A Study of the Interrelated Bilateral Transactions in Credit Card Networks

Over the last decade, consumers have tripled their use of credit cards as more merchants have increased their acceptance of them. This increase suggests that incentives in today's marketplace favor greater credit card use by consumers and acceptance by merchants. In this paper, we study the set of interrelated bilateral transactions in credit card networks. First, we survey the recent theoretical papers using this approach and find that there is a lack of consensus regarding the optimal set of pricing policies. Second, we explore each of these interrelated transactions emphasizing common market practices and the underlying regulatory and legal framework. Third, we analyze the impact of certain credit card market practices on competing payment instruments such as debit cards.credit cards, rents, antitrust, networks

A turning point?: water saving technologies in north Gujarat's groundwater socio-ecology

Irrigation systemsWater conservationCrop managementVermicompostingIncomeWomenFarmers

Corporate share repurchases in the UK: Perceptions and practices of corporate managers and investors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine motivations underlying UK repurchase activity. Specifically, the paper inquires into the relevance of a range of different explanations for repurchases and perceptions of regulation surrounding them. Emphasis of the paper is, however, on motives linked specifically to repurchases rather than income distribution, more generally. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a survey approach to capture the views on repurchases of corporate managers and investors. It supplements the survey data with secondary information about the companies to better understand repurchase behaviour. Findings Results indicate that repurchase use is influenced by motives linked specifically to this tool rather than those associated with income distribution, more generally. In particular, repurchases are used to return surplus cash to investors, signal undervaluation and influence gearing and earnings per share levels. In the latter case, companies appear to use repurchases to perform a value added role, alongside manipulating the EPS level and thus the latter may simply be a by-product of the former. Private investors may nevertheless be vulnerable to such manipulation, given their limited financial literacy. Research limitations/implications The study relied on a survey of managers and investors and univariate analysis. In the former case, respondent numbers, particularly for the investor community were low, raising questions as to the generalisability of the data. In the latter, the results may be mis-stated owing to the simplicity of the analysis. Practical implications Overall, the survey results suggest that firms use repurchase programmes in different contexts to dividend payments and in appropriate circumstances. While managers and investors broadly share similar views, private shareholders may be in a vulnerable position given their limited financial literacy. Originality/value This is the first UK study on repurchases that examines the relative importance of a range of motives underlying repurchases. Moreover, it assesses in detail the core hypotheses that are linked specifically to repurchase programmes to better understand UK repurchase behaviour. It does so by supplementing the survey data with additional company information and comparing the views of the different audiences surveyed

Humaneness and contradictions: India’s Maoist-inspired Naxalites

Based on long-term ethnographic field research in the Adivasi-dominated forests of eastern India, this article explores how and why the Naxalites have persisted in the subcontinent and the challenges that beset revolutionary mobilisation. The focus is on how communist ideology for a casteless and classless society translated into the humaneness of revolutionary subjectivity, creating relations of intimacy between the guerrilla armies and the people in its strongholds. Crucially, also analysed are a series of contradictions that constantly undermine revolutionary mobilisation, tearing the Naxalites apart and destroying them from within

Why India’s poverty alleviation programmes don’t work

LSE’s Alpa Shah recently joined Professor Akhil Gupta (UCLA) and Laurie Taylor for the BBC Radio 4 show ‘Thinking Allowed’ to discuss the shortcomings of poverty alleviation programmes in India

Alcoholics Anonymous: the Maoist movement in Jharkhand, India

From millenarian movements to the spread of Hindu rightwing militancy, attacks on adivasi (or tribal) consumption of alcohol have gone hand-in-hand with the project of ‘civilizing the savage’. Emphasizing the agency and consciousness of adivasi political mobilization, subaltern studies scholarship has historically depicted adivasis as embracing and propelling these reformist measures, marking them as a challenge to the social structure. This paper examines these claims through an analysis of the relationship between alcohol and the spread of the Maoist insurgency in Jharkhand, Eastern India. Similar to other movements of adivasi political mobilization, an anti-drinking campaign is part of the Maoist spread in adivasi areas. This paper makes an argument for focusing on the internal diversity of adivasi political mobilization—in particular intergenerational and gender conflicts—emphasizing the differentiated social meanings of alcohol consumption (and thus of prohibition), as well as the very different attitudes taken by adivasis towards the Maoist campaign. The paper thus questions the binaries of ‘sanskritisation’ versus adivasis assertion that are prevalent in subaltern studies scholarship, proposing an engagement with adivasi internal politics that could reveal how adivasi political mobilization contains the penetrations of dominant sanskritic values, limitations to those penetrations and other aspirations, such as the desire for particular notions of modernity

Ethnography? Participant observation, a potentially revolutionary praxis

This essay focuses on the core of ethnographic research—participant observation—to argue that it is a potentially revolutionary praxis because it forces us to question our theoretical presuppositions about the world, produce knowledge that is new, was confined to the margins, or was silenced. It is argued that participant observation is not merely a method of anthropology but is a form of production of knowledge through being and action; it is praxis, the process by which theory is dialectically produced and realized in action. Four core aspects of participation observation are discussed as long duration (long-term engagement), revealing social relations of a group of people (understanding a group of people and their social processes), holism (studying all aspects of social life, marking its fundamental democracy), and the dialectical relationship between intimacy and estrangement (befriending strangers). Though the risks and limits of participant observation are outlined, as are the tensions between activism and anthropology, it is argued that engaging in participant observation is a profoundly political act, one that can enable us to challenge hegemonic conceptions of the world, challenge authority, and better act in the world

Quantitative proteome analysis of alfalfa in drought stress under the influence of miR156

Medicago sativa is one of the most produced perennial forage crops in Canada. Drought stress is a major form of abiotic stress affecting the productivity and annual yield of alfalfa. A small noncoding RNA, miR156 has a role in abiotic stress tolerance, while regulating downstream SPL genes. In this study, whole leaf proteome and amino acid concentrations of miR156OE (A8) genotype of alfalfa under drought stress were quantified. In results, 3,000 proteins groups were identified using MaxQuant when searched against Medicago truncatula protein sequence database. Gene ontology analysis showed enriched proteins were involved in biological and molecular processes such as antioxidant response, response to stress, abscisic acid signaling, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. These proteins/pathways might involve in enhancing drought stress tolerance mediated by miR156. This study provides a better understanding and an insight into the role of miR156 in drought stress tolerance in alfalfa