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This article explores the contours of debt and labor in the early twentieth-century Persian Gulf pearl dive. It examines the barwa , a declaration exchanged by nakhoda s (dhow captains) about the amounts that divers owed and the terms by which they might be hired out. By looking both through and at the barwa, we find a window into the Indian Ocean maritime bazaar, and into the artifacts through which mobile and itinerant laborers were bound to the dhow and its captain. Maritime actors used these papers to navigate the boundary between person and property, and between free and unfree, all within a changing commercial and legal world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally admitted that a relationship exists between financial system development and economic growth, although the nexus between these two is complex. Due to the advancement of technology, P2P lending has become a growing industry in Indonesia as an alternative credit different from a conventional bank, which also might contribute to fostering economic growth. This paper's purpose is to analyze the contribution of P2P lending to Product Domestic Regional Bruto (PDRB) in 5 provinces in Java, which are Banten, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, DI Yogyakarta, and East Java, using fixed effect panel regressions from Q1-2020 to Q2-2022 period. This paper finds a significant and positive impact of P2P lending on real PDRB growth, with a 0,0754% magnitude. Although there is a positive impact, many challenges still need to be overcome in the P2P lending industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Credit is an essential element in the production process in agriculture. There are two sources from which farm households can access credit: institutional sources and non-institutional or informal sources of credit. The informal sources of credit, such as moneylenders, charge exorbitant rates of interest, which further puts a financial burden on the farmers. Hence, to increase the flow of credit from institutional sources, a policy known as the interest subvention scheme (ISS) was introduced in the year 2006. This paper aims to find the effect of the ISS on the behaviour of farm households. Design/methodology/approach: The author has used difference-in-difference analysis for estimation. In the analysis, the author has taken Madhya Pradesh as the treatment state and Andhra Pradesh as the controlled state. The author has used the Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) dataset of ICRISAT for analysis. The author has used data from 2009 to 2014 for the two states. Findings: The author has found that the difference between the average interest rate of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is significant for both pre-treatment and post-treatment periods and this gap has increased after the intervention period. The results suggest that the share of informal sector borrowings has reduced in the treatment group (Madhya Pradesh) as compared to the control group (Andhra Pradesh) in the post-treatment period. Originality/value: This paper is particularly important because of the dearth of literature on the impact of this scheme in India and may shed light on the much-needed policy implications of this particular policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centralized networks inevitably exhibit single points of failure that malicious actors regularly target. Decentralized networks are more resilient if numerous participants contribute to the network's functionality. Most decentralized networks employ incentive mechanisms to coordinate the participation and cooperation of peers and thereby ensure the functionality and security of the network. This article systematically reviews incentive mechanisms for decentralized networks and networked systems by covering 165 prior literature reviews and 178 primary research papers published between 1993 and October 2022. Of the considered sources, we analyze 11 literature reviews and 105 primary research papers in detail by categorizing and comparing the distinctive properties of the presented incentive mechanisms. The reviewed incentive mechanisms establish fairness and reward participation and cooperative behavior. We review work that substitutes central authority through independent and subjective mechanisms run in isolation at each participating peer and work that applies multiparty computation. We use monetary, reputation, and service rewards as categories to differentiate the implementations and evaluate each incentive mechanism's data management, attack resistance, and contribution model. Further, we highlight research gaps and deficiencies in reproducibility and comparability. Finally, we summarize our assessments and provide recommendations to apply incentive mechanisms to decentralized networks that share computational resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature shows that a ban on child labour may be self-enforcing under the extreme assumption that, above the subsistence level, no amount of consumption can compensate parents for the disutility of child labour. The present paper shows that a partial ban may be self-enforcing also in a more general model where education is an alternative to work, and the disutility of child labour can be compensated by higher present consumption or future income, but a total ban may not. It also shows that, in the absence of informational asymmetries, child labour can be eliminated and a first best achieved if the ban is combined with a credit-backed policy including a subsidy to parents, and a tax on skilled adults. A first best is out of reach if the use children make of their time when they are neither at school, nor working in the labour market is private information, because the policy maker then faces an incentive-compatibility constraint. The second-best policy reduces child labour, but not to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the impact of a program providing classroom and on-the-job entrepreneurship training followed by the provision of a loan to disadvantaged youth. We find that the program increases employment by seven percentage points and income by 21 per cent. The impact is larger for women than men. Furthermore, the results demonstrate an increase in the propensity to save by 17 percentage points with an increase in both the amount of loan taken and outstanding. Nevertheless, the effect of the training component of the program shows no statistically significant impact on income and hours worked. However, the additional impact of the loan component is notable, increasing hours worked as well as earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under neoliberal social provision, debt has become a primary tool for US households to pursue economic mobility and manage risk. Borrowing supports financial and non‐financial investments that, in theory, should lead to lifetime income and asset gains from which debt can be repaid. Many scholars argue, however, that reliance on credit as a welfare tool significantly increases inequality, particularly along racial lines. In this paper, I examine this process of debt‐financed asset accumulation by analyzing racial disparities in the relationship between household debt and assets. Using Survey of Consumer Finances data, I examine disparities in assets held at given debt levels across Black and White households. Results indicate that at equal debt levels, Black households' assets are between 30% and 80% lower than those of comparable White households. This suggests that White households benefit considerably more from social policies that center borrowing as a mechanism of social provision. This likely contributes to the persistence of the racial wealth gap. Racial disparities in access to credit, to homeownership, and to non‐market financial transfers like inheritances partly explain White households' higher returns, but racial gaps remain even when accounting for these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between farm size and productivity has been a topic of interest in agricultural research for decades due to the significance of agriculture in rural economies and its potential to reduce poverty and promote inclusive growth. The relationship between farm size and productivity is influenced by factors such as the type of crop being produced, costs of cultivation, farm management practices, access to inputs and markets and socio-economic conditions. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between farm size and productivity in the context of farming households, their cost of cultivation and the types of crops they produce. Using the Cobb–Douglas production function, the present study estimates the regression function for principal crops such as cotton and paddy in the study area. The findings reveal strong evidence of an inverse relationship between farm size and productivity, indicating that small and marginal farmers are more productive in wetland cultivation (paddy). In contrast, medium and large farmers are more productive in dry land cultivation (cotton). The paper also investigates the availability and accessibility of credit facilities for different farm sizes. It concludes that small and marginal farmers depend mainly on non-institutional credit agencies compared to medium and large farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents books written by authors with a emphasis on the culture of public credit while excoriating it in favor of the landed interest. "The Discourse of the Sublime: Readings in History, Aesthetics and the Subject," by Peter De Bolla; "Writings and the Rise of Finance: Capital Satires of the Early Eighteenth Century," by Colin Nicholson; "Models of Value: Eighteenth-Century Political Economy and the Novel," by James Thompson.

Authorship disputes may arise in the academic world in the student-supervisor relationship. Questions such as "Should the supervisor be directly added as an author to a paper based on the thesis?", "Should the student or the supervisor be the first author in the article?", " Should the order of authorship be determined by academic title if there are more than one author?" or similar questions may arise in the student-supervisor relationship, even if they are not spoken aloud. Author refers to the person or persons who have "contributed to the creation of the study at a level that deserves the title of authorship". Therefore, in the article, only those who have contributed enough to deserve the authorship should be indicated as authors. The ranking of authors should be ordered from the highest to the lowest according to the "contribution rate" of those who have contributed enough to deserve the title of authorship. This ranking should not be changed by considering the authors' administrative or academic titles. "How will it be determined whether a "contribution at a level that merits authorship" has been made? This question has been answered by CRediT: Contributor Roles Taxonomy. CRediT is a taxonomy that includes 14 types of contributions used to identify the roles played by contributors to research and publication. These contribution types are listed as; "Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing". Each of these contributions represents the labour of the contributor. To be recognized as an author, it is necessary to have contributed in at least three of these roles. The contribution rate of the authors in the studies can be scored under the titles of "Conceptualization (CRediT 1), Data Curation (CRediT 2), Research - Formal Analysis - Validation (CRediT 3-4-6-11), Writing – Original Draft (CRediT 12-13) and Review & Editing (CRediT 14)" as recommended in the ISNAD Citation System. The Funding acquisition (CRediT 5) provided for the study must also be mentioned in the text. Persons or institutions that have not contributed to the study at a level that deserves authorship are thanked by indicating their names. If the authors have used artificial intelligence-supported technologies in the preparation of the study, it would also be useful to indicate how they used these technologies. The criteria for their use are currently being debated all over the world. To prevent such disputes, it is important to determine unambiguous authorship criteria. For this purpose, the title "Capturing Author Contributions" will be added to the third edition of the ISNAD Citation Style to be published in 2024. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fair assignment of credit for multi-authored publications is a long-standing issue in scientometrics. In the calculation of the h -index, for instance, all co-authors receive equal credit for a given publication, independent of a given author's contribution to the work or of the total number of co-authors. Several attempts have been made to distribute the credit in a more appropriate manner. In a recent paper, Hirsch has suggested a new way of credit assignment that is fundamentally different from the previous ones: All credit for a multi-author paper goes to a single author, the called " α -author", defined as the person with the highest current h -index (not the highest h -index at the time of the paper's publication) (Hirsch, 2019). The collection of papers this author has received credit for as α -author is then used to calculate a new index, h α , following the same recipe as for the usual h index. The objective of this new assignment is not a fairer distribution of credit, but rather the determination of an altogether different property, the degree of a person's scientific leadership. We show that given the complex time dependence of h for individual scientists, the approach of using the current h value instead of the historic one is problematic, and we argue that it would be feasible to determine the α -author at the time of the paper's publication instead. On the other hand, there are other practical considerations that make the calculation of the proposed h α very difficult. As an alternative, we explore other ways of crediting papers to a single author in order to test early career achievement or scientific leadership. • The time-dependent evolution of the h-index in a large set of individual scientists is investigated. • The presented data allows to identify the α -author at the time of publication rather than at the present time. • We suggest h-index variants emphasizing early career success and later achievements appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the behavior of Ecuadorian private banking during the period 2000-2021, using aggregate information on trends in the banking sector and accounting data for the main banks. Based on a heterodox theoreticalhistorical approach, we highlight the link between the neoliberal structural reforms, the banking crisis, dollarization and the transformations of the banking sector. The results highlight the fact that the operation of the Ecuadorian banking system under formal dollarization not only recreates well-known elements of former financial fragility but also introduces new variables typical of the 21st-century banking universe that are a source of instability and hinder the financing objectives for the socio-economic development of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relation between economic elites and the Colombian State regarding development credit policy. Specifically, it delves into the period between 1958 and 1974 and studies some forms of state capture during this developmental stage, as well as the ways in which elites defined or influenced the orientation of credit policy. The case study shows that the Central Bank experienced capture in the first stage and went on to acquire greater autonomy with respect to these elites. It is argued that this depended on two central factors: on the one hand, the level of dependence of the bureaucracies on the economic elites; and, on the other hand, the relational process of the State with the social groups involved in this policy. Based on the methodology of network analysis framed in a comparative historical approach associated with the high bureaucracies in the Banco de la República and the interactions of the trade associations (as organized representatives of the economic elites) with the State, it is shown how the relationship between elites and the State impacted the specific policy of development credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consensus algorithm based on credit has significant advantages in consensus efficiency and security, which has received great attention from academy and industry in recent years. This paper made a comparative analysis of the current consensus algorithms based on credit to provide reference for researchers to study in depth. Firstly, this paper systematically reviewed the state-of-the-art consensus algorithms based on credit, gave its development history, classification and core working principle, and summarized its credit calculation model and performance evaluation indicators. Secondly, it analyzed the creditbased consensus algorithms qualitatively and quantitatively, and pointed out their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, aiming at the problems of insufficient credit incentive and low integration with the consensus process in the state-of-the-art consensus algorithms, this paper proposed to optimize from the credit incentive based on game theory and designing efficient communication topology, and gave the future research direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the force of automation and its contradictions and resistances within (and beyond) the financial sector, with a specific focus on computational practices of credit-scoring and lending. It examines the operations and promotional discourses of fintech start-ups LendUp.com and Elevate.com that offer small loans to the sub-prime consumers in exchange for access to their online social media and mobile data, and Zest AI and LenddoEFL that sell automated decision-making tools to verify identity and assess risk. Reviewing their disciplinary reputational demands and impacts on users and communities, especially women and people of colour, the paper argues that the automated reimagination of credit and creditability disavows the formative design of its AI and redefines moral imperatives about character to align with the interests of digital capitalism. The economic, social and cultural crises precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic have only underscored the internal contradictions of these developments, and a variety of debt resistance initiatives have emerged, aligned with broader movements for social, economic, and climate justice around the globe. Cooperative lending circles such as the Mission Asset Fund, activist groups like #NotMyDebt, and Debt Collective, a radical debt abolition movement, are examples of collective attempts to rehumanize credit and debt and resist the appropriative practices of contemporary digital finance capitalism in general. Running the gamut from accommodationist to entirely radical, these experiments in mutual aid, debt refusal, and community-building provide us with roadmaps for challenging capitalism and re-thinking credit, debt, power, and personhood within and beyond the current crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a very interesting issue on the agrarian question in Ghana and the rest of Africa: constraints to accessing agricultural credit by small-scale oil palm processors. Such constraints may have implications for investment behaviour into small-scale agro processing activities. Two hundred and sixty four (264) small-scale oil palm processors selected randomly from 10 communities in the Kwaebibirem Municipality in the Eastern Region, Ghana, were interviewed using structured questionnaires. The quantitative data were further triangulated with results of in-depth interview sessions with the managers of two rural banks in the community. It emerged from the study that most of the respondents accessed loans through informal sources with personal savings being the most popular source. The results also showed that significant determinants of factors affecting access to credit by the processors were gender, marital status, guarantor and high interest rate. Accessibility to agricultural credit was constrained by such factors as collateral security, information on credit and literacy rate of clients. The arguments of this paper are very important for policies seeking to solve the issue of improved access to credit by small-scale agro processors in Ghana. The paper therefore makes a strong case for sustained education and awareness creation on credit access. It also calls for actors to unify their efforts through cooperative associations to derive maximum benefits of collective investment of group savings, and increase their chances of accessing formal agricultural credit facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an inventory system having trended demand comprising of a single manufacturer and single retailer for multi-items is considered. The manufacturer offers a credit period to the retailer to boost the demand in the market. The units in inventory are deteriorating and have a maximum lifetime. To increase the life of units in the model manufacturer invests in preservation technology. Our objective is to minimize the total cost of the players involved in a supply chain using the Stackelberg game approach. Numerical examples show how a joint decision is beneficiary to reducing the total cost of the supply chain. Managerial insights are provided using sensitivity analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of crisis, governments have strong incentives to influence banks' credit allocation because the survival of the economy depends on it. How do governments make banks 'play along'? This paper focuses on the state-guaranteed credit programs (SGCPs) that have been implemented to help firms survive the COVID-19 crisis. Governments' capacity to save the economy depends on banks' capacity to grant credit to struggling firms (which they would not be naturally inclined to do in the context of a global pandemic). All governments thus face the same challenge: How do they make sure that state-guaranteed loans reach their desired target and on what terms? Based on a comparative analysis of the elaboration and implementation of SGCPs in France and Germany, this paper shows that historically-rooted institutionalized modes of coordination between state and bank actors have largely shaped the terms of the SGCPs in these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revenue from the loans directly accounts for the majority of the bank's profit. Additionally, one of the key characteristics of the banking industry is the credit danger. The vaticination of credit defaulters is one of the delicate tasks for any bank, but by vaticinating the loan defaulters, the banks surely may reduce their loss by reducing its non-profit means so that recovery of approved loans can take place without any loss and it can play as the contributing parameter of the bank statement. This makes the study of this loan eligibility vaticination important. Machine learning ways are veritably pivotal and useful in the vaticination of these types of data. In order to save a lot of money and bank sweats, we attempt to lessen the threat element that drives people to choose the secure person in this paper. This is accomplished by mining the Big Data belonging to the previously loan issued individuals, and based on this data, machine learning models were taught to produce the most accurate results. This paper's main goal is to determine which machine algorithm performs best at predicting whether or not a person is qualified for a loan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the adoption of the ASI thresher technology by rice farmers in the Senegal River Valley increases their access to credit and their creditworthiness through various pathways. Mainly, this study seeks to verify the argument that the adoption of technologies that increase factor productivity and production capacity eventually leads to the ability (and desire) of adopters to borrow more due to enhanced operations and confidence in their ability to repay loans. This paper uses primary data collected from 194 adopters and nonadopters of the ASI thresher in the Senegal River Valley. Four propensity score matching techniques (nearest neighbour, calliper, stratification and kernel) were used to analyze the data and to remove the selection bias due to observable characteristics. The results from the four techniques consistently show that ASI rice thresher adopters borrowed more money (between 194,000 and 432,000 CFA) in comparison to their neighbours who had not adopted the ASI thresher. This study recommends that, in order to move rice system development closer to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, policymakers and other stakeholders should increase their proactive efforts to promote ASI adoption in Senegal and other rice-producing regions in Africa. The originality of this paper and its contribution to the literature mainly lie in the quantification of the credit farmers gained and the increase in their creditworthiness due to the adoption of a technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of the financial crisis of the 1930s on the path of aggregate output during that period. Our approach is complementary to that of Friedman and Schwartz, who emphasized the monetary impact of the bank failures; we focus on non-monetary (primarily credit-related) aspects of the financial sector-output link and consider the problems of debtors as well as those of the banking system. We argue that the financial disruptions of 1930-1933 reduced the efficiency of the credit allocation process; and that the resulting higher cost and reduced availability of credit acted to depress aggregate demand. Evidence suggests that effects of this type can help explain the unusual length and depth of the Great Depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing focus in aged care policy is supporting older people to age at home. However, there is little recognition of the health and independence of older private renters living in a space they do not own or control. This paper draws on in-depth interviews and assessments undertaken in the homes of 27 older tenants in the Brisbane environs aiming to understand how renting privately influenced their ability to meet their basic needs. An analysis of the findings highlights the disadvantage experienced by many older private renters. Most older private renters were unable to meet their basic needs given unaffordable rent whilst reliant on the aged pension. Further, with limited access to community aged care including home modifications, the health and independence of older private renters was found to be at risk. IMPLICATIONS Community aged care is difficult for older private renters to utilise in Australia, with unaffordable services and tenancy law limiting access to community aged care services including home modifications. It is vital social workers advocate for the community aged care needs of older private renters in practice and policy settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical and historical analysis of inflation in monetary production economies since World War II. It shows that the "Keynesian" interpretations of the Phillips curve trade-off and the monetarist interpretations of "inflationary expectations" and the natural rate of unemployment did not establish the proper causal relationship between credit and unemployment, and between costs and inflation. It was Hyman Minsky, an American economist, who - following Keynes' ideas and the bank endogenous currency approach - showed that it is the increase (or reduction) in credit that explains the reduction (increase) in unemployment. The resurgence of inflation today can be explained by a Kaleckian approach in which the reduction of productivity is the efficient cause of an inflation that can become persistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financialization of everyday life has received considerable attention since the 2008 global financial crisis. Financialization is thought to have created active financial subjects through the ability to participate in mainstream financial services. While the lived experience of these mainstream financial subjects has been the subject of close scrutiny, the experiences of financial subjects at the financial fringe have been rarely considered. In the UK, for example, the introduction of High-Cost, Short-Term Credit [HCSTC] or payday loan regulation was designed to protect vulnerable people from accessing unaffordable credit. Exploring the impact of HCSTC regulation is important due to the dramatic decline of the high-cost credit market which helped meet essential needs in an era of austerity. As such, the paper examines the impact of the HCSTC regulation on sixty-four financially marginalized individuals in the UK that are unable to access payday loans. First, we identify the range of socioeconomic strategies that individuals employ to manage their finances to create a typology of financial subjectivity at the financial fringe. Second, we demonstrate how the temporal and precarious nature of financial inclusion at the financial fringe adds nuance to existing debates of the everyday lived experience of financialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Authorship is the ultimate status of intellectual recognition in academic publishing. Although fairly robust guidelines have already been in place for a considerable amount of time regarding authorship criteria and credit, such as those by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors or Contributor Roles Taxonomy, the lack of reliable verification techniques hamper their accuracy, thereby reducing the validity of authorship claims in such statements. This paper aims to focus on the authorship status and responsibilities of co-first authors and co-corresponding authors. Design/methodology/approach: To appreciate authorship responsibilities in this subset of authors, the broader academic authorship literature, as well as position statements, rules and guidelines, were consulted. Findings: Academic publishing that relies on metrics is a global multi-billion-dollar business, so strict measures to assess and confirm authorship, which can be intellectually or financially "profitable" among academics that game such metrics, are needed. The current assessment is that there are inconsistent rules for equally credited authors such as co-first authors, co-corresponding authors and co-supervisors. In shared and collaborative authorship, there are also shared authorship-related responsibilities, but these are infrequently discussed, or tend to only be dealt with broadly. Originality/value: Within the wider, and important, discussion about authorship, which is one of the most central issues in academic publishing, there has been a limited focus on equally credited authors such as co-first authors, co-corresponding authors and co-supervisors. This paper expands and fortifies that discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore Joint couple payments under Universal Credit which tend to privilege male partners. This may entrap women in abusive relationships, foster poverty which are indicative of gendered structural abuse. Design/methodology/approach: Through a critical review of the literature and qualitative interviews with third sector support workers, the authors explore the impacts that Universal Credit has on women, especially those in abusive partnerships. Findings: Current welfare processes reinforce patriarchal assumptions and are indicative of the structural abuse of women. This has increased during the lockdowns imposed to tackle COVID-19. Practical implications: Changes are needed in the ways in which welfare benefits are disbursed. Gendered structural abuses should be explicitly considered when working with women who experience domestic violence and abuse. Originality/value: This paper argues that there needs to be a wider a recognition of gender power relations and the concept of structural abuse in policy formation and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, authors consider optimal replenishing strategies for constant demand in various financial scenarios by considering non-instantaneous deteriorating item under the progressive trade credit policy. The aim of this work is to develop a cost function for various situations depending on the trade credit period in economic environment. An algorithm is established to obtain the average cost, the replenishment time and the optimal order quantity. A thorough sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the importance of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banking industry in any country ensures, due to the specific nature of its activity, a key role in the functioning of economic mechanisms, with an impact on macroeconomic developments, on the dynamics of the business environment and on the improvement of the Romanian economy. The 32 credit institutions that make up the banking sector in Romania had net assets of 803.4 billion lei in 2023 and have recorded an acceleration in profitability compared to recent years, achieving a net profit of 13.7 billion lei. In addition to the banks' lending role, they also attract deposits, thus protecting the savings of the population and companies. Banks support the economy by granting loans, but it is important that they go to the sectors with the highest development potential and which create wellpaid jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of low consensus efficiency and insufficient incentive mechanism existing in current consensus algorithms, this paper proposed an alliance chain consensus algorithm based on credit. Firstly, according to the behavior of nodes participating in the consensus process, it designed a node credit evaluation mechanism, and solved the problem of insufficient incentive mechanism between nodes through credit rewards. Secondly, it constructed a credit blockchain and credit calculation model, stored the credit value of the node, and used it as the basis for selecting "miner" nodes, which improved the efficiency of the consensus algorithm. Finally, this paper proposed a round-by-round miner node selection algorithm, which used random algorithm and priority ranking algorithm to select miner nodes in turn, and proposed a node credit evaluation method to avoid excessive credit value of nodes and became "oligarchs" and ensured that the fairness of the nodes becoming miners. The experimental simulation results show that the credit consensus algorithm has low computational power consumption, fast block production speed, better performance than the existing consensus algorithm, and can be well applied to the business and medical alliance chain scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herdsmen's access to credit funds plays an important supporting role in promoting the modern economic development of pastoral areas and broadening the channels for herders to increase their income. This paper studies the credit behavior of herdsmen from the perspective of emotional and psychological state identification to analyze the current credit behavior of herdsmen. Firstly, the internal mechanism of herdsmen's credit and emotional and psychological identification research content are analyzed. Secondly, a scheme of emotional and psychological state identification is proposed, and a corresponding survey of herdsmen is carried out according to the scheme. Finally, the Probit and Heckman models are introduced to analyze the credit behavior of herdsmen. The results show that herdsmen with high emotional and psychological scores strongly demand credit. They are likely to have access to credit and have a high level of credit. Herdsmen with low scores of emotional and psychological characteristics have low or no apparent demand for credit, and their credit availability is also low. The herdsmen with high emotional and psychological characteristics have a 71% higher probability of generating credit demand than herdsmen with low openness. Their likelihood of obtaining credit is also 33.47% higher than herdsmen with low emotional and psychological characteristics. They also have easy access to higher loan amounts. The results provide a reference for related research and analysis of herdsman's credit behavior and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authorship criteria can be difficult to apply in complex situations, such as multicenter clinical trials, multidisciplinary research, or manuscripts reporting the results of several studies. Authors may need additional guidance to appropriately credit their colleagues even when using existing accepted author criteria and/or contributor taxonomies to guide their decisions. Definitions and explanations of authorship by various editorial groups such as International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Committee on Publication Ethics, the World Association of Medical Editors, and the Council of Science Editors emphasize intellectual input and accountability. Existing contributor taxonomies list additional activities that should be credited, but do not stand in for authorship criteria or confer authorship. The literature was searched for existing guidelines for authors that suggest how to apply accepted authorship criteria to activities listed in contributor taxonomies. No publication was identified that mapped specific authorship criteria to particular contributor taxonomies. Suggestions were developed to assist in differentiating activities that meet author criteria from other contributions outlined in two existing contributor taxonomies. The teams that conduct and publish medical and scientific research must decide who should be listed as an author on articles and other publications. Even though journal editors provide author guidelines, members of research teams can disagree about how to use them. Certain problems occur when studies are done by large groups of researchers or by experts who do different kinds of research. This paper suggests some ways to use the guidelines from major editorial groups like the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Committee on Publication Ethics, the World Association of Medical Editors, and the Council of Science Editors. The guidelines are compared and explained, and then a specific process is outlined for using these guidelines. Charts were made to show authors how to match possible contributions to some specific author guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced economies are increasingly forced to act in order to mitigate climate changes and to reduce the impact of human activity on the environment. The key strategy promoted by the OECD and other international organizations is green growth. The key tenet of green growth is the ability of science and technology to let economies grow without damaging the environment. Banning unpredictable technology advances, empirical data cast doubts about the practical possibility of implementing green growth. This paper claims that we need to change the concept of growth, accepting qualitative growth as true growth. At the same time we need to change economic theory because mainstream economics recognizes only quantitative growth and would conclude that a healthy economy that grows qualitatively is in recession. We claim that economic theory is an abstract theory that can only model monetary variables plus abstract variables that represent the real economy. These variables are not descriptive but are only mathematical tools to connect monetary variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the road transportation industry, the high risk of default by enterprises will have a serious impact on consumer interests and market order. To improve the scientific nature of the credit evaluation of road transportation enterprises, this paper establishes a credit evaluation model based on the combination weighting method, considering the information volume, volatility, and difference of the road transportation enterprises data and using normalized constraints of maximum variance to determine the combination weights. The model fully considers the degree of difference between the indicators and makes up for the deviation of the single weighting method. Finally, the paper makes an empirical analysis of 115 road transportation enterprises in a certain province of China and verifies the rationality of the combination weighting model. The results show that the credit level of a road transport enterprise in a certain province is at a medium level. Strengthening the supervision and examination of the management, qualification, and safety production capacity of the enterprise can further improve the credit level of the road transportation enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyses the collapse of credit booms into soft landings or systemic banking crises. Design/methodology/approach: A discrete-time competing risks duration model is employed to disentangle the factors behind the length of benign and harmful credit booms. Findings: The results show that economic growth and monetary authorities play the major role in explaining the differences in the length and outcome of credit booms. Moreover, both types of credit expansions display positive duration dependence, i.e. both are more likely to end as they grow older, but hard landing credit booms have proven to be longer than those that land softly. Originality/value: This paper contributes to our understanding of what affects the length of credit booms and why some end up creating havoc and others do not. In particular, it calls the attention to the important role that Central Bank independence plays regarding credit booms length and outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drought-related climate risk and access to credit are among the major risks to agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers in Kenya. Farmers are usually credit-constrained due to either involuntary quantity rationing or voluntary risk rationing. By exploiting randomized distribution of weather risk-contingent credit (RCC) and traditional credit, the authors estimate the causal effect of bundling weather index insurance to credit on uptake of agricultural credits among rural smallholders in Eastern Kenya. Further, the authors assess farmers' credit rationing, its determinants and effects on credit uptake. Design/methodology/approach: The study design was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in Machakos County, Kenya. 1,170 sample households were randomly assigned to one of three research groups, namely control, RCC and traditional credit. This paper is based on baseline household survey data and the first phase of loan implementation data. Findings: The authors find that 48% of the households were price-rationed, 41% were risk-rationed and 11% were quantity-rationed. The average credit uptake rate was 33% with the uptake of bundled credit being significantly higher than that of traditional credit. Risk rationing seems to influence the credit uptake negatively, whereas premium subsidies do not have any significant association with credit uptake. Among the socio-economic variables, training attendance, crop production being the main household head occupation, expenditure on food, maize labour requirement, hired labour, livestock revenue and access to credit are found to influence the credit uptake positively, whereas the expenditure on non-food items is negatively related with credit uptake. Research limitations/implications: The study findings provide important insights on the factors of credit demand. Empirical results suggest that risk rationing is pervasive and discourages farmers to take up credit. The study results also imply that credit demand is inelastic although relatively small sample size for RCC premium subsidy groups may be a limiting factor to the authors' estimation. Originality/value: By implementing a multi-arm RCT, the authors estimate the factors affecting the uptake of insurance bundled agricultural credits along with eliciting credit rationing among rural smallholders in Eastern Kenya. This paper provides key empirical findings on the uptake of RCC and the effect of credit rationing on uptake of agricultural credits, a field which has been majorly theoretical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss two unrelated languages, Jingulu (Mirndi, non-Pama-Nyungan) and Mudburra (Ngumpin-Yapa, Pama-Nyungan), which have been in contact for 200–500 years. The language contact situation is unusual cross-linguistically due to the high number of shared nouns, tending to an almost shared noun lexicon. Even more unusually, this lexicon was formed by borrowing in both directions at a relatively equal rate. The aim of this paper is to extend the bidirectional noun borrowing results to the verbal systems of Jingulu and Mudburra to determine whether a similarly high rate of borrowing occurred, and if so, whether it was similarly bidirectional. The high degree of shared Jingulu–Mudburra verb forms was first observed by Pensalfini who claimed that Jingulu and Mudburra lexical verbs are almost entirely cognate across these two languages. This paper aims to quantify the degree of shared verb forms and determine the direction of borrowing between Mudburra and Jingulu. We first establish shared forms and then determine the origins of the forms based on a comparative database of verbs from geographic and phylogenetic neighbours (Wambaya, Gurindji and Jaminjung). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role played by credit unions in financial inclusion in Chile. Using administrative individual-level data, we analyze the borrowing behavior of credit union debtors. The results find that credit unions contribute to financial inclusion: it is more likely that people with low income, elderly, women, and inhabitants of small communities, far from the large urban centers, borrow from credit unions. Also, we find that having a credit union commercial office in the county where individuals live increases their access to credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data analysis requires the speedup of parallel computing. However, in the virtualized systems, the power of parallel computing is not fully exploited due to the limit of current VMM schedulers. Xen, one of the most popular virtualization platforms, has been widely used by industry to host parallel job. In practice, the virtualized systems are expected to accommodate both parallel jobs and serial jobs, and resource contention between virtual machines results in severe performance degradation of the parallel jobs. Moreover, the physical resource is vastly wasted during the communication process due to the ineffective scheduling of parallel jobs. Unfortunately, the existing schedulers of Xen are initially targeting at serial jobs, which are not capable of correctly scheduling the parallel jobs. This paper presents vChecker, an application-level co-scheduler which mitigates the performance degradation of the parallel job and optimizes the utilization of the hardware resource. Our co-scheduler takes number of available CPU cores in one hand, and satisfies need of the parallel jobs in other hand, which helps the credit scheduler of Xen to appropriately schedule the parallel job. As our co-scheduler is implemented at application level, no modifications on the hypervisor is required. The experimental result shows that the vChecker optimizes the performance of the parallel job in Xen and enhances the utilization of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we estimate the effects of the pandemic on Tunisian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and examine their adaptation processes during the first lockdown. Three simultaneous shocks are examined employing a Difference-in-Differences (DID) framework applied to the national firm census: the labor input shock, the demand shock and the intermediate input shock. We show that SME performance in the first year of the crisis was heavily affected by a combination of labor input, demand and intermediate input shocks, but only the effects of the demand and intermediate input shocks persisted in the following year. Using our own firm survey, we examine three kinds of adaptation strategies: workplace and process adaptation, and trade credit. We find that firms in non-essential sectors were less able to adapt during the first lockdown, suggesting that firm adaptation seems to be more driven by capability than by necessity. • The combined demand, labor and intermediate input shocks heavily affected SMEs in 2020. • Only the effects of the demand and intermediate input shocks persisted in 2021. • Outward-looking firms and foreign-owned firms adapted better and were more resilient. • Firm adaptation seems to be driven more by capability than by necessity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing the affective geographies of digitally mediated payday loans in the UK, this paper advocates and exemplifies an approach to cultural economy that focuses on how economic worlds are affectively animated and lived. Supplementing the two versions of "culture" that cultural economy approaches have to date been organised around – culture as signifying system or culture as assembled effect – we propose a cultural economy of everyday space‐times which is attuned to the affective composition of forms of living. Drawing on empirical work with 40 users of digitally mediated payday loans, we employ this approach to trace how their loans become part of three intersecting forms of living: relief, as a pressing concern is deferred to the immediate future; separation, as private spaces are created within ordinary life and obligations are felt as individual responsibilities; and pressure, as demands to pay intensify the sense that debt is spiralling out of control and already‐ongoing precarity cannot be sustained. In conclusion, we pose further questions for a cultural economy approach orientated to the analysis of forms of living. Analysing the affective geographies of digitally mediated payday loans in the UK, this paper advocates and exemplifies an approach to cultural economy which focuses on the "forms of living" through which economic worlds are affectively animated and lived. Drawing on empirical work with 40 users of payday loans, it shows how they are lived through three forms: relief, separation, and pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to find alternative method of executing reimbursement loan, as a form of documentary loan, that is, to investigate new digital technology methods (fintech) to improve the efficiency of the international exchange. Reimbursement loans are often used to credit the trade of overseas goods. The reason of such case is that the shipment of goods by the maritime transport requires a significant amount of time and those trades are often associated with high financial amounts. Since international trade (exchange) is a kind of a generator of society’s progress, it is necessary to explore the possibilities for making international payment cheaper, more efficient and more secure. In this case, we based our research on the implementation of modern technologies, more precisely “blockchain”/DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) and “smart contracts”. The new reimbursement loan model presented in the paper is based on the aforementioned technologies. It could potentially change not only the documentary lending techniques, but also, eventually, overall financial paradigm. The effectiveness of the application of modern technologies is proven comparing the results of the so called conventional and unconventional reimbursement credit model on a real case involving two companies in Indonesia and Singapore. The paper also tackles on the further implementation of “smart contract” technology and “blockchain”/DLT, thus considering the potential impact of these technologies on overseas trade, credit markets and financial institutions. Finally, the paper argues on the limitations in implementing this new technique (e.g. legal, political and technical challenges). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the losses to the citizenry when the private agents discount the future at different rates from their government. In the presence of such a disagreement, the private sector may prefer an environment in which the government is in financial autarky. Using a sequence of sovereign debt models, the paper quantifies the potential welfare losses that citizens suffer from the government's access to international bond markets. While the environment is not necessarily comprehensive, the analysis provides a counterweight to proposals that are designed to ease market access for sovereign borrowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Evidence suggests that unorganized manufacturing units are extremely credit-starved. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of such credit unavailability for small firms, and to see if it has altered the erstwhile production organization in a way which has led to the withdrawal of the small firms from both input and output market, leading to increased production outsourcing between the formal and informal firms. Design/methodology/approach: Based on data collected from two textile clusters in Maharashtra, India, the study shows that credit unavailability has led small firms to increasingly work for bigger firms as outsourced units. The paper uses a measure of technology and productivity to undertake logistic regression and sub-sample regressions to confirm production reorganization resulting from credit unavailability. This would provide additional insights for standard measures of intra-country intra-industry trade Findings: The exclusion of the unorganized production units from the formal lending process has, over the years, led to a reorganization of the existing production structure, whereby the small firms are forced to work for bigger formal firms on piece-rate basis. To circumvent their credit issues, the small unorganized sector firms have increasingly started to work for bigger firms as outsourced units. Originality/value: This is an original research work. The paper fulfils the identified need of addressing how the plaguing social issue of financial exclusion of unorganized firms has led to production reorganization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors influencing rural youth farmers' credit constraints status and the effect of credit constraint on the intensity of participation of these farmers in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: The econometric estimation is based on cross-sectional data collected in 2018 from the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana. The sample data set consists of 450 rural youth farmers. The collected data were analyzed through different econometric techniques, using the endogenous switching regression model (ERSM). Findings: The direct elicitation approach employed in this study revealed that out of the 450 farmers, 211 (47 percent) of the respondents were credit constrained compared to 239 (53 percent) of their counterparts who were unconstrained. The ERSM indicated that youth farmers education, age, savings, parents occupation reduced the probability of the rural youth farmer to be credit constrained but cumbersome loan application procedure and loan disbursement time positively affect credit constraint. Moreover, farmers that are credit constrained have lower intensity of participation in agriculture activities than a random farmer from the sample. This suggests that access to credit has a positive impact on the intensity of participation in agriculture activities. Research limitations/implications: In this study, only rural youth farmers in a particular region were considered. However, there are youths all over the nation. Therefore, future researchers could consider other youth's farmers elsewhere in the country. Originality/value: Although existing studies have examined rural youth farmers' participation in agriculture and credit constraint separately, the unique contribution of this paper is the analysis of credit constraint of rural youth farmers as well as the impact of credit constraint on the intensity of participation in agriculture activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of access to production credit on the productivity of smallholder farmers. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the study were drawn from the Agricultural Value Chain Facility (AVCF), which was implemented in the Northern Region of Ghana. This paper uses the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to estimate the average treatment effect of access to production credit on the productivity of smallholder farmers. The rationale for the choice of this estimation technique is to control for selection bias since the treatment variable (access to production credit) was not randomised. The authors also test for the effect of hidden bias using "Rosenbaum bounds" sensitivity analysis. The study uses two control groups to examine the net effect of credit on productivity. Findings: The results reveal that smallholder farmers with access to production credit increased productivity through investment in farm inputs. For the impact of credit on productivity using control Group 1, the result shows that farmers with access to credit increased their productivity by 0.170 metric tonnes per hectare and for control Group 2, the result shows an increase of 0.252 metric tonnes per hectare more than farmers who are without access to production credit. Practical implications: The evidence as provided by this paper is that access to production credit is significant to meet the credit needs of smallholder farmers and therefore contributes to the policy debate on whether access to credit has impact on the productivity of smallholder farmers. Originality/value: The paper shows the importance of production credit in augmenting the production function of smallholder farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: With exclusive data from a commercial microfinance institution (MFI) in Madagascar, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if loan officer rotation (change of loan officer) has an effect on credit access (loan approval) in rural and in urban areas. The authors further analyze how the frequency of loan officer rotation affects credit access in rural and in urban areas. Design/methodology/approach: The authors apply propensity score matching to compare credit access between loan applicants who experienced loan officer rotation and loan applicants who experienced no loan officer rotation in rural and in urban areas. Findings: Results show that loan officer rotation has a positive and statistically significant effect on credit access. The authors observe further that loan officer rotation has a different effect on credit access in rural and in urban areas. Whilst rural loan applicants who experienced loan officer rotation are more likely to have credit access, urban loan applicants show no statistically significant effect of loan officer rotation on credit access. For the frequency effect on credit access, the authors observe that one loan officer rotation has a positive and statistically significant effect on credit access whereas results are mixed for two loan officer rotations. Research limitations/implications: Even though the authors can show that loan officer rotation can improve credit access to loan applicants, especially in rural areas, the conditions in Madagascar are unique. Therefore, results need to be verified in other countries and institutional contexts. Practical implications: From the perspective of MFI, the authors recommend that the management of MFI needs to provide better tools to loan officers to improve on the evaluation of agricultural loan products or standardize the assessment of agricultural loan products to improve on lending decisions. Further, if applicable, the authors recommend that MFI should consider using credit worthiness assessment procedures which rely less on loan officer's judgment for loan evaluation, such as automated systems. From the perspective of loan applicants, the authors recommend that loan applicants should request for a change of loan officer if they experience successive loan applications rejection. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to provide empirical evidence on the effect and frequency of loan officer rotation on credit access in Sub-Sahara Africa, and Madagascar, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]