Production Distribution Research Articles

Manajemen Distribusi Dana Wakaf Produktif di BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Kantor Pusat Gresik

Productive waqf is permanent property that is used in production activities. The results are distributed according to the purpose of the waqf. Waqf has dual functions, namely the function of worship and social function. This research is entitled Management of Productive Waqf Fund Distribution at BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik. This qualitative research uses a descriptive analytical approach, with a research focus (1) How is the distribution management of productive waqf funds in BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik? (2) How is the realization of the distribution of productive waqf funds at BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik? The results figure out some points. The first is the distribution management of productive waqf funds carried out by BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik, namely the distribution of cash waqf funds. It is channeled directly to the community around the BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik environment by having data on the people who are entitled to it. In addition, it is channeled to the construction of mosques or prayer rooms and educational institutions by submitting proposals. The second is the realization of the distribution of productive waqf funds at BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik through several programs that have all been planned to be implemented. In fact, funds resulting from the management of cash waqf are not fully distributed and there is no SOP for the management of cash waqf at BMT Mandiri Sejahtera Gresik.

Pressure Drop Characteristics of the Reduced NGI Configuration with Several Common Glass Fiber Filters.

Background: Measurement of aerodynamic particle size distribution, a clinically relevant in vitro attribute of inhalable drug products, involves multistage cascade impactors and is tedious and expensive. A leading candidate for a quicker method is the reduced NGI™ (rNGI). This method involves placing glass fiber filters on top of the nozzles of a chosen NGI stage, selected often to collect all particles with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than approximately five microns. These filters contribute additional flow resistance that can alter the flow rate start-up curve, potentially affecting the size distribution and mass of the drug product dispensed by passive dry powder inhalers (DPIs). The magnitude of these additional flow resistance measurements is currently unreported in the literature. Materials and Methods: We placed glass fiber filters on top of the stage 3 nozzles of an NGI, along with the necessary support screen and hold-down ring. We measured the pressure drop across NGI stage 3 with the assistance of a delta P lid and a high-precision pressure transducer. With each filter material type and multiple individual filters, we gathered eight replicates at flow rates of 30, 45, and 60 L/min. Results: The filters typically doubled the total pressure drop through the NGI. For example, at a flow rate of 60 L/min, the Whatman 934-AH filters introduced a pressure drop of about 9800 Pa at stage 3, reducing the absolute pressure exiting the NGI to about 23 kPa below ambient, compared with a typical value of 10 kPa for the NGI alone at this flow rate. Conclusions: The pressure drop across typical filters is approximately equal to that through the NGI alone and therefore will affect the flow start-up rate intrinsic to compendial testing of passive DPIs. This change in start-up rate could cause differences between results of the rNGI configuration and those of the full NGI and will increase the required vacuum pump capacity.

The political ecology of the entropy principle: 19th century physics and the electrification of Germany

The formalisation of the entropy law by Rudolf Clausius in 1865 marks a shift in 19th century physics. By defining energy as a process, German physicists were able to shape the necessary epistemological instruments for the second industrial revolution. The Berlin School of Thermodynamics applied physics for industrialising the recently unified Prussian state, making energy an important site of state governance. The entropy principle, an economic abstraction of the entropy law, called for a stronger interconnection of science and economics. Facilitated by a pessimistic anthropocentrism of Hermann von Helmholtz, German physics pushed for the application of statistical thermodynamics to the real world. Thus, nature's chaotic energy flows were rationalised for them to be legible to the state. Based on archival research in Berlin and Munich, this paper tells the story of such development, by highlighting how the entropy principle became institutionalised for industrialisation. Next to Clausius paradigm shift in 1865, it focusses on the foundation of the Physical Technical Reich Institute in 1887 and the International Electricity Exhibition in Frankfurt in 1891. The latter introduced the centralised production and grid-like distribution of electricity, revolutionising modes of production in urban as well as rural spaces. The analysis of such socio-technical development of the energy system in the fin de siècle enables the necessary thrust to make wider claims about how environmentalism, changing modes of production and the craft of the state are intertwined. This has great relevance for the historicization of current modes of transition towards a low-carbon economy in Germany and beyond. Physical knowledges and institutional arrangements of the energy system were shaped in conjunction, establishing a certain path dependency to such developments.

Kebijakan Kredit Melalui Bank Perkreditan Rakyat Bagi UMKM Dalm Meningkatkan Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Nasional

Credit policy is a state goal to provide opportunities for the community to build businesses or businesses that have an impact on the nation's economic drive systemically. Banking financial institutions that serve credit financing products as products that are often in demand by customers in order to open a business by offering a prospectus for business activities. The existence of Rural Banks (BPR) has a significant role for local communities in the context of regional economic development. Broadly speaking, the role of BPR is not only in channeling funds to the public, but the bank and its customers work together to build a project through a financing product called profit sharing (dividend). The research method uses normative juridical (doctrinal research) with a qualitative approach, which in processing and analyzing data does not use numbers, symbols, and mathematical variables, but rather an in-depth understanding by reviewing the laws and regulations. The results of the study explain that, Developments in credit policy resulted in a change and were able to overcome the problem of instability in a country. Rural Banks have a policy of limiting credit distribution which is regulated in a regulation in order to achieve a productivity of capital to be distributed. The government through the Job Creation Law is to create an MSME ecosystem that is more integrated with investment and workers (human resources) for the sake of sustainability and the continuity of productive capital distribution. With the people's credit policy, regional creative products can be recognized and provide business opportunities for business actors in the region

Usaha Kita Groups Economic Activities as a Learning Resources on Social Studies

The lack of income for family members will affect survival. Through the economic activities of the fish cracker business group, there are aspects, such as production and distribution. Economic activities provide a place for teachers to develop the material, adding examples in the environment around where they live as social studies learning resources. This study aims to determine how the fish cracker business group conducts economic activities. This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive methods. Data was obtained through observation, interviews, and documentation. Test the validity of the data through source, technique, and time triangulation. Data is presented in the form of descriptions and pictures. The research results are production activities, distribution, and consumption by the Usaha Kita group in Banua Anyar village. Production is carried out by several business group members, namely by processing haruan/snake fish into crackers. Distribution is done directly by selling online via WhatsApp and indirectly through intermediaries distributed to restaurants. Consumption is done directly in the restaurant. Economic activities carried out by business groups, such as distribution, production, and consumption, can be used as contextual social studies learning resource on economic activity material so that it aims for students to understand the surrounding environment and can be used as a learning resource. The existence of these activities can make it easier for teachers to provide examples and link them to learning resources on social studies.

In Focus Introduction: Queering Asian Media

In Focus Introduction:Queering Asian Media Jamie J. Zhao (bio) and Yiman Wang (bio) It has been nearly a decade since the publication of Cinema Journal's 2014 In Focus dossier on "Queer Approaches to Film, Television, and Digital Media."1 The dossier powerfully demonstrated an essential scholarly refocus from "a US-based politics of 'coming out'" to more diverse queer deconstructions, non-confrontational queer practices, negotiative queer productions in media and cultural studies.2 This shift was largely inspired by the late queer media scholar Alexander Doty's "contra-straight" theorization of the seemingly hetero-normative mainstream media text and context.3 Following this model, in combination with Sara Ahmed's queer phenomenology, recent scholarship has understood queer as not only minority identities but also disruptive positions, sentiments, styles, and practices that productively reorient normative imaginations, regulations, and sociopolitical identities in global media studies.4 In particular, [End Page 154] a growing body of scholarship has queried and reoriented commercial media that often target straight audiences and have benefited from globalization, migration, urbanization, social stratification, and the rapidly developing digital technologies. Findings from such research have shown that not only binarism-disruptive gender and sexual knowledge but also new forms of identity- and desire-based binarism, essentialism, and homonormative assimilation are produced in queer media production, circulation, and consumption.5 The early 2000s have also witnessed "a queering of Asian studies" amid crisscrossing processes of localization, transnationalization, and globalization. Here queering works as a critical perspective, highlighting "the new worlds of queer Asian media cultures created through the globalization" of gender and sexual politics while also problematizing "the binary between the 'West' and the 'rest'" in conceptualizing queer Asian media.6 In particular, the two frameworks of queer Asian studies mapped out by Audrey Yue—"queer hybridity" and "critical regionalism"—have been widely adopted in a range of academic disciplines to challenge imperialism, (neo-)colonialism, ethno-nationalism, heteronormativity, homonormativity, and Orientalism and Occidentalism in scholarly discourses as well as cultural productions.7 Nevertheless, most of the existing scholarship in queer Asian media studies has focused on the queer promises and struggles in media representation, performance, and reception, such as queer Asian star and fan studies. What has remained understudied is the potential of queering Asian media's production technologies, distribution venues, political-ideological institutions, and narrative strategies, with an eye to tease out nonconforming feelings, subjectivities, and relationalities. Contemporaneously with the expanding queer turn in media studies and area studies, queer Asian media has broken through into the mainstream and globalized media industries. This breakthrough encompasses the boom of androgynous K-pop idols; the inter-Asian and global popularity of Japanese Boys' Love (BL) and Girls' Love (GL) cultures; the surge of Thai and [End Page 155] mainland Chinese homoerotic TV dramas and their popularity in the Anglophone world; queer and transgender film and TV stardom in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand; and Asian-based lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) live-streaming channels and online celebrities.8 The proliferation of both LGBTQ content, characters, and celebrities and norm-defying media and pop cultural forms, formats, platforms, and spaces in contemporary Asia offers us an exciting opportunity to bring queer Asian media and the method of queering to bear upon each other and to examine how this might reshape queer approaches to Asian media studies. Our In Focus dossier, "Queering Asian Media," showcases six essays that examine a variety of Asian media forms and genres through a queering critical lens, with special attention to East Asian and Southeast Asian media cultures spanning the past five decades. The authors in this dossier mobilize queering as both an analytical tool and an often neglected characteristic of Asian media culture to unpack the contested and morphing modes of knowledge production surrounding gender and sexuality, geopolitics, and histories that have been made possible by Asian media production, circulation, and consumption in an increasingly inter-Asian, globalizing world. Collectively, these essays articulate a spectrum of queer affective politics across spaces, time, ideologies, media forms, and media technologies. Our dossier raises the following questions. Acknowledging queering as an established and powerful practice in media production, distribution, and reception, how might...

Analysis on technical structure and competitiveness of ICT manufacturing industries

In order to analyze the technical structure and international comparative advantage of the information and communication technology (ICT) manufacturing industry, a complete set of ICT manufacturing product categories has been constructed by matching National Economical Industry Classification (GB/T4754-2017) with Harmonized System (HS) Codes, based on the relevant definitions in International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC). The proposed definition overcomes inherent defects such as inaccurate scopes, lagging data and rough categories, which are characterized by commonly utilized product-level based classification approaches. Within the given framework, this paper has designed the technology content related indicators from the perspective of production distribution, and divided ICT product categories into high-end, medium-end and low-end manufacturing classifications according to respective global shares. Then, we have calculated international market shares (IMS), revealed comparative advantages (RCA), and market penetration rates (MPR) of ICT manufacturing exports for major economies from 2010 to 2021. Finally, development characterizations of ICT manufacturing industries for China's Mainland are analyzed, and several practical suggestions are provided.

EKSPLORASI PROBLEMATIKA DAN MODEL ALTERNATIF OPTIMALISASI ZAKAT DI INDONESIA ERA PEREKONOMIAN MODERN

Even though the potential for zakat in Indonesia presents an astonishing figure of 317 trillion rupiahs per year, Indonesia still has not been able to solve the problem of poverty that haunts the country. This study aims to comprehensively examine the problems and smart solutions to find a new zakat optimization model that is properly implemented to reduce poverty and unemployment in Indonesia. This research is field research using a descriptive qualitative approach design. The research findings reveal several problems that impede the optimal realization of zakat; zakat is not the main priority of government policy, low literacy of the zakat community, the majority of the utilization of zakat is consumptive oriented rather than product-oriented, lack of public trust in the government, low quality of human resources who are professional and competent in the field of zakat, the calculation of zakat is not correct, and negative public perceptions of the zakat profession. The zakat optimization model that can be implemented includes; education on the essence of the zakat paradigm, empowering muzaki, increasing the accountability of zakat management institutions, integrating professional zakat and income tax, innovating productive zakat distribution mechanisms, and building community and government synergy. The results of research findings can become innovations and material for evaluating policies in updating the progress of zakat in Indonesia both at national, provincial or district, or regional central institutions.

Eye drops of human origin-Current status and future needs: Report on the workshop organized by the ISBT Working Party for Cellular Therapies.

Serum eye drops (SEDs) are used to treat ocular surface disease (OSD) and to promote ocular surface renewal. However, their use and production are not standardized, and several new forms of human eye drops have been developed. The International Society for Blood Transfusion Working Party (ISBT WP) for Cellular Therapies held a workshop to review the current typesofeye drops of human origin (EDHO) status and provide guidance. The ISBT WP for Cellular Therapies introduced the new terminology 'EDHO' to emphasize that these products are analogous to 'medical products of human origin'. This concept encompasses their source (serum, platelet lysate, and cordblood) and the increasingly diverse spectrum of clinical usage in ophthalmology and the need for traceability. The workshop identified the wide variability in EDHO manufacturing, lack of harmonized quality and production standards, distribution issues, reimbursement schemes and regulations. EDHO use and efficacy is established for the treatment of OSD, especially for those refractory to conventional treatments. Production and distribution of single-donor donations are cumbersome and complex. The workshop participants agreed that allogeneic EDHO have advantages over autologous EDHO although more data on clinical efficacy and safety are needed. Allogeneic EDHOs enable more efficient production and, when pooled, can provide enhanced standardization for clinical consistency, provided optimal margin of virus safety is ensured. Newer products, including platelet-lysate- and cord-blood-derived EDHO, show promise and benefits over SED, but their safety and efficacy are yet to be fully established. This workshop highlighted the need for harmonization of EDHO standards and guidelines.

Smart energy management system framework for population dynamics modelling and suitable energy trajectories identification in islanded micro-grids

In an increasingly electrified and connected world, renewable energy production and robust distribution as well as sobriety paradigm, both for the individual and the society, will most likely play a central role regarding global systems stability. Consequently, while being able to conceive efficient storage systems coupled with robust energy management strategies present significant interests, a number of related studies often consider the human behaviour factor separately. While not decisive in large industrial factories, human demeanor impact cannot be overlooked in residential areas. As such, this work proposes an innovative and flexible dynamic population model, inspired from epidemiological methods, that allows simulation of a vast spectrum of social scenarios. By pairing this formalization with a smart energy management strategy, a complete framework is proposed. In particular, beyond the theoretical identification of sustainable parameters in a wide diversity of configurations, our experiments demonstrate the relevance of reinforcement learning agents as efficient energy management policies. Depending on the scenario, the trained agent enables an increase of the sustainability areas over baseline strategies up to 200%, thus hinting at ultimately softer societal impact.

The Effect of Housing Environment on Commercial Brown Egg Layer Production, USDA Grade and USDA Size Distribution.

Consumer demand for retail cage-free eggs is driving the layer industry towards greater use of extensive housing environments. However, there is limited research on how these environments affect egg production characteristics of brown egg layers, as was the focus of this study. Five housing environments were evaluated under typical industry conditions, including conventional cages, enrichable colony cages, enriched colony cages, cage-free and free-range. Three different brown egg laying strains were housed in the different housing environments and managed according to standard husbandry practices and stocking densities. Data collection for the strains began at 17 weeks of age, with a base period of 28 days for feed weigh backs and egg quality assessments. Housing environment had a highly significant (p < 0.0001) effect on all egg production characteristics measured, including egg production rates (% hen-day and % hen-housed), feed consumption (g/bird/day), feed conversion (egg g/feed g), and mortality rate (%) as well as percent grade A, B, and loss. Previous research revealed better egg production metrics for white egg layers in caged environments than extensive environments. In contrast, we observed brown egg layers had optimum production results for the free-range housing environments, and the poorest performance in enrichable colony cages.

On-Barn Forecasting Beef Cattle Production Based on Automated Non-Contact Body Measurement System.

The main task of selective breeding is to determine the early productivity of offspring. The sooner the economic value of an animal is determined, the more profitable the result will be, due to the proper estimation of high and low productive calves and distribution of the resources among them, accordingly. To predict productivity, we offer to use a systematic assessment of animals by using the main genetic parameters (correlation coefficients, heritability, and regression) based on data such as the measurement of morphological characteristics of animals, obtained using the automated non-contact body measurement system based on RGB-D image capture. The usefulness of the image capture system lies in significant time reduction that is spent on data collection and improvement in data collection accuracy due to the absence of subjective measurement errors. We used the RGB-D image capture system to measure the live weight of mother cows, as well as the live weight and body size of their calves (height at the withers, height in the sacrum, oblique length of the trunk, chest depth, chest girth, pastern girth). Cows and cattle of black-and-white and Holstein breeds (n = 561) were selected as the object of the study. Correlation analysis revealed the main indices for the forecast of meat productivity-live weight and measurements of animals at birth. Calculation of the selection effect is necessary for planning breeding work, since it can determine the value of economically beneficial traits in subsequent generations, which is very important for increasing the profitability of livestock production. This approach can be used in livestock farms for predicting the meat productivity of black-and-white cattle.

Capacity Building of a Self-Reliant Model Community for Cholangiocarcinoma Prevention by Producing Fruit and Vegetable Juice Products in a High-Risk Area of Thailand.

This participatory action research aims to develop healthy fruit and vegetable juice products (FVPs) to enhance people's income and quality of life (QOL) in a community with the highest prevalence of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) in Thailand. We randomly sampled study areas from 25 homes in a Thai community to solve poverty and improve QOL. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for data analysis. Moreover, qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The community management system relies on local resources under religious inspiration. Academics also keep developing FVPs from local raw materials planted by organic farming under "Nong Lak Rak Sukapab." The product's nutritional value was measured by In-House and Nutrition Labeling Methods from National Food Institute Laboratory (IEC/ISO17025). According to the Bureau of Nutrition, a 230 ml bottle of each wheatgrass and corn juice contains nutrients beneficial to health and necessary for the body. In addition, the community has participated in production planning, marketing, distribution, and household accounting. As a result, average monthly household income and QOL increased with statistical significance after the project implementation. Conclusions: These findings demonstrated that improving communities' capacity to be health leaders by producing FVPs to prevent CCA in high-risk areas is critical to early disease prevention and community health care. These issues can also be applied to public policy implications for other regions and diseases in order to emphasize community health care and long-term community development.

Integrating distribution, sales and services in manufacturing: a comparative case study

PurposeThe aim of this study is to gain important insights on integration oriented servitization identifying essential dimensions of effective structures, coordination approaches and management controls adopted by manufacturing firms that integrate forward towards distribution, sales and services.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a theory-guided qualitative abductive methodology to conduct a comparative case-study of two manufacturing firms in the same industry integrating forward to enhance servitization but with significantly different performance outcomes. The findings are uncovered from a broad spectrum of primary and secondary data spanning two decades.FindingsThe consistently high-performing firm puts equal emphasis on production and downstream distribution, sales and services and motivate individuals to engage in entrepreneurial efforts to develop combined product-services offerings that are valued by customers. The underperforming firm prioritizes operating efficiency driven by engineering prowess and managed through planning, standardization, authority and central controls.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on two representative firms operating in a specific industry context, which has ramifications for the generalizability of results and calls for replication studies to substantiate and extend findings.Practical implicationsForward integration from manufacturing into distribution, sales and services represents a specific servitization strategy that needs structure and particular coordination approaches to be effective in complex dynamic product-markets. The characteristics of the outperforming case company provide useful insights on effective integrated servitization efforts.Social implicationsForward integration is a commonly adopted strategy among manufacturing firms that constitute the backbone of modern economies and effective governance of these integration oriented servitization efforts has important implications for societal value creation.Originality/valueThis study builds on rationales from management science including economic theory, corporate strategy and different micro-foundational lenses and thereby hone recent calls for broader theoretical foundations to enlighten studies of the servitization puzzle.

Stepwise recovery of cerium and fluorine from bastnaesite: Utilizing complex properties of B-F to obtain high purity CeO2 and KBF4

This research investigates a new approach for recovering fluorine and cerium from a boric-acid-added bastnaesite sulfuric leaching liquor by Cyannex923. Systematic research of the effects of H3BO3 on bastnaesite leaching, extraction and stripping process was studied. The process mechanism and conditions in each step, including concentrations, proper pH, K/B and B/F ratio and temperature, were also determined. The result describes that that the formation of B-F complex improves the extraction of Ce and F. The formation of B-F complex also provides a new method to realize the separation and stepwise recovery of Ce and F. After Ce, B and F were co-extracted, Ce/B-F loaded organic phase are stepwise stripped by H2SO4 + H2O2 and NH3·H2O, allowing recovery of KBF4 with 97.12 % purity and CeO2 with 99.95 % purity from stripping solutions. The size distribution and SEM images of KBF4 product were given as well, which showed KBF4 was mainly 1 μm particles and dispersed well. Furthermore, the whole process based on the mechanism was designed and confirmed by cascade extraction test.

Efektifitas Penyaluran Zakat Produktif dalam Bentuk Bantuan Modal Usaha terhadap Kesejahteraan Mustahik dengan Pendekatan Metode CIBEST

This research aims at analyzing the impact of Productive zakat distribution on one's spiritual and material aspects. The impact is measured using the CIBEST technique which will produce spiritual value (SV) and material value (MV). This research aims at analyzing and cognizing its effectiveness perceived by mustahiq. The process is conducted by classifying it based on the quadrants in the CIBEST calculation technique, before or after giving productive zakat in the form of business capital assistance as one of  Surabaya Infaq Management Institute (LMI). The research uses descriptive quantitative research method with 24 households as respondents. The results show that the provision of productive zakat in the form of business capital assistance has positive and effective impact on the economic and spiritual aspects of mustahiq with an increase from quadrant II to quadrant I.

Modelling of an integrated protonic ceramic electrolyzer cell (PCEC) for methanol synthesis

In this study, a novel reactor model is developed by combining protonic ceramic electrolyzer cell (PCEC) electrolysis for hydrogen production and CO2 recycling for methanol synthesis. The problem of temperature mismatch between PCEC and methanol synthesis is solved by supplying low-temperature gas intermediately, so as to realize the integrated direct synthesis of methanol. After model validation, a study of the effects of key operating parameters on the methanol production and temperature distribution of the system is conducted. It is found that increasing the operating voltage and electrolysis operating temperature, or decreasing the supplemental gas temperature enhances methanol production, while the carrier gas flow rate, supplemental gas flow rate and anode flow rate all have the optimal values (QN2 = 10–35 SCCM, QCO2 = 20–50 SCCM and Qan = 250–300 SCCM). Meanwhile, the temperature distribution of the system is also significantly affected by the above operating parameters, and it is possible to achieve a precise control of the operating conditions of the coupled system by adjusting the above operating parameters to ensure an efficient and long-term operation. This study provides an insight and a new approach for the recycling of CO2 and the green synthesis of methanol.

Consolidating Efficiency of Nanolime Product CaLoSiL on Porous Limestone

The effects of the double and the multiple application (2 to 6) of Calosil® (IBZ-Salzchemie GmbH, Halsbruecke, Germany) E25, IP 25 and E50 products were studied on Maastricht limestone, which is characterized by high porosity and large pores. Both destructive and non-destructive laboratory tests we performed in order to assess the consolidating efficiency of the nanolimes—the bending and compressive strengths, ultrasound velocity measurement, porosity determination and SEM examination. Except for the compressive strength, the other characteristics were investigated in the depth profile of stone specimens to find the distribution of the treatment product within the substrate. The performed tests showed good penetration of CaLoSiL nanolime products into the studied limestone. The bending strengths of limestone samples after double treatment using nanolime E 25, IP25 and E 50 were found to be increased by 50%, 44% and 89%, respectively, whereas the compressive strength increased by 50%, 23% and 73%. The porosity of the stone was reduced by the treatment, but only slightly, to an acceptable extent. The higher sum of performed nanolime applications resulted in a higher strengthening effect but at the same time at the uneven distribution of the product in the stone specimen, which was followed by an increase in the strength and decrease of open porosity in the surface part. SEM examination showed a modification of the stone microstructure by the added binder.

Firm Size Distribution in African Manufacturing Firms: Revisiting the ‘Missing Middle’

AbstractThere has been a widespread view that firm size distribution (FSD) in developing countries has been characterised as having a ‘missing middle’. We have investigated this question using evidence from the entire population of Ethiopian manufacturing firms, including small informal firms. Based on the analysis, we have documented the following four facts. First, there is no evidence of a bimodal distribution in the FSD. Second, small firms overwhelmingly, and increasingly, dominate the distribution. Third, the distribution of the average product of factor input is neither bimodal nor an inverted U-shaped. Fourth, we have investigated the potential regulatory notches of employment sizes of the sort often thought to discourage firm growth and have found no unusual bunching of firms near the notch points. More recently it has been argued by Tybout that instead of looking at the actual FSD to capture a ‘missing middle’, the actual should be compared with an undistorted one, which could be characterised as Paretian. We show, using this approach, that there is a ‘missing middle’ when using employment shares. However, when we look at firm share, by size category, over time large firms have been missing as well.

Financial strain of COVID-19 and its impact on willingness-to-pay for equine care.

The novel COVID-19 virus caused a global pandemic disrupting lives, industries, and economies. The result was an impact on prices due to challenges with production and supply chain distribution. This study investigates the financial strain COVID-19 had on equine owners and leasers, what the market for equine care would bear if costs for care increased, and what factors contribute to their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for increasing cost of equine care. An online survey was distributed for 4 weeks to adult US residents. Respondents reported their involvement in the equine industry, financial response to COVID-19, and responses to a double-bound dichotomous choice question on their WTP for care given a randomized increase (1-20%) in their current cost (n = 506). Data were analyzed using interval regression models where a = 0.05 (Stata15). Respondents were separated into 3 groups: owner keeping their horse at their residence, owner boarding their equids, and leaser. Boarders reported mean monthly payments of 23.33 ± 90.37 USD (n = 15) for free board, 236.47 ± 151.92 USD, (n = 75) for partial board, and 514.75 ± 291.71 USD (n = 181) for full board. Results show all owners, leaser, and boarders have different WTP values which range from 18.5% to 26.2% increase in current care costs which extends beyond the presented range due to many respondents responding "yes" to both WTP questions (71% of owners, 6% of boarders, 65% of leasers). Equine owners, with on farm equids from the southern US were WTP 11% less than from other regions (P = 0.015). The current boarding fees from owners that board their equids lowered their WTP by 0.01% (P = 0.029) for each additional dollar paid, whereas current care costs were not a significant factor for other owners (P = 0.370) or leasers (P = 0.395). Those that had a full lease for their equids, housed on farm or at a facility, were WTP 15% higher (P = 0.036) than those that had a partial or no lease. In comparison, boarding status (full, partial, or no boarding) did not significantly (P = 0.51) impact boarder's WTP. Age of respondent and annual household income heterogeneously affected WTP across all groups. These results indicate the market for equine care can bear the increases in cost associated with financial distress related to COVID-19, and may aid equine owners, caregivers, and associated individuals in making informed decisions regarding essential care. Results from this study should be taken in context of the global pandemic and the restrictions in place, or lack thereof, at the time the survey was administered.