A micro-level insight on trade-induced job polarization and poverty in Russia

The effect of trade liberalization on workers with different skill levels at distinct types of firms is often surmised to be heterogeneous. This paper employs a longitudinal individual-level dataset—the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS)—to study the impact of trade liberalization on the relative poverty of various groups of workers in Russia. More specifically, we use the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a quasi-natural experiment to analyze the impact of trade liberalization on workers at different skill levels and types of firms. Our analysis reveals significant trade-induced job polarization, meaning that, in the tradable sector, even though employment and wages are increasing for low-wage and the high-wage occupations, they are shrinking for mid-wage occupations, leading to a higher poverty rate for workers seeking employment in mid-wage occupations in that sector. Our results are robust to a battery of robustness checks, and they point to the crucial role of state-owned enterprises in attenuating the adverse effects of trade shocks on the welfare of workers.     

How entrepreneurship ecosystem influences the development of frugal innovation and informal entrepreneurship

This article critically analyses how the entrepreneurial ecosystem and institutional environment influences the development of frugal innovation and informal entrepreneurship. There is a dearth of empirical research on African entrepreneurship ecosystems and complementors that produce innovations in the informal sector. We address this gap, by examining why and how informal businesses operate and evolve. Based on a qualitative approach, interviewing 20 business owners in Nigeria, two focus groups meeting with 5 and 7 business associations leaders, respectively, we examine the role of institutional environments, how entrepreneurs operate and overcome the barriers to entrepreneurship. The results reveal a model of determinants of frugal innovation and informal entrepreneurship ecosystem comprising formal/informal rules, access to market, and family as important elements that act as a means to effective knowledge flows, networking, capital, and resources sharing.     

An econometric choice for extension-teaching methods: the Ilorin and Oyo North Agricultural Development Projects' experience

The appropriate combination of extension-teaching methods for rapid farm-technology diffusion and sustained productivity growth in the World-Bank-Assisted Agricultural Development Project in rural Nigeria is examined. The multiple extension-teaching methods in the Ilorin and Oyo North Projects have led to self-defeating and counterproductive results. Using principal-components analysis, the ten extension-teaching methods (variables) are transformed into a linear equation by allocating relative weights to each variable. These weights (coefficients of the equation), which are reasonably unique to each variable, measure the relative importance of the variables and therefore facilitate their ranking in each of the project districts. The usefulness of the principal component model in the World-Bank-Assisted Agricultural Development Projects in particular, and the rural Nigerian agricultural industry in general, are briefly discussed.     

Addressing Financial Inclusion Challenges in Rural Areas from the Financial Services Marketing Employee Emotional Labor Dimension: Evidence from Nigeria

Financial authorities basically regard low financial literacy rate and poor information and communication technology as the major challenges facing financial inclusion drive, particularly among rural dwellers in Nigeria. No study has assessed the cause of low financial inclusion from the financial services marketers’ emotional labor perspective. This quantitative study attempted to close this gap by exploring how emotional labor variables relate to financial services sales performance and job satisfaction among bank marketers. Primary data were collected from 417 bank marketers operating in Edo and Delta States. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the formulated hypotheses. The outcomes show that surface acting has a significant negative effect on financial service sales outcomes and job satisfaction, while deep acting was found to have a significant positive effect on financial service sales outcomes and job satisfaction among bank marketers.