E-finance-lab at the House of Finance : about us

The financial services industry is believed to be on the verge of a dramatic [r]evolution. A substantial redesign of its value chains aimed at reducing costs, providing more efficient and flexible services and enabling new products and revenue streams is imminent. But there seems to be no clear migration path nor goal which can cast light on the question where the finance industry and its various players will be and should be in a decade from now. The mission of the E-Finance Lab is the development and application of research methodologies in the financial industry that promote and assess how business strategies and structures are shared and supported by strategies and structures of information systems. Important challenges include the design of smart production infrastructures, the development and evaluation of advantageous sourcing strategies and smart selling concepts to enable new revenue streams for financial service providers in the future. Overall, our goal is to contribute methods and views to the realignment of the E-Finance value chain. ..

FINANCIAMENTO DE INVESTIMENTO EM INOVAÇÃO TECNOLÓGICA INDUSTRIAL

No ano de 1982, Schumpeter esboça a sua teoria da concorrência real, na qual a inovação tecnológica não é apenas uma arma da concorrência para conquistar novos mercados, mas também a principal responsável pelas mudanças estruturais por meio do processo da destruição criadora. Ele tem em mente que a economia capitalista é, antes de tudo, uma economia evolucionária na qual as inovações tecnológicas, como novas formas de combinações de meios de produção, são indutoras do desenvolvimento econômico capitalista. Nesse contexto, o desenvolvimento econômico diz respeito ao emprego de meios produtivos, retirados dos usos convencionais que vinham tendo até um dado momento, em novos usos, não testados até então na prática, capazes de produzir novos produtos e processos de produção por meio de novas combinações de materiais e forças produtivas, isto é, de inovações tecnológicas, ou seja, o desenvolvimento econômico no sentido schumpeteriano é um fenômeno distinto e inteiramente estranho ao que pode ser observado no fluxo circular ou na tendência para o equilíbrio, já que têm início no produtor e não no consumidor, apesar da sua importância. Nesse contexto, o objetivo fundamental deste artigo é destacar a especificidade do financiamento do investimento em inovações tecnológicas.

Foreign Aid and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). The study is based on a sample of 21 ‘low income countries’ as defined by The World Bank, and used data covering a 25 year period from 1991 to 2015. The variables in the study are; growth measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita as a dependent variable, foreign aid which is represented by Net Official Development Assistance (NODA); macroeconomic variables are trade openness, government capital formation and labour force. The study seeks to answer the question: Does foreign aid contribute to economic growth? The study explores the hypothesis that foreign aid does not promote economic growth in Sub Saharan Africa. To empirically investigate the hypothesis, the approach taken was similar to that of Durbarry, Gemmell, & Greenaway (1998) by employing panel data techniques and crosssection methods and utilized the augmented Fischer-Easterly type model. Similar to Durbarry, Gemmell, & Greenaway (1998), the study sought to identify not only aid effects on growth using a set of conditioned macroeconomic policy variables, but also to test the significance of this set when aid is included as one of the determinants of economic growth. Given that the study employed panel data, the Hausman Chi-Square test was utilized to determine whether to use fixed effects or random effects model. The results favoured fixed effects over random effects hence the model was adopted for empirical analysis. The study finds macroeconomic policy variables (gross capital formation and labour force) have a positive impact on economic growth, and trade openness has a negative impact as measured by annual GDP growth. These results support the theory which argues for the important role labour and capital play in the economic growth of a country. The results also show that foreign aid has a weak positive correlation to growth. These results are significant at 5% error level hence the hypothesis is rejected and it is concluded that foreign aid promotes economic growth in Sub Saharan Africa. Further analysis of time effects test suggest that being in a specific time period has got an impact on growth in Sub Saharan Africa and country effects results indicate that being in a specific country does not have effects on economic of the growth of the country

Sustainability-oriented housing innovation: Using the Solar Decathlon as a knowledge source

The Solar Decathlon competition started in 2002. Since then, Solar Decathlon has acted as a showcase and source of innovation in the field of sustainability for housing and for the construction industry at large. This thesis has utilised data from Solar Decathlon competitions to understand the nature of innovations involved with progressively building and refining the technology required for sustainable housing. As such, the focus and drive of this thesis is to present an image of the Solar Decathlon competition as openly creating and synthesising new knowledge about sustainability-oriented innovation. It can be stated that understanding the precise factors that make innovation happen can be convoluted in nature. The Solar Decathlon portrays these characteristics, is internationally recognised as the premier competition for prototyping sustainability-oriented innovation, and demonstrates the human features involved with progress in the field of sustainable housing. The thesis is original in that it is the first that addresses innovation and its management through human-centred design, and describes its processes, that can be henceforth taken up by the building industry. Utilising the experience of the Innovations Coordinator of Team UOW (University of Wollongong), this thesis describes and analyses the nature of innovation involved with the Desert Rose house (UOW Solar Decathlon entry), including knowledge of how innovation happened in real time during its construction. This thesis asks the question: What is the nature of innovation involved with sustainable housing? The answer to this question is not resolved simply through experiencing the construction of the Desert Rose, or through an objective analysis of the available Solar Decathlon data sets. Rather, this thesis proposes that the answer can be obtained through comprehensive multi-disciplinary research, including: (i) analysis of available innovation related Solar Decathlon data sets from leading houses, (ii) the development of an innovations management framework for sustainability-oriented technology, (iii) a case study of the Desert Rose Solar Decathlon entry in 2018 in the broader context of design, construction, innovation and sustainability, and (iv) tracing innovation through development of a specific sustainability-oriented technology from Desert Rose

Social impact technology dissemination in rural southern India

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2012.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.CD-ROM contains PDF of thesis.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-89).Despite their growing popularity, bottom-up, innovation-based development efforts are failing to make a significant social impact at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). Merely inventing widgets for development - like affordable solar lanterns, improved cookstoves, and bicycle-powered machines - is not enough. They must move from the lab to the land, into the hands of the people they are intended to benefit. Innovations in scalable, sustainable models for social impact technology dissemination are desperately needed, lest these technologies be designed in vain. In this thesis, I first discuss previous failures in social impact technology dissemination, beginning with the Appropriate Technology movement and continuing with the efforts of multinational corporations that have tried selling into the BOP. Through field research in southern India, I then analyze the current efforts and experiments of small and medium enterprises. Although there are pockets of relative success in the field, there is no truly outstanding scalable and financially sustainable model for dissemination. There are multiple reasons for this, including the expenses taken on by manufacturers when they attempt to establish and operate their own distribution channels and the lack of technology aggregation, which has the potential to lower dissemination costs. Finally, I describe my experiences co-founding Essmart, a rural distributor of social impact technologies. This effort is based directly on my field research. Essmart's goals are to bridge the gap between global manufacturers of social impact technologies and rural end users. The venture gives rural retail stores access to technologies that improve their customers' lives. Through months of reflective practice, I have come to recognize the importance of building mutually beneficial and mutually dependent relationships with BOP stakeholders. This is one of the most important ways to create and ensure social impact at the Bottom of the Pyramid through innovation.by Diana M. Jue.M.C.P

Responsible investment regulation: comprehensive bibliometric analysis

Дослідження для цієї монографії ґрунтується на наукових статтях, опублікованих у визнаних журналах за останні п’ять років, і використовує методи бібліометричного аналізу. Він має на меті забезпечити повне розуміння відповідального інвестування, сталого розвитку та міркувань ESG у контексті досягнення ЦСР. Зрештою, монографія сприяє ширшому дискурсу про відповідальне інвестування та його вплив на сталий розвиток.Исследование для этой монографии основано на научных статьях, опубликованных в признанных журналах за последние пять лет, и использует методы библиометрического анализа. Его цель – обеспечить всестороннее понимание вопросов ответственного инвестирования, устойчивого развития и ESG в контексте достижения ЦУР. В конечном итоге монография способствует более широкому обсуждению ответственного инвестирования и его влияния на устойчивое развитие.The research for this monograph is based on academic papers published in recognized journals over the past five years and employs bibliometric analysis methods. It aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of responsible investing, sustainability, and ESG considerations in the context of achieving the SDGs. Ultimately, the monograph contributes to the broader discourse on responsible investing and its impact on sustainable development.The monograph was conducted as part of a research theme, “Fractal model of Ukraine’s stock market transformation: Socially responsible investing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals” (reg. n. 0121U100473), funded by the grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukrain

Technology assessment of future intercity passenger transporation systems. Volume 2: Identification of issues affecting intercity transportation

Papers on major issues and trends that affect the future of intercity transportation are presented. Specific areas covered include: political, social, technological, institutional, and economic mechanisms, the workings of which determine how future intercity transporation technologies will evolve and be put into service; the major issues of intercity transportation from the point of view of reform, including candidate transporation technologies; and technical analysis of trends affecting the evolution of intercity transportation technologies

Three essays on financial inclusion in Africa and the Middle East

This thesis investigates the determinants and/or barriers to financial inclusion in Africa and the Middle East. Financial inclusion, which is defined as individuals and businesses having access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs and which are delivered in a responsible and sustainable way, remains a huge challenge facing developing regions of the world, including Africa and the Middle East. According to the Global Findex database, Africa and the Middle East remains behind the world in terms of the number of people who have access to financial services. This study therefore examines the African and the Middle East regions where 43% and 48% of the population are characterised as financially included while nearly 98 million people are informally served. It is also estimated that approximately US $3 billion is kept under mattresses in Sub Saharan Africa (Demirguc-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, Ansar, & Hess, 2018). The main goal of financial inclusion is to improve the range, quality, and availability of financial services and products to the unserved, under-served, and financially excluded. Financial inclusion has recently attracted political attention and risen to prominence on a national, regional, and global agenda. To create a fully inclusive financial system, it is imperative to address the needs of the different users of the system in order to make financial products and services attractive. Therefore, identifying the drivers of financial products and services usage will enhance take-up of financial products, deepen the local financial industry, stimulate economic growth, and ultimately reduce poverty. A growing body of theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that financial sector development that focuses on financial inclusion provides the poor with the tools needed to escape poverty. To ensure sustainable access to, and use of, appropriate financial services, factors that deprive people from accessing these financial services are addressed. However, the very important factors that explicitly put barriers to financial inclusion are often ignored in the literature. This thesis therefore fills this important gap in the literature. It provides evidence on these factors by undertaking three major related studies, of which each uses variables in local contexts with global implications to determine why people are still excluded from the financial system. To elucidate the importance of and to determine the factors that hinder the development of financial inclusion, the author used data from the Global Findex database for 2011, 2014 and 2017. Data was also drawn from the World Bank’s world development indicators, world governance indicators, international telecommunication union, and research on ICT in Africa. These data sources aided the author to empirically examine the number of variables that are important for the studies in this thesis. The examination and analysis of the data and variables through various theoretical models provide important findings about the limited growth of financial inclusion in developing countries. In the first study, the thesis examines how political instability impacts on financial inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In the wake of the political instability that engulfed the region, policy makers looked outside the region for potential guidance in order to raise economic growth and, ultimately, to resolve the instability. It provided the premise of this study’s investigation of how the instability variable affects the delivery of economic targets including financial inclusion. The study asks the question: what is the effect of political instability on financial inclusion in the MENA region? Given that endogeneity and an asymmetrical relationship could create a bias in the empirical results between political instability and financial inclusion, the study tested the asymmetrical relationship between political instability and financial inclusion using the probit model with sample selection, and a multiplicative interaction test of asymmetric models. Having satisfied the question of endogeneity, the study finds that political instability positively correlates with lower degrees of financial inclusion, indicating that political instability can lead to financial exclusion. Further, the study finds that higher incomes and higher education are associated with higher degrees of financial inclusion. A lack of documentation required by formal financial institutions proves to be a major barrier to financial inclusion in the region, considering that a greater number of the population are in the informal sector. In addition, inefficient mechanisms to determine real interest rates, corruption, oil reliance, unemployment, and religious tensions also negatively affect financial inclusion. Finally, the study proposes and calculates the political stability threshold value that will trigger financial inclusion to be -0.960 for the MENA region. In analysing how formal financial intermediation influences the use of informal financial intermediation and cash in Africa, the findings of the second study show that financial inclusion based on the use of formal financial intermediaries strongly correlates with the use of informal financial intermediaries. The study shows a strong complementary evidence between formal financial inclusion and informal financial intermediation but indicates a negative relationship with cash preference respectively. However, governments’ use of cash for poverty relief payments is found to negatively impact on financial inclusion. Informal financial intermediary groups building on long-standing traditions of revolving savings circles and credit associations that exist worldwide has contributed to the economic development of poor people in the past. Their impact on education, healthcare, and social management is evidence that they have sustained poor people. In Africa, these intermediaries are the backbone of societies especially in rural areas. Their presence has evolved into community cooperatives that has a wider impact on their socio-economic wellbeing. ROSCAs and other forms of traditional institutions are significant devices for the poor in their attempts to diffuse the impact of shocks as well as building trust and social capital. The third study in this thesis considers whether electricity supply and enabling regulation matter in relation to the adoption and use of mobile money to gain financial inclusion in Africa. The hypothesised research model tested context-based constructs such as the availability of electricity, enabling regulation, and rural dwellings, with the technology acceptance model (TAM) to determine how these constructs affect peoples’ intentions and attitudes towards the adoption and continuous use of mobile money. Exploring these constructs using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique, the empirical results suggest that the perceived availability of electricity is an important factor for the adoption and use of mobile money through the functionality of mobile phones. Perceived enabling regulation also shows a correlation with individuals’ intention to adopt and use mobile money. However, perceived rural dwelling is found to negatively correlate with individuals’ attitudes and intentions to adopt and use mobile money because of inadequate or limited network coverage in rural areas. As access to technology speeds up financial transactions, the costs for rendering financial services to the unbanked are reduced and provide better ways for the poor to manage their lives. This thesis has policy implications in that MENA governments can reduce and eliminate political instability through greater financial inclusion of their populations, and by working towards the political stability threshold value of -0.960 to trigger financial inclusion. Because of the informal economies of Africa, mobile money adoption, which has defied the poverty nature of the people, can be the best alternative for financial inclusion. Governments can implement measures to disallow the use of cash for its poverty reduction payments by doing these through bank accounts and mobile money to increase financial inclusion among the poor

Profile of a Welsh county coalfield - The Denbighshire Coalfield, 1850-1914

During the nineteenth century the British coal industry fuelled industrial growth to such an extent that Great Britain was acknowledged as the most powerful industrial country in the world. Although the coal industry was dominated by the larger regional coalfields, e.g. south Wales, the smaller coalfields also made an important, albeit largely local, contribution. This contribution has, however, often been ignored most histories either concentrate on the larger coalfields or, if examining small coalfields, they have centred on a particular event or town rather than on examining the contribution of each coalfield as a whole. This thesis will partly redress this imbalance by undertaking a 'case study' of a small, county coalfield, Denbighshire. For official purposes, Denbighshire was never considered a coalfield in its own right, it was merely recognised as part of the north Wales 'coalfield'. It is, however, argued in this thesis that geological factors and its significance within the north Wales coalfield, mean that Denbighshire warrants consideration as a small coalfield in its own right. This thesis attempts to develop, for the first time, a definitive history of the coal industry in Denbighshire, 1850--1914, through the use of an archival approach. Source material, including company records, newspapers, personal letters and official statistics, was examined. The thesis considers not only the performance of the coalfield in terms of productivity and profitability but also the various stakeholders in the coalfield, i.e. those people who, either directly or indirectly, influenced, or were influenced by, the development of the Denbighshire coal industry. Apart from establishing that Denbighshire should be treated as a small coalfield in its own right, it is concluded that the performance of Denbighshire was comparable to that of other 'small' coalfields and that, although affected by similar influences to other coalfields, the extent of their impact could be different.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Profile of a Welsh county coalfield - The Denbighshire Coalfield, 1850-1914

During the nineteenth century the British coal industry fuelled industrial growth to such an extent that Great Britain was acknowledged as the most powerful industrial country in the world. Although the coal industry was dominated by the larger regional coalfields, e.g. south Wales, the smaller coalfields also made an important, albeit largely local, contribution. This contribution has, however, often been ignored most histories either concentrate on the larger coalfields or, if examining small coalfields, they have centred on a particular event or town rather than on examining the contribution of each coalfield as a whole. This thesis will partly redress this imbalance by undertaking a 'case study' of a small, county coalfield, Denbighshire. For official purposes, Denbighshire was never considered a coalfield in its own right, it was merely recognised as part of the north Wales 'coalfield'. It is, however, argued in this thesis that geological factors and its significance within the north Wales coalfield, mean that Denbighshire warrants consideration as a small coalfield in its own right. This thesis attempts to develop, for the first time, a definitive history of the coal industry in Denbighshire, 1850--1914, through the use of an archival approach. Source material, including company records, newspapers, personal letters and official statistics, was examined. The thesis considers not only the performance of the coalfield in terms of productivity and profitability but also the various stakeholders in the coalfield, i.e. those people who, either directly or indirectly, influenced, or were influenced by, the development of the Denbighshire coal industry. Apart from establishing that Denbighshire should be treated as a small coalfield in its own right, it is concluded that the performance of Denbighshire was comparable to that of other 'small' coalfields and that, although affected by similar influences to other coalfields, the extent of their impact could be different