The present paper seeks to dissect the significance of micro-credit in empowering women. It starts with a brief discussion on the role of micro-credit in poverty alleviation in general, widely acclaimed in contrast to the top-down policies. The concept of empowerment is defined from different...

This present study examines the impact of micro-credit programmes of six government organisations (GO), non-government organisations (NGO) and micro-finance institutes (MFI) on poverty alleviation in Bangladesh using a purposive sample of 406 credit receivers. Alongside respondent’s perceived...

What is the size of quasi-fiscal operations and their impact on the overall fiscal balance and public debt in the Czech Republic? Is the recent increase in Czech fiscal deficits fully attributable to the business cycle, or are there non-cyclical factors in place? And last but not least, what are...

Las finanzas públicas en Colombia y en la mayoría de países de América Latina se hancaracterizado por un crecimiento de los gastos más que proporcional al incremento en losingresos, lo que ha conllevado a los gobiernos a recurrir al endeudamiento, generando unrápido crecimiento de la...

The paper sheds some light on the education returns in Germany in the post war period. After describing higher education in Germany the current stand of higher education financing within the single states is presented. In six states tuition fees will be introduced in 2007/08 and discussions are...

This paper investigates how the possibility of government subsidies to firms affects lending and managerial incentives. We develop a model that shows that government support can perform as implicit insurer of firms, which leads to two main effects: lowering incen-tives of managers and increase...

Statistics Finland maintains a database which includes firm level data on public support in Finland. During this study it contained data from the years 20006. So far the data has been underutilized in economic and statistical analyses. We use the database in this descriptive study mainly to test...

The paper sheds some light on the financial structures of higher education in Germany. Recently in several member states of Germany tuition fees have been introduced. Chapter II describes the current situation in Germany, the financial structures in the OECD countries and sheds some light on the...

A recent IRS ruling has allowed the new Yankees Stadium construction project to be financed by a tax exempt bond offering backed by payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS). This decision appears to contradict the spirit of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. From an economic standpoint, the question is...