Behavioral Economics Commons^™

Financial Inclusion And Poverty Reduction In Nigeria: The Role Of Microfinance Institutions, Okwudili W. Ugwuoke, Oliver E. Ogbonna, Aye-Agele Freeman

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study investigates the role of microfinance institutions as a vehicle for driving financial inclusion and alleviating poverty in Nigeria using the EFinA 2018 household survey data. The probit model, propensity score matching, and average treatment effect methods are applied for the analyses. The study finds that financial inclusion driven by access to, and usage of products/services provided by microfinance institutions reduces poverty. The study recommends among others the need for increased access to microfinance products/services and an integrated poverty reduction policies that identifies microfinance institutions as a critical enabler

The Effect Of Conditional Cash Transfers On The Prepaid And Postpaid Expenditures Of Internet And Cellular Services: The Case Of Filipino Households, Krisann Carmina G. Caoile, Edgar Desher P. Empeño, Raphael Manuel P. Ramos, Marie Angeline A. Trinidad, Myrna S. Austria, Ma. Ella Oplas, Tereso S. Tullao Jr, Winfred M. Villamil

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Technology has been playing a large role in the lives of households regardless of income. How, then, do poor families value the importance of internet and cellular services due to the existence of outcome-improving or outcome-worsening effects associated with these services? At the same time, since the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) substantially affects its beneficiaries’ household expenditures, assessing its effectiveness concerning its objectives is important. Most literature on how poor households spend their cash transfers is centered on directly linked goods such as health and education. However, the relationship between CCTs and expenditures on goods that play a more …

Why The Public Discourse On Education Is Wrong, Jesus Felipe

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

ONCE upon a time, the Philippines was praised for its relatively well-educated labor force. Not anymore. The situation seems to have reversed: policymakers and commentators single out education as one of the primary causes for the country’s poor performance (lack of competitiveness) and the unemployability of many of its workers.

To put the discussion in the correct context, I will start by arguing that the relevant measure of progress for a developing nation like the Philippines is productivity. Without productivity increases, there cannot be increases in income. Productivity in the Philippines is low in general. Is education the key to …

Social Dimension Of Inclusive Growth In Ecowas: Implication For Poverty Reduction, Toriola K. Anu, Goerge O. Emmanuel, Ajayi O. Felix

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study investigates the implication of the social dimension of inclusive growth on poverty reduction in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries. It specifically examines how social indices of inclusive growth comprising of income inequality, education, and health outcomes affect poverty reduction. The study uses a panel dataset of the six (6) lower-middle income countries in ECOWAS which was analysed via panel Difference Generalised Method of Moment (D-GMM). The results show that GDP per capita exerts significant negative effect on poverty while inequality, education and health outcomes do not show significant effect on poverty. Although, the estimates of …

Invited Perspective - Engaging Aspirations To Nurture Communities, Kentaro Toyama

Subsistence Marketplaces

For subsistence communities, the question is whether aspirations can be applied to motivate behavior that is, on the one hand consistent with people’s aspirations, but which might otherwise be difficult to elicit. Could poorer households be encouraged to save, to spend more on their children’s education, or to act against unhealthy social norms? A couple of examples suggest this is not only possible, but highly successful in contexts where other appeals fail.

Plastic Bags And Bamboo Stools, Grace R. Bithell

Marriott Student Review

This paper conducts a critical analyses of microfinance institutions. It gives an overview of the complexities of credit in developing countries and shows how microfinance fits into the equations. It discussed the successes and failures of microenterprises in trying to alleviate poverty. It also delves into best practices pertaining to lending to the poor and how microfinance is impacted by culture in developing nations.

The Behavioral Determinants Of Well-Being In Sierra Leone, Madison Levine

Master's Theses

Ensuring the needs of individuals are met leads to a more prosperous economy. Healthy economic activity is dependent on a supported community of people. These people express different levels of happiness depending on where they come from and make behavioral choices every day influenced by their association with their community. Currently most subjective data have come from western educated industrialized rich and democratic (WEIRD) areas. These results are placed as generalizations across all other countries and are not giving an adequate representation of well-being for the population in non-WEIRD areas. Our study outlines an in-depth survey covering subjective well-being measurements …

Investigating A Modern Midwestern Crisis: The Economy And Opioid Overdose Death In Ohio, Anna M. Gagliardo

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper examines the effect of local economic factors on the amount of opioid overdose deaths across counties in Ohio. Ohio leads the nation in opioid overdose deaths. The data examined spans all 88 counties of Ohio and compares 2009 and 2013 data, relying predominantly on Ohio Department of Health and US Census American Community Survey data. Using two linear regression models, I demonstrate that there is a significant correlation between insured rates and opioid overdose deaths in 2009 as well as a significant correlation between poverty rates and opioid overdose death rates in Ohio in 2013. Additionally, I show …

The Moral High Road In The Undercity: An Examination Of Ethics In A Mumbai Slum, Mary L. Bauer

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

As of 2016, 1.6 billion people around the globe lacked proper shelter and of these, one billion lived in informal settlements, also called slums, according to data collected by the United Nations (UN-Habitat 2016). Investigative journalist Katherine Boo spent four years, between 2007 and 2011, interviewing and shadowing the residents of one such slum on the outskirts of Mumbai. Her goal was to draw attention to socio-economic inequality (Boo, 2014 pp. 247-248), but in the course of collecting data about the consequences of poverty and residents’ attempts to rise out of it, she also recorded information about their moral choices, …

Crossroads: How Race, Class, And Gender Affect Views Of Poverty, Heather Webb

Honors Projects

The existence of poverty in the United States is paradoxical and how people view poverty is complicated. This research provides details about the history of poverty, what causes it, how it is measured, and current statistics. It also provides a condensed history, including relevant types of welfare, of social policies, as well as an overview of social-policy making and current statistics. Secondly, this research analyzes how race, class, and gender affect how we view poverty and policies to amend it. It also uses intersectionality to analyze how intersections between identities contribute to changing these views. The goal of this research …

A Close Look At The Relationship Between Poverty And Political Violence In Nepal, Lauren C. Griffin

Global Tides

Today, one quarter of Nepal’s population of 27 million lives on a daily income of less than two dollars (Sharma 8). Villages are deprived of an ample water supply, and some areas still lie in ruins from the aftermath of the Maoist insurgency. This paper will seek to understand the role of poverty in the historically and presently unfolding political environment of Nepal. Several factors show direct correlation between poverty and insurgent activity, such as land ownership, level of education and socio-economic standing. Nepal has had a volatile and bloody past in the midst of medieval dynasties, an authoritative monarchy …

Equity By The Numbers: Measuring Poverty, Inequality, And Injustice, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

Can we measure inequity? Can we arrive at a number or numbers capturing the extent to which a given society is equitable or inequitable? Sometimes such questions are answered with a “no”: equity is a qualitative, non-numerical consideration.

This Article offers a different perspective. The difficulty with equity measurement is not the impossibility of quantification, but the overabundance of possible metrics. There currently exist at least four families of equity-measurement frameworks, used by scholars and, to some extent, governments: inequality metrics (such as the Gini coefficient), poverty metrics, social-gradient metrics (such as the concentration index), and equity-regarding social welfare functions. …

Economic Writing On The Pressing Problems Of The Day: The Roles Of Moral Intuition And Methodological Confusion, Julie A. Nelson

Economics Faculty Publication Series

Economists are often called on to help address pressing problems of the day, yet many economists are uncomfortable about disclosing the values that they bring to this work. This essay explores how an inadequate understanding of the role of methodology, as related to ethics and human emotions of concern, underlies this reluctance and compromises the quality of economic advice. The tension between caring about the problems, on the one hand, and writing within the existing culture of the discipline, on the other, are illustrated with examples from U.S. policymaking, behavioral economics, and the economics of climate change and global poverty. …