Village Funds in the Rural Credit Market of Thailand

This paper examines the contribution of recently introduced village funds in rural Thailand, one of the largest microfinance programs ever implemented. We use a cross-sectional approach examining village funds in relation to competing financial institutions. We find, first, that village funds reach the target groups of lower income households better than existing institutions from the formal sector. Second, village funds provide loans to those kinds of borrowers which tend to be customers of informal financial institutions. Third, village funds help to reduce credit constraints. Overall, village funds seem to provide services in the intended direction. --informal financial institutions,microfinance,credit constraint

The governance of Singapore’s knowledge clusters: off shore marine business and waterhub

Based on two case studies of knowledge clusters (off shore marine/rig business and water hub) in Singapore, the paper illustrates the importance of good knowledge governance in creating robust and value-creating knowledge clusters. We begin by defining key terms used such as knowledge clusters, hubs and governance, followed by a short historical account of good knowledge governance for Singapore’s development. The two cases studies of knowledge clusters presented here include (i) the offshore oil rig business (Keppel) which we posit as an example of innovative value creation based on sophisticated fabrication methods and R&D as well as (ii) the island republic’s dynamic and rapidly emerging, global hydrohub called ‘WaterHub’. We examine the structural characteristics of both clusters, assess their progress based on the cluster lifecycle literature, highlight key governance enablers required to create and sustain such competitive hubs and draw conclusions for K4D latecomers.Knowledge governance; knowledge clusters; science policy; maritime industry; Singapore

High-Frequency Analysis of Foreign Exchange Interventions: What do we learn?

The high-frequency analysis of foreign exchange dynamics is helpful in order to better identify the impact of central bank interventions. Evidence robustly shows that interventions do indeed move the exchange rate level in the desired direction. Interventions increase volatility in the short run as they are regarded as information; but they can reduce volatility overall. Ways of transmission may reach beyond the signaling channel and also include theportfolio balance and a damping channel. Finally, interventions are more successful if they obey certain conditions, such as being coordinated among central banks and going with the market and fundamentals.foreign exchange, central bank intervention, high-frequency data, transmission channel

Collateral and its Substitutes in Emerging Markets' Lending

Due to opaque information and weak enforcement in emerging loan markets, the need for collateral is high, whereas borrowers lack adequate assets to pledge as collateral. How is this puzzle solved? We find for a representative sample from Northeast Thailand that indeed most loans do not include any tangible assets as collateral. Instead, lenders enforce collateral-free loans through third-party guarantees and relationship lending, but also through modifying loan terms, such as reducing loan size. Guarantees are the relatively most important substitute, they reduce collateral requirements independently of relationship lending and they are more often used by formal financial institutions.lending, financial institutions, collateral, guarantees, relationship lending

Risk attitude and risk behavior: Comparing Thailand and Vietnam

Are responses to a simple survey item sufficiently reliable in eliciting risk attitudes? Our angle in examining reliability is to conduct comparative research across Thailand and Vietnam. We find, first, that the survey item is informative about individual risk attitude because it is plausibly related to socio-demographic characteristics (including vulnerability), it is experimentally validated and has some predictive power. Second, however, we find major differences between both countries: whereas explained variances of regressions are tentatively higher in Vietnam, the predictive value of the survey item is much lower than in Thailand. Therefore, the survey item cannot be implemented across countries in an unreflected way. --risk attitude,socio-economic survey,household behavior,field experiment

High-frequency analysis of foreign exchange interventions: what do we learn?

The high-frequency analysis of foreign exchange dynamics is helpful in order to better identify the impact of central bank interventions. Evidence robustly shows that interventions do indeed move the exchange rate level in the desired direction. Interventions increase volatility in the short run as they are regarded as information; but they can reduce volatility overall. Ways of transmission may reach beyond the signaling channel and also include the portfolio balance and a damping channel. Finally, interventions are more successful if they obey certain conditions, such as being coordinated among central banks and going with the market and fundamentals

Do Women Manage Smaller Funds?

Based on a sample of 467 asset managers from four countries we robustly find that women manage smaller funds than men, despite tough competition in this industry. Interestingly, the gender gap exists only for managers of smaller funds, i.e. at the lower end of the hierarchy, as quantile regressions show. This is inconsistent with the glass ceiling hypothesis. Going further, this gender gap is limited to large firms. Explanations may refer to large firms using market power in the area of smaller funds or to "visibility" among top asset managers protecting against unequal treatment of the sexes.segregation, asset managers, gender, attitudes, qualification

The governance of Singapore’s knowledge clusters: off shore marine business and waterhub

Based on two case studies of knowledge clusters (off shore marine/rig business and water hub) in Singapore, the paper illustrates the importance of good knowledge governance in creating robust and value-creating knowledge clusters. We begin by defining key terms used such as knowledge clusters, hubs and governance, followed by a short historical account of good knowledge governance for Singapore’s development. The two cases studies of knowledge clusters presented here include (i) the offshore oil rig business (Keppel) which we posit as an example of innovative value creation based on sophisticated fabrication methods and R&D as well as (ii) the island republic’s dynamic and rapidly emerging, global hydrohub called ‘WaterHub’. We examine the structural characteristics of both clusters, assess their progress based on the cluster lifecycle literature, highlight key governance enablers required to create and sustain such competitive hubs and draw conclusions for K4D latecomers