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Article
Publication date: 25 April 2024

Amrita Chatterjee

Even if digital financial services have a positive impact on financial inclusion, it creates a digital as well as gender divide within and across countries, creating regional…

Abstract

Purpose

Even if digital financial services have a positive impact on financial inclusion, it creates a digital as well as gender divide within and across countries, creating regional disparity even within developing nations. Though pandemic has initiated digitalization of various services, there has been scanty research on whether digital transfer of income can improve digital financial inclusion in post-pandemic era, especially in developing countries. The purpose of the current study is to explain the regional disparity within developing countries from three regions East Asia Pacific, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, using latest World Findex data, 2021.

Design/methodology/approach

The author takes an instrumental variable approach to run bivariate probit model to find the factors that motivate the users to make digital payments.

Findings

The study observes that electronic transfer of wages, government transfers and remittances can motivate individuals to make use of digital mode of transactions and mobile. The practice of formal saving and borrowings are the prerequisites. However, this mechanism holds good for East Asia Pacific and not for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are poor in information and communication technology infrastructure. Women are lagging behind men, but digital transfer of wages motivate them to make digital transaction.

Practical implications

Digitalization of all government services and provision of affordable mobile network and internet services are necessary for regions like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In East Asia Pacific region, data protection, data governance and better regulatory framework are required. Higher female labor force participation with digital transfer of wages and empowerment with smartphones are key to reducing the Gender gap.

Originality/value

The current study corrects for the possible endogeneity issue, which the extant literature has not paid attention to, and provides region-specific and gender-specific policy recommendations for an improved digital inclusion.

Details

Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5038

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 May 2011

Dan Luo and Ronghua Ju

The purpose of the paper is to examine China's county‐level fiscal difficulties. A large portion of China's counties (county‐level cities) have to run with the shortage of…

860

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine China's county‐level fiscal difficulties. A large portion of China's counties (county‐level cities) have to run with the shortage of financial resources and huge government debt. To make a suitable policy to solve this problem is a top priority.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the first‐hand survey data, the paper compares nine sample counties whose economic development level is different, sums up the difficulties county‐level governments are facing and explores countermeasures from qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Findings

By studying the survey data of nine sample counties (cities), it is found that county‐level finance is facing the following problems: low‐level fiscal revenue, high debt risk and large gap of fiscal revenue between different counties (cities). Based on these findings, the paper provides suggestions such as ensuring that the county‐level government has sufficient fiscal resources and improving the transfer payment system.

Originality/value

Data from three well‐developed counties (county‐level cities), three middle‐income counties (county‐level cities) and three backward counties made the paper's findings more comprehensive and realistic and suggestions more practical.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 November 2015

Charles J. Coate and Mark C. Mitschow

Economic activity is typically provided by three distinct sectors. For-profit entities seek to maximize owner profit by providing various goods and services. The not-for-profit…

Abstract

Economic activity is typically provided by three distinct sectors. For-profit entities seek to maximize owner profit by providing various goods and services. The not-for-profit sector consists of private or quasi-public entities that provide goods and services without regard to making an explicit profit. Government entities extract resources from the economy and redistribute them to achieve certain public goods.

Recently a fourth or gray sector has developed that combines elements of the other three. As a corporate form that explicitly sacrifices profit maximization to advance some predetermined social good, benefit corporations are one example of this gray sector. Owners are aware of this dual mission but still invest as the social objectives are consistent with their personal goals. Thus, the benefit corporation can be viewed as a for-profit entity subject to an explicit social welfare constraint.

Since the late 1960s governments have spent trillions of dollars on a wide variety of social welfare programs. Nevertheless, poverty persists and government altruism may have made poverty more intractable in some respects. Economic logic suggests that providing social welfare transfer payments with few work or training requirements can make recipients dependent and enable dysfunctional behavior. Over time this may rob recipients of opportunities for labor and self-sufficiency.

Benefit corporations are typically viewed as a form of socially responsible investment that leverages the economic advantages of market-based systems. To date, however, little has been written about the benefit corporation’s potential ethical dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to provide a moral argument based in Catholic Social Teaching to support the use of benefit corporations as a substitute for some government service programs. Our arguments are centered on the primary principle of Human Dignity and will include, but not be limited to: Work, Solidarity and there role social and economic society as well as the Role of Government or Subsidiarity (including the Welfare State).

Details

The Ethical Contribution of Organizations to Society
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-446-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1993

Vladimer Papava

As is recognized, indirect business taxes are the unearned incomeof the Government. Shows that the fifth factor of production is theeconomic ability of Government; indirect taxes…

Abstract

As is recognized, indirect business taxes are the unearned income of the Government. Shows that the fifth factor of production is the economic ability of Government; indirect taxes on business are corresponding factorial income, which is transferred into Government profit. Shows also that transfer payments create special social goods – egalitarian goods, defined as social tranquillity, reached by overcoming poverty and by income inequality reduction. Creating one of the kind of social goods, transfer payments assume a productive character. The new view on indices taxes on business and transfer payments makes it obligatory to include them in GNP and NI in a new way, which is shown in the macroeconomic indices of the USA.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 20 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Microfinance and Development in Emerging Economies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-826-3

Article
Publication date: 3 May 2021

Amari Mouna and Anis Jarboui

To help inform the debate over whether socio-demographic characteristics are related to the use of digital technologies, the authors investigated the effects of age, gender…

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Abstract

Purpose

To help inform the debate over whether socio-demographic characteristics are related to the use of digital technologies, the authors investigated the effects of age, gender, education, income and being in the workforce on changes in using financial digital services using panel data collected in the MENA countries during 2017.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to identify the impact of government policy on the determinants of financial inclusion and digital payment services in the MENA region. The authors use microdata from the 2017 Global Findex database on MENA countries to perform probit estimations. The paper focuses on the role of technology adoption by government authorities in extending financial inclusion and digital payment around different people.

Findings

The authors find that poorer people (and, by association, less educated people) and the young (but less so the elderly) are disproportionately excluded from the financial system. Results confirm that better collaboration between the government and the financial sector can help to develop digital financial inclusion through the technology adoption channels. The study confirms the significant impact of the government cashless policy in advancing financial inclusion in the MENA countries, with potentially wider applicability to other developed economies.

Practical implications

Policies to advance mobile money innovations could stimulate financial inclusion by promoting digital transaction services. The role of government authorities is imperative to harness the beneficial and sustainable gains from digitizing remittances and transfers to promote a cashless economy.

Originality/value

Financial inclusion promotes equality through a broadening of the system and government cashless policy can be a major catalyst for greater financial inclusion. It helps in the overall economic development of the underprivileged population and contributes to poverty reduction.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 42 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2016

Guangjian Xu and Yan Wu

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing and provision of basic public services in China. The main issue addressed is how to reform the public finance system to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing and provision of basic public services in China. The main issue addressed is how to reform the public finance system to achieve quality and fairness in the provision of basic public services.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an historical analysis of the functional transformation of the public finance system in China and on an empirical analysis of the current public finance system and the public service provision system, a comprehensive understanding was gained about the relationship between the financing and provision of basic public services.

Findings

The paper argues that there is a close relationship between the provision of basic public services and the functional changes made to the public finance system. Based on a systematic retrospective study of the Chinese Government’s efforts to improve basic public services over the last three decades, this paper offers policy suggestions on further public finance restructuring that would support better service provision.

Originality/value

By analyzing issues in the public service provision system, this paper contributes to the debate about the efficiency improvement made to governmental functions in China.

Details

Asian Education and Development Studies, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-3162

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 March 2020

Rui Yang, Wansheng Tang and Jianxiong Zhang

Without proper treatment, waste cooking oil (WCO) will bring serious environmental and health hazards, which can be effectively alleviated by converting it into biofuel. Subsidies…

Abstract

Purpose

Without proper treatment, waste cooking oil (WCO) will bring serious environmental and health hazards, which can be effectively alleviated by converting it into biofuel. Subsidies from the government usually play a significant role in encouraging recycling activities and supporting sustainable supply chain. This paper aims to quantitatively investigate the incentive effects of government subsidies under asymmetric information.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper applies the principal–agent contract to compare the incentive effects of the two widely used subsidy modes (raw material price subsidy [MS] and finished product sale subsidy [FS]) in a management system which consists of the government and a bio-firm where the bio-firm’s conversion rate of the WCO remains as private information.

Findings

Results indicate that the two subsidy modes have the same performance under symmetric information, while under asymmetric information, the government always prefers the MS mode which is more environment-friendly. Besides, if the average conversion rate is large or the uncertainty level of the asymmetric information is moderate, the MS mode is Pareto-improving compared with the FS mode for the government and the high-type bio-firm. Only when the average conversion rate is small or the uncertainty level is very small/very large, the high-type bio-firm welcomes the FS mode.

Originality/value

Different from the existing literature, this paper applies the principal–agent contract into the WCO management system and quantitatively compares the two subsidy modes taking the practical problem of asymmetric information into consideration.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 50 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Haitao Wu, Shijun Ding and Guanghua Wan

The purpose of this paper is to apply a poverty level decomposition approach to decompose the poverty by income sources and investigate the impact of government transfers on…

1510

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply a poverty level decomposition approach to decompose the poverty by income sources and investigate the impact of government transfers on income inequality and rural poverty.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the decomposition method of inequality and the decomposition method of poverty level by resource endowments to decompose the overall inequality and the overall poverty by income sources.

Findings

It is found that unequal income distribution rather than income endowments is mainly responsible for the existence of poverty. Government transfers and relief income, aiming at the poor, help alleviate inequality and poverty, but are not targeting the poorest. Unequal distribution of production subsidies actually lead to higher poverty incidence.

Research limitations/implications

This paper has revealed that the poverty issue cannot be resolved with economic development alone if the issues including the inequality in income distribution are not solved. It is important to make government transfers/subsidies pro-poor.

Originality/value

A poverty level decomposition approach is first used to decompose the poverty by income sources in China.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 January 2014

Ariel Atzil and Eli Feinerman

– Enabling decision-makers in Israel to better assess the prospects of government policies aimed at changing inter-generation income distribution for the benefit of the retirees.

Abstract

Purpose

Enabling decision-makers in Israel to better assess the prospects of government policies aimed at changing inter-generation income distribution for the benefit of the retirees.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a comprehensive data set, the paper utilizes multivariate ordered-probit regression for empirical investigation of the motivations for support between parents and children in Israel.

Findings

The main finding is that child-parent support in Israel is usually driven by a combination of exchange and altruistic motives, rather than altruism alone.

Practical implications

Child-parent support will not reduce the impact of governmental policies aimed at redistributing income among different generations. If the Government of Israel raises the income level of its citizens aged 65 and over, the improvement in this population's condition will most probably be bigger than that caused directly by the amount the government has added to their income.

Originality/value

Empirical evaluation of the motivations for support given by children to their retired parents in Israel. Israel is a multicultural, immigrant country, home to people originating from all over the world, which provides an interesting cross-cultural perspective. In addition, the underlying database used in this study includes much more information than most databases utilized by earlier studies.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 41 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

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