Hedge-Fonds und Finanzmarktinstabilität

In der Arbeit wird ein Ansatz für die destabilisierende Wirkung von adaptiven Hedge-Fonds Aktivitäten diskutiert und mit einer konkreten Implementation für den USD-JPY Carry Trade illustriert. Die sich dabei entwickelnde Marktdynamik wird systemtheoretisch durch den Prozess einer kollektiven Selbstorganisation erklärt. Die Neuerung des vorgestellten Ansatzes liegt darin, dass durch die Kombination von Fallstudien-/Simulations- und systemtheoretischer Methodik ein besserer Zugang zur Erklärung der Entstehung exzessiver Preisentwicklungen in Währungsmärkten gefunden werden konnte, als bisher mit traditionellen Ansätzen möglich war. In der Dissertation wird gezeigt, dass Hedge-Fonds nicht die alleinige Schuld für das Entstehen von Finanzmarktinstabilitäten trifft.

The diversity of postharvest losses in cassava value chains in selected developing countries

The extent of physical and economic postharvest losses at different stages of cassava value chains has been estimated in four countries that differ considerably in the way cassava is cultivated, processed and consumed and in the relationships and linkages among the value chain actors. Ghana incurs by far the highest losses because a high proportion of roots reach the consumers in the fresh form. Most losses occur at the last stage of the value chain. In Nigeria and Vietnam processors incur most of the losses while in Thailand most losses occur during harvesting. Poorer countries incur higher losses despite their capacity to absorb sub-standard products (therefore transforming part of the physical losses into economic losses) and less strict buyer standards. In monetary terms the impact of losses is particularly severe in Ghana and estimated at about half a billion US dollar per annum while in the other countries it is at the most about USD 50 million. This comparison shows that there are no “one-size-fits-all" solutions for addressing postharvest losses but rather these must be tailor-made to the specific characteristics of the different value chains.

Transaction costs of farmers’ participation in forest management: Policy implications of payments for environmental services schemes in Vietnam

Recent research on payments for environmental services (PES) has observed that high transaction costs (TCs) are incurred through the implementation of PES schemes and farmer participation. TCs incurred by households are considered to be an obstacle to the participation in and efficiency of PES policies. This study aims to understand transactions related to previous forest plantation programmes and to estimate the actual TCs incurred by farmers who participated in these programmes in a mountainous area of northwestern Vietnam. In addition, this study examines determinants of households’ TCs to test the hypothesis of whether the amount of TCs varies according to household characteristics. Results show that average TCs are not likely to be a constraint for participation since they are about 200,000 VND (USD 10) per household per contract, which is equivalent to one person’s average earnings for about two days of labour. However, TCs amount to more than one-third of the programmes’ benefits, which is relatively high compared to PES programmes in developed countries. This implies that rather than aiming to reduce TCs, an appropriate agenda for policy improvement is to balance the level of TCs with PES programme benefits to enhance the overall attractiveness of afforestation programmes for smallholder farmers. Regression analysis reveals that education, gender and perception towards PES programmes have significant effects on the magnitude of TCs. The analyses also points out the importance of local conditions on the level of TCs, with some unexpected results.