This study thoroughly investigates the financial behaviors of financially independent, young, single professionals aged 24 to 35 in Balayan, Batangas, amidst a period of global inflation. Focusing on five industries—education, finance, government, healthcare, and retail—the research employs a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative analysis, involving 75 respondents through a 4-point Likert scale survey, is complemented by qualitative insights from in-depth interviews with 5 participants from each industry. The findings from numerical values revealed that demographics did not impact working professionals' saving habits (...) and buying behaviors during the global inflation surge. This suggests that despite differences in age, gender, industry, employment status, and monthly income or salary, all professionals prioritized robust, strong savings and reduced spending to ensure financial stability. The research underscores the significance for professionals in various industries to prioritize specific aspects of personal financial management during the prevailing global inflation surge. The study suggests that, irrespective of industry, working professionals should prioritize specific aspects of personal financial management during the global inflation surge. (shrink)

According to the classical finance theory it is assumed that investors show rational behaviour in order to achieve maximum gain.but this approach has changed since 1980s. There are a lot of academic studies emphasizing the determining effect of human psychology in financial decisions. Behavioral finance considers the interaction between emotions and investors decisions. According to the New financial approach investors show irrational behaviours and take prejudices into the account for investment decisions as opposed to traditional perspective. Behavioral finance (...) analyzes the market anomalies which conventional financial theories are inadequate to explain based on an assumption that individuals are not rational. While doing this, it benefits from the other sciences such as psychology, sociology, and antropology, etc. One type of behavioral finance is herd behavior. In this paper, domestic and foreign literature research on herd behavior in financial markets were analyzed. (shrink)

This study contributes to the limited literature on VAT’s impact on student populations by assessing the financial strain on university students in Oman. The research provides novel insights into policymaking, suggesting VAT exemptions for essential educational goods and proposing financial literacy programs for mitigating the adverse effects of VAT which employs chi-square tests and regression analysis to quantify the financial effects of VAT on students' purchasing behavior, revealing that VAT negatively impacts purchasing power with a statistically (...) significant p-value (< 0.05). The findings highlight substantial financial strain on students, particularly those in lower-income brackets, prompting policy recommendations for VAT exemptions on essential educational goods and the inclusion of financial literacy programs aimed at helping students mitigate the tax's adverse effects. This study evaluates the financial implications of the Value Added Tax (VAT) introduced in Oman in 2021, focusing on its impact on consumer behavior among university students at A’sharqiyah University. Utilizing a quantitative methodology, including chi-square tests and regression analysis, and a sample of 53 students, the research investigates the effects of VAT on purchasing power and consumption patterns. The findings demonstrate a significant disruption to students' financial capacity, with the majority reporting challenges in affording essential educational materials. By contributing to the limited body of literature on VAT’s effects on low-income populations, this study provides valuable insights into how students rationalize their consumption and cope with increased financial strain. Policy recommendations include VAT exemptions for educational goods and the implementation of comprehensive financial literacy programs to help vulnerable groups manage the tax's adverse effects. (shrink)

Abstract: We examine how trustworthy behaviour can be achieved in the financial sector. The task is to ensure that firms are motivated to pursue long-term interests of customers rather than pursuing short-term profits. Firms’ self-interested pursuit of reputation, combined with regulation, is often not sufficient to ensure that this happens. We argue that trustworthy behaviour requires that at least some actors show a concern for the wellbeing of clients, or a respect for imposed standards, and that the behaviour of (...) these actors is copied in such a way that it becomes a behavioural norm. We briefly suggest what such behavioural norms might need to be if trustworthy behaviour is to be achieved, and consider how they might be supported; we describe the research that is necessary in order to understand these norms in more detail. We argue that the norms of traders are different from the norms of those engaged in other activities, since they are inevitably self-interested, and we consider the risk that traders’ norms might undermine those of other actors. We analyse the task for governance in dealing with this problem, and the role which leadership by a corporate board and management might play in doing this. We describe the need for further research in to describe how this might be done. (shrink)

Through the guidelines of D.O No. 22, s. 2021, the study finds that the majority of 304 teachers from both public elementary and secondary schools are married females between the ages of 30 and 40 with 1 to 4 years of work experience and 15,000 to 30,000 monthly income. Findings exposed the “high level of comprehension perceived” in financial knowledge, behavior, and attitude. Also, the perception of asset acquisitions as the highest priority, along with other relevant factors from (...) budgeting and decision-making and retirement preparedness, demonstrated “importance” in the level of their comprehension. The significant difference through test variation in teachers' retirement preparedness and asset acquisitions towards the age variable is significant. Thus, teachers' retirement preparedness based on their perceptions of budgeting has a strong impact on their teaching experience. Accordingly, financial literacy and retirement preparedness have an essential or direct relationship. This indicates a strong impact of financial preparedness on financial literacy. (shrink)

Financial literacy is becoming a pivotal skill in navigating the marketplaces within the predominant rising digital branches of trading domains; however, there remains a concerning gap in the purchasing behavior of adolescents, who are its primary users. With this in mind, the main objective of our research is to determine whether there is a relationship between a student's level of financial literacy and their online purchase decision-making. The researchers employed an explanatory mixed approach and purposive sampling to (...) identify respondents from Immaculate Conception College of Balayan, Inc. A 5-point Likert scale survey was utilized to collect data from 66 respondents, followed by semi-structured interviews with 10 selected participants. The results showed a moderately positive correlation between a student's financial literacy and online purchase decisions, as determined by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Thus, the thematic analysis revealed that respondents generally have good financial literacy, emphasizing factors like pricing, online reviews, and product ratings when making digital marketplace decisions. However, there are notable gaps in their understanding of basic financial concepts and their ability to apply them in real-life situations. To effectively enhance students’ financial literacy and online purchasing decisions, a holistic approach is necessary, including targeted interventions, practical applications, and continuous adaptation to evolving consumer behaviors. Educational institutions, policymakers, and stakeholders should work together to create comprehensive programs that provide students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to negotiate real-world financial situations and make sound judgments in the digital commerce ecosystem. By emphasizing practical learning, key financial concepts, and trustbuilding approaches, educators may empower students to become responsible consumers capable of managing their resources successfully and ethically. (shrink)

Variations in people’s perceptions of investment risk and financial literacy have been linked in studies. More specifically, Diacon (2016) discovered significant differences between less financially savvy non-experts and financial professionals. Lay people therefore have a larger propensity for association bias (i.e., they give suppliers and salesmen a higher level of credibility than laypeople) and are often less risk-tolerant than financial professionals. The method of sampling that the researcher chose is known as purposeful sampling. According to Easton & (...) McColl, it is a fundamental sampling strategy where the researcher chooses a smaller group of people (a sample) from a larger group (a population) to study. The responders of the survey included both commissioned and non-commissioned PNP members. There were 67 non-commissioned individuals and 33 commissioned personnel. These individuals are at work while this study is being done. Because they think mutual funds can invest in a variety of assets in the future, think savings account interest is higher than that on fixed deposit accounts, and even budget their monthly income for expenses, savings, and investments, survey participants can be inferred to rate their level of financial knowledge as extremely high. Additionally, people learn about investments from their peers and think that growing costs will limit purchasing power. They also get banking advice from dependable friends. Because they want to make sure that they are not concerned about loans as long as their savings are protected and they refrain from purchasing non-essentials, police responders are persuaded that they have a very high attitude toward their finances. They also believe that investing in a business is a better use of their money than spending it now, that saving money over time is more satisfying than spending it now, and that their financial status is a big problem or a source of stress. The poll participants believe that their level of financial conduct is pretty high since the separate their needs and wants, have begun saving for their retirement, and consistently save money each pay period. They also budget their money, regulate their spending, and always pay their bills on time. (shrink)

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has imperatively shaken the behavior of the global financial markets. This study estimated the impact of COVID-19 on the behavior of the financial markets of Europe and the US. The results revealed that the returns of the S&P 500 index have been greatly affected by a lockdown in the US owing to COVID-19. However, the health crisis generated due to the novel coronavirus significantly decreased the stock returns of the Nasdaq Composite index. (...) The results also showed that the economic crisis generated from the pandemic in Spain has had more impact on the IBEX 35 as compared to the health crisis itself. On the other hand, in the long-run, Italy’s stock markets are more affected by the health crisis as contrasted with the economic crisis, while, in the short-run, both lockdown conditions and economic instability lower the stock returns of FTSE MIB. The UK stock markets witnessed that in the short-run, deficiency of health management systems imperatively damaged the stock returns of the London Stock Exchange. The investigation revealed that deficiency of health systems and lockdown conditions have imperatively damaged the structure of financial markets, inferring that sustainable development of these nations is at risk due to COVID-19. The study suggested that governments should allocate more of their budget to the health sector to overcome a health crisis in the future. (shrink)

The concept of non-arbitrage plays an essential role in finance theory. Under certain regularity conditions, the Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing states that, in non-arbitrage markets, prices of financial instruments are martingale processes. In this theoretical framework, the analysis of the statistical distributions of financial assets can assist in understanding how participants behave in the markets, and may or may not engender arbitrage conditions. Assuming an underlying Variance Gamma statistical model, this study aims to test, using the FBST (...) - Full Bayesian Significance Test, if there is a relevant price difference between essentially the same financial asset traded at two distinct locations. Specifically, we investigate and compare the behavior of call options on the BOVESPA Index traded at (a) the Equities Segment and (b) the Derivatives Segment of BM&FBovespa. Our results seem to point out significant statistical differences. To what extent this evidence is actually the expression of perennial arbitrage opportunities is still an open question. (shrink)

Investigation of neural and cognitive processes underlying individual variation in moral preferences is underway, with notable similarities emerging between moral- and risk-based decision-making. Here we specifically assessed moral distributive justice preferences and non-moral financial gambling preferences in the same individuals, and report an association between these seemingly disparate forms of decision-making. Moreover, we find this association between distributive justice and risky decision-making exists primarily when the latter is assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task. These findings are consistent with neuroimaging (...) studies of brain function during moral and risky decision-making. This research also constitutes the first replication of a novel experimental measure of distributive justice decision-making, for which individual variation in performance was found. Further examination of decision-making processes across different contexts may lead to an improved understanding of the factors affecting moral behaviour. (shrink)

During the current financial crisis, the need for an alternative to a laissez-faire ethics of capitalism (the Milton Friedman view) becomes clear. I argue that we need an order ethics which employs economics as a key theoretical resource and which focuses on institutions for implementing moral norms. -/- I will point to some aspects of order ethics which highlight the importance of rules, e.g. global rules for the financial markets. In this regard, order ethics (“Ordnungsethik”) is the complement (...) of the German conception of “Ordnungspolitik” which also stresses the importance of a regulatory framework. This framework is needed not to tame the market, but to make it more profitable in the long run. -/- The conception of order ethics relies heavily on contractarianism, especially on James Buchanan’s work. Unlike many other conceptions of ethics, it does not start with an aim to achieve, but rather with an account of what the social world – in which ethical norms have to be implemented – is like. Our social world is different from the pre-modern one. Pre-modern societies played zero-sum games in which people could only gain significantly at the expense of others. And the types of ethics that we are still used to today have been developed within these pre-modern societies. -/- Modern societies, by contrast, can be characterised – by economists and other social theorists alike – as societies with continuous growth. This growth has only been made possible by the modern competitive market economy which enables everyone to pursue his own interests within a carefully devised institutional system. In this system, positive sum games are played, which makes it in principle possible to improve the position of every individual at the same time. Most kinds of ethics, however, resulting from the conditions of pre-modern societies, ignore the possibility of win-win-situations and instead require us to be moderate, to share, to sacrifice, as this would have been functional in zero-sum games. These conceptions distinguish – in more or less strict ways – between self-interest and altruistic motivation. Self-interest, more often than not, is ultimately seen as something evil. -/- Such an ethics cannot be functional in modern societies. Ethical concepts lag behind. Within zero-sum games, it was necessary to call for temperance, for moderate profits, or for a condemnation of lending money at interest. Within positive-sum games, however, the morally desired result of a social process cannot be brought about by changes in motivation, by switching from ‘egoistic’ to ‘altruistic’ motivation. The second theoretical element introduced by order ethics is the distinction between actions and rules, which was already mentioned. Traditional ethics concerns actions: It calls directly for changes in behaviour. This is a consequence of pre-modern conditions as reconstructed before: People in the pre-modern world were only able to control their actions, not so much however the conditions of their actions. In particular, rules like laws, constitutions, social structures, the market order, and also ethical norms have remained stable for centuries. In modern societies, this situation has changed entirely. The rules governing our actions have increasingly come under our control. -/- In this situation, ethics has to focus on rules. Morality must be incorporated in incentive-compatible rules. Direct calls for changes in behaviour without changes in the rules lead only to an erosion of compliance with moral norms. Individuals that continue to behave ‘morally’ will be singled out, because the incentives have not been changed. Moral norms which are to be justified cannot require people to abstain from pursuing their own advantage. People abstain from taking ‘immoral’ advantages only if adherence to ethical norms yields greater benefits over the planned sequence of actions than defection in the single case. Thus ‘abstaining’ is not abstaining in the long run, it is rather an investment in expectations of long-term benefits. By adhering to ethical norms, I become a reliable partner for interactions. The norms do indeed constrain my actions, but they simultaneously expand my options in interactions. And people consent to rules only if these rules hold greater advantages for them, at least in the long run. -/- In general, ethics cannot require people to abandon their individual calculation of advantages. However, it may suggest improving one’s calculation, by calculating in the long run rather than in the short run, and by taking into account the interests of our fellows, as we depend on their acceptance for reaching an optimal level of well-being, especially in a globalized world full of interdependence. -/- The problem of implementation can now be placed at the beginning of a conception of order ethics, justified with reference to the conditions of modern societies I have sketched. Under the conditions of pre-modern societies, an ethics of temperance had evolved that posed simultaneously the problems of implementation and justification. The implementation of well-justified norms or standards could then be regarded as unproblematic, because the social structures allowed for a direct face-to-face enforcement of norms. Pre-modern societies not only favored an ethics of temperance, they also had the instrument of face-to-face-sanctions within their smaller and non-anonymous communities. This instrument is no longer functional in modern anonymous societies, and so we have to face up to the problem of implementation right at the start of our ethical conception. Simultaneously, an order ethics relies on the implementation of sanctions for enforcing incentive-compatible rules. In modern societies, rules and institutions, to a large extent, must fulfil the tasks that were, in pre-modern times, fulfilled by moral norms, which in turn were sanctioned by face-to-face sanctions. Norm implementation in modern societies thus works by setting adequate incentives in order to prevent the erosion of moral norms, which would happen if ‘moral’ actors were systematically threatened with exploitation by other, less ‘moral’ actors. -/- This conception of order ethics is then elaborated further in the area of business ethics. -/- . (shrink)

One of the explanations for the Great Crisis of 2007-2008 was that financial authorities should have issued stricter regulations to prevent the housing bubble. However, according to Alan Greenspan, President of the Federal Reserve System (FED) from 1987 to 2006, this is to judge with hindsight. No one can guess when a “bubble” begins, nor when it ends; they happen because of the “irrational exuberance” in investors’ behavior, which causes boom and bust cycles. Regulators are not in a (...) better situation for assessing risks, though: since market participants supposedly know their own risks better than the regulator (a kind of informational asymmetry), an intervention (except to ensure law-enforcement) would imply unjustified paternalism. However, a regulator does not have to be conceived as a paternalistic authority. We sketch an objection to Greenspan's argument, arguing that crises don’t require a defective reasoning such as the “irrational exuberance” – our usual bounded rationality might be enough to provide the kind of “self-fulfilling prophecy” observed in the rise and fall of bubble assets value. Given the possibility of grave externalities, authorities are justified in adopting measures to ensure investors behave in a prudent way, even if they supposedly know better their own risks. (shrink)

In this experimental investigation the Aluminium 6063 is treated with Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) and Chicken Bone Ash (CBA). This Aluminium metal matrix composite is mixed at certain compositions and observed with the mechanical properties. Two main mechanical properties which includes Surface roughness and corrosion behavior is mainly focused in this research work. In this Research work aluminium hybrid metal matrix composite (AHMMC) is fabricated through stir casting process. Al6063 shows good mechanical properties and corrosion behavior changes, when combined (...) with reinforcements, Al2O3 and Chicken Bone Ash (CBA). Stir casting is an efficient cycle for the manufacture of aluminum hybrid composites. There are numerous boundaries in this cycle, which influence the behavior of corrosion and mechanical properties of the composites. Stir casting is a fluid state technique for the manufacture of composite materials, in which a scattered stage is blended in with a liquid network metal by methods for mechanical mixing. Stir Casting is the least difficult and the most financially savvy strategy for fluid state manufacture. Finally in this research work, when the compositions of each and every reinforcement increase, simultaneously the surface roughness of the composite also get increases. (shrink)

In this paper we propose an Ontology of Commercial Exchange (OCE) based on Basic Formal Ontology. OCE is designed for re-use in the Industrial Ontologies Foundry (IOF) and in other ontologies addressing different aspects of human social behavior involving purchasing, selling, marketing, and so forth. We first evaluate some of the design patterns used in the Financial Industry Business Ontology (FIBO) and Product Types Ontology (PTO). We then propose terms and definitions that we believe will improve the representation (...) of contractual obligations, sales processes, and their associated documents. A commercial exchange, for instance, involves mutual agreement to reciprocate actions, such as transferring money, performing a service, or transferring goods. (shrink)

This paper endeavors to understand the research landscape of finance research in Vietnam during the period 2008 to 2020 and predict the key defining future research directions. Using the comprehensive database of Vietnam’s international publications in social sciences and humanities, we extract a dataset of 314 papers on finance topics in Vietnam from 2008 to 2020. Then, we apply a systematic approach to analyze four important themes: Structural issues, Banking system, Firm issues, and Financial psychology and behavior. Overall, (...) there have been three noticeable trends within finance research in Vietnam: (1) assessment of financial policies or financial regulation, (2) deciphering the correlates of firms’ financial performances, and (3) opportunities and challenges in adopting innovations and ideas from foreign financial market systems. Our analysis identifies several fertile areas for future research, including financial market analysis in the post-COVID-19 eras, fintech, and green finance. (shrink)

Corporate bond appeared in 1992-1994 in Vietnamese capital markets. However, it is still not popular to both business sectors and academic circles. This paper explores different dimensions of Vietnamese corporate bond market using a unique and perhaps, most complete data set. State not only intervenes in the bond markets with its powerful budget and policies but also competes directly with enterprises. The dominance of state-owned enterprises and large corporations also prevents small and medium enterprises from this debt financing vehicle. Whenever (...) a convertible term is available, bondholders are more willing to accept lower fixed income payoff. But they would not likely stick to it. On the one hand, prospective bondholders could value the holdings of equity when realized favourably ex ante. On the other hand, the applicable coupon rate for such bonds could turn out negative inflation-adjusted payoff when tight monetary policy is exercised and the corresponding equity holding turns out valueless, ex post. Given the weak primary market and virtually non-existent secondary market, the corporate bond market in Vietnam reflects our perception of the relationship-based and rent-seeking behaviour in the financial markets. For the corporate bonds to really work, they critically need a higher level of liquidity to become truly tradeable financial assets. Updated entries in 2010 affirm the findings and conclusions. (shrink)

The truth about health care policy lies between two exaggerated views: a market view in which individuals purchase their own health care from profit maximizing health-care firms and a control view in which costs are controlled by regulations limiting which treatments health insurance will pay for. This essay suggests a way to avoid on the one hand the suffering, unfairness, and abandonment of solidarity entailed by the market view and, on the other hand, to diminish the inflexibility and inefficiency of (...) the control view. It suggests that the way to mitigate these problems is to recognize the malleability of motivation and the range of factors, in addition to financial incentives, that may influence the behavior of patients and especially physicians. (shrink)

The UK government decided to introduce Income Tax in 1799. Later, tax avoidance schemes involved creation of Deeds of Convenant. It is a fact that crime is increasing but the number of people committing crime is not increasing because many crimes are repeated crimes committed by persons with habitual criminal behaviour, ie hard-core criminals. -/- For more than half a century now, there has been scientific evidence that genetics plays a key role in the origins of criminal behaviour. There are (...) many ethical considerations thus raised which governments are reluctant to face and which, if faced, will cost a lot in financial terms to implement and to also dismantle the old entrenched systems -/- As the author states, genetics is considered in evidence only in federal United States ; New Zealand and Australia and not in the United Kingdom, although the UK’s Criminal Justice Act 2003 does, in some circumstances, allow evidence from relatives about the defendant’s character, but this is not expert evidence but merely non-expert opinion, permitted in relation to the defendant’s bad character in circumstances as per s 101 CJA 2003. Note that in the US, the Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 402 prevents the submission of irrelevant evidence. -/-. (shrink)

Trust can be thought of as a three place relation: A trusts B to do X. Trustworthiness has two components: competence (does the trustee have the relevant skills, knowledge and abilities to do X?) and willingness (is the trustee intending or aiming to do X?). This chapter is about the willingness component, and the different motivations that a trustee may have for fulfilling trust. The standard assumption in economics is that agents are self-regarding, maximizing their own consumption of goods and (...) services. This is too restrictive. In particular, people may be concerned with the outcomes of others, and they may be concerned to follow ethical principles. I distinguish weak trustworthiness, which places no restrictions on B’s motivation for doing X, from strong trustworthiness, where the behaviour must have a particular non-selfish motivation, in finance the fiduciary commitment to promote the interests of the truster. I discuss why strong trustworthiness may be more efficient and also normatively preferable to weak. In finance, there is asymmetric information between buyer and seller, which creates a need for trustworthy assessment of products. It also creates an ambiguity about whether the relationship is one of buyer and seller, governed by caveat emptor, or a fiduciary relationship of advisor and client. This means that there are two possible reasons why trust may be breached: because the trustee didn’t realise that the truster framed the relationship as a fiduciary one, or because the trustee did realise but actively sought to take advantage of the trust. Correspondingly, there are two possible types of agent: normal people who are not always self-regarding and who are trust responsive (if they believe that they are being trusted then they are likely to fulfill that trust), and knaves, after Hume’s character who is always motivated by his own private interest. We can increase the trustworthiness of normal people by getting them to re-frame the situation as one of trust, so they will be strongly trustworthy (i.e. change of institutional culture), and by providing non-monetary incentives (the correct choice of incentive will depend on exactly what their non-selfish motivation is). Knaves need sanctions, which can make them weakly trustworthy. However, this is a delicate balance because sanctions can crowd out normative frames. We can also increase the trustworthiness of financiers by making finance less attractive to knaves; changing the mix of types in finance could help support the necessary cultural change. (shrink)

The current economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created new changes and challenges for society, which has led to a deeper identification of pressing problems and to develop strategies and models for overcoming crises in various countries, industries and businesses. The formation and improvement of modern strategies and models of crisis management is impossible without optimizing the resources of economic entities, providing assistance at various levels of government to support priority sectors of the economy, finding additional sources of (...) funding to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure the effective develop and implementation of modern strategies and models of crisis management it is necessary to have information about the state of economic entities, relevant commodity, raw materials, financial markets, explore the internal and external environment, determine the impact of risks on current activities business entities or industries. The effectiveness of crisis management strategies and models is determined by the ability of the management system to ensure the support of business activity of economic entities in the relevant market and to stimulate effective consumer demand. The purpose of writing this scientific monograph is to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations and to form and improve strategies and models of crisis management taking into account new changes and challenges for society related to the COVID-19 pandemic and declining business activity of economic entities. The object of the author’s research was the process of formation and improvement of crisis management strategies and models in the conditions of market imbalance and change of the external environment, reduction of activity volumes of economic entities, growth of budget expenditures to combat the COVID-19, formation of new forms of activities and penetration of information technology into various spheres of life to optimize the negative consequences of a pandemic. The subject of the study were socio-economic, organizational and institutional processes of formation and effective implementation of strategies and models of crisis management in various areas of economic activity; substantiation of mechanisms for ensuring the competitiveness of economic entities and the formation new forms of entrepreneurship; development of modern information technologies; consideration of best practices in business process management and digitalization using world experience in various sectors of the economy caused by the COVID-19. (shrink)

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use the methodological tools for assessing the competitiveness of financial and insurance markets, methodological approaches to assessing the effectiveness of regional policy, internal audit of resources. Basic research is aimed at researching the main trends in the international economy, socialization of global economic development, investment aspects of development countries, functioning of consumer market in the international economic system, trends of international population migration, processes (...) of European integration in the field of energy efficiency. The research results have been implemented in the different models of the behavior of the economic system in the conditions of crisis, provision competitiveness of national economy in the face of increasing burden of public debt. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level of international business, ministries and departments that regulate international relations, ensuring security and overcoming risks. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts of the formation of international economic relations in the context of strengthening European integration processes and globalization of the economy. (shrink)

Behavioral intervention techniques leveraging reactive responses have gained popularity as tools for promoting ethical behavior. Choice architects, for example, design and present default opt-out options to nudge individuals into accepting preselected choices deemed beneficial to both the decision-maker and society. Such interventions can also employ mild financial incentives or affective triggers including joy, fear, empathy, social pressure, and reputational rewards. We argue, however, that ethical competence is achieved via reflection, and that heavy reliance on reactive behavioral interventions can (...) undermine the development of ethical competence over the long term. Specifically, drawbacks may occur through motivational displacement, dependency, moral crowding out, loss of personal autonomy, and reactance. We introduce complementary cognitive boosting techniques designed to stimulate reflective cognition, as a more promising long-term strategy for instilling ethical behavior. One such approach is the Moral Self-Awareness (MSA) motivational construct, which incrementally leads agents to increasing levels of ethical reflection. We explain why ethical boosting approaches present more edifying and durable alternatives to reactive behavioral interventions and offer suggestions for social and organizational policy. (shrink)

Feminized AIs designed for in-home verbal assistance are often subjected to gendered verbal abuse by their users. I survey a variety of features contributing to this phenomenon—from financial incentives for businesses to build products likely to provoke gendered abuse, to the impact of such behavior on household members—and identify a potential worry for attempts to criticize the phenomenon; while critics may be tempted to argue that engaging in gendered abuse of AI increases the chances that one will direct (...) this abuse toward human beings, the recent history of attempts to connect video game violence to real-world aggression suggests that things may not be so simple. I turn to Confucian discussions of the role of ritualized social interactions both to better understand the roots of the problem and to investigate potential strategies for improvement, given a complex interplay between designers and device users. I argue that designers must grapple with the entrenched sexism in our society, at the expense of “smooth” and “seamless” user interfaces, in order to intentionally disrupt entrenched but harmful patterns of interaction, but that doing so is both consistent with and recommended by Confucian accounts of social rituals. (shrink)

Extant research suggests that individuals employ traditional moral heuristics to support their observed altruistic behavior; yet findings have largely been limited to inductive extrapolation and rely on relatively few traditional frames in so doing, namely, deontology in organizational behavior and virtue theory in law and economics. Given that these and competing moral frames such as utilitarianism can manifest as identical behavior, we develop a moral framing instrument—the Philosophical Moral-Framing Measure (PMFM)—to expand and distinguish traditional frames associated and (...) disassociated with observed altruistic behavior. The validation of our instrument based on 1015 subjects in 3 separate real stakes scenarios indicates that heuristic forms of deontology, virtue-theory, and utilitarianism are strongly related to such behavior, and that egoism is an inhibitor. It also suggests that deontic and virtue-theoretical frames may be commonly perceived as intertwined and opens the door for new research on self-abnegation, namely, a perceived moral obligation toward suffering and self-denial. These findings hold the potential to inform ongoing conversations regarding organizational citizenship and moral crowding out, namely, how financial incentives can undermine altruistic behavior. (shrink)

In seeking to clarify the concept of conflict of interest (COI) in debates about physician–industry relationships, Howard Brody (2011) highlights the extent to which the prob- lem turns on a common pejorative understanding of COI. Whether it is the academic or public policy “pharmapologists” or “pharmascolds” talking about COI, there is often a straightforward and overly simplistic correlation made: that is, a conflict of interest—by definition—leads to fraudulent or corrupt behavior. The same type of reasoning is com- monly found (...) in discussions about COI outside the health sciences, most notably in news stories about the awarding of government contracts or the behaviour of corporate executives. The problem is that in focusing on dramatic failures to manage COI (e.g., around Vioxx), there is a tendency to strongly associate COI with extreme forms of financial and even criminal misconduct, leaving the public, policymakers, academics, and professionals with a skewed and limited understanding of the concept. (shrink)

Citizen Satisfaction Index System (CSIS) was used to assess the delivery of support to education initiatives in the municipality of Banga, Aklan, Philippines. The samples were determined using multiple application of stratified random sampling approach. In accordance with the Philippine Statistical Authority's Data on Census Population and Housing for 2015, barangays having a bigger share of the population contributed more respondents to the 150 targeted participants. Following the inclusion criteria, the probability respondents were chosen using the Kish Grid. Pre-numbered questionnaires (...) were distributed, with odd numbers targeting male responders and even numbers targeting females. The following criteria were used to evaluate the respondents' assessments: awareness, availment of the program/service, satisfaction, and need for action. Furthermore, interviews were conducted to better understand and investigate the respondents' thoughts, behavior, and perspectives. The reasons for their reaction were also obtained. The data was provided in percentage as well as frequency distributions. The study inferred that awareness on alternative learning system and/or special education program should be improved since it is the only program that attained low rating for awareness. Most of the residents were not able to avail education programs because they have no household member who attends school. Majority of the respondents who availed the services were satisfied. However, scholarship and other assistance programs to students may be enhanced to improve service delivery. It is highly recommended by the citizens to improve accessibility to scholarship programs and other forms of financial assistance to students. (shrink)

According to complexity economics, a speculative bubble is a paradigmatic case of emergence which forms from individual behaviour. In order to provide a more detailed ontological investigation of this ‘lower level’, this paper aims to understand what a transaction is and how people actualize their financial choices. Given that selling and buying operations may involve just machines, it is argued that collective intentionality, at least in John Searle’s version, is not successful. It would seem, therefore, that the pivotal role (...) is played by documents. The paper focuses mostly on the documents’ capacity to anchor quasi-abstract entities to reality and to attribute social and economic properties, such as property having a certain value. The latter is clearly involved in the emergence of a bubble. (shrink)

Mobile phones are part of a major growth industry in so-called Third World countries. As in other places, the use of this technology changes communication behaviour. The influence of these changes on indigenous social structures was investigated with a mixed-type questionnaire that targeted parameters such as: in-group vs. out-group communication, involvement with dominant industrial culture and the use of financial resources. Data was collected from indigenous representatives at the United Nations, as well as in Africa from subjects of various (...) cultural backgrounds, and from a control group in Berlin. The results reflect widespread use of mobile phones among indigenous persons, having a segregating effect within the indigenous community, but also enhancing ingroup communication and especially the use of the indigenous language. Mobile phones also facilitate moves from village to town, with the opportunity of frequently communicating with other in-group members. (shrink)

POLICE ETHICS – Abstract Mark Lauchs -/- Police are an essential part of the justice system. They are the frontline actors in keeping the peace, social stability and cohesion. Thus good governance relies on honest policing. However, there will always be at least a small group of corrupt police officers, even though Australians are culturally averse to corruption (Khatri, Tsang, & Begley, 2006). There have been many cases where the allegations of police corruption have reached to the highest levels of (...) a state police force (Blanch, 1982) and, in the case of the Fitzgerald Inquiry (Fitzgerald, 1989), ended in a commissioner being convicted of corruption. -/- Any public official who places their own interests before those of the public have corrupted a system in which they are supposed to act as agents of the public, will undermine the good governance of a society (Lauchs, 2007). Police officers attract offers of corruption because of their ability to enforce or ignore the law. Police who are unethical or in financial stress are vulnerable to offers of illicit payments. Longstanding arrangements of corruption within a police branch can lead to a corruption network between police and criminals. Organised police corruption constitutes “social behaviour, conducted in groups within organisations, that is powerful enough to override the officer’s oath of office, personal conscience, departmental regulations and criminal laws.” (Punch, 2000) it is an even greater threat to the community because the damage done has more impact than the sum of the individual acts of corruption. This chapter will discuss the types of police corruption and focus on the organisation as the source of core police culture. -/- . (shrink)

In this research, an agent-based model was developed to study the propagation of physical climate shocks through supply chain networks. By combining supply chain and financial models, the study examines the effects of climate shocks on firms’ production capacities and their subsequent impacts on firm default risk. A comprehensive mathematical framework is presented for the simulation of physical risks, their subsequent up- and downstream impacts along the supply chain, and the translation of physical impacts into an increased level of (...) default risk. The results highlight the importance of supply chains as a transmission channel for physical climate risks and emphasize the effectiveness of implementing adaptation measures. Practical examples demonstrate the model’s behavior under different hypothetical climate scenarios and identify the sectors most vulnerable to increases in the frequency and intensity of climate events. Overall, this study provides insights into the transmission dynamics of climate shocks and emphasizes the need for resilience against climate events in supply chain networks. (shrink)

Application of the reliability of repairable systems on solving problems from constructing production systems takes an important place in the process of finding the optimal solution among the suggested system choices. The basic hypothesis when using the reliability of the repairable systems is that every machine is representing a component, a fact that is debatable when talking about technical sciences. However, considering the second assumption of the stationary process, the function of the availability is introduced. It represents the measure between (...) the reliability and the benefit of maintaining the components and the system as a whole one. An additional and the last reason for analyzing constructing machine as a whole one has an economic reason. From the aspect of the total cost and the capacity of the system, the function of the availability is catching more and more impact in the process of determinating the total cost in bill of quantities as the most important part of tender documents. Until former works, techno-economic optimisation usually ran over when choosing the system of the construction machines. In the work, there are shown the methodologies for gathering and analyzing the indicators of availabilities per unit of a company's machine park. The time of demission and reparation have been investigated among 34 components in the period of 6 years. Based on the obtained result for different conditions of machine exploitation and facilities, it is suggested the methodology of the future behaviour of the corresponding within the model optimization availability of constructing production system with the aim of eliminating extra criterion. The suggested model takes in consideration the total cost of the components when they are functional, and when they are not. This kind of approach enables the one who take choices decision of the height of profits, in the lenght of work in function of the projection of cash flow and managing with real indicators of functioning the system at the project level. Given the fact that the maintanance policy of machines is based on availability, and not on reliability of components, with the aim of maximizing the availability of different budget scenarios, a logical approach to the selection of the objective function in the terms of management of construction production systems is to minimize costs for a given availability of system constructing machinery is based on the use of historical data base with the values of the operational availability of components, conditions in which they function, in the process of forecasting the project availability for projects that follow. Ranking variant solutions is the result of the adopted function of the aim as a consequence due to enlargement methods of availability for serial parallel systems with the associated restrictions. For optimal system availability is taken a value that belongs to minimal total cost. However, it is predicted that after the end of the financial year, the real and projected indicators of system functions get compared to each other. Informational support to the proposed model is informational company system, which was built in the PHP programming language on the Linux software platform, and with data based in My SQL. The suggested model is tested on the system for the production and embedding bitumen bound materials on the specific project. Obtained results confirm the assumptions used in work. (shrink)

The Universal Formula: Solving the Problem of Free Will Through the Law of Balance By Angelito Malicse Introduction The problem of free will has puzzled humanity for centuries, often viewed as a philosophical or metaphysical enigma. This essay presents a universal formula that resolves this dilemma by focusing on the law of karma and the universal law of balance. It explores the interconnectedness of systems, the critical role of accurate knowledge, and the evolution of emotions in maintaining harmony. By examining (...) real-world examples such as overpopulation, environmental degradation, economic instability, and the flaws of capitalism, this essay demonstrates how the universal formula can guide human decision-making to achieve a balanced and sustainable world. The Law of Karma: Systems and Balance The universal formula begins with the law of karma, which extends beyond cause and effect to encompass the integrity of systems, both natural and man-made. Every system—whether ecological, social, or economic—operates according to the universal law of balance. When imbalances arise, the system becomes dysfunctional, leading to adverse consequences. For example, while humans sit at the top of the food chain, the Earth's ecosystem cannot sustain unchecked overpopulation of our species. Overpopulation leads to the destruction of natural resources as humans consume everything, including plants, animals, and even insects. This voracious consumption damages ecosystems, accelerates deforestation, depletes biodiversity, and disrupts the delicate balance of the natural world. To ensure the sustainability of life on Earth, it is crucial to regulate population growth, conserve natural resources, and refrain from exploiting all animals on land and in the sea. By preserving biodiversity and maintaining the integrity of ecosystems, we protect the foundation of life that supports all species, including humans. Free Will and the Dependence on Correct Knowledge Human free will is not an autonomous force but is entirely dependent on correct knowledge and information. Errors in decision-making, often caused by ignorance, false beliefs, and distorted theories, disrupt the balance of systems. For instance, the failure to regulate overpopulation creates cascading problems, including climate change, pollution, and resource depletion. Without accurate knowledge about the consequences of overpopulation, individuals and societies continue to make decisions that exacerbate these imbalances. Education and government policy play vital roles in addressing these issues. Policies that promote population regulation can maintain a sustainable economy, while education fosters awareness of the need to protect ecosystems and biodiversity. Correct information empowers individuals to make decisions that align with the universal law of balance, preventing errors that destabilize systems. The Flaws of Capitalism and the Need for Balance The efficiency of the capitalistic system increases over time, leading to significant flaws if left unchecked. Private companies continually strive to reduce overhead and operating expenses, often by automating processes and replacing human labor with robotics. While this enhances profitability, it also reduces employment opportunities, suppresses wages, and widens income inequality. These principles, central to the management strategies of most private companies, create systemic imbalances in the economy. The solution lies in adopting a mixed economic system that counterbalances the excesses of capitalism with socialist principles. Governments must play a pivotal role in addressing these imbalances by implementing the following measures: Creating High-Salary Government Jobs: These jobs provide stable income and stimulate local economies. Providing Unemployment Benefits or Universal Basic Income (UBI): These measures ensure that individuals who lose jobs due to automation and efficiency gains still have the purchasing power to meet their needs. Offering Free Healthcare and Education: These fundamental services reduce the financial burden on families, enabling them to invest in other areas of life. Promoting Government Spending: By investing in infrastructure, renewable energy, and public services, governments can create new jobs and maintain the flow of money in the economy. Government spending serves as a balancing mechanism by injecting funds into the economy, which in turn supports private companies through increased consumer demand. This feedback loop creates private-sector jobs, stabilizes the economy, and ensures a balanced flow of resources between public and private sectors. The Role of Emotions in Balancing Systems Human emotions, both positive and negative, serve as essential feedback mechanisms for maintaining balance. Positive emotions, such as love and joy, encourage cooperative behavior and strengthen familial and social bonds. Negative emotions, such as fear and anger, signal imbalances that require corrective action. For example, the unconditional love within a family fosters a nurturing environment that supports the emotional and psychological development of children. This foundation contributes to a high-quality next generation of parents, capable of fostering further generational improvement. Conversely, the absence of such love or a dysfunctional family structure often leads to crime, substance abuse, and other societal problems. These negative outcomes are the effects of systemic imbalances, whether caused by poor parenting, economic hardship, or the lack of a government safety net. Addressing Environmental and Social Imbalances The universal formula underscores the importance of a holistic education system in addressing systemic imbalances. Education must instill values such as cleanliness, discipline, ethics, and good manners while fostering a respect for nature. Teaching children the importance of not harming wildlife and preserving ecosystems is critical to protecting biodiversity and ensuring a harmonious coexistence with other species. Government policies also play a crucial role. Regulations that protect natural resources, reduce pollution, and promote renewable energy can prevent environmental degradation. Policies that provide social safety nets can alleviate poverty and reduce crime by addressing the root causes of economic and social imbalance. The Importance of Holistic Systems Thinking The universal formula emphasizes the interconnectedness of systems, demonstrating that imbalances in one area often ripple through others. For instance, a lack of holistic education contributes to ignorance, which leads to poor decision-making. This, in turn, exacerbates issues such as overpopulation, resource depletion, and social unrest. Producing a high-quality young generation requires a combination of good parenting, access to education, and supportive government policies. By fostering an environment that values balance, discipline, and ethics, societies can produce individuals capable of making decisions that align with the universal law of balance. Conclusion The universal formula offers a comprehensive solution to the problem of free will by integrating the law of karma, the universal law of balance, and the evolutionary role of emotions. By understanding and addressing the root causes of imbalance—whether environmental, social, or economic—humanity can achieve harmony within and across systems. Real-world examples, such as overpopulation, economic instability, environmental destruction, and the flaws of capitalism, highlight the urgent need to apply this formula. Through holistic education, informed policies, and an unwavering commitment to balance, individuals and societies can prevent errors, correct existing imbalances, and create a sustainable and harmonious future. The time to act is now. By embracing the universal formula, humanity can unlock the full potential of free will, ensuring a balanced and equitable world for generations to come. ---. (shrink)

Air pollution is a pressing global issue, demanding swift and practical solutions across nations. Polluted air is not only harmful to physical health but also to mental well-being. Research has consistently shown that air pollution is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, both in the short and long term. Short-term effects include coughing, asthma, and difficulty breathing, while long-term exposure can lead to chronic asthma, impaired lung function, cardiovascular diseases, and even death. Beyond physical health, air pollution can also negatively (...) impact mental well-being, contributing to depression, anxiety, and even suicide. -/- A recent study by a group of researchers led by Tomoaki Nakaishi, a researcher at Kyushu University, has gone further, examining how air pollution affects moral perception and unethical behavior. Unethical behavior refers to actions that are either illegal or deemed morally wrong by society. This study focuses on five types of unethical behavior: fatal actions (e.g., murder, terrorism, and suicide), assault (e.g., prostitution, rape, child abuse, and domestic violence), discrimination (e.g., gender and racial discrimination), financial misconduct (e.g., fraud and bribery/corruption), and organized misconduct. (shrink)

In this paper, I will argue that the rise in hostility and polarization on social media is explainable by taking into account a radical difference between online and face-to- face interaction. In everyday offline environments, socially shared and context-de- pendent norms frame the understanding of other people’s minds based on their behavior. I will argue that, on social media platforms, social cognition is distorted thanks to two deliberate design choices that are a means for financial gain for the (...) platform’s designers: namely, the lack of socially shared norms on these platforms (entailed by what is known as context collapse) and their interfaces’ extreme us- er-centeredness. I will argue that such design features not only cause frustration in the understanding of others but encourage testimonial injustice in interaction. (shrink)

This study is done in order to find the factor of depression among the college student in Malaysia. Depression among the college student are increasing as it come from many factor. This study used behavioural theory as the foundations theories for the model development. The study involved 406 respondents, selected through google form responses involving all the university students around Malaysia. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. All variables were measured through scales previously used by other researchers. In (...) behavioural theory, state that depression people precisely those who do not know how to cope with the fact that they are no longer receiving positive reinforcement like they before. Results shows the data analysis described that respondents having a financial problem where did not what how to differentiate between wants and need with the overall mean (M=2.51) and students always spend their money on uncertain things. (shrink)

A method of identifying banks’ business models and studying the features of their risk profile, considering the system of indicators featuring the structure of assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and other qualitative indicators based on monthly statistical reporting. Kohonen's self-organizing maps (SOM) are used to process large data sets, revealing objects’ hidden features by forming homogeneous groups according to similar values of a large system of indicators. The choice of the system of indicators that play the most significant role in describing (...) the business models of modern banks is substantiated. The proposed method makes it possible to group banks with homogeneous characteristics into so-called structural-functional groups and studies the change in the characteristics of groups of banks over time to compare their behavior during periods of active development of the system and during a crisis. That approach is useful for studying the banking system at the macro level, as it provides a quantitative measure of its financial stability. The more banks are in groups with negative values of parameters, increased risks, and unprofitable performance, the worse the general state of the system. The method also allows studying the features of each structural and functional group and the business models’ features at the meso-level. The number and composition of banks inherent in any group change dynamically, which characterizes the features of the relevant business model in a particular period. The averages of each group reflect the objective changes in the banking system structure. In addition, the SOM trajectory can be built for each individual bank determining the development of its strategy, features of a particular business model, and risk profile. At the micro-level, it allows comparing the features of individual banks within the SFGB and models ways to improve efficiency and financial stability by forecast values for SOM. An extensive system of indicators used to form structural and functional groups of banks allows to quickly respond to changes in the banking system, identify areas of increased risk and explore the adequacy and effectiveness of banks’ business models. (shrink)

Creativity has been associated with cognitive and behavioural disinhibitory processes (Martindale, 1999; Carson, 2014). Nevertheless, inhibitory mental processes are not only fundamental to rational behaviours but also socially adaptive practices. Hence, the promotion of creativity must overcome the limits imposed by socialization. An undue imbalance of both domains will tense both processes. This notion cannot be reviewed without considering ab initio our construction of the concept of ‘freedom’ or, more accurately, of our ‘degrees of freedom’ (Colombo, 2013) and our self-awareness (...) of the construction of inhibitory codes and rules in our socialization process. It is a process that this author finds too close to domestication and fencing creativeness. This book has been inspired by the multiple sources of evidence imposing on vast segments of our world community a cognitive deprivation on the construction of identity, the access to critical knowledge, and the construction and expression of the creative potential (Colombo, 2007, 2015). Also, it is dangerous to build up a segmented or balkanized humanity as opposed to a globalized one, based on limited or no access to fundamental human values and needs, as well as to critical knowledge and information. Cultural banalization, poverty/indigence/marginalization of vast populations, social prejudices and privileges, and a prevalence of financial, ideological, and religious fundamentalisms are at the base of such unethical and counter-evolutive, regressive engines (Colombo 2010, 2013, 2015). These represent the instruments for domestication and suffocation of the species’ creative potential, which pave the road towards the emergence of fundamentalisms and the surrender of identity. (shrink)

As in other branches of social sciences, many studies on altruism have been conducted in the field of psychology. Altruism, which is at the intersection point of social psychology, positive psychology and the psychology of religion, is based on the prioritization of the other rather than oneself. Providing a roadmap for social relations, religions glorifies altruistic behavior. For this reason, it has been accepted that there is a natural relationship between altruism and religious attachment. In this article, the relationship (...) between altruism and religious attitude is examined through university students from different departments. The study, which involves 334 undergraduate students, uses The Altruism Scale developed by Ümmet, Ekşi and Otrar (2013) and the Religious Attitude Scale developed by Ok (2011). As a result of the research, it is determined that there is a positive significant correlation (r =, 360, p <, 001) between the level of religiousness and altruism. When comparing the departments, the lowest level of altruism is found to be psychology (3.76), and the highest level to be theology (4.08). The field of health (3.98) and social and humanities (3.93) follow theology, respectively. According to the LSD test results, the differences between psychology and theology, health and social and humanities are significant. When analyzed in terms of sub-dimensions, a significant difference is found between the departments in "participation in voluntary activities", "financial assistance", "assistance in traumatic situations" and "assistance based on physical strength". There is no such difference in the other three sub-dimensions. While the highest score in the sub-dimension of "help in traumatic situations" belongs to the field of social sciences and humanities, the highest score in all other sub-dimensions belongs to the field of theology. (shrink)

In 2001 soon after the Asian Crises of 1997-1998, the DotcomBubble, 9/11, the Enron crises triggered a fraud crisis in Wall Street that impacted the market to the core. Since then scandals such as the Lehman Brothers and WorldCom in 2007-2008 and the Great Recession have surpassed it, Enron still remains one of the most important cases of fraudulent accounting. In 2000’s even though the financial industry had become highly regulated, deregulation of the energy industry allowed companies to place (...) bets on future prices. At the peak of the dotcom bubble Enron was named as a star innovator but when the dotcom bubble burst, Enron’s plan to build high speed internet did not flourish and investors started to realize losses. Furthermore, the financial losses of the operations were hid using the market to market accounting technique instead of book value and using special purpose entities to hide debt. The root cause that was identified as a company with a toxic corporate culture focused on officer compensation rather than social responsibility and hence faulty leadership. Is it possible then that; ethical accounting practices, social responsibility and ethics all become inferior goods as income rises in an ‘irrationally exuberant’era? (shrink)

The author reviews the planned withdrawal of healthcare from the primary public hospital, Grady Memorial Hospital, of Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, at least half of the patients had no public or private health insurance and their care was financially supported by State and County funding as well as supplementation from Emory University. New administration in the elected positions of the State and County and at the University reached agreement to decrease care. The (...) University President stated that the Hippocratic Oath was no longer valid for salaried physicians who must follow the direction of their business manager. The author, a tenured Professor, was forcibly transferred to the Veterans Hospital, which also was withholding standard medical care, including life-saving medications. Organizing multiple concerned organizations including members of the King Center, the Carter Center, the Open Door Community Center, Gay Rights, etc., (Grady Coalition) multiple public protests were successful in raising the necessary funds to continue adequate care at Grady and begin an investigation of the Veterans Affairs Hospital. (shrink)

For a transitional market with a short history like that of Vietnam, corporate governance is a critical area of improvement. The issuance of Circular 121 in 2012 marked an important milestone of corporate governance reform in Vietnam as it includes stricter and more well-defined regulations learned from international best practices. Among them is the requirement that independent directors should make up at least one-third of the board of directors. Although improving financial reporting is not at the heart of Circular (...) 121, this Circular is expected to reduce earnings management through the mandatory requirement of board independence. Using data collected from a sample of 523 non-financial listed firms from 2009 – 2016, this study finds no significant relationship between earnings management and the proportion of independent directors, and Circular 121 has no impact on this relationship. These results are consistent across different regression approaches and various robustness tests, suggesting that board independence and corporate governance reform are not effective tools in mitigating earnings management. (shrink)

It is crucial to actively detect the risks of transactions in a financial company to improve customer experience and minimize financial loss. In this study, we compare different machine learning algorithms to effectively and efficiently predict the legitimacy of financial transactions. The algorithms used in this study were: MLP Repressor, Random Forest Classifier, Complement NB, MLP Classifier, Gaussian NB, Bernoulli NB, LGBM Classifier, Ada Boost Classifier, K Neighbors Classifier, Logistic Regression, Bagging Classifier, Decision Tree Classifier and Deep (...) Learning. The dataset was collected from Kaggle depository. It consists of 6362620 rows and 10 columns. The best classifier with unbalanced dataset was the Random Forest Classifier. The Accuracy 99.97%, precession 99.96%, Recall 99.97% and the F1-score 99.96%. However, the best classifier with balanced dataset was the Bagging Classifier. The Accuracy 99.96%, precession 99.95%, Recall 99.98% and the F1-score 99.96%. (shrink)

Background: The feeding modalities applied in countries with school meal programs are varied because these are shaped not only by the national commitments to alleviate food insecurity among children but also by resource availability from national and international agencies. In terms of financial resources, the USA plays a consistent role in providing donations, grants, loans, and loan guarantee programs to support global school feeding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees these funding sources for international school meal programs. Aim: (...) This study aims to examine the moderating effect of USDA funding on the relationship between supply purchasing methods and feeding modalities among countries implementing school meal programs. Methods: The Bayesian Mindsponge Framework, combining the reasoning strengths of Mindsponge Theory and inference advantages of Bayesian analysis, was employed on a dataset of 126 government representatives who manage large-scale school meal programs in 126 different countries. Results: The findings indicated that USDA funding has the potential to positively moderate the relationship between foreign supply purchases and the feeding modalities of school meal programs. However, the direct association between foreign purchases and feeding modalities was unclear. Conversely, while USDA funding was found to have a negative moderation effect on the relationship between domestic supply purchases and feeding modalities, it is these domestic purchases that show potential for positively influencing the feeding modalities. Conclusions: Findings underscore the importance of supporting the World Bank and World Food Programme’s recommendation to rely more on local resources and capacities for developing long-term and sustainable school meal programs. Further exploration of the impact of foreign supply purchases on feeding modalities is needed. Formulating strategic plans to better leverage USDA funding for enhancing domestic supply purchases is highly recommended. (shrink)

Most business in the Philippines is mostly in the microenterprise. Hence, this research was accomplished in order to assess the effectiveness of financial management practices of microenterprises in Quezon City. The city was selected as the locale of the research since there were various microenterprises built in this location. The respondents were classified according to the number of years in operation of their business, the number of employees, capitalization, and their source of funds. Additionally, the individual profile was also (...) classified into their age, highest educational attainment, and the number of seminars or trainings related to their business that they had attended. The assessment was specified into aspects of financial planning, financial control, and cash management. The result shows that most businesses were newly established and only operating for zero (0) to two (2) years. The result also showed that most of the respondents only had a capitalization of PHP 100,000.00 and they were utilizing their personal savings as a source of funds. Most of them are aged from twenty-one (21) to thirty (30) years with no bachelor’s degrees. They only attended seminars and training less than three (3) times. The result of this study was beneficial to business owners, local government units, government, government agencies, banks, and other financial institutions, academe, and future researchers. (shrink)

In the beginning of the 1970s, Michel Foucault dismisses the terminology of ‘exclusion’ for his projected analytics of modern power. This rejection has had major repercussions on the theory of neoliberal subject-formation. Many researchers disproportionately stress how neoliberal dispositifs produce entrepreneurial subjects, albeit in different ways, while minimizing how these dispositifs sometimes emphatically refuse to produce neoliberal subjects. Relying on Saskia Sassen’s work on financialization, I argue that neoliberal dispositifs not only apply entrepreneurial norms, but also suspend their application for (...) groups that threaten to harm the population’s profitability. Neoliberal dispositifs not only produce entrepreneurial subjects, but also surplus populations that are expelled from the overall population to maintain its productivity. Here, the concept of ‘exclusion’ is appropriate if understood in Agamben’s sense of an inclusive exclusion. The surplus population is part of neoliberal dispositifs, but only as the element to be abandoned. (shrink)

The study aimed to determine the personal financial management practices among selected personnel of the Bureau of the Treasury – Central Office. It used the descriptive method of gathering data. The respondents of the study consisted of 183 personnel from 35 divisions of the Bureau and selected through simple random probability sampling technique. The study shown that most of the respondents aged 26 to 35 years old, female, single, bachelor’s degree holder, rank and file workers, permanent employees, have been (...) in the agency for 5 years and below and with monthly compensation ranging from P15,001 – P30,000. In terms of financial planning, most of the respondents set their short and long-term financial goals. In terms of money management, most of the respondents saved so that they do not need to borrow from others. In terms of income and asset protection, most of the respondents considered uncertainties for their future. And in terms of investments, most of the respondents purchased government securities. The researcher recommended to utilize various social media platforms as an avenue for financial planning, start considering the use of credit management in the acquisition of their needs, understand the need of acquiring non-life insurance and start familiarizing themselves in the concept of the derivatives market. Also, the Bureau of the Treasury should initiate seminars/webinars about how to start writing a financial plan, effective ways in managing finances, the vital role of insurance and estate planning, and possible ways in earning money when investing on securities and derivatives. (shrink)

In this chapter, my main aim is to explore some of the central moral critiques of international financial institutions as well as proposals to overcome the moral problems that they face.

Financial gerontology can be defined as investigating relations between finances and aging. Authors such as Neal E. Cutler, Kouhei Komamura, Davis W. Gregg, Shinya Kajitani, Kei Sakata, and Colin McKenzie affirm that financial literacy is an effect of aging with concern about the issue of finances, as well as stating that it is the effect of longevity and aging on economies or the financial resilience of older people.

Although Minsky’s interpretation of Keynes’s macroeconomics and essential message clashes with authoritative alternative interpretations, it has become increasingly influential during the years following the Global Financial Crisis, even in mainstream circles. This paper offers a critical evaluation of Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis from the perspective of the alternative Austro-Wicksellian paradigm. Although some of the similarities and/or analogies between Minsky’s approach and that of the Austrian School suggest a more than merely superficial affinity between the two theoretical frameworks and (...) although some scope for cross-fertilization between both approaches can be found, both theoretically and empirically, at a fundamental conceptual level both theories remain incompatible and difficult if not impossible to reconcile, in particular in terms of fundamental causality and in terms of policy conclusions and prescriptions. Despite the fact that Minsky’s policy conclusions are multifaceted and somewhat eclectic, they manifest a lack of familiarity with the conclusions of the Austrian analysis of the problems of central planning by Big Players such as Big Bank and Big Government. Both approaches also offer contrasting interpretations of the historical experience of the Global Financial Crisis. (shrink)

Before the Doi Moi reforms in 1986, Viet Nam’s economy was devastated by 30 years of warfare with two major military powers, France and the US, ending in 1975. In the subsequent 10 years, Viet Nam suffered from failing economic experiments, including agricultural cooperatization, “industry-commerce rehabilitation,” price-wage-currency reform, among others, under the centrally planned mechanism (Wood 1989), as well as the international isolation and a US trade embargo when its troops entered Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge (Riedel and Turley (...) 1999). Its per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) declined to USD 97 in 1989 whereas the ratio of external debt to GDP reached 330%. 1 The economy languished and became one of the poorest in the world (VGP 2016). (shrink)