Corporate social responsibility in emerging economies: Investigating firm behavior in the Indian context

Scholars have questioned the appropriateness of using a western‐centric framework to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in emerging economies. This study assesses the appropriateness of using such a framework in one emerging economy—India. More specifically, the drivers of CSR and their impact on firm‐level CSR activity in the Indian context are investigated and compared with those in developed economies. Content analysis of 369 CSR policy statements of publicly traded Indian firms revealed the factors that drive CSR activities of Indian firms are similar to those found in developed economies. However, the ways firms respond to the drivers of CSR are surprisingly different in the Indian context, and these differences can be traced to attributes of the Indian socio‐cultural context. Implications and recommendations for future research conducted in India, and in other emerging economies, are offered.     

Does ethnic diversity decrease economic interactions? Evidence from exchange networks in rural Gambia

Using a unique dataset collected in 59 rural Gambian villages, we study how ethnic heterogeneity is related to the structure of four economic exchange networks: land, labour, inputs and credit. We find that different measures of village‐level ethnic fragmentation are mostly uncorrelated with network structure. At a more disaggregated level, household heads belonging to ethnic minorities are not less central than those from the predominant ethnicity in any of the networks and, at the dyadic level, the fact that two households share ethnicity is not an economically significant predictor of link formation. Our results indicate that, in the particular setting of our study, the structure of the exchange networks is better defined by other variables than ethnicity and that ethnic heterogeneity is unlikely to be a driver for sub‐optimal economic exchanges.     

Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant

Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers. This paper explores women's accounts of how the CSG serves to protect and respect dignity, a foundational value in the South African Constitution. Drawing from focus groups and in-depth interviews with female CSG recipients of working age, it is argued that whilst the experience of using the CSG does protect dignity in certain important respects, other aspects including the application process, the small amount of the grant and negative discourses associated with the status of being a CSG recipient were experienced by many as erosive of dignity.     

社会资本视角下我国环保市场的激励机制研究

社会资本是一种无形资本。本文通过分析我国环境保护市场的发展现状，明确社会资本视角下促进环境保护市场的意义，最终提出以内部社会资本为导向的环境产权激励措施，以外部社会资本为导向的财税激励措施，有利于我国环境保护市场的进一步完善。     

基于融资行为的中小企业社会信任网络构建

中小企业社会信任网络的多层次性与其融资的可获得性有着密切的关系。通过社会信任网络解决中小企业内生资源不足问题，利用网络内含的默契、惯例、信任以及惩罚机制，构建以融资效率为核心的中小企业社会信任网络，有助于改善中小企业融资环境，消除中小企业融资障碍，提高中小企业融资效率。     

青海省社会信用体系建设现状与发展路径

党的十八届三中全会以来，青海省全面实施深化改革工作，地方社会信用体系建设步伐显著加快。但是，还需通过自上而下的统一部署和强有力的制度约束，来解决信用基础薄弱、共享平台缺失、建设合力不足和以点带面机制不健全等问题。提出建立“总体要求———任务分解———基础工作———专项示范———支撑体系”这样一种全面的制度安排，以此为深化青海省社会信用体系建设提供新的思路。     

Do your neighbors affect your bicycling choice? A spatial probit model for bicycling to The Ohio State University

Neighborhood social effects have recently become a focus of interest in transportation research, whereby transportation mode choice is not only affected by an individual’s characteristics and transportation system conditions, but also by the mode choices of that individual’s social neighbors. This study supports the neighborhood social effects argument, using a spatial econometrics approach and data from The Ohio State University (OSU) 2012 Campus Transportation Survey. A spatial probit model of commuters’ mode choices (bicycling versus non-bicycling) is estimated, accounting for spatial autocorrelation. The results show that the more OSU-affiliated bicycle riders are residing around an individual OSU commuter, the more attractive bicycling becomes, controlling for other factors such as gender, status, proximity to campus, bicycle infrastructure and attitudes. The results indicate that students and males are more likely to commute by bicycles. The probability of choosing bicycles decreases with distance from campus. In addition, proximity to bicycle infrastructure and physical environment both encourage respondents to bicycle. Feeling of safety, travel cost and concern for the environment also affect bicycling choice.