Building subnational debt markets in developing and transition economies : a framework for analysis, policy reform, and assistance strategy

Subnational debt markets can be a powerful force in a country's development. Through delegated monitoring by financial intermediaries and through debt placed directly with investors, subnational debt markets account for about 5 percent of GDP in Argentina and Brazil. But they remain embryonic in most developing and transition economies. To resolve a potential clash between the increased financing needs of subnational entities and the limited development of domestic subnational debt markets, it is critical to support the orderly, efficient emergence of such debt markets. As a framework for policy reform, the following steps (mirroring typical weaknesses) are prerequisites for developing a country's subnational debt market: reducing moral hazard, improving market transparency, strengthening market governance, establishing a level playing field, and developing local capacity for accounting, budgeting, and financial management. In countries where the government shows a clear commitment to market development, says the author, the World Bank should support the framework needed for policy-based operations that establish hard budget constraints. In doing so, the Bank should concentrate on 1) supporting national and local capacity building in those areas essential for developing a subnational debt market; and 2) financing specific subnational projects with strictly nonrecourse loans. At the same time, the Bank should offer a variety of lending and guarantee instruments that encourage private financing for investments by subnational entities-including, for example, equity participation in (or lines of credit or partial credit guarantees to) financial intermediaries specializing in subnational investment finance or in funds for financing local infrastructure.Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Strategic Debt Management,Banks&Banking Reform,National Governance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research

The Lorax

As River Stewards, our program’s mission is to “engage in interdisciplinary and experiential learning, civic engagement, and sustainable community development around rivers;” But how do we stay motivated to accomplish this goal? Today, if you were to google how much trash is in our oceans you would see statistics such as “8 million tons of trash is dumped in the world’s oceans and rivers everyday” or “There is a plastic island the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean”. We live in a throwaway culture society where everything is just for now, and it doesn’t matter where it goes. On our last river cleanup, I could not step one foot without seeing a piece of plastic to be picked up. Because of these facts it is difficult to motivate myself to wake up early on a Saturday morning to attend a river cleanup. After all, it’s just going to be as dirty again in a week or in a month, right? Why don’t we just give up

Overcoming the challenges of phage therapy for industrial aquaculture: A review

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing sector in food industry. Its development is powered by the intensification ofthe production which increased bacterial disease occurrence and spreading. As aquaculture deeply relies on amassive prophylactic and therapeutic use of antibiotics, it is threatened by the emergence of multi drug resistantbacteria. The stalled development of new antibiotics makes finding new therapeutic solutions a burning issue.Thanks to their specific host range, their ability to treat both the farmed species and the environment, theirlimited ecological impact and their abundance in the environment, bacteriophages represent a promising sustainablesolution to control pathogenic aquaculture bacteria.In this review we discuss the interest of phage biocontrol for aquaculture and how can bacterial resistance,ecological, pharmacological and production related issues be solved

Test d’inférence statistique de l’indice multidimensionnel flou de pauvreté appliqué à l’Argentine

La loi de probabilité des indices décomposés de pauvreté, établis sur la théorie des ensembles flous, est inconnue. Comme le calcul des contributions est normalisée et bornée dans [0,1], les changements dans les indices concernent des valeurs très petites et il est difficile de conclure sur la signification des coefficients calculés. Nous proposons dans cet article une construction des intervalles de confiance utilisant la technique du bootstrap pour vérifier la signification statistique des indices de pauvreté calculés pour l’Argentine en mai 2003.

Understanding aborted suicide attempts: a mixed-methods approach

Session - OP20-7N: Understanding and Helping Suicide Attempters 2Congress Theme: New Discoveries and Technologies in Suicide PreventionThe term "aborted suicide attempter" refers to an individual who 1) intents to kill oneself, 2) changes of mind immediately before the actual attempt, and 3) is absence of injury. Studying aborted suicide attempts has an advantage of knowing the actual thoughts and actions that stopped these individuals implementing their plans by themselves. More, Hong Kong is an ideal place to study aborted suicide attempt because the most common suicide method is jumping from a height and this method is relatively "visible" and easier to be intervened by a third party, like ...postprin

Endeavoring a critical and thoughtful response during and beyond COVID-19: Community-Based Justice Work in a Catholic University

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting quarantines around the globe have required social justice educators to respond to the unprecedented challenges and the needs of the communities they serve more than ever before. This article explores how educators in a Catholic University conducted community-based justice work in response to the challenges of the pandemic by integrating educators’ solidarity with faith and social justice commitments. We introduce the Lift as You Climb (Lift) project as one example of our approach with Catholic value of promoting human rights and common good. We offer reflections on challenges and successes of community-based programming, considerations of issues of equity and access to educational resources, as well as recommendations for educators’ next actions, in order to offer insight into the implementation of community-based justice work during and beyond COVID-19