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Recent studies suggest that artificial auditory feedback, called movement sonification, can function as sensory substitution in motor control, replacing or augmenting vision and proprioception. To a first approximation, studies either apply (1) natural sonifications (exploiting ecological spatial encodings or action-sound associations) of kinematic variables, e.g. velocity, to high (≥3) degree of freedom movements, or (2) nonnatural, i.e. unfamiliar, sonifications including spatial position to low degree of freedom movements. To the best of our knowledge, no one has shown that unfamiliar sonifications of spatial position can be used to guide high degree of freedom movements. We reasoned that an ultra-responsive (1-2ms latency, 1000Hz sampling) sonification compacting 3D spatial information into a low (

Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have provided a platform for the introduction and diffusion of a range of financial technologies that have transformed the financial secto...

Depth information is limited in a 2D scene and for people to perceive the distance of an object, they need to rely on pictorial cues such as perspective, size constancy and elevation in the scene. In this study, we tested whether people could use an object’s size and its position in a 2D image to determine its distance. In a series of online experiments, participants viewed a target representing their smartphone rendered within a 2D scene. They either positioned it in the scene at the distance they thought was correct based on its size or adjusted the target to the correct size based on its position in the scene. In all experiments, the adjusted target size and positions were not consistent with their initially presented positions and sizes and were made larger and moved further away on average. Familiar objects influenced adjusted position from size but not adjusted size from position. These results suggest that in a 2D scene, (1) people cannot use an object’s visual size and position relative to the horizon to infer distance reliably and (2) familiar objects in the scene affect perceived size and distance differently. The differences found demonstrate that size and distance perception processes may be independent.

This paper is concerned with the recovery phase from the severely depressed levels of economic activity that occurred in April 2020 with a focus on measures to accelerate recovery in the short term. We first consider available information on economic performance during the pandemic. Overall, the recovery has been rapid but unbalanced. In most sectors, production has returned close to 2019 levels so has aggregate household spending. To analyze recovery, we model policy impacts over four quarters. Simulations combine Covid intervention polices combined with alternative financing options. All scenarios are run from the 4th Quarter of 2020 to the 3rd Quarter of 2021. The most aggressive option, funded by reduced government savings, adds 2% to GDP over the period of observation. Financing matters. If the most aggressive intervention is financed by raising taxes of the top decile, a 0.7% increase in GDP is achieved. All intervention plans are strongly progressive. Further, even in the most aggressive scenario financed by reduced government savings, the government debt to GDP ratio actually declines higher GDP and higher tax collections as a consequence of greater economic activity more than fully offset the increment to government debt. We conclude that the South African government has been justified in considering and implementing aggressive intervention policies. Maintenance of these policies is appropriate as long as public health measures to restrain spread of Covid-19 also constrain economic activity. At the same time, there is little scope to expand interventions before the economy encounters the structural constraints that were severely depressing economic growth rates pre-pandemic. Assuming vaccines will allow return to more normal behavior towards the end of 2021, government needs to consider both tapering of extraordinary Covid-19 support programs and addressing structural growth constraints.

9537 Background: Programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)–blocking antibodies are approved as monotherapy treatment for patients (pts) with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation. Cosibelimab is a high-affinity, fully human programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)–blocking antibody with a functional Fc domain capable of inducing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) against tumor cells. Study CK-301-101 (NCT03212404) is a global, multicenter, multicohort, pivotal trial that enrolled pts with select advanced cancers for treatment with cosibelimab. Here we present the primary analysis of the registration-enabling expansion cohort in pts with metastatic CSCC. Methods: Adult pts with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 who had metastatic (nodal and/or distant) CSCC not amenable to local therapy were eligible to participate. Cosibelimab was administered as a fixed dose of 800 mg every 2 weeks (Q2W) intravenously. The primary endpoint was confirmed objective response rate (ORR; complete response [CR] + partial response [PR]) assessed by independent central review according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1 and the key secondary endpoint was duration of response. Results: Seventy-eight pts with metastatic CSCC were treated with cosibelimab and comprise the efficacy and safety populations (59M/19F; median age: 71 years). The confirmed ORR was 47.4% (95% CI: 36.0, 59.1; 6 CRs and 31 PRs) and the median duration of response was not reached at the time of data cutoff (median duration of follow-up: 15.2 months), with 76% of responses ongoing (range: 1.4-31.8+ months). The Kaplan–Meier estimated probability of maintaining a response at 6 and 24 months was 88.1% and 72.5%, respectively. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were reported in 54 pts (69.2%); 7 pts (9.0%) experienced at least 1 grade 3 TRAE (no grade 4 or grade 5 TRAEs were reported) with the most common being increased serum lipase in 2 pts. Conclusions: Treatment with cosibelimab monotherapy resulted in a robust ORR with durable responses and demonstrated a predictable and manageable safety profile in pts with metastatic CSCC, supporting its use in the treatment of this cancer. Clinical trial information: NCT03212404.

This paper examines the relationship between monetary policy and wealth inequality in South Africa. We employed a unique database of tax administrative data which allowed us to account for individual heterogeneity. These tax data span from 2011 to 2017 and include over 3 million individual taxpayers in South Africa after data cleaning. Results based on fixed- and random-effects panel model estimates show that monetary policy generally increases wealth Gini inequality while it decreases the wealth 90–10 percentile differential. Increasing asset prices and gross domestic product per capita generally increases wealth inequality, while inflation reduces wealth inequality. The effect of age on wealth distribution varies depending on whether a fixed- or random-effects panel model is considered. Based on the estimates and observed data, being male tends to increase wealth inequality.

Most of the existing definitions and measurements of financial literacy have been tailored for developed countries. Although financial literacy and financial behaviour are usually assessed at the household level, the gender dimension of household agents is less explored which may overshadow the women’s low level of financial literacy.This is a selective systematic review aiming to survey the existing literature on financial literacy where the focus is on four main issues, namely. the conceptual framework for financial literacy and financial inclusion, the relationship between financial literacy and financial behaviour, the impact of gender on financial behaviour, and financial education. More than a hundred papers were reviewed and around twenty definitions and measures were analysed. On the basis of a thorough literature review, this paper identifies research gaps in each of the four main dimensions. The identified gaps are used to formulate four promising research ideas (PRIs). Specifically, the PRIs seek to: propose a new definition for financial literacy; review previous studies on analysing the relationship between financial literacy and financial behaviour; investigate the gender disparity and propose a novel method for financial training. Through a systematic review, we developed a native definition of financial literacy for developing countries.

This study investigates the effect of real exchange rate volatility on the distribution of income between labour and capital in South Africa. Both symmetric and asymmetric effects are considered. Using quarterly data for 1985:1-2018:3 and local linear projection, we find that the immediate response of labour's income share to a one standard deviation shock in exchange rate volatility is negative. Moreover, high exchange rate volatility impacts negatively on labour's income share, while low exchange rate volatility impacts positively on labour income.

We employ a micro-founded and stock-and-flow-consistent model to study the impact of a higher leverage ratio on the South African economy. The model provides a rich representation of institutional balance sheets. The relationship between bank capital, risk-taking behaviour, lending spreads, and economic activity is highlighted. The financial accelerator mechanism operates through the balance sheets of all economic institutions. The introduction of a higher leverage ratio is likely to generate negative economic impacts in the short run.

Since the 2008 global crisis, financial literacy has come into the spotlight, but the available definitions are of theoretical nature addressing major issues appeared in specific economies, as presented here through an in-depth analysis of the literature. While the common focus has been on the United States, the economic infrastructure of Europe is very diverse. Despite the global epidemic of the crisis, its pattern was not globally the same. Utilising the current definitions without considering their validity has caused a misconception for inspecting emerging problems. Therefore, a new definition of financial literacy is proposed, which can be universally applied to various types of economies. The approach is to find the appropriate perspective for tailoring the framework of financial literacy for specific environments. Applying this definition to typical cases revealed that some of the key problems discussed in the literature are not indeed the critical issues, while major problems are usually neglected. The best example is the case of the gender gap where we might need to find new solutions as most of the previous studies have been based on inappropriate (or at least less practical) premises.

The proposition that inflation expectations can be extracted as inflation predictions from the government bond yield curve has been tested, with partially positive results, using data from the United States and European countries. Despite the abundance of empirical studies of the proposition, relatively few of these studies relate to emerging markets, as most emerging markets lack bond markets with the liquidity, breadth, information availability, and range of maturities that would permit such studies. South Africa's highly developed capital markets do have such characteristics, warranting this study's examination of the proposition's validity for South Africa. Using South African time series data, we find strong evidence for the proposition that the slope of the yield curve, measured as a long- to short-term spread, contains information on the future path of inflation. Examining the sub-periods separated by the adoption, in 2000, of inflation targeting, we find that the monetary policy regime shift strengthened the relationship between the yield spread and future inflation. The results suggest that the yield spread can be used by policy makers and the private sector to help forecast inflation in South Africa.

This paper investigates whether a Taylor rule accurately describes the South African Reserve Bank's reaction function in setting interest rates using quarterly data, covering the period since inflation targeting was formally adopted in 2000. The classic Taylor rule is modified to determine whether the South African Reserve Bank takes into account inflation expectations and labour market conditions. Our findings indicate that a modified Taylor rule does describe the South African Reserve Bank's policy rate adjustments. Our estimates of the modified rule yield two significant findings: the South African Reserve Bank's policy rate decisions respond to expected inflation (rather than current inflation), and its relationship to real economy fluctuations is evident in measures of labour market conditions rather than output gap variables. We conclude that under inflation targeting, South Africa's monetary policy has had a forward-looking inflation target that is pursued flexibly in the light of labour market conditions.

We analyse implications of financial sector dynamics for fiscal expenditure multipliers in recessionary conditions. We employ a stock-and-flow-consistent model for South Africa with four financial instruments and detailed balance sheets for the household, government, financial, non-financial, and foreign sectors, and the Reserve Bank. The increase in government expenditure positively affects the probability of default, valuations, and perceptions of risk. Higher inflows of foreign savings can increase the multiplier further by reducing the domestic savings constraint. The size of the fiscal multipliers is also dependent on the actions of domestic and foreign monetary authorities, thus emphasizing the importance of policy co-ordination.

We develop a stock-and-flow-consistent model for South Africa with four financial instruments and detailed balance sheets for the household, government, financial, non-financial, and foreign sectors and the Reserve Bank. Though micro-founded, the model departs significantly from current dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models as it assumes bounded rationality and no Ricardian equivalence. The stock and flow consistency makes it better suited to studying balance sheet dynamics and the real sector/financial sector interaction. In the model, cyclical flow changes affect the long-term real and financial behaviour of institutions through their impact on the respective institutional assets and liabilities stocks.

Cette etude propose d’explorer les frontieres narratives en anglais de l’economie et de la finance a partir de deux discours de gouverneurs de la Banque d’Angleterre extraits d’un corpus de soixante-et-onze allocutions prononcees depuis la nationalisation de la Banque en 1946. L’etude se presente en trois parties. La premiere partie aborde le cadre theorique et methodologique de l’etude. La deuxieme partie mene une lecture comparee des deux discours du corpus integrant les structures narratives les plus abouties et s’interroge sur la visee de ces macro-recits. La troisieme partie examine la signification des micro-recits enchâsses dans la trame discursive et les enjeux qu’ils soulevent. L’objectif est de mettre au jour les ressorts narratifs auxquels les gouvernements ont recours afin de capter l’attention et d’obtenir l’adhesion de plusieurs publics, tout en parvenant a inspirer confiance, a rassurer et a guider face a de multiples incertitudes.

We demonstrate that, by exploiting more fully the distribution of leverage, conditional quantile regression methods yield new insights into the choice of leverage ratio. For UK listed companies we find that not only is the estimated effect of the explanatory variables different at different quantiles of the distribution, but also that the effect of a variable changes sign between low leveraged and high leveraged firms.

The crisis in East Asian economies, whose start was signalled to the world by the devaluation of the Thai baht on 2nd July 1997, has been widely seen as the product of globalised financial markets, and, as such, something quite new––the first crisis of the twenty first century. It appeared that a region that had exhibited remarkable and remarkably sustained growth rates was brought low by irrational financial markets. Implicit in this view is that, had it not been for the crash in regional currencies and equities, high growth within economic systems that had delivered it hitherto would have continued. An alternative perspective, identifying sources of weakness in the economies’ fundamentals themselves, is found in several studies of East Asia. This paper considers the evidence on both fundamentals and financial market behaviour, evaluating them within an older theoretical framework––the business cycle theory of Joseph Schumpeter. The evidence is consistent with the view that, far from being a new, twenty first century phenomenon, the crisis was similar to those of the nineteenth and twentieth century as described by Schumpeter. Its roots lay in the dynamic of the real economy–the ‘fundamentals’; but its evolution and sharpness were determined by their interaction with finance.

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) stands at the crossroads of many signaling pathways responsible for cell proliferation, differentiation, cell homeostasis and apoptosis. Consequently, it is no surprise that Hsp90 is associated with all the six hallmarks of cancer and has become a prime anticancer target. Central to the Hsp90 mechanism is its ATPase activity, which is coupled to a conformational cycle involving a complex set of structural changes that involve all Hsp90 domains. The mechanism by which Hsp90 activates “client” protein is still poorly understood. However, there has been excellent progress on elucidating the molecular details of the complex structural changes required for Hsp90’s catalytically active state and how this activity is influenced by a variety of co-chaperones and client proteins. This review aims to bring together structural investigations that have so far contributed to our understanding of this ATPase-coupled conformational cycle and how this activity is regulated and ultimately has become the prime target for Hsp90 drugs.

(1993). South Africa's economic and social transformation: from ‘no middle road” to ‘no alternative’. Review of African Political Economy: Vol. 20, No. 57, pp. 91-103.

(1990). The mixed economy of a democratic South Africa. Investment Analysts Journal: Vol. 19, No. 33, pp. 32-42.

Knowledge of how South Korean firms choose their capital structures has particular value due to the country's specific corporate structure and the role of leverage in the evolution of its financial crisis of 1997 and recovery. Using a large panel for the years 1992–2001, we investigate the evolution and determinants of Korean firms' capital structure and focus on differences between firms in different quantiles of the debt–capital distribution. Conditional quantile regressions show that while variables associated with standard models of asymmetric information costs are significant throughout the distribution, there are considerable differences, including differences in sign, in their impact on firms with different degrees of leverage. Those observed nonlinearities in the determinants of capital structure are consistent with a model of capital structure that includes both costs resulting from asymmetric information and an upper bound on the debt–capital ratio.

Using conditional quantile regression methods, we test for the existence of a non-linearity in the determinants of capital structure. We show that the size of the firm has a positive impact on the debt-equity ratio for low leverage firms and a negative impact for high leverage firms. Asset tangibility has a positive influence for low quantiles, whereas profitability and non-debt tax shield have a negative impact for high quantiles only. These results are consistent with a model of the firm's maximization program in which the firm's capital structure is a non-linear function of a vector of costs including asymmetric information costs and is subject to a debt ceiling.

Knowledge of how South Korean firms choose their capital structures has particular value due to the country's specific corporate structure and the role of leverage in the evolution of its financial crisis of 1997. Using a large panel for the years 1992-2001 we investigate the evolution and determinants of South Korean firms' capital structure and focus on the differences between firms in different quantiles of the debt-capital distribution. Although regression estimates find that standard variables for asymmetric information costs explain South Korean firms' debt-capital ratios, conventional techniques using conditional means of the variables do not take full account of the heterogeneity of the sample of firms. Conditional quantile regressions show that while variables associated with standard models are significant throughout the distribution, there are considerable differences, including differences in sign, in their impact on firms with different levels of leverage. Those observed non-linearities in the determinants of capital structure are consistent with a model of capital structure that includes both costs resulting from asymmetric information and an upper bound on the debt-capital ratio.

The problems of developing countries today are diverse. While poverty and unemployment are experienced widely, the economies in which they occur have different characteristics. A typical sub-Saharan African country experiences the problems of failure to escape from dependence on primary production and the shock of attempting to increase the proportion of tradables (cash crops) in GDP, and its policies revolve around the management of unsustainable levels of official external debt The SICs of Latin America face the problems of combining industrial growth with employment generation, with trade especially linked to the North American markets, and macroeconomic policy conditioned by strong but volatile private capital flows. The rapidly industrialising countries of Asia face problems of growth different from either of these, and different from each other (sharply illustrated by the differences between, say, India and China, which remain the two greatest peasant economies in the process of industrialisation), and the strength of some such as Singapore and South Korea make it doubtful whether they should be regarded as developing, rather than industrialised economies.

The globalisation of financial markets has created new and severe problems for economic policy, epitomised by the spectacle of policy makers of the G-7 apparently helpless in the face of ‘irrational’ exchange rate and interest rate movements. In the case of most less-developed countries, foreign exchange and money markets are more rudimentary, but the abandonment of effective financial controls in the 1980s and 1990s has opened them, too, to the effects of capital flows driven wholly by private calculation and expectations irrespective of their rationality. For many years political economy’s analysis of the effects of international finance was dominated by perspectives derived from the classical analyses of imperialism; the problems dominating discussion were the export of capital and the transfer of surplus in either direction between advanced capitalist countries and less-developed countries. That perspective implies a particular conception of financial transactions, a correspondence between financial and real flows, which is inadequate for understanding today’s financial markets. While financial flows corresponding to flows of real capital remain one component of today’s world, relating to new forms of economic imperialism, the striking growth of international financial markets has been based upon the growth of new types of ‘fictitious capital’.

This article examines the problems encountered since independence in an agricultural production co‐operative in Mozambique. It is argued that the problems are related to the complex rural class structure in the context of which the co‐operative is being constructed, and the distinction between the formal structure of the co‐operative and its real relations of production is considered. The article is based upon fieldwork conducted in mid‐1978. The development of the co‐operative is considered in relation to the post‐independence formulation of Mozambican policies toward agricultural co‐operatives as an element in the transformation of rural social relations.

(1986). South Africa's external debt crisis. Third World Quarterly: Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 793-817.

On interest, credit and capital Laurence Harris This article examines the category of interest payments within the problematic of historical materialism. It examines the interest payments which occur under the capitalist mode of production on the basis of credit from capitalists to capitalists, from capitalists to workers, and from workers to capitalists. On the subject of capitalist to capitalist interest payments, the article examines the views of Marx on interest-bearing capital and demonstrates that Marx did consider this interest rate to be subject to determinate and analysable laws. These interest payments are transfers of surplus value as such. On the subject of worker to capitalist interest payments it is demonstrated that these are payments out of wage revenue which are appropriated as profit on merchants' capital rather than as profit on interest-bearing capital. Finally, capitalist to worker interest payments are identical with payments of wage revenue and, therefore, are for capitalists equiva...

In the previous chapter we have explained the significance of the debate over the transformation problem and the productive/unproductive labour distinction. Quite apart from the question of whether the positions taken are faithful to ‘what Marx actually said’ we have demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of the different contributions in their ability to develop an understanding of capitalist economic life as a whole on the basis of its hidden, inner characteristics. But the force of the arguments over these questions is best appreciated by examining them together with debates over the economic laws of development of capitalism.