Suchergebnisse

As Malaysia continues its stable economic growth, certain income groups remain vulnerable to economic shocks, particularly the B40 households especially during this Covid-19 pandemic. Almost 80 percent of B40 household income spent on routine essential expenses with the highest proportion on food and non-alcoholic beverages. Hence, any spike in the food prices will impact this income group the most. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the spending pattern of households on food and non-alcoholic beverages items of different income groups. This study also examines the effects of important socio-economics factors on the consumption pattern of food and non-alcoholic beverages among B40 households in Malaysia. Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2016 dataset has been employed. A total of 14,551 households were used. Linear regression technique was developed to examine the effects of selected socio-economic factors including average price for food items, B40 income, household size, education, ethnicity, marital status, occupation, location, age, gender, and house ownership) on household food expenditure. Descriptive analysis indicates, average expenditure on food consumption by B40 households is RM563.13, while average monthly income is RM 2,540.81. While, for M40 and T20 average monthly food expenditure among households is estimated at RM766.59 and RM948.60 respectively. The average monthly income estimated at RM 5,723.34 and RM14,159.87 for M40 and T20 respectively. The B40 income group spend 29% of their income on food expenditure. Fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, rice, and bread/kuih are the top five food expenditures respectively. The regression analysis indicates that, apart from semi-skilled occupation, all other factors in the linear model significantly affects the food expenditure. Thus, the results recommend the government to closely monitor the top food items mostly consumed by B40 and M40 income group. This may help to minimize the cost of living on food expenditure borne by these income ...

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of actual evacuation decisions of victims of the unprecedented 2014 year-end flood disaster which wreaked havoc across two east-coast states in Malaysia.


Design/methodology/approach
The target population of this study is the group of victims affected by the December 2014 flood in the Malaysian east-coast states of Kelantan and Pahang. Sampling frames of the flood victims were obtained from the National Security Council offices of the two states. The empirical analysis of this paper is based on a unique data set obtained from a questionnaire survey of the flood victims. The final working sample consists of 372 respondents.


Findings
Important findings from this study are: victims who were given evacuation notices were five times more likely to evacuate, victims who participated in flood awareness programmes were less likely to move to evacuation centres, the further away victims' homes were from the evacuation centres the more likely they were to evacuate, older victims were less likely to evacuate, larger households were more likely to evacuate, and victims with tertiary education were also less likely to evacuate.


Originality/value
This paper is unique because previous studies of Malaysian flood-related disasters are confined to floods of regular magnitude. This paper is also unique because it uses a semi-parametric estimation approach to obtain the marginal effects of the explanatory variables on evacuation decisions.

Travel constraints in contemporary Nigeria have affected all sectors of the economy. This trend had impacted on small traders in terms of higher cost of doing business, and individual travel behavior over time. Insecurity and travel time constraints had affected the growth of the entrepreneurial environment in most cities in Nigeria. In some regions trade and commerce have experienced very low performance. In most of the Northern Eastern states and big commercial centers in Kano, markets and commercial activities have remained closed due to high security alerts. Aims: To highlight various travel constraints affecting mobility as a result of the growing insecurity on Nigerian roads. Study Design: This study examines some literature on discrete choice and travel-based models. Place and Duration of Study: Contemporary travel constraints in Nigeria from 2000– 2012, and the growing ethno-religious crisis in different parts of the country. Methodology: Review of literature. Results/observations: The working of these models is effective where the choice set is not constrained, and the independent irrelevant alternatives (IIA) may not include options/alternatives with a "lesser evil" definitions. This is because it is restrictive for behavioural choice, (utility may be ranked). In advanced market economies, infrastructure has been a springboard for creating and enhancing trade hubs that promotes trade and commerce. A high Infrastructure gap exists in less developed countries as a result of fiscal policy problems, high population and the process of prioritizing development programs by the political machineries. Conclusion: In a typical developing country like Nigeria – a low middle income country, most literature has been concerned with the lack of productivity of roads: (i) accessibility, the ability to access safe transport in terms of cost and travel time and (ii) connectivity, to be able connect or link up some volatile routes – in terms of security and other adverse road conditions.