Child hunger in the developing world: An analysis of environmental and social correlates

Using two complementary methods in a framework that allows incorporating both environmental and household-level factors, we explore the correlates of underweight status among children. We use individual children as the units of analysis in 19 African countries, and subnational survey strata in 43 African, Asian and Latin American countries. We consider the relationship between household-level demographic and health survey data, environmental factors from external geospatial data sets and two indicators of malnutrition among children aged 1–3, deviations from the international standards of weight-for-age and height-for-age. We discuss methods for data integration. In general, household determinants explain more variation than environmental factors, perhaps partly due to more error-prone measurement at the community level. Among individual children, some measures of agricultural capacity are related to lower incidence of child hunger, while among regions, measures relating to urbanness and population density show a stronger relationship. We give recommendations for further study, data collection and policy making.     

Corporate social responsibility and employee commitment

Effective corporate social responsibility policies are a requirement for today's companies. Policies have not only to be formulated, they also have to be delivered by corporate employees. This paper uses existing research findings to identify two types of factors that may impact on employee motivation and commitment to CSR 'buy-in'. The first of these is contextual: employee attitudes and behaviours will be affected by organizational culture and climate, by whether CSR policies are couched in terms of compliance or in terms of values, and by whether such policies are integrated into business processes or simply an 'add-on' that serves as window-dressing. The second set of factors is perceptual. Motivation and commitment will be affected by the extent to which they can align personal identity and image with that of the organization, by their perceptions of justice and fairness both in general and in terms of how CSR performance is rewarded, and by their impressions concerning the attitude of top management to CSR issues and performance.     

Understanding and Improving Teamwork in Organizations: A Scientifically Based Practical Guide

Teams are pervasive in today's world, and rightfully so as we need them. Drawing upon the existing extensive body of research surrounding the topic of teamwork, we delineate nine “critical considerations” that serve as a practical heuristic by which HR leaders can determine what is needed when they face situations involving teamwork. Our heuristic is not intended to be the definitive set of all considerations for teamwork, but instead consolidates key findings from a vast literature to provide an integrated understanding of the underpinnings of teamwork—specifically, what should be considered when selecting, developing, and maintaining teams. This heuristic is designed to help those in practice diagnose team‐based problems by providing a clear focus on relevant aspects of teamwork. To this end, we first define teamwork and its related elements. Second, we offer a high‐level conceptualization of and justification for the nine selected considerations underlying the heuristic, which is followed by a more in‐depth synthesis of related literature as well as empirically‐driven practical guidance. Third, we conclude with a discussion regarding how this heuristic may best be used from a practical standpoint, as well as offer areas for future research regarding both teamwork and its critical considerations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Monetary Policy in Low Income Countries in the Face of The Global Crisis: A Structural Analysis

We develop a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with a banking sector to analyse the impact of the financial crisis in developing countries and the role of the monetary policy response, with an application to Zambia. We view the crisis as a combination of three related shocks: a worsening in the terms of the trade, an increase in the country's risk premium and a decrease in the risk appetite of local banks. Model simulations broadly match the path of the economy during this period. We derive policy implications for central banks, and for dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modelling of monetary policy, in low‐income countries.     

A cost-benefit analysis of music therapy in a home hospice

Medicare's fixed daily rates create an absolute cost constraint on hospices; consequently, the growth in hospice brings financial pressures. The patient efficacy of music therapy has been demonstrated in the literature and includes improving pain, agitation, disruptive behaviors, communication, depression, and quality of life. Music therapy is well suited to hospice as it addresses the four domains of palliative care (physiological, emotional, social, and spiritual care). In this small study, the total cost of patients in music therapy was $10,659 and $13,643 for standard care patients, resulting in a cost savings of $2984. The music therapy program cost $3615, yielding a cost benefit ratio of 0.83. When using cost per patient day, the cost benefit ratio is 0.95.     

Poverty Effects of Higher Food Prices: A Global Perspective

The spike in international food prices between 2005 and the first half of 2008 drew much attention to the vulnerability of the poor to such shocks. This paper provides a formal assessment of the direct and indirect impacts of higher prices of agricultural goods on global poverty using a representative sample of 63–93% of the developing world's population. To assess the direct effects, the paper uses domestic food price data between January 2005 and December 2007—when the relative price of food staples rose by an average of 5.6%—to find that the number of individuals living under the extreme poverty line increased by 155 million, with almost three‐quarters of this increase taking place in East Asia. To take the second‐order effects into account, the paper links household survey data with a global general equilibrium model, finding that the same increase in consumer prices of agricultural goods (modeled by increasing demand for first‐generation biofuels) would raise the number of individuals living under extreme poverty by 32 million, with nearly the entire increase occurring in South Asia and Sub‐Saharan Africa.     

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT SANCTIONS? LOOKING BEYOND UNEMPLOYMENT EXIT

This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of benefit sanctions on post‐unemployment outcomes such as post‐unemployment employment stability and earnings. We use rich register data which allow us to distinguish between a warning that a benefit reduction may take place in the near future and the actual withdrawal of unemployment benefits. Adopting a multivariate mixed proportional hazard approach to address selectivity, we find that warnings do not affect subsequent employment stability but do reduce post‐unemployment earnings. Actual benefit reductions lower the quality of post‐unemployment jobs both in terms of job duration as well as in terms of earnings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Breaking down social stereotypes: the case of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano in Spain

Over the last few years the Fundación Secretariado Gitano has organised several awareness campaigns aimed at improving the public image of the gypsy community, breaking down the stereotypes and providing a more credible concept of the Spanish gypsy community. These campaigns are intended to guarantee equal treatment and opportunities for this group. One of its first activities was a mass publicity campaign aimed at making the general public aware of how unfair it is to generalize. In this way the origins of the social image problem suffered by gypsies was tackled. The campaign titled ‘Get to know them before you judge them’ is the objective study of this case in which elements are analysed and decision-making steps are followed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model of takeovers of foreign banks

This paper investigates the determinants of the takeover of a foreign bank by a domestic bank whereby the former becomes a branch of the latter. Each bank is initially supervised by a national agency that cares about closure costs and deposit insurance payouts, and may decide the early closure of the bank on the basis of supervisory information. Under the principle of home country control, the takeover moves responsibility for both the supervision of the foreign bank and the insurance of the foreign deposits to the domestic agency. It is shown that the takeover is more likely to happen if the foreign bank is small (relative to the foreign banking market) and its investments are risky (relative to those of the domestic bank). Moreover, the takeover is in general welfare improving for both countries.