Technology is changing the landscape of the financial sector, increasing access to financial services in profound ways. These changes have been in motion for several years, affecting nearly all countries in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has created new opportunities for digital financial services to accelerate and enhance financial inclusion, amid social distancing and containment measures. At the same time, the risks emerging prior to COVID-19, as digital financial services developed, are becoming even more relevant.
Hailed as a landmark in the development of experimental methods when it appeared in 1975, Design and Analysis of Time-Series Experiments is available again after several years of being out of print. Gene V Glass, Victor L. Willson and John M. Gottman have carried forward the design and analysis of perhaps the most powerful and useful quasi-experimental design identified by their mentors in the classic Campbell & Stanley text Experimental and Quasi-experimental Design for Research (1966). In an era when governments seek to resolve questions of experimental validity by fiat and the label "Scientifically Based Research" is appropriated for only certain privileged experimental designs, nothing could be more appropriate than to bring back the classic text that challenges doctrinaire opinions of proper causal analysis. Glass, Willson & Gottman introduce and illustrate an armamentarium of interrupted time-series experimental designs that offer some of the most powerful tools for discovering and validating causal relationships in social and education policy analysis. Drawing on the ground-breaking statistical analytic tools of Box & Jenkins, the authors extend the comprehensive autoregressive-integrated-moving-averages (ARIMA) model to accommodate significance testing and estimation of the effects of interventions into real world time-series. Designs and full statistical analyses are richly illustrated with actual examples from education, behavioral psychology, and sociology.
“A brilliant and lucid new book” (John Lanchester, New York Times Magazine) about why paper money and digital currencies lie at the heart of many of the world’s most difficult problems—and their solutions In The Curse of Cash, acclaimed economist and bestselling author Kenneth Rogoff explores the past, present, and future of currency, showing why, contrary to conventional economic wisdom, the regulation of paper bills—and now digital currencies—lies at the heart some of the world’s most difficult problems, but also their potential solutions. When it comes to currency, history shows that the private sector often innovates but eventually the government regulates and appropriates. Using examples ranging from the history of standardized coinage to the development of paper money, Rogoff explains why the cryptocurrency boom will inevitably end with dominant digital currencies created and controlled by governments, regardless of what Bitcoin libertarians want. Advanced countries still urgently need to stem the global flood of large paper bills—the vast majority of which serve no legitimate purpose and only enable tax evasion and other crimes—but cryptocurrencies are like $100 bills on steroids. The Curse of Cash is filled with revealing insights about many of the most pressing issues facing monetary policymakers, from quantitative easing to alternative inflation targeting regimes. It also explains in detail why, if low interest rates persist, the best way to reinvigorate monetary policy is to implement fully effective and unconstrained negative interest rates. Provocative, engaging, and backed by compelling original arguments and evidence, The Curse of Cash has sparked widespread debate and its ideas have moved to the center of financial and policy discussions.
The financial services sector experiences millions of transactions representing billions of dollars every day, with security, transparency, and cost-efficiency being top priorities. Blockchain usage is increasing in the financial services sector; it is a breakthrough that has changed the global financial system, making it safer and more efficient. Revolutionizing Financial Services and Markets Through FinTech and Blockchain explores the application of blockchain technology within financial services and financial markets. Covering topics such as blockchain technology, e-finance applications, and financial product innovation, this book is ideal for academicians, investment institutions, asset management professionals, consultants, and more.
A pandemic does not only bring health concerns for society but also significantly affects individuals and government and business operations. Recently, COVID-19 has substantially hampered conventional businesses and organizations worldwide. Digital technology can help achieve business continuity and overcome challenges caused by pandemic situations. Digital innovation is the application of digital technology to existing business problems. Ideas such as digital transformation and digitization are closely related to digital innovation. In this pandemic period, many businesses recognize that they need to transform, innovate, and adopt new technologies to stay competitive. However, digital transformation is an inherently complex process, and the time pressure to adopt quickly may result in further complexities for organizations in fostering digital technologies. Digital Innovations for Pandemics: Concepts, Challenges, Constraints, and Opportunities presents the potential of digital responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores new digital concepts for learning and teaching, provides an overview of organizational responses to the crisis through digital technologies, and examines digital solutions developed to manage the crisis. Examining how information systems researchers can contribute to these global efforts, this book seeks to showcase how consumers, citizens, entrepreneurs, organizations, institutions, and governments are leveraging new and emerging digital innovations to disrupt and transform value creation in the pandemic era. It captures the breadth of digital innovations carried out to handle the pandemic and looks at the use of digital technologies to strengthen various processes. The book features the following: Solutions on how digital technologies enable responses to a global crisis An analysis of information systems used during the management of the COVID-19 pandemic New concepts for digital business and innovative content models for different sectors This book is written for advanced undergraduate students, postgraduate students, researchers, and scholars in the field of digital business, education, and healthcare. It includes theoretical chapters and case studies from leading scholars and practitioners on the technology-adoption practices of non-government organizations (NGOs), government, and business.
If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.
How many businesses start-ups conduct some or all of their trade ‘off-the-books’? And how many enterprises continue to do some of their work off-the-books once they are more established? What should be done about them? Should governments adopt ever more punitive measures to eradicate them? Or should we recognise this hidden enterprise culture and attempt to harness it? If so, how can this be done? What measures can be taken to ensure that businesses start-up in a proper manner? And what can be done to help those enterprises and entrepreneurs currently working off-the-books to legitimise their businesses? The aim of this book is to advance a new way of answering these questions. Drawing inspiration from institutional theory, informal sector entrepreneurship is explained as resulting from the asymmetry between the codified laws and regulations of a society’s formal institutions and the norms, values and beliefs that comprise a society’s informal institutions. The argument is that if the norms, values and beliefs of entrepreneurs (i.e., their individual morality) were wholly aligned with the codified laws and regulations (i.e., state morality), there would be no informal sector entrepreneurship. However, because the individual morality of entrepreneurs differs from state morality, such as due to their lack of trust in government and the rule of law, the result is the prevalence of informal sector entrepreneurship. The greater the degree of institutional asymmetry, the higher is the propensity to engage in informal sector entrepreneurship. This book provides evidence to show that this is the case both at the individual- and country-level and then discusses how this can be overcome. .
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Crochet Beautiful Sweaters for Every Shape with Simple, Stunning Stitchwork Create the crochet wardrobe of your dreams with this collection of classic pieces that are effortlessly stylish. Janine Myska, the designer behind Knits ‘N Knots, has created 20 gorgeous, brand-new sweater patterns that focus on style, fit and comfort, including helpful customization tips so you can tailor each garment to your unique proportions. With Janine’s keen eye for detail, strong commitment to size diversity and clear, concise instruction, crocheters of every skill level and body type can craft the timeless sweaters they’ve always longed for. Experiment with color in the Fifty Below Color Block Pullover or Mountain Peaks striped cardigan. Bundle up in the Infinite Prairies Poncho or let your playful side show with the Champagne Glow Single-Sleeve Sweater. Dress the December Romance Sweater Dress up for a date night out or down for a casual weekend brunch—either way, you’re sure to turn heads! With chapters dedicated to closet staples, the warmest sweaters for the coldest of days and even lighter-weight projects for the year-round crocheter, every piece in this collection is sure to be a much-loved addition to your wardrobe. It has never been easier to create beautiful crochet garments that flatter your figure and suit any occasion than with Modern Crochet Sweaters.
