MEASURING INEQUALITIES: DO HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS PAINT A REALISTIC PICTURE?

The paper addresses the issue of the accuracy of standard‐of‐living measurements using household survey data. First, it highlights the fact that lighter data collection processes in some developing countries have added to measurement errors in consumption and income aggregates measurement errors. The paper reasserts the need to apply reference guidelines to the measurement of household consumption in order to compute comparable distribution indicators across countries and over time. Second, it contends that it is hard to analyze inequality solely from consumption patterns without taking income and savings into account. Two solutions are proposed for the correction of income measurement errors: by using savings declarations and by implementing a multiple imputation procedure. The results are based on a careful analysis of the EPM93 survey of Madagascar whose design is quite close to the LSMS household surveys, and the ENV98 survey of Côte d'Ivoire representative of surveys conducted nowadays in most Sub‐Saharan African countries.     

The capability approach as a framework for assessing the role of microcredit in resource conversion: the case of rural households in the Madagascar highlands

This article applies the capability approach in order to analyse microcredit as a tool for resource conversion, which permits poor households to take advantage of latent opportunities. This approach calls for linking microcredit with the choices of the poor themselves. A sample of 290 rural households from the Madagascar highlands was surveyed over two consecutive years. To identify the most relevant dimensions of poverty available for a conversion process, data were processed using factor analysis. A hierarchical classification then permitted the distribution of the households over three capability levels. Finally, an ordered multinomial logit brings out how microcredit influences the likelihood that a household receiving such a loan will reach a higher capability level. The main findings indicate that microcredit represents a robust means to obtain a higher level of capability. Moreover, when the process of borrowing endures, poor households enter into a learning process that increases the effect of microcredit. Regardless of the gender of the household head, microcredit increases the probability of reaching an enhanced level of capability, except for the poorest households headed by a woman. The head of household’s level of education only improves the effect of microcredit if the productive system implemented needs specific competencies related to educational attainment.     

Term structure modelling for multiple curves with stochastic discontinuities

Finance and Stochastics - We develop a general term structure framework taking stochastic discontinuities explicitly into account. Stochastic discontinuities are a key feature in interest rate...     

Aid,growth and institutions in Sub‐Saharan Africa: New insights using a multiple growth regime approach

Numerous sub‐Saharan African countries depend heavily on foreign aid. This paper explores the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in the continent using a finite mixture model. Contrary to previous studies, we hypothesise that the effect of aid on growth differs across groups of countries with similar but unobserved characteristics. The paper incorporates the potential presence of hidden heterogeneity and tries to explain group membership of countries by using various metrics of institutional variables. Focusing on a sample of 25 countries, we find that the impact of foreign aid on growth differs across three different groups of countries. Moreover, we find that aid works best in countries with effective government, good regulatory quality and low corruption. The results are robust to a battery of robustness checks. The paper underlines the importance of incorporating the heterogeneity in growth process in studies on aid effectiveness and provides evidence that sub‐Saharan African countries should undertake deep governance reforms to benefit from foreign aid.     

How To Be a ‘Wise’ Researcher: Learning from the Aristotelian Approach to Practical Wisdom

Journal of Business Ethics - How can you act ethically in a publication system that attempts to regulate research activity in a way that you might find, in many respects, to be unethical? In this...     

Financial systems in financial crisis — An analysis of banking systems in the EU

This Forum aims to systematically describe and analyse the evolution of national financial systems within the EU over the past three decades. It analyses the processes of financialisation that have dominated this period as well as the causes and consequences of the financial crisis from the perspectives of five individual member states — Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. Furthermore, policy proposals which could change the role of the financial system to better serve economic and social objectives are also put forward.     

Towards a better understanding of mobile banking: the impact of customer experience on trust and commitment

In the current context of ubiquitous connectedness through portable mobile devices and services, it is important to comprehend more fully the nature of consumer/bank interactions and relationships. At the same time, firms in the service sector are trying to provide customers with impactful positive experiences. This article examines the impact of mobile banking experience on trust and commitment based on the customer experience dimensions defined by Schmitt and expanded to include the negative aspect of the affective dimension. A total of 396 panellists of a recognized Canadian research firm responded to a self-administered online questionnaire. Findings demonstrate that the cognitive and negative affective dimensions of mobile experience impact trust, whereas the positive affective/sensory dimension influences commitment. The behavioural and social dimensions do not have significant impacts. This study enriches the theoretical corpus of knowledge in customer experience, relationship marketing and m-banking literature, lending practical implications for mobile services managers. Financial institutions, for example, should offer sensory mobile applications designed to appeal to the eye or to the touch (positive affective/sensory dimension), provide tools and information intended to arouse user curiosity and provoke reflection (cognitive dimension), while avoiding negative experiences which can lead to damaging feelings/emotions such as disappointment and anger (negative affective dimension).     

La legislación protectora del empleo y la estabilidad laboral. Análisis transnacional europeo

Los autores estudian la antigüedad en la empresa en toda la Unión Europea con datos relativos al período 1999–2006. La antigüedad no descendió durante esos años en muchos países europeos, con una excepción: los trabajadores de 15 a 24 años de edad. Según el análisis de regresión que efectúan, ello guarda relación con el debilitamiento de las leyes de empleo y de los sindicatos. Dado que los trabajadores jóvenes tienen poca capacidad de negociar personalmente sus condiciones laborales, la individualización de la relación de trabajo puede perjudicarles más que al resto.