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This paper addresses the interaction relationship between debt financing and ownership structure towards firms’ value in Malaysia. Two issues are addressed in this study. The study examines whether managers and controlling large shareholders pursue rent-seeking objective through excessive leverage in a firm. Second, the paper examines whether financial restraint policy is effective in enhancing corporate governance. The sample of the study covers a small economy – Malaysia where rent-seeking opportunities prevail. A total 256 manufacturing firms are examined. The hypotheses are set to examine whether rent seeking prevails in firms with high intangible asset and less competitive industries. The findings show that first, financial restraint policy is only effective when managerial equity interest is relatively low. Managers with a higher equity interest hinder the positive effects driven by financial restraint policy. Second, at a higher threshold of equity interest, the use of excessive leverage by managers leads to a lower firm value, confirming the presence of rent-seeking motive. The presence of the largest shareholder as directors also follows the same conjecture despite at a lower magnitude. Both findings could not be refuted in less competitive industries. Other findings from this paper conclude that a high industrial concentration industry increases firms’ value in this economy. Financial institutions can also exert corporate governance on firms in less competitive industries. It is, however, the agency problem mitigates the positive effects brought forth by financial rent in this emerging economy.

The main objective of this study is to examine whether firms follow the financing hierarchy as suggested by the Pecking Order Theory (POT). The External Funds Needed (EFN) model offers a financing hierarchy that can be used for examining the POT. As far as the EFN considers growth of sales as a driver for changing capital structure, it follows that shall firms plan for a sustainable growth of sales, a sustainable financing can be reached and maintained. This study uses data about the firms listed in two indexes: Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA30) and NASDAQ100. The data cover quarterly periods from June 30, 1999, to March 31, 2012. The methodology includes (a) cointegration analysis in order to test for model specification and (b) causality analysis in order to show the generic and mutual associations between the components of EFN. The results conclude that (a) in the majority of the cases, firms plan for an increase in growth sales but not necessarily to approach sustainable rate; (b) in cases of observed and sustainable growth of sales, firms reduce debt financing persistently; (c) firms use equity financing to finance sustainable growth of sales in the long run only, while in the short run, firms use internal financing, that is, retained earnings as a flexible source of financing; and (d) the EFN model is quite useful for examining the hierarchy of financing. This study contributes to the related literature in terms of utilizing the properties of the EFN model in order to examine the practical aspects of the POT. These practical considerations are extended to examine the use of the POT in cases of observed and sustainable growth rates. The findings contribute to the current literature that there is a need to offer an adjustment to the financing order suggested by the POT. Equity financing is the first source of financing current and sustainable growth of sales, followed by retained earnings, and debt financing is the last resort.

Due to climate change and an increasing concentration of the world’s population in vulnerable areas, how to manage catastrophe risk efficiently and cover disaster losses fairly is still a universal dilemma.

This paper applies a law and economic approach.

China’s mechanism for managing catastrophic disaster risk is in many ways unique. It emphasizes government responsibilities and works well in many respects, especially in disaster emergency relief. Nonetheless, China’s mechanism which has the vestige of a centrally planned economy needs reform.

I propose a catastrophe insurance market-enhancing framework which marries the merits of both the market and government to manage catastrophe risks. There are three pillars of the framework: (i) sustaining a strong and capable government; (ii) government enhancement of the market, neither supplanting nor retarding it; (iii) legalizing the relationship between government and market to prevent government from undermining well-functioning market operations. A catastrophe insurance market-enhancing framework may provide insights for developing catastrophe insurance in China and other transitional nations.

First, this paper analyzes China’s mechanism for managing catastrophic disaster risks and China’s approach which emphasizes government responsibilities will shed light on solving how to manage catastrophe risk efficiently and cover disaster losses fairly. Second, this paper starts a broader discussion about government stimulation of developing catastrophe insurance and this framework can stimulate attention to solve the universal dilemma.

In Africa, the public sector is very often not able per se to deliver the resources needed to assure access to basic public goods and services. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has heavily invested in infrastructure to help overcome these long enduring bottlenecks, which have hampered economic growth in the continent. Given the AfDB’s ambitious objectives of contributing significantly to development and poverty reduction, and its continued thrust into infrastructure development through New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Africa50, and a range of collaborations to leverage resources for the continent, it is useful to consider the nature of the Bank’s involvement in Public–Private partnerships (PPPs) and identify lessons learned and recommendations for improvement. The methodology employs mixed methods, with desk reviews, staff consultations and analytical analysis of project data from 2006 to 2014 in 18 countries. Lessons and recommendations are drawn from the ‘Evaluation Results Database’, covering the period 2001–2012 from projects in 12 countries and six sectors. Overall, 64.4% of the PPP volume of the AfDB’s portfolio was allocated to lower middle-income countries, with low-income countries receiving about a quarter. The energy sector accounted for over 78% of the total PPP volume. A pragmatic account of what was done and learned from PPP implementation processes over a decade in the African continent is provided in this chapter, together with successes and failures from the AfDB’s experience, as the Bank itself and a range of other Multilateral Development Banks and donors continue to scale up infrastructure financing in Africa.

Teacher colleges played a significant role in the preparation of teachers for over 100 years in New Zealand. Teacher training colleges opened in the 1880s and served as the main institutions for teacher preparation. Toward the end of the twentieth century, the plight of teachers’ colleges once again fell victim to the ‘decline and demand cycle’ for teachers. Fueled by discussions regarding the extent teacher training should be “practically based in the classroom”, new government directions and policy priorities for the preparation of the teaching workforce were implemented. All teacher colleges experienced either staged amalgamations or ultimate closure. In the late 1970s and 1980s, the preparation of teachers entered a new phase as the responsibility shifted to the university sector, which included the training of kindergarten teachers. While the policy rhetoric imagined this to be an amalgamation, the reality was a process fraught with a number of anxieties, not the least of which were the intellectual shifts.

Social entrepreneurship is an area that has been extensively researched from a variety of angles and across a broad range of academic disciplines. Parallel to this, practitioners have applied social entrepreneurship ideas to a variety of industries and at varying degrees of complexity. The purpose of this study is to understand how the social capital of an entrepreneur drives the growth of social enterprises by contributing to the social entrepreneur skills. A systematic assessment of available literature was carried out based on searches of major academic databases (Web of Science, EBSCO and CAPES Portal de Periódicos), with an initial list of 3,106 publications being narrowed down to 472 articles that were subjected to content analysis after being narrowed down. Further, a theoretical proposal and research propositions were developed, highlighting the relationship between social capital and the activities of social entrepreneurs, as well as their relationships with the collective actors and institutions that make up social entrepreneurship in its totality. The conclusion of the chapter is that the interface between social entrepreneurship and social capital is a latent field for research. Further contributions of the chapter are a theoretical model to help researchers consolidate their efforts by identifying three key themes identified by intensive literature: creation of social capital by the social entrepreneur, relationships between institutions and the formation of groups and social capital as a formation of groups. In these words, a future agenda for discussing these topics is outlined for discussion.

Millions of people in Southwestern Bangladesh drink groundwater that has arsenic contamination levels above both Bangladeshi and WHO standards. Thus, arsenic, the king of poisons, presents significant social problems in the rural communities of Bangladesh. Lacking arsenic-free drinking water, the local populations are most adversely affected. Arsenic contamination of drinking water and food is the main pathway by which arsenic enters people’s lives, producing diseases such as melanosis, keratosis, skin lesions, skin cancers, and kidney failure. Therefore, to cope with and alleviate arsenic poisoning, whatever adaptation and mitigation strategy is adopted, it should, however, start with and be led by the local community wherever possible for it is local villagers who are often the real experts on arsenic contamination. Rather than implementing highly technical, expensive, and outsider-led interventions that are often untried in field conditions, priority should be given to using modified traditional coping and mitigation mechanisms developed in the communities in Bangladesh. Hence, this chapter highlights first the extent of arsenic poisoning in the Southwestern part; its adverse impact on livelihood, water sector, and social aspect; and then the focus shifts to community-level mitigation strategy led by the people along with the assistance of GO and nongovernmental organization (NGO); and finally there is the conclusion along with recommendations.