The Herning-Ikast textile industry: an industrial district in West Jutland

Notions of social inclusion and the need to combat social exclusion have become popular areas of attention in academic and policy circles. The importance of small firms and entrepreneurship as a means to raising inclusion has been emphasized in these new agendas. A priori, there are a number of reasons why small businesses may be regarded as providing opportunities for social inclusion. However, in this paper we argue that the recent expectations of the role of small firms and entrepreneurship in combating social exclusion are over optimistic. Some of the assumptions on which these expectations are based are questioned. Instead, we suggest that attention should start by a clearer understanding of the concept of social exclusion. Individual economic strategies, in the form of small business activity, can make some contribution but because of the complex multidimensional nature of social exclusion, over-inflated claims should be avoided. When these claims are not achieved there may be a danger of a policy backlash against the promotion of business ownership and disaffection amongst those who fail to realize their goals. This paper draws on secondary evidence and concludes with implications for policy and suggestions for further research.     

Embedded Enclaves: Cultural Mimicry and Urban Social Exclusion in Iran

This article argues that symbolic boundaries and their spatial manifestation into embedded enclaves have become new forms of urban social exclusion. Based on participant observation and interviews among lower‐ and middle‐/upper‐class residents in the city of Sari, Iran, the article analyzes how the poor's physical circulations in the city and their performances of class and status have led to an elite backlash, as the latter find more refined markers of social separation in an effort to bolster their own exclusivity. Social distancing through the denigration of the poor and the construction of embedded enclaves brings to the fore the class tensions that are temporarily masked by the urban poor's spatial practices and cultural mimicry. As an advanced form of codified status inequality, embedded enclaves rely on the poor's citywide circulations and on increasing inter‐class interactions in order to communicate difference. Embedded—rather than cordoned off—in prominent areas of the city, such enclaves function as a reminder to the poor of all they cannot have. The upsurge of such establishments in the wake of Iran's shifting economic environment represents an attempt to shore up social position and restore the status quo.     

城市居住空间的分化、排斥与整合——以南京市东山新区为例

在城市化与居住郊区化的进程中,居住空间分化是难以避免的社会与地理现象。试图将居住社区的空间分化与社会排斥勾连起来,从空间可及性控制角度切入探析社会排斥问题,并结合实证调研的成果对这些问题加以描述和分析。最后在借鉴新城市主义社区规划思想的基础上,提出居住社区空间整合的对策。     

Do SMEs in deprived areas find it harder to access finance? Evidence from the UK Small Business Survey

Encouraging enterprise in deprived places is an important objective of the UK government policy. Evidence on the perceptions of entrepreneurs suggests that access to finance may be harder for firms in deprived areas, who may have fewer contacts, less collateral or worse access to mainstream banks. Yet there is little empirical evidence on whether this is actually the case. This paper investigates whether firms in deprived areas are more likely to find it hard to access finance than other firms, using a sample of around 3500 UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We find that firms in deprived areas are more likely to perceive access to finance is a problem. However, controlling for SME characteristics, firm growth, credit scores and selection effects, we find no evidence that they actually do find it harder to obtain. The results suggest that geographical disparities in access to finance are unimportant for the average firm.     

破解农村金融排斥问题的几大思路

广大农村当前受到严重的金融排斥,农民的金融需求普遍得不到满足,本文从农村金融排斥的角度提出破解的几大思路,目的在于解决我国"三农问题",促进城乡统筹发展。     

社会排斥视角下的非正常集体林权集中现象——闽中溪乡实证研究

"耕者有其山"是集体林权制度改革所追求的宗旨,由于改革过程中存在着政策排斥、资本排斥和信息排斥等因素,大部分农民并没有获得应有的林地承包经营权,导致林权集中到某些经济实体以及少数人手中.这种非正常的集体林权集中现象的出现不仅拷问林改的效率与公平原则是否得到兼顾,还对普通农民的生产生活造成消极影响.     

中部地区农村金融排斥的现状与对策研究

运用六维度分析方法描述我国中部地区农村金融排斥的具体状况,认为金融排斥会导致城乡二元化加剧,农村地区金融发展受限,社会排斥加深,严重阻碍社会主义新农村建设。这种状况源于金融机构自身商业性要求以及中部农村地区地理区位分布不利、经营效益较差等。今后应加大政府扶持力度,走有“农村特色”的信用体系建设,创新新型农村金融机构等,以缓解中部地区农村金融排斥状况。     

A preliminary theoretical examination of the targeted public distribution system in India

A theoretical model of targeting in the public distribution system is set out. In any system of targeting there could be inclusion and exclusion errors. These errors could be reduced by search by the state. The state aims to minimise the costs of food administration subject to keeping the magnitude of the exclusion error bounded. Targeting involves a consideration of the objective poverty level, the official poverty level and the targeted poverty level by the state. The targeted poverty level could be less than the official poverty level if the extent of search is not adequate. The objective poverty level is an increasing function of the above poverty line issue price of food due to exclusion errors, a decreasing function of the procurement price of food and by definition the below poverty line issue price of food. The instruments in the hands of the state are the official poverty level, the above poverty line issue price for food, the procurement price of food and the extent of search. The comparative static implications of the model are set out.     

Financial Globalization,Social Exclusion and Financial Crisis

This paper suggests one set of mechanisms that ties financial globalization processes to local dynamics of financial inclusion or exclusion. Specifically, this paper explores the worldwide reconsideration of financial firms’ strategies that has accompanied financial globalization. It is shown that the neoliberal and asymmetric‐information approaches to credit markets and financial crises in developing economies overlook these dimensions of financial globalization because of their tendency to focus on representative credit markets. Banks’ strategic shift has led to the global homogenization and stratification of financial practices—and this in turn has been a key driver of processes of financial exclusion. Financial exclusion then involves bifurcation within financial markets, so that different markets serve different portions of the household and business population. This analysis suggests a reconstruction of Minsky’s microfoundational model of the origins of financial fragility and crisis, which shifts from Minsky’s emphasis on a representative borrower–lender relationship to a situation of borrower–lender relationships in bifurcated markets.     

数字金融发展对新创企业成长的影响——融资约束和研发投入的链式中介效应与异质性分析

新创企业在资源获取和配置方面存在相对弱势,尤其是传统金融排斥带来的融资约束不利于其持续成长。具有普惠性和精准性的数字金融则可以为新创企业提供更多更低成本的金融服务,进而促进其成长。然而,现有文献关于数字金融发展影响新创企业成长的专门研究较为缺乏,更缺少相关经验证据。本文认为,数字金融发展能够为新创企业创造良好的投融资环境,提升其金融资源获取和配置能力,从而促进新创企业成长。以2012—2020年中小板和创业板新创企业为样本的分析显示：（1）城市数字金融发展水平提高对新创企业成长具有显著的正向影响,其中融资约束的部分中介效应和“融资约束—研发投入”的链式中介效应显著,表明数字金融发展能够通过缓解融资约束促进新创企业成长,并存在“数字金融发展→缓解新创企业融资约束→增加新创企业研发投入→促进新创企业成长”的传导路径;（2）城市数字金融发展水平提高对新创企业成长的正向影响,在东部地区和数字化水平较高的地区显著,而在中西部地区和数字化水平较低的地区不显著,表明地区市场规模、市场化程度、对外开放水平以及数字化水平的提高有利于数字金融功能和作用的发挥;（3）城市数字金融发展水平提高对受融资约束较强的非国有新创企业和更依赖技术创新的高新技术新创企业成长具有显著的正向影响,而对国有新创企业和非高新技术新创企业成长没有显著影响,反映出融资约束是新创企业成长的主要障碍之一,而技术创新是新创企业提升成长能力的主要路径之一。相比现有文献,本文探讨了数字金融发展对新创企业成长的影响,为数字金融发展促进新创企业成长及其链式作用机制和异质性提供了经验证据,拓展和深化了关于数字金融支持实体经济发展的研究以及企业成长的影响因素研究。本文研究表明,数字金融发展存在“长尾效应”,有助于解决企业早期融资中的“最初一公里”堵点问题。因此,各地应坚持深化改革开放,积极推动数字经济发展,不断提高市场化和数字化水平,充分发挥数字金融的积极效应;金融机构要关注各类企业的金融需求,有针对性地优化金融服务、创新金融产品,更好地服务于实体经济发展;新创企业应充分利用数字金融发展带来的便利与机会,强化技术创新,进而实现高质量持续成长。