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We analyse the link between means-tested social grants and employment in South Africa, where social grant expenditure is relatively large amid persistently high unemployment. Using a large panel household survey spanning a decade, we find that the recipients of both old-age and disability grants are less in employment, which is intended by the social program and consistent with the literature. However, among indirect grant recipients (those in the same households as direct grant recipients), younger members typically have lower employment prospects than other indirect recipients. There could be various explanation for this finding, including that the youth are more discouraged from seeking jobs, face larger constraints in the labour market, or have less job opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents further empirical support for the finding that the impact of inflation and that of policy instruments to manage inflation are not distributed equally across households of different income groups. In particular, the evidence using South African data suggests that monetary policy tightening, which seeks to maintain low and stable inflation, has a relatively modest effect on real consumption of poorer households, who tend to rely on government grants and spend larger shares of income on food stuff, while the reduction in real consumption of wealthier households is much larger. This may be due to the fact that low and stable inflation help maintain the value of government grants and cap food prices both in real terms, and higher interest rates reduce labour income, weaken asset price performance and increase debt service cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A molecular beam of europium-cyclooctatetraene sandwich nanowires Eu(sub n)(COT)(sub m) was produced by a laser vaporization synthesis method. The results confirmed that the growth processes extending the length of Eu-COT nanowires involved a series of elementary reactions in which efficient charge transfer occurred at the terminal reaction sites.

The gas-phase synthesis of the multiple-decker sandwich complexes of lanthanide-1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene Ln(n)(C8H8)(n+1) for five Ln metals of Ce, Nd, Eu, Ho and Yb was described. The organometallic lanthanide compounds were prepared by a combination of molecular beam and laser vaporization techniques. Experimental results showed that the complexes, which were produced as magic numbers in the mass spectra, form multiple-decker sandwich structures in which C8H8 molecules and lanthanide atoms are stacked up one after the other.

The formation and structural properties of transition metal-C60 binary clusters were investigated. The clusters were generated in the gas phase by a two-laser vaporization technique. Clusters with the composition of (n, m) = (1, 1)(super +), (1, 2)(super +), (2, 3)(super +), (3, 4)(super +), (4, 4)(super +) and (5, 5)(super +) were predominantly generated. The geometrical and electronic structures of the binary clusters were analyzed based on ionization energy calculations for neutral Mn(C60)m and a chemical probe technique using CO, O2 and C2H4 as reactants.

A study was conducted relating to research on modifying the third form of carbon (fullerene) by coordinating atoms inside and outside the cage structures of these carbon allotropes. The experiment focused on the properties of Co-C60 by using laser vaporization, chemical probe and photoionization techniques. Another superstructure of Con(C60)m was found that could be explained by the formation of a tricapped Co(C60)3 unit. Experimental methods, results and implications are presented.