Energy-Efficient Cooperative Protocols for Full-Duplex Relay Channels

In this work, energy-efficient cooperative protocols are studied for full-duplex relaying (FDR) with loopback interference. In these protocols, relay assistance is only sought under certain conditions on the different link outages to ensure effective cooperation. Recently, an energy-efficient selective decode-and-forward protocol was proposed for FDR, and was shown to outperform existing schemes in terms of outage. Here, we propose an incremental selective decode-and-forward protocol that offers additional power savings, while keeping the same outage performance. We compare the performance of the two protocols in terms of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio cumulative distribution function via closed-form expressions. Finally, we corroborate our theoretical results with simulation, and show the relative relay power savings in comparison to non-selective cooperation in which the relay cooperates regardless of channel conditions

Regulation, supervision and deposit insurance for financial cooperatives: an empirical investigation

This paper analyses the impact of different regulation and supervision approaches, as well as deposit insurance schemes, on the development of financial cooperatives in developing countries, using random and fixed effects estimators. Information on laws regulating financial cooperatives, the supervisory approaches adopted, and deposit insurance schemes in sixty-five developing countries were collected—mostly—from original legislations for the period 1995–2014. Key findings suggest that indicators of financial cooperative development are positively correlated with the existence of a specialized regulation; supervision under non-bank financial supervisory authorities; and the presence of deposit insurance schemes, while general cooperative society’s regulations and banking regulations are negatively correlated with financial cooperatives’ indicators. These results are robust after controlling for economic and institutional factors as well as potential endogeneity bias

Technical Change and the Common Agricultural Policy

This paper adopts an alternative method for the analysis of the CAP’s impact on farms’ productivity based on a system of equations derived from a non-nested three-factors CES production function. With this method, we estimate the elasticity of substitution between labour, capital, and land in the EU agricultural sector, the magnitude and direction of technical change, and the impact of the CAP subsidies. The system of equations is estimated using the GMM estimator on a farm-level panel dataset covering 117,179 farms from all EU MS for the period from 2004 to 2015. Our results suggest that land, labour, and capital in EU farms are complementary production factors characterised by a slow decline or stagnation in the land-, labour-, and capital-augmented technical change. Higher levels of Pillar I and Pillar II CAP payments as percentage of total agricultural income have negative or no impact on farms’ technical change, but higher nominal amounts of Pillar I decoupled subsidies, Pillar II investment and LFA subsidies have a positive impact. Moreover, the larger the share of subsidies in total agricultural income the stronger is the negative impact of the CAP on agricultural technical change

External finance and agricultural productivity growth

We propose a new method to estimate the impact of external finance on productivity. Using a nested constant elasticity of substitution production function, finance has an indirect influence on productivity through its effect on capital augmenting-technological change and depends on the elasticity of substitution between equity and debt, as well as on the quantity and price of external finance and net value added. We develop and test a theoretical model using Farm Accountancy Data Network regional data covering all EU Member States and different subsamples by EU regions, size of farms, and farm types. In the 2004–2018 period, land, labor, and capital complemented each other but had a decreasing or stagnating productivity, reaffirming the importance of external finance to improve productivity. Results suggest that external finance and productivity follow an inverted U-shaped curve, with a positive impact on less capitalized farms with lower debt-to-equity ratios, while capital-intensive farms are not benefiting from excess finance. Rethinking the general assumption that agricultural growth has a positive and linear effect with access to credit lead to different strategies in the use of external finance

Towards reasonably priced microcredit: analysing Egyptian NGO-MFIs' cost structure and financial performance

Interest rates have always been a much debated topic in microfinance, as the prices paid by low-income clients tend to be higher than conventional banks' rates. In Egypt, microcredit rates are increasingly being criticized and viewed as unreasonably high. The study analyses the effective interest rates charged by Egyptian NGO-MFIs compared with commercial banks' rates, and using time series cross-sectional regression models, the study examines the main determinants affecting NGO-MFIs’ portfolio yield and operating expenses in order to identify prospects for providing reasonably priced credit for low-income Egyptians. Findings suggest that, as the average portfolio yield for NGO-MFIs in Egypt has exceeded the global average portfolio yield, there is a clear potential for providing microcredit at lower prices, and much can still be done towards more operational efficiency

Synergies and gaps between farm and non-farm micro-level data for sustainable rural development

Background note for the 29th meeting of the OECD Network for Farm-Level Analysis: 14 March 2022, 12:00-15:30 (CET). The availability of high-quality microdata is essential for monitoring and assessing countries’ performance towards achieving the SDGs. In line with the OECD’s evidence-based principles for rural policy, the availability of environmental and social data at the micro-level, alongside economic data, is indispensable for monitoring economies’ performance towards achieving sustainable and inclusive growth (OECD, 2019)

Drivers of EU regions expenditure on the Risk Management Toolkit of the CAP

Farming faces a wider variety of risks in comparison with other economic sectors, and the systemic nature of agricultural risks induce farmers to seek government intervention. In the EU, public interventions supporting agricultural risk management are contained in the Risk Management Toolkit (RMT) of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is a voluntary policy adopted by less than half of the EU Member States. We focus in particular on Measure 5 on “Restoring agricultural production potential damaged by natural disasters and catastrophic events and introduction of appropriate prevention actions” and Measure 17 on “Risk management” of the CAP’s Rural Development policy. In order to understand the relatively low adoption of the RMT, this paper investigates the drivers of EU regions’ expenditure towards the RMT by applying and comparing four types of regional-level spatial models, namely a spatial error model, a spatial autoregressive model, a spatial lag of X model and a spatial Durbin error model.en; EU; contact: [email protected]

Farm business performance: planning, adaptation and resilience

Executive Summary: This report presents findings of a survey of 529 farms in three English regions – the North East, the South West and the West Midlands, which was conducted as part of NICRE’s broader State of Rural Enterprise Reports (NICRE, 2022). It examines the particular experiences of farms in respect of the Covid-19 pandemic, including their business performance, the strategies they adopted in response to the crisis, and their uptake of external advice and government support measures. The survey was conducted between June and August 2021, and covered over 4,000 businesses across the three regions. While the report concentrates on farm businesses, our findings indicate that farms’ experiences of the pandemic differed considerably from the experiences of their non-farm counterparts. To a degree, it is likely that these differences can be related to wider changes particularly affecting agriculture in this period, including policy reform and new trading arrangements linked to the UK’s exit from the EU and its Common Agricultural Policy. Several headlines emerge from our analysis: - Farm performance was sustained during the pandemic - Farms reported different impacts of the Covid-19 crisis than non-farm businesses - Farms were less likely than rural non-farm businesses and urban businesses to use government Covid-19 related business support schemes - Farms were less likely to access external support or advice for their business during the pandemic - Farms were more likely to draw on family resources to reduce their costs during the crisis - Farms were less likely to view the economic uncertainty linked to Covid as a major obstacle to their success - The majority of respondents managing farms do not engage in formal business plannin