Water Quality Assessment of Some Selected Hand Dug Wells and a Borehole in North Eastern Parts of Bauchi Metropolis, Nigeria

Water samples were taken from six hand dug wells and a borehole for physico-chemical and microbial analysis to ascertain its quality, type and suitability for domestic, livestock and irrigation purposes. The ranges of results of the physico-chemical parameters are: temperature (28-31.5)oC, Conductivity (170-650)µs/cm, turbidity (1.0-90.8)NTU, and pH(7.0-8.5). Other chemical parameters include: cations -  Ca2+(25.6 – 72.0)mg/l , Na+(23.1 – 75.87)mg/l, K+(0.14 – 78.3)mg/l, Mg2+(1.46 – 20.75)mg/l, Fe2+(0.0 – 1.1)mg/l, Cu2+(0.0 – 0.49)mg/l, Zn2+(0.00 – 1.74)mg/l, Pb2+(0.00 – 0.001)mg/l, Cr6+(0.00 – 0.02)mg/l and anions – HCO3-(54.0 – 140.0)mg/l, Cl-(32.5 – 114.96)mg/l,  F-(0.23 – 0.77)mg/l,  CO32-(32.4 – 84.0)mg/l, SO42-(10.31 – 121.0)mg/l,  NO3-(1.08 – 75.7)mg/l, NO2-(0.013 – 0.69)mg/l. Data values analyzed from the results obtained indicate the water to be Ca-HCO3, K-HCO3, Mg-HCO3 and Na-Cl water type containing high concentrations of some major, minor and trace cations and anions which fall above the maximum permissible limits of the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) of Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS), 2007. Physical and microbiological parameters indicate that the water is turbid and contain a high total coliform counts above the NIS set standards for maximum permissible limits. This may be attributed to proximities of soakaways and dumpsites to the wells which may need to be monitored from time to time. The water was also found to be suitable for irrigation. Keywords: Water Quality, Water Type, Irrigation Wate

Credit Constraints and the Measurement of Time Preferences

Incentivized experiments are commonly used to estimate marginal rates of intertemporal substitution (MRS) in the lab and in the field in order to make inferences about individual time preferences. This paper considers an integrated model of behavior in which individuals are subject to financial shocks and credit constraints, and take those into account when making experimental choices. The model shows that measured MRS depends on the individual’s effective interest rate which is equal to the relative marginal utility of current and future consumption. Experimental responses should therefore be correlated with other variables that describe the subject’s financial situation, like savings and shocks to income and consumption. We test the model using a new a panel data set from Mali and find evidence for such effects. Our results imply that the relationship between experimentally elicited MRS and time preferences is not straightforward. However, measured MRS can be useful in determining the importance of different types of financial shocks to the household

Be Patient When Measuring Hyperbolic Discounting: Stationarity, Time Consistency and Time Invariance in a Field Experiment

Most evidence of hyperbolic discounting is based on violations of either stationarity or time consistency as observed in choice experiments. These choice reversals may however also result from time-varying discount rates. Hyperbolic discounting is a plausible explanation for choice reversals only if violations of stationarity and time consistency overlap. Our field experiment examines the extent to which this is the case. At different points in time, the same participants allocated a future gift over sooner-smaller and later-larger rewards with varying front-end delays. We find that most violations of time consistency do not coincide with violations of stationarity. This is surprisingly similar to what an earlier experiment on stationarity, time invariance and time consistency finds using a different design among a different type of participants (Halevy, Econometrica , 2015). Random noise in decision-making alone does not explain this finding, given that we find a significant association between changes in household wealth and violations of stationarity and time consistency. We conclude that when incomes fluctuate, one can only identify hyperbolic discounting by eliciting violations of both stationarity and time consistency through a longitudinal design for the same subject pool

A Boost in the Paycheck: Survey Evidence on Workers’ Response to the 2011 Payroll Tax Cuts

This paper presents new survey evidence on workers' response to the 2011 payroll tax cuts. While workers intended to spend 10 to 18 percent of their tax-cut income, they reported actually spending 28 to 43 percent of the funds. This is higher than estimates from studies of recent tax cuts, and arguably a consequence of the design of the 2011 tax cuts. The shift to greater consumption than intended is largely unexplained by presentbias or unanticipated shocks, and is likely a consequence of mental accounting. We also use data from a complementary survey to understand the heterogeneous tax-cut response

Financial Inclusion and Financial Stability: Current Policy Issues

The recent financial crisis has shown that financial innovation can have devastating systemic impacts. International standard setters' and national regulators' response has been a global concerted effort to overhaul and tighten financial regulations. However, at a time of designing stricter regulations, it is crucial to avoid a backlash against financial inclusion. In this chapter, we argue that greater financial inclusion presents opportunities to enhance financial stability. Our arguments are based on the following insights: Financial inclusion poses risks at the institutional level, but these are hardly systemic in nature. Evidence suggests that low-income savers and borrowers tend to maintain solid financial behavior throughout financial crises, keeping deposits in a safe place and paying back their loans. Institutional risk profiles at the bottom end of the financial market are characterized by large numbers of vulnerable clients who own limited balances and transact small volumes. Although this profile may raise some concerns regarding reputational risks for the central bank and consumer protection, in terms of financial instability, the risk posed by inclusive policies is negligible. In addition, risks prevalent at the institutional level are manageable with known prudential tools and more effective customer protection. The potential costs of financial inclusion are compensated for by important dynamic benefits that enhance financial stability over time through a deeper and more diversified financial system. In the following pages, we present the current state of financial inclusion globally. We also explore some trends in financial inclusion and what the most effective policies are to favor it. In doing so, we suggest that innovations aimed at countering financial exclusion may help strengthen financial systems rather than weakening them

Insurance, credit, and technology adoption: Field experimental evidencefrom Malawi

Does production risk suppress the demand for credit? We implemented a randomized field experiment to ask whether provision of insurance against a major source of production risk induces farmers to take out loans to adopt a new crop technology. The study sample was composed of roughly 800 maize and groundnut farmers in Malawi, where by far the dominant source of production risk is the level of rainfall. We randomly selected half of the farmers to be offered credit to purchase high-yielding hybrid maize and groundnut seeds for planting in the November 2006 crop season. The other half of farmers were offered a similar credit package, but were also required to purchase (at actuarially fair rates) a weather insurance policy that partially or fully forgave the loan in the event of poor rainfall. Surprisingly, take-up was lower by 13 percentage points among farmers offered insurance with the loan. Take-up was 33.0% for farmers who were offered the uninsured loan. There is suggestive evidence that reduced take-up of the insured loan was due to farmers already having implicit insurance from the limited liability clause in the loan contract: insured loan take-up was positively correlated with farmer education, income, and wealth, which may proxy for the individual's default costs. By contrast, take-up of the uninsured loan was uncorrelated with these farmer characteristics.Risk-sharing Insurance Credit Microfinance Technology adoption

Put Your Money Where Your Butt Is: A Commitment Contract for Smoking Cessation

We designed and tested a voluntary commitment product to help smokers quit smoking. The product (CARES) offered smokers a savings account in which they deposit funds for six months, after which they take a urine test for nicotine and cotinine. If they pass, their money is returned; otherwise, their money is forfeited to charity. Of smokers offered CARES, 11 percent took up, and smokers randomly offered CARES were 3 percentage points more likely to pass the 6-month test than the control group. More importantly, this effect persisted in surprise tests at 12 months, indicating that CARES produced lasting smoking cessation. (JEL D12, I12, O15)