Research of Innovative Risk Management in L/C Settlement - Based on Quality Control of Import Goods

Quality of import goods is possibly not up to standard in letter of credit settlement. In order to control the quality of import goods and to prevent exporter from fraudulent credit, importer takes some of the most effective terms that will be considered as soft term fraud by exporter. This paper analyzed the reason for the existence of such risks, and proposed innovative ideas on how to effectively control the quality of import goods in letter of credit settlement. Letter of credit (hereinafter referred as L/C) settlement serves as a more effective, timely and safe transaction way for both sellers and buyer in international trade, but there is still the risk of fraud [. Fraud risk is the greatest one in letter of credit settlement. Buyers will attach great importance to the quality of import goods, but exporter fraud will lead import goods not up to standard. In order to prevent such a quality risk, the importer will set some terms in the L/C, but these terms may be considered as soft term fraud by exporter. Research of risk management in L/C settlement will help importer effectively control the quality of import goods, and promote the L/C settlement.

A Political Theory of Populism *

When voters fear that politicians may be influenced or corrupted by the rich elite, signals of integrity are valuable. As a consequence, an honest politician seeking reelection chooses “populist” policies—that is, policies to the left of the median voter—as a way of signaling that he is not beholden to the interests of the right. Politicians that are influenced by right-wing special interests respond by choosing moderate or even left-of-center policies. This populist bias of policy is greater when the value of remaining in office is higher for the politician; when there is greater polarization between the policy preferences of the median voter and right-wing special interests; when politicians are perceived as more likely to be corrupt; when there is an intermediate amount of noise in the information that voters receive; when politicians are more forward-looking; and when there is greater uncertainty about the type of the incumbent. We also show that soft term limits may exacerbate, rather than reduce, the populist bias of policies.

A Survey of Literature on the Sustainability of Grameen Bank

This paper is designed to survey the existing literatures on the issue of financial sustainability of microfinance institutions working with group-lending approach. The paper is based on secondary data and information. The most highlighted feature of microfinance program is embodied in the innovation of group-lending approach introduced by the Grameen Bank (GB) in Bangladesh. Even though most of the micro­finance institutions have their striking results of reaching to the poorest borrowers with high repayment rates, most of them are, however, still dependent on the subsidized or soft-term loans. Grameen Bank, with all its success in poverty alleviation and in increasing living standard of the rural poor, is yet to achieve financial sustainability to a fullest form. Should it increase the lending rate, should it reduce its operating costs to a greater extent, or should it try to diversify its investment, or should it try to mobilize savings as a base for re-lending? All these questions are still open for further research and planning.

Small and Medium Enterprise Sector in Mauritius: Its Evolution and Growth with Special Reference to Investment Criteria

SMEs play a vital role in the process of industrialisation in developing countries because of their ability to adapt to the changing environment. In view of the multiple constraints and complexity of investment decision-making process, a study was undertaken to analyse the investment structure/practices of SMEs in Mauritius. The results of the study reveal that of the SMEs with an investment of over Rs. 1 million, 76% are corporates, and of those with an investment of more than Rs. 3 million, 90% are companies. Similarly irrespective of their year of formation, 64% of SMEs in the corporate sector are willing to re-invest more than Rs. 1m in plant and machinery, but even government incentives like raising the qualifying investment limit and duty concessions have not encouraged SMEs to invest over Rs. 3m in plant and machinery. A sectoral analysis reveal that SMEs in the metal product and workshops were willing to reinvest but those in the textile product group were not. As far as sectoral investment since 1990 is concerned, the two sectors which have witnessed increased investment in Plant and Machinery are food and beverages and chemical, rubber and plastics. The growth and modernisation of SMEs warrant considerable government support in the form of tax and duty concessions and soft-term loans.

FINITE CASIMIR EFFECT IN QUANTUM FIELD THEORY

The computation of the Casimir effect is directly linked to the modification of the vacuum energy due to the presence of boundaries. In order to have complete control of the short distance behavior also near the boundary, the analysis is performed in the precise framework of a local, renormalizable quantum field theory which includes the boundary contributions. We show that the presence of soft terms at the boundary, needed to implement Robin's conditions, introduces a free parameter in the final, finite answer, a parameter which has no natural normalization condition within the scheme. We discuss in detail a free massless scalar field in R3 with plane and cylindric boundaries; in particular the second case, where the boundary soft term is essential to remove sub-leading short distance divergencies, suffers the mentioned indeterminacy, which might be removed by a phenomenological interpretation relating the soft term to a microscopic description of the boundary.