Performance of microfinance institutions in Europe—Does social capital matter?

This paper investigates performance drivers of microfinance suppliers in Europe. As such suppliers, in contrast to advanced microfinance suppliers in developing economies, typically focus on uncollateralized microcredit services to individuals at the margins of society and of labor markets, we draw on the theory of social capital and empirically investigate the role that social capital may play in the overall performance of European microfinance suppliers. We build a unique, unbalanced panel data set of 302 microfinance service providers in Europe covering the years 2008–2015, and measure their performance in terms of credit risk, financial and social performance, and efficiency. Pursuing an econometric approach, we test a series of hypotheses using various measures of conditions conducive to building social capital on both the institutional and the country level, such as the client base of a microfinance supplier and the level of cultural fractionalization in a society. Our findings confirm that a higher intensity of social capital is positively associated with all areas of the performance of microfinance suppliers in Europe. Our conclusions could help in the design and launch of microfinance institutions in those European countries in which microfinance markets are developed not at all or only to a very limited extent. Our paper thus contributes to the nascent literature on microfinance in developed economies by applying and extending the theoretical framework and empirical models on social capital and microfinance that were originally elaborated for developing economies.     

Shocks derived from mining windfalls and horizontal transfers: Exploring the permanent income hypothesis in Chilean municipalities from a spatial competition approach

We explore how spatial interaction affects the strategic use of municipal income when deciding between 1) an optimal long-run expenditure strategy versus 2) using the current income to finance current activities, a phenomenon known as the permanent income hypothesis. Even when this hypothesis is grounded in temporal logic, insufficient attention has been given to the impact of spatial dependence on this type of budget decision. Therefore, we present two reasons why spatial interaction adds new insight to this discussion. First, subnational governments located inside larger functional areas have lower average costs due to the population concentration, allowing for coordination between jurisdictions to achieve more power of negotiation and to potentially exploit economies of scale. Second, local government decision-making is not independent of other jurisdictions as municipalities would constantly evaluate the others’ actions regarding local tax effort, spending, and debt. While this spatial consideration remains a challenge for theoretical modeling, we offer empirical evidence to evaluate how robust the permanent income hypothesis is when geography is incorporated. Our empirical approach uses dynamic panel data with spatial dependence on debt, expenditure, and the error term. To evaluate our hypothesis, we exploit panel data from 320 Chilean municipalities between 2008 and 2020 and use two sources of income: non-matched grants via mining windfalls and horizontal fiscal transfers among cities. The evidence indicates that jurisdictions make backward-looking decisions regarding spending; that is, there are no significant differences between the short and long run. The results for debt, however, are not robust. Policy pertaining to the use of public resources should consider the spatial dependence between municipalities which should be a crucial factor in budgetary decision-making.     

Research on the time-varying effects among green finance markets in China: A fresh evidence from multi-frequency scale perspective

Green finance is an essential instrument for achieving sustainable development. Objectively addressing correlations among different green finance markets is conducive to the risk management of investors and regulators. This paper presents evidence on the time-varying correlation effects and causality among the green bond market, green stock market, carbon market, and clean energy market in China at multi-frequency scales by combining the methods of Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition Method (EEMD), Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) GARCH model, Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregression with Stochastic Volatility Model (TVP-VAR-SV), and Time-varying Causality Test. In general, the significant negative time-varying correlations among most green finance markets indicate a prominent benefit of risk hedging and portfolio diversification among green financial assets. In specific, for different time points and lag periods, the green finance market shock has obvious time-varying, positive and negative alternating effects in the short-term scales, while its time delay and persistence are more pronounced in the medium-term and long-term scales. Interestingly, a positive event shock will generate positive connectivity among most green finance markets, whereas a negative event including the China/U.S. trade friction and the COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate the reverse linkage among green finance markets. Furthermore, the unidirectional causality of “green bond market - carbon market - green stock and clean energy markets” was established during 2018–2019.     

Orchestrating distributed data governance in open social innovation

Open Social Innovation (OSI) involves the collaboration of multiple stakeholders to generate ideas, and develop and scale solutions to make progress on societal challenges. In an OSI project, stakeholders share data and information, utilize it to better understand a problem, and combine data with digital technologies to create digitally-enabled solutions. Consequently, data governance is essential for orchestrating an OSI project to facilitate the coordination of innovation. Because OSI brings multiple stakeholders together, and each stakeholder participates voluntarily, data governance in OSI has a distributed nature. In this essay we put forward a framework consisting of three dimensions allowing an inquiry into the effectiveness of such distributed data governance: (1) openness (i.e., freely sharing data and information), (2) accountability (i.e., willingness to be held responsible and provide justifications for one's conduct) and (3) power (i.e., resourceful actors' ability to impact other stakeholder's actions). We apply this framework to reflect on the OSI project #WirVsVirus (“We versus virus” in English), to illustrate the challenges in organizing effective distributed data governance, and derive implications for research and practice.     

A data-driven decision support system with smart packaging in grocery store supply chains during outbreaks

The unexpected emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how grocery shopping is done. The grocery retail stores need to ensure hygiene, quality, and safety concerns in-store shopping by providing “no-touch” smart packaging solutions for agri-food products. The benefit of smart packaging is to inform consumers about the freshness level of a packaged product without having direct contact. This paper proposes a data-driven decision support system that uses smart packaging as a smart product-service system to manage the sustainable grocery store supply chain during outbreaks to prevent food waste. The proposed model dynamically updates the price of a packaged perishable product depending on freshness level while reducing food waste and the number of rejected customers and maximising profit by increasing the inventory turnover rate of grocery stores. The model was tested on a hypothetical but realistic case study of a single product. The results of this study showed that stock capacities, freshness discount rate, freshness period, and quantity discounts significantly affect the performance of a grocery store supply chain during outbreaks.     

The era of Omni-learning: Frameworks and practices of the expanded human resource development

According to the ever-changing organizational environment, we also adopt an ever-expanding HRD in contents and scope. Focusing on the drivers of the recent HRD reforms, the growing demand for organizational agility and holistic capabilities of human resources is driving the need for change, and the pandemic crisis is pushing the revolutionary changes of HRD. Such trends of the expanded HRD can be characterized as a ‘march toward Omni-learning’. In specific, there are at least four noticeable and intertwined waves of HRD reforms toward Omni-learning: (1) embracing holistic capabilities such as benchmarking, modeling, forecasting, and backcasting (BMFB); (2) integrating working and learning by promoting on-the-job learning (OJL), on-the-life learning (OLL), and on-the-life training (OLT); (3) standardizing communication tools such as LMF (logic tree; multi-dimensional matrix/map; flowchart) and EEOSP (everything/everyone on the same page); and (4) diversifying communication space-time across diverse places (close; remote) and times (synchronized; a-synchronized). And all the HRD waves are commonly facilitated and promoted by technological breakthroughs of artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse. Beyond the current innovations of HRD, no one would be certain about the answer to the question “What’s next?”. But what is certain is that HRD will continue to be deepened and widened as long as human resources are needed to respond to the ever-changing organizational environment.     

Advancing purchasing as a design science: Publication guidelines to shift towards more relevant purchasing research

Due to rapidly changing business environments, purchasing and supply management (PSM) organisations are constantly confronted with new problems impacting organisational performance. PSM research can address these problems through design science research. Design science is also regarded as the science of the artificial. Design science research is a methodology that aims to systematically generate knowledge for the design, synthesis, testing, and evaluation of human-made artefacts (e.g., tools, interventions, policies) that solve practical problems. PSM artefacts such as the purchasing portfolio matrix invented by Kraljic (1983) represent a valuable opportunity to solve problems in the PSM discipline. However, our artificial-intelligence (AI)-based analysis of the discipline's flagship journal, the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (JPSM), indicates that design-oriented publications in PSM are underrepresented, accounting for less than 4% of the total publications. We argue that existing PSM research should be complemented with more design-oriented research, and address the following research question: How can PSM scholars publish more design-oriented research? Our objectives are to (1) provide arguments for advancing PSM as a design science, (2) nurture a better understanding of design science research as a methodology, and (3) propose publication guidelines that enable researchers to present design-oriented research in a management journal.     

The effect of stabilization fund to rescue stock market based on expected return-capita circulation equation

This paper builds an expected return-capital circulation equation to explore the impact of using the stabilization fund to rescue the stock market when it crashes. We find that the stock stabilization fund buying the underlying stocks can restrain the sharp decline of the stock index, but it is also easy to promote the fluctuation in prices of small-cap stocks. Therefore, we suggest that the government in use of stock stabilization fund to take control of the stock market crash should not only buy underlying stocks in the index but also pay attention to prevent implicit stock disaster in the market.     

Twitter’s daily happiness sentiment,economic policy uncertainty,and stock index fluctuations

This research applies quantile Granger causality and impulse-response analyses to evaluate the causal linkages among Twitter’s daily happiness sentiment, economic policy uncertainty (EPU), and S&P 500 indices across the U.S. stock market cycles. We present notable evidence of bi-directional causality among cyclical components of Twitter’s daily happiness sentiment, economic policy uncertainty, and S&P 500 indices for most quantiles. The causal linkage of Twitter’s daily happiness sentiment and S&P 500 indices identified in this study reconciles the so-called Easterlin Paradox and Easterlin Illusion arguments from previous studies on income-happiness relationship. Moreover, given a high (low) EPU level, the positive (negative) impulse-response effects between the Twitter’s daily happiness sentiment and the S&P 500 indices are justified during a stock market bust cycle, but the signs of these correlations change to negative (positive) during a stock market boom cycle. These findings imply that investors’ hedging strategies can be linked to the surveillance of the Twitter’s daily happiness sentiment index.     

The Rise of Ethnicity under China's Market Reforms

This article investigates the dynamic relationship between economic development and the identification of ethnic minorities and argues that identification of China's ethnic minorities manifests itself at various levels. At the national level, the introduction of market mechanisms and economic growth initiatives have been concentrated predominantly in the coastal areas and metropolises, and are thus increasingly distant from ethnic minorities, a disproportionate majority of which reside in the western parts of the country. This growing regional disparity has placed ethnic regions and populations in a distinctly unfavourable position in terms of economic engagement and development. Regional development in the ethnic‐minority homelands has been characterized by the representation and reinvention of ethnic cultural traditions and the production of cultural economies. Unequal economic growth has resulted in a massive migration of ethnic minorities to the cities. Simultaneously, urban development has reinforced ethnic identity, particularly through urban labour‐market development. Urban and regional development has, in turn, led to the production, activation and magnification of ethnic identity at individual and group levels.     

恩施地区基础教育现状与其对经济发展的影响

恩施市地处武陵山片区,湖北省西南部,清江中上游,居住有土家族,苗族,侗族等少数民族,属于少数民族地区,同时也是山区,经济条件受地理位置的限制,属全国经济落后地区。经济条件落后,基础教育资金投入有限,是导致基础教育在全省拖后腿的主要原因之一,基础教育水平处于落后阶段,亟待促进和加强。基础教育的正确实施,是经济健康发展的基础,影响着经济健康发展的速度、效益以及其持续性和稳定性。恩施地区的基础教育有待提高,经济更有待持续性的快速发展。     

少数民族村寨建设中特色文化保护对策——以甘肃省张家川回族自治县张家川镇查湾村少数民族特色村寨保护规划为例

少数民族特色鲜明、历史文化积淀丰厚的村寨建筑,是少数民族地区传统文化与生活的集中体现。少数民族村寨是保存少数民族地区传统特色的载体。如何保持和发扬少数民族村寨的文化特征,继承其优秀的文化精粹,在不断提高当地民众居住生活的同时,实现少数民族村寨特色保存的持续发展。结合甘肃省张家川回族自治县张家川镇查湾村少数民族特色村寨保护规划设计,简要分析地域性、民族性特色鲜明的民族文化生态村的保护设想。     

梁河县农业发展存在的问题与对策

梁河县地处云南西部边陲,经济社会发展滞后,属典型的边疆多山农业县,是德宏州唯一一个国家级贫困县。梁河县农业发展长期滞后,具有客观和主观因素。文章具体分析了梁河县农业发展的主要制约因素,提出了解决问题的相应对策,旨在为促进梁河县农业发展迈向一条现代、高效、可持续发展的道路提供参考意见。     

中外少数民族经济发展模式比较研究

不同国家由于历史的不同,其国内民族结构也是不一样的,由此导致少数民族经济发展模式的不同。少数民族经济发展是影响民族内涵的一个重要诱因。纵观民族国家发展史,中国的少数民族经济发展模式与其他国家存在明显的不同。国外一般是强调地域而忽视民族,以地区代替民族;中国则不同,我们是先组成了多元的国家,然后通过一体的精神文化逐渐培育出了统一的中华民族,借由各民族之间的经济发展实现文化交融,最终形成中华民族共同体意识。经济动因在中国少数民族经济发展模式形成过程中,一直发挥着至关重要的作用。     

旅游循环经济与乡村生态旅游的耦合——以珠江源风景区为例

针对珠江源风景区及周边乡村的现状,根据旅游循环经济和乡村生态旅游资源循环利用和保护并重的理念,分析了在珠江源周边的二道沟村、青山村、刘麦地村发展乡村生态旅游的可行性,提出基于循环经济三原则的乡村生态旅游发展,以促进珠江源风景区的健康可持续发展,促进周边乡村经济发展、新农村建设和产业结构转型。     

银海社区开展民族团结进步创建活动的实践探索

民族社区的民族工作对于巩固党的执政基础、构建和谐的民族关系、促进民族地区社会和谐与稳定,有着极其重要的作用。如今少数民族流动人口越来越多的进入社区,社区不再是单一民族的居住地,而是多民族聚居的社区,因而在民族社区开展民族工作意义重大而深远。银海社区通过"三个狠抓"、"三项创新"、唱好"四部曲",促进了民族社区的和谐发展,更好的推动了民族团结创建活动的深入开展。     

How does FinTech affect the development of the digital economy? Evidence from China

Financial Technology (FinTech) is key to the global ascendency of China's finance, and the digital economy is a new driving force in the sustainable development and high-quality growth of China's economy. So, what is the nature of the relationship between FinTech and the digital economy. Based on the CRITIC method, this study calculates the China's 31 provinces’ (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) FinTech indices from 2008 to 2018 and the digital economy development indices from 2012 to 2018, and analyzes the impact of FinTech on the digital economy and its underlying mechanism. The results show that FinTech stimulates the development of the digital economy in China by promoting technological innovation and weakening the financial decentralization of local governments. Further research indicates that local financial regulatory resources have a positive moderating effect on the impact of FinTech in promoting the development of the digital economy. Increased local financial regulatory resources will enable FinTech to promote the development of the digital economy, but this regulatory role is only significant in financially developed areas. The approach of the study is relatively novel.     

论宁夏地区少数民族骨干人才资源的开发利用

我国为了逐步缓解民族地区高层次人才匮乏的状况,改善少数民族地区人才的层次结构,提升少数民族地区人才存量的综合水平,实施了《少数民族高层次骨干人才计划》。本文论述了实施少数民族骨干计划,开发少数民族地区人才资源的重要性和紧迫性,分析了宁夏回族自治区人才资源开发的现状,并提出了开发宁夏人才资源的对策和建议。     

新时期西部高校学生民族团结教育的必要性及其实现途径

我国各族人民休戚与共、相互依存,共同缔造了统一的多民族国家,创造了悠久灿烂的中华文化。高校大学生是新时期我国建设富强、民主、文明的社会主义现代化的生力军,他们对祖国的前途负有特殊的使命和责任。如何培养思想道德高尚、政治素质强、专业技术好、身心健康、全面发展的未来实用人才,是当前我国西部少数民族地区高校面临的重要任务。     

Identifying business opportunities for sustainable development: Longitudinal and experimental evidence contributing to the field of sustainable entrepreneurship

Which factors facilitate the identification of business opportunities for sustainable development? To answer this question, we develop a process model of sustainable opportunity identification. We argue that sustainable opportunity identification is a process with transitions from problem to solution identification and from solution to sustainable opportunity identification. Moreover, the transitions are facilitated by two factors—awareness of adverse consequences and entrepreneurial attitude—providing motivation and direction in the process. We tested our model in a field study (N = 107) and two experiments (N = 53 and N = 69). Our findings show that awareness of adverse consequences and entrepreneurial attitude influence the process of sustainable opportunity identification, explaining under which conditions people are more likely to identify business opportunities for sustainable development. Our study thus contributes to the field of sustainable entrepreneurship.