A quantitative analysis of the relationship between the 12 components of the Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) and the Human Development Index (HDI) scores within the 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations
- Authors: Peel, Brendon Robert
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Southern African Development Community , Quantitative research , Economic development Developing countries , Economic development Africa, Sub-Saharan , Economic development projects Africa, Sub-Saharan , Heritage Foundation (South Africa) , United Nations Development Programme , Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) , Human Development Index (HDI) , Resource Based Theory (RBT)
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191841 , vital:45171
- Description: Nations in Sub-Saharan Africa tend to experience some of the worst levels of human development and economic freedom in the world. Previous research has shown that there is a positive and significant correlation between these two macroeconomic facets. Further research has shown that if nations' policy-makers can manage their resources and capabilities appropriately, then this could improve their economic freedom and human development levels. This study aims to analyse the relationship between the scores of the 12 different components of the Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) and the overall Human Development Index (HDI) scores of Sub-Saharan African nations. The specific selection of nations utilised in the study are the 16 countries that make up the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Based on a review of the literature on human development, economic freedom, and the Resource Based Theory (RBT) on a macro-level, a correlational study was conducted to determine the relationship between the relevant variables. The information was collected from the Heritage Foundation and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), respectively. The data and scores collected and used in the study are from the years 2015 to 2019. The correlational results demonstrated that nine of the 12 components of the IEF has a positive and significant correlation with HDI within the selected African nations. The strongest correlation being between 'Property Rights' and HDI. Therefore, it is likely that if the property rights within a nation are upheld, said nation would have higher levels of human development. The three components that proved to have an insignificant result with HDI were; 'Tax Burden', 'Government Spending', and 'Fiscal Health'. The results indicate that all components that fall under the category of 'Government Size' share no significant correlational relationship with human development. It is recommended that governments and policy-makers take this into consideration when managing their resources and capabilities to improve the nation's human development. Further research is required to identify the specifics on how this management and allocation of resources can be utilised effectively to improve the human development and economic freedom in Sub-Saharan Africa. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
An analysis of fusing advanced malware email protection logs, malware intelligence and active directory attributes as an instrument for threat intelligence
- Authors: Vermeulen, Japie
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Malware (Computer software) , Computer networks Security measures , Data mining , Phishing , Data logging , Quantitative research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63922 , vital:28506
- Description: After more than four decades email is still the most widely used electronic communication medium today. This electronic communication medium has evolved into an electronic weapon of choice for cyber criminals ranging from the novice to the elite. As cyber criminals evolve with tools, tactics and procedures, so too are technology vendors coming forward with a variety of advanced malware protection systems. However, even if an organization adopts such a system, there is still the daily challenge of interpreting the log data and understanding the type of malicious email attack, including who the target was and what the payload was. This research examines a six month data set obtained from an advanced malware email protection system from a bank in South Africa. Extensive data fusion techniques are used to provide deeper insight into the data by blending these with malware intelligence and business context. The primary data set is fused with malware intelligence to identify the different malware families associated with the samples. Active Directory attributes such as the business cluster, department and job title of users targeted by malware are also fused into the combined data. This study provides insight into malware attacks experienced in the South African financial services sector. For example, most of the malware samples identified belonged to different types of ransomware families distributed by known botnets. However, indicators of targeted attacks were observed based on particular employees targeted with exploit code and specific strains of malware. Furthermore, a short time span between newly discovered vulnerabilities and the use of malicious code to exploit such vulnerabilities through email were observed in this study. The fused data set provided the context to answer the “who”, “what”, “where” and “when”. The proposed methodology can be applied to any organization to provide insight into the malware threats identified by advanced malware email protection systems. In addition, the fused data set provides threat intelligence that could be used to strengthen the cyber defences of an organization against cyber threats.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018