Choice of Crops and Employment Uncertainty in the Off-farm Labor Market

Cultivator households in some developing areas use off-farm labor supply as an insurance against crop income shocks, whilst employment is uncertain in this off-farm labor market. This paper hypothesizes that, given limited opportunities for ex post consumption smoothing, employment uncertainty influences risk-averse households’ crop choice decisions-- they would opt for more conservative crop choices in case they expect unfavorable supply opportunities in the labor market. A two-period stochastic dynamic programming model is developed. A panel data set from the ICRISAT survey of the semi-arid tropics of India is examined. Estimation is based on random effects and fixed effects Tobit specifications. Estimation results indicate statistically significant impact of household expectation of harvesting period male unemployment rates on ex ante crop choices. Results also indicate strong influence of household irrigated land share on crop choices.Crop Choice; Off-farm Labor Market; Risk; Panel Data

The Public-Private University Debate in the Higher Education Sector in Bangladesh

Bangladesh, a developing country, traditionally had had a system of university education which was public in operation. During the early 1990s, in line with other liberalization policies, Bangladesh allowed private initiatives in university education as well. During the last decade and a half, this private university education system has expanded rapidly. The relevant issue in this context, how the University Grants Commission (UGC), the principal regulatory body in this new market, can effectively ensure a quality education for university students, given its' own political economic characteristics? The paper investigates this issue in detail

The Public-Private University Debate in the Higher Education Sector in Bangladesh

Bangladesh, a developing country, traditionally had had a system of university education which was public in operation. During the early 1990s, in line with other liberalization policies, Bangladesh allowed private initiatives in university education as well. During the last decade and a half, this private university education system has expanded rapidly. The relevant issue in this context, how the University Grants Commission (UGC), the principal regulatory body in this new market, can effectively ensure a quality education for university students, given its' own political economic characteristics? The paper investigates this issue in detail

The Proliferation of the Urban Microfinance and its Problems and Prospects in Bangladesh

The goal of this article is to inspect the current status problems and prospects of urban microfinance in Bangladesh This article employs the descriptive research methods based on secondary data This paper Illustrates the present scenario of urban microfinance by using tables graphs and the trend analysis This paper finds that the urban microfinance in Bangladesh has been growing tremendously during the last decades During the 2006-2017 period the number of members within the urban microfinance program has increased by 110 69 Besides the amount of loan amount disbursed in the urban microfinance program has increased by 110 54 during the last four years 2014-2017 Also the rate of increases of the total net savings of the urban microfinance members 373 33 was higher than the rate of increases of the total net savings of the rural microfinance members 152 36 during the 2009-2017 period The loan Interest rate varies in between 15 and 30 With regards to recovering the loan amount 95 of the microfinance institutions MFIs apply the flat interest rate while the remaining 5 of the MFIs use the declining method The loan recovery rate varied from 94 27 to 98 61 per cent during the 2006-2016 period Finally this paper inspires the urban microfinance institutions urban MFIs and recommends to concentrate more on the urban poor people to make them economically as well as socially empowere

Addressing Regional Inequality Issues in Bangladesh Public Expenditure

Traditionally development effort of Bangladesh government have aimed at achieving equitable economic growth. The concept is an overriding factor in formulating national policy strategies of poverty alleviation. In this context, the objectives of poverty alleviation are mostly designed with social development factors, particularly improvements in health and education indicators. One of the most important policy documents Unlocking the potential : National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (the PRSP paper which was extended till June 2008), and other government documents embody such with great importance (Medium Term Budget Framework 2007- 2010 documents on website of the Ministry of Finance. Since returning to democracy in 1991, Bangladeshs economy has achieved a steady growth rate with concomitant fall of poverty incidences at an accelerated pace. In fact, the country experienced more than 10 percentage point fall in poverty rate between 2000 and 2005 (Table 1), which is indeed a commendable achievement aligned to other better performances that Bangladesh has been experiencing for the last three decades since independence. One feature of this development is, however, less assuring. Regional analysis of poverty incidences shows that reduction rate is not equal across the country, rather the situation is worsening in some cases. Such picture reflects an unequal progress in overall economic activity throughout the country.Bangladesh, Regional Inequality, public expenditure, Poverty Alleviation

Dynamics of market share in the microfinance industry in Bangladesh

We discuss evidence that the microcredit industry in Bangladesh has seen emergence of large variations in the size of the microfinance institutions operating in the market-- on the one hand, there are large national-level MFIs, while on the other hand, small localized MFIs operating only within the confines of a small area. Data from a recent survey of Pathrail union in Tangail district, a seasoned place for microcredit, reveals that within the local market competition is becoming more and more intense over time between established national-level MFIs and newly emerging local-level MFIs for market shares in terms of loan amount as well as borrowed members. Data reveals that there is market segmentation where some borrowers and MFIs opt for a package of low interest rates tied with low amount of loan disbursed and some other borrowers and MFIs settle for a package of high interest rates tied with high amount of loan disbursed. A Tobit regression estimation of member market shares in village micro credit market shows that size of the MFI, years of operation in the village, average loan size, deposit interest rates, loan amount disbursed for unique loan purposes (i.e., housing loan) are key determinants in determining MFI shares of a village microcredit market.Microcredit; Market Share; Product and Provider Characteristics of Microcredit

Examining Vulnerabilities: the Cycle Rickshaw Pullers of Dhaka City

Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the fastest growing cities of the world in terms of population concentration. Centrally located, it attracts a large number of job seeking migrants from the rural areas of entire Bangladesh on a continuous basis. Some of these job seeking migrants are readily absorbed in the urban informal service sector, which includes cycle rickshaw pulling. Cycle rickshaw pulling is arduous and stressful, with no promotion prospect or insurance for occupational hazards such as accident injuries, while entry is easy as education and training as well as capital asset requirement is minimal. In order to examine vulnerabilities of the rickshaw pullers, a structured questionnaire survey has been conducted on a total of 120 randomly selected cycle rickshaw pullers in five locations across the Dhaka city. The primary survey has examined their current living conditions, livelihood strategies, shocks and insurances against shocks. The respondents lacked education and skill training, did not own capital assets and mostly supported their families stationed in the rural areas with earnings from this cycle rickshaw pulling. Econometric models of OLS and probit regression have been utilized to examine a number of issues, and the results are expected. Most respondents were willing to educate their children and did not want to include them in this sector. There are potentials of entrepreneurship if they are skill trained, financed and advised properly. They are reported to be willing to improve their living conditions, which is difficult due to the vulnerabilities that they face

Delinking of Local and International Prices: Exploring Competition in the Bangladesh Rice Market

We take a broader perspective on the issue of recent price increases in the domestic rice market in Bangladesh. The query that follows is that: what exactly is the nature of competition at different stages of the domestic rice market of Bangladesh? This can be addressed only if we examine the agents, their strategies and incentives at different stages of the rice market value chain. The structure of rice markets in Bangladesh is generally considered to be competitive. But it is entirely possible that market operates quite competitively within one stage, whereas competition is much restricted within another stage. Instead of analyzing competition in the entire market as a single entity, it would be appropriate to analyze competition in each and every stage of the market. Therefore, this study focuses on particular aspects of market competitiveness by explaining incentives and behaviors of different agents in the market, particularly those of large firms operating in the middle of the rice market supply chain. We have examined pricing decisions and bargaining by agents at different stages of the market. We have also studied scope for collusive behavior among large firms in setting prices. In addition, we examined the relationships between the international prices of rice and the domestic wholesale prices

Economic Valuation of Rural Wetlands and Household Food Security: A Case Study from the North-West Bangladesh

Wetland ecosystem plays an important role in Bangladesh’s rural economy by contributing to household income generation and food security of the neighboring areas. We have examined this issue with regards to the North-Western region of Bangladesh-- we have selected one particular wetland in the district of Pabna (Podmobil) to estimate direct economic benefits from its multiple uses as well as contributions to household food security. We find that one major issue is neighboring households’ access to the wetlands (i.e., open-access wetlands as opposed to privately-leased wetlands). We conducted a household structured questionnaire survey among the surrounding population of Podmobil. The questionnaire survey reveals that the loss of access to the wetland caused by changes in the management practices of Podmobil adversely affected particularly poorer households’ food security since they could not participate in the new leasing arrangements and experienced a reduced access to this wetland. These results are important for wetland conservation and preservation policy formulation with regards to household food security in the rural areas

Economic Valuation of Rural Wetlands and Household Food Security: A Case Study from the North-West Bangladesh

Wetland ecosystem plays an important role in Bangladesh’s rural economy by contributing to household income generation and food security of the neighboring areas. We have examined this issue with regards to the North-Western region of Bangladesh-- we have selected one particular wetland in the district of Pabna (Podmobil) to estimate direct economic benefits from its multiple uses as well as contributions to household food security. We find that one major issue is neighboring households’ access to the wetlands (i.e., open-access wetlands as opposed to privately-leased wetlands). We conducted a household structured questionnaire survey among the surrounding population of Podmobil. The questionnaire survey reveals that the loss of access to the wetland caused by changes in the management practices of Podmobil adversely affected particularly poorer households’ food security since they could not participate in the new leasing arrangements and experienced a reduced access to this wetland. These results are important for wetland conservation and preservation policy formulation with regards to household food security in the rural areas