Sofia A. Yanovskaya: The Marxist Pioneer of Mathematical Logic in the Soviet Union

K. Marx’s 200th jubilee coincides with the celebration of the 85 years from the first publication of his “Mathematical Manuscripts” in 1933. Its editor, Sofia Alexandrovna Yanovskaya (1896–1966), was a renowned Soviet mathematician, whose significant studies on the foundations of mathematics and mathematical logic, as well as on the history and philosophy of mathematics are unduly neglected nowadays. Yanovskaya, as a militant Marxist, was actively engaged in the ideological confrontation with idealism and its influence on modern mathematics and their interpretation. Concomitantly, she was one of the pioneers of mathematical logic in the Soviet Union, in an era of fierce disputes on its compatibility with Marxist philosophy. Yanovskaya managed to embrace in an originally Marxist spirit the contemporary level of logico-philosophical research of her time. Due to her highly esteemed status within Soviet academia, she became one of the most significant pillars for the culmination of modern mathematics in the Soviet Union. In this paper, I attempt to trace the influence of the complex socio-cultural context of the first decades of the Soviet Union on Yanovskaya’s work. Among the several issues I discuss, her encounter with L. Wittgenstein is striking

Economic and social impacts of self-help groups in India

Although there has been considerable recent interest in micro-credit programs, rigorous evidence on the impacts of forming self-help groups to mobilize savings and foster social empowerment at the local level is virtually non-existent, despite a large number of programs following this pattern. The authors use a large household survey to assess the economic and social impacts of the formation of self-help groups in India. They find positive impacts on empowerment and nutritional intake in program areas overall and heterogeneity of impacts between members of pre-existing and newly formed groups, as well as non-participants. Female social and economic empowerment in program areas increased irrespective of participation status, suggesting positive externalities. Nutritional benefit was more pronounced for new participants than for members of pre-existing groups. Evidence of higher consumption - but not income or asset formation - by participants suggests that at the time of the survey, the program's main economic impact had been through consumption smoothing and diversification of income sources rather than exploitation of new income sources. Evaluation of such programs in ways that allow heterogeneity of program impact can yield highly policy-relevant insights.Access to Finance,Housing&Human Habitats,Social Accountability,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,

Economic and Social Impacts of Self-Help Groups in India

We use a combination of pipeline comparison, propensity score matching, and double differences to evaluate economic and social impacts of a large community driven development program in India. While we find positive empowerment and nutritional effects for households in program areas, allowing heterogeneity of program impact yields additional insights. First, social and economic empowerment increased equally for participants and non-participants in program areas, pointing towards positive externalities. Second, nutritional benefits were more pronounced for new participants than for members of pre-existing self-help groups who joined the program. Third, evidence of higher consumption -but not income or asset formation- by new and converted participants suggests that at the point of the survey, the program's main economic impact had been through consumption smoothing and diversification of income sources.Food Security and Poverty,

Indian Microfinance Sector: A Case Study

In developing areas of the world with very little economic structure, many activities are not monetized. In other words, money is not used to carry out these tasks because the people in these areas do not have the expendable funds required. In order to combat this problem, micro financing has become increasingly more apparent in these areas of distress. Microfinance is an economic development strategy that allows for those in need to borrow actual money in order to start a business, go to school, or even gain access to everyday living requirements. Microfinance has made tremendous strides over the years, but still faces several obstacles including regulation, loan strategies, and loan consumption. This study will attempt to analyze the microfinance industry in India by challenging certain aspects of its use, as well as offer suggestions that could have beneficial effects upon the industry

PECULIARITIES OF INTERRELATION OF TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

A variety of measurement tools is used to evaluate the territorial development in the world, for instance, indicators, indices, etc. These measurement tools are applied to measure certain regions of a country and to assess the development of a country as well as to compare countries with each other or in relation to the previous years. In Latvia, certain methodology for calculating the level of territorial development has been in place for about 15 years. Parallel to the official methodology, scientists and researchers of Latvia offer use of an alternative methodology and indices for measuring territorial development. Having analysed various theoretical approaches to a relatively new direction of the economic science within the framework of Economics of Development, the author of the research offers her own perception of the conceptual nature of the territorial development: the key indicator of any territorial development is related to People, their material well–being, and health, level of education, spirituality, and overall satisfaction with life. In other words, a developed territory is the one, where the number of people increased, and these people are wealthy, healthy, educated, spiritually developed, and satisfied with their lives, but a relatively more developed territory is the one, where these indicators are higher. In order to understand interrelation between the development elements, the author of this article on the basis of elements of the newly developed methodological model of measurement of territorial development, analyses their correlation, considering the world’s countries as an object and building on the available official statistical information and qualitative research data