Inequality in developing economies: The role of institutional development

In the present paper we study the distributive impact of institutional change in developing countries. In such economies, economic institutions, such as property rights systems, may act to preserve the interests of a rich minority, but this depends crucially on the level of political equality. For example, dominant classes can control key-markets, access to assets and investment opportunities, especially if they enjoy disproportionate political power. We test this hypothesis using cross-section and panel data methods on a sample of low- and middle-income economies from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Results suggest that: (a) increasing the protection of property rights increases income inequality; (b) such an effect is larger in low-democracy environments; (c) a minority of countries have developed a set political institutions capable of counterbalancing this effect.Inequality, developing economies, institutions, property rights, democracy

Does consumer sentiment accurately forecast UK household consumption? Are there any comparisons to be made with the US?

This paper investigates how well survey data depicting consumer sentiment forecasts household’s consumption behavior for the UK. We consider whether consumer sentiment is able to predict the growth of household’s consumption, in addition to the growth of labor income. The empirical analysis finds that Consumer Confidence Indices (CCI) does predict the household’s consumption of durable goods. We also draw comparisons with recent analysis for the US. In addition, we analyze whether both the UK and US CCI are accurate and useful predictors of household’s consumption growth using directional analysis. We find that the UK confidence indicators predict better the US

Health Information Version 2.0: Female Students in Cyberspace

The arrival of the Internet, one of the greatest mass media vehicles of our time, has presented a wide platform for the dissemination of health information to the American public. A majority of adults in the United States search online for information about various health and medical topics, yet a particular portion of the general public, namely college students, searches for health information online at a higher rate than the general population. Female college students especially have cause to seek information about particular women\u27s health matters that are relevant to their age group. This study reveals new details about the online search for women\u27s health information among college women, with regards to the content of information searched for, the reasons behind the search, and most importantly, the health care outcomes that college women experienced after the search. Bandura\u27s concept of self-efficacy was examined and applied in an effort to quantify an individual\u27s likelihood of reporting that her online search resulted in a positive effect on her health. An individual\u27s initial level of confidence before the online search was measured on a scale. It was found that a one-unit increase in self-efficacy among respondents before the search increased their odds of reporting a major impact on their health afterwards. The odds were increased by a factor of 2.22, or 122.22

A STUDY ON ACCEPTABILITY OF E-LEARNING IN INDIAN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Though e-learning is broadly accepted across the education spectrum as an effective teaching-learning medium, its acceptance is found very wanting. This paper looks at the basic process of innovation that can induce teaching faculty in India to take up e-learning and to understand how innovative teaching-learning processes like e-learning can be applied to education. It goes on further to identify and understand some of the broadly accepted reasons for the low acceptability and usage with the help of an online survey. The survey was used to study what motivates the student and teacher to take e-learning as an effective pedagogy and to answer some of the pertinent problems relating to its low acceptability. The analysis of the survey results is given. A new “stakeholder involvement and feedback based” theoretical model is proposed explaining how to implement e-learning effectively in educational institutions in India. Some possible suggestions like effective problem-solving tools like Total Quality Management (TQM) to help overcome the drawbacks in the system are also proposed

Impact of the UK general elections on total government expenditure cycles: theory and evidence

This paper presents a testable theoretical framework that extends the standard demand-side approach to modeling government expenditure on goods and services. The focus is on the adjustment of expenditure to disequilibria: we investigate whether the adjustment of UK exhaustive government expenditure between 1966 and 2002 to its long-run equilibrium path is symmetric. The evidence points to asymmetric adjustment to the demands of a representative voter over the election cycle but not between Labour and Conservative governments. Convergence to equilibrium is found to be faster during the later stages of each election cycle

Households Forming Inflation Expectations: Who Are the 'Active' and 'Passive' Learners?

Recent research has established that households learn from professional forecasters as they form their inflation expectations. Professionals forecasts are transmitted, or ‘absorbed’, throughout the population slowly but eventually. This provides the microfoundations for ‘sticky information expectations’. The present paper considers whether absorption rates take place heterogeneously amongst households. We consider whether various segments of the population absorb the professional’s forecasts at different rates. Using a unique survey-based dataset covering various segments of the UK population we identify ‘active’ and ‘passive’ learners in the population. ‘Active’ and ‘passive’ learners are identified and distinguished by their respective absorption rates. The present analyses also consider whether these absorption rates are non-linear

Household Inflation Expectations: Information Gathering, Inattentive or ‘Stubborn’?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the microfoundations of how non-experts’ (or general public) form inflation expectations. Using a unique dataset we investigate the range of near rational inflation expectations. An important contribution to understanding how non-experts form their expectations is ‘sticky information expectations’, specifically the epidemiological model. Our analysis uses an extended version of the epidemiological model. We find that the general public are best depicted as those who are either information gathers or inattentive. In addition, the inattentive general public can be either forward-looking or ‘stubborn’, that is persistent

The Managerial Communication Skills of Heads of Departments in Secondary Schools in Seremban

This study is undertaken to ascertain the perception skill of Heads of Departments, to find out the strategies used by Heads of Departments to lubricate the communication flow in schools and to determine whether Heads of Departments possess team building characteristics. Two sets of questionnaires were distributed to thirty three Heads of Departments and ninety six teachers from nine Grade A secondary schools in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. One set of questionnaire was designed to determine the perception skill and the managerial communication skills and the team building characteristic of the Heads of Departments. The respondents to this questionnaires were Heads of Departments. Another set of questionnaire was designed to determine the motivating language scale of Heads of Departments. The respondents to this questionnaire were the teachers from the various Departments.The findings indicated that majority of the Heads of Departments have low perception skills, high managerial communication skills and a high level of characteristics of team building spirit. The Heads of Departments also use a high level of motivating language in direction giving, empathetic language, mean making language and in communication satisfaction when communicating with the teachers in their Departments

Do Households Anchor their Inflation Expectations? Theory and Evidence from a Household Survey

The purpose of the present paper is to study how households form inflation expectations. Using a novel survey-base dataset of Italian households’ opinions of inflation we investigate two separate, but related, types of behavior: ‘inattentiveness’ and ‘anchoring’. The present analysis extends the existing literature by incorporating explicitly inflation targets and distinguishing between aggregate and disaggregate dynamics based on demographic groups. In addition, we extend the literature by considering both the short- and long-run dynamics as households update their inflation expectations while also accounting for their state-varying behavior. All these issues provide important insights into understanding actual inflation dynamics and the conduct of monetary policy