Non-monetary Dimensions Research Articles

Child Benefits and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Mongolia's Child Money Programme

This paper analyses the extent to which Mongolia's Child Money Programme (CMP), a conditional cash transfer programme for families with children, contributes to poverty reduction and the improved well-being of children (with particular reference to MDGs 1 and 2) and does so in an efficient, affordable and sustainable manner. Applying the concepts and performance indicators developed in the international literature on social transfers, it compares the actual performance of the CMP in its initial targeted phase (January 2005 to June 2006) with the simulated expected performance of the CMP in its more recent 'universal' phase, under two different assumptions (the initial benefit level of $31 per child per year and an increase to $117 as approved in the 2007 budget). The paper finds that the targeted programme resulted in very high leakage to non-poor households and substantial exclusion of poor households, due to flaws in the programme's proxy means test and implementation problems. Arguing that it is possible to improve only marginally the methodology and implementation of a proxy means test, and that reversion to a targeted programme would be politically costly, the paper advocates retaining the new universal benefit, which resolves most of the exclusion error, further reduces the child poverty headcount and is progressive along the entire household expenditure distribution due to the heavier concentration of children in the lower deciles. However, the paper identifies some barriers that still hinder access to child benefits by the most severely disadvantaged families and children. It finds little evidence regarding the effects of the programme on the non-monetary dimensions of poverty, in particular regarding the condition on school attendance. The analysis of fiscal costs concludes that the universal benefit is affordable and sustainable at its initial level (about 1.0% of GDP), but cautions that the approved increase in the benefit level in the 2007 budget is fiscally and politically risky given the country's external vulnerability to sharp fluctuations in metal prices and adverse weather.

Truly National? Social Exclusion and the Ghana@50 Celebrations

GHANA STUDIES / Volume 11 ISSN 1536-5514 / E-ISSN 2333-7168© 2010 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System 139 TRULY NATIONAL? SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND THE GHANA@5O CELEBRATIONS1 NANA AKUA ANYIDOHO KOFI TAKYI ASANTE Introduction In 2007, Ghana celebrated fifty years as an independent nation. The program drawn up to commemorate this occasion, dubbed Ghana@50, was described as an opportunity to “celebrate, reflect and look forward.”2 Thus, while much was written and said about the Ghana@50 program—especially about the composition and work of the National Planning Committee and the decision to spend twenty million dollars on the celebrations—members of the public also took the occasion of the jubilee to reflect on the state of the Ghanaian nation over the past fifty years and to project its future. This paper makes use of the concept of social exclusion to analyze public perspectives and experiences of the Ghana@50 celebrations. Social exclusion as an analytical tool has gained popularity in recent years in policy circles. However, the phenomena that it describes are not new (Jehoel-­ Gijsbers and Vrooman 2007), nor is the concept, which goes back to sociologist Max Weber’s theory of social closure or the “attempt of one group to secure for itself a privileged position [in society] at the expense of some other group through a process of subordination” (Parkin 1979 in Todman 2004: 2). 1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the panel “Ghana@50: Celebrating the Nation” at the African Studies Association (ASA) Conference in Chicago, on November 15, 2008. We wish to thank Carola Lentz and Isidore Lobnibe, the organizers of the panel, and Jean Allman, the discussant, for their comments on the paper. A grant from the University of Ghana Research Committee made attendance at the ASA possible. We also thank Mark Obeng and Evans Afful, both of the Sociology Department of the University of Ghana, for assistance with data collection and coding. 2. N. Dadson, How Ghana@50 is heading towards a no-celebration, Daily Graphic, 17 January 2007, p. 21. 140 Ghana Studies • volume 11 • 2010 Despite its uptake by some scholars, there continues to be vigorous debate about the suitability of the concept of social exclusion as a measure of disadvantage and about its critical distinction from other concepts. There are questions raised also about the political intentions of scholars and policy makers in promoting social exclusion as an analytical concept, with some charging that it reflects collusion by academics and politicians to veil the bare face of poverty and social inequality (Gray 2005; Oyen 1997). Nonetheless, its proponents maintain that social exclusion marks an advance beyond the narrow conceptual focus on poverty as the measure of marginalization and disadvantage (Burchardt et al. 1999; Room 1999); it is argued—and usefully for our discussion—that the multi-dimensional approach to social exclusion allows it to engage with non-economic and non-monetary dimensions of social disadvantage (Rodgers 1995; Todman 2004). The literature highlights a number of dimensions of exclusion, including political participation, social interaction, consumption, production, economic benefits, as well as characteristics relating to individuals, neighborhoods , religious groups and spatial groupings. These dimensions interact so that marginalization in one context may result in marginalization in other aspects of life. As a result, the concept of exclusion can be used to analyze manifestations of social inequality as wide-ranging as political alienation , unemployment and homelessness (Percy-Smith 2000; Room 1999). The utility of a tool of policy research for the analysis of public discussions of the Ghana@50 celebrations might not be immediately obvious . However, we make an argument for the relevance of the concept of social exclusion for such an analysis on the following grounds: first, the commentaries and reports on the Ghana@50 celebrations make explicit and implicit statements about the dynamics of social exclusion in the Ghana@50 celebrations. Further, as we show in our analysis, connections are made between exclusion in the Ghana@50 activities and histories of systematic exclusion of certain groups. This brings us to the doorstep of Anyidoho and Asante • Truly National? 141 policy, and having arrived there, social exclusion allows us to...

Dental practice satisfaction with preferred provider organizations

BackgroundDespite their increasing share of the dental insurance market, little is known about dental practices' satisfaction with preferred provider organizations (PPOs). This analysis examined practice satisfaction with dental PPOs and the extent to which satisfaction was a function of communications from the plan, claims handling and compensation.MethodsData were collected through telephone surveys with dental practices affiliated with MetLife between January 2002 and December 2004. Each respondent was asked a series of questions related to their satisfaction with a systematically selected PPO with which they were affiliated. Six different PPO plans had sufficient observations to allow for comparative analysis (total n = 4582). Multiple imputation procedures were used to adjust for item non-response.ResultsWhile the average level of overall satisfaction with the target plan fell between "very satisfied" and "satisfied," regression models revealed substantial differences in overall satisfaction across the 6 PPOs (p < .05). Statistically significant differences between plans in overall satisfaction were largely explained by differences in the perceived adequacy of compensation. However, differences in overall satisfaction involving two of the PPOs were also driven by satisfaction with claims handling.ConclusionResults demonstrate the importance of compensation to dental practice satisfaction with PPOs. However, these results also highlight the critical role of service-related factors in differentiating plans and suggest that there are important non-monetary dimensions of PPO performance that can be used to recruit and retain practices.

Understanding Collaboration Outcomes From an Extended Resource-Based View Perspective: The Roles of Organizational Characteristics, Partner Attributes, and Network Structures†

Whereas mainstream strategy research tends to focus on atomistic and profit-seeking firms, this study focuses on not-for-profit organizations that participate in a collaboration network. Specifically, the authors extend the resource-based view by investigating how not-for-profit organizations' collaboration outcomes, reflected through a joint consideration of monetary and nonmonetary dimensions, may be affected by their organizational characteristics, partner attributes, and network structures. Their analyses of collaboration data from 52 not-for-profit networked organizations demonstrate the importance of unique resources at individual, dyadic, and network levels that allow these organizations to develop capabilities and competencies.

La mesure de la croissance pro-pauvres au Burkina Faso : espace de l'utilité ou des capacités ?

Résumé La recherche propose de contribuer au débat sur la croissance pro-pauvres, et présente une nouvelle évidence empirique pour le Burkina Faso, fondée à la fois sur l’espace de l’utilité et celui des capacités. Dans un premier temps, l’analyse comparative de la croissance pro-pauvres montre que les dimensions monétaire et non monétaire produisent des résultats très similaires, indépendamment des mesures « globales » ou « partielles » mises en œuvre. Ainsi, au cours de la période 1994-2003, malgré une légère progression des privations en termes d’utilité et des capacités, la croissance économique nationale a été pro-pauvres, dans la mesure où les pauvres ont été proportionnellement moins affectés que les non pauvres par la baisse des dépenses et des capacités. Corrélativement, au niveau national et dans le secteur rural, l’hypothèse d’une croissance monétaire pro-pauvres en termes absolus n’est pas vérifiée – contrairement à ce qu’indiquent d’autres études –, alors qu’un consensus semble prévaloir quant au caractère anti-pauvres de la croissance monétaire dans les villes, en termes absolus et relatifs. Ces divergences s’expliquent par des options méthodologiques différentes. Dans un second temps, cette approche duale de la croissance pro-pauvres permet de tester la robustesse de quelques relations postulées entre la pauvreté, la croissance économique et l’inégalité. A cet égard, l’analyse comparative, mobilisant l’économétrie spatiale, vérifie deux faits stylisés. D’une part, l’élasticité provinciale de la pauvreté monétaire ou des capacités, par rapport à l’indicateur de bien-être approprié, est d’autant plus faible que l’indice de Gini initial (monétaire ou non monétaire) est élevé. D’autre part, alors que l’évolution de l’indicateur de bien-être est un déterminant décisif de la variation de la pauvreté au cours de la période, les changements de la distribution des dépenses et des capacités constituent également un facteur important. Par ailleurs, l’analyse comparative montre que l’effet de la croissance sur la réduction de la pauvreté, monétaire ou non monétaire, est plus fort lorsque le niveau initial de développement est élevé. En définitive, l’approche de la croissance pro-pauvres en termes des capacités peut concourir non seulement à vérifier la robustesse de la dynamique stipulée du processus de croissance économique monétaire, mais également à appréhender ce dernier en l’absence d’informations fiables sur les conditions de vie monétaires des ménages.

Assessing the Extent and Nature of Chronic Poverty in Low Income Countries: Issues and Evidence

Discussions of chronic poverty have mostly considered its monetary dimensions, with current evidence suggesting that such poverty is much more transient than chronic. But chronic poverty is a real and important phenomenon, potentially more important quantitatively than it first appears once account is taken of different methodological approaches and inevitable measurement difficulties. The chronic poor have distinctive characteristics, such as lack of assets or high dependency rates, which may account for their persistent poverty. The paper argues that it is also necessary to develop concepts of chronic poverty further, covering relevant nonmonetary dimensions and not just relying on panel data.

The Effects of Service Recovery on Repeat Patronage

The objectives of the study are to: (a) identify and rate critical incidents of service failures; (b) determine what kind of service recovery efforts will significantly affect the resolution of a service failure; and (c) determine the significant effects of resolution levels on consumer repeat patronage. The service recovery efforts were related to non-monetary dimensions of employee service behavior and proactive service staff, and monetary incentives. Employee service behavior was found to have the most significant effect on the complete resolution, followed by monetary incentives, and proactive service staff. The manager should provide mentoring, training, communication role-playing scenarios, and empowerment opportunities, which allows the employee to be effective in providing an equitable service failure resolution. Lastly, only complete resolution results in repeat patronage, while partial resolution and unresolved service failures served as a deterrent to the guest's return patronage. Therefore, management and staff should do their best to achieve a complete resolution to maximize guest repeat patronage.

Factors influencing the matriculation choices of high ability students

This paper analyzes the matriculation decisions of a sample of high ability students using a data base that includes information on the particular institutions in each individual's choice set, his or her rating of each of these her rating of each of thes institutions along a number of non-monetary dimensions, and information on the student's perceived net cost of attendance at each of the schools. The results suggest that attendance costs and non-monetary institutional characteristics are both significant determination of institutional choice. Among the non-monetary characteristics, those associatd with non-academic items like housing and and recreational options have about the same impact as academic concerns such as availability of majors or concentration on undergraduate education. Policies related to cost reduction or improving the facets of an institution that students value have reasonably comparable effects on yield, especially in a cost-effectiveness context. However, the results are clearly applicable only to a particular subset of the entire population of potential students.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health Program Evaluation

The growing demand for prospective evaluation enhances the popularity of cost-effective ness analysis, a technique for identifying best uses of scarce resources. Defined in diverse ways during its short history, cost-effectiveness analysis is now seen as the evaluative comparison of monetary and nonmonetary dimensions of impact. The cost-effectiveness ratio for health programs divides monetary effects by health effects. Decisions on com peting alternative programs should be resolved by regarding cost-effectiveness ratios on the differences between programs.