Does Relationship Lending Still Matter in the Consumer Banking Sector? Evidence from the Automobile Loan Market*

Objective. This article examines the role of relationship lending in the automobile loan market at a community development credit union (CDCU) and at a traditional community bank. Method. Data collected from actual car loan applications are used in a probit analysis to estimate the importance of selected demographic, financial, and loan‐specific variables on the probability of loan approval at the two types of financial institutions. Results. We first show that the community bank relies on credit scoring, not relationship lending. Relationship lending is, however, a critical factor in the loan decision at the CDCU. Low‐income households with strong ties to the CDCU are likely to receive loans, despite poor credit histories. Conclusions. If consolidation, deregulation, and technology move mainstream financial institutions away from relationship lending and toward credit scoring, CDCUs will occupy an increasingly critical niche for low‐income households.     

Gender and the credit rationing of small businesses

Rapid small business ownership growth rates among women have motivated research on issues related to gender and small business performance. The importance of credit access for the success of small businesses, as well as evidence that women have less access to credit than male business owners, has led researchers to explore the reasons for this. In this paper, we estimate a model of credit rationing by gender of the business owner. Our results are consistent with previous studies that find higher loan denial rates and lower loan application rates among women compared with men. Testing the robustness of the results we find that women seem to be rationing themselves in the credit market rather than being discriminated against by banks. Reasons for this self-rationing behavior are an important topic for further research.     

Financial access and household’s borrowing: Policy perspectives of an emerging economy

This paper analyzes access to finance based on the usage of financial services by Indian households. Based on two rounds of nationally representative All India Debt and Investment Survey (AIDIS) for 2002 and 2012, we examine how access to credit is associated with a household's socioeconomic and demographic characteristics using Heckman’s two-step approach procedure. Our results show that belonging to higher asset quintile groups has a statistically significant positive effect on the household's decision to take loans only from the formal sector in both rounds and significant negative effects on taking a loan only from the informal sector. Similarly, social and religious groups play a significant role in the decision of the household to take a loan. Households with more educated adults are more likely to take a loan. Households involved in regular wage-earning occupations in urban areas are more likely to take a loan from formal sources. Thus, the importance of policy placing greater emphasis on demand-side barriers rather than on improving the physical availability of formal financial services to promote financial inclusion in India.     

Economic Determinants of Voting in an Era of Union Decline*

Objective. The objective of this article is to test competing hypotheses regarding union vote effects by economic sector. Overlooked in existing research on political participation and the labor movement is de‐unionization's sectoral dimension: declining union rolls is a private‐sector phenomenon. The sectoral dimension of union decline carries important political consequences if the influence of unions on voter turnout varies by sector. Method. Using Current Population Survey (CPS) November Voting and Registration Supplements for all national elections between 1984 and 2006, I estimate union vote effects for public‐ and private‐sector employees. Results. The results of the analyses reveal that while union members continue to vote at higher rates than otherwise similar nonmembers, the union effect is nearly three times as large for private‐sector members: private‐sector unionists have a predicted probability of voting 6.7 points higher than nonmembers, while public‐sector members have a predicted probability of voting only 2.4 points higher than nonmembers. Conclusions. Given the small fraction of private‐sector workers now in labor unions, recent fluctuations in the unionization rate have little aggregate affect on turnout. Given that private‐sector union members tend to be less educated and earn less than their public‐sector counterparts, the near disappearance of private‐sector unions from the economic landscape removes an important institutional buffer against political inequality in the United States.     

Trade unions and the elderly population: is retirement still linked to the sphere of work?

Although trade unions focus on the labor force, they are important for the retirees as well. In Germany there are three main reasons for this importance. 1) Quite unintentionally, the unions - with 1.7 million retired members - have become one of the largest old-age organizations, 2) In a corporatist work and welfare regime such as Germany, the unions are one of the key actors not only in labor market policy but also in social policy, including the generational contract of old-age security. 3) The unions potentially link the retirees to the sphere of work, and thus to the concerns and conflicts of the work society. In an aging society, the saliency of such a link between work and retirement is increasing. On the one hand, with their active membership decreasing, unions are compelled to turn also to those who have retired from work to maintain their organizational strength. On the other hand, the retirees have a greater interest in union activity. By calling for a larger share in union affairs, they present the unions with an organizational dilemma. This article discusses the practice and potential of the link between unions and their older members from both perspectives: from that of the unions and their interest in the retirees and from that of the retirees and their interest in maintaining membership. Our empirical basis is a multi-level study of unions and old-age politics in Germany, including some steps towards comparison with other European countries. The study focuses on the German Metal Workers' Union - with its 3 million members the biggest single trade union not only in Germany but in all the Western world. After introducing our approach, we follow the three points outlined above. We begin by examining the evolution of the membership share of retirees in the unions. Secondly, we discuss the role of the unions in the corporatist system, especially with respect to policies concerning the elderly population. The third point, the link between retirement and the work sphere, is treated by first looking at the organizational supply of union activities for the elderly population, and then at the demand by elderly members. Finally, we briefly address the possible directions for the future, especially with regard to models of organizational representation.     

‘In a perfect world it would be great if they didn't exist’: How Australians experience payday loans

In the last few decades, payday lending has mushroomed in many developed countries. The arguments for and against an industry which provides small, short‐term loans at very high interest rates have also blossomed. This article presents findings from an Australian study to contribute to the international policy and practice debate about a sector which orients to those on a low income. At the heart of this debate lies a conundrum: Borrowing from payday lenders exacerbates poverty, yet many low‐income households rely on these loans. We argue that the key problem is the restricted framework within which the debate currently oscillates. Key Practitioner Message: ● Framing payday borrowing as a problem of market failure leads to one‐sided and ineffective regulatory responses; ● Until governments instigate real alternatives for cheap and readily available credit, and broader anti‐poverty measures, curbing access to payday lenders can have the perverse effect of increasing privation; ● For practitioners seeking to abolish payday lending, campaigns for higher wages and a liveable social welfare income are central.     

论区域高等教育一体化与学分互换制度

学分互换是建设高教强省和区域高等教育一体化的内在要求。江苏高校已通过组建或参与教学共同体、大学联盟等形式开展学分互换的合作,但整体上还处于学分互换的起步和摸索阶段。加强学分互换制度建设应坚持完善学分制改革与推动学分互换并行不悖,坚持高校＂自下而上＂的自主探索和政府＂自上而下＂的积极介入并驾齐驱,坚持组织建设、技术建设和利益协调机制建设多管齐下。     

The Higher Education White Paper: The Good,the Bad,the Unspeakable – and the Next White Paper1

This article argues that reforms of higher education finance for undergraduates in England introduced by the Blair government in 2006 provided a progressive strategy for achieving the central objectives of higher education of quality (better), access (wider) and size (larger). Reforms in 2012 are a not a strategy but a collection of ad hoc arrangements. They include the good (a higher fees cap, a higher interest rate on student loans, better information and improved support for part‐time study), the bad (abolishing most taxpayer support for teaching in the arts and humanities and the social sciences, and raising excessively the threshold at which loan repayments start) and the unspeakable (abolishing Education Maintenance Allowances and AimHigher). The reforms are fiscally costly and hence perpetuate the central problem of capped student numbers, and will not stand the test of time. The concluding section outlines the next White Paper.     

Credit Unions: A Partial Solution to the Consumer Credit Problems of Low Income Families

An anomaly of Australia's economic system is that those who can least afford to pay dearly for consumer credit (low income families), are the ones who must pay more. It is suggested that a partial solution to the consumer credit problems of low income families lies in the use of credit unions. This paper examines the consumer credit problems of such families, illustrates how credit unions function and indicates where they may be useful in providing cheap credit to low income families.     

世界贸易组织与中国金融

金融是市场经济的中枢神经,是资本运营的核心.中国的金融体制源于计划模式,资源配置主要靠财政,不是银行.在体制转轨中,面临着艰巨的改革任务.在金融实务领域,存在着五大观念误区银行只能国家专办;国有银行只能给国有企业贷款;贷款必须提供实物硬件抵押;不是积极"寻贷",而是消极"惜贷";只是单纯放贷,不是兼顾投资.面向WTO,中国金融的发展走向是重新构筑金融体系;鼓励发展民营银行;实行国有银行的股份化改造,促进金融市场的深化;扩大金融市场的开放,尽快和国际接轨.     

Student budgets and widening participation: Comparative experiences of finance in low and higher income undergraduates at a northern red brick university

Drawing on a thematic analysis of longitudinal qualitative data (n_total = 118), this article takes a “whole student lifecycle” approach to examine how lower and higher income students at an English northern red brick university variously attempted to manage their individual budgets. It explores how students reconcile their income—in the form of loans, grants, and bursaries—with the cost of living. Four arenas of interest are described: planning, budgeting, and managing “the student loan”; disruptions to financial planning; the role of familial support; and strategies of augmenting the budget. In detailing the micro‐level constraints on the individual budgets of lower and higher income undergraduates, the article highlights the importance of non‐repayable grants and bursaries in helping to sustain meaningful participation in higher tariff, more selective, higher education institutions. It also supports an emerging body of literature that suggests that the continuing amendments to the system of funding higher education in England are unlikely to address inequality of access, participation, and outcome.     

我国利率市场化对经济生活影响的实证分析

在我国传统的经济生活中,利率是很稳定的因素,它不是根据市场调节的,所以对经济的影响并不明显。随着市场经济的完善,我国逐步实施稳健的货币政策,并以利率为操作工具对存贷款利息进行了多次调整,其作用程度也随之体现出来。为此中国人民银行提出利率市场化改革的总体思路,针对新形势下对利率的作用规律认识的要求,将中国改革开放以来的有关利率作用的规律进行实证分析。首先,全社会的金融化进程与真实利率之间正相关关系;其次,中国转轨经济时期利率对物价、M2、贷款等经济指标作用的改变;最后,将利率的直接作用与间接作用综合考虑形成对经济总量的影响分析。     

Interest rate pass-through in the Euro area during the financial crisis: A multivariate regime-switching approach

In this paper we use a Markov-switching vector autoregressive model to analyse the interest rate pass-through between interbank and retail bank rates in the Euro area. Empirical results, based on monthly data for the period 2003–2011, show that during periods of financial distress bank lending rates to both households and non-financial corporations show a reduction of their degree of pass-through from the money market rate. Significant sectoral heterogeneities characterise the transmission mechanism of monetary policy impulses, with rates on loans to non-financial firms being more affected by changes in the interbank rate than loans to households, both in times of high volatility and in normal market conditions.     

The health insurance market,labor unions,and utilization of cancer screening

The present study examines the effect of labor market characteristics, especially labor unions, on the use of two representative cancer screening services, namely the mammogram and the Pap smear, given the level of competition in the health insurance market. The role of labor unions is illustrated by means of estimated probabilities based on regression results that consider, for the first time, both health insurance and labor market variables in the same model by employing a multilevel analysis, a technique not previously used in prevention studies. The results suggest that competition among health insurance plans may actually reduce the use of preventive care whereas union membership may mitigate such negative impacts.     

电网公司委托贷款财务风险预警模型的构建与应用

委托贷款财务风险控制是电网公司面临的一项重要课题。文章以县级电网子公司为贷款对象,通过改进传统的Z分数模型,运用因子分析等方法构建电网公司委托贷款财务风险的预警模型,并试图通过一个示范性案例说明模型的具体应用并验证模型的可行性。研究表明：电网公司委托贷款财务风险预警模型是可构建的,且所构建的模型具有可操作性,对提升电网公司委托贷款财务风险管理水平具有实用价值。     

浅析抗日时期国民政府的西北农业贷款之作用

抗日时期,由于东部省份的不断沦陷,迫于军粮民食的巨大压力,国民政府在对西北农业开发问题上投入了相当的关注,尤其是在发放农业贷款支持农业生产方面做了大量的工作。抗日时期国民政府对西北农业贷款的主要政策有对农村金融的重视及农贷政策的制订;农业金融网络的建立;农贷的有力执行。     

全球化背景下的印度工会

全球化时代印度的工会发生了多层面的转变。传统工会衰落,新型工会出现,但传统工会仍然占主导地位;工会总体数目继续增长,但大多数工会的规模不如从前;众多无组织的下层群体特别是女工开始更多地组织和参加工会;工会的领导人由以前严重的外部化转为内部化;工会的职能由相对单一化转向多元化。1980年以来印度工会的效能一直低下,工会运转中存在严重的团队管理问题。统一的团结合作仍然是印度工会面临的最艰巨挑战。     

Microfinance, the Labour Market and Social Inclusion: A Tale of Three Cities

Great hopes have been held out for microfinance and other community development finance institutions (CDFIs) in industrialized countries as an instrument of “financially sustainable welfare provision”, following on from their success in many developing countries. Using interview data drawn from an exploratory sample of 45 clients, this paper examines the social and economic impact of three microfinance institutions in Glasgow, Sheffield and Belfast. The tentative conclusion is that most loans we examined do hit the target of the “financially excluded but bankable”, and exert an impact on poverty and social exclusion through the labour market and through helping to build social networks which reduce interpersonal risk. Our initial estimate is that each loan studied here was responsible for about 0.67 exits from unemployment over the two years 2000–2. If this ratio holds good outside the sample (and we emphasize the limitations of small sample size), this could mean that in the absence of microfinance services, the national unemployment total would be higher by some 2.4 per cent (or 22,000 individuals). The loans we have examined also save about £0.4 million on what would otherwise have been social security payments; grossed up again to all microfinance organizations, this implies an annual saving of about £250 million (1.4 per cent) on the total social security budget. However, to achieve this optimal impact microfinance institutions need to diversify their product: for example by switching from business loans into consumption loans, micro‐insurance, and equity, particularly in the rehabilitation of run‐down council estates.     

Assessing the Participation of Women in Microfinance Institutions: Evidence From a Multinational Study

ABSTRACT

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) typically offer small credit services with no collateral to low-income clients, particularly women microentrepreneurs. Evidence suggests that microcredit services are an effective tool for the social and financial empowerment of women and have a significant impact on maternal health, children's education, and sustainable economic growth. With multiple financial institutions offering various microfinance services, women's participation as borrowers has changed. We examine the variation in women borrowers’ participation rates in 105 developing countries by analyzing participation rates using selected determinants such as legal status, outreach, external control, and target clients. Results indicate a preference for unregulated MFIs, particularly nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which suggests that in spite of the advent of formal financial institutions, women in developing countries are more likely to seek loans from grassroots MFIs. However, with more commercial banks offering microcredit and microsavings with a preference for borrowers with assets, women could be left behind. This raises important questions regarding the objectives of microfinance services and empowerment of women. Future studies should examine the impact of transformations of NGO MFIs on low-income women clients.     

浅析在强制性制度变迁中艰难前行的农村信用社改革

我国农村信用社在政府主导的强制性制度变迁中不断异化,导致产权不明、管理不顺、经营艰难、风险严重。我国农村信用社改革应遵循诱致性制度变迁的发展规律,改革的关键是理顺管理体制和明晰产权关系,绝大部分农村信用社改革应选择按合作制原则进行规范。