The lack of access to formal credit at affordable cost (effective interest) is the most critical constraint faced by the rural entrepreneurs to get involved in productive profitable business activities. This study explores the causes behind the widespread existence of informal credits as investment capital for small house-based business. Based on a primary survey on house based industrial owner...

An overview is presented of some parametric and semi-parametric models, estimators, and specification tests that can be used to analyze ordered response variables. In particular, limited dependent variable models that generalize ordered probit are compared to regression models that generalize the linear model. These techniques are then applied to analyze how self-reported satisfaction with hous...

Electronic voting could increase citizens’ electoral participation and trust in countries characterized by fragile democratic institutions and public discredit of the political system such as those in Latin America. This paper examines attitudes towards e-voting among participants in a large scale pilot project conducted in Colombia in 2007, focusing on the perceived reliability and usability o...

The present paper provides first microlevel (indirect) empirical evidence on changes in the determinants of firm profitability, the role of fixed and sunk costs, as well as the nature of competition for a transition economy. We estimate size thresholds required to support different numbers of firms for four retail and professional service industries in a large number of geographic markets in Sl...

If menu costs have a non-negligible lump-sum component and with larger firms having greater benefits from price adjustments, then larger firms will change price more frequently than smaller firms. Data from New Zealand firms support this hypothesis. Price duration decreases as firm size increases. Ordered probit analysis indicates the effect comes primarily from larger firms being more likely t...