The emergence of the global fintech market: economic and technological determinants

Small Business Economics - We investigate the economic and technological determinants inducing entrepreneurs to establish ventures with the purpose of reinventing financial technology (fintech). We...     

The income earned by women: impacts on welfare outcomes

This paper provides an updated review of the evidence on income pooling across household members. Income pooling is one of the main predictions of the unitary model of the household. New studies come to much the same conclusion as do past studies: income pooling and the unitary model are rejected. The paper then looks beyond the mere rejection of the unitary model and explores some of the issues that arise. First, what is the progress in testing the restrictions imposed by non-unitary models of the household? Second, what are the implications of rejection of the unitary model for policy and program design? Finally, what are some of the challenges faced by programs and policies that internalize the rejection of income pooling in terms of impact evaluation?     

Trade openness reduces growth volatility when countries are well diversified

This paper addresses the mechanisms by which trade openness affects growth volatility. Using a diverse set of export concentration measures, we present strong evidence pointing to an important role for export diversification in conditioning the effect of trade openness on growth volatility. Indeed, the effect of openness on volatility is shown to be negative for a significant proportion of countries with relatively diversified export baskets.     

The perceived autonomy–perceived service climate relationship: The contingency effect of store-level tenure diversity

Although prior research has examined the relationship between perceived autonomy and perceived service climate, a dearth of studies exist that have explored the boundary conditions of the perceived autonomy–perceived service climate relationship. To this end, this study draws on self-determination theory and the job characteristics model to develop a multi-level model that examines the relationship between perceived autonomy and perceived service climate and how this relationship alters at varying levels of store-level tenure diversity. Based on matched data from service employees and customers from a national chain of retailers, the findings indicate that perceived autonomy is positively associated with employee's perception of service climate. However, this relationship was qualified by a curvilinear (U-shaped) moderating effect of store-level tenure diversity. Perceived autonomy had a greater impact on perceived service climate at low and high levels compared to moderate levels of tenure diversity. Implications for advancing theory in service retailing are discussed along with strategic ramifications.     

Borrower attributes and the risk of default of conventional mortgages

Using a nationwide sample of 9,000 conventional mortgages, this paper examines their default based on a set of key borrower and loan characteristics. The results of a maximum likelihood failure time model show that the default risk is higher for small mortgages with a high loan-to-value ratio and for borrowers with low income and many dependents. The results also suggest that default is negatively correlated with the age of the property and the borrower's disposable income net of monthly financial obligations.     

An examination of determinants influencing the desire for and frequency of part-day and whole-day homeworking

This paper presents findings and analysis based upon the third wave of a national longitudinal survey in the UK which is examining part-day homeworking and comparing it with whole-day homeworking. Survey results confirm earlier findings that there is a higher incidence, amongst full-time paid employees, of part-day homeworking than whole-day homeworking. The paper then separately examines determinants of the desire to part-day homework and whole-day homework and determinants of the reported frequency of part-day homeworking and whole-day homeworking. The determinants considered are socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and belief statements relating to homeworking. Four statements are found to be relevant to desire to part-day and to whole-day homework: avoiding interruptions at work; avoiding wasted time in traffic; other household members appreciating the employee homeworking; and working longer hours. A similar comparison concerning actual frequency of homeworking finds that employer support is relevant for both homeworking practices, with part-day homeworking being associated with avoiding interruptions at work and whole-day homeworking frequency also being associated with commute struggle. For both forms of working practice, the belief statements are better able to explain desire to homework (more) than to explain frequency of homeworking. This is perhaps not surprising given the variability of work patterns at the level of the individual that can occur from week-to-week. The better performance of desire models for whole-day homeworking compared to those for part-day homeworking suggest that other factors are at play that remain to be identified in future examination of part-day homeworking.     

Reducing Child Malnutrition: How Far Does Income Growth Take Us?

How rapidly will child malnutrition respond to income growth?This article explores that question using household survey datafrom 12 countries as well as data on malnutrition rates in across-section of countries since the 1970s. Both forms of analysisyield similar results. Increases in income at the householdand national levels imply similar rates of reduction in malnutrition.Using these estimates and better than historical income growthrates, the article finds that the Millennium Development Goalof halving the prevalence of underweight children by 2015 isunlikely to be met through income growth alone. What is neededto accelerate reductions in malnutrition is a balanced strategyof income growth and investment in more direct interventions.     

Testing income series: An application of principal components

A methodology based on principal components is developed for the testing and estimation of aggregate income series. The technique consists in extracting the first principal component from residuals of estimated demand functions which would incorporate the real income effect and other random disturbances. The first component should then reflect the behavior of real income. The procedure is applied to test Brazilian output series estimated by the author, covering the period 1911–1939, and to compare those series with the ones previously available for Brazil.     

Perceptions and attitudes toward corporate website presence and its use in investor relations in the Jordanian context

This study reports the results of semi-structured interviews conducted to explore the factors affecting Jordanian listed firms' decisions on whether or not to have a corporate website and, if so, whether or not to use it in investor relations activities. Corporate interviewees noted that the decision to have an online presence was motivated by a desire to enhance the company's image and reputation, and the need to re-brand the company was often a key event triggering website adoption. Particularly important here were international influences, whether international partners, shareholders or competitors. However, in all cases, top management support was essential and played a key role in influencing the ways in which companies use their website both in general and for investor relations activities in particular. Results also revealed that the key factor explaining the lack of a corporate website was the attitude or belief of management. Of key importance was their belief that stakeholders, including Jordanian stock market participants, are not yet ready or willing to use the internet to acquire information about the company. Some interviewees similarly concluded that there is no demand for investor relations information on corporate websites because the Jordanian Securities Commission publishes all listed companies' annual reports on its own website. Other factors explaining the lack of a corporate website were management change, absence of competition and having been listed on the Jordanian stock exchange for a long period. This research extends our understanding of disclosure on the internet by considering a different research setting, namely Jordan, and also by extending the theoretical framework used.