Microfinance: Methods, Models and its Impact on Economic Development

The main purpose of the academic paper is to analyze the dynamics of microfinance services and assess their impact on the entrepreneurial activity of small and medium-sized enterprises and the consequences for the population. Methods of generalization, analysis, comparison, correlation and regression analysis have been used in order to achieve the purpose outlined. The academic paper considers the impact of microfinance services on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the form of net profit. The results have showed that the impact of the cost of microfinance services on the development of financial activities of small and medium-sized businesses have a positive result, and, when using the proposed regression equation, the company will receive positive results in 2020-2024. The conducted correlation analysis of the impact of microfinance services on the level of the average salary of the population of Ukraine has revealed a high level of dependence of citizens on loans obtained. This is confirmed by the high correlation coefficient.

Wage Dynamics and Economic Growth: Russian Realities

The article deals with the relationship between the economic growth of Russia and the dynamics of average wages. A joint analysis of wages, GDP, salary output and labor productivity in the Russian Federation for the period 2000–2019 was carried out. The type and parameters of the regression equations connecting these indicators are determined. The analysis allows us to conclude that it is advisable to increase real wages, despite the accompanying slow growth of labor productivity and a decrease in salary. The main argument in favor of this statement is the multiplicative effect that occurs when the average salary in the economy increases. The paper shows that the increase in wages, in addition to the usually taken into account direct multiplicative effect, determined by an increase in the disposable income of the population, there is an additional induced multiplicative effect. The induced effect is explained by the increase in economic activity of the population proved on the Russian statistics with the growth of wages, which leads to an increase in the number of employees, and hence the wage fund and, accordingly, personal disposable income. Thus, by increasing wages, it is possible to improve the financial situation of the employed population, attract additional labor resources to the economy, and achieve GDP growth. The article presents calculations that allow us to estimate the contribution of the direct and induced multiplicative effect to the GDP of Russia for the period of 2000–2017. Based on these calculations, it can be argued that in the Russian Federation at the beginning of the XXI century, the gross domestic product, due to the multiplicative effect of changes in average wages in the first year after such a change, increased or decreased in some years by 6–7%. Although the induced multiplicative effect, as it turned out, is relatively small, there is no reason to neglect it. At the current very low rate of GDP growth, one has to take into account every tenth of a percent of such growth, and calculations have shown that the induced effect calculated for the first year after the change in wages in the period under review reached 0,6% of GDP. The calculations also showed that due to the increase in labor activity associated with an increase in the average salary, the number of people employed in the “white” labor market in Russia in some years increased by about 1%.

WAGES, EASE OF FINDING A JOB OR DISTANCE FROM HOME? WHAT DETERMINES THE PLACE OF WORK IN POLAND BY ECONOMIC EMIGRANTS FROM UKRAINE

For several years, a high dynamics of growth in the number of foreigners from Eastern European countries taking up employment in Poland has been visible. Undoubtedly, the decline in unemployment, which translates into the ease of finding a job, and the systematic increase in the average salary have an impact on this situation. The aim of this article is to check what and to what extent influences the decision to work by Ukrainian citizens in different regions of the country. This study focuses on three key factors – how the scale of immigration to a given poviat is influenced by the distance at which migrations are undertaken, the level of wages and unemployment in the examined poviats. To achieve the above goal, a popular model describing migrations as a function of geographical distance, called the gravity model, was used. The results of the analysis show that wages are a significant stimulus of economic migration to Poland, and the level of unemployment had a destimulating effect. The estimated values of the parameters indicate a much stronger attracting effect of the level of wages than the impact of unemployment on the migration inflow. Geographic distance is a factor that also limits the intensity of movements. However – as the analysis showed – its limiting influence is much smaller than that of unemployment.

Reforming Teacher Pension Plans: The Case of Kansas, the 1st Teacher Cash Balance Plan

The ongoing crisis in teacher pension funding has led states to consider various reforms in plan design, to replace the traditional benefit formulas, based on years of service and final average salary (FAS). One such design is a cash balance (CB) plan, long deployed in the private sector, and increasingly considered, but rarely yet adopted for teachers. Such plans are structured with individual 401(k)-type retirement accounts, but with guaranteed returns. In this paper I examine how the nation's first CB plan for teachers, in Kansas, has played out for system costs, and the level and distribution of individual benefits, compared to the FAS plan it replaced. My key findings are: (1) employer-funded benefits were modestly reduced, despite the surface appearance of more generous employer contribution matches; (2) more importantly, the cost of the pension guarantee, which is off-the-books under standard actuarial accounting, was reduced quite substantially. In addition, benefits are more equitably distributed between short termers and career teachers than under the back-loaded structure of benefits characteristic of FAS plans. The key to the plan's cost reduction is that the guaranteed return approximates a low-risk market return, considerably lower than the assumed return on risky assets.

The Study of Impact of Data Science on Business

Data science is the study of huge amounts of data using current tools and methodologies to discoverpreviously unknown pattern, derive valuable information, and make business decisions. To create prediction models, data scientistsuse complicated machine learning algorithms. The present study focus on the impact of data science on society. The survey has been conducted with 50 companies and their responses were recorded and analyzed. The data science is a fast growing sector and many companies are hiring data scientist to increase their revenues and develop their businesses. It also makes significant impact on society by influencing advertisements. The factors like cost reduction, better product management found to be more preferred factor. While a significant growth in terms of hiring Data Scientists and average salary has been observed. The revenue spent of dvertisement has also increased. Thus we can say Data Science has made the business more successful. Today, it is used in almost every field in the world for various purposes, Specifically in security, healthcare, business, agriculture, transportation, education, prediction, telecommunications, and other fields.

INFORMATION SUPPORT OF MODELING OF GRAVITY FUNCTION OF EMPLOYEES OF CITY SERVICE ENTERPRISES

The article is devoted to the establishment of information support to determine the patterns of changing the function of gravitation of employees of the urban-service enterprises. It has been established that the development of urban transport systems is impossible without the use of information technology to predict the parameters of the formation and absorption of passenger traffic. The design of urban transport systems cannot be achieved without assessing the impact of traffic improvement measures on changes in traffic and passenger flows. The main parameter by which it is possible to predict the choice of places of gravity by the inhabitants of cities is the function of gravitation between different areas of the city. The formalized functions of the gravitation of urban dwellers are not differentiated by the social composition of the population of cities. In addition, they use only travel time between areas of the city as an independent variable. The article proposes the formalization of the gravitation function of employees of the urban service enterprises using the parameters of the urban transport system, areas of departure and arrival, as well as the cost of movement. A special questionnaire has been developed to obtain the original information. A natural survey was carried out using it. As a result of the processing of survey data using correlation and regression analysis methods, the degree of influence of the studied factors on the value of the gravitation function of employees of urban service enterprises was revealed. Analysis of the correlation values obtained showed that the most significant impact on the value of the gravitation function of employees of urban services is the ratio of the cost of movement between districts and average wages in the city. The least impact is the distance from the area of residence to the place of application of work, the ratio of the cost of one square meter of housing in the area of residence and the average salary in the city, the ratio of the cost of one square meter of housing in the area of employment application and the average salary in the city. However, the compatible influence of all factors can change the level of influence of each factor and its combinations. In addition, it is advisable to take into account the technical and operational performance of urban passenger transport routes and individual transport routes.

Problems of income and expenditure balance of the pension fund budget of Ukraine

The steady budget deficit of the Pension Fund of Ukraine necessitates balancing its budget and finding effective opportunities to improve the current pension system. The revenue and expenditure part of the budgets of the Pension Fund for the last 7 years has been analyzed, time series characterizing various aspects of its activity have been constructed, polynomial modeling of trend series of revenues and expenditures has been carried out. To improve the actuarial basis of the joint pension system, it has been suggested to segregate social pensions, which are not provided by insurance premiums, and therefore cannot be the object of insurance payments, but should be subject to state (budget) funding. The shadow sector of the economy and the arrears of enterprises for the payment of salary to employees have been identified as a significant factor in the disproportion of the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, measures to respond to these violations have been identified and analyzed. Relevant recommendations included a revision of the institutional position on limiting the amount of salaries on which SSC (single social contribution) is accrued, the redistribution of relevant contributions between employees and employers, and the harmonization of the accrual base with the average salary. Further research is recommended to focus on the peculiarities of balancing the revenues and expenditures of the budget of the Pension Fund in the case of entrusting it with the functions of other social insurance funds of Ukraine, as well as in connection with the introduction of the second level of pension provision.

Protection of the Rights of Parties, Participants and Third Parties During Enforcement in Republic of North Macedonia

The aim of this paper is to analyze the protection offered to parties, participants and third parties during enforcement, as one of the most important requirements of the enforcement procedure. Having in mind that bailiffs except for implementing enforcement, they are also competent to determine the means by which creditors’ claims will be fulfilled. The realization of the creditors’ claims does not mean use of any kind of measure or enforcement procedural activity. In this context the authors review ways in which debtors and their family members can be protected during enforcement actions, such as measures of exclusion and restriction of enforcement on the debtor’s items and income. Furthermore, the authors elaborate other legal and important ways for protection of parties, participants and third parties, such as opposition to illegality and complaints provided by the Law on Enforcement. In this regard, results of this research have shown that the RNM is making efforts to create a more effective enforcement system, which includes guarantees not only for the protection of the creditor and the debtor as a party, but also for the participants and third parties. From the enforcement experiences of citizens were reported dissatisfaction and complaints of citizens regarding the performance of bailiffs, namely taking the necessary means of subsistence form them. To avoid this situation Amendments on the Law on Enforcement in 2020 were brought, so the legal framework was clarified in terms of measures for exclusion and restriction of enforcement. This resulted in the prevention of economic damage of debtors and their family, because now no action can be taken if the debtor has an average salary or pension. Extraordinary legal remedies in enforcement proceeding are excluded, but there are other safeguards that are related to enforcement process but are not regulated by the Law on Enforcement.

Cost-minimization modeling of venous thromboembolism diagnostics: performing limited compression ultrasound in primary health care reduces costs compared to referring patients to a hospital

Background The aim of this retrospective study was to determine whether diagnosing a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in primary health care using limited compression ultrasound (LCUS) can save resources compared to referring these patients to hospital. According to the current literature, LCUS is as safe as a standard protocol based on a whole-leg ultrasound (US). Methods We created a standardized patient for this cost-analysis model based on 76 patients that were referred to hospital for a suspected DVT. Travel distance to the health care centre and hospital was calculated based on the home address. Hospital costs were acquired from the hospital price list and Finnish legislation. Time spent in the hospital was retrieved from hospital statistics. Time spent in the health care centre and travelling were estimated and monetized based on average salary. The cost of participating physicians attending a US training course was estimated based on the national average salary of a general practitioner as well as the course participation fee. A cost-minimization modeling was performed for this standardized patient comparing the total costs, including private and public costs, of standard and LCUS strategies. Results The total costs per patient of standard and LCUS pathways were 1151.52€ and 301.94€ [difference 849.59€ (95% CI 800.21€–898.97€, p < 0.001)], respectively. The real-life costs of these strategies, considering that some patients are probably referred to hospital every year and including training costs, are 1151.53€ and 508.69€ [difference 642.84€ (95% CI 541.85€–743.82€)], respectively. Conclusion Using LCUS in diagnosing DVT in primary health care instead of referring these patients to the hospital is shown to save a significant amount of public and private resources.

Methodological recommendations for digital evaluation of social indicators of enterprises

Introduction. One of the most important functions of the state in accordance with the Constitution is a constant increase of the well-being of the population of Ukraine. The main direction of raising the well-being is the implementation of the country's socio-economic policy. Digital rating of legal entities and individuals is one of the directions of informatization of society in European integration. The importance of the rating is determined by the problem of creating a transparent society, the fight against corruption, the creation of equal conditions for individuals and legal entities, control over the loyalty of the population, etc. The purpose of the paper is the thorough study and analogization of the international and domestic experience of social rating of economic activity of enterprises on the territory of Ukraine in order to develop harmonized and unified methodological recommendations for the social rating of business entities in the conditions of European integration of Ukraine. Results. In the conditions of chronic deficit of the state budget and the deficit of the Pension Fund, all types of activity of the enterprise are acquiring special relevance to the improvement of these problems. Of course, for the rating of an enterprise, one of the most important indicators is the indicator of payment of taxes and social contributions to compulsory state funds. The next criterion for assessing the social activities of the enterprise is employment at the enterprise. Special moment you need to note the creation of new jobs. Also important element of evaluation is a salary, or rather its size. The main landmark should serve the average salary in the field of field in the country, but with an amendment to the geographical region. The more deviation from the average salary in one direction or another, the more accrued (calculated) scores to the rating. The auxiliary unit consists of a social package that operates at the enterprise. Conclusions. The proposed methodological recommendations on the social rating of enterprises allow to form the necessary basis for state bodies in the scope of managerial decisions on financing, support, protection, permission to participate in public bids, providing various benefits and brets and it is recommended to use not only by state social bodies, but also by others, by a variety of state authorities. The proposed recommendations will allow to eliminate disadvantages in the distribution of state subsidies, subsidies, subventions and other state-owned assistance, as well as serve as a benchmark in determining the optimal social policy both in the country as well as in regions. Social authorities will also be able to optimize the necessary issuance of targeted assistance not only legal but also on the basis of the existing base and individuals.