Implications of Mandatory Registration of Mobile Phone Users in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks among the top regions in terms of growth in the number of mobile phone users. The success of mobile telephony is attributed to the opening of markets for private players and lenient regulatory policy. However, markets may be increasingly saturated and new regulations introduced across Africa could also have a negative impact on future growth. Since 2006, the majority of countries in the region have introduced mandatory registration of users of prepaid SIM cards with their personal identity details. This potentially increases the costs of using mobile telephony. I present a fixed effects model for the estimation of the impact of mandatory registration on mobile penetration growth, which is based upon a panel dataset of 32 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for the years 2000 to 2010. The results show that the introduction of mandatory registration depresses growth in mobile penetration.Telecommunication, government policy, consumer protection, privacy

Do we need a European Directive for Credit Reporting?

Kreditsicherung, EU-Bankrecht, Europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion, Credit risk collateralization, EU bank law, European Economic and Monetary Union

Financial Services for the Poor: Lack of Personal Identification Documents Impedes Access

Without a birth certificate, no identity card can be issued and without identity card, there is no access to formal financial services. This link seems to be trivial in industrialized countries, where the ability of the individual to participate in economic life is rarely hindered by a lack of identification. In many developing countries, however, access to financial services is often denied, because potential customers cannot be identified based upon official identity documents-a basic due diligence requirement under international anti-money laundering regulations. In many developing and emerging countries, poor people have no opportunity to obtain such documents, as a large portion of the population has not been registered at birth. Without a birth certificate, however, no identity card can be issued, which is required by banks for customer identity verification. To date, the problem of identification has not played a prominent role in research concerning access to financial services. In the past, researchers have primarily focused on microfinance. In order to expand access to formal financial services, new methods for customer identification must be developed which address the realities in developing countries. Initial steps to expand access for the poor population have already been taken in countries such as India and South Africa. Aside from addressing problems associated with missing identification, it is also necessary to introduce basic financial products such as micro accounts, where the low risk associated with them is taken into account. Less demanding identification means for low-risk financial products ought to be internationally recognized and instituted in order to dispel legal ambiguities.

Credit Reporting, Access to Finance and Identification Systems: International Evidence

Credit reporting systems are an important ingredient for financial markets. These systems are based upon the unique identification of borrowers, which is enabled if a compulsory identification system exists in a country. We present evidence derived from difference-in-difference analyses on the impact of the interplay of credit reporting and identification systems on financial access and intermediation in 172 countries during years of 2000 to 2008. Our results suggest that the introduction of an identification system has a positive effect on financial intermediation (bank credit to deposits) and financial access (private credit to GDP), especially in countries where there is also a credit reporting system. This effect exists net of other country characteristics.Credit markets, information asymmetries, identification

Information Sharing and Cross-border Entry in European Banking

Information asymmetries can severely limit cross-border border expansion of banks. When a bank enters a new market, it has incomplete information about potential new clients. Such asymmetries are reduced by credit registers, which distribute financial data on bank clients. We investigate the interaction of credit registers and bank entry modes (in form of branching and M&A) by using a new set of time series cross-section data for the EU-27 countries. We study how the presence of public and private credit registers and the type of information exchanged affect bank entry modes during the period 1990-2007. Our analysis shows that the existence of both types of registers increases the share of branching in the overall entries. Additionally, the establishment of public registers reduces concentration ratios, and some banking competition indicators (such as overhead costs/assets). The introduction of a private credit bureau, on the other hand, has no effect on concentration ratios, but positively contributes to competition (by decreasing interest rate margins). This suggests that credit registers facilitate direct entry through a reduction of information asymmetries, which in turn intensifies competition.credit registries, foreign entry, asymmetric information

Access to Credit Information Promotes Market Entries of European Banks

When granting credit, banks depend on reliable information about the creditworthiness and risk structure of potential borrowers. This information is typically gathered by national credit bureaus. Nationally established banks depend on information from credit bureaus more than ever, particularly when entering a foreign market. This DIW study (which is partially based upon research by the same authors for the European Credit Research Institute and data collected by the institute) investigates whether the existence of credit bureaus influences European bank competition and concludes that they facilitate market entry for foreign banks. In turn, the absence of credit bureaus can create significant disadvantages in competition. In this case, a market entry is then primarily possible via the purchase of an incumbent bank, because the entering institution has essentially no other opportunity to access debtor data. This study also shows that provision of data within the EU is not harmonized overall.Credit registers, Foreign entry asymmetric information

[Buchbesprechung:] M. Bunzel-Drüke, C. Böhm, P. Fink, G. Kämmer, R. Luick, E. Reisinger, U. Riecken, J. Riedl, M. Scharf & O. Zimball: Praxisleitfaden für Ganzjahresbeweidung in Naturschutz und Landschaftsentwicklung - „Wilde Weiden“.

Eine zentrale Aufgabe für den Naturschutz in Deutschland besteht darin, die Vielfalt der Arten und Biotope in unserer Kulturlandschaft zu fördern. Sie ergibt sich nicht zuletzt aus zahlreichen internationalen Verpflichtungen, wie z. B. der Konvention über die Biologische Vielfalt von 1992 oder der sogenannten Göteborg-Strategie der Europäischen Union von 2001. In der Vergangenheit wurden Artenhilfsprogramme aufgestellt, vereinzelt auch natürliche Prozesse in Nationalparks, Naturwaldzellen und einigen Naturschutzgebieten zugelassen, Vereinbarungen mit verschiedenen Nutzern getroffen und ehrenamtliche oder behördlich veranlasste Pflegemaßnahmen durchgeführt. Seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre bildete sich ein neues Konzept heraus, welches das Ziel einer naturnahen Beweidung oder einer halboffenen Weidelandschaft manifestierte, um auf diesem Wege eine „neue Wildnis“ zu schaffen. Kerngedanke war dabei immer, dass sich diese Ganzjahresweiden an der Tragkraft des jeweiligen Standortes orientieren, also nachhaltig sein müssen und möglichst dauerhaft etabliert werden können. Aus den ersten Versuchen haben sich im Laufe der letzten Jahre tragfähige, kostenextensive Verfahren entwickelt, die mittlerweile deutschlandweit und auch in Sachsen-Anhalt Anwendung finden. Vielerorts haben sich auf dieser Grundlage bereits Zentren der Biodiversität von Offenlandarten und Arten der Wald-Offenland Übergangsbereiche herausgebildet, deren Methoden und Experimente wissenschaftlich begleitet werden

Joint Customer Data Acquisition and Sharing among Rivals

It is increasingly observable that in different industries competitors jointly acquire and share customer data. We propose a modified Hotelling model with two-dimensional consumer heterogeneity to analyze the incentives for such agreements and their welfare implications. In our model the incentives of firms for data acquisition and sharing depend on the willingness of consumers to switch brands. Firms jointly collect data on transportation cost parameters when consumers are relatively immobile between brands. However, the firms are unlikely to cooperatively acquire such data, when consumers are relatively mobile. Incentives to share information depend on the portfolio of data firms hold and consumer mobility. Data sharing arises with relatively mobile and immobile consumers - it is neutral for consumers in the former case, but reduces consumer surplus in the latter. Competition authorities ought to scrutinize such cooperation agreements on a case-by-case basis and devote special attention to consumer switching behavior.Information Sharing, Data Acquisition, Price Discrimination

Neuer Nachweis der Roten Mordwanze

Am 20.05.2005 wurde ein Männchen der Roten Mordwanze (Rhynocoris iracundus Poda, 1761) in der Bergbaufolgelandschaft der Goitzsche im Messtischblatt-Quadranten 4440/1 des Landkreises Anhalt-Bitterfeld nachgewiesen. Der Fund gelang auf einem wertvollen Trockenrasen, der vielerorts von vegetationsfreien Flächen unterbrochen war

Schwarze, E. & H. Kolbe (Hrsg.): Die Vogelwelt der zentralen Mittelelberegion

Mit der Avifauna der zentralen Mittelelberegion liegt nunmehr ein bemerkenswertes Ergebnis langjähriger ehrenamtlicher Forschung in einer sehr ansprechenden Buchform vor, welche bisherige kleinere Publikationen aus der Region vereint und durch bisher nicht publizierte Daten auf einen Bearbeitungsstand 2005 aktualisiert