Corporate social responsibility and Latin American firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on firm performance in six Latin American economies. Firm performance comprises the following five distinct dimensions: firm turnover, labour productivity, innovativeness, product differentiation and technological transfer. The countries under scrutiny are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. Design/methodology/approach – Propensity Score Matching techniques are employed to identify the causal effect of CSR on firm performance. To this end, the World Bank Enterprise Survey (2006 wave) is employed. This dataset collects relevant firm-level data Findings – CSR has a positive impact on the outcome variables analysed, suggesting that corporate goals are compatible with conscious business operations. The results also vary across countries. Research limitations/implications – The pattern that emerges from the analysis seems to suggest that the positive effects of CSR depend on a country’s stage of industrialisation. In particular, the less developed the economy, the wider the scope of CSR. Nonetheless, the relationship among conscious business operations, firm performance and countries’ levels of development is not directly tested in the present work. Practical implications – The main practical implication of the study is that Latin American firms should adopt CSR. This is because corporate responsible practices either improve firm performance or are not shown to have a detrimental effect. Social implications – The major policy implication is that emerging countries' governments as well as international organisations should provide meaningful incentives for CSR adoption. Originality/value – The paper makes three major original contributions. First, it furnishes new descriptive evidence on CSR practices in Latin America. Second, it employs a broader and novel definition of firm performance intended to capture business dynamics in developing countries, as well as to overcome data limitations. Finally, it reassesses and extends the empirical evidence on the impact of CSR on firm performance. Keywords - Corporate Social Responsibility, Firm Performance, Propensity Score Matching, Latin Americ

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis and the Role of External and Internal Factors in Emerging Economies

This article assesses the impact of trade, capital openness and institutions on emerging economies’ output loss during the “Great Recession.” The fixed-effect estimates of an unbalanced panel of 122 emerging countries observed from 2008 to 2010 yield three main results. First, trade openness has exacerbated output loss. Second, capital openness can help mitigate the negative impact of an external shock, but this is conditional on the level of financial development. Finally, the results also point out that the interrelations between financial and institutional development affect the crisis’s severity

Poverty Elasticity to Growth and Inequality: New Evidence from Macro Data

Poverty eradication will remain United Nations highest priority after the Millennium Development Goals-2015 deadline. Moreover, although impressive achievements in poverty cutting have been reached in the last decade, progress has been uneven, as inequality has been increasing. Hence, future poverty reduction strategies should be designed taking into account the nexus between economic development, inequality and the so-called "pro-poor factors", which represent the set of policies able to make economic growth beneficial for the poor. The aim of this paper is to provide a quantitative answer to the following questions: Does economic growth reduce poverty? If so, by how much? How economic inequality affects poverty? Does the responsiveness of poverty to growth and inequality depend on initial poverty and inequality? How do pro-poor policies influence the poverty-growth-inequality nexus? Although these questions have received a great deal of attention along the years, this paper makes use of the most complete and up-to-date comparable data on growth, poverty and inequality, as compiled by the World Bank PovcalNet. Moreover, it originally employs the System Generalised Method of Moments estimator. In particular, the present empirical exercise is built on an original unbalanced panel dataset, which comprises 109 developing countries observed between 1981 and 2008, in 8 different three-year growth spells. As for the econometric technique, System GMM has been proved to be the most efficient and best suited in the context of dynamic unbalanced panels. Our main results are in line with the existing literature. First, we find that the poverty elasticity to growth and inequality is, respectively, around -2% and 2%. Second, the poverty elasticity to growth is higher the more favorable the initial conditions (i.e. -0.89% and -2.5% for, respectively, high and low initial poverty and inequality). Third, the poverty elasticity to inequality is higher in relatively richer and more equal countries (i.e. 2.6%) than in poorer and more unequal countries (i.e. 0.39%). And, finally, we show that human capital, as measured as health and education, facilitates the effect of economic growth on poverty reduction (i.e. poverty elasticity of -0.89% and -2.5% for, respectively, high and low infant mortality). Our analysis suggests that, in designing policy reduction strategies, policy makers should carefully take into considerations initial poverty and the initial income distribution. Moreover, as for the fundamental importance of pro-poor policies, and human capital in particular, economic policies should go beyond the mere growth stimulus. , economic policies should go beyond the mere growth stimulus

Progression of mitral regurgitation in rheumatic valve disease : role of left atrial remodeling

Introduction: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common valve abnormality in rheumatic heart disease (RHD) often associated with stenosis. Although the mechanism by which MR develops in RHD is primary, longstanding volume overload with left atrial (LA) remodeling may trigger the development of secondary MR, which can impact on the overall progression of MR. This study is aimed to assess the incidence and predictors of MR progression in patients with RHD. Methods: Consecutive RHD patients with non-severe MR associated with any degree of mitral stenosis were selected. The primary endpoint was a progression of MR, which was defined as an increase of one grade in MR severity from baseline to the last follow-up echocardiogram. The risk of MR progression was estimated accounting for competing risks. Results: The study included 539 patients, age of 46.2 ± 12 years and 83% were women. At a mean follow-up time of 4.2 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 1.2–6.9 years), 54 patients (10%) displayed MR progression with an overall incidence of 2.4 per 100 patient-years. Predictors of MR progression by the Cox model were age (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.541, 95% CI 1.222–1.944), and LA volume (HR 1.137, 95% CI 1.054–1.226). By considering competing risk analysis, the direction of the association was similar for the rate (Cox model) and incidence (Fine-Gray model) of MR progression. In the model with LA volume, atrial fibrillation (AF) was no longer a predictor of MR progression. In the subgroup of patients in sinus rhythm, 59 had an onset of AF during follow-up, which was associated with progression of MR (HR 2.682; 95% CI 1.133–6.350). Conclusions: In RHD patients with a full spectrum of MR severity, progression of MR occurs over time is predicted by age and LA volume. LA enlargement may play a role in the link between primary MR and secondary MR in patients with RHD

Working conditions as predictors of retirement intentions and exit from paid employment: a 10-year follow-up of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

This work was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council as part of the Lifelong Health and Well-Being (LLHW) initiative (grant number ES/L002892/1)

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Reduced Risk of Malaria Parasitemia Following Household Screening and Treatment: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: In regions of declining malaria transmission, new strategies for control are needed to reduce transmission and achieve elimination. Artemisinin-combination therapy (ACT) is active against immature gametocytes and can reduce the risk of transmission. We sought to determine whether household screening and treatment of infected individuals provides protection against infection for household members. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study was conducted in two areas in Southern Province, Zambia in 2007 and 2008/2009. To determine the impact of proactive case detection, households were randomly selected either to join a longitudinal cohort, in which participants were repeatedly screened throughout the year and those infected treated with artemether-lumefantrine, or a cross-sectional survey, in which participants were visited only once. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted throughout the year. The prevalence of RDT positivity was compared between the longitudinal and cross-sectional households at baseline and during follow-up using multilevel logistic regression. In the 2007 study area, 174 and 156 participants enrolled in the cross-sectional and longitudinal groups, respectively. In the 2008/2009 study area, 917 and 234 participants enrolled in the cross-sectional and longitudinal groups, respectively. In both study areas, participants and households in the longitudinal and cross-sectional groups were similar on demographic characteristics and prevalence of RDT positivity at baseline (2007: OR = 0.97; 95% CI:0.46, 2.03 | 2008/2009: OR = 1.28; 95% CI:0.44, 3.79). After baseline, the prevalence of RDT positivity was significantly lower in longitudinal compared to cross-sectional households in both study areas (2007: OR = 0.44; 95% CI:0.20, 0.96 | 2008/2009: OR = 0.16; 95% CI:0.05, 0.55). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Proactive case detection, consisting of screening household members with an RDT and treating those positive with ACT, can reduce transmission and provide indirect protection to household members. A targeted test and treat strategy could contribute to the elimination of malaria in regions of low transmission

Sub-microscopic malaria cases and mixed malaria infection in a remote area of high malaria endemicity in Rattanakiri province, Cambodia: implication for malaria elimination

BACKGROUND: Malaria microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests are insensitive for very low-density parasitaemia. This insensitivity may lead to missed asymptomatic sub-microscopic parasitaemia, a potential reservoir for infection. Similarly, mixed infections and interactions between Plasmodium species may be missed. The objectives were first to develop a rapid and sensitive PCR-based diagnostic method to detect low parasitaemia and mixed infections, and then to investigate the epidemiological importance of sub-microscopic and mixed infections in Rattanakiri Province, Cambodia. METHODS: A new malaria diagnostic method, using restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the cytochrome b genes of the four human Plasmodium species and denaturing high performance liquid chromatography, has been developed. The results of this RFLP-dHPLC method have been compared to 1) traditional nested PCR amplification of the 18S rRNA gene, 2) sequencing of the amplified fragments of the cytochrome b gene and 3) microscopy. Blood spots on filter paper and Giemsa-stained blood thick smears collected in 2001 from 1,356 inhabitants of eight villages of Rattanakiri Province have been analysed by the RFLP-dHPLC method and microscopy to assess the prevalence of sub-microscopic and mixed infections. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of the new RFLP-dHPLC was similar to that of the other molecular methods. The RFLP-dHPLC method was more sensitive and specific than microscopy, particularly for detecting low-level parasitaemia and mixed infections. In Rattanakiri Province, the prevalences of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax were approximately two-fold and three-fold higher, respectively, by RFLP-dHPLC (59% and 15%, respectively) than by microscopy (28% and 5%, respectively). In addition, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae were never detected by microscopy, while they were detected by RFLP-dHPLC, in 11.2% and 1.3% of the blood samples, respectively. Moreover, the proportion of mixed infections detected by RFLP-dHPLC was higher (23%) than with microscopy (8%). CONCLUSIONS: The rapid and sensitive molecular diagnosis method developed here could be considered for mass screening and ACT treatment of inhabitants of low-endemicity areas of Southeast Asia