Institutional framework and capital structure of microfinance institutions

This article addresses the question of whether institutional frameworks matter in the capital structure of microfinance institutions. We studied a sample of 292 MFIs between 2004 and 2009. Our findings suggest that creditor rights, a country's legal tradition, and the level of financial sector development are significantly related to MFIs' level of external finance. Furthermore, the positive relationship between banking sector development and borrowings enables us to conclude that the microfinance sector and the formal banking sector are complementary. In addition, a split sample technique is used in order to assess the external validity of the model. Findings from this cross-validation strengthen the results obtained from the whole sample and indicate that our model seems to predict well the effect of institutional variables on the capital structure of MFIs.     

小额贷款公司经营现状及风险防范探析

随着金融体制改革和国民经济发展,近年来出现了许多小额贷款公司,在一定程度上缓解了农村和中小企业融资难的问题,补充了金融市场,但是小额贷款公司在发展和经营上的一些问题不容忽视,如不及时解决,则不但影响其发展壮大,甚而会形成风险,也将难以起到对经济发展的支持作用本文以佳木斯地区小额贷款公司为例,对小额贷款公司的经营现状、存在问题以及经营风险进行分析,并提出相关对策和建议.     

辨析：全球化与经济全球化

全球化、经济全球化、一体化的含义不同，它们相互之间的关系复杂，既相互区别又相互联系相互作用。弄清这些概念及其关系，有重大理论意义和实践意义。     

山东省胶南市小额信贷模式探究与启示

农村经济发展需要有效的金融支持.近年来,农户、中小企业融资难一直是制约我国农村经济发展的一个重要问题.本文以山东省胶南市为例,研究了胶南市小额信贷方式,探索了小额信贷的创新发放办法.     

Language and market inclusivity for women entrepreneurship: the case of microfinance

Inclusive markets are key to fostering female entrepreneurship, and the microfinance sector has recognized and acted on this. Existing research has studied how institutions and organizational factors facilitate the process by which microfinance and other financial intermediaries tackle gender-based financial exclusion. But while the role of cultural institutions has been recognized as important, little research has systematically integrated culture in the study of gender-based financial exclusion. We posit that language is a cultural institution that influences the extent to which financial intermediaries are successful in outreaching women and supporting female entrepreneurship. Inspired by a performativity approach, we develop a set of hypotheses that delineate how a specific feature of language, gender marking in grammar, moderates the role of institutional (state capacity) and organizational (NGO status and global ties) factors in shaping microfinance outreach to women. Using the ratio of female to male borrowers in 2361 microfinance organizations from 115 countries during the period 1995–2015, we confirm that market inclusion of women depends on organizational and institutional factors, and that gender marking in grammar influences those relationships.     

Risk transfer versus cost reduction on two-sided microfinance platforms

Microfinance can be an important tool for fighting global poverty by increasing access to loans and possibly lowering interest rates through microlending. However, the dominant mechanism used by online microfinance platforms, in which intermediaries administer loans, has profound implications for borrowers. Using an analytical model of microlending with intermediaries who disburse and service loans, we demonstrate that profit-maximizing intermediaries have an incentive to increase interest rates because much of the default risk is transferred to lenders. Borrower and lender interest rate elasticities can serve as disciplining mechanisms to mitigate this interest rate increase. Using data from Kiva.org, we find that interest rates do not affect lender decisions, which removes one of these disciplining mechanisms. Interest rates are high, around 38% on Kiva. In contrast, on an alternative microfinance platform that does not use intermediaries, Zidisha, interest rates are only around 10%, highlighting the dramatic impact of intermediaries on interest rates. We propose an alternative loan payback mechanism that still allows microfinance platforms to use intermediaries, while removing the incentive to increase interest rates due to the transfer of risk to lenders.     

山东省胶南市小额信贷模式探究与启示

农村经济发展需要有效的金融支持.近年来,农户、中小企业融资难一直是制约我国农村经济发展的一个重要问题.本文以山东省胶南市为例,研究了胶南市小额信贷方式,探索了小额信贷的创新发放办法.     

Globalization and specialization

The popular Dixit–Stiglitz–Ethier framework proposes that globalization increases the menu of intermediate goods available to downstream firms and that gains from specialization raise welfare unambiguously. This study shows that both results depend critically on the assumption that demand elasticities are invariable. The more general framework presented here provides two main insights: First, whether specialization rises or falls depends ultimately on the shape of the cost function, and second, globalization can actually reduce welfare in the case when specialization falls.     

Productivity change of microfinance institutions in Kenya: A bootstrap Malmquist approach

This paper uses a DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) based Malmquist approach to investigate the changes in productivity of 20 Kenyan microfinance institutions (MFIs) over the period 2009–2012. A bootstrap procedure is employed to determine whether the changes in Malmquist index and its components are statistically significant. Results show that MFIs have experienced about 7% annual productivity progress on average, which is mainly attributable to technological advances. A second-stage bootstrapped regression analysis is employed to examine the impact of several environmental variables on productivity change measures. Results show that matured MFIs tend to have a lower productivity compared to their younger counterparts. Results also reveal that higher return-on-assets associates with the productivity gain and technological improvements.     

沃尔玛的全球化和本地化

沃尔玛为什么要实行全球化?因为国内市场的饱和，因为国际市场的广阔，还因为新兴市场为廉价折扣零售提供了巨大的发展空间。     

全球化进程中世界就业若干特征分析

随着经济全球化的深度推进,世界就业呈现出一系列规律性特征。主要表现在就业方式、就业结构以及劳资关系的变革上。正确认识全球化进程中劳动就业的规律性特征,对于制定正确的对外开放以及就业战略具有重要的意义。     

全球化进程中世界就业若干特征分析

随着经济全球化的深度推进,世界就业呈现出一系列规律性特征.主要表现在就业方式、就业结构以及劳资关系的变革上.正确认识全球化进程中劳动就业的规律性特征,对于制定正确的对外开放以及就业战略具有重要的意义.     

Globalization and domestic conflict

When a resource like oil is domestically contested, trade patters and welfare can be very different than when property rights are costlessly enforced. Whereas (small-country) importers of the contested resource gain unambiguously relative to autarky, exporters of the contested resource lose under free trade, unless the world price of the resource is sufficiently high. Regardless of what price obtains in world markets, countries tend to over-export the contested resource compared to the absence of conflict. For a wide range of prices, higher international prices of the contested resource reduce welfare, an instance of the “natural resource curse.”     

Globalization and economic development

A feature of the continuing integration of the world economy is the globalization of production and the consequent rise of trade in parts and components. Products are more internationalized and less identified with any particular country. Non-trivial shares of the value-added of many exports consist of imports and vice versa. Extension of the international division of labour beyond finished products offers developing countries a broader range of choices for industrialization. This paper explores the implications of these developments in the context of a standard trade model. Component specialization in a developing country's import sector is shown to be superior in overall welfare terms to specialization in the integrated product. Output and employment are higher in the sector, but the wage-rental ratio is lower.     

Mortgage affordability and entrepreneurship: Evidence from spatial discontinuity in Help-to-Buy equity loans

We exploit a policy change in the UK Help-to-Buy (HTB) equity loan scheme in order to identify the causal link between mortgage affordability and entrepreneurship activity at the local level. We contribute to the literature on the relationship between housing finance and entrepreneurship by demonstrating the impact of government equity loans on entrepreneurship through the release of trapped liquidity. When less equity is required to buy a house, households could use the ‘additional’ liquidity to start a business. We use a spatial discontinuity in treatment methodology to take advantage of the reform of the Help-to-Buy scheme in 2016, which increased the limit of equity loans provided in London. By using data on business population at the postcode sector level, we are able to measure the impact of the new policy by comparing similar areas on the opposite sides of the Greater London Authority boundary. Our results show that an increase in mortgage affordability fosters entrepreneurial activity in affected areas by 20%, resulting in 1 more start-up on average per postcode per year. The new businesses are mainly single-plant micro enterprises in capital intensive sectors with low income volatility.     

Globalization and the empowerment of talent

Many experts have identified globalization as the new way in which firms organize their activities and the emergence of talent as the new stakeholder in the firm. This paper examines the role of trade integration in the changing nature of the corporation. International trade leads to a ‘war for talent’ which makes it more likely that an organizational equilibrium emerges in the integrated world economy in which control is delegated to lower levels of the firm's hierarchy empowering human capital. Furthermore, trade integration is shown to lead to waves of decentralization and to convergence in corporate cultures across countries.     

Globalization,labour and prospects

This collection examined the impact of globalization on labour and its organization. The contributions were drawn from a variety of countries in the Asia Pacific and, based on the evidence presented, four major conclusions can be drawn. These conclusions are presented and discussed under the headings of universalism and determinism, deregulation and labour markets, labour's role in competitiveness, and labour organization. Such comparative work shows that, overall, globalization's terrain is uneven and contested and that labour and states are not the helpless victims of global economic forces.     

Globalization of Management Education

A new study, sponsored by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, presented a comprehensive new perspective on the globalization of management education, (AACSB International, 2011). Its findings are sobering: with regard to emerging global trends in higher education and cross-border business, the report reveals a sizable gap between what the world needs and what management educators generally do. Key areas for attention include the expansion of mechanisms for quality improvement and assurance globally, strengthening the use of international partnerships, more intentional internationalization within the curriculum, and connecting various global activities to one another through a comprehensive globalization strategy.