Loan Program Research Articles

Trends and Opportunities in Indian Higher Education to the vision of vikasit Bharat 2047

The Indian higher education system, the third largest globally, has experienced significant expansion since gaining independence. To become a strong, student-centered global education powerhouse, India must divide its long-term vision into shorter, measurable, and attainable strategies. The National Education Policy 2020 is a significant program, but there are still areas that need improvement. To achieve India's HEI objectives by 2047, the first step is to redesign the architecture of higher education institutions to create a robust and student-focused environment. This will help close the disparity between education and the average Indian individual, enabling students to learn at their own pace. The Indian government must prioritize student needs and address areas that require reform to ensure a prosperous and inclusive future. The concept of Vision 2047 is crucial in shaping the future of higher education in India. Indian higher education is experiencing a significant increase in enrollment rates and demand due to factors such as population growth, aspirations, and awareness of education's importance. Online and distance learning platforms offer flexibility and convenience, allowing students to pursue education from anywhere. However, online learning also presents challenges such as lack of face-to-face interaction and time management skills. The emphasis on interdisciplinary studies and skill-based education has led to a wide range of courses and certifications, attracting students from around the world. The expansion of the education sector with government funding has led to increased opportunities in the field, including collaborations with international institutions and the integration of technology for improved teaching experiences. The Indian higher education industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, highlighting the need for adaptability and capitalize on opportunities. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to create a global citizen among learners by developing knowledge, skills, and values. The policy emphasizes a holistic, multidisciplinary education, motivated faculty, vocational education, quality academic research, and a regulatory system. The demand for digital skills and non-conventional courses is also increasing, with students seeking flexible and innovative pedagogy. The rise in virtual learning and increased technology use in higher education is also a key area of opportunity. The Indian government is focusing on fostering innovation and driving success in the future. India's Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) has seen significant progress since independence, reaching over 25% in 70 years. To achieve a 50% GER by 2052, the government must promote higher education through scholarships, ease of access, and quality education. Collaboration between formal education institutions and ed-tech providers can improve operational efficiency and create customized digital learning platforms. The government's Vision 2047 initiative aims to transform the Indian higher education system by leveraging digital technologies to bridge the digital divide and enhance the overall learning experience. Stakeholders include educational institutions, government bodies, technology companies, educators, and students. Educational institutions must invest in infrastructure, training programs, and resources to navigate the digital landscape, while government bodies can provide financial support and policy frameworks to encourage the adoption of ed-tech solutions. Technology companies play a crucial role in developing and maintaining the digital learning platforms, ensuring their compatibility with different devices and internet connectivity. Educators need to receive adequate training and support to effectively use these platforms, while students can benefit from interactive and personalized learning experiences. By working together, these stakeholders can drive the transformation of the Indian higher education system and create a more inclusive and accessible learning environment for all. The integration of technology in higher education faces challenges such as resistance from faculty and administrators, equitable access to technology, and promoting digital literacy among students. To overcome these, comprehensive training and support should be provided, including workshops, tutorials, and professional development opportunities. Institutions should also establish on-campus computer labs or loan programs for students in need, and offer digital literacy courses to help them navigate digital tools effectively. Collaboration and support from multiple stakeholders are crucial for successful implementation. The Vision 2047, a framework for transforming Indian higher education, can help institutions prepare students for the digital age and create a conducive learning environment. Keywords: NEP2020, Digital Skills, Virtual Skills, GER, Collaboration.

A Demand Curve for Disaster Recovery Loans

We estimate and trace a credit demand curve for households that recently experienced damage to their homes from a natural disaster. Our administrative data include over one million applicants to a federal recovery loan program for households. We estimate extensive‐margin demand over a large range of interest rates. Our identification strategy exploits 24 natural experiments, leveraging exogenous, time‐based variation in the program's offered interest rate. Interest rates meaningfully affect consumer demand throughout the distribution of rates. On average, a 1 percentage point increase in the interest rate reduces loan take‐up by 26%. We find a large impact of applicants' credit quality on demand and evidence of monthly payment targeting. Using our estimated demand curve and information on program costs, we find that the program generates an average social surplus of $2900 per borrower.

Policy Reform in Indonesia and the Asian Development Bank’s Financial Sector Governance Reforms Program Loan 

Policy Reform in Indonesia and the Asian Development Bank’s Financial Sector Governance Reforms Program Loan 

Persistence of Racial and Institutional Disparities in Lending: Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness

Persistence of Racial and Institutional Disparities in Lending: Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness

Policy Reform in Thailand and the Asian Development Bank’s Agricultural Sector Program Loan 

Policy Reform in Thailand and the Asian Development Bank’s Agricultural Sector Program Loan 

Policy Reform in Viet Nam and the Asian Development Bank’s State-Owned Enterprise Reform and Corporate Governance Program Loan

Policy Reform in Viet Nam and the Asian Development Bank’s State-Owned Enterprise Reform and Corporate Governance Program Loan

Changing Structure of Concessional Loan in Nepal

This article highlights the changing scenario of concessional loan in Nepal. It examines the policies, trends, and structural shifts within the country’s financial framework. A concessional loan is a crucial tool for the economic development of Nepal. It aimed at promoting economic efficiency and equitable distribution of income throughout the country. Using secondary data from FY 2017/18 to FY 2021/22, this study evaluates the trend and structure of concessional loan in Nepal. The findings reveal that there is a significant surge in both the volume of concessional loan and the number of borrowers across different headings of concessional loan. Particularly, the number of borrowers of Women entrepreneurship loan are remarkably increased in the recent years. However, the concentration of loan among larger borrowers and the misappropriation of funds raises concerns regarding the program’s effectiveness. Furthermore, the commercial banks play a dominant role in disbursing concessional loan. Agricultural Development Bank Limited is a key contributor, aligning with the government’s focus on promoting the agricultural sector. This study recommended a call for a comprehensive evaluation of the concessional loan program. The reevaluation of the program could be crucial to fine-tune the policies, address challenges, and focus the program toward its goals of enhancing productivity, promoting financial inclusion, and fostering equal distribution income distribution in Nepal.

ФІНАНСОВІ ІНСТРУМЕНТИ В РОЗВИТКУ БІЗНЕС-ІННОВАЦІЙ

This article analyzes the role of financial instruments in supporting and stimulating business innovations, considers venture financing, lending, crowdfunding and other mechanisms as key levers for the development of innovative projects and startups. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the factors that make certain financial instruments more effective in supporting innovation. The advantages and disadvantages of each instrument are considered, and their ability to adapt to the changing business environment is discussed. The article utilizes a variety of research methods, including literature review, case studies, and comparative analysis, to provide a comprehensive view of the topic. The study shows that venture capital investments often provide not only capital, but also valuable knowledge, mentoring, and access to a network of contacts. The results indicate that traditional bank lending is often inaccessible or insufficiently flexible for innovation-oriented companies due to the high level of risk. However, specialized loan programs, such as government guarantees and subsidized loans, can increase the availability of credit for innovative projects. Crowdfunding is an effective tool for validating market demand and raising initial funding, especially for projects that go beyond traditional investment models. The results emphasize the importance of financial innovations, such as fintech solutions and digital currencies, which can simplify access to capital and reduce transaction costs for innovative enterprises. One of the key challenges is the divergent understanding of risk between investors and innovators. The article emphasizes that bureaucracy and complexity of processes for obtaining financing can significantly slow down or even stop innovation initiatives, and the flexibility and adaptability of financial instruments are key to effectively supporting innovation, especially in the context of a rapidly changing market and technological progress. These results provide important insights into various aspects of innovation financing and can be used to develop more effective strategies and policies in this area.

Sources of Financial Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: the Case of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

The article reviews small and medium-sized businesses in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), and their role and significance in the economy of the republic. The purpose of the study was to determine the available financial opportunities for the development and support of small and medium-sized businesses in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The system of available sources of financial support in the region was considered, including government programs to support small and medium-sized businesses, subsidies, grants aimed at supporting their activities, preferential bank loan programs and microloans for small and medium-sized businesses. An analysis of available financial sources showed their limitations and inaccessibility for most small and medium-sized enterprises that do not have sufficient collateral, bank guarantees and sureties. Most of the representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises in the republic do not have timely accessible information about the proposed sources of financial support from government authorities. At the same time, not all enterprises cope with filling out the required documentation to receive financial support. The work provides a comparative analysis of preferential interest rates and loan terms for small and medium-sized businesses that have official programs in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). For this purpose, the official partner banks of the Microcredit Company of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) were selected: VTB Bank PJSC (Public Joint Stock Company), AKB (Joint Stock Commercial Bank) “Almazergienbank” Joint Stock Company (JSC) and Joint Stock Company (JSC) “Asian-Pacific Bank”. As a result of the analysis, the work identified the most effective sources of financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The work provides examples of successful projects that have received financial support in the republic. Based on the study, recommendations were proposed for improving the system of financial support for small and medium-sized businesses in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia).

Pouring the Paycheck Protection Program into craft beer: PPP employment effects in service-intensive industries

Small businesses in the food and beverage service industry are particularly vulnerable to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most salient vulnerabilities was the drastic decline in consumer spending at eating and drinking places, generating unprecedented swings in employment in this service-intensive sector. Governments across the globe implemented rapid response fiscal policies to mitigate these economic damages and improve small business crisis management. One such policy was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in the United States. This study links restricted microdata from the Colorado Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages to microdata on PPP loan recipients to assess whether the loan program effectively reduced unemployment rates in Colorado's craft beer industry. The results of a staggered difference-in-differences framework indicate immediate and longer-term positive and statistically significant effects of the loan program on employment outcomes, with employment effects ranging from 16.8 to 19.5%. These results emphasize the importance of understanding the loan program’s effectiveness among hard-hit industries comprised of small businesses.

Exploring the relationship between willingness to participate in insurance and bank loan approval for coffee farmers in Dak Lak Province: A Bayesian Model Averaging approach

This study has employed Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) to identify the most suitable model for assessing the eligibility of Vietnamese coffee farmers for bank loans, effectively avoiding overfitting and ensuring that only the most crucial variables were considered in the analysis. Findings from the study indicate that factors such as ethnicity, labor, yield, land ownership, and willingness to participate (WTP) in coffee insurance significantly influenced the farmers' eligibility for bank loans. Moreover, the study suggests that banks and insurance companies should also take into account additional factors, such as socio-economic context, household size and composition, land ownership, and risk-sharing programs, to enhance access to credit. With this valuable information, banks can forge partnerships with insurance companies to craft highly effective loan programs and insurance products tailored to Vietnamese farmers' unique needs. The simplicity, practicality, and strong predictive ability of the model chosen by BMA make it a valuable tool for guiding policy decisions.

Improving the quality of Cambodian higher education: Key challenges and suggestions

Higher education is one of the main drivers of economic development. Due to its significant roles, many countries, including Cambodia, have invested in developing their higher education subsector. For over two decades since 1997, Cambodia has experienced a high increase in the number of higher education institutions (HEIs). Despite the rapid institutional expansion, there are many issues impeding the quality of Cambodian higher education. Drawing on secondary sources and the authors’ extensive experience and knowledge of the subsector, this article tries to investigate and explain some of the factors affecting the quality of higher education in Cambodia. The article focuses on several issues, including political interference, fragmented governance structures, ineffective ministerial policy implementation, fragmented institutional management, limited quality of teaching personnel, low academic salaries, business-oriented higher education, and issues concerning curriculum and academic programs. The article offers some suggestions to address these challenges. Key suggestions include (a) limiting political interference in appointing top university leaders, (b) setting up effective and independent higher education quality assurance bodies, (c) creating a term limit for top university leadership roles, (d) establishing a meritocracy-based policy for university leader appointments, (e) making academic salaries comparable to those of other similar professions, (f) developing policies on minimum tuition fees and student loan programs, and (g) introducing mechanisms to improve curricula and promote enrollments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.

Stress Testing Banks’ Digital Capabilities: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic

AbstractBanks’ information technology (IT) capabilities affect their ability to serve customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which generates an unexpected and unprecedented shock that shifts banking services from in-person to digital. Amid mobility restrictions, banks with better IT experience larger reductions in physical branch visits and larger increases in website traffic, implying a larger shift to digital banking. Stronger IT banks are able to originate more Paycheck Protection Program loans to small business borrowers, especially in areas with more severe COVID-19 outbreaks, higher internet use, and higher bank competition. Those banks also attract more deposit flows and receive better mobile customer reviews during the pandemic.

THE EFFECT OF BUSINESS OWNER DEMOGRAPHICS ON LOAN FORGIVENESS IN A PANDEMIC

Generally, crisis situations entail economic hardship for entrepreneurs and their businesses. As such, historical crisis events may be accompanied by government policy to lessen the adverse effects for business owners and their employees. By analyzing a sample of 139,006 U.S. businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or more from the United States Treasury, we empirically show that female, racial and ethnic minority business owners will be at a disadvantage in receiving loan forgiveness relative to their peers. These findings advance the literature by highlighting post funding gender, racial and ethnic disparities in accessing venture resources. Practically, the results highlight how governmental intervention during a historical shock may disproportionately increase constraints on female, racial and ethnic minority business owners.

Demographic Characteristics and Career Plans of First-Generation Medical Students at a Single Medical School in the United States.

Recruitment of first-generation medical students is essential to improving diversity and inclusion in US medical colleges. First-generation students offer unique experiential insights that foster empathy and cultural competency in the learning environment and improve health outcomes for patients. However, little is known about their demographic characteristics or career goals. It is important to identify these factors to provide insight on ways to better support first-generation students. This exploratory pilot study aimed to describe background, demographic characteristics, and goals of students. We administered a secondary analysis of a quality improvement and health disparities survey to third-year medical students at a large, private medical school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Measures included demographic information, interest in loan forgiveness programs, and other career goal items. We conducted χ2 goodness-of-fit tests to examine differences by first-generation status. Thirteen percent of respondents identified as first-generation medical students (n=26). First-generation medical students were more likely to be male, aged 21-26 years, White, and non-Hispanic/Latino. First-generation students were significantly more likely to report wanting to care for underserved populations during their career and enter loan forgiveness programs, with Department of Education's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program most often cited. This study provides an exploratory profile of characteristics of first-generation medical students and their career intentions. Our results suggests that enrollment of first-generation students may increase the number of physicians who are willing to serve underserved populations. However, first-generation students may also need more financial support through loan forgiveness programs which has important implications for medical education.

Letter to the Editor: Distribution of Paycheck Protection Program Loans to Optometry Practices amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Letter to the Editor: Distribution of Paycheck Protection Program Loans to Optometry Practices amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Strategi Komunikasi Baznas Kabupaten Batu Bara dalam Program Pinjaman Modal Kelompok Tani di Desa Sumber Tani Kecamatan Datuk Tanah Datar

The general objective of this research was to seek and discover the communication strategy of BAZNAS for Batu Bara Regency in carrying out agricultural productive loan programs. The specific objective of this study was to see how the efforts or efforts were made by BAZNAS of Batu Bara Regency in introducing a productive agricultural loan program to farmer groups in Sumber Tani Village, Datuk Tanah Datar District; obstacles that occur in the implementation of the program; and the benefits felt by the community while participating in the agricultural productive loan program from BAZNAS. This study uses a qualitative approach with the aim of obtaining an in-depth description of the data. The research results obtained showed that in the process of implementing the agricultural productive loan program: (1) The planning that was built by BAZNAS of Batu Bara Regency to run the program used a personal approach to someone who was considered to have influence in farmer groups. In addition, BAZNAS also conducts socialization activities which are carried out simultaneously with the distribution of zakat from the farmers' harvest to farmer groups. (2) The obstacles experienced by BAZNAS of Batu Bara Regency in implementing the program are seen from two perspectives. First, the process of providing assistance and returning assistance to BAZNAS has never experienced any problems. Second, in the program introduction process, farmers still have doubts about participating in making loans. (3) The benefit felt by the community from the implementation of the program is that farmers have institutions that can provide interest-free loans so that farmers' crops can be sold to any party.

The Auditors’ Role in the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

SUMMARY We examine whether auditors helped public clients obtain U.S. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to overcome the COVID-19-related economic crisis. Larger auditors had better access to resources to help their auditees with PPP applications. However, the Big 4 auditors were primarily focused on helping large banks process PPP loans, which constrained their ability to help their auditees. We predict and find that auditees of Second-Tier auditors are more likely than auditees of Big 4 auditors to obtain a PPP loan. In contrast to the Big 4 and Second-Tier auditors, many Small auditors faced significant financial challenges during the pandemic and had to avail of PPP loans. We find that auditees of Small auditors who availed (did not avail) of PPP loans were less (as) likely to obtain PPP loans than (as) auditees of Second-Tier auditors. Our findings demonstrate the value that non–Big 4 auditors can provide through nonaudit services.

Association of Receipt of Paycheck Protection Program Loans With Staffing Patterns Among US Nursing Homes

Staffing shortages in nursing homes (NHs) threaten the quality of resident care, and the COVID-19 pandemic magnified critical staffing shortages within NHs. During the pandemic, the US Congress enacted the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a forgivable loan program that required eligible recipients to appropriate 60% to 75% of the loan toward staffing to qualify for loan forgiveness. To evaluate characteristics of PPP loan recipient NHs vs nonloan recipient NHs and whether there were changes in staffing hours at NHs that received a loan compared with those that did not. This economic evaluation used national data on US nursing homes that were aggregated from the Small Business Administration, Nursing Home Compare, LTCFocus, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Payroll Based Journal, the Minimum Data Set, the Area Deprivation Index, the Healthcare Cost Report Information System, and the US Department of Agriculture Rural-Urban Continuum Codes from January 1 to December 23, 2020. Paycheck Protection Program loan receipt status. Staffing variables included registered nurse, licensed practical nurse (LPN), and certified nursing assistant (CNA) total hours per week. Staffing hours were examined on a weekly basis before and after loan receipt during the study period. An event-study approach was used to estimate the staffing total weekly hours at NHs that received PPP loans compared with NHs that did not receive a PPP loan. Among 6008 US NHs, 1807 (30.1%) received a PPP loan and 4201 (69.9%) did not. The median loan amount was $664 349 (IQR, $407 000-$1 058 300). Loan recipients were less likely to be part of a chain (733 [40.6%] vs 2592 [61.7%]) and more likely to be for profit (1342 [74.3%] vs 2877 [68.5%]), be located in nonurban settings (159 [8.8%] vs 183 [4.4%]), have a greater proportion of Medicaid-funded residents (mean [SD], 60.92% [21.58%] vs 56.78% [25.57%]), and have lower staffing quality ratings (mean [SD], 2.88 [1.20] vs 3.03 [1.22]) and overall quality star ratings (mean [SD], 3.08 [1.44] vs 3.22 [1.44]) (P < .001 for all). Twelve weeks after PPP loan receipt, NHs that received a PPP loan experienced a mean difference of 26.19 more CNA hours per week (95% CI, 14.50-37.87 hours per week) and a mean difference of 6.67 more LPN hours per week (95% CI, 1.21-12.12 hours per week) compared with nursing homes that did not receive a PPP loan. No associations were found between PPP loan receipt and weekly RN staffing hours (12 weeks: mean difference, 1.99 hours per week; 95% CI, -2.38 to 6.36 hours per week). In this economic evaluation, a forgivable loan program that required funding to be appropriated toward staffing was associated with a significant increase in CNA and LPN staffing hours among NH PPP loan recipients. Because the PPP loans are temporary, federal and state entities may need to institute sufficient and sustainable support to mitigate NH staffing shortages.

Comparison of Gini indices using sequential approach: Application to the U.S. Small Business Administration data

The comparison of Gini inequality indices is an important study related to regional imbalance in equality. In the design of such a study, both the cost constraints and variability of the difference of inequality indices play an active role. In this article, we compare the Gini inequality indices for two regions under cost constraints leveraging on the concept of sequential analysis. Without prior knowledge of the statistical distributions of the data in the two regions of interest, the optimal sample sizes that balance the cost constraint and the accuracy of the comparison cannot be calculated under a fixed-sample-size methodology. Therefore, in this article, we develop a sequential procedure for comparing Gini indices for two regions under a budget constraint. With no specific assumption about the population distribution of the data, we examine and prove the large-sample properties offered by the proposed purely sequential procedure. Further, we use extensive simulations to empirically examine the characteristics of this procedure and illustrate its application using data on the Paycheck Protection Program loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration for the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island.