Search results for "Finance"
showing 10 items of 4676 documents
Excluding the Poor : globalisation and educational systems
2002
02062; International audience; The article starts from the fact that one billion adults are illiterate world-wide, that more than 100 million children of school age are not schooled, and that the democratisation of the access to education is often only rhetorical. On the basis of available statistics it tackles successively three questions. First, who finances education and how much do they spend? Secondly, what resources or means are devoted to the education of an individual, and how can these data be evaluated. And finally, do the inequalities between individuals, social groups or nations tend to de- or increase with respect to education access. It will be shown that, for example, in deve…
Spain: A Success Story Shadowed Only by a Poor Productivity Performance
2007
Since joining the European Union in 1986, the performance of the Spanish economy has been quite remarkable, acting as a good example for new entrants of what can be accomplished in twenty years. Its ability to generate employment has been astonishing. Departing from an environment of very high unemployment (close to 25 per cent), Spain has become the country of destination most preferred by immigrants. However, it has also had a scant productivity performance. The main burden on productivity growth lies with the construction sector and almost all private service sectors with the unique exception of the financial sector. Most likely, over the next years, the continuity of the Spanish success…
Addressing Social Heterogeneity: Comparative Policy and Performance in Latin America
2012
Abstract Social heterogeneity has always been a critical problem in Latin American societies. The paper analyzes how Latin American democratic governments tackle social inequality and what effects these strategies have. Five countries are compared qualitatively-two countries with moderate left governments, following moderate strategies (Chile, Brazil) and two cases with radical left governments, following more radical strategies (Venezuela, Bolivia). In addition, Mexico is included as a control due to its conservative government. Different policy strategies are described and the effects of the policies are analyzed. Do radical efforts yield a better result regarding social equality? The re…
Focus on Women in Microfinance Institutions
2013
Abstract We provide empirical evidence on focusing on women in microfinance and its consequences for microfinance institutions (MFIs). Based on a global dataset, the results indicate that a focus on women is associated with group-lending methods, international orientation, smaller loans, and non-commercial legal status. We find that a focus on women significantly improves repayment but does not enhance overall financial performance because of higher relative costs. Moreover, the higher relative costs do not stem from servicing women per se but from the smaller loans offered to women and the group-lending methodology practised by MFIs focusing on women.
The Agenda and Relevance of Recent Research in Microfinance
2005
This paper studies recent research efforts in the field of microfinance. Two questions guide the study: What is the agenda of recent research efforts? And, for who is the research relevant? As for the agenda the “yin and yang” of microfinance; impact and sustainability, continue to influence most research efforts. The study illustrates that microfinance attracts mainly the interest of development researchers and journals. Accordingly the researchers seem mainly to interact with the donors’ and practitioners’ communities. The research produced seems to be relevant for them and less so for the governmental and banking communities. The paper concludes proposing the design of a new research age…
Barriers to microcredit for disabled persons: Evidence from economically active persons in Uganda
2012
Prior research has identified five barriers hindering disabled persons’ access to microcredit: exclusion by staff; exclusion by non-disabled members of credit groups; self-exclusion; exclusion by credit design; and exclusion by the disability itself. This study applies survey data to examine which barriers disabled persons themselves consider to be the most important in Uganda. The survey covers disabled persons with some kind of existing economic activity and is thus not representative of all disabled persons in the country. The data show that exclusion by credit design is the most relevant obstacle from the perspective of the disabled person. The study suggests that microfinance instituti…
Microcredit for Self-Employed Disabled Persons in Developing Countries
2005
Microcredit has become a popular instrument to promote economic empowerment among poor entrepreneurs, and is increasingly being recommended to improve economic rehabilitation among persons with disabilities. However, the majority of the advocates of microcredit for persons with disabilities seem not to be informed on the involved “rules of the game”. At the same time the microfinance community lacks information on disability issues. In this report we aim on closing the gap in knowledge and culture between the disability- and the microfinance communities. We apply resource based theory to analyze when microcredit for disabled persons is an appropriate tool and when it is not. We argue that a…
Development, Current Situation and Future Prospects of the Private Sport Sector in Europe
2017
This book outlined the private sport sector of the 18 European countries by using the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2, 2008) as a basic statistical framework. According on the country chapters European sport is divided into public, voluntary and private sectors. Depending on how strongly and through what kind of historical processes these sectors have developed, European countries taking part in this project can be classified as 1) historically and traditionally strong non-profit voluntary sport sector countries, 2) former Eastern Bloc countries and 3) countries with strong commercial sport activities. Based on the statistics, sport g…
Wydatki gmin na usługi opiekuńcze a zmiany demograficzne w Polsce
2020
Local governments as the smallest units of territorial self‑government in Poland are responsible for providing care services. The growing number of the elderly can influence the expenditures level connected with ensuring proper care for them, and it may constitute a growing problem for local government, especially for districts with a lower level of socio‑economic development. In recent years, a quite high increase in benefits amount due to care services and specialist care services has been observed. Therefore, a question arises whether a significant dependence can be observed between the share of the elderly in the population and the degree of local governments’ financial burden due to pr…
Work places with stipend programme and its impact on poverty risk decrease: Case of Latvia
2012
The aim of the paper is to analyze theoretical concepts of poverty risk and to estimate the impact of the Workplaces with Stipend Programme (hereinafter WWS) on poverty risk decrease in Latvia. In order to assess the effects of the WWS three different surveys were carried out: of households with WWS participants, of experts in Latvian labour market issues, and of municipality representatives. The results were analyzed, together with analysis of statistical data. The paper concludes that in general the WWS has a very positive impact on WWS participants? household budgets (more than 95% of the WWS participants in all Latvian regions noted a significant impact of the WWS on their household bud…