Search results for: financial imbalances

Authors: B. E. Weber, N. Vrielink, M. G. Rietbergen

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This paper explores the long-term effects of the Energy Box trajectory on households in the private rental sector, specifically households experiencing energy poverty. The concept of energy poverty has been getting increasing attention among policymakers over the past few years. In the Netherlands, as far as we know, there are no national policies on alleviating energy poverty, which negatively impacts energy-poor households. The Energy Box can help households experiencing energy poverty by stimulating them to improve the energy efficiency of their home by changing their energy-saving behavior. Important long-term effects are that respondents indicate that they live in a more environmentally friendly way and that they save money on their energy bills. Households feel engaged with the concept of energy-saving and can see the benefits of changing their energy-saving behavior. Respondents perceived the Energy Box as a means to live more environmentally friendly, instead of it solely being a means to save money on energy bills. The findings show that most respondents signed up for the Energy Box are interested in energy-saving as a lifestyle choice instead of a financial choice, which would likely be the case for households experiencing energy poverty.

Keywords: energy-saving behavior, energy poverty, poverty, private rental sector

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Authors: E. Fredrick Rice

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Over the past three decades, a substantial body of academic literature has asserted that the pressure to maintain household income can negatively affect the personal well-being of breadwinners. Given that scholars have failed to thoroughly explore this phenomenon with breadwinners who are also business owners, theory has been underdeveloped in the entrepreneurial context. To identify the most appropriate theories to apply to entrepreneurs, the current paper utilized two approaches. First, a comprehensive bibliographic analysis was conducted focusing on works at the intersection of breadwinner status and well-being. Co-authorship and journal citation patterns highlighted relative resource theory as a boundary spanning approach with promising applications in the entrepreneurial space. To build upon this theory, regression analysis was performed using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). Empirical results showed evidence for the effects of breadwinner status and household income on entrepreneurial well-being. Further, the findings suggest that it is not merely income or job status that predicts well-being, but one’s relative financial contribution compared to that of one’s non-breadwinning organizationally employed partner. This paper offers insight into how breadwinner status can be studied in relation to the entrepreneurial personality.

Keywords: breadwinner, entrepreneurship, household income, well-being.

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Authors: Betty Johanna Garzon Rozo, Jonathan Crook, Fernando Moreira

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Operational risk losses are heavy tailed and are likely to be asymmetric and extremely dependent among business lines/event types. We propose a new methodology to assess, in a multivariate way, the asymmetry and extreme dependence between severity distributions, and to calculate the capital for Operational Risk. This methodology simultaneously uses (i) several parametric distributions and an alternative mix distribution (the Lognormal for the body of losses and the Generalized Pareto Distribution for the tail) via extreme value theory using SAS®, (ii) the multivariate skew t-copula applied for the first time for operational losses and (iii) Bayesian theory to estimate new n-dimensional skew t-copula models via Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation. This paper analyses a newly operational loss data set, SAS Global Operational Risk Data [SAS OpRisk], to model operational risk at international financial institutions. All the severity models are constructed in SAS® 9.2. We implement the procedure PROC SEVERITY and PROC NLMIXED. This paper focuses in describing this implementation.

Keywords: operational risk, loss distribution approach, extreme value theory, copulas

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Authors: Antonio Espingardeiro

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It is likely that robots will cross the boundaries of industry into households over the next decades. With demographic challenges worldwide, the future ageing populations will require the introduction of assistive technologies capable of providing, care, human dignity and quality of life through the aging process. Robotics technology has a high potential for being used in the areas of social and healthcare by promoting a wide range of activities such as entertainment, companionship, supervision or cognitive and physical assistance. However, such close Human Robotics Interactions (HRIs) encompass a rich set of ethical scenarios that need to be addressed before Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) reach the global markets. Such interactions with robots may seem a worthy goal for many technical/financial reasons but inevitably require close attention to the ethical dimensions of such interactions. This article investigates the current HRI benchmark of social success. It revises it according to the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice aligned with social care ethos. An extension of such benchmark is proposed based on an empirical study of HRIs with elderly groups.

Keywords: HRI, SARs, social success, benchmark, elderly care

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Authors: Oluwatosin Samuel Adeoye

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Ekiti State is an agrarian state located in south western part of Nigeria. The injected power to the Ado-Ekiti and the entire state are 25MW and 37.6 MW respectively. The estimated power demand for Ado Ekiti and Ekiti state were 29.01MW and 224.116MW respectively. The distributed power to the consumers is characterized with shortcomings which include: in-adequate supply, poor voltage regulation, improper usage, illiteracy and wastage. The power generation in Nigeria is presently 1680.60MW which does not match the estimated power demand of 15,000MW with a population of over 170 million citizens. This paper evaluates the energy utilization in Ado Ekiti metropolis, the wastage and its economic implication as well as effective means of its management. The use of direct interviews, administration of questionnaires, measurements of current and voltage with clamp multimeter, and simple mathematical approach were used for the purpose of evaluation. Recommendations were made with the view of reducing energy waste from mean value of 10.84% to 2% in order to reduce the cost implication such that the huge financial waste can be injected to other parts of the economy as well as the management of energy in Ekiti state.

Keywords: consumers, demand, energy, management, power supply, waste

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Authors: Yaa Asuaba Duopah, Lisa Moran, Khalifa Elmusharaf, Dervla Kelly

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Background: Research has identified a strong link between stress and drug use behaviours. Also, it has been established that the prolonged use of crack cocaine stimulates emotional, cognitive, neurological, and social changes. This paper examines the psychosocial stressors associated with crack cocaine use. Methodology: The study is qualitative and adopts a critical realist approach. Data was collected through 26 face-to-face, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with people who use crack cocaine. Study participants were recruited through two addiction services using purposive. Participants consisted of 15 males and 11 females between the ages of 24-57 years. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Cravings, financial hardship, family breakdown, and emotional stimulation were revealed as psychosocial stressors associated with crack cocaine use. Conclusion: Addressing the psychosocial stressors identified in this paper through targeted interventions and supportive policies is crucial for improving the well-being of persons who use crack cocaine. Collaboration between addiction, mental health, and support services is recommended to develop and deliver these interventions.

Keywords: psychological stress, substance misuse disorder, mental health, coping

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Authors: Medya Fathi

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When public transportation projects were delivered through design-bid-build and later design-build, governments found a serious issue: inadequate funding. With population growth, governments began to develop new arrangements in which the private sectors were involved to cut the financial burden. This arrangement, known as Public-Private Partnership (PPP), has its own risks; however, performance outputs can motivate or discourage its use. On top of such output's list are time and budget, which can be affected by the type of project delivery methods. Project completion within or ahead of schedule as well as within or under budget is among any owner’s objectives. With a higher application of PPP in the highway industry in the US and insufficient PPP research, the current study addresses the schedule and cost performance of PPP highway projects and determines which one outperforms the other. To meet this objective, after collecting performance data of all PPP projects, schedule growth and cost growth are calculated, and finally, statistical analysis is conducted to evaluate the PPP performance. The results and conclusions will be provided. This study can assist practitioners in applying PPP for transportation projects by showing its ability to save time and/or cost.

Keywords: cost, delivery method, highway, public-private partnership, schedule, transportation

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Authors: Marija Vicic

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The purpose of commercial credit regulation in an unified way under Law on Foreign Exchange Operations in Republic of Serbia allows an easier state monitoring of credit operations performed by non-professionals on foreign exchange market. By broadly defining the term “commercial credits“, the state (i.e. National Bank of Serbia) is given the authority to monitor the performance of all obligations under commercial contracts in which the obligations are not performed simultaneously. In the first part of the paper, the author analyses the economic gist of commercial credits with the purpose of giving an insight into their special treatment. The author examines the term „commercial credits“ given in Law on foreign exchange operations and the difference between financial credits and irregular commercial credits (exports and imports of goods and services deemed to be commercial credits) is particularly highlighted. In the second part, the author emphasizes the specifics of commercial credit contracts, especially the effects of special requests for the parties to these contracts to notify National Bank of Serbia and specific regulations regarding maturity of obligations under these commercial credits and the assignment and compensation of the said contracts.

Keywords: commercial credit, foreign exchange operations, commercial transactions, deferred payment, advance payment, (non) resident

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Authors: Pham Quang Huy

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State budget is considered as an effective tool for controlling, adjusting and regulating the market economy of any countries. To ensure that the activities of the state in the fields of politics, economy and society has been efficiency, it requires major sources of certain budget. These financial funds are formed from tax revenues and tax revenues beyond. Therefore, the Governments need to have an accounting regime to manage the receipt, expenditure which are suitable for recording a full range of items. From that, it can help to increase the transparency and accountability in budget system. One of the main requirements in Vietnamese policies is to improve that accounting system of revenues and expenditures which can provide many reports to meet the information required of government and users, as well as directions to the trends of international standards requirements. By using quantitative research methods and analytical models to exploring factors, the main purpose of this article is to identify the factors affecting budget accounting and providing some direction for Vietnamese public sector in the future. The results indicated that Vietnam budget accounting has been impacted by seven factors and aims to implement three main orientations in the public sector units.

Keywords: state budget, accounting, IPSAS, budget management, government, public sector

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Authors: Nesreddine Djafar Henni, Nassim Djedoui, Rachid Chebili

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Recent decades have witnessed significant efforts being made to optimize different types of structures and components. The concept of cost optimization in reinforced concrete structures, which aims at minimizing financial resources while ensuring maximum building safety, comprises multiple materials, and the objective function for their optimal design is derived from the construction cost of the steel as well as concrete that significantly contribute to the overall weight of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. To achieve this objective, this work has been devoted to optimizing the structural design of 3D RC frame buildings which integrates, for the first time, the Algerian regulations. Three different test examples were investigated to assess the efficiency of our work in optimizing RC frame buildings. The hybrid GWOPSO algorithm is used, and 30000 generations are made. The cost of the building is reduced by iteration each time. Concrete and reinforcement bars are used in the building cost. As a result, the cost of a reinforced concrete structure is reduced by 30% compared with the initial design. This result means that the 3D cost-design optimization of the framed structure is successfully achieved.

Keywords: optimization, automation, API, Malab, RC structures

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Authors: Avinash Malladhi

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Forensic accounting is a specialized field that involves the application of accounting principles, investigative skills, and legal knowledge to detect and prevent fraud. With the rise of big data and technological advancements, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms have emerged as powerful tools for forensic accountants to enhance their fraud detection capabilities. In this paper, we review and analyze various AI/ML algorithms that are commonly used in forensic accounting, including supervised and unsupervised learning, deep learning, natural language processing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Decision Trees, and Random Forests. We discuss their underlying principles, strengths, and limitations and provide empirical evidence from existing research studies demonstrating their effectiveness in detecting financial fraud. We also highlight potential ethical considerations and challenges associated with using AI/ML in forensic accounting. Furthermore, we highlight the benefits of these technologies in improving fraud detection and prevention in forensic accounting.

Keywords: AI, machine learning, forensic accounting & fraud detection, anti money laundering, Benford's law, fraud triangle theory

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Authors: Usman Yakubu, Muktar Haruna

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The paper examines the impact of the audit committee on the earning quality of the listed consumer goods sector in Nigeria. The study used data collected from annual reports and accounts of the 13 sampled companies for the periods 2007 to 2018. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics to provide summary statistics for the variables; also, correlation analysis was carried out using the Pearson correlation technique for the correlation between the dependent and independent variables. Regression was employed using the Generalized Least Square technique since the data has both time series and cross sectional attributes (panel data). It was found out that the audit committee had a positive and significant influence on the earning quality in the listed consumer goods companies in Nigeria. Thus, the study recommends that competency and personal integrity should be the worthwhile attributes to be considered while constituting the committee; this could enhance the quality of accounting information. In addition to that majority of the committee members should be independent directors in order to allow a high level of independency to be exercised.

Keywords: earning quality, corporate governance, audit committee, financial reporting

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Authors: Irena Paramita Pramono

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Islamic bank is a financial industry with huge potential to grow in Indonesia. Profit-sharing agreement in the operations of Islamic banks distinguishes Islamic banks with conventional banks. Profit-sharing agreement allows sharing of benefits and risks between shahibul maal and mudharib in islamic bank. This study aimed to observe the patterns of influence between the risk-sharing agreement, financing risk and Profitability in Islamic banks. This research used several Islamic banks as sample and path analysis method. The empirical results of this research shows that the profit-sharing agreement in deposits structure has no direct significant effect to ROA, but it has indirect effect to ROA through profit-sharing financing. On the other hand, profit-sharing financing has direct and indirect influence to ROA through financing risk. This research shows that profit-sharing financing has a positive significant effect to the financing risk and also to the ROA. The research recommends Islamic banks to continue using and developing profit-sharing agreement in its operational activities, hence to create value.

Keywords: Islamic bank, profit-loss sharing agreement, financing risk, profitability

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Authors: Priscilla Deede Hammond

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Healthcare seeking behaviour has emerged as a tool to tackle perceived ill-health by taking remedial actions. And currently, efforts are being directed towards encouraging people (especially parents) to learn and use health-promoting behaviours in seeking their children’s healthcare. Regardless of these efforts, most parents encounter challenges with raising a child with a disability. The purpose of the study was to explore the healthcare-seeking behaviours of parents of children with disabilities. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, a case study design was employed where the researcher used a qualitative approach such as semi-structured interview to gather the required data. Data from participants were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. It was revealed from the findings of the study that, some of the parents after the first diagnosis by health professionals consulted a spiritualist or a herbalist for help. Also, some parents stated that their response to their children’s healthcare depended on the severity of the sickness. The study recommends the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and other social agencies such as the Social Welfare Department to provide health assessment and financial support to families of children with disabilities.

Keywords: healthcare, health, parents, disabilities

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Authors: Mihaela Munteanu Pila

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Abstract The Republic of Moldova has a high potential for commercial growth of fish, due to its rich natural resources. Every year, national actions are implemented for the development and improvement of wetlands through acclimatization of hydrobionts, cleaning of adjacent waste areas and repopulation with valuable fish species. Due to aggressive environmental factors, anthropogenic factors, poaching or insufficient financial resources allocated to the authorities, there is a strong degradation of aquatic resources in the area. The main issue of the study is to identify priority areas for the development of fish farming in the area and maintain potential reserves to increase the efficiency of fish production in the pond. The rational operation of pond-type reservoirs will make it possible to maintain the breeding base of many fish species and will in future become a valuable source of local marketable products, in order to increase the productivity of fish in ponds and exploit the region's resources. The research looked at the problems that led to a decline in local fish production and identified a number of long-term measures needed to develop aquaculture.

Keywords: Development, , Republic of Moldova, , fisheries, , productivity

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Authors: Milad Nooshadi, Alessandro Manzardo

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CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere continue to rise, mostly as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels. CO₂ injection into the oceans and geological formation as a process of physical carbon capture are two of the most promising emerging strategies for mitigating climate change and global warming. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the two mentioned methods of CO₂ sequestration and to assess information on previous and current advancements, limitations, and uncertainties associated with carbon sequestration in order to identify possible prospects for ensuring the timely implementation of the technology, such as determining how governments and companies can gain a better understanding of CO₂ storage in terms of which media have the most applicable capacity, which type of injection has the fewer environmental impact, and how much carbon sequestration and storage will cost. The behavior of several forms is characterized as a near field, a far field, and a see-floor in ocean storage, and three medias in geological formations as an oil and gas reservoir, a saline aquifer, and a coal bed. To determine the capacity of various forms of media, an analysis of some models and practical experiments are necessary. Additionally, as a major component of sequestration, the various injection methods into diverse media and their monitoring are associated with a variety of environmental impacts and financial consequences.

Keywords: carbon sequestration, ocean storage, geologic storage, carbon transportation

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Authors: Longqing Li

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The paper addresses the inefficiency of the classical model in measuring the Value-at-Risk (VaR) using a normal distribution or a Student’s t distribution. Specifically, the paper focuses on the one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR) of major stock market’s daily returns in US, UK, China and Hong Kong in the most recent ten years under 95% confidence level. To improve the predictable power and search for the best performing model, the paper proposes using two leading alternatives, Extreme Value Theory (EVT) and a family of GARCH models, and compares the relative performance. The main contribution could be summarized in two aspects. First, the paper extends the GARCH family model by incorporating EGARCH and TGARCH to shed light on the difference between each in estimating one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR). Second, to account for the non-normality in the distribution of financial markets, the paper applies Generalized Error Distribution (GED), instead of the normal distribution, to govern the innovation term. A dynamic back-testing procedure is employed to assess the performance of each model, a family of GARCH and the conditional EVT. The conclusion is that Exponential GARCH yields the best estimate in out-of-sample one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecasting. Moreover, the discrepancy of performance between the GARCH and the conditional EVT is indistinguishable.

Keywords: Value-at-Risk, Extreme Value Theory, conditional EVT, backtesting

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Authors: Temitope Adewale, Oladapo Raji

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The study was designed to investigate the assessment of women's involvement in fishing. In order to give the study a direction, five research questions, as well as two hypotheses, were postulated, and a total of fifty (50) respondents each were selected from two local government areas for the study. This brings a total of one hundred (100) respondents selected from these local government areas in Lagos state. The outcome of the finding indicates that the percentage of the respondents’ age, 49% was between 31 and 35 years, 56% has a working experience of 6-10 years, 61% were married, 69% had secondary education as their educational level. However, findings show that socio-economic characteristics (x2 =15.504, df=6, p < 0.05) and income (r=0.83, p < 0.05) have a significant relationship on the fishing. It was established that the Women in Fish production/processing were faced with a lot of constraints such as high cost of inputs, inadequate electricity supply, lack of adequate capital, non-availability of the improved oven, non-availability of extension agents, inadequate fish landing, lack of transportation facilities, lack of training on financial management and loan acquisition which affected the level of output of women in Fish processing adversely.

Keywords: women, fishing, agriculture, Lagos

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Authors: Kaycee Bills

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This study will determine if students with disabilities have higher student loan debt payments than other student populations. The hypothesis was that students with disabilities would have significantly higher student loan debt payments than other students due to the length of time they spend in school. Using the Bachelorette and Beyond Study Wave 2015/017 dataset, quantitative methods were employed. These data analysis methods included linear regression and a correlation matrix. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, the significance levels for the overall model and each variable were set at .05. The correlation matrix demonstrated that students with certain types of disabilities are more likely to fall under higher student loan payment brackets than students without disabilities. These results also varied among the different types of disabilities. The result of the overall linear regression model was statistically significant (p = .04). Despite the overall model being statistically significant, the majority of the significance values for the different types of disabilities were null. However, several other variables had statistically significant results, such as veterans, people of minority races, and people who attended private schools. Implications for how this impacts the economy, capitalism, and financial wellbeing of various students are discussed.

Keywords: disability, student loan debt, higher education, social work

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Authors: Gamith Mendis

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Even though the doctors are knowledgeable, there's a gap between knowing and being ethical. This is a barrier to establish an ethical doctor-patient relationship. Current health system has oriented in a way that gives a meaning to both the doctor and the patient through intermediate entities. For the doctor, the meaning of the doctor-patient relationship is given through the financial benefits, promotions, and social status. For the patient, the meaning is given through curing of the disease. It is obvious that both are independent entities between the doctor and the patient. As the philosophers like Husserl and Heidegger have pointed out, our subjective world will give the immediate meaningfulness to us. We should seek this immediate meaningfulness of the doctor-patient relationship. The present research has used the existential methodology as guided self-reflections on the lived experiences of a doctor and his students. In this approach, two important aspects have been understood. The first is, establishing the fact that being ethical is itself giving meaningfulness to the doctor’s being without any mediate entities. Simply, it is enjoying being an honest being. The second is by being-with-the-patient while treating the disease; both the doctor and the patient can enjoy the meaningfulness of their human relationship. The medical students and the doctors should focus on this meaningfulness. For that, this discussion should be actively incorporated into the medical curriculum with programs of practical guidance to medical students and should be discussed in patient-care reviews in the health setting within a satisfactory framework.

Keywords: doctor-patient relationship, medical education, medical ethics, medical humanities, qualitative health research

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Mi Jianing

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The lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure in African countries is hampering the successful adoption, development and implementation of e-government in Africa. Electronic government is the use of ICTs to modernize government public administration processes and to provide government services to citizens with a purpose to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in government’s interaction with the citizenry. ICT application in public administration has the potential to modernize and create smarter government and improvement in public service delivery. China’s Internet Plus policy and One Belt One Road strategy present a golden opportunity for countries in Africa to attract the huge financial investment through Chinese IT companies to develop and close Africa’s ICT infrastructure gap. This study recommends the establishment of One Belt One Road ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa (OBOR ICT Fund for Africa) to enable countries in Africa to source solely for the purpose of ICT infrastructure development in the public sector/government machinery which would in turn promote the adoption and development of e-government in the public sectors of respective countries in Africa.

Keywords: e-government, public service delivery, internet plus, one belt one road initiative, China, Africa

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Authors: Edgard Barki, Tânia Modesto Veludo-de-Oliveira, Felipe Zambaldi

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The social enterprise sector can be characterized as organizations that aim to solve social problems with financial sustainability and using market mechanisms. This sector has shown an increasing interest worldwide. Despite the growth and relevance of the sector, there is still a gap regarding the assessment of the social impact resulting from the initiatives of the organizations in this field. A number of metrics have been designed worldwide to evaluate the impact of social enterprises (e.g., IRIS, GIIRS, BACO), as well as some ad hoc studies that have been carried out, mainly in the microcredit sector, but there is still a gap to be filled in the development of research in social impact evaluation. Therefore, this research seeks to evaluate the social impact of two social enterprises (Terra Nova and Vivenda) in the area of housing in Brazil. To evaluate these impacts and their dimensions, we conducted an exploratory research, through three focus groups, thirty in-depth interviews and a survey with beneficiaries of both organizations. The results allowed us to evaluate how the two organizations were able to create a deep social impact in the populations served. Terra Nova has a more collective perspective, with a clear benefit of social inclusion and improvement of the community’s infrastructure, while Vivenda has a more individualized perspective, improving self-esteem, sociability and family coexistence.

Keywords: Brazil, housing, social enterprise, social impact evaluation

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Authors: Pendar Fazel

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Well-being is a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity. Well-being of people is correlated with, the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical aspect of their personality. Subjective well-being, people’s emotional and cognitive evaluations of their lives, includes what lay people call happiness, peace, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Unfortunately in this period of time people are under the pressure of financial, social problems, and other stress factors which made them vulnerable, and their well-being is threatened. Personal Coaching as a holistic orientation and novel approach is ideal for the present century which help people, to find balance, enjoyment and meaning in their lives as well as improving performance, skills and effectiveness. The aim of the present article besides introducing the personal coaching is determining how personal coaching can positively effects on subjective well-being, under this aim we tend to describe how coaching impact on the cognitive and emotional reconstruction. Present qualitative research is descriptive analytic study, which data gathered by manual library research and search within authentic article through internet; analyzed personal coaching which integrated different views into an operational one helps people promote self-awareness as well as evaluate, emotional and cognitive aspect of their personality and provide appropriate subjective well-being.

Keywords: subjective well-being, coaching, well-being, positive psychology, personal growth

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Authors: Mamadou Diop, Florence Crick, Momadou Sow, Kate Elizabeth Gannon

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Understanding SME leaders’ responses to climate is essential to cope with ongoing changes in temperature and rainfall. This study analyzes the response of SME leaders to the adverse effects of climate change in semi-arid lands (SAL) in Senegal. Based on surveys administrated to 161 SME leaders, this research shows that 91% of economic units are affected by climatic conditions, although 70% do not have a plan to deal with climate risks. Economic actors have striven to take measures to adapt. However, their efforts are limited by various obstacles accentuated by a lack of support from public authorities. In doing so, substantial political, institutional and financial efforts at national and local levels are needed to promote an enabling environment for economic actors to adapt. This will focus on information and training about the threats and opportunities related to global warming, the creation of an adaptation support fund to support local initiatives and the improvement of the institutional, regulatory and political framework.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises, climate change, adaptation, semi-arid lands

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Authors: Lamis Kattan, Joanne Haddad

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This paper examines the impact of gender focused labor legislation on women's labor force participation and economic empowerment. We rely on historical legislative acts passed by state legislatures and exploit whether or not states passed regulatory laws regulating overall and industry specific employment and work conditions for women, night work laws and labor laws requiring provision of seats for working women. We exploit the fact that not all states enacted these laws as well as the variation in the timing of enactment of such laws. Our results show that women in comparison to men in treated states are more likely to be in the labor force post introduction of night work laws in comparison to control states. We also document the effect of industry-specific labor policies on women's likelihood to be employed in the affected industry and in higher-wage occupations within the industry of interest. Policy implications of our findings endorse the adoption of labor laws in favor of women to advocate their empowerment through a higher involvement in the labor market and financial independence.

Keywords: female employment, labor laws, marriage, fertility

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Authors: Hatane Semuel, Hartmann H. Ngono, Sautma R. Basana

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The effect of capital structure on profitability is often debated by many financial investigators. The application of the trade-off theory and pecking order theory to analyze this relationship may generate different views. Each company has its own strategies to achieve its objectives and the external environment, such as state policy has a broad impact on the relationship with the capital structure of the company's profitability. Malaysia is the country closest to Indonesia that had a similar growth rate of GDP and industrial production with Indonesia, but Malaysia has lower inflation rate than Indonesia. This study was conducted to compare the performance of manufacturing sector between two countries when entering the era of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The samples for this study were 69 companies in Indonesia and 242 companies in Malaysia that engaged in manufacturing sector. The study uses panel data analysis. The study found that the capital structure have positive effect on profitability of manufacturing company in Indonesia, and it turns to negative effect on manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The results also showed that there are significant differences in short-term debt towards profitability of manufacturing companies in the two countries Indonesia and Malaysia.

Keywords: capital structure, Indonesia, Malaysia, manufacturing, profitability

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Authors: B. Vikram, Y. Anu Leena, Y. Anu Neena, M. V. Krishna Rao, V. S. S. Kumar

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The industry is often criticized for inefficiencies in outcomes such as time and cost overruns, low productivity, poor quality and inadequate customer satisfaction. To enhance the chances for construction projects to be successful, selecting an able contractor is one of the fundamental decisions to be made by clients. The selection of the most appropriate contractor is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) process. In this paper, multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) is employed utilizing the multiplicative form of utility function for ranking the prequalified contractors. Performance assessment criteria covering contracting company attributes, experience record, past performance, performance potential, financial stability and project specific criteria are considered for contractor evaluation. A case study of multistoried building for which four contractors submitted bids is considered to illustrate the applicability of multiplicative approach of MAUT to rank the prequalified contractors. The proposed MAUT decision making methodology can also be employed to other decision making situations.

Keywords: multi-attribute utility theory, construction industry, prequalification, contractor

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Authors: G. Fatima, R. Bashir, M. Saeed Akhtar, M. Malik, M. Safder, D. Nayab

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The main purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate challenges and difficulties being encountered by physically challenged students in inclusive settings at higher education level. A self-developed and validated questionnaire (Cronbach alpha: 0.879) was employed for data collected from a sample of fifty six (56) graduate and continuing students with physical disabilities (males:46, females:10) selected through snow ball sampling technique from colleges and universities of Pakistan. The participants were required to respond on three point criteria (no, to some extent, yes). Data were analyzed by using SPSS. Independent sample t-test and One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was run to compare mean scores of responses of physically challenged students on the basis of their gender, education, types of physical disability, types of institutions, provinces, and status. Frequencies were run to have an overall picture of challenges faced by physically challenged students. Major findings reflected that physically challenged students were encountering problems in transportation, accessibility, and financial support, etc. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made.

Keywords: physically challenged students, inclusive setting, higher education, accessibility

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Authors: Vashti Carissa

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The main objective of this study is to examine whether the life-cycle theory of dividends could explain the determinant of an optimal dividend policy in Indonesia. The sample that was used consists of 1,420 non-financial and non-trade, services, investment firms listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange during the period of 2005-2014. According to this finding using logistic regression, firm life-cycle measured by retained earnings as a proportion of total equity (RETE) significantly has a positive effect on the propensity of a firm pays dividend. The higher company’s earned surplus portion in its capital structure could reflect firm maturity level which will increase the likelihood of dividend payment in mature firms. This result provides an additional empirical evidence about the existence of life-cycle theory of dividends for dividend payout phenomenon in Indonesia. It can be known that dividends tend to be paid by mature firms while retention is more dominating in growth firms. From the testing results, it can also be known that majority of sample firms are being in the growth phase which proves the fact about infrequent dividend distribution in Indonesia during the ten years observation period.

Keywords: dividend, dividend policy, life-cycle theory of dividends, mix of earned and contributed capital

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Authors: Thitima Chaiyakul

Abstract:

The number of previous literature regarding to the effect of asset growth and equity returns is small. Furthermore, those literature are mainly focus in the developed markets. According to my knowledge, there is no published paper examining the effect of asset growth and equity returns in the Stock Exchange of Thailand in different industry groups. The main objective in this research is the testing the effect of asset growth to equity returns in different industry groups. This study employs the data of the listed companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand during January 1996 and December 2014. The data of financial industry are exclude from this study due to the different meaning of accounting terms. The results show the supported evidence that the asset growth positively affects the equity returns at a statistically significance level of at least 5% in Agro& Food Industry, Industrials, and Services Industry Groups. These results are inconsistent with the previous research testing in developed markets. Nevertheless, the statistically significances of the effect of asset growth to equity returns appear in some cases. In summary, the asset growth is a non-systematic risk and it is a mispricing factor.

Keywords: asset growth, asset pricing, equity returns, Thailand

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