The equity impacts of bus rapid transit: A review of the evidence and implications for sustainable transport

The paper offers an analysis of empirical evidence on the equity impacts of operational Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in the Global South. The focus is on vertical equity, i.e. whether BRT systems achieve progressive benefits for poorer segments of the population. Findings from Africa, Asia, and Latin America all suggest that BRT does offer significant benefits to low-income groups, in terms of travel time and cost savings, access enhancement, and safety and health benefits. However benefits are often skewed toward medium-income users and thus less progressive than they might be. Two primary reasons for this are insufficient spatial coverage and inappropriate fare policies. While many features of BRT potentially allow it to deliver pro-poor outcomes, such outcomes only materialize if BRT implementers pay specific and sustained attention to equity. The paper identifies key issues that need to be addressed to steer BRT implementation toward more socially sustainable outcomes—including better integration with other transit, paratransit, and nonmotorized transport services, and with the housing sector.     

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.     

From elite capture to marginalization of the poorest: a new social exclusion in anti-poverty programmes in China

Based on a case study of state-directed aid resources in anti-poverty programmes, we detected a new phenomenon of social exclusion in China. In a period of several years, a shift is observed from elite capture to marginalization of the poorest. This phenomenon occurs under the administrative pressure from the authoritarian state and the morbid democratic mechanism. Contemporary structural changes in economic and social culture also make it difficult for marginal people to escape from this predicament. From a social structural transformation point of view, we suggest that the marginalization of the poorest should be seriously taken into consideration in rural development programmes and policies.     

Who could benefit from a bus rapid transit system in cities from developing countries? A case study from Kampala,Uganda

The present rapid urban growth of cities from developing countries causes negative externalities such as lagging infrastructure development. In combination with rapidly rising motorized vehicle use this leads to severe traffic congestion affecting the mobility of the urban residents. Therefore many urban governments are planning to improve their transport and mobility situations with mass rapid transit systems of which a bus rapid transit (BRT) is a rather easy system to implement at reasonable costs. However, due to high urban inequalities the effects of urban traffic and potential improvements of the urban transport system for the diverse group of urban residents can differ significantly. In our case study Kampala (Uganda) four main groups were identified through cluster analysis of socio-economic and residential data gathered through interviews: extreme poor, poor, middle income and rich. Each group experiences a different mobility with the extreme poor being the most vulnerable group. The planned BRT system aims to decrease the average travel time but risks to exclude the lowest income class since not enough attention is paid to the affordability of the system to all residents. Therefore we argue for a policy that works from bottom up and pays attention to the internal diversity of the population.     

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.     

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。     

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。     

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。     

Access to consumer credit in the UK

This paper investigates household access to consumer credit in the UK using information on 58,642 households between 2001 and 2009. Employing a treatment-effects model and propensity score matching, we find that non-white households are less likely to have financing compared to white households. We also find that even if they obtain financing, the intensity of borrowing is lower than for white households. Overall, non-white households seem to be in a weaker position to access consumer credit in the UK.