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CONSCIOUS OF the problem and convinced of the case for public library involvement the Public Library Research Group decided in May of last year to set up a working party on adult illiteracy. They were encouraged in this by a growing concern about the implications for public librarians of the plans of various national bodies and the evidence of the profession's response to a number of short courses.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of national cultural dimensions on the evolution of national innovation adoption over time. The paper considers the moderating effects of national wealth, population density and illiteracy rate on the role of cultural dimensions in the timing of innovation takeoff in national markets.

The empirical study investigates 137 national innovation adoption time series; the dependent variable being the time it takes for innovation adoption to take off. The independent variables are Hofstede's five cultural dimensions and the moderating variables are gross domestic product (GDP), population density and illiteracy rate.

The outcome of the study shows that cultural dimensions have a greater influence on takeoff time in countries with highly developed economies, dense populations and low illiteracy rates. The study also shows that especially the cultural dimension of individualism has a significant context independent influence on takeoff dynamics, whereas masculinity has no such effect.

The paper provides evidence that the influence of cultural dimensions may be more complex than previously believed. Contribution of the research to the academic community especially lies in results regarding moderation effect of GDP, population density and illiteracy. Other independent and moderating variables could provide useful subjects for further research.

The results of this study could assist companies conducting business in cross‐national settings in planning their international operations in such areas as designing marketing promotions and deciding the entry order into national markets. Especially, useful the results are in pre‐takeoff phase of the evolution of innovation adoption.

The paper extends our understanding of the relationship between the national cultural dimensions and the early evolution of innovation adoption. Incomplete understanding of the cross‐national dynamics of the innovation adoption takeoff is scrutinized and the findings support earlier research that cultural dimensions affect adoption dynamics. The study demonstrates that the influence of cultural dimensions may be dependent on and moderated by other national attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether isolated illiteracy generates a barrier to knowledge about the Brazilian Federal Government’s Single Registry for social programs.

Based on information contained in the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios – PNAD) 2014, the propensity score matching method was combined with the algorithm proposed by Imbens (2015). The analyzed sample consists of two groups of illiterate individuals: isolated illiterates (IILs) (treatment group), which consists of only illiterate individuals who live with other illiterates; and proximate illiterates (PILs) (control group), which consists of illiterates who live with someone who is literate in the household.

Evidence indicates that IIL individuals are, on average, less likely to know about the single registry than PIL people.

The main limitation relates to the database since the only information available in the PNAD on the access to the single registry is for the year 2014.

The evidence found in the study reinforces the need to invest in the fight against illiteracy in Brazil.

Results show that a portion of the possible beneficiaries of social programs are still “invisible” to the government’s social protection networks, and this highlights the existence of possible errors of exclusion.

The paper compares two groups of illiterate people, a group that lives in an isolated illiteracy situation and the other that does not. It also assesses the effect of literacy externalities on the access to the Brazilian Single Registry.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify inequalities in utilization of maternal health care services and measure the relative contribution of different factors affecting it in the context of Nepal.

The paper uses data from the latest round of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Two stages of stratified cluster samplings were used. A total of 13,200 women aged 15-49 were interviewed.

Results of concentration index estimates in three selected indicators suggest considerable inequalities in maternal health care utilization. The decomposition analyses indicate that the critical factors contributing to inequalities in <3 antenatal care visits are poor economic status of households (32 percent) and women (23 percent) and their partners’ illiteracy (23 percent). However, in case of no institutional delivery, apart from the poor economic status of household (51 percent) and women's illiteracy (16 percent), the rural place of residence (21 percent) has emerged as critical factors contributing to inequalities. In case of no postnatal care within a day, birth order (21 percent) becomes a significant factor, next to the poor economic status of the household (41 percent) in terms of the relative contribution to total inequalities.

Policies and program targeting maternal health interventions need to consider equity with efficiency in utilization of maternal health care services, and further to achieve the targets of millennium development goal 5 in Nepal.

This study is an innovative effort to estimate inequalities in maternal health care services in the context of Nepal by using inequality decomposition model. For the first time, this study estimates the relative contribution of different socioeconomic factors contributing to inequalities in maternal health care services in Nepal.

In times of resource scarcity, libraries and librarians have a natural tendency to turn their attention to economic issues and away from social issues. But some social issues—like literacy—are also economic issues. Illiteracy continues to drain the country's assets, diverting the financial resources needed to support other domestic education programs, including those emanating from libraries.

Research identifies nearly 73 million adult Americans as illiterate. Analysis of social, economic and demographic trends indicates that the situation will worsen before it improves. Marketing communications copy prepared at an eighth grade reading level or above may not be comprehended by as much as one‐third of the population, resulting in a severe loss of potential sales and excessive advertising expense. Marketing research to date focusses on the impact of message, source, and channel variables on consumer behavior. However, the current “illiteracy crisis” argues that we reform our thinking ti consider how consumer literacy should influence our message, source, and channel determinations. Key tasks for marketers include evaluating the clarity, readability and specificity of promotional materials; pretesting the marketing communication on a sample of the target audience; and carefully assessing all options available for source and channel selection.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of Islam, as a set of moral and cultural values, on economic growth and development for 17 Muslim countries over the period 1990–2019.

To identify the relationship between Islam and economic growth, the authors have proceeded with an empirical panel data analysis using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The study is conducted initially on a sample of 17 Muslim countries and then on 2 sub-samples composed of 12 Arab Muslim countries and 5 non-Arab Muslim countries.

The empirical analysis showed a significant negative relationship between Islam and economic growth for the Arab-Muslim countries. While for the non-Arab Muslim countries, the relationship remains positive. Following the introduction of the interactive social variables (unemployment and illiteracy), the authors show that increasing unemployment exacerbates the negative effect of Islam on growth. While the effect of illiteracy remains statistically insignificant. However, for non-Arab Muslim countries, the positive effect of Islam on growth is all the greater as these countries have large social contemplation. However, the introduction of the interactive cultural variables (uncertainty avoidance index and long run orientation), show that the positive effect of Islam on growth is all the more important as the non-Arab Muslim countries have a wider cultural value system. While for the total sample and the sub-sample of Arab-Muslim countries, the cultural dimension does not affect the relationship between Islam and economic growth.

Although there are more religions, the authors have considered only Islam as its relationship with economic, social and cultural development and its influence on the entrepreneurial culture is problematic. Maybe a comparative study between different religions offers us a more convincing result.

Social conditions, cultural heritage and race (Arab or non-Arab) play an important role in determining the relationship between Islam and economic development.

The effect of Islam remains dependent on Islamic thought and its long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance and the level of social value creation in the countries where it is practiced.

On the theoretical and on the empirical level, the analysis of the relationship between Islam and development is rarely addressed in the relevant literature because of its sociologically sensitive aspect. Islam would have a positive effect on growth when it evolves in countries that have built their growth on an extroverted and developed economic model and an adequate social and cultural value creation system. However, unemployment, illiteracy, cultural patrimony and race of the Muslim population (Arab or non-Arab) plays, in the long run, a very important role in determining the relationship between Islam and economic growth.

Before anything else, it is important to call attention to the fact indicated above that the economic growth of the CE does not lag behind the nation as a whole. Although the average GDP growth rate was on average somewhat lower in Ceara for the period from 1992 to 2005 (2.6% compared with 2.8%), the beginning of the millennium shows a more rapid growth in Ceara: between 2002 and 2005, the average growth rate of the economy in Ceara increased to 2.9% a year, while the GDP of Brazil grew at the much lower rate of 2.4% per year. This growth of the economy of the CE was accompanied by a rapid growth in exports and an improvement in the balance of payments, indicating a process of integration in the global economy. Although the growth rate of the economy of Ceara is not very high, its trend is not lower than that of the nation as a whole, and therefore we can state that if any process of diminution of poverty and inequality has happened during this period, it is important to recognize that it did not happen at the expense of a decreasing macroeconomic growth.

This conceptual paper aims to discuss a few concerns in the title categories of literacy, aliteracy, and lifelong learning and illuminates the scholarly concern about a global population increase of people who either are unable to read or are uninterested in reading.

The juxtaposition of discussion about the three title categories and conclusions excerpted from the literature about these categories shows the predicament of the person today who is ill‐prepared in basic literacy. The predicament includes the individual's lack of ability to read, write, or reason; but also their limited capacity for successfully engaging technology or future lifelong learning. A discussion of marginalized populations relates how marginalized groups are unable to participate fully in their societies. Regardless of economic, gender, religious, or other reasons for group marginalization, members of these groups often suffer from illiteracy as well.

It is concluded that librarians who encourage development of reading and writing can make significant contributions to the profession, local cultures, and the global community.

This paper focuses on the immediate and long‐term problem of illiteracy. It is intended to motivate librarians across the globe by providing information about the effects of illiteracy on individuals or marginalized groups.