Does Financial Inclusion Diminish Poverty and Inequality? A Panel Data Analysis for Latin American Countries

Despite great developmental efforts in recent decades, Latin America still presents high levels of poverty and inequality when compared to developed nations. As explored widely in the literature, one potential instrument to diminish these issues is financial inclusion, including the access and usage of financial services by all people. Specifically, this paper verifies if financial inclusion and technology adoption decrease the poverty headcount ratio and the Gini index (i.e., inequality) of 13 Latin America countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay). To perform such analysis, an unbalanced panel dataset was built, and the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and the Limited Information Maximum Likelihood (LIML) techniques were employed. The results suggest that, in accordance with previous studies, financial inclusion is a powerful tool to tackle poverty and inequality. Additionally, the combined effects of financial inclusions and technology (i.e., mobile use) are also capable of decreasing the poverty and inequality levels. We discuss the policy implications of our findings and suggest a future research agenda.

     

"Eurokid": An innovative pedagogical approach to developing intercultural and anti-racist education on the Web

Most schools in today's Europe have a high percentage of immigrant students. This percentage has increased in typical immigration countries such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, France and the UK. However, this is also true for countries such as Sweden or Spain. Aware of this multicultural picture, in this paper we present the methodological approach of a European Comenius project, "Eurokid", based on the template "Britkid" (see www.britkid.org), which addresses intercultural education and anti-racism. Three countries are involved in the project: the UK, Sweden and Spain. The project is an educational and innovative tool and a learning and teaching resource for students and teachers in secondary schools. How? Through websites where a group of adolescents (minorities and majorities) "meet" and "talk" about issues of acceptance, difference, racism, mixed cultures, (multiple) identitie, and integration. Their "talks" in the three websites--written in each country's language(s) and in English--as well as the characters, are based on original research (via interviews and questionnaires). The project's objectives, content, pedagogical approaches and authentic classroom material, created to facilitate and promote dialogue among minorities and majorities, form the basis of this paper.     

An Analysis of the Eco‐Efficiency of Remanufactured Personal Computers and Mobile Phones

Remanufacturing, long perceived as an environmentally friendly initiative, is supported by a number of governments. Yet, the assumption that remanufacturing is desirable to society has never been systematically investigated. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness and eco‐efficiency of remanufacturing in the personal computer and mobile phone industries. We investigate whether remanufacturing substantially reduces the environmental impact, as measured by cumulative energy demand (CED), generated over the life cycles (LCs) of these products, and the size of any reduction. We also examine the relative eco‐efficiency of remanufacturing compared with virgin manufacturing for these two products, where eco‐efficiency includes both willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for the products as well as the energy consumed in producing the products. Our main findings are the following. One, remanufacturing is an effective way to reduce the total energy consumed during the LCs of personal computers and mobile phones, with one notable exception, when the life spans of remanufactured products are substantially shorter than the life spans of their new counterparts. Two, a remanufactured personal computer or mobile phone is not always more eco‐efficient than a corresponding new product. Three, the WTP for remanufactured personal computers and mobile phones, and consequently, their eco‐efficiencies, are a function of the prices of the correspondent new products at launch and years elapsed between launch and remanufacturing. Four, remanufactured units are sold at a discount relative to the price of new personal computers and mobile phones. Five, on the whole, the market for remanufactured mobile phones is more eco‐efficient than the market for new mobile phones. Six, the market for remanufactured computers is more eco‐efficient than the market for new computers. Lastly, because the group of remanufactured products is heterogeneous, not all remanufactured units are more eco‐efficient than the average new computer and mobile phone. We conclude with a discussion of the impact of our findings on European WEEE and WEEE‐like legislation.     

Gender and Psychological Correlates of Self-rated Strengths Among Youth

Research on virtues and character strengths has increased over the last decade. A total of 283 young participants from Portugal completed a measure of character strengths (Furnham and Lester in Eur J Psychol Assess 28:95–101, 2012) grounded on the values in action inventory of strengths (Peterson and Seligman in Character strengths and virtues: a handbook of classification, APA Press, Washington, DC, 2004). Participants also completed well-being measures, and a Big Five personality trait measure. The study examined the factor structure of self-assessed character strengths as well as demographic (particularly gender), well-being and personality correlates of the virtues which are the “higher order” classification of the strengths. Our results provided evidence for a four-dimensional model, though somewhat different from the theoretical formulation. Females typically scored higher on character strengths than males. Regressions investigating demographic, well-being and personality determinants of these strengths evidenced personality factors (particularly openness and agreeableness) were always most powerful predictors of the self-reported strengths than demographic and well-being measures. Limitations of the research are discussed and directions for future investigation are suggested.