In the article the effect of disbalances in the movement of financial resources on the national financial systems is formalized. For ensuring the corresponding monitoring objectives the financial sustainability indicators developed by the IMF and the World Bank have been used, as well as the integral indicator of financial resource disbalances, which serve as statistical units for measuring the financial situation and sustainability of the financial sector of the country. For the overwhelming majority (...) of the studied countries, the hypothesis about the negative impact of disbalances in the flow of financial resources on the stability of their financial sectors, regardless of the general economic conditions of these countries' development, was confirmed. At the same time, such a hypothesis was denied for a group of developing countries. Conditions-destabilizers of financial sectors’ stability of the countries under the influence of financialization of their economies, which should be considered the object of regulatory measures in financial markets, are defined. These include the level of market integration into the global financial space, which determines the tendency to systemic risks transmission and the degree of markets’ development that affects their volatility. (shrink)

This study employs the Porter hypothesis framework to test the moderating role of production cost in the relationship between resource-efficiency actions and financial performance for German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, we employ the 2012, 2018, and 2021 Flash Eurobarometer surveys to analyze how consistently SMEs adopt resource-efficiency actions, and the impact of these actions on their performance and costs. We also conduct a generalized method of moments regression analysis (GMM). Among the seven resource-efficiency actions proposed, (...) saving water had a significant positive (negative) influence on financial performance in 2012, 2021, and (2018). Saving energy and using renewable energy had a positive and significant (insignificant) effect on financial performance in 2018, 2021, and (2012). Finally, selling scrap material to other companies had a positive and significant impact in all years. Furthermore, increased production costs negatively moderate the relationship between eco-efficiency action scores and financial performance. The results indicate that the “strong” version of the Porter hypothesis is not supported: It only holds when the implementation of eco-efficiency actions reduces production costs and increases financial performance. (shrink)

Motivated by the disproportionately high incidence of fraudulent financial reporting in the IT sector where technological capability is a major source of competitive advantage, this study investigates the possible relationship between technological capability and fraud probability in the IT sector. Technological capability is measured by a firm’s technical efficiency relative to peers in transforming cumulative R&D resources into innovative output, which is a source of competitive advantage, according to the resource-based view of the firm. Technical efficiency is estimated (...) via data envelopment analysis. A sample of fraud firms taken from Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases is matched with control samples of non-fraud firms. Consistent with the RBV, technological capability is found to have a negative and economically significant effect on fraud probability. Moreover, fraud probability is insignificantly associated with the scale efficiency of innovative activities, as investment in R&D resources per se is not a source of sustainable competitive advantage. (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)

With the development of the globalization of science and technology, innovation has become an important driving force for regional economic development. As a core element of regional innovation, financial R&D resources have also become a key element to enhance national innovation capabilities and national economic competitiveness. National and regional innovation capabilities have a direct impact. There are also many deep-seated problems behind the world-renowned achievements, such as irrational industrial structure, insufficient independent innovation capabilities, low resource utilization efficiency, and (...) the service quality and efficiency of financial institutions for the transformation of total factor productivity. These problems extremely restrict the efficiency upgrade and further development of our country’s total factor productivity. This study uses the DEA-Malmquist index model to measure the efficiency of fiscal R&D resource allocation in 28 provinces and regions in China in the past 10 years and uses Mapinfo12.0 software to analyze regional differences in the efficiency of fiscal R&D resource allocation in China from a spatial perspective. During the year, the overall R&D resource allocation efficiency of 28 provinces and autonomous regions in China has shown an upward trend. The efficiency of fiscal R&D resource allocation and the concentration of financial factors have had a positive impact on total factor productivity, transform and upgrade factors, increase total factor productivity, and provide empirical evidence for building a strong country. (shrink)

Environmental research has usually highlighted that the existence of slack resources in an organization helps allocate investment to innovative initiatives. However, the existing literature has paid very limited attention to how slack resources can influence the effects of focused and diversified innovations in different ways. Agency theory scholars claim that a manager’s first preference when confronted with discretionary resources will not generate positive investments for the firm, but their own opportunistic preferences. The differences between focused and diversified (...) environmental innovations allow us to gain a better understanding of the financial impact of being focused and how slack resources matter in this context. We analyze a longitudinal sample of 5845 environmental patents from the 75 largest companies in the electrical components and equipment industry worldwide. Our results show that high levels of slack resources reduce the existing positive relationship between focused environmental innovations and a firm’s financial performance. These results contribute to delineating the theoretical and empirical implications of focused versus diversified environmental innovations and extend the literature on ethical dilemmas concerning managers’ use of slack resources in the firm. (shrink)

This study investigates financial correlates of corporate philanthropy in Fortune 1000 companies using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that cash flow (one of the most discretionary types of organizational slack) has a significant impact on a firm’s cash donations to charitable causes, but monetary donations do not affect firm financial performance. These findings support the accepted view of corporate philanthropy as a discretionary social responsibility and the traditional thinking about firm giving in the business and society literature—that (...) doing well enables doing good. Contrary to some contemporary thinking, the findings imply no significant effect on profits from corporate generosity. (shrink)

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global social problem that includes using coercive control strategies, including financial abuse, to manage and entrap an intimate partner. Financial abuse restricts or removes another person’s access to financial resources and their participation in financial decisions, forcing their financial dependence, or alternatively exploits their money and economic resources for the abuser’s gain. Banks have some stake in the prevention of and response to IPV, given their unique role (...) in household finances and growing recognition an equitable society is one inclusive of consumers with vulnerabilities. Institutional practices may unwittingly enable abusive partners’ financial control as seemingly benign regulatory policy and tools of household money management exacerbate unequal power dynamics. To date, business ethicists have tended to take a broader view of banker professional responsibility, especially post-Global Financial Crisis. Little scholarship examines if, when and how a bank should respond to societal issues, such as IPV, traditionally outside their ‘remit’ of banking services. I extend existing understandings of ‘systemic harm’ to conceptualise the bank’s role in addressing economic harm in the context of IPV, viewing IPV and financial abuse through a consumer vulnerability lens to translate theory into practice. Two in-depth stories of financial abuse further illustrate the active role banks can and should take in combating financial abuse. (shrink)

The paper proposes a financial model suitable for ensuring the economic, financial and social sustainability of this basic protection. We have calculated the estimated cost for the Spanish population in 2010 and have estimated the cost for the following 12 years (three legislatures) under a range of demographic and economic assumptions. The results are then analysed to draw conclusions about the viability and sustainability of this basic social protection floor. A remarkable finding is that it is feasible to (...) obtain greater coverage, but by requiring contributions of the State or other financial resources. (shrink)

According to the research on the influence of resources on mate selection, the amount of financial resources affects an individual’s choice of "luxuries" and "necessities" among mate selection cues, while the amount of time resources affects cue diversity. However, for a long time, researchers only paid attention to the impact of financial resources and ignored the role of time resources. Therefore, this paper draws lessons from the relevant research on the influence of time (...) on decision-making and proposes to study mate selection from the perspective of decision-making. Additionally, current research concerning the influence of resources on the choice of a spouse focuses more on results and neglects to examine the process. Therefore, based on the relevant theories, this paper makes several theoretical assumptions regarding the influence mechanism of resource availability on mate choice decisions, gender differences and the actor-partner effect. (shrink)

Background: Concerns have been expressed regarding the adequacy of ethics review systems in developing countries. Limited data are available regarding the structural and functional status of Research Ethics Committees (RECs) in the Middle East. The purpose of this study was to survey the existing RECs in Egypt to better understand their functioning status, perceived resource needs, and challenges. Methods: We distributed a self-administered survey tool to Egyptian RECs to collect information on the following domains: general characteristics of the REC, membership (...) composition, ethics training, workload, process of ethics review, perceived challenges to effective functioning, and financial and material resources. We used basic descriptive statistics to evaluate the quantitative data. Results: We obtained responses from 67% (12/18) of the identified RECs. Most RECs (10/12) have standard operating procedures and many (7/12) have established policies to manage conflicts of interests. The average membership was 10.3 with a range from 7-19. The predominant member type was physicians (69.5% of all of the REC members) with little lay representation (13.7%). Most RECs met at least once/month and the average number of protocols reviewed per meeting was 3.8 with a range from 1-10. Almost three-quarters of the members from all of the 12 RECs indicated they received some formal training in ethics. Regarding resources, roughly half of the RECs have dedicated capital equipment (e.g., meeting room, computers, office furniture, etc); none of the RECs have a formal operating budget. Perceived challenges included the absence of national research ethics guidelines and national standards for RECs and lack of ongoing training of its members in research ethics. Conclusion: Our study documents several areas of strengths and areas for improvements in the operations of Egyptian RECs. Regarding strengths, many of the existing RECs meet frequently, have a majority of members with prior training in research ethics, and have written policies. Regarding areas for improvements, many RECs should strive for a more diverse membership and should receive more financial resources and administrative support personnel. We recommend that RECs include more individuals from the community and develop a continuing educational program for its members. Institutional officials should be aware of the resource capacity needs of their RECs. (shrink)

Historically, there has been little agreement between advocates of radical financial reform and socialist theoreticians. However, in the new circumstances of the twenty-first century, a productive synthesis of these two traditions might be possible. Drawing on the franchise model of credit creation elaborated by Robert C. Hockett and the dysfunctions created by the extreme concentration of private financial institutions, this article outlines a reform agenda that would both democratize finance and facilitate the flow of funds into valuable forms (...) of investment that are currently starved for resources. If the new institutions envisioned in this proposal were able to take root and expand, they could ultimately facilitate a transition to socialism, defined as the subordination of the market to democratic politics. (shrink)

Mehlman and Massey examine possible legal responses to the issues that confront physicians faced with treating patients who have insufficient financial resources. This commentary explores the same issues from the perspective of ethics, including a comparison of the way law and ethics interpret the physician-patient relationship, the ethical obligations of physicians that are inherent in that relationship, and the propriety of Mehlman and Massey's legal and ethical proposals to ameliorate physicians' conflicting obligations in providing or withholding care on (...) grounds of conservation of society's resources. (shrink)

The profession of psychology is one of many entities affected by the current economic recession. The question of what to do when clients cannot pay agreed-upon charges will need to be answered. Ethical issues related to setting the fee for psychotherapy, insurance coverage, abandonment, pro bono psychotherapy, and lack of resources are addressed in light of the 2002 American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct and other relevant literature. The impact of the Mental Health Parity (...) Act on the financial complexities that professionals in psychology now face is also discussed. Several recommendations are made for psychologists, calling them to be proactive in their communities, to be advocates for their clients, and to critically evaluate their financial practices. (shrink)

The phenomenon of financialization is multifaceted and can be considered from different points of view. The main purpose of the article is to show how financialization affects the erosion of the common good. To achieve this, various negative sides of financialization are described, referring to the eight principles of the common good: effective use of limited resources, freedom, prosperity, justice, responsibility, solidarity, primacy of interpersonal relations and institutional principle. Further considerations concern the presentation of possible solutions to the problem (...) of financialization. Two perspectives are selected. First, the answer of Catholic social teaching to the phenomenon of financialization, as presented in the form of the Vatican document Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones from May 2018. Next, one of the main causes of financialization is shown: economic and financial theories, which has become the theoretical foundation for the phenomenon. On this basis, the need for new theoretical solutions based on the institutional approach in the science of economics and finance is discussed. Possible new alternative approaches, including the concept of financial personalism, are also recognized. (shrink)

After initially emerging in China, the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has advanced rapidly. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently declared it a pandemic, with Europe becoming its new epicentre. Italy has so far been the most severely hit European country and demand for critical care in the northern region currently exceeds its supply. This raises significant ethical concerns, among which is the allocation of scarce resources. Professionals are considering the prioritisation of patients most likely to survive over those with (...) remote chances, and this news has triggered an intense debate about the right of every individual to access healthcare. The proposed analysis suggests that the national emergency framework in which prioritisation criteria are currently enforced should not lead us to perceive scarce resources allocation as something new. From an ethical perspective, the novelty of the current emergency is not grounded in the devastating effects of scarce resources allocation, which is rife in recent and present clinical practice. Rather, it has to do with the extraordinarily high number of people who find themselves personally affected by the implications of scarce resources allocation and who suddenly realise that the principle of ‘equals should be treated equally’ may no longer be applicable. Along with the need to allocate appropriate additional financial resources to support the healthcare system, and thus to mitigate the scarcity of resources, the analysis insists on the relevance of a medical ethics perspective that does not place the burden of care and choice solely on physicians. (shrink)

Managers’ commitment to contribute to sustainable development holds the key to their long-term business success and may be a source of competitive advantage. The managerial perception of business ethics is influenced by the level of moral development and personal characteristics of managers. These perceptions are also shaped by forces existing in the environment of the firm, including available resources, societal expectations, sector, and regulations. The resource-based perspective can thus contribute to the analysis of ethical issues offering important insights on (...) how they can influence the environmental strategy of the firm. The findings of this study show that firm resources have a strong influence on business managers’ ethical attitudes. In addition, the application of resource-based rationales to ethical issues can be justified in the following several ways: it influences a managerial perception of natural environment as a competitive opportunity, it requires investments of financial and human resources, flexibility and speed in the adaptation to environmental changes, and it creates new resource-based opportunities through changes in prevention pollution technology, policy process, and market forces. (shrink)

Systemic financial risk is one of the most significant collective action problems facing societies. The Great Recession brought attention to a tragedy of the commons in capital markets, in which market participants, from the first-time homebuyer to Wall Street financiers, acted in ways beneficial to themselves individually, but which together caused substantial collective harm. Two kinds of risk are at play in complex chains of transactions in financial markets: ordinary market risk and systemic risk. Two moral questions are (...) relevant in such cases. First, from the standpoint of interactional morality, does a person have a moral duty to avoid risk of harm to others if their financial transactions contribute in some way, however small, to the loss or harm? This article identifies the conditions in which persons are morally responsible in such cases. Second, from the standpoint of institutional morality, how should society distribute the risk of harm associated with massively complex financial markets? This question is considered in the context of the home mortgage credit market. Luck egalitarianism, in particular a Dworkinian insurance scheme to allocate risks and resources relating to mortgage credit and private home ownership, offers substantial promise. (shrink)

Background: Organ supply–demand in developing countries worldwide has continued to widen. Hence, using a large survey (n ¼ 10,412), this study seeks to investigate whether human psychology could be used to inculcate philanthropy to raise deceased organ donation rates. Methods: Three models were constructed to examine multidimensional relationships among the variables. Structural equation modeling was applied to estimate the direct and indirect influence of altruism, financial incentives, donation perception, and socioeconomic status simultaneously on willingness to donate deceased organs. Ethical (...) considerations: The study was approved by the University of Malaya ethics committee. Results: The results show that altruism amplifies the impact of socioeconomic status and donation perception on willingness to donate. Also, the results show that financial incentives cannot complement altruism to raise organ donation rates. Hence, investing in education and public awareness enhances altruism in people, which then increases the propensity to donate. Conclusion: Evidence suggests that governments should allocate resources to increase public awareness about organ donation. Awareness programs about the importance of philanthropic donations and the participation of medical consultants at hospitals in the processes form the foundation of such a presumptive approach. (shrink)

The development of product innovations in small and medium enterprises is determined mainly by their financial capabilities. These enterprises usually encounter financial problems when it comes to the introduction of product innovations. Therefore, managers should manage the company’s finances in the way that will enable them using all available means to solve these problems. This means that they ought to use external financial resources to a greater extent (not only in the form of loans). The article (...) focuses on the financial conditions for the development of product innovations in small and medium enterprises, while other forms of innovation are omitted. Product innovations are given the highest priority by mentioned companies. The analysis covered the years 2010-2017. The case study allowed to present changes in this most important form of activity for enterprises in the SME sector during the analyzed periodFor the purpose of this paper, large companies have also been included in the study in order to extend the comparative base.. In the article there were used data published by GUS, NBP, PARP, Eurostat. The article presents the following thesis: The innovative activity of Polish enterprises takes mainly the character of product innovations, which often require large financial outlays. Two hypotheses were used to verify the thesis: HPT1: The increase in the outlays of enterprises on technical progress and on research and development works (R&D) leads to companies' own the development of product innovations. HPT2: The resources are the main source of financing for product investments. Due to the greater capacity of large companies to spend on R&D, they are more active in product innovation than small companies, whose financial resources are significantly limited. Broader implementation of product innovations in SMEs requires wider access to finance and greater involvement of many participants. In order to be able to take advantage of all possible opportunities to renew the production programme, the company should ensure appropriate internal and external integration in the management of the process. (shrink)

In a recent line of cases, senior judges in the UK have been called upon to adjudicate in complaints over the failure of health and local authorities to meet the welfare needs of citizens. Local authorities claimed that the disputes had been precipitated by a lack of resources allocated by central government to meet local demand. This article examines the role of the courts in resolving a fundamental tension between central government policy of financial cost-cutting on the one (...) hand and welfarist principles embodied in legislation for the delivery of public services on the other. Questions are raised about the relevance and appropriateness of rights-based adjudication in welfare needs contexts and about the reluctance of courts to intervene in the resolution of resource allocation disputes even where fundamental rights, particularly in areas such as health, community care, and education where notions of rights are inextricably bound up with use of financial resources. These key cases have arisen prior to the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998. Where relevant, the likely impact of the Act on welfare needs disputes is considered. (shrink)

Financial incentives and disincentives are fundamental to a category of proposals, usually characterised as forms of managed care, whereby the pecuniary interests of health care providers are directly affected by their clinical decision-making. Presently, Australian health care administrators and private insurers are adopting financial incentives as a means of ensuring provider compliance with ‘health outcome ’ and cost-constraint objectives. To the extent that this has occurred, health-care relationships are transformed to emulate, more closely, a commercial transaction.This paper questions (...) the ideological assumptions which inform the use of financial incentives in the health care domain and raises concerns with regard to the potential for financial incentives to undermine the moral integrity of clinical decision-making. It also challenges the legitimacy of rationing health care resources through the use of this measure, particularly when adopted by private insurers of health care. (shrink)

Traditional corporate finance endorses the principle of stockholder wealth maximization as the purpose of business. In light of recent scandals and legislation, businesses are increasingly expected to use financial resources in a manner which benefits society and not just the owners of the firm. This imputation of a corporate soul will necessarily reduce investor returns, which has at least two major financial implications for the firm and the economy. The first is that it may cause investors to (...) change their required rates of return and thereby change the amount of capital available to firms, and the economy. The second is that it may implicitly replace equity with debt in the capital structure of firms, with all that implies for financing and corporate governance. The purpose of this article is to examine these implications and evaluate their sometimes counterintuitive consequences. (shrink)

An ethically sound discharge from the hospital can be impeded by a number of factors, including a lack of payor for a patient’s care, a lack of appropriate discharge options, and a lack of authority to sign a patient into a long-term facility. In some cases, the primary barrier involves the patient’s lack of financial decision-making capacity.When a patient’s income comes primarily from government assistance, financial decision making is connected to both the individual’s well-being and to fair allocation (...) of resources. Taking away another person’s financial independence is a substantial intrusion on autonomy and should not be considered lightly. However, poor management of funds can lead to homelessness, medical noncompliance, vulnerability to financial exploitation, and other threats to human flourishing. As with medical decision-making capacity, poor decisions alone do not invalidate an individual’s right to self-determination. And as with medical decision-making capacity, such determinations should not be made ad hoc or be capricious, but should rely on sound assessment criteria. When there are justified concerns that a patient may be vulnerable due to limited financial decision-making capacity, an evaluation should be completed and a surrogate payee be sought, when appropriate. (shrink)

Resource allocation decisions are often made on the basis of clinical and cost effectiveness at the expense of ethical inquiry into what is acceptable. This paper proposes that a more compassionate model of resource allocation would be achieved through integrating ethical awareness with clinical, financial and legal input. Where a publicly-funded healthcare system is involved, it is suggested that having an agency that focuses solely on cost-effectiveness leaving medical, legal and ethical considerations to others would help depoliticise rationing decisions (...) and command greater public acceptance. (shrink)

Develops a framework using resources from Rawls and Nagel for understanding injustices due to the sale of defective real estate instruments by banks whose solvency was globally important in 2007-2008. The leaderships of some of these banks were partly responsible for the world financial crisis that started in 2008.

The advocates of “doing well by doing good” have advised firms to invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR), but firms may get lost on how to invest their limited resources in it since CSR is a complex concept involving many activities and different types of stakeholders. In this work, we draw upon the perspective of stakeholder saliency and the stakeholder resource-based view (SRBV) to propose that stakeholders may have different levels of expectations for CSR and contribute to firm value (...) creation differently. Therefore, firms using different CSR to treat different stakeholders (high CSR variability) will have better financial performance. We further propose that context, in particular media coverage and state ownership, moderates the relationship between CSR variability and firm performance, as stakeholders of highly visible firms and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) may frown upon a discriminate treatment in CSR. Findings based on a sample of 3313 publicly listed firms and 15,324 firm-year observations in China's stock markets during the 2010–2018 period provide good support for our predictions. (shrink)

Patients with insufficient financial resources place physicians in a conflict of interest between the patients' needs and the financial interests of the physician, other patients, and society. Not only must physicians act ethically, but they must avoid liability for violating their legal duties to their patients. The traditional rules of contract and malpractice law that govern the patient-physician relationship do not provide satisfactory guidelines. Better answers are found in the rules of fiduciary law, but only with regard (...) to direct conflicts between patients and physicians and only at the risk of reducing patient access to care. Certain types of legislative action can resolve these conflicts by altering the traditional legal rules, but care must be taken to preserve patient-physician trust, which the legal rules were designed to enhance. (shrink)

Vulnerability in research is often understood as a diminished ability to protect one's own interests, manifested by a compromised capacity to give informed or voluntary consent. Certain groups of people are thought to be more vulnerable than others and therefore are at risk of being exploited or mistreated in research. Accordingly, the federal regulations call for additional safeguards to protect vulnerable groups.There remains some ambiguity and contradiction, however, regarding what groups are vulnerable in research and why,3 since the available codes (...) of research ethics and regulations describe many groups as vulnerable. When so many groups are considered vulnerable, but no specification is offered as to how they are vulnerable or what particular protections are appropriate, the possibility of meaningful safeguards is diminished. In addition, current concepts of vulnerability are usually applied to whole groups of people, without distinguishing between individuals in a group who might truly have a compromised capacity to protect their own interests from those who do not. (shrink)

Although non-profit organisations typically have high representation of females on their boards, relatively little is known about the effects of gender diversity in these organisations particularly in relation to financial management. In this archival study, resource dependency theory and agency analysis are combined to provide theoretical insight and empirical analysis of gender diversity on effective financial management in member-governed, community financial institutions. The investigation is possible due to the unique characteristics of the organisational form and region being (...) examined—credit unions in Northern Ireland. The sector has not been subject to external regulation on board gender, yet a wide array of gender mix on boards ranging from 100 % male to 100 % female are in existence. In addition, effective financial management is crucial to their survival and their ability to meet member objectives. Boards with higher female representation exhibit superior financial management first, in respect of loan book quality in the period of austerity following the financial crisis and second when measured against return on assets. (shrink)

: Free-market libertarians have long supported incentives to increase organ procurement, but those oriented to justice traditionally have opposed them. This paper presents the reasons why those worried about justice should reconsider financial incentives and tolerate them as a lesser moral evil. After considering concerns about discrimination and coercion and setting them aside, it is suggested that the real moral concern should be manipulation of the neediest. The one offering the incentive (the government) has the resources to eliminate (...) the basic needs that pressure the poor into a willingness to sell. It is unethically manipulative to withhold those resources and then offer payment for organs. Nevertheless, the poor have been left without basic necessities for 20 years since the passage of the prohibition on incentives. As long as the government continues to withhold a decent minimum of welfare, liberals should, with shame, cease opposing financial incentives for organ procurement. (shrink)

Rural, remote, and northern Indigenous communities in Canada frequently face limited access to healthcare services with ongoing physician and staff shortages, inadequate infrastructure, and resource challenges. These healthcare gaps have produced significantly poorer health outcomes for people living in remote communities than those living in southern and urban regions who have timely access to care. Telehealth has played a critical role in bridging long-standing gaps in accessing healthcare services by connecting patients and providers across distance. While the adoption of telehealth (...) in Northern Saskatchewan is growing, its initial implementation faced several barriers related to limited and stretched human and financial resources, infrastructure challenges such as unreliable broadband, and a lack of community involvement and engaged decision-making. Emerging ethical issues during the initial implementation of telehealth in community contexts have been wide ranging including concerns around privacy that have also shaped patients’ experiences and particularly the need to consider place and space within rural contexts. Drawing from a qualitative study with four Northern Saskatchewan communities, this paper offers critical perspectives on the resource challenges and place-based considerations that are shaping telehealth in the Saskatchewan context and provides recommendations and lessons learned that could inform other Canadian regions and countries. This work responds to the ethics of tele-healthcare in rural communities in Canada and contributes perspectives of community-based service providers, advisors, and researchers. (shrink)

Establishing Financial Literacy (FL) programs for K-12 students is an emerging concern for policymakers worldwide. Such programs esteem the market a preferred arena for economic decision-making than the civic arena. In parallel, media organizations in many capitalist economies are devoting increasing resources to popular coverage of finance, which could be regarded as an informal form of FL. We build on the distinction between episodic and thematic framing to consider two divergent approaches to FL in Israel: one developed by (...) a non-profit for use in public education and the other developed by a commercial news organization for broader dissemination. We found that the commercial news organization blended episodic and thematic framing to contextualize financial products and institutions temporally and spatially, uncovering the political processes that shape the economic landscape. This paper argues that such a civic and critical approach to financial literacy hails students as citizens with the capacity to reform and re-imagine finance, rather than act solely as passive consumers. (shrink)

In this research, we shed new light on the empirical link between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) via the application of empirical models and methods new to the CSP–CFP literature. Applying advanced financial models to a uniquely constructed panel dataset, we demonstrate that a significant overall CSP–CFP relationship exists and that this relationship is, in part, conditioned on firms’ industry-specific context. To accommodate the estimation of time-invariant industry and industry-interaction effects, we estimate linear mixed (...) models in our test of the CSP–CFP relationship. Our results show both a significant overall CSP effect as well as significant industry effects between CSP and CFP. In conflict with expectations, the unweighted average effect of CSP on CFP is negative. Our industry analysis, however, shows that in over 17% of the industries in our sample, the effect of CSP on CFP for socially responsible firms is positive. We also examine the multidimensional nature of the CSP construct in an industry context by exploring the CSP dimension–industry nexus and identify dimensions of social performance that are associated with either better or worse financial performance. Our results confirm the existence of disparate CSP dimension–industry effects on CFP, thus our results provide important and actionable information to decision makers considering whether and how to commit corporate resources to social performance. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to examine how financial stress affects academic performance among university students in South East Nigeria. By using descriptive statistics and the Chi-Square model, we examined the relationship between financial stress and academic outcomes among 250 participants from five South Eastern universities. Several key factors contributing to financial stress were examined such as students’ monthly income, medical bills cost, ability to save, academic materials cost, student borrowing levels, and cost of feeding. The (...) findings indicate that students’ monthly income and the cost of medical bills are the key determinants of financial stress among students. Based on the second objective, the study revealed that inability to pay bills as student, the inability to purchase required academic materials (books, course packs, supplies) due to their high costs, difficulties in paying school fees, and work schedules are the most significant factors that contribute to financial stress which negatively affect academic performance for students. Therefore, we recommend that government should enhance its financial assistance programs to alleviate financial stress among university students as this will improve their academic performance. Also, Collaboration with external stakeholders, can further enhance the resources available to students in need. Finally, this study illustrates the detrimental effects of financial stress on academic performance among university students in southeast Nigeria and should be interpreted with caution as its limited to South-East Nigeria. (shrink)

Significant challenges confronting China include reducing carbon emissions, dealing with the resulting problems, and meeting various requirements for long-term economic growth. As a result, the shift in industrial structure best reflects how human society utilizes resources and impacts the environment. To meet China's 2050 net-zero emissions target, we look at how technological innovations, financial development, renewable energy investment, population age, and the economic complexity index all play a role in environmental sustainability in China. Analyzing short- and long-term relationships (...) using ARDL bounds testing, we used historical data spanning 1990–2018. According to the study's findings, the cointegration between CO2 emissions and their underlying factors was found. The deterioration of the environment directly results from financial development, increasing economic complexity, and population aging. Technical advancements, investments in renewable energy sources, and changes to the industrial structure all contribute to lower CO2 emissions. Granger causality results were also reliably obtained in this study. According to our findings in the fight against environmental problems, a key tool for meeting long-term sustainability goals is policy prescriptions that use technological innovations, renewable energy investment, and industrial structure. (shrink)

This study investigates the link between female board directors and company financial performance and agency costs in Sri Lanka's publicly listed companies. In order to investigate the impact of board gender diversity on firm financial performance, a dynamic panel generalised method of moment estimation is applied. Three variables are used as proxies for gender diversity of the board of directors, namely the percentage of women on the board, a dichotomous dummy and the Blau index. A Tobit model with (...) endogenous regressors is used to investigate the impact of female board members on agency cost, using growth opportunities as a measure of agency cost. After controlling for size, industry and other corporate governance measures, this study finds a significant negative relationship between the proportion of women on boards and firm value along with an increase in company agency cost. This evidence provides insights for governments and academic institutions in their efforts to provide resources that will help enhance women's leadership skills. (shrink)

In his remarks E. I. Ignat'ev considered a number of economic matters associated with the problem of the environment. Ignat'ev emphasized that environmental protection is becoming a vitally essential field of social activity. Inasmuch as this is the fact, he said, it is natural that, under the conditions existing in our country, this field of activity be planned in a specific way. The financial, material, and human resources needed to implement the program of conservation and improvement of the (...) environment must be planned. Moreover, this planning must be done in close connection with the further development of the country's productive forces. Since a serious basis in science is essential for successful implementation of all the activity associated with maintenance and improvement of the environment on the scale of the country at large, Ignat'ev emphasized the significance of the new resolution of the USSR Supreme Soviet. It provides that measures for conservation, and for protection and improvement of the environment, will henceforth in our country be incorporated into the annual and five-year plans for development of the economy and will also find expression in a special section of the long-term plan now being prepared for the prospective development of the economy. (shrink)

Primary healthcare plays a fundamental role in advancing public health, and the evaluation of its effectiveness is crucial part for ongoing enhancement and evolution. The escalating prevalence of non-communicable diseases is placing significant burden on the healthcare resources of both developed and developing countries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the financial efficiency and quality of care provided through telemedicine in virtual clinics compared to traditional clinical visits for chronic patients attending Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in (...) Makkah, Saudi Arabia. This research is using an analytical cross-sectional study design, and it included all adults registered in the HIS for 2023 with DM or HTN. The researcher compared in-person and virtual visit costs and some of the health outcomes. The study included 106,828 participants, with 392,441 visits to Primary Health Centers. The distribution was 52.12% male and 47.88% female, with 53.89% having DM and 46.11% HTN. Education level significantly influences visit preferences (p = 0.003), with higher educated participans evenly splitting between in-person and virtual visits, while those with no literacy favored in-person visits. Significant cost differences were observed between in-person and virtual visits (p <.001), with in-person visits incurring higher lab test counts and costs. In conclusion, our findings show that virtual visits and telehealth services have lower costs compared to the in-person consultations, with almost identical health outcomes for both groups. Which indicates that the virtual and in-person consultations have comparable quality. (shrink)

Management scholars, practitioners, and policy makers alike have sought to develop a deeper understanding of recent business crises—including corporate scandals, the collapse of financial institutions, and deep recession—in order to prevent their recurrence. Among the “culprits” that have been identified is Conventional management theory based upon a moral-point-of-view founded on assumptions of materialism and individualism. There have been calls to move beyond the dominant profit maximization paradigm and think about other, potentially more compelling, corporate objectives (Hamel, 2009 ). In (...) this article, we respond to those calls, and seek to develop what we call Radical resource-based theory (RBT), which draws from and contrasts with the highly-influential Conventional RBT. Radical RBT defines the value of resources more broadly than profit maximization, rarity as an occasion for stewardship, inimitability as an opportunity for teaching, and non-substitutability as an opportunity to meet a panoply of human needs. This augmentation of RBT promises to help managers and scholars address a myriad of problems that are insoluble under Conventional assumptions. More generally, it shows the value of broadening management theory to a radical perspective by relaxing assumptions of self-interest and materialism. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Primary Goods, Self‐Respect, and Capabilities Primary Goods: The Empirical Evidence What is the Role of the State in Redistributing PrimaryGoods? Conclusion References.

Although agreement on the positive sign of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance is observed in the literature, the mechanisms that constitute this relationship are not yet well-known. We address this issue by extending management’s stakeholder theory by adding insights from psychology’s prospect decision theory and sociology’s resource dependence theory. Empirically, we analyze an extensive panel dataset, including information on disaggregated measures of social performance for the S&P 500 in the 1997–2002 period. In so doing, we enrich (...) the extant literature by focusing on stakeholder heterogeneity, perceptional framing, and disaggregated measures of corporate social performance. (shrink)

Prior studies assert that social trust may positively influence the economic performance of countries and firms (within those countries). This paper proposes a more nuanced mechanism whereby corporate social responsibility (CSR) mediates the relationship between country-level social trust and firm-level financial performance. Anchored in neo-institutional theory, we theorize that social trust instills norms of trustworthiness and willingness to trust others guiding individual and corporate behaviors. In order to comply with such norms and gain legitimacy, firms in high-trust society are (...) more likely to commit to CSR activities that serve the interests of stakeholders. CSR activities, in turn, can positively influence financial performance by enabling firms to access stakeholders' resources and capabilities and to decrease transactions costs in the stakeholder relationships. We tested our theory by analyzing 9818 firm-year observations across 34 countries, during the 2006 to 2015 period. Our analysis shows the expected CSR mediation in the relationship between social trust and firm-level financial performance. Our findings are robust across different models addressing the concerns of endogeneity, alternative measures, and potential moderators. (shrink)

This document discusses the status of research on detection and prevention of financial fraud undertaken as part of the IST European Commission funded FF POIROT (Financial Fraud Prevention Oriented Information Resources Using Ontology Technology) project. A first task has been the specification of the user requirements that define the functionality of the financial fraud ontology to be designed by the FF POIROT partners. It is claimed here that modeling fraudulent activity involves a mixture of law and (...) facts as well as inferences about facts present, facts presumed or facts missing. The purpose of this paper is to explain this abstract model and to specify the set of user requirements. (shrink)

This study investigates the impacts of intellectual capital through Value-Added Intellectual Capital (VAIC) and its components: human capital efficiency (HCE) and structural capital efficiency (SCE) on financial performance in terms of return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). In addition, this study compares the effects between firms from financial and pharmaceutical industries. A total of 149 Vietnamese firms comprising of 108 financial firms and 41 pharmaceutical firms were examined. Based on the findings, VAIC and HCE (...) show beneficial impacts on both financial performance measures, ROA, and ROE. However, SCE shows adverse and beneficial implications on ROA and ROE, respectively. In terms of industry comparison, VAIC has positive effects on ROA and ROE among the firms from financial industry, whereas it has no effect in the firms from pharmaceutical industry. The effect of HCE on ROA is stronger in the firms from financial industry than firms from pharmaceutical industry while the effect of HCE on ROE is stronger in the firms from pharmaceutical industry than firms from financial industry. The effect of SCE on ROA is stronger in the pharmaceutical firms than financial firms while the effect of SCE on ROE is stronger in the financial firms than pharmaceutical firms. Lastly, the implications of the importance of knowledge-based resources on value creation were elaborated. (shrink)

Firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) because they consider that some kind of competitive advantage accrues to them. We contend that resource-based perspectives (RBP) are useful to understand why firms engage in CSR activities and disclosure. From a resource-based perspective CSR is seen as providing internal or external benefits, or both. Investments in socially responsible activities may have internal benefits by helping a firm to develop new resources and capabilities which are related namely to know-how and corporate culture. (...) In effect, investing in social responsibility activities and disclosure has important consequences on the creation or depletion of fundamental intangible resources, namely those associated with employees. The external benefits of CSR are related to its effect on corporate reputation. Corporate reputation can be understood as a fundamental intangible resource which can be created or depleted as a consequence of the decisions to engage or not in social responsibility activities and disclosure. Firms with good social responsibility reputation may improve relations with external actors. They may also attract better employees or increase current employees’ motivation, morale, commitment and loyalty to the firm. This article contributes to the understanding of why CSR may be seen as having strategic value for firms and how RBP can be used in such endeavour. (shrink)

Background: Giving money as a direct incentive for patients in exchange for depot medication has proved beneficial in some clinical cases in assertive outreach . However, ethical concerns around this practice have been raised, and will be analysed in more detail here.Method: Ethical concern voiced in a survey of all AO teams in England were analysed regarding their content. These were grouped into categories.Results: 53 of 70 team managers mentioned concerns, many of them serious and expressing a negative attitude towards (...) giving money for depot adherence. Four broad categories of ethical concern following Christensen’s concept were distinguished: valid consent and refusal , psychiatric paternalism , resource allocation , organisational relationships , with a residual category others and unspecified .Discussion: The main concerns identified are discussed on the background of existing ethical theories in healthcare and the specific problems of community mental health and AO. Points for practice are derived from this discussion. A way forward is outlined that includes informed consent and an operational policy in the use of incentives, further randomised controlled trials and qualitative studies, and continuing discussions with all stakeholders, especially service users. (shrink)