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This article draws upon original research including a series of interviews, extensive desk research, and a canon of political economy scholarship hailing from Lebanon and elsewhere to explore the political dynamics underpinning Lebanon's emerging tech "ecosystem." It focuses on a seemingly peripheral actor within this ecosystem, the coding school, both as a window into the ecosystem's political machinery and as a surprisingly important site through which its wider interests are mediated. This focus explores how the coding school generates so-called empowerment conceived largely in terms of training and preparing Lebanon's "underprivileged youth" for global tech markets, through a strategic alignment with the ecosystem. Thus, empowerment becomes a political currency of sorts, helping to reify and repackage an enclave of Lebanon's economy. The article suggests that the political work to engineer this new economic landscape reflects how state-business interests come together to repackage so-called development and enforce new regimes of accumulation at a time of deepening crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies of poor relief have focused on parishes either metropolitan or wholly rural, whereas the focus of this article is on the distinctive experience of Battersea, a village in the London hinterland. Although the village suffered from the rising cost of poor relief experienced nationwide at the end of the eighteenth century, this article argues that the response of its vestry was shaped by Battersea's liminal location. Consideration is given to the central role that the workhouse played in the provision of poor relief, and demonstrating that the social networks of parochial leaders were key to the development of policy. Many of the vestry members had commercial and professional interests in the metropolis and elsewhere, and these, together with their patronage of London charitable institutions, helped both to shape their response to the problems of poverty that they encountered, and influenced their administration of the Battersea workhouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians have debated the extent of poor relief and social security provision in late medieval England, yet our knowledge about the inmates of hospitals and almshouses remains limited. Corrodies – grants of food, clothes and shelter – have been seen as a way of alleviating poverty in old age. Utilizing the evidence of 260 corrodies, this article explores the gender, marital status and length of time recipients held their positions in two hospitals and two almshouses in Durham. Far from catering just to ageing male retainers, as is often thought, corrodies provided security for men and women of all ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the place of brickmaking as an activity supported or promoted by parish poor relief. Parochial work schemes were typically founded on agricultural work, textile manufacturing, or unskilled tasks like oakum picking, yet the manual exertion was necessarily required for making bricks prior to mechanization attracted some parishes to experiment with this form of hard and deterrent labour. Brick production did not take place in a vacuum, however, ensuring that the consequences of a parish commissioning or making bricks could be felt across the community which supplied raw materials or services, ensuring that the process was not solely a check on indolent poverty. Close reading of overseers' vouchers, the receipts which sometimes survive attesting to the detail of parish payments, show the significance of brick in parish economies for the paupers, parish officers, parish suppliers, and wider communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NoMA Business Improvement District (BID) is one of Washington DC's fastest developing areas and has one of the city's largest concentrations of unhoused tent camps, many of which are located in underpasses that provide bits of protection and privacy. These underpasses were created during DC's City Beautiful Movement and have been the site of neoliberal antihomeless strategies. In this paper I explore the production of space in the NoMA area and how property owners, business associations, and government actors sanitized public space for wealthy newcomers while excluding poor and unhoused residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main teachings conveyed by the book of Tobit is the high religious significance of almsgiving, said to be an excellent "offering" before God (4:11) and a practice that can even "save from death" and "purge away every sin" (12:9). Early on in the book, the young Tobit is depicted as scrupulous in his performance of the various tithe laws mandated in the Pentateuch, bringing his tithes each year from a considerable distance for distribution in Jerusalem (1:6–8). Interpretation of this opening vignette is frequently restricted to the question of how the author of Tobit is to be situated on the spectrum of Second Temple halakhic practice in regard to the tithe legislation—but little attention is given to the question of how the protagonist's early tithing practice might contribute to the larger themes of the book, especially that of charity. This article argues that the presence of the tithe in Tobit 1 does indeed contribute to the book's larger charity didactic by picking up on hints within the Pentateuch that the tithe had "sacrificial" features while simultaneously serving as a means of poor relief. This reading of the significance of the tithe sets the author of Tobit apart from at least one contemporary, Joshua Ben Sira, who was also concerned to inculcate charity but who did not rely on the image of the tithe to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burying the very poor presented a recurring challenge to communities, parishes, and local government yet the burial practices of the destitute remain an understudied area of Irish funerary culture. 'Friends' – family and community who claimed bodies and petitioned for coffins – negotiated a network of private alms and publicly funded poor relief to secure burial for their dead. The city's medical schools, whose dissection of corpses was deeply unpopular, shaped institutional and private burial practices. After the Famine, the popular fear of dissection joined to a horror of the newly established workhouse burial grounds that physically segregated the institutional dead. Extensive claiming of corpses by friends and Anglican parishes from the workhouse in post-Famine Cork shows that the symbolic power of the pauper grave was manifest in the burial landscape rather than cheap coffins and common graves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study looks at whether credit unions, a type of microfinance, increase or decrease poverty in Cameroon from 2004 Q1 to 2021 Q4. Method/design: The fully modified ordinary least square, dynamic ordinary least square, and conical co‐integration is applied. Findings: The findings reveal a long‐term association between credit union measures and poverty levels. The results indicate that the number of credit unions, the number of commercial bank branches, and credit to the private sector negatively relate to poverty levels. This implies that as the number of credit unions increases, the poverty level increases as the credit unions tend to exploit the poor population. Outstanding deposits positively impact poverty levels, which imply that members' deposits alleviate poverty. Research implications: The government should refurbish the existing programs to enhance credit unions' activities to focus more on banking the poor population especially in remote areas. The credit unions should increase deposit mobilization from the public to empower individuals and businesses. The government should regulate the number of credit unions being created to limit exploitation. The government should intervene to ensure that credit unions' policy regarding lending, interest rates, and loan recovery procedures are mutually agreed upon by the parties. Originality/novelty: Limited studies used secondary data focusing on credit unions. The studies give conflicting results: Some studies reveal that microfinance banks positively affect poverty reduction. Some indicate negative effects of microfinance on poverty reduction. Others show that microfinance institutions do not significantly influence poverty reduction. Different opinions exist among depositors and borrowers of credit unions concerning poverty alleviation. Some credit union members hold that credit unions increase poverty, while others argue that credit unions alleviate poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to 2017, maladministration, unfunded and underfunded students, misalignment with student needs, high non-completion rates and a violent student debt crisis characterised South Africa’s student financial aid scheme, and triggered annual unrest across the higher education (HE) sector. Following a wave of protests by the #FeesMustFall movement and widespread calls for a free decolonised HE, in 2017, the South African government replaced its 26 year old income-contingent student loan scheme with a grant-based free HE education policy for poor and working-class students. While the policy intervention restored relative stability across the sector, several fault lines in the student funding policy remain. In this article, drawing on a combination of qualitative policy document analysis and descriptive statistics, we employ Carol Bacchi “what’s the problem represented to be?” (WPR) approach to analyse recent student funding policy developments in South African HE. We employ the WPR approach to (a) direct attention to the significance of reflecting on how the HE student funding problem has been constituted and framed in policy proposals, and (b) challenge the dominant “problem solving” paradigm (inherent in mainstream policy propositions) by drawing attention to benefits of an alternative “problem-questioning” approach to the country’s pursuit for a just and equitable student funding model. We then make some recommendations on how South African HE policymakers can avoid the pitfalls of well-meaning HE funding policies turning into instruments for creating and reproducing the very disparities they are meant to ameliorate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional services are plagued by poor staff retention, shortages, and high rates of turnover, which represent costly challenges for recruitment, training, and administration. Central to addressing challenges of correctional officer retention and staffing shortages is insight into what motivates individuals to pursue a career in correctional services. Although researchers have looked at the motivations of correctional officers entering the Canadian provincial system, researchers have yet to study the motivations of individuals' entering the field of correctional services in the Canadian federal correctional system. In the current exploratory study, we apply Herzberg's theory to investigate federal correctional officer recruits' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations toward becoming correctional officers with the Correctional Service of Canada. By drawing on the voices of recruits (N = 70) interviewed prior to the start of their employment, we thematically examined their rationales for seeking employment as federal correctional officers, their career aspirations, and their expectations about the correctional officer job. Our examination identified three overarching themes: the first tied more purely to extrinsic motivations, the second purely intrinsic, and the third more closely resembled a "drifting" phenomenon. We discuss the results in the context of officer recruitment and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs, which link transfers to investment in human capital in poor families, have spread around the world over the past two decades. This paper studies the medium‐term effects of Progresa, the pioneering Mexican CCT program, on fertility using nationwide vital statistics combined with administrative data on program receipt. The effects of CCTs are likely to vary by age of the woman, and we study impacts by five‐year age intervals. We test and account for possible underreporting of births using indirect methods. We find that Progresa led to an important and statistically significant decline in teenage fertility and smaller, but still significant, effects on reducing the fertility of older women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some blame free-market capitalism for increasing income inequality, arguing that richer classes could block access to others for maintaining their privileges. By manipulating the degree of political rights and resources available to others, the rich could reduce opportunities for others. Others argue that growth-promoting free markets raise all incomes, increasing aggregate welfare. We argue that governments more dependent on free markets are likely to focus on increasing access to human capital, thereby narrowing the gap between the rich and poor by increasing opportunities, even if income inequality rises with high growth. We assess the issue by examining the effects of an Index of Economic Freedom on income inequality measured by the standardized GINI and measures of the equity of access to quality schooling, health, and justice covering 128 developing countries during the 1990–2017 period. Our results show that, even if economic freedom is associated with higher income inequality, it also associates robustly with access to opportunity. Our results are robust to alternative models, sample size, and testing methods, including instrumental variables analyzes addressing potential endogeneity bias. Our results, taken together, do not suggest that growth-promoting economic freedoms hamper future progress by raising inequalities—on the contrary, economic freedoms promote equity of access to opportunities—findings inconsistent with the view that governments under free-market conditions are easily captured by the wealthy, who then block equitable access to public goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biopharmaceuticals have the potential to contribute immensely towards improving the health and quality of life of people. However, there is a gap in the availability of medical services in India and inequality in disseminating health benefits to the poor. Several issues are associated with biopharmaceuticals, such as increasing cost of treatments, access, affordability, safety, efficacy, quality, and intellectual property rights. Hence, the present paper addresses the crucial questions on the emerging challenges in the Indian biopharmaceutical industry regarding the patent cliff and biosimilars. What are the technological and institutional challenges faced by the biosimilars producing firms? Whether biosimilars could meet the regulatory requirements of safety, efficacy, and whether they will meet global regulatory standards? This article further analyses the regulatory pathways for commercial approval of biosimilars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asia, the home to around one-fourth of the world's total population, and the fastest-growing region of the world, achieved an annual average GDP growth rate of 6.6 percent in 2015-2019. During the same period, it also demonstrated a modest share of gross domestic savings and fixed capital formation to GDP. The region has also experienced a considerable success in improving its level of financial inclusion. Within a span of only six years, the number of adults having an account in a formal financial institution increased to 38 percentage points in 2017, though large heterogeneity across countries exists. Despite these economic and financial developments, around half of the world's multidimensionally poor people live in this region. The region is also relatively less inclusive than those of high-income countries, as it excluded 30 percent of its adult population from the formal financial system in 2017. To accelerate its ongoing economic development and poverty reduction, further improvement of the level of financial inclusion is a particular concern in South Asia. However, we know very little about factors influencing financial inclusion in this region. In this paper, we examine the determinants of financial inclusion in South Asia using the World Bank's Global Findex database for the year 2017. Our probit estimations show that being a male, richer, more educated, and older are associated with higher levels of formal account and formal saving. While age and education affect formal credit in a similar manner, we find no significant association between gender and income level with formal credit. We also investigate how individual characteristics are associated with the barriers to financial inclusion and find that women exclude themselves from financial inclusion because other family member might have an account. Documentation and having accounts by other family members are the main factors of financial exclusion of the younger people, while cost and religious reasons discourage older people from having a bank account. Finally, we compare the determinants of informal financial services with those of formal financial services. Our findings have certain policy implications to include financially excluded people, i.e. poor, less educated, youth, and women, into financial network vis-à-vis promoting financial inclusion in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the changing nature of the English and Swedish states between 1800 and 2020 from the perspective of ordinary citizens. We identify 13 typical life situations and then describe the types of citizens who interacted with the state, the number and types of public officials with whom they interacted, and where those interactions took place. We distinguish among three typical social groups: the poor, the middle, and the rich. We find, among other things, that the poor became objects of government policy much earlier than other groups, but they also remained in a world of parochial poor relief even as the middle and the rich began to interact with a more functionally differentiated, professional bureaucracy. These findings have important implications for scholarly debates on when the state began to interact directly with the civilian masses and the unevenness of state activities and capacities within countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africanist anthropology has tended to paint social relations on the continent in a positive light, giving the impression that a pro‐social relationality will provide the poor with economic assistance in moments of need. This article troubles these accounts by turning to Kenya, where a history of socioeconomic stratification has created a landscape of class closure. Rather than generously give, upwardly mobile families seek to distance themselves from potential requests for material assistance. Meanwhile, they valorize their own hard work as the source of their success, encouraging the poor to follow suit: to pursue economic independence. In this context, the article underscores the work of relation‐making as poor families attempt to keep social relationships with wealthy locals open by practising 'civility': hiding their anticipation of material support by concealing economic distress whilst outwardly performing their own success. Taking inspiration from F.G. Bailey's classic work on 'stratagems and spoils', the article emphasizes the interested, conscious effort of making relations as a means of combating economic exclusion in an unequal world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa faces a new debt crisis fuelled by Chinese and Western lending. At the forefront is Zambia, which defaulted on Eurobond payments in 2020. The article sets the developing Africa‐wide crisis within a relational comparison that draws the current Zambian moment together with the financial collapse of the 1980s. By placing Chinese lending within a comparative global frame, we make three contributions. First, Zambia provides a "spatial fix" for capital, but such African borrowing is not passive and shapes hegemonic struggles between China and the US. Thus secondly, Africa's relationship with debt is co‐constituent in the remaking of the global economy, as signalled by the contested execution and interpretation of development‐as‐modernisation. Finally, a relational comparison of the two debt crises demonstrates that global capitalist hegemony is, partly, engineered by the consent and coercion of African governments, yet the human costs of borrowing are fully borne by the world's poorest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Biden Administration has signaled an interest in ensuring that regulations appropriately benefit vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. Prior presidential administrations since at least the Reagan Administration have focused on ensuring that regulations are efficient, maximizing the net benefits to society as a whole, without considering who benefits or who loses from these policies. Critics of this process of regulatory review have celebrated President Biden's initiative, hoping that distributional analysis and the pursuit of equity will displace traditional tools and interests such as cost-benefit analysis and the pursuit of efficiency. Meanwhile, supporters of the current process are concerned that pursuing equity will come at significant cost to efficiency and ultimately leave everyone worse off. This framework--efficiency versus equity--is misguided and counterproductive in many cases. As an initial matter, all regulations have distributional consequences, and the traditional arguments for ignoring these consequences are outdated or wrong. Understanding distributional effects and considering equity in regulation is long overdue. But current agency practice is often far from efficient, and there are opportunities to advance equity by improving the efficiency of regulations. In fact, neutral procedures such as cost-benefit analysis are more likely to benefit disadvantaged groups than is raw politics, whatever the intention, at least based on experience in regulatory policy. Furthermore, cost-benefit analysis and efficiency considerations more generally could help avoid outcomes that are, in their implementation, inequitable. This Article supports these arguments by drawing on examples from the environmental context, where considerations of equity and efficiency have often been thought to conflict. Importantly, it highlights how thinking about both equity and efficiency can help regulators identify ways to promote both using their existing authorities. And, in particular, it argues that funding and subsidy programs could be deployed in connection with regulatory actions to help realize equitable outcomes. This Article articulates some simple rules of thumb agencies could use to identify these contexts and thoughtfully deploy their resources, and it compares this approach to broader proposals to consider equity in regulation more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the nineteenth century, Catholic charity was an important source of poor relief in Belgium, as well as a means for Catholics to practice and express their devotion. Driven by a renewed religious fervour, men and women actively engaged in lay charitable organisations with the purpose of serving God through the poor and working towards self‐sanctification. Historical research has especially noted women's charitable fervour, furthering the idea that the nineteenth century was characterised by a feminisation of religion. Recent studies have shown, however, that men did not become estranged from religion, and that multiple religious identities and practices existed at the same time across different contexts. Charity attracted both men and women, but the various masculinities and femininities that existed in the charitable space have seldom been explored. This study examines how gender roles were defined in the discourses of Catholic charities and the ways in which these roles structured social interactions among charitable actors, and between them and their recipients. To this end, two lay charities are taken as a case study: the Society and the Ladies of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, both committed to the practice of poor visits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the adoption of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) by high-income households and businesses in the Western Cape, South Africa, the article analyzes its effects on the hybridization of urban electricity systems and the ability of municipalities to drive a just transition in cities where inequality remains very high. By reducing municipal electricity sales, decentralized solar technologies threaten the surpluses generated from charges paid by grid customers, which are essential to subsidize electricity services for the poor and support other municipal services. Based on fieldwork in four Western Cape cities, the paper shows that municipalities are implementing a variety of local arrangements (regulatory, tariff, and technical) to control distributed electricity generation and are seeking, with mixed success, to avoid a post-carbon transition model that undermines grid benefits by creating a new energy divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Rural Indians cannot rely on official procedures to obtain social welfare entitlements. • The rural poor make claims on local politicians to access welfare. • Claims-making by poor people in rural India combine elements of 'clientelism', 'citizenship' and 'political society'. • An agonistic account of claims-making recognises its heterogeniety while appreciating the importance of both consent and contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jahrbuch der Historischen Gesellschaft Luzern is the property of Historische Gesellschaft Luzern and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article questions whether China's economic initiatives lead to 'inclusive globalization' or tend to sustain the distributional inequalities of neoliberal globalization in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that many considerations, including China's so-called 'no strings attached' policy and lending behaviour, unfavourable trade relations, concentration of Chinese investments in a few sectors, and limited technology and knowledge transfer, cast doubt on the realization of inclusive globalization. Even though economic relations with China may foster economic growth and provide short-term relief to the poor, which is also conditioned by the recipient countries' degree of state capacity, it is questionable to what degree these relations lead to sustainable pro-poor development. No matter what the underlying political economy explanation is (China's motivations and approach to globalization, weak state capacities in sub-Saharan Africa, structural impediments to development), it is misleading to conclude that China-driven economic globalization is inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the global south, regimes of labour and mobility control are reforming that attempt to manage the northern movement of people. By combining financing development projects with explicit forms of border enforcement (including border personnel training and new securitization technologies), western governments and southern elites attempt to encourage publics (invariably poorer people of colour) to stay in local regions, rather than seek better livelihoods elsewhere. By reference to the USAID funded Centros Quédate or Stay Here Centres in Guatemala, this paper explores the merging of development and migration governance regimes through the concept of "frontiering through development." The paper argues that initiatives such as these fail to consider the root causes of colonialism and imperialism that have long led people to migrate in the first place. Moreover, migration is cast as something problematic under discourses of populist economic nationalist sentiment, rather than beneficial to migrants, country-of-origin and destination regions. However, rather than passive recipients of patronising development, I show how participants rework the Quédate programme to fit their own onward goals. Paternalist development paradigms should take into account how crucial and embedded mobile livelihoods are in present-day realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropathic pain (NP) is the most prevalent and debilitating form of chronic pain, caused by injuries or diseases of the somatosensory system. Since current first-line treatments only provide poor symptomatic relief, the search for new therapeutic strategies for managing NP is an active field of investigation. Multiple mechanisms contribute to the genesis and maintenance of NP, including damage caused by oxidative stress. The naturally occurring antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a promising therapeutic agent for the management of NP. Several pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies as well as clinical trials demonstrate the analgesic potential of ALA in the management of NP. The beneficial biological activities of ALA are reflected in the various patents for the development of ALA-based innovative products. This review demonstrates the therapeutic potential of ALA in the management of NP by discussing its analgesic effects by multiple antioxidant mechanisms as well as the use of patented ALA-based products and how technological approaches have been applied to enhance ALA's pharmacological properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botswana is faced with many challenges of project implementation in local authorities. Since independence in 1966, the Government of Botswana has been spending millions in developmental projects in order to improve service delivery. However, despite government's efforts, there is a national outcry for poor service delivery emanating from project implementation especially in local authorities. The aim of the study was to find out challenges of project implementation in Botswana's Local Authorities (LA's). This was a qualitative study, which used Urban and a District council namely; Francistown City Council and Kweneng District Council. Telephone interviews were used to collect data. Target population was councilors and officers responsible for project implementation. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that poor community engagement, lack of financial autonomy by LAs, weak human capacity, and poor coordination of oversight institutions are a hindrance to project implementation in LAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The primary purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons for punishing employees, with particular focus on punishment for the poor quality of services, products and work. The author is also interested in employees’ personal experience relating to the process of receiving punishment. Design/methodology/approach: A literature review was carried out to find out the state of the research on the subject. It was conducted according to the research methodology proposed by J.W. Creswell (2013). A qualitative approach was used in the empirical part of the research. It had been chosen in view of the fact that the problem under examination was poorly recognised and, consequently, it would be difficult to extract variables or provide precise definitions of the relevant concepts. Findings: Punishment is administered for any deviation from rules and standards, poor service, serious misconduct, non-compliance with health and safety regulations, and even criminal incidents. Punishments for poor quality account for a small proportion of all penalties. Employees accept punishment if it is based on objective criteria. Research limitations/implications: A literature review is not a perfect way to obtain information. Previous research has been conducted in different organisations and in different cultures. Secondly, it is important to remember the limitations inherent in qualitative research. The interpretation of data obtained through interviews depends on the structure of interviews, the knowledge and skills of researchers and their ability to avoid bias. Practical implications: Based on the presented research findings, people managing organisations gain knowledge of the negative consequences of punishment and the lack of objective criteria for quality assessment. Originality/value: The problem of punishment for the poor quality of services or products has not been researched extensively so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with an attempts to promote urban community building in Geneva. It mentions when the immigration of Huguenots from France led to a refugee crisis, John Calvin and the French pastors, together with French donors, founded the "Bourse française", which served exclusively to provide for the poor for foreigners, and recognizing the role of the laity in building a godly and faithful city, the Church and State institutions created a model of poor relief and refugee assistance.

Providing the right incentives to bus drivers has become an issue in many cities worldwide. Liberalization experiences and research have shown that high-powered incentives lead to safety hazards, lack of service in low-demand areas, and poor service quality. Fixed-wage schemes, common in tendered systems, are among the leading causes of increased fare evasion, as drivers do not control payment adequately. In a controlled experimental setting, we show that team-based incentives induce levels of effort similar to those provided by an individual pay-for-performance scheme but without undesirable operational decisions. We find that team contracts eliminate the conflict of interest between drivers, causing drivers to control the passengers' payment while maintaining more regular speeds. Consequently, reducing safety hazards and rushing through low-demand stops, avoiding excessive waiting times, and keeping a uniform distribution in the passenger load. These characteristics are absent in the individual contract and are a crucial part of the quality of service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to provide an in-depth conceptualization of service exclusion by drawing on our exploratory research as well as thick and rich insights from the authors' qualitative data. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative research was used to explore service exclusion practices against customers experiencing vulnerabilities. A total of 28 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with refugees residing within Malaysia. The Gioia methodology was used for the authors' data analysis and the findings were validated by an independent moderator. Findings: The authors' empirical findings challenge how service exclusion is currently understood, by adding substantial depth and complexity beyond simply describing "the lack of access to services". The authors also offer rich empirical findings describing 29 forms of exclusion, which were further reduced to seven types of service exclusion practices: discrimination, restriction, cost barriers, language and technology barriers, poor servicing, non-accountability and non-inclusivity. Originality/value: This study conceptualizes service exclusion from a process perspective, that is, "how" customers experiencing vulnerabilities are being excluded, rather than "what" is excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although technological developments have provided momentum to extend the frontier of commercially feasible network deployments, the latest data from ITU regarding affordability of ICT services shows that the digital divide between the rich and poor is still an open issue. Therefore, an economic framework is needed to create conditions for affordable network services. In this paper, we propose a set-aside mechanism that can satisfy this need by reserving resources for targeted groups and resolving the practical problem of having greedy users that rationally compete for cheaper resources. In this mechanism, prices are tailored to users' budget capacities. Our simulation results indicate that it is possible to increase the resource allocation for delivering services to the poorest by inducing regular users to compete among themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of REMAH Journal is the property of Research & Development of Human Recourses Center (REMAH) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Poor relief funded by voluntary contributions originated in early Christianity. Roman paganism did not practise poor relief; post‐exilic Judaism practised poor relief funded by mandatory contributions; early Christianity introduced poor relief on a voluntary basis. Jesus, Peter, and Paul were formative for early Christian poor relief. Jesus set examples of dispensing alms and respecting private property. Peter and Paul agreed on the duty to fund poor relief but did not agree whether funding of poor relief was mandatory or voluntary. The variant approaches of Peter and Paul to how to reconcile poor relief with property rights opened a fault line that has persisted throughout Christian history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing behavioral experiments involving approximately one thousand subjects, we empirically evaluate the relationship between volume flexibility and the Bullwhip Effect (BWE). We not only evaluate differences in the level of BWE, but also differences in associated system performance. We find that systems with hard capacity constraints are effective at limiting BWE, but also produce very poor customer service levels. However, systems with low levels of volume flexibility generate similar performance as fully flexible systems but do so while also generating a lower BWE. In a multi‐echelon setting, we show that having partial volume flexibility at the upstream echelon helps in reducing order variance, with no significant drop in service level in the supply chain. This is particularly useful in those manufacturing environments which prefer stable orders for production planning without affecting the downstream customer service level. Counterintuitively, both experiments uncovered instances of irrational behavior where participants invoked flexibility in ways that did not always enhance system performance. In addition, these experiments also established enhancements in BWE and system performance through introduction of incremental volume flexibility into upstream echelon of a supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, as Chung-Kim notes early in her study of what she calls "the economics of faith", scholars have recently made a serious effort to broaden at least Reformation scholarship to "be more inclusive of complex social, economic, political, and cultural dynamics and their shaping of religious reform movements" (13). The stated goal is to "decenter" the religious leaders, who have long been the focal point of Reformation scholarship, without ignoring their contribution to the institutions that informed the economic opportunities and constraints faced by their followers (24-25). [Extracted from the article]

These notes are aimed at anyone who wants to become or join an NGO in India. They are based on experience working in the Krishna Delta as a UK registered charity: the Divi Seema Foundation (DSF). Dire poverty and relative wealth live side by side in the same villages. Central concerns are lack of year-round employment, lack of essential services to the poorest areas and the overall indifference of local government officials. Effective NGOs require a stable support system, continuity, reliable field officers, regular monitoring, and adjustments when necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The redistributive objective of public services critically hinges on the extent to which the poor can avail themselves of such services. We investigate two factors that can compromise redistribution: unequal access and illegal fees. Using a nationally representative survey (a data source less prone to reporting bias), we find that poor patients in Bangladesh are 8–10% less likely to consult public health care services than non-poor patients. Moreover, a large number of patients visiting public health facilities pay 'consultation fees' which are higher than the official rates, indicative of underlying corruption. Taken together, we find that the poor not only visit public health care facilities less frequently, they also pay a larger share of their non-food expenditure as bribes when they do access these facilities. Our results offer important insights into how the redistributive goal of public health care services can be hampered by misgovernance and corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the dawn of democracy promised a new beginning in South Africa, lingering effects of Apartheid remained, including the struggle to address gang violence and gender-based violence amidst the backdrop of widespread organised crime and corruption, social inequality, a sluggish economy, and poor service delivery. The last policy - National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy (2017) - required implementation at provincial level. This study examines the Western Cape policy content and deconstructs the concept of gangsterism. The paper shows that sustained anti-gang strategies and interventions demand structural obstacles and inequality are addressed in the context of the spill-over from the Apartheid era. Notably, it will be concluded that there are long-term benefits of reframing the problem of gangsterism in the Western Cape as 'a youth-at-risk-crisis' with specific attention gender-sensitivity to contribute to local peacebuilding by focusing on youth to exert agency and become empowered in pursuit of individual and community resilience and active citizenry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Global South, community emergency transport systems (CETS) are typically in response to inadequate National Ambulance Services and a poor transport network, particularly in rural areas. In Ghana, CETS have emerged some communities under the auspices of the Community-based Health Planning Services program. We explored the enablers and barriers to the success of CETS in the Upper West Region. The results show that among others, effective leadership, acceptance of risk-pooling and community cohesion enabled success. Key barriers included community level conflicts and lack of resources. In poor resource context, CETS could be up-scaled to supplement an existing ambulance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, the South African government abolished and amalgamated several poor-performing municipalities to improve service delivery to the people. Modimolle and Mookgophong local municipalities were among those that were amalgamated to improve service delivery in the Modimolle-Mookgophong precinct. However, more than a decade after the amalgamation, Modimolle-Mookgophong municipality continues to experience service delivery challenges. Hence, this study examines the factors that lead to poor service delivery in the municipality. A qualitative (subjectivist) research approach was adopted, with primary data collected through in-depth personal interviews with purposively selected respondents. As such, a non-probability judgment sampling technique was used to select a sample of eight (8) respondents from a population of the entire management and employees of Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality. The evidence gathered indicates that service delivery in Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality is impacted by the structure, resources, and capacity of the municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess the magnitude of, and changes in, absolute and relative oral health inequality in Canada and the United States, from the 1970s till the first decade of the new millennium. Methods: Data were obtained from four national surveys; two Canadian (NCNS 1970–1972 and CHMS 2007–2009) and two American (HANES 1971–1974 and NHANES 2007–2008). The slope and relative index of inequality were used to measure absolute and relative inequality, respectively. Percentage change in inequality was also calculated. Results: Relative inequality for untreated decay increased by 91% in Canada and 189% in the United States, while for filled teeth it declined by 63% in Canada and 16% in the United States. Relative inequality in edentulism rose by 200% and 78% in Canada and United States, respectively. Absolute inequality declined in both countries. Conclusions: There was persistent absolute and relative inequality in Canada and the United States. An increase in relative inequality for adverse outcomes suggests that improvements in oral health were occurring primarily among the rich, while reductions in relative inequality for filled teeth indicate higher utilization of restorative services among the poor. These results point to the necessity of tackling the sociopolitical determinants of health to mitigate oral health inequality in Canada and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revue du Financier is the property of Societe Cybel and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The core of this article is a detailed investigation of the dispute resolution system contained within Darkode, an elite cybercriminal forum. Extracting the dedicated disputes section from within the marketplace, where users can report bad behavior and register complaints, we carry out content analysis on these threads. This involves both descriptive statistics across the data set and qualitative analysis of particular posts of interest, leading to a number of new insights. First, the overall level of disputes is quite high, even though members are vetted for entry in the first instance. Second, the lower ranked members of the marketplace are the most highly represented category for both the plaintiffs and defendants. Third, vendors are accused of malfeasance far more often than buyers, and their "crimes" are most commonly either not providing the product/service or providing a poor one. Fourth, the monetary size of the disputes is surprisingly small. Finally, only 23.1% of disputes reach a clear outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indigenous Autonomous University of Mexico, located in Sinaloa, receives indigenous students from all the states of the republic, it has a student dormitory and a dining room free for them. At UAIM students have access to library services and computer centers, in addition to wireless internet, so they do not have connectivity problems. However, when confinement began and they retired to their homes, the complete lack of connectivity for some was evident, because there is no internet service nearby or poor service. The objective of this article is to identify the main difficulties faced by students according to the teachers to maintain quality education in the virtual classrooms and propose possible strategies to replace content for the return. face-to-face. This essay was done through the biographical narrative methodology with a report on the experiences of 8 professors of the Law degree at the Autonomous Indigenous University of Mexico who for two years worked in the Classroom at Home with their students, their strategies and frustrations to complete course after course. Monthly reports issued by the Coordination of the school were consulted. It is concluded that a great effort was made by all the actors involved for the preparation of the students, however, the distance, the times and the deficiencies, but above all the lack of formal preparation of the teachers in the use of the educational platforms, but above all due to the extreme flexibility during the pandemic, the quality decreased a lot and did not allow more than 80% of the expected learning to be achieved among students and that as teachers they must be aware of it, but above all do it know the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experiences of care and relief for paupers deemed lunatics, idiots and imbeciles during the initial decades of the New Poor Law. Analysis focusses on two Lincolnshire Poor Law Unions (the Sleaford and Lincoln) and is structured around three loci of care: the parish, the asylum and the workhouse. Although the parish continued to be the primary locus of care throughout the early New Poor Law period, this article notes a growing willingness to admit paupers into asylums as the 1830 s and 1840 s progressed. Indeed, the geography of asylum provision within the unions of study became increasingly non-local through the use of institutions outside of Lincolnshire during the 1840 s. Similarly, the institutional experience of the union workhouse is stressed, particularly for paupers deemed idiots and imbeciles who were often inmates for decades. Such mirrored local practice pre-1834, with the unions of study continuing to utilise a developed Old Poor Law workhouse infrastructure to provide in-door relief in the transitional period between unionisation in 1836 and the opening of union workhouses in 1838. However, institutional care generally sat against previous experiences of support within the parish and was often only sought due to the ability or inclination of families to provide for mentally ill and cognitively disabled relatives. Here, individual life cycles of support could permeate differing loci of care, showing that binary designations of institutional versus non-institutional relief often simplify the complexity of holistic lived experience. An emphasis on life cycles of support has also highlighted a demographic continuity in receipt between the Old and New Poor Laws, with many paupers deemed lunatics, idiots and imbeciles receiving relief before and after 1834. Moreover, evidence suggests that those labelled as pauper lunatics, idiots and imbeciles were far from passive, demonstrating opinions on relief offered and received albeit with the potential for agency often constrained due to their categorisation. As such, this article has tried to place pauper voice at its centre, examining how poor law relief recipients categorised as lunatics, idiots and imbeciles traversed support options during the early New Poor Law period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]