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Expanding education through user charges : what can be achieved in Malawi and other LDCs ?
1986
International audience; Two features mark the education sector in many LDCs today: first, education is publicly provided; and second. governments are faced with severe financial constraints. As a result, enrollmrnts are confined to low Ievels, and there is excess demand. To mitigate these adverse outcomes, we consider user charges as a means to mobilize additional resources for education. Under the circumstances that characterize most LDCs. we show that (i) families are willing to pay for education: (ii) the resources collected through user charges could finance a sizable expansion of education; and (iii) scholarships can offset the equity effects of user charges.
Influence of board of directors on firm performance: Analysis of family and non-family firms
2015
This article analyses how board structure can affect both financial and social performance, comparing family and non-family firms. Our theoretical framework is based on the integration of the agency theory, traditionally used in the analysis of the impact of the board on the firm's financial performance, with the stakeholder theory, which is more appropriate in the analysis of the social aspects of the firm. Three main aspects are addressed: the analysis of the firm's social performance; the integration of agency theory with stakeholder theory; and the study of the specific characteristics of family firms' boards. The research confirms that neither the agency theory nor the stakeholder theo…
ON THE HETEROGENEOUS EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS OF OFFSHORING: IDENTIFYING PRODUCTIVITY AND DOWNSIZING CHANNELS
2014
I. INTRODUCTION For the most part of the last two decades Germany suffered from a hangover of the reunification boom, an overvalued exchange rate, high unemployment, and low growth--so The Economist famously named it the "Sick Man of Europe." At the same time, German companies were relocating production, restructuring, and offshoring. The general public associated such offshoring activities--not only in Germany--with plant closures which made the headlines and confirmed the perception that offshoring was a job killer.1 What usually does not make the news is that such downsizing effects of offshoring may be counterbalanced by productivity effects in the restructuring firm. Depending on their…
Discrimination by microcredit officers: Theory and evidence on disability in Uganda
2015
This paper studies the relationship between a microfinance institution (MFI) and its loan officers when officers discriminate against a particular group of micro-entrepreneurs. Using survey data from Uganda, we provide evidence that loan officers are more biased than other employees against disabled micro-entrepreneurs. In line with the evidence, we build an agency model of a non-profit MFI and a biased loan officer in charge of granting loans. Since incentive schemes are costly and the MFI's budget is limited, the MFI faces a trade-off between combating discrimination and granting loans. We show that the optimal incentive premium is a non-decreasing function of the MFI's budget. Moreover, …
Competition and innovation with selective exit: an inverted-U shape relationship?
2017
This paper extends the approach of the inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation at the industry level introduced by Aghion and coauthors. We use data of Spanish manufacturing firms from the Survey of Business Strategies (ESEE) spanning 1990–2006, as well as external information on patents from the European Patent Office and US Patent Office. Instead of an inverted-U shape, we obtain an unambiguous positive relationship between competition and patents. To explain this positive relationship, we modify their theoretical model to introduce the possibility of inefficient firms facing the threat of exit when competition intensifies. The modified model may explain both a positive…
Women and Repayment in Microfinance: A Global Analysis
2011
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in World Development. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in World Development, 39(5), 758-772 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2010.10.008 This paper uses a global data set of 350 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 70 countries to study the common belief that women are generally better credit risks in microfinance than men. The r…
Note to Instructors: Biohit: A Global, Family-Owned Company Embarking on a New Phase
2014
The article focuses on the intention of Osmo Suovaniemi, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the family-owned biotechnology company Biohit established in Finland 1988, to pass his position to someone who do not belong to the company. Topics include the entrepreneurial career of Suovaniemi, the reflections of the managers regarding the future of the company, and the hopes of the executives for the diagnostics products of the company.
Within and between firm trends in job polarization : the roles of globalization and technology
2019
AbstractWe analyze occupational polarization within and across firms using a census of matched employer–employee panel data from Finland in the period of 2000–2014. As in most industrialized countries, the Finnish occupational distribution has polarized over the last decades. Using decomposition analysis, we find that jobs involving low-level service tasks increase mostly through the entry dynamics, while the high-level abstract task share increases largely within continuing firms. Worker-level occupational mobility points to some skill upgrading within continuing firms, while labor force entry and retirement contribute the polarizing trend. Instrumental variables (IVs) regressions confirm …
Offshoring in the European Union: a Study of the Evolution of the Tax Burden
2017
One of the most serious effects of offshoring is tax avoidance, which harms the economies of the affected regions. In an attempt to eradicate tax avoidance, the EU seeks to establish tax harmonization across its Member States. Based on data for 2006-2014, this study analyzes the historical evolution and current trends of a convergence or divergence of the tax burden for 15 EU Member States. The effective tax rate was used to assess the tax burden. This study used a novel approach to analyze the tax burden and conducted a cluster analysis to examine changes in the effective tax rates between 2006 and 2014. The results imply that when the economy prospers, effective tax rates tend to converge…
Los oficiales y subalternos de la Real Audiencia de Mallorca (1716-1808)
2019
The objective of this work is to know the organic structure of the officers and subordinates of the Royal Court of Majorca during the 18th century, which was the essence of the high judicial administration insular. Because of that, we approached through these relatively extensive professionals, with the description of their functions, who they were and how they obtained their charges. The article ends with an epilogue dedicated to the enlargement of the Royal Court with the creation of the second chamber during the reformist stage of Charles III to improve the high judicial administration insular.