Does External Stakeholder Orientation in Corporate Governance Influence in Sustainability and Outreach of Microfinance Institutions?

This is a literature based desk study that evaluates the role of external stakeholders in governance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in reaching their double bottom line objectives. Specifically it tries to identify who are the external stakeholders, roles of these stakeholders in corporate governance and how these stakeholders influence outreach and sustainability of MFIs. Overall observation is that external stakeholder orientation in board does not ensure financial performance rather than social performance. Regulation and supervision, external rating, external auditing and reporting, international orientation and professional affiliation do not help in increasing profitability, however, sometimes help in deeper outreach. Competition worsens MFIs financial performance but sometimes improve organizational efficiency. There are different types of stakeholders in MFIs and due to their atypical operational formats. The involvement of external stakeholders is different than that of corporations due to their different operational and funding structures which is important to address. This study tries to address this issue. Keywords: external stakeholders, sustainability, outreach, MFIs

Problems and Prospects of Weather Index Based Crop Insurance for Rural Farmers in Bangladesh

Weather index based crop insurance is a new product in developing countries that address the failure of traditional crop insurance due to the problem of adverse selection and moral hazard, cost of administration, monitoring, determination of indemnity, and standardization. This desk study conceptualizes weather index based crop insurance as an instrument to graduate poor farmers out of poverty trap. I examine the advantages of this product over traditional crop insurance based on developing countries experience. The author tries to address the problems and challenges in implementing this insurance product in low income countries. Based on literature it addresses some problems and issues in implementing this product in Bangladesh considering context specific issues of this country. Proper preparation for index measurement, premium determination, flexible product design, wider stakeholder involvement, public private partnership, and a ‘big push’ from government and donors through seed financing can promote weather index based crop insurance in Bangladesh. Key Words: Crop insurance, poverty trap, weather index

Is Commercialization of Microfinance Responsible for Over-Indebtedness? The Case of Andhra Pradesh Crisis

The main purpose of this theoretical study is to analyzes whether commercialization of microfinance institutions (MFIs) is responsible for over-indebting their poor borrowers taking into account the recent Andhra Pradesh (AP) incidence. Critics argue that massive influx of commercial capital cause exponential growth of loan portfolios of the MFIs that finally cause over-indebtedness. The diagnosis of AP incidence indicates that commercialization is not solely and directly responsible for over-indebting their clients. It is the outcome of internal inefficiencies, unethical operations and malpractices of MFIs. However, commercialization is indirectly responsible for over-indebtedness when ‘profit seeking’ MFIs start unethical practices to maximize their profit. This issue is important not only for India but also in some other developing countries to ensure sustainability of MFIs and to protect their poor clients. Keywords: Microfinance; commercialization; over-indebtedness; AP crisis

Arbitration in Islamic Law for the Treatment of Civil and Criminal Cases: An Analytical Overview

Introduction: This is because Islam is not just a religion, it is away of life. Din-the Arabic word for religion, encompasses, theology, scripture, politics, morality, law, justice, and all other aspects of life relating to the thoughts or actions of men...it is not that religion dominates the life of a faithful Muslim, but that religion...is his life.[1] The Shari'ah regulates all aspects of life, ethical and social, and to encompass criminal as well as civil jurisdiction. Every act of believers must conform to Islamic law and observe ethical standards derived from Islamic principles[2]. Dispute settlement is one of the fundamental affairs of the Muslim as he was ordained to do so peacefully and this was declared as best way of resolving problems among them.  Arbitration and amicable settlement (sulh) have a long history within Arab and Islamic societies and have their roots in pre-Islamic Arabia. Sulh is the preferred result and process in any form of dispute resolution.  Further, arbitration is favored to adjudication in Islamic jurisprudence. In tribal and Islamic cultures, the overarching objectives in conflict settlement are collectivity.[3] Sulh or reconciliation is becoming an alternative problem solver in many cases lately. It is a mutual agreement between the conflicting parties so that the dispute is solved amicably. Many people assume that sulh is only applicable in civil cases. Nevertheless, in Islamic law sulh is also applicable in criminal cases particularly in homicide and bodily injury cases. [1] D.S. Roberts, Islam: A Westerner’s Guide From Business and the Law to Social Customs and Family Life London: Hamlyn, 1981), pp. 67-68. [2] Islamic Banking in Theory and Practice by Mervyn K Lewis, Monash Business Review Volume 3 Issue 1 – April. (2007), Pp. 1-16. [3] Sulh : A Crucial Part of Islamic Arbitration by Aseel Al-Ramahi, LSE Law, Society and Economy Working Papers 12/2008 London School of Economics and Political Science Law Department, www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/wps/wps.htm,http://ssrn.com/abstract=115365

The CPR Method and Beyond : Prologue

In $1974$ A.R. Curtis, M.J.D. Powell, and J.K.Reid published a seminal paper on the estimation of Jacobian matrices which was later coined as the CPR method. Central to the CPR method is the effective utilization of a priori known sparsity information. It is only recently that the optimal CPR method in its general form is characterized and the theoretical underpinning for the optimality is shown. In this short note we provide an overview of the development of computational techniques and software tools for the estimation of Jacobian matrices

Vocational teachers’ conceptions of, and approaches to, ICT in professional education

The aim of this research was to investigate vocational teachers’ ways of thinking about ICT enhanced teaching and teaching approaches associated with the use of ICT in teaching. The study focused on teachers’ ways of apprehending the role of ICT in professional work. Phenomenography, a qualitative research approach that places emphasis on the importance of people’s experience of a phenomenon, was selected as a research methodology for this study. A cohort of 23 teachers from three Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions in New South Wales, Australia, participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. These interviews were used to identify the qualitatively different ways in which vocational teachers understand and conceptualise the phenomenon of ICT use in TAFE and workplace settings. Interviews were analysed using an iterative seven-step process through which five conceptions of, and five approaches to, ICT-enhanced teaching were revealed, and three conceptions of ICT in workplaces were discerned. Dimensions of variation among the categories of conceptions are presented and discussed, that extended previous knowledge by identifying new dimensions. Findings of this research enhance the existing teacher-centred and learning-centred frameworks of teachers’ conceptions. The study shows that approaches to ICT-enhanced teaching cover a range of aspects including: conveying information, promoting students’ active learning in development of knowledge and skills, and meeting the needs of industry. New knowledge on the way vocational teachers understand the role of ICT in workplaces also emerged through the study. These findings provide useful information for people who work in: the development of vocational educational, teaching of industrial practices, and academic development programs. The thesis proposes further lines of exploratory research: to investigate discipline-focused ICT-enhanced teaching in vocational education

Introducing ICT into Teacher-Training Programs: Problems in Bangladesh

Information and Communication Technology can offer more adaptable and efficient ways of teacher training for improvement of quality of professional development programs. But the use of ICT into teacher training usually faces certain obstacles. In this paper, we identified different barriers of introducing ICT into teacher training model (this model had been discussed by the authors in a separate paper, titled as “A model for integrating ICT into teacher training programs in Bangladesh based on TPCK) in Bangladesh, a developing country. We then described the strategies to overcome these problems for improving the current status of ICT integration into teacher training. Finally, we concluded with emerging research issues and offered pertinent recommendation with respect to ICT integration into teacher training program for improving quality of teaching in Bangladesh. Keywords: ICT integration, Teacher-training, knowledge and skil

High Frequency Trading, Market Fragmentation and Market Quality: An EU Market Evidence

This Ph.D. thesis joins the debate regarding the social benefit of HFT with the aim of contributing to HFT research originally. My research design integrates both HFT and market fragmentation and extends analyses within and across markets. I use the European equity markets as a laboratory as Europe has been confronting the issue of HFT influx and market fragmentation since the adoption of the Market in Financial Instruments and Directives (MiFID) in November 2007 by the European Parliament. I employ an extremely large dataset with the highest granularity, which gives the most recent and longest coverage of data in HFT research to date. I mainly examine the effects of HFT and market fragmentation on market liquidity within and across European markets. In chapter 1, I review the literature and develop my arguments that rationalise the studies presented in this thesis. In chapter 2, I examine the impact of HFT and market fragmentation on market liquidity within a market by applying three alternative estimations: OLS, IV-GMM and simultaneous equations model. I document that HFT improves liquidity, but market fragmentation appears detrimental to liquidly. I show that the interaction between HFT and market fragmentation has significant impact on market environment. It seems that in the absence of HFT, a fragmented market would be more detrimental to liquidity. In chapter 3, I extend the analysis of the previous chapter to incorporate all fragmented markets, and present a novel approach to creating full view HFT image from HFT activities across markets. I primarily examine how HFT and fragmentation affect market liquidity across markets by using the simultaneous equations model. The results show that HFT improves liquidity across markets, whereas market fragmentation harms liquidity in the primary exchange but improves in alternative exchanges. I also provide evidence that HFT activities are linked across markets, and HFTs provide liquidity when spreads are wider. It seems that HFTs concentrate in the primary exchange during periods of high market volatility

Climate change affects wetland resources in Bangladesh: A case study on Hakaluki Haor / Mohd Shahadat Hossain

The wetlands of Bangladesh support a wide variety of floral and faunal diversity. Approximately half the area of the country can be considered as wetlands consisting of a wide variety of types ranging from haors, beels, lakes, rivers and coastal forests to deepwater paddy fields and ponds. The wetland resources of Bangladesh are of enormous economic importance. The present study has attempted to observe the present situation of existing condition of wetland resources. However these aquatic resources have been subjected to rapid degradation due to the increasing population pressure, habitat destruction as well as natural causes. Hakaluki haor is one of the major wetlands of Bangladesh. With a land area of 18,386 hectares, it supports a rich biodiversity and provides direct and indirect livelihood benefits to nearly 190,000 people. Because of the critical conditions of the haor ecology, the government of Bangladesh declared Hakaluki as an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) in April 1999.So the Hakaluki haor area is very important site for study as wetlands conservation practice. As there are some problems in conservation process, it is very important to try and find out the main causes of wetlands degradation and keep wetlands free from such harmful impacts. The study was initiated to find out the problems and propose some suggestions to develop the wetlands conservation process. The resources users were empowered with a collective effort to build institutions and implement sustainable use practices resulting in wetland resilience of the resources

A Comparison of Semi-Parametric and Nonparametric Methods for Estimating Mean Time to Event for Randomly Left Censored Data

The aim of this study was to make a comparison among existing estimation methods (Kaplan-Meier, Nelson-Aalen and Regression on Ordered Statistics (ROS)) for randomly left censored time to event data under selected distributions and for different level of censoring and sample sizes in order to determine the strength of these methods based on simulated data. Comparisons among the methods are made on the basis of unbiasedness and Monte Carlo Standard Error of the summary statistics (mean time to event) obtained by those methods under different conditions