Portfolio creation using artificial neural networks and classification probabilities: a Canadian study

Financial Markets and Portfolio Management - This study aims to verify whether using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to establish classification probabilities generates portfolios with higher...     

A healthier start: The effect of conditional cash transfers on neonatal and infant mortality in rural Mexico

Conditional cash transfer programs seek to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty by building the human capital of poor children. Despite their popularity throughout the developing world, relatively little is known about their effect on children's health outcomes. This paper evaluates the impact of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program, Progresa, on two important health outcomes: infant and neonatal mortality. It exploits the phasing-in of Progresa over time throughout rural Mexico to identify the impact of the program. The paper shows that Progresa led to a large 17% decline in rural infant mortality among the treated, but did not reduce neonatal mortality on average. The benefit-cost ratio is between 1.3 and 3.6. Tests for heterogeneity show larger declines for some groups including those municipalities whose pre-program levels of mortality were above the median, and those that prior to the program had higher illiteracy rates, and less access to electricity.     

Using vehicle monitoring technology and eco-driver training to reduce fuel use and emissions in tourism: a ski resort case study

Ground-based transport moves more tourists than any other form of transportation and contributes c. 32% of tourism's carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions – yet remains a largely neglected area of emission/carbon management research. This study examines the value of vehicle monitoring technology (VMT) and eco-driver training as a means to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions for a fleet of vehicles at the largest ski resort operation in Ontario, Canada. The VMT was installed in 14 fleet vehicles. After eco-driver training, the fleet reduced its average daily speed (?14%), hard decelerations (?55%), hard accelerations (?44%), and idling time (?2%), resulting in decreased fuel costs (?8%) and CO₂ emissions (?8%). The process requires very low capital expenditures, can pay for itself in as little as one year, and has safety paybacks. It also has valuable externalities: tourism businesses that instill sustainability awareness and values to their employees contribute to environmental prosperity generally, because eco-trained drivers also drive more efficiently in their everyday lives. This is the first known study to quantify the benefits of driver training and behavioral intervention within a tourism context, demonstrating the potential to enhance environmental sustainability while simultaneously reducing operating costs. Technicalities, issues, and future application possibilities are discussed.     

The challenge of rural financial inclusion – evidence from microfinance

Financial inclusion is said to foster development and growth. However, progress in financial inclusion has been slow in rural areas where poverty is most pronounced. This is often attributed to higher transaction costs, higher risks and a more unfavourable contracting environment which makes it more difficult for financial institutions to achieve and maintain sustainability in rural compared to urban areas. Based on data covering 772 microfinance institutions (MFIs) over the period 2008–2013, we test whether rural financial inclusion, notably lending to rural borrowers, is hampered by stronger sustainability challenges than inclusion in urban markets. Our results suggest that a higher share of rural borrowers has no direct effect on MFI sustainability. However, we find that MFIs with a higher share of rural borrowers are less able to exploit economies of scale and productivity effects. Thus, our results provide support for the view that sustainability challenges make it more difficult to achieve progress in financial inclusion in rural than in urban areas.     

Replacing executive stock options with share units: A Canadian study

Are share units a better compensation tool than stock options? This paper studies the impact of a transition within the compensation structures of CEOs of companies listed on the TSX Composite Index. Specifically, we ask whether replacing options with units-based compensation reduces the volatility of these companies' stock prices while promoting better returns. Our findings show that a shift to share units reduces large-cap Canadian companies' total risk through its idiosyncratic component. This transition is also accompanied by an increase in their risk-adjusted accounting and market performance. This suggests that share units are better for compensation contracts.     

Consumer vulnerability and complaint handling: Challenges,opportunities and dispute system design

Effectively designed complaint handling systems play a key role in enabling vulnerable consumers to complain and obtain redress. This article examines current research into consumer vulnerability, highlighting its multidimensional and expansive nature. Contemporary understandings of consumer vulnerability recognize that the interaction between a wide range of market and consumer characteristics can combine to place any individual at risk of vulnerability. While this broad definition of consumer vulnerability reflects the complex reality of consumers’ experiences, it poses a key challenge for designers of complaint handling systems: how can they identify and respond to an issue which can potentially affect everyone? Drawing on current research and practice in the United Kingdom and Australia, the article analyses the impact of consumer vulnerability on third party dispute resolution schemes and considers the role these complaint handling organizations can play in supporting their complainants. Third party complaint handling organizations, including a range of Alternative Dispute Resolution services such as ombudsman organizations, can play a key role in increasing access to justice for vulnerable consumer groups and provide specific assistance for individual complainants during the process. It is an opportune time to review whether the needs of consumers at risk of vulnerability are being met within complaint processes and the extent to which third party complaint handlers support those who are most vulnerable to seek redress. Empowering vulnerable consumers to complain presents specific challenges. The article discusses the application of a new model of consumer dispute system design to show how complaint handling organizations can meet the needs of the most vulnerable consumers throughout the process.     

Ethical Consumers Among the Millennials: A Cross-National Study

Using two samples drawn from contrasting developed and developing countries, this investigation considers the powerful, unique Millennial consumer group and their engagement in ethical consumerism. Specifically, this study explores the levers that promote their ethical consumption and the potential impact of country of residence on cause-related purchase decisions. Three distinct subgroups of ethical consumers emerge among Millennials, providing insight into their concerns and behaviors. Instead of being conceptualized as a single niche market, Millennials should be treated as a collection of submarkets that differ in their levels of awareness of ethical issues, consider discrete motives when making consumption decisions, and are willing to engage in cause-related purchasing to varying degrees. These findings have several critical implications for theory and practice.     

Measuring Labor Supply and Demand Shocks during COVID-19

Atlantic Economic Journal -