Socio-economic Prosperity Research Articles

Agama dan Budaya Ekonomi Kewirausahaan di Credit Union Bahtera Abadi Kabupaten Sragen

The purpose of this study is to describe the religion and culture of entrepreneurship economics as a tool for public welfare. Socio-economic prosperity is always interwoven in the history of religious human life. This study uses qualitative research methods with descriptive analysis to see religion as part of economic culture to fight for entrepreneurial welfare as a joint empowerment movement for social welfare. But religion and economics need the skills to make it happen, so that not only talk about individual interests (self economic), but for living together (social economy). Religion in this case Christianity (the church) becomes the locus of economic empowerment through the Credit Union (CU) to realize prosperity in a community. The behavior of economic growth is indeed strongly influenced by the values that develop in a particular community. Considering that economic development cannot be separated from the cultural process itself. The practice of CU at CU Bahtera Abadi has provided a change in economic cultural behavior through awareness education and skills for members to develop their skills in managing themselves and themselves with other individuals. On the other hand, it contributes to the culture of organization and entrepreneurship. The values of education and empowerment are very important to continue to be developed to form a new habitus for future generations.

Measuring hub locations in time-evolving spatial interaction networks based on explicit spatiotemporal coupling and group centrality

ABSTRACT As the essence of urban spatiotemporal interaction systems, hubs and centers empower cities to enhance socioeconomic prosperity and sustainability. However, a city manifests a time-evolving spatial interaction network with latent temporal interactions and irregular spatial partitions. This phenomenon is termed the spatiotemporal inconsistency problem. The aggregate, single-layer network model is defective for capturing the importance of locations in such time-evolving spatial interaction systems. This article therefore proposes a novel multilayer network model based on the nature of inherent spatial and temporal dependencies of urban interactions. First, the spatial agglomeration and the temporal correlation are explicitly modeled in multilayer networks for alleviating the spatiotemporal inconsistency problem. Secondly, generalized centrality metrics from a single-layered static network to the multi-layered dynamic network are acquired in order to discover grouped hub locations over time. Lastly, the capability of the proposed method is evaluated by an empirical analysis of the taxi mobility networks of Beijing, China, from 2012 to 2017. The empirical analysis indicates that the proposed method enables the identification of typical hub locations clustered in space and stable over time. This ability is essential to understand the centrality of locations informed by noisy and inconsistent data in their spatial and temporal dimensions.

An Overview of Women Entrepreneurship from Islamic Perspective

Islam has encouraged women to participate in entrepreneurial activities for economic prosperity and social growth. Nevertheless, their participation in economic activities is very lesser than men globally. Previously, the field of entrepreneurship has been regarded as a male dominant sector. Entrepreneurship flourishes due to economic, social, ethical, and environmental factors while the practice of Sharia principles works as a catalyst in this process. Women entrepreneurship helps in alleviating poverty and unemployment that leads to socio-economic prosperity in a country. The motivation of starting women businesses varies in different cultures and geographic regions. Women engagements in different business activities can not only empower them socially and financially but can also share the household economic burden with men. Furthermore, it will also help them to make their decisions independently. Their entrepreneurial income can be used for their children’s education, health, and the betterment of society. They can also use the option of partnership within the family for the financial and social network. The challenges faced by these women entrepreneurs can be handled with their family support. This review provides a general overview of concepts, motives, challenges, and the prospects of women entrepreneurship from an Islamic perspective.

Linkages of agroecosystems producing farmed seafood on food security, nutritional status and adolescent health in Bangladesh.

This narrative review aims to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on actors that link global aquatic food production systems with fish consumption and nutritional status, with a special focus on adolescent girls in Bangladesh. The writing of this narrative perspective was undertaken within the framework of the Aquatic Food for Health and Nutrition (AQN) project that aimed to develop a metric for assessing the impacts on nutrition and health of agroecosystems producing farmed seafood. Previous studies evaluating links between agricultural ecosystems, aquaculture, food security and human health have systemically ignored the importance of diet and nutrition. Such studies have also ignored the importance of local communities, cultural norms and household composition and behaviours to identify vulnerable groups such as adolescent girls. This narrative review presents our current understanding of the relationships between aquaculture, fish production and consumption patterns, food security, optimal nutrition and health. It also highlights the importance of research into aquaculture food systems, linking aquatic food production systems with nutritional status, health and socioeconomic prosperity, which would help to develop more integrated and relevant food policies.

Private Sector Presence in India’s Healthcare: Econometric Analysis of Patterns and Consequences

The presence of private providers in the Indian healthcare remains one of the most debated issues. This paper attempts to contribute to this debate from the angle of the ultimate goal of healthcare provision – a healthy population. We explore whether private sector presence has improved the general health status of the people. We develop a theoretical argument to hypothesise that private sector presence in India would lead to better health status through the route of competition driven quality, but which in turn could lead to adverse economic consequences. We use district level secondary data from government sources to confirm our hypotheses using robust tools of applied econometrics, correcting for problems of endogeneity. Constructing a district level index of private sector presence, we identify distinct spatial/geographical clusters, explained by socio-economic prosperity as well as demonstration effect. We also find a robust positive association between private sector presence and general health outcomes, accompanied with an adverse economic consequence of rising catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure. In terms of policy, the paper concludes that rather than restricting the growth of the private sector, the government must strengthen the quality of the existing public healthcare delivery system and ensure effective monitoring and regulation.

The Role of Social Enterprises in Urban Sustainability: Insights from Anyang, South Korea

The collaboration of Social enterprises (SEs) and the government to maximize the socio-economic prosperity of citizens, including minor ethnic groups and low-income classes, is one of the key tools that leads to the sustainable development of a city. Notably, though, is that a seamless coordination of development processes between SEs and relevant government agencies is often challenging to attain because it is usually affected by several factors. Some of these factors include lack of enough funding, depletion of natural resources and inadequate social capital. Besides such factors, there has also been another conspicuous factor— the increasing number of emerging cities, an example being the City of Anyang, which is located in Gyeonggi province of South Korea. Based on the issue of emerging cities, the objective of conducting this research was to find out what mechanisms of SEs can positively affect sustainable development and urban regeneration for the City of Anyang. As for the methodology, primary data were collected by use of questionnaires and the methodologies of factor analysis and correlation analysis tools, such as Cronbach and varimax rotation, applied to evaluate the results. The sample of the survey consisted of 1062 stakeholders recruited from over 18 economic sectors. The findings suggest that a significant number of respondents demonstrated a low confidence level in the social enterprises’ abilities to address all the emerging economic and social development issues. Regardless of the low levels of confidence exhibited by the study participants in the ability of SEs to address emerging economic and social development issues, other factors, such as employment creation, support for vulnerable groups, and environmental conservation had significantly high scores. Based on these findings, it is a reasonable assertion that SEs can effectively use these abilities to affect urban regeneration and sustainable development positively. Unfortunately, other values associated with enterprises, such as promoting access to quality education, affordable housing, addressing financial exclusion and disability, provision of the grants to other organizations, and support to other social enterprises, were ranked below the expected level. Based on the results from the study, it is evident that instruments of SEs, such as supporting the vulnerable population, the creation of employment opportunities, and environmental conservation positively influence Anyang’s urban regeneration process and its sustainable development.

Islamic Insurance vs. Conventional Insurance: A Comparative Case Study

Insurance plays a very vital role in the modern world economic system. Because of its role in providing socio-economic prosperity and security to life and property it has been recognized as an essential service throughout the whole world. But one Islamic scholar declare the insurance as unislamic due to the elements of Gharer (uncertainty), Maisir (gambling) and Riba (interest) involved in the operation of insurance contract. According to a saying of the Holy prophet (SM), “which he told to a Bedouin Arab, who left his camel unchained to the will of Allah,” tie the camel and then leave it to the will of Allah.” In another hadith the prophet (SM) advised to help one another in furthering virtue and God consciousness and do not help another in furthering evil and enmity. In view of these hadiths it’s established that concept of insurance does not contradict with shariah. Though the sharia support the insurance but not conventional insurance.

Public-Private Partnerships Promoting Prosperity: Evidence From Brazilian Favelas

To what extent does a public-private partnership promote socioeconomic prosperity among the disenfranchised? Non-profit organizations operating in resource-scarce settings often act as “institutional intermediaries,” which create and develop institutions in settings with market failures. The literature usually considers the actions of institutional intermediaries in isolation from public authorities. Nevertheless, these intermediaries can partner with public organizations through public-private partnerships (PPPs). This paper aims to evaluate the impact of a PPP to promote development in a resource-scarce setting, the Brazilian favelas (i.e., urban slums). To this end, I use mixed-methods, combining a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and a computation textual analysis. My results show that the PPP improves favela dwellers both labor market outcomes, such as entrepreneurship and income; and socio-psychological outcomes, such as self-efficacy and optimism/positivity. Surprisingly, however, the partnership hurts perceptions of social stigma, which increase among participants. Qualitative evidence points to what I call the “getting out of the ghetto” effect, in which participants feel more stigmatized after the partnership program because they are more likely to engage in social interactions with people from outside the favela. This paper seeks to advance the recent call for more management research focusing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Evolutionary Strategies for Body Size.

Humans show marked variation in body size around the world, both within and among populations. At present, the tallest people in the world are from the Netherlands and the Balkan countries, while the shortest populations are central African Pygmies. There are genetic, genetic plasticity, developmental, and environmental bases for size variation in Homo sapiens from the recent past and the present. Early populations of Homo species also have shown considerable size variation. Populations from the present and the past are also marked by sexual dimorphism, which, itself, shows group variation. There is abundant evidence for the effects of limited food and disease on human growth and resultant adult body size. This environmental influence has been reflected in “secular trends” (over a span of years) in growth and adult size from socioeconomic prosperity or poverty (availability of resources). Selective and evolutionary advantages of small or large body size also have been documented. Heritability for human height is relatively great with current genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identifying hundreds of genes leading to causes of growth and adult size variation. There are also endocrinological pathways limiting growth. An example is the reduced tissue sensitivity to human growth hormone (HGH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in Philippine and African hunter-gatherer populations. In several short-statured hunter-gatherer populations (Asian, African, and South American), it has been hypothesized that short life expectancy has selected for early maturity and truncated growth to enhance fertility. Some island populations of humans and other mammals are thought to have been selected for small size because of limited resources, especially protein. The high-protein content of milk as a staple food may contribute to tall stature in East African pastoral peoples. These and other evolutionary questions linked to life history, male competition, reproduction, and mobility are explored in this paper.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Dynamics of Regional Connectivity: Prospects and Challenges

Since 1950, China and Pakistan have enjoyed historic friendly relations. They helped each other during the times of need and have supported each other at various regional and international forums. Currently, they are engaged in building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a component of China’s gigantic economic venture, One Belt, One Road (OBOR). Later termed as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it is a framework of regional connectivity to enhance geographical linkages and to improve roads, rail networks with frequent and free exchanges of growth while moving towards more optimal business by win-win model. The CPEC, being its flagship project, has the potential to bring incredible financial gains for the BRI countries. In this connection, the South Asian countries and the global community have mixed perception about the project. However, the CPEC is important for regional countries because it will bring socio-economic prosperity and technological advancement. The CPEC will offer China and Pakistan an opportunity to promote regional connectivity, trade growth and infrastructure development. Pakistan views the corridor not only as an infrastructure and economic development programme but a key initiative for the country’s economic prosperity. Nevertheless, China needs to expand its influence in the peripheral neighbourhood, consolidate its global presence and secure future supply routes of energy and trade goods; This will help Pakistan become one of the beneficiaries of the Chinese investment in the region.

Human Prosperity Measurement within The Gloom of Maqasid Al-Shariah

This study is trying to interpret the theory of Maqasid Al-Shariah in wide context, which further based on the measurement of socio-economic prosperity; it takes into account the major drawbacks of the existing measurements. The proposed measurement is an integrated Maqasid Al-Shariah based composite index to measure socio-economic prosperity of economies in general and muslim countries in particular. The integrated Maqasid Al-Shariah based measurement does not isolate economic and social progress from the spiritual and biophysical variables that effect human prosperity. Specifically, in this paper, we will be looking at the theory of Maqasid Al-Shariah and socio-economic prosperity, in order to develop these constructs within the proposed composite index and the measurement variables, where each variable constructs under the Maqasid Al-Shariah. This study argues that the existing measurements of socio-economic progress are limited by number of measured variables and, therefore, do not portray the real socio-economic prosperity status.

The Relationship between Destination Competitiveness and Residents’ Quality of Life: Lessons from Bali

This study examined whether increasing tourism competitiveness in destination like Bali translates into increasing social welfare for the host communities. The paper uses a framework introduced by Kim and Wicks (2010) to investigate how destination competitiveness has affected residents’ livelihoods and quality of life in Bali. Fieldwork took place over four weeks in Bali using a rapid rural appraisal approach with qualitative data collection techniques. A total number of 28 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were carried out during June with an average duration of 1.5 hours. Besides doing interviews, direct observations and notes were taken to ensure self-reflection in qualitative fieldwork, and then interview data were analysed using Nvivo software. Respondents were selected using convenience sampling and contacts with key stakeholders in the tourism industry including government officials who were made using snowballing technique. Key themes that emerged through the interviews suggest that socio-economic prosperity is not guaranteed although a destination appears successful. The findings show that the economic prosperity that is normally perceived from a successful competitive destination like Bali does not always translate to increased social welfare. The tourism competitiveness framework leading to better socio-economic prosperity is partially demonstrated. Our research found that Bali’s success has brought an improvement in quality of life for the Balinese but only to a limited extent. Our paper is the first attempt to investigate the link between destination competitiveness and host community quality of life as seen on the Kim and Wicks model.

Marine plastic litter in the ROPME Sea Area: Current knowledge and recommendations

The impact of marine litter, particularly plastic waste, is widely acknowledged as a growing global concern. Marine litter is an understudied issue in the Regional Organisation for Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) Sea Area where rapid economic growth has already placed considerable stress on infrastructure and coastal ecosystems. This paper outlines some of the drivers for waste generation in region and reviews the available literature to summarise the current state of knowledge on the environmental fate, behaviour and impact of marine litter within the ROPME Sea Area. While data is limited, those studies conducted demonstrate marine litter is posing a clear and growing threat to the environmental and socioeconomic prosperity of the ROPME Sea Area. The development of regional and national marine litter reduction plans are clearly a priority to focus and coordinate activity across multiple stakeholders. Discussion of the potential environmental impacts arising as a result of marine litter are presented together with a roadmap for establishing and implementing a ROPME Sea Area Marine Litter and Single-Use Plastic Action Plan.

Phyconomy: the extensive cultivation of seaweeds, their sustainability and economic value, with particular reference to important lessons to be learned and transferred from the practice of eucheumatoid farming

ABSTRACTKappaphycus and Eucheuma, known collectively as ‘eucheumatoids’, are two related genera of red seaweeds which currently lead the rankings for volume of global production of farmed macroalgae. Since 2009, the combined cultivated volume of these carrageenophytes overtook that of the brown seaweeds Laminaria (Saccharina) and Undaria for global production tonnages, according to statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Southeast Asian region, particularly Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Tanzania, and East Africa are the major producers of eucheumatoid biomass. Despite several success stories of red seaweed cultivation and the economic and socioeconomic value of their ecosystem services, there remain a number of salutary lessons to be learned from ‘agronomic’ practices applicable to their extensive cultivation. These case studies should be further developed, analysed, and adopted as best-practice recommendations for future socioeconomic prosperity, as well as both economic and environmental sustainability. In this review, we propose the use of the term ‘phyconomy’ (i.e. large-scale production of marine macroalgae for economic and industrial purposes) as an alternative to the term agronomy (i.e. terrestrial plant production).

African Big Economies on the Continental Trade Liberalisation and Migration Policy Development

African countries are faced with a broad spectrum of political and economic challenges that have shadowed hugely in an anticipated socio-economic prosperity. The continent overtime has resolved to come up with a single currency as well as opening borders for trade but none of that has been realised. Polarisation of economic development has caused brain drain within the continent with educated people from poorly governed countries moving across borders (Europe and America), and the same happens with gifted entrepreneurs who search for a country with a better business enabling environment than their own home countries. There is uneven development in Africa with very poor, fragile and better performing countries constituting the continent. This has caused a huge burden on those economies that are doing well as those economies have to create jobs for immigrants as well and for their own people. However, the founding principles of the African Union were basically to bring African countries together and help each other to see through economic and political prosperity across the continent in as much as there are laid out guiding rules.Africa has continued to be a highly protective continent especially amongst itself as most countries still require visas from citizens of other African countries, while countries still impose import duties and all forms of control on imports and practices that are against the foresights of the founding principles of the African Union. This paper acknowledges the efforts that have been done in the West and South of Africa for the formation of regional blocks that desire to achieve socio-economic progress in those regions. The formation of ECOWAS in the WEST and SADC in the South are good strides towards integration efforts in Africa but if the founding objectives of the African Union are to be achieved, member countries still have to do more. This paper recommends the two biggest countries in Africa to make use of their economic power to influence smaller member states to also envision possible socio-economic benefits that can emanate from total integration of the continent. They could make use of the African parliament, African Union summits and other several platforms to lobby for this important goal.

How Independent Is the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Nigeria: Re - Visiting the Question of Autonomy in the Fight against Public Sector Corruption

The negative and mostly devastating consequences of corruption is perhaps the most compelling reason for which development – conscious nations of the world are resolved not to treat it with Kid – Gloves. It is an inordinate catastrophe that destroys socio-economic prosperity and the political development of any nation. This global predicament has had more than a fair share of the fabric and collective wealth of our lavishly endowed nation – Nigeria. Of more specific concern is the fact that corruption continues to thrive in spite of a constellation of legal/institutional frameworks like the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), targeted at overcoming the menace. This paper adopts a Desk/Documentary analysis, to ascertain the roles institutional autonomy plays in the fight against corruption, and to answer the question of the extent to which ICPC enjoys the level of autonomy needed to wage a successful war against corruption in Nigeria. The findings show, that the ICPC by its composition and formation lacks a specific mandate to exercise institutional surveillance, and prosecute suspects independently without government intervention. Besides, the agency is not independently funded. Its financial ties to the Apron Strings of the Federal Government seems to have reduced it to a dog that can bark, but can’t bite friends and loyalists of the government of the day, but seeks credibility in serving as a tool for harassing and intimidating perceived enemies of the government. The paper recommends among others, a review of the ICPC Act 2000, to make the ICPC significantly independent of all the organs of government, along the lines of International Best Practices of setting up such anti – corruption institutions.

Intangible assets and SMEs’ export behavior: a meta-analytical perspective

Thanks to their dominant role in fostering socioeconomic prosperity, exporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are perceived to be a major societal asset. Coming out of the great financial crisis, initiatives to nurture their (export) competitiveness have been high on the political agenda. In this vein, a growing literature explores the pertinence of firm-specific factors for explaining differences in SMEs’ export behavior. However, the puzzle of how intangible, knowledge-based assets, such as human and relational capital, contribute to establishing a viable position in export markets remains. By synthesizing empirical evidence from 167 studies, this meta-analytic path analysis reveals significant differential direct and indirect effects of human and relational capital endowment on dimensions of export behavior. Concurrently, our analysis uncovered that positive influences of intangible assets are context-dependent. In fact, human resources appear to be particularly pertinent for exporting SMEs in developing economies.

Early Evidence for Northern Salmonid Fisheries Discovered using Novel Mineral Proxies

Salmonid resources currently foster socioeconomic prosperity in several nations, yet their importance to many ancient circumpolar societies is poorly understood due to insufficient fish bone preservation at archaeological sites. As a result, there are serious gaps in our knowledge concerning the antiquity of northern salmonid fisheries and their impacts on shaping biodiversity, hunter-gatherer adaptations, and human-ecological networks. The interdisciplinary study presented here demonstrates that calcium-magnesium phosphate minerals formed in burned salmonid bones can preserve at ancient northern sites, thus informing on the early utilization of these resources despite the absence of morphologically classifiable bones. The minerals whitlockite and beta magnesium tricalcium phosphate were identified in rare morphologically classifiable Atlantic salmonid bones from three Mid-Holocene sites in Finland. Large amounts of beta magnesium tricalcium phosphate were also experimentally formed by burning modern Atlantic salmonid and brown trout bones. Our results demonstrate the value of these minerals as proxies for ancient northern salmonid fishing. Specifically, the whitlockite mineral was discovered in hearth sediments from the 5,600 year old Yli-Ii Kierikinkangas site on the Iijoki River in northern Finland. Our fine sieving and mineralogical analyses of these sediments, along with zooarchaeological identification of recovered bone fragments, have confirmed for the first time that the people living at this village did incorporate salmonids into their economies, thus providing new evidence for early estuary/riverine fisheries in northern Finland.

Socio-economic environment of city in digital economy development: conceptual grounds of transformation

The article deals with scientific approaches to the interpretation of the concept «digital economy». It defines digital economy, meaning economy based upon digital technology and provides inclusive socio-economic development and prosperity. The article identifies the specifics, contradictions and transition issues of state policy in the sphere of informatization towards intensive development of digital economy. Under the study the realization of the Concept for the Development of Digital Economy and Society of Ukraine for 2018-2020 and the plan of measures for its implementation are determined to be in a state of stagnation. The issue of the Development of Digital Economy and Society of Ukraine is not properly transformed into corresponding obligatory functions, tasks and powers of central executive authorities and local self-government bodies yet. It is provided rationale for modern city as a priority object and self-sufficient subject of development of digital economy and society in Ukraine. The cities of Ukraine ought to be observed like local centers of potential dynamic shifts in socio-economic environment of the region and deployment of economic prosperity based on digital development. The perspectives of the concept «smart-city» in the context of modern policy of digital development are performed. The author claims that the determinant of the effective digital development policy in the administrative-territorial units of Ukraine is the adequacy of the system legislative regulation of the institutional and legal mechanisms for its implementation in accordance with the norms of the Information and Digital Codes of Ukraine, the State Strategy for Regional Development for the period until 2020. The consensual basis for synchronous development of the Information and Digital Codes of Ukraine are defined by the government approved principles for implementing the modern state policy of digital development in Ukraine, in particular openness; transparency; multiple usage; technological neutrality and portability of data; citizens-orientated; inclusiveness and accessibility; safety and confidentiality; multilingualism; support decision-making; administrative simplification; information storage; evaluation of efficiency and effectiveness. The article suggests the following: indicating the development of the digital economy and society in Ukraine among the priorities of the State Strategy for Regional Development for the period up to 2020; ensuring the priority of accelerated transformation of the socio-economic environment of cities under the approval of strategic plans, programs and actions within the state regional policy.

A network model of immigration: Enclave formation vs. cultural integration

Successfully integrating newcomers into native communities has become a key issue for policy makers, as the growing number of migrants has brought cultural diversity, new skills, and at times, societal tensions to receiving countries. We develop an agent-based network model to study interacting "hosts" and "guests" and identify the conditions under which cooperative/integrated or uncooperative/segregated societies arise. Players are assumed to seek socioeconomic prosperity through game theoretic rules that shift network links, and cultural acceptance through opinion dynamics. We find that the main predictor of integration under given initial conditions is the timescale associated with cultural adjustment relative to social link remodeling, for both guests and hosts. Fast cultural adjustment results in cooperation and the establishment of host-guest connections that are sustained over long times. Conversely, fast social link remodeling leads to the irreversible formation of isolated enclaves, as migrants and natives optimize their socioeconomic gains through in-group connections. We discuss how migrant population sizes and increasing socioeconomic rewards for host-guest interactions, through governmental incentives or by admitting migrants with highly desirable skills, may affect the overall immigrant experience.