Supplemental Income Research Articles

Programme of Supplemental Income Instead of UBI

Programme of Supplemental Income Instead of UBI

Modeling marginal CO2 emissions in hydrothermal systems: Efficient carbon signals for renewables

Reducing local and global emissions is one of the drivers behind the promotion of renewable energy technologies (RETs). Some RET projects (e.g. solar, marine power, and some biomass and wind) usually require supplemental income from carbon credits in order to make them economically viable. This paper presents the mathematical development of nodal marginal CO2 emission metrics for hydrothermal systems. These metrics are obtained from optimal power flow and hydrothermal dispatch models considering hydro uncertainty. The proposed model allows a more accurate assessment of the emission reduction effect of RET projects and the provision of efficient carbon signals to the system. Modeling of hydro reservoirs and intertemporal constraints also allows incorporating the emission mitigation potential of water storage. The concepts of marginal CO2 emissions for hydrothermal systems are first exemplified using a small test system, and then simulations on a real hydrothermal system illustrate how these metrics can inform investment and operational decisions. Theoretical and simulation results show that transmission and hydro storage constraints neglect may provide wrong signals for RET investors, missing the incentives to install in areas where the potential for emissions reduction is higher (where renewable energy displaces a larger amount of coal or diesel). Policy makers can use the proposed model to assess the cost-effectiveness of emission reduction policies.

Library staff recruitment and retention for managerial positions in Vietnam

PurposeThis paper aims to conduct an exploratory research of recruitment source and professional staff retention for succession planning, as well as suggests some experiences of keeping qualified staff in Vietnamese libraries. It stems from the context of academic and public libraries in the Mekong Delta region, Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachThis research draws on transformational leadership theory initiated by Burns (1978) and expanded by Bass (1985). It was conducted through a multi-method case study approach at 13 public and 4 academic libraries in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Data collection consisted of an online survey with 162 responses and 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews.FindingsResearch result indicates that staff recruitment for managerial positions in Vietnamese libraries is mainly from within the organisation. Staff retention relies on differing factors, of which salary was considered the most important by several participants. However, succession planning itself may be a good way to keep qualified employees who would like to be promoted. For those employees attracted by high salaries rather than future managerial positions, supplemental income is believed to be a possible solution.Research limitations/implicationsA larger research coverage will be suggested to further research, so as to get further information about staff recruitment and how to retain qualified staff in Vietnamese library settings.Practical implicationsThis study aims to benefit library leaders by providing good insights into which recruitment source is suitable to look for qualified staff for managerial positions in Vietnam. Most importantly, the research would inform library leaders and the local government in the Mekong Delta of the possible reasons for staff turnover. This study also helps to raise library leaders’ awareness of how to retain their qualified professional employees within a highly dynamic environment.Originality/valueThis research contributes to literature about qualified staff recruitment and retention in an Asian country context, which has not been discussed so far. It also helps to raise awareness of library leaders about applying some practical strategies, including succession planning, into retaining managing employees in their organisations.

Estimating Excess Sensitivity and Habit Persistence in Consumption Using Greenbook Forecast as an Instrument

In this paper, we revisit the issue of excess sensitivity of consumption to income and address the weak instrument problem that is well documented in this literature. Using quarterly data for the U.S. economy, we first highlight the weak instrument problem by showing that the use of conventional instruments tends to overestimate the share of rule-of-thumb consumers. To address this weak instrument problem, we propose a new instrument for endogenous disposable income growth in the consumption function, namely, the Greenbook forecast of real disposable income growth. We show that this instrument encompasses the information contained in the conventional set of instruments, and is a superior predictor of income growth. We find that using our proposed instrument ameliorates the weak instrument problem and provides a much smaller estimate for the rule-of-thumb consumers. We also extend our empirical framework to allow for habit persistence and provide an estimate for this important parameter of the consumption function. Finally, we use a time-varying specification of consumption function that allows for endogenous regressors, and document a decline in the share of rule-of-thumb consumers and a rise in the habit-persistence parameter in the U.S. over our sample period. We find that an increase in credit growth and supplementary income benefits are negatively correlated with share of rule-of-thumb consumers, whereas they are positively correlated with habit persistence parameter.

Factors associated with hospital admission after an emergency department treat and release visit for older adults with injuries

IntroductionEmergency Department (ED) visits for injury often precede hospital admissions in older adults, but risk factors for these admissions are poorly characterized. We sought to determine the incidence and risk factors for hospitalization shortly following discharge home from an ED visit for traumatic injury in older adults. We hypothesized higher risk for admission in those with increased age, discharged home after falls, with increased comorbidity burden, and who live in poor neighborhoods. MethodsWe identified all community-dwelling patients ≥65years old treated and released for traumatic injury at non-federal EDs in Florida using the 2011 State Inpatient Database and State ED Database of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Outcome measures were hospitalization within 9 and 30days of discharge from the ED. Multivariable logistic regression was used to establish independent risk factors for hospital admission. ResultsOf 163,851 index ED injury visits, 6298 (3.8%) resulted in inpatient admissions within 9days and 12,938 (7.9%) within 30days. Factors associated with increased odds of admission within 9days included: each additional comorbidity, ≥moderate injury to abdomen or pelvis/extremities, and median neighborhood income<$39,000. Additional factors associated with increased odds of admission within 30days included: lack of private insurance supplement and median neighborhood income<$48,000. ConclusionAmong older adults treated and discharged from the ED for an injury, those who have high comorbidity burdens, have abdominal or orthopedic injuries, and live in poor neighborhoods are at increased risk of hospitalization within 9 or 30days of ED discharge.

Structure and impact of cattle manure trade in crop–livestock systems of Vietnam

AbstractCattle manure value chains play important biological and economic roles in smallholder crop–livestock systems in developing countries, but relative to other livestock products our understanding of the nature and impact of manure sales is limited. In regions with an active manure trade, farmers face a choice between manure use on-farm and sales, which affects nutrient flows and participant incomes. We analyzed the manure value chain operating in south-central Vietnam as an example of the function and role of manure trade in crop–livestock systems. Lowland cattle farmers sell manure through a network of chain participants, including small-scale collectors, lowland and highland traders, to pepper, coffee, dragon fruit and rubber farms in the central highlands and southeast coast. We collected and summarized quantitative data (e.g., manure-related labor, manure transactions, and fertilizer and manure use) gathered in semi-structured interviews with value-chain participants [lowland cattle owners (n = 101), traders (n = 27) and end users (n = 72)]. Lowland cattle owners were selected by stratified random sampling, and subsequent participants were identified in preceding interviews. One key finding concerns the seasonality of the manure value chain: most manure flowed between February and August (lowland dry season and period of peak highland demand) from lowland communes to highland coffee and pepper farms for use as organic soil amendments. Fewer sales occurred, at a lower price, to southeast coastal dragon fruit farms and rubber companies. Value addition to manure occurred via drying, bagging, collection, transport and composting. The presence of local traders facilitated market sales for smallholder cattle owners, and prices through the value chain generally reflected costs for value addition. The geographic distribution of cattle relative to agricultural land influenced the flow of manure, with net outflows from regions with higher animal density to regions with lower density and higher value crop production. Manure trade was an important source of supplementary income for farmers and a primary livelihood activity for traders. Value chain participant net incomes ranged from near US$100 yr−1 for lowland farmers to over US$13,000 yr−1 for traders, and returns to labor were just over US$0.50 h−1 for lowland farmers and US$2 h−1 for traders. The quantitative information generated during our descriptive assessment provides an important first step toward manure value chain improvement, indicates survey methods that can be applied in other areas, and identifies next steps necessary to evaluate chain evolution and resilience.

Effects of bund crops and insecticide treatments on arthropod diversity and herbivore regulation in tropical rice fields

AbstractEcological engineering using vegetable or flower strips is promoted as a potential pest management strategy in irrigated rice. Farmers in the Philippines often plant rice levees (bunds) with vegetables, particularly string beans (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walpers) to supplement income, but without considering the potential for pest management. This study examines the effects of planted bunds on rice herbivores and their natural enemies. We compared arthropods in (a) rice fields that had string beans planted on bunds, (b) fields without string beans and without any insecticide applications and (c) fields without string beans but with insecticide treatments (standard practice). Rice yield was similar across all treatments; however, the vegetation strips produced an extra 3.6 kg of fresh string bean pods per metre of bund. There were no apparent increases in major natural enemy groups in fields with string beans compared to fields with conventional bunds. Fields with insecticide treatments had higher damage from leaffolders (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The sprayed fields also had lower parasitism of planthopper eggs and fewer predatory dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). Furthermore, the mortality of planthopper (Delphacidae: Hemiptera) and stemborer (Pyralidae) eggs by parasitoids and predators was density dependent only in the unsprayed fields (with and without string beans). Our results demonstrate that planting string beans on rice bunds improves the productivity of rice farms, but our ecological engineering system did not appreciably affect natural enemy or herbivore abundance; however, chemical insecticides adversely affected pest regulatory ecosystem functions leading to higher pest damage.

Understanding the strategies employed to cope with increased numbers of AIDS-orphaned children in families in rural settings: a case of Mbeya Rural District, Tanzania

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to understand the strategies employed by families that adopt Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)-orphaned children (Adoptive families) for coping with and mitigating the impact of AIDS in Mbeya Rural District, Tanzania. High numbers of AIDS-orphaned children aged below 18 years in Mbeya Region have led to increasing the burden of families caring for them. Understanding the coping strategies and impact mitigation activities employed by adoptive families is important in order to develop programmes to help them.MethodsThis study employed a qualitative method for data collection (one-on-one in-depth interviews). The respondents included 12 male and 8 female heads of families that provide essential care for AIDS-orphaned children in Mbeya Rural District in Tanzania. The framework approach was used to analyse the data that were collected from 15 July to 15 August 2010.ResultsThe study findings revealed that adoptive families faced several challenges including financial constraints due to increased needs for basic essentials such as health care expenses, school fees and food. Further impacts on adoptive families included shortage of work opportunities and limited time to address these challenges. To mitigate these challenges, adoptive families employed a range of coping strategies including selling family assets and renting out parts of cultivable land for extra cash. Task reallocation which involved the AIDS-orphaned children entering the labour force was also employed as a strategy to mitigate challenges and involved de-enrolling of children from schools so they could take part in income-generating activities in order to earn supplementary family income. The creation of additional income-generating activities such as poultry farming were other coping mechanisms employed, and these received support from both non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governmental organisations, including the Isangati Agricultural Development Organization (local NGO) and the local government respectively.ConclusionsThe current study identified challenges that adoptive families as well as the AIDS-orphaned children themselves faced in Mbeya Rural District, Tanzania. Recognition of these issues highlights the need for targeted interventions to address the underlying social determinants of human immunodeficiency virus or HIV and AIDS in affected populations in order to prevent further imposition of social, cultural and economic disadvantages on families that provide care for AIDS-orphaned children and the children themselves. These findings may prove useful in provoking discussions that may lead to HIV/AIDS prevention and the development of broader mitigation strategies to alleviate the impact of this scourge on families and communities in rural Tanzania, and in similar settings across the world.

Reviewing Nutritional Quality of Small Freshwater Fish Species

Small freshwater fish species (SIFFs) constitute one of the major sources of nutritious food for human being as they provide balanced nutrition; subsistence and supplementary income to the rural population in India. The nutritive values of them depend upon their biochemical composition, such as protein, amino acids, lipid, fatty acids, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. This review addresses motivating interest in this attractive group of SIFFs by summarizing what little we do know about them comparing with other freshwater fish species found in India as well as different parts of the world. It is observed that SIFFs with a high content of MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acid), PUFA (poly unsaturated fatty acid) as well as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid); which makes them curative diet also. Until recently, possibilities of culturing them in combination with the IMC (Indian major carp) are unexplored. This study also exposed that the small and shallow water bodies may open-handedly be used for SIFFs culture and indicates the feasibility of attaining a good production of the same along with IMCs. Conservation strategy should be undertaken and taking SIFFs in every day diet may result in better and advanced protection against coronary heart disease (CHD) and other lifestyle related disease. Exploration of the nutritional eminence of them will encourage fish farmers to promote mixed culture of SIFFs in India in proper scientific way.

The Paradox of Integration: Work-Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) and Productivist Welfare Regime in Hong Kong

After the Asian Financial Crisis, the government of Hong Kong embraced the model of work-integration social enterprise (WISE) to sustain its facilitative and productivist welfare regime. Using the WISE of Pro-Love for marginalized women as a case study, the article examines the meaning of employment and social disadvantage in the organization. The ethnographic data reveal that while the WISE encourages women to participate in the paid labor market, it constructs employment in the social enterprise as part-time jobs for supplementary family income, restricts the extension of social networks for the female workers, and reinforces the cultural stereotypes of marginalized women. The study reflects on the mechanisms of the project of WISE in the welfare contexts of Hong Kong, and argues that programs targeted at labor participation cannot be automatically translated into reduction of exclusion in other domains. Long-term planning, policy coordination, and social advocacy are necessary to achieve social integration.

A Hedonic Analysis of Big Game Hunting Club Dues in Georgia, USA

ABSTRACTHunting lease revenue can be a reliable supplemental income for forest landowners. Although studies have examined factors influencing per acre lease rates, little is known about how various characteristics are capitalized in hunting club dues. The objective of this study was to conduct a hedonic analysis of big game hunting club dues in Georgia, USA using a variety of club-, site-, and location-specific characteristics. To accomplish this objective, multivariate regression analysis was applied to explain variation in hunters’ self-reported big game hunting club dues in 2012. Implicit price was then calculated for each significant covariate. Club size, presence of food plots, and game quality had positive effects on club dues, whereas membership number had a negative effect. These results should be useful for landowners and club lease managers interested in enhancing the marketability of their hunting sites and understanding the effect of management actions.

Agricultural Extension in Promoting Household Nutritional Security– Relevant Success Stories

Over 7000 people die of hunger every day. Close to 70% of women and children suffer from hidden hunger. Most vulnerable sections are adolescent girls, pregnant & lactating mothers, and underweight children under five age. Malnutrition is both a driver and an outcome of poverty and inequality. Under nutrition leading to stunting causes irreversible damage to both individuals and society. Obesity in childhood is a growing problem in all regions. Ensuring universal access to nutritious food in the 1000-day window of opportunity between the start of pregnancy and a child’s second birthday is essential to tackling stunting. This should be supported by a multi-sectoral approach which includes health care, water, sanitation, education, agriculture, social protection and specific nutrition interventions. Intervention of various technologies to improve the food & nutritional status of the population proved the following facts: Promotion of malt based small scale food industry not only provides opportunity for rural women to develop entrepreneurship and employment, but also provides food and nutritional security through income generation. Several technologies were developed under NATP like value addition to fish & prawn products, artificial pearl culture, processing of salted fish, which helped the self help group women of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to improve their economic status. Received two patents & licensed the technology which helped the women to reduce their drudgery and also preserve the fresh fish for a longer time without getting spoiled. Product development can be taken as income generating activity in the rural areas by the illiterate women. Products can be included in supplementary feeding programs in order to improve the nutritional status of the vulnerable groups of the population. The horse gram which is commonly used for cattle feed can be diversified for human consumption with less investment. Mothers as well as Anganwadi workers preferred amylase rich supplementary foods which reduced Grade 111 and grade 1V malnutrition in Pre- school children significantly. The studies revealed that spawn multiplication can be done by women as a co-operative venture and mushroom cultivation can be undertaken at household level as an income-generating activity. Introducing red palm oil is beneficial to overcome vitamin A deficiency. Impact of women’s supplementary income showed a positive impact on the socioeconomic status of the family. This impact is particularly felt on the food and nutrient intake of the family contributing towards food & Nutrition security.

Job Search, Unemployment Protection and Informal Work in Advanced Economies

This paper investigates the incentives that may induce workers to supplement income from unemployment benefits by engaging in temporary informal work. Using a dynamic model of job-search with moral hazard that incorporates a stylised schedule of benefit payments, we describe how informal sector participation changes over the duration of unemployment, in turn affecting the incentive to search for formal employment. We find that increasing benefit generosity makes job seekers less reliant on informal work, enabling them to search more intensively. At the same time, when detection rates are low, informal work participation may decline as benefit exhaustion approaches, reinforcing this effect. From a policy perspective, the analysis identifies scope for reallocation of resources towards less generous programmes within unemployment protection, which would reduce the size of the informal sector and unemployment in the economy.

Pescatourism—A European review and perspective

Pescatourism is a relatively new concept of merging tourism with fi sheries. Its intention is to supplement incomes of fi shermen and their families in the situation of declining living resources of the sea and to provide an attractive activity for tourists visiting the sea coast. Pescatourism should be considered different activity from fi sheries tourism, or recreational fi shing (including charter fi shing), which usually denote angling. It also contributes to the education of the society and public awareness about the state and problems of the marine sector, including ecosystems, and experiencing the traditional fi shing culture. This new activity fi rst stared in Italy in 1982 and soon spread to other Mediterranean countries. Pescatourism can be considered a branch of sustainable tourism and an activity parallel to agrotourism. This essay provides an overview of pescatourism (and related activities) in European countries (Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Germany) with additional examples from elsewhere. Chances for implementing pescatourism in other countries are analysed (Turkey, Algeria, Poland). Despite all these positive features, it can easily be a commercial activity which does not provide any benefi ts to fi shers and sustainability of marine living resources if the licence right is given to charter operators rather than to fishers.

Modeling Health Care Spending Growth of Older Adults.

To forecast out-of-pocket health care spending among older adults. Long-term forecasts allow policy makers to explore potential impacts of policy scenarios, but existing microsimulations do not incorporate details of supplemental insurance coverage and income effects on health care spending. Dynamic microsimulation calibrated to survey and administrative data. We augment Urban Institute's Dynamic Simulation of Income Model (DYNASIM) with modules that incorporate demand responses and economic equilibria, with dynamics driven by exogenous technological change. A lengthy technical appendix provides details of the microsimulation model and economic assumptions for readers interested in applying these techniques. The model projects total out-of-pocket spending (point of care plus premiums) as a share of income for adults aged 65 and older. People with lower incomes and poor health fare worse, despite protections of Medicaid. Spending rises 40 percent from 2012 to 2035 (from 10 to 14 percent of income) for the median beneficiary, but it increases from 5 to 25 percent of income for low-income beneficiaries and from 23 to 29 percent for the near poor who are in fair/poor health. Despite Medicare coverage, near-poor seniors will face out-of-pocket spending that would render them, in practical terms, underinsured.

Role of women in vegetable production in distict Patiala

The present study was carried out to find role of women in vegetable production area of Patiala. KVK, Patiala develops technical models for poverty alleviation, sustainable and equitable development and raise the income and quality of people by providing them training in various aspects of agriculture to supplement food and income. This study was conducted in five villages i.e. Khokh, Birarwal, Saholi, Binaheri and Gunike of district Patiala during 2014. Thirty female respondents each of the selected from four villages were interviewed. The results of the personal characteristics showed that majority of respondents were in age group of 20-40 years, 14 per cent of the total respondents were educated, 87 per cent of the respondents were landless labours. Education and adoption of vegetable growing practices were positively correlated. The results further showed that 95 per cent of the respondents engaged in picking of vegetables and 88 per cent invoved in sowing of vegetables at farmer's fields. Major constraints in vegetable production found in the study were lack of capital, credit availability and lack of marketing facilities.

Coleta, processamento, comercialização e sustentabilidade da produção extrativista da região sudoeste Mato Grossense, Brasil

RESUMO: O extrativismo vegetal é uma atividade realizada desde os primórdios da civilização, praticada pelos povos nativos que habitavam o território brasileiro há mais de quinhentos anos, na atualidade, vários agricultores familiares de assentamentos e comunidades rurais desenvolvem a prática do extrativismo. Este trabalho visa investigar a produção extrativista, com abordagem sobre coleta, processamento, comercialização e sustentabilidade do extrativismo desenvolvido pelos agricultores familiares da região Sudoeste Mato-grossense, contidos na bacia do Alto Paraguai. O estudo de campo foi conduzido entre março e julho de 2012. Foram identificados a atividade extrativista de frutos do Cerrado em três assentamentos: a) Bom Jardim/Furna São José, b) Corixo, e c) Margarida Alves, o que encaminhou a definição do universo de pesquisa a corresponder a 100%. As informações foram coletadas através de entrevistas semiestruturadas, posteriormente foram elaboradas cartas-imagem dos assentamentos, com destaque para as áreas de coleta via Geotecnologias. Conclui-se que a produção extrativista na área de estudo é praticada por trinta famílias que coletam cumbaru (Dipteryx alata), pequi (Caryocar brasiliense) e babaçu (Attalea speciosa), para alimentação e para complementar a renda via comercialização de subprodutos dos frutos nos próprios assentamentos e via mercado institucional (políticas públicas). Os agricultores familiares praticam um extrativismo sustentável, pois retiram em média de 14% a 34% dos frutos do ambiente, deixando o restante para a alimentação da fauna silvestre; utilizam práticas sustentáveis, com destaque para produção de mudas para enriquecer as áreas de coleta, contribuindo para a regeneração de novas espécies e o crescimento populacional das fruteiras nativas da região.

COMMUNITY RADIO IN EMPOWERING FARM WOMEN THROUGH MUSHROOM PRODUCTION

Barh community radio station was established in 2011 at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Barh, Patna to broadcast programmes on different issues of agriculture and allied sectors, health, hygiene and nutrition for three hours daily. Growing mushroom on agriculture byproducts is a handy enterprise, low initial investment, self employment creating, supplementary income generating, and nutritious food giving to the family. On listening to the talks on Radio, farm women visited KVK to enquire about mushroom production and after going through training, 55 women started oyster mushroom production at their hut for their own consumption and selling the surplus in their villages. Among them, 35 farm women started producing on medium scale to earn money by selling the produce in the local market. A small group of 10 farm women started producing mushroom at commercial scale and consulted vegetable shops and even hotels in nearby city for regular supply. This turn resulted in their financial empowerment. The large scale production of mushroom earned more than 1.25 lakh per woman in one season. These results clearly indicate that there is an impact of radio in empowering farm women.

When is a fisher (not) a fisher? Factors that influence the decision to report fishing as an occupation in rural Cambodia

AbstractIn the developing world, the majority of people who fish in inland areas do so primarily for subsistence needs. This suggests that survey or census questionnaires which collect information concerning the occupations of respondents will underreport the number of people who fish, and corollary to this, misrepresent dependence on fishing as a support service for food and supplemental income. This study uses the results of a household survey conducted in 37 villages across Cambodia to quantify the amount of fishing that is done by inland fishers who do not report fishing as a primary or secondary occupation. The study also identifies the household characteristics which influence the decision of an individual who fishes to report fishing as an occupation. Fifty‐eight percent of households whose members engaged in fishing activities did not report fishing as an occupation. Individuals whose household owned farmland, earned off‐farm income and fished primarily for subsistence needs were significantly less likely to report fishing as an occupation. When assessing the importance of fishing to inland rural communities for the purposes of rural planning and policy development, relying solely on census‐style occupation or employment data will misrepresent the contributions of subsistence fishing to household welfare.

Determinants of outcome of vocational rehabilitation.

Information regarding the determinants of successful vocational rehabilitation (VR) is scarce. Investigate whether sex, duration, quality of life and financial circumstances influence the success of VR. The study group consisted of 519 participants (293 women, 56%), who finished VR in the period 2000-2014. The group was divided into the following subgroups: dropouts, unsuccessful and successful VR. Data were collected by questionnaire. Income had the most impact on whether the outcome was successful. Having supplemental income when entering the VR program increased the likelihood of a successful conclusion, odds ratio (OR) 5.60 (95% CI; 2.43-13.59) (p < 0.001), being on sick leave OR 5.02 (95% CI 1.93-13.79) (p < 0.001) or rehabilitation pension OR 1.93 (95% CI 1.07-3.52) (p < 0.03). The participants in the successful sub-group were older (p < 0.06) and stayed in rehabilitation longer (p < 0.001), compared to those who were unsuccessful. However, the effect on OR was limited: 1.03 (95% CI 1.01-1.06) and 1.04 (95% CI 1.02-1.07), respectively. For this sample, supplemental income appears to be the most important factor for a successful rehabilitation outcome. Checking financial status at the beginning of the rehabilitation process could minimize financial strain and increase the likelihood of success.