Informal finance and rural finance policy in India: historical and contemporary perspectives

From the 1950s up to the early 1990s the All-India data show an ever-declining share of informal credit in the total outstanding debt of rural households. Contemporaneous micro-level studies, using more qualitative research methodologies, provide evidence that questions the strength of this trend, and more recent All-India credit surveys show, first, a levelling, and then a rise, in the share of rural informal credit in 1990/91 and 2000/01, respectively. By reference to findings of a study of village moneylenders in Rajasthan, the paper notes lessons to be drawn. First, informal financial agents have not disappeared from the rural financial landscape in India. Second, formal-sector financial institutions can learn much about rural financial service needs from the financial products and processes of their informal counterparts. Third, a national survey of informal agents, similar to that of the 1921 Census survey of indigenous bankers and moneylenders, would provide valuable pointers towards policy options for the sector. A recent Reserve Bank of India Report on Moneylender Legislation not only explores incentive mechanisms to better ensure fair practice, but also proposes provision for a new category of loan providers that would explicitly link the rural informal and formal financial sectors.

Informal communication networks and the diffusion of innovations in UK construction projects: A research design

The UK industry has been criticised for being slow to adopt construction process innovations. Research shows that the idiosyncrasies of participants, their roles in the system and the contextual differences between sections of the industry make this a highly complex problem. There is considerable evidence that informal social networks play a key role in diffusion of innovations. The aim is to identify informal communication networks of project participants and the role these play in the diffusion of construction innovations. The characteristics of this network will be analysed in order to understand how they can be used to accelerate innovation diffusion within and between projects. Social Network Analysis is used to determine informal communication routes. Control and experiment case study projects are used within two different organizations. This allows informal communication routes concerning innovations to be mapped, whilst testing if the informal routes can facilitate diffusion. Analysis will focus upon understanding the combination of informal strong and weak ties, and how these impede or facilitate the diffusion of the innovation. Initial work suggests the presence of an informal communication network. Actors within this informal network, and the organization's management are unaware of its' existence and their informal roles within it. Thus, the network remains an untapped medium regarding innovation diffusion. It is proposed that successful innovation diffusion is dependent upon understanding informal strong and weak ties, at project, organization and industry level.

The effect of term-time employment on UK higher education students

In the UK, participation in higher education has risen over the past two decades, along with a shift of the costs of higher education onto the individual and a move to widening participation among previously underrepresented groups. This has led to changes in the way individuals fund their higher education, in particular a rise in the incidence of term time employment. Term time employment potentially plays a much bigger role than in the past, both as a means for individuals to fund their education and reduce debt, and as a way to gain valuable work experience and increase employability. With the increase in the number of graduates in the UK labour market it is now more important for individuals to be able to differentiate themselves in the labour market.