Poverty reduction by financial inclusion of women: evidence from Serbia

This paper reviews current thinking on relationship between financial development and poverty alleviation, as a subject getting more important in the policy of financial institutions as well as in state social and economic policies. For that purpose in the paper has been researched the importance of the poverty alleviation and financial loan support to women in Serbia in 2014 with a seasonal dynamics, around which was situated the scope of the paper. Survey targeted all client segments defined on the main statistical base of Serbia for poor and low income inhabitants, and covering geographical regions where operates a financial institution which loans were researched, based on a random sample. Mathematical and descriptive statistical methods were used, as well as a typical fitting measure, Coefficient of determination, for measure of fitting the trend-line with the empirical data. The hypothesis formulated as possible impact of micro finance on poverty decrease proved as positive through influencing on sustaining jobs, indirect and induced, created jobs. Main findings supported the importance of the micro lending together with innovations in products: education, training and business skills upgrading to female clients in poverty alleviation and wealth sustainability

Disaster risk monitoring in risk management policy

Climate change has been observed in South East Europe (SEE) through higher temperature, changing precipitation and run-off patterns, and extreme weather, leading to reported increasing incidence of weather-induced disasters in many countries of the region such as floods, droughts, wild fires, strong winds, heat and cold waves, etc. As part of climate change adaptation policies and investments, SEE countries have to focus on reduction of their vulnerability and planning measures to mitigate natural disaster risks. This paper presents the implications of climate change resulting in extreme weather and it analyzes the capabilities of Serbia and its business sector to mitigate and manage the impact of extreme events. The main results of desk and field research carried out in 2016 on disaster risk mitigation are given, as well as emergency preparedness and management and reporting practices in the country, manufacturing, finance and insurance enterprises to reduce the current and future vulnerabilities. The methods used are linear regression and statistical tools. Taking into account the projected impact of climate change for SEE and Serbia by the World Bank's studies, the reduction of the current and future vulnerabilities to climate change risk is very important. Since the aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of investing in risk management knowledge and practices of disaster risk monitoring in risk management policy, the research can contribute to the reduction of the weather-related disaster risks, losses and it can initiate necessary actions for climate change

Financing Tourist Activity

This paper researches which of the possible financing models (self-financing, loan, mutual fund, issuing securities and leasing) is the most convenient for tourism financing on the grounds of opinions and views of student population. Taking into account that future social and economic development depends on student population, that in every society intellectual endeavor (science and art) exists ever since man exists, that the overall progress of mankind is based on the great intellectual endeavor of former civilizations, as well as the fact that Western Serbia has remarkable natural and anthropogenic characteristics suitable for valorization for the purpose of tourism development, the research questions were formulated and the research was performed. The methods used were: analysis, correlation, deduction and induction. Field research has been of the primary importance and it was based on questionnaires, interviews and in-depth interview

The increasing importance of effective risk management in banking: Findings from Serbia

The subject of the research presented in this paper is risk management, with a special study of banking sector. Research goals include determining the degree of importance and influence of risk management of internal and external risks to a more favorable environment for business success of banks in strategic terms, in the long run. In this sense, the key results of the empirical research on the territory of Serbia in 2015 on a sample of 34 financial institutions, of which 26 were banks, has been provided . The results were processed by statistical and mathematical methods and confirmed the validity of the defined hypotheses, that the importance of effective risk management in banking is growing, as well as the reporting system. The contribution of this research is in a scientific assessment of the importance of various risks, determination of the dominant theoretical and empirical knowledge supporting wider further research in this area in the banking industry

Building financial and insurance resilience in the context of climate change

The key challenge for individuals, businesses and governments would be the building financial and insurance resilience in changing climate. It becomes important issue for the financial management to create financial protection and insurance means to manage the financial losses, reducing the economic impact of disaster events, and supporting better recovery. In accordance with that the Paper provides an overview of the field and desk research of potential income implications of climate change for the financial management of disaster risks and losses. Desk research is based on Serbian case and its experience with the 2014 floods. Key findings of the field research provided in Serbia in 2016 on managing the risk of natural disasters, floods, fires, earthquakes as a part of organizational risk in 92 manufacturing firms, banks and insurance companies is also provided in the Paper. The methods used are: statistical description, X2 test and liner regression models. The results of both researches on risk management of floods showed that: companies calculate the impact of this risk to their year revenues as small, also a non-strategic approach of the Serbian government can be seen, as a financial gap of 65% in covering the losses. The research results pointed also to low awareness of the problem on the corporate and national level. The contribution of the Paper is to support further development of country and local plans for more effectively reducing the economic disruption of disaster events and policy approaches to supporting the penetration of disaster finance and insurance coverage and the capacity of insurance markets to absorb these risks. Also, to support the improvement of the culture of risk management of business sector in this field

Financing tourist activity

This paper researches which of the possible financing models (self-financing, loan, mutual fund, issuing securities and leasing) is the most convenient for tourism financing on the grounds of opinions and views of student population. Taking into account that future social and economic development depends on student population, that in every society intellectual endeavor (science and art) exists ever since man exists, that the overall progress of mankind is based on the great intellectual endeavor of former civilizations, as well as the fact that Western Serbia has remarkable natural and anthropogenic characteristics suitable for valorization for the purpose of tourism development, the research questions were formulated and the research was performed. The methods used were: analysis, correlation, deduction and induction. Field research has been of the primary importance and it was based on questionnaires, interviews and in-depth interview. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 46001 i br. 47007

Total polyphenols from Solanum retroflexum Dun. fruit: extraction and optimization by response surface methodology

Total phenolic (TPC), flavonoid (TFC) content and antioxidant activity (AOA) of Solanum retroflexum fruit extracts obtained by conventional extraction with different aqueous ethanol solution (25, 50, 75% v/v), temperatures (20, 40, 60 A degrees C) and extraction time (15, 30 and 45 min) were investigated. The extract obtained by 75% aqueous ethanol at 60 A degrees C after 45 min shows the highest AOA determined by DPPH (EC50 = 60.67 mg/ml) and FRAP (1.55 A mu mol Fe2+/mg) methods. TPC and TFC were in ranges from 63.50 +/- 0.43 to 92.07 +/- 1.07 mg of gallic acid/g of dry extract and from 29.17 +/- 0.35 to 48.22 +/- 0.43 mg of rutin/g of dry extract, respectively. In order to commercialize the extraction of polyphenolic compounds, as the most important group of the plant bioactive compounds, the extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology. Under proposed optimum extraction conditions (60 A degrees C, 40.3 min and ethanol concentration of 74.7%) extract with the maximal TPC (92.29 mg gallic acid/g of dry extract) could be obtained. The set of the extraction conditions which gave the maximum TPC while simultaneously minimizing the time, energy and ethanol consumption were also proposed (economic extraction conditions). The results confirm that this insufficiently tested fruit represent a good source of polyphenolic compounds and are worthy of further investigation