The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected different social and demographic groups, de... more The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected different social and demographic groups, deepening the negative health implications of social and economic inequalities and highlighting the importance of social determinants of health. Despite a deep literature on pandemic-related disparities, specifically regarding social determinants and health outcomes, the influence of the accessibility of financial services on health outcomes during COVID-19 remains largely unexplored. Modeling (pre-omicron) COVID-19 mortality across 142 nations, we assess the impact of national-level usage and access to formal financial services. Two financial access indexes constructed through principal component analysis capture (1) usage of and access to formal financial tools and (2) reliance on alternative and informal financial tools. On average, nations with higher pre-pandemic use of and access to formal financial services had substantially lower population mortality risk from COVID-19, controlling for key population health, demographic, and socioeconomic covariates. The scale of effect is similar in magnitude-but opposite in direction-to major risk factors identified in previous literature, such as lung cancer, hypertension, and income inequality. Findings suggest that financial services deserve greater attention both in the public health literature related to COVID-19 and more broadly in policy discussions about fostering better public health overall.
AN INTRODUCTION TO MICROFINANCE "Where once the poor were commonly seen as passive victims, micro... more AN INTRODUCTION TO MICROFINANCE "Where once the poor were commonly seen as passive victims, microfinance recognizes that poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge. And while the lack of financial services is a sign of poverty, today it is also understood as an untapped opportunity to create markets, bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves."
The objective of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) is often two-fold; the so-called double bottom ... more The objective of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) is often two-fold; the so-called double bottom line of seeking financial return sustainability, while also maximizing the social impact of their services on the lives of the poor individuals they serve. The pursuit of the social impact bottom line puts microfinance institutions in a peculiar position with regards to the response of their cost structure to the global financial crisis. This paper begins by investigating the impact of the global financial crisis on the cost structure, and cost inefficiencies of MFIs given their double bottom line pursuits. Overall, it appears that achieving growth in both dimensions of social impact and financial sustainability, grew more costly for the MFIs directly because of the global financial crisis. Moreover, given the risk-adjusted nature of the cost inefficiency measure used in the paper, the results show that maintaining a given level of risk in the loan portfolios became significantly more ch...
Since 1994, Lehigh faculty and students have been piloting a new educational initiative that at i... more Since 1994, Lehigh faculty and students have been piloting a new educational initiative that at its full implementation in the year 2000 will involve over 1200 undergraduate students. Peter Likins, the President of Lehigh, has called the IPD program "one of the most profound curricular changes in Lehigh's history. " The program's unique features include truly interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students from three of Lehigh’s colleges—Business, Engineering, Arts & Sciences—working together on industry-sponsored projects integrated vertically throughout the students’ educational experience, ranging from pre college through undergraduate and graduate
We compare defense and non-defense manufacturing practices by examining the following questions: ... more We compare defense and non-defense manufacturing practices by examining the following questions: How separated are commercial manufacturing operations from military production? How do defense and strictly nondefense contractors compare in their use of advanced flexible manufacturing technologies and in their collaborative production networking practices? We draw on our own 1991 national survey of a size-stratified, randomly selected sample of 973 establishments in the machining-intensive durable goods sector (MDG), supplemented by information from specialized government data sources and case studies describing the practices of selected defense contractors. Our study shows that defense manufacturing in this sector is generally not segregated from the commercial world. Rather, we find that: almost half the manufacturing plants in these industries do some defense work; integrated manufacturing is the norm, where defense and commercial products are made in the same facilities, on the sa...
Since 1994 a team of Lehigh faculty have been developing and implementing a multi-disciplinary ed... more Since 1994 a team of Lehigh faculty have been developing and implementing a multi-disciplinary educational environment to enable undergraduates and graduate students to experience the challenges and creative exhilaration of technical entrepreneurship through new product development. Lehigh's Integrated Product Development (IPD) program provides a campus focus for cross-disciplinary collaboration. With top-level administrative support, additional degree programs are under development. These
... ships between success in implementing new technologies and both workforce development ... evi... more ... ships between success in implementing new technologies and both workforce development ... evidence that defense and commercial establishments differ in business age, scale ... by job category in defense contracting and purely commercial small manufacturing establishments. ...
Firms fund research and development (R&D) to generate commercializabl... more Firms fund research and development (R&D) to generate commercializable innovations and to increase their ability to understand and absorb knowledge from elsewhere. This dual role and opposed incentive structure of internal R&D create a significant question for both theory and R&D policy: Is internal R&D a complement or substitute for external R&D? We develop a model and novel technique for
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected different social and demographic groups, de... more The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected different social and demographic groups, deepening the negative health implications of social and economic inequalities and highlighting the importance of social determinants of health. Despite a deep literature on pandemic-related disparities, specifically regarding social determinants and health outcomes, the influence of the accessibility of financial services on health outcomes during COVID-19 remains largely unexplored. Modeling (pre-omicron) COVID-19 mortality across 142 nations, we assess the impact of national-level usage and access to formal financial services. Two financial access indexes constructed through principal component analysis capture (1) usage of and access to formal financial tools and (2) reliance on alternative and informal financial tools. On average, nations with higher pre-pandemic use of and access to formal financial services had substantially lower population mortality risk from COVID-19, controlling for key population health, demographic, and socioeconomic covariates. The scale of effect is similar in magnitude-but opposite in direction-to major risk factors identified in previous literature, such as lung cancer, hypertension, and income inequality. Findings suggest that financial services deserve greater attention both in the public health literature related to COVID-19 and more broadly in policy discussions about fostering better public health overall.
AN INTRODUCTION TO MICROFINANCE "Where once the poor were commonly seen as passive victims, micro... more AN INTRODUCTION TO MICROFINANCE "Where once the poor were commonly seen as passive victims, microfinance recognizes that poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge. And while the lack of financial services is a sign of poverty, today it is also understood as an untapped opportunity to create markets, bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves."
The objective of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) is often two-fold; the so-called double bottom ... more The objective of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) is often two-fold; the so-called double bottom line of seeking financial return sustainability, while also maximizing the social impact of their services on the lives of the poor individuals they serve. The pursuit of the social impact bottom line puts microfinance institutions in a peculiar position with regards to the response of their cost structure to the global financial crisis. This paper begins by investigating the impact of the global financial crisis on the cost structure, and cost inefficiencies of MFIs given their double bottom line pursuits. Overall, it appears that achieving growth in both dimensions of social impact and financial sustainability, grew more costly for the MFIs directly because of the global financial crisis. Moreover, given the risk-adjusted nature of the cost inefficiency measure used in the paper, the results show that maintaining a given level of risk in the loan portfolios became significantly more ch...
Since 1994, Lehigh faculty and students have been piloting a new educational initiative that at i... more Since 1994, Lehigh faculty and students have been piloting a new educational initiative that at its full implementation in the year 2000 will involve over 1200 undergraduate students. Peter Likins, the President of Lehigh, has called the IPD program "one of the most profound curricular changes in Lehigh's history. " The program's unique features include truly interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students from three of Lehigh’s colleges—Business, Engineering, Arts & Sciences—working together on industry-sponsored projects integrated vertically throughout the students’ educational experience, ranging from pre college through undergraduate and graduate
We compare defense and non-defense manufacturing practices by examining the following questions: ... more We compare defense and non-defense manufacturing practices by examining the following questions: How separated are commercial manufacturing operations from military production? How do defense and strictly nondefense contractors compare in their use of advanced flexible manufacturing technologies and in their collaborative production networking practices? We draw on our own 1991 national survey of a size-stratified, randomly selected sample of 973 establishments in the machining-intensive durable goods sector (MDG), supplemented by information from specialized government data sources and case studies describing the practices of selected defense contractors. Our study shows that defense manufacturing in this sector is generally not segregated from the commercial world. Rather, we find that: almost half the manufacturing plants in these industries do some defense work; integrated manufacturing is the norm, where defense and commercial products are made in the same facilities, on the sa...
Since 1994 a team of Lehigh faculty have been developing and implementing a multi-disciplinary ed... more Since 1994 a team of Lehigh faculty have been developing and implementing a multi-disciplinary educational environment to enable undergraduates and graduate students to experience the challenges and creative exhilaration of technical entrepreneurship through new product development. Lehigh's Integrated Product Development (IPD) program provides a campus focus for cross-disciplinary collaboration. With top-level administrative support, additional degree programs are under development. These
... ships between success in implementing new technologies and both workforce development ... evi... more ... ships between success in implementing new technologies and both workforce development ... evidence that defense and commercial establishments differ in business age, scale ... by job category in defense contracting and purely commercial small manufacturing establishments. ...
Firms fund research and development (R&D) to generate commercializabl... more Firms fund research and development (R&D) to generate commercializable innovations and to increase their ability to understand and absorb knowledge from elsewhere. This dual role and opposed incentive structure of internal R&D create a significant question for both theory and R&D policy: Is internal R&D a complement or substitute for external R&D? We develop a model and novel technique for
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