Commodity finance: a commercial proposition? Micro- and Mesofinance for Agricultural Commodity Production, Processing and Trade

This Conference brings together the financial experience of rural and agricultural microfinance institutions and the experience of the Common Fund and other agencies with promoting commodities and small and microentrepreneurs producing, processing and marketing commodities. We expect that this will result in: – the further growth and development of sustainable financial services; and – the further growth and development of sustainable commodity-related enterprises. These two objectives – the growth of profitable local financial institutions and of profitable local enterprises – are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. There is one lesson to be learned from the now developed industrial countries: Focusing in an early stage of development on the poor, who largely depend on commodities, means focusing on a huge future market. We hope to get this message across to large numbers of financial institutions. --

Pricing the Risks of Default

This paper characterizes the risk neutral jump process of default in terms of two entities, i) an instantaneous arrival rate of default and ii) a conditional density of the magnitude of the proportionate reduction in the value of creditors claims. The authors propose models for default arrival and magnitude risks as functions of evolving economic information. These two default components are then explicitly priced in the futures market with the spot price of risky debt being derived as a consequence. The resulting models for default arrival and magnitude risks are estimated on monthly data for rates on certificates of deposit offered by institutions in the Savings and Loan Industry. The data period is January 1987 to December 1991. The default arrival rate is modeled as responsive to abnormal equity returns, while default magnitude risk is modeled to be sensitive to the level of core deposits and the yield on low grade bonds. The authors' empirical results for the arrival and magnitude risk models provide strong support for the hypothesis that uninsured depositors place market discipline on the depository institutions by demanding compensation for both forms of the firm's default risks.

An Analysis of the Distribution of Wealth Across Households, 1989-2010

[Excerpt] Different views about the impact of redistributive policies on long-term economic growth underlie congressional deliberations on such issues as taxation and social welfare. To help inform these policy debates, this report analyzes data from the 1989 to 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) on the trend in the distribution of wealth across households. The roles of stock and home ownership in wealth accumulation are subsequently examined. The report closes with a review of explanations for the accumulation and distribution of wealth across households

Reforming agricultural development banks (AgDBs)

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Solving Modal Equations of Motion with Initial Conditions Using MSC/NASTRAN DMAP

By utilizing MSC/NASTRAN DMAP (Direct Matrix Abstraction Program) in an existing NASA Lewis Research Center coupled loads methodology, solving modal equations of motion with initial conditions is possible using either coupled (Newmark-Beta) or uncoupled (exact mode superposition) integration available within module TRD1. Both the coupled and newly developed exact mode superposition methods have been used to perform transient analyses of various space systems. However, experience has shown that in most cases, significant time savings are realized when the equations of motion are integrated using the uncoupled solver instead of the coupled solver. Through the results of a real-world engineering analysis, advantages of using the exact mode superposition methodology are illustrated

Women And Men In Rural Microfinance: The Case Of Uganda

Uganda, where 85 % of the population live in rural areas, has experienced a rapid rise of rural and microfinance over the last ten years. There is a pronounced gender awareness in public policities and programs. Best practices have been mastered by institutions in the formal and the NGO sector. In the latter, women dominate as borrowers. Yet, as the vast majority still have no access to deposit and credit services, expansion of outreach remains as the biggest challenge. Rapid expansion of sustainable financial services to women is best achieved in Uganda not through women-only programs, but by a broad range of financial institutions with unbiased services to both women and men, the poor and the near-poor. NGO-supported microfinance institutions (MFIs), through group lending up to a ceiling, have provided start-up finance, particularly for women; but this has added borrower transaction costs and restricted growth. In Centenary Rural Development Bank and some MFIs, voluntary savings and individual lending to enterprising men and women have fostered sustainable farm and nonfarm business growth beyond the poverty line, creating at the same time employment opportunities for the very poor. Under the prevailing conditions of a conducive policy environment, diversified agricultural and microenterprise opportunities, good practices in agriculture and microfinance, and effective agency coordination, the most effective means of donor assistance are equity investments in rural banks to extend their branch network and staff; equity investments in MFIs to transform into regulated deposit-taking institutions; support to banks and MFIs for staff selection and training; the facilitation of linkages between MFIs and banks; and the development of gender-sensitive strategies in different culture areas of Uganda based on the differential analysis of customer information in each institution?s management information system. --

NASA/industry advanced turboprop technology program

Experimental and analytical effort shows that use of advanced turboprop (propfan) propulsion instead of conventional turbofans in the older narrow-body airline fleet could reduce fuel consumption for this type of aircraft by up to 50 percent. The NASA Advanced Turboprop (ATP) program was formulated to address the key technologies required for these thin, swept-blade propeller concepts. A NASA, industry, and university team was assembled to develop and validate applicable design codes and prove by ground and flight test the viability of these propeller concepts. Some of the history of the ATP project, an overview of some of the issues, and a summary of the technology developed to make advanced propellers viable in the high-subsonic cruise speed application are presented. The ATP program was awarded the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy for the greatest achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America in 1987