfunded public pension schemes towards funded private pension schemes. Influential economists and institutions, including the World Bank, present a suite of economic arguments that suggest that this shift will have positive effects on national economies, particularly in the context of aging. The arguments may be categorised according to their relation to the operation of three sets of institutions: capital markets, labour markets and political systems. In capital markets, the transition is purported to increase private and national saving, increase the quantity and quality of investment, and provide more efficient private administration. In labour markets, it is claimed that the shift will reduce labour market distortions associated with public pensions, which inhibit competitiveness, produce unemployment and encourage early retirement. According to the World Bank, public pensions systems cause these distortions without achieving their stated objective of reducing inequality. In the political sphere, the shift is purported to insulate the pension system from political pressures, which otherwise inevitably lead to crisis. The thesis provides evidence which refutes these claims. The best research, including studies by orthodox economists, indicate that the shift does not increase savings or investment, or improve the quality of financial investment. The main effect of tax concessions associated with private pension systems is to divert to private pension funds savings that would occur in any case via other mechanisms. The tax concessions are also regressive, even in systems with compulsory elements. Private administration of pensions, particularly in a plural consumer market setting, is highly inefficient, with customers at a disadvantage in dealing with providers due to the complexity and opacity of products and pricing. A negative relationship is found between public pension spending and levels of elderly poverty, suggesting that reducing public pension spending increases levels of elderly inequality. Public pensions are found not to explain differences in economic growth between regions. Elements of system design which distort labour markets, such as by encouraging early retirement, can easily be adjusted. However, such elements are explicit government policy in several countries. A review of public and private pensions finds that examples of public system crisis are associated with instances of economic and political collapse, rather than system design. Private funded systems are found to be more vulnerable, not less, to the same external influences. Relatively generous universal public pension systems are found to be financially sustainable despite demographic change, assuming modest levels of economic growth.

Frankfurt (Main), University, Diss., 2005.

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Diss., 2005

Zugl.: Erlangen, Nürnberg, Univ., Diss., 2005

Universiẗat, Diss., 2006--Trier.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2006--Hannover.

Zugl.: Göttingen, Univ., Diss., 2005