Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

It’S Not Will You Succeed? But Can You Afford To Fail?, Girija Pande

Asian Management Insights

With India and China’s economic ties no longer defined only by trade, the countries’ convergence is opening up new opportunities and challenges for businesses on either side seeking to cross the Sino-Indian border.

Mind The Liquidity Gap: Building A Better Capital Market For You, Kaushik Rudra

Asian Management Insights

Asian banks in most jurisdictions are currently more than adequately capitalised with respect to Basel III. However, as they are called upon to support the region’s economic growth over the next decade, they are likely to run up against capital constraints.

Do Asian Conglomerates Offer Attractive Risk-Adjusted Returns?, Nandini Vijayaraghavan

Asian Management Insights

Research on a sample of seven Asian conglomerates shows that stocks of some of these companies not only outperformed the S&P 500, but also exhibited lower volatility.

Unleashing Asean's Potential Through Aec, Michael Zink

Asian Management Insights

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set an ambitious goal to integrate the economies of its ten members by 2015, a move that is aimed at boosting the bloc’s competitiveness and creating development across the region that is more equitable. With the target date for Southeast Asia's countries to create a single economic market just months away, increasing attention is being paid to the region's vast economic potential. If successful, the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will not only create one of the world’s largest integrated economic spheres, but will add vastly to the appeal of …

Regional Disparities In Rural And Agricultural Development In Undivided Andhra Pradesh, India, A Amarender Reddy

A Amarender Reddy

India is a federal union comprising of 28 states. The states are further sub-divided into districts. Andhra Pradesh is one of the largest states in India. The state was formed by merging three regions – Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra – in the year 1956. In terms of development indicators measured in the mid-50s, Coastal Andhra was considered more developed, followed by the Rayalaseema region. Now people of the Telangana region are claiming that their relative backwardness was accentuated after merging with the more developed regions. In this context, this paper examines the regional disparities in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh …

Consistent Level Aggregation And Growth Decomposition Of Real Gdp, Jesus C. Dumagan

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

This paper formulates a general framework for consistent level aggregation and growth decomposition of real GDP. However, the focus is on US GDP in chained prices based on the Fisher index since this GDP motivated this paper’s purposes. These are to explain why problematic residuals‒in contributions to US GDP level and growth “not allocated by industry”‒ show up in the existing framework by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and, therefore, to propose an alternative framework for consistent level aggregation and growth decomposition where residuals cannot arise. This paper’s residual-free framework applies to real GDP regardless of the underlying indexes, i.e., …

Central Minnesota Economic And Business Conditions Report, Second Quarter 2014, Richard A. Macdonald, King Banaian

Central Minnesota Economic and Business Conditions Report

Central Minnesota business conditions are expected to improve over the next several months according to the predictions of the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Central Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators. The leading economic indicator index (LEI) improved in the second quarter as improvements in durable goods orders, additional new business incorporations, and strength in a general measure of state business conditions helped drive the LEI higher. The SCSU Central Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators is now 7.95 percent higher than one year ago.

There were 1,370 new business filings with the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State …

Northeast Minnesota Economic And Business Conditions Report, Second Quarter 2014, Richard A. Macdonald, King Banaian

Northeast Minnesota Economic and Business Conditions Report

Northeast Minnesota business conditions are expected to improve over the next several months according to the predictions of the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Northeast Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators. The leading economic indicator index (LEI) improved in the second quarter as increases in Duluth/Superior Area (MSA) residential building permits, additional filings for new business incorporations, improvements in a general measure of state business conditions, gains in a supply managers’ survey index and lower initial jobless claims all drove the LEI higher.

There were 548 new business filings with the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State in Northeast …

Northwest Minnesota Economic And Business Conditions Report, Second Quarter 2014, Richard A. Macdonald, King Banaian

Northwest Minnesota Economic and Business Conditions Report

Northwest Minnesota business conditions are expected to improve over the next several months according to the predictions of the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Northwest Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI). The macroeconomic environment for rural America has improved and consumer sentiment has strengthened in recent months. A rise in new business formation along with an increase in residential building permits in Northwest Minnesota’s two major metropolitan areas also helped drive the LEI higher in the second quarter. The SCSU Northwest Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators is now 1.4 percent above its level one year ago as it …

Southwest Minnesota Economic And Business Conditions Report, Second Quarter 2014, Richard A. Macdonald, King Banaian

Southwest Minnesota Economic and Business Conditions Report

Southwest Minnesota business conditions are expected to slow over the next several months according to the predictions of the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Southwest Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI). Despite improvements in the general outlook for rural economies, an increase in new regional business formation and rising Mankato area residential building permits, the LEI is little changed from its strong reading in this year’s first quarter. Holding back the regional economic outlook is a recent rise in initial jobless claims in the Southwest Minnesota planning area. The SCSU Southwest Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased by …

Twin Cities Minnesota Economic And Business Conditions Report, Second Quarter 2014, Richard A. Macdonald, King Banaian

Twin Cities Minnesota Economic and Business Conditions Report

Twin Cities business conditions are expected to pick up over the next several months according to the predictions of the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Twin Cities Index of Leading Economic Indicators. The leading economic indicator index (LEI) was lifted by a rise in new filings for business incorporations and limited liability companies (LLC) in the Twin Cities. Improvement in two general measures of statewide business conditions also contributed positively to the Twin Cities outlook. Lower initial jobless claims further enhanced projected economic growth in the seven-county metro area. The Twin Cities index increased 5.38 points in the second quarter …

Workforce Housing Design Charrette In York, Maine, Workforce Housing Coalition Of The Greater Seacoast, Maine Community Foundation

Maine Sea Grant Publications

The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast organized a workforce housing design charrette in the community of York, Maine. The event was held over a two-day period, October 15 and 17, 2014. The process included a site walk, community dialogue session, and design workshop, culminating in a design reveal on October 17, 2014. This, the Coalition’s fifth annual design charrette, produced conceptual designs for the development of workforce housing opportunities on the subject sites located in the U.S. Route 1 and Vacation Drive vicinity of York, Maine.

Economic Impact Of The Arkansas Research And Technology Park, Katherine A. Deck, Mervin Jebaraj

Publications and Presentations

Construction of the Arkansas Research and Technology Park (ARTP) began in 2003 and operations commenced in 2004. For ten years, the ARTP has been impacting the economy of the state of Arkansas in two primary ways. First, the operation of the ARTP enabled the business expenditures of its tenants. Second, there were direct expenditures on one-time construction activities in building the infrastructure of the ARTP. This report considers the overall impact of the ARTP from the beginning of construction to 2014. Over that period, the ARTP impact has been more than a half billion dollars in the Arkansas economy.

The Yangon Report: National Landscape, Current Challenges And Opportunities For Growth, Institute For Societal Leadership, John W. Ellington

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

Since its independence from British rule in 1948, Myanmar has struggled with multiple obstacles, including a series of violent internal ethnic and sectarian conflicts, isolationist fiscal policies instituted by an increasingly distrustful military government and international sanctions and condemnation following government crackdowns in 1988 and 2007. In spite of all these setbacks, President Thein Sein’s decision in 2011 to liberalise the country’s political and economic systems has created a new wave of optimism for what was once commonly regarded as a failed state.

Southeast Minnesota Economic And Business Conditions Report, Second Quarter 2014, Richard A. Macdonald, King Banaian

Southeast Minnesota Economic and Business Conditions Report

Southeast Minnesota business conditions are expected to remain strong over the next several months according to the predictions of the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) Southeast Minnesota Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI). Improvements in consumer sentiment, an increase in new filings for business incorporation and limited liability company (LLC), a rise in the Minnesota Business Conditions index, and increasing Rochester metropolitan area residential building permits all helped lift the second quarter LEI by 5.42 points. The only component of the LEI that served as a drag on the leading index was initial jobless claims. The Southeast Minnesota Index is …

Microfinance Et Développement Au Cameroun : L’Efficacité De La Mc2 Dans La Communauté Agricole De Batoufam, Elisabeth Hansen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The agriculture sector in Cameroon remains underdeveloped, and many farmers continue to suffer a lack of means. Given the debate concerning the efficacy of microfinance as a solution,this study aimed to examine the efficacy of a microfinance institution, La Mutuelle Communautaire de Croissance (MC²) in Batoufam, a rural agricultural village in Cameroon. In recent years, MC²s have become very popular in Cameroon; however, there is not yet a thorough study on the efficacy of the MC² of Batoufam. Through interviewing farmers, the Chief of Batoufam, the employees of MC² and of the NGO Appropriate …

Massachusetts On The Move: The Intersection Of Talent, Transportation, And Housing, Richard Boyajian, Juleen Freitas, David Mahoney, Karen Ng, Robert Woods

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The Massachusetts Business Roundtable (MBR) collaborated with a team from the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) from the University of Massachusetts Boston to interview business leaders to explore the important intersection of talent, transportation, and housing on the state’s economy. The ELP Team obtained the insights of 15 key business leaders, industry experts as well as public policy organizations on these important issues and their impact across the Commonwealth. This research seeks to capture the views of stakeholders throughout Massachusetts. The ELP Team surveyed the landscape by reviewing trends and current research on these policy issues.

The Sociology Of The Home An Autoethnography That Explores House Building In Rural Sandanezwe, Oliver Hayward

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project took me to Sandanezwe, KwaZulu-Natal, a rural village outside of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where a community member, Mpume Khanyezi, had originally asked me to design and build a new home for her family. I intended to engage in a heuristic inquiry so that I could complete a daily practice of letting go of my own opinions and immersing myself in the community in order to better act as a scribe for the mother and analyze the community objectively. I attempted to gather qualitative data through interviews, active participation, direct observations with village members and building parties. Ultimately, my …

Land Rights Among Subsistence Farmers: An Examination Of Madagascar’S Land Reform And Prevailing Systems Of Land Tenure In Betafo, Taylor Crowl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Madagascar, legal systems of land tenure have been inaccessible for the vast majority of the rural population. This has stranded millions of subsistence farmers in a sense of insecurity, as they lack legal rights for the property that they have farmed for generations. Madagascar’s land reform, launched in 2005, attempted to change these exclusionary tenure practices. This reform —known as the Plan National Foncier—created land certificates and local land offices in an attempt to make legal land tenure financially, geographically, and logistically accessible to the local population. This study discusses the successes, failures, and unforeseen consequences of Madagascar’s land …

Improving Social Resilience In Response To Climate Change In Far North Queensland And Torres Strait, Katie Costantini

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Currently, most approaches to decision-making in response to climate change have been based on biophysical knowledge, even though climate change is an inherently social dilemma. Social resilience involves communities’ ability to mitigate and prepare for the effects of climate change and recover to an improved state. Professor Allan Dale and his colleagues at the Cairns Institute at James Cook University developed a framework for social resilience based on four attributes: (1) Economic Viability, (2) Community Knowledge, Aspirations, and Capacity, (3) Community Vitality, and (4) Governance. They are using this framework to evaluate and monitor Far North Queensland and Torres Strait …

Informal Transportation In Uganda: A Case Study Of The Boda Boda, Bradley Raynor

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, the closest mode of transport to mass transit that citizens have access to is the 14-seater taxis which fill the streets of Kampala, create traffic jams, and are unable to fulfill the transportation needs of the city’s growing population. In response, motorcycle taxis, called Boda Bodas, which are able to navigate traffic jams, access remote locations where taxis don’t go, and deliver passengers to their destinations in a timely manner, filled the gap in public transportation. Unfortunately, while many riders have organized themselves in associations, the industry remains largely unregulated by the Kampala …

Cambio Estructural En Las Fluctuaciones Cíclicas Del Producto Industrial. Las Economías Estatales Mexicanas En Relación A La Nacional, Vicente German-Soto

Vicente German-Soto

Sustainable Local Development. The Revitalization Of The Town Of Adwa (Ethiopia) Through Community-Based Endogenous Projects, Asayehgn Desta

Asayehgn Desta

Over the years, either self-initiated or by funding from development agencies, a number of developing countries have implemented various programs to tackle poverty. This case study was inspired by the One Village One Product (OVOP) movement initiated in the Oita Prefecture region of Japan. Given the positive aspects of the OVOP, the purpose of the study is to transfer some aspects of the OVOP movement in order to revitalize the town of Adwa, Tigrai, Ethiopia. The case study therefore suggests some possible community-based endogenous projects that could revitalize the town of Adwa, Tigrai, Ethiopia. As a result of the initiative …

Tackling Poverty By Ethiopians Or Globalization Wave: A Book Review, Asayehgn Desta

Asayehgn Desta

No abstract provided.

Reading Between The Poverty Lines, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

The proposed Rangarajan method on measurement of poverty in India borrows elements from three earlier methods – those of Alagh, Lakdawala and Tendulkar. An important departure in the Rangarajan method is to compute the poverty line commodity basket by combining items from two fractile groups to address the relatively higher expenses for some essential non-food items. This, while being statistically plausible, poses a behavioural dilemma, as there will be no fractile group that will satisfy both. As an alternative, we suggest dual poverty lines where the fi rst is computed on the basis of average calorie, protein and fat requirements …

Reflexiones Sobre Sociedad Y Desarrollo En México, Isaac L. Sánchez-Juárez

Isaac Sánchez-Juárez

Este libro es resultado de una clase que impartí en el otoño del 2013 en la Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez en la Maestría en Ciencias Sociales, denominada: Sociedad y Desarrollo, donde tuve la oportunidad de conocer y trabajar con tres estupendos profesionales que pusieron todo su empeño y ánimo para fortalecer su formación. Al finalizar el semestre debía evaluarlos con un ensayo académico y fue ahí cuando nació la idea de presentar dichos trabajos en la forma de un libro para poner su esfuerzo a disposición de un público amplio y no quedar en el olvido.

El resultado fue …

An Economic Analysis Of Housing Market Instability And Affordability In China, You Wang

Undergraduate Economic Review

Applying an intertemporal optimization model proposed by Aizenman and Marion (1991), this research quantifies instability in the Chinese housing market. Although the Chinese government established numerous real estate policies to ensure the stability of the housing market, the regression analyses indicate that housing policies had no significant impact on the stabilization of the Chinese housing market. Alternatively, macroeconomic factors are identified as significant explanatory variables to the instability of housing prices. In addition, this research computes the median multiple for major cities in China and provides an alternative means of investigating the abnormal housing price situation in China.

Cosmopolitanism And Global Justice: A Review Essay Of Cosmopolitan Regard By Richard Vernon, Tiana-Renée C. Silva

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

While geologists may not be able to find physical proof to suggest that the world is shrinking, social scientists are convinced that this is the case. The amount of information that is shared amongst the world's citizens has grown exponentially over the years, and evidence of an increasingly interconnected world can be seen in every facet of our everyday lives from the food we eat to what we watch on television. Thousands of miles that once divided us from one another are now eliminated by telephones, the Internet, and even the ability to make telephone calls over the Internet. In …

Globalization And Development In Latin America And The Caribbean: A Review, Diego José Romero

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Globalization and Development: A Latin American and Caribbean Perspective (2003) is a study of the process of globalization in the economic, political and cultural spheres, focusing mainly on the economic developments. Understanding the process as being multidimensional in nature, the authors, José Antonio Ocampo and Juan Martin, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Special Advisor to the Executive Secretary respectively[i], analyze globalization as a historic event realized in three well-differentiated phases, which prove, that it is not an irreversible process. The authors define globalization as "the growing influence exerted at …

Groundings Volume One, Issue One

Groundings

This is the full issue of Groundings Vol. 1, Iss. 1.