User:Whoami2000/sandbox

Microfinance and poverty
Hermes' words: “The results confirm the hypothesis that higher microfinance participation is associated with lower income inequality. Our results remain robust after controlling for a large set of control variables and after controlling for potential endogeneity problems. At the same time, however, we also show that the impact of microfinance on reducing income inequality is low. We argue that this is due to the fact that the use of microfinance is modest as compared to the size of the economy of the countries in our sample. Our analysis lends some support to the suggestion that microfinance is an appropriate tool to reduce the income gap between the rich and the poor in developing countries. It thus seems to have the potential to help poor people directly, as it enables them to engage in self-employment and play an active role in the economy. This gives them the opportunity to smooth and increase their income, expand their asset base and break out of poverty. However, given that its impact is low, microfinance should not be seen as a panacea for bringing down income inequality in a significant way.”

Paraphrased: Microfinance is the proper tool to reduce income inequality, allowing citizens from lower socio-economical classes to participate in the economy. Moreover its involvement has shown to lead to a downward trend in income inequality (Hermes, 2014).

Reference: Hermes, N. (2014). Does microfinance affect income inequality? Applied Economics, 46(9), 1021-1034. doi:10.1080/00036846.2013.864039

Micro Finance on the Indian Subcontinent
Kar's words: “To mobilize affective pressure during recovery, loan officers had to maintain emotional bonds with borrowers throughout the loan period by demonstrating care in their everyday encounters. Officers would remember details about the women's lives and attempt to address the particularities of their situations through expressions of care and concern.”

Paraprashed: Many loan officers in India create emotional connection with borrowers before loan reaches maturity by mentioning details about borrowers’ personal life and family and also demonstrating affection in many different ways as a strategy to generate pressure during recovery.

Reference: Kar, S. (2013). Recovering debts: Microfinance loan officers and the work of “proxy-creditors” in India. Journal of the American Ethnological Society, 40(3), 480-493. doi:10.1111/amet.12034

Contribution to classmates
yjzhou

Membership
To become a CPA, candidates must hold a degree or a postgraduate award that is recognised by CPA Australia, and demonstrate competence in the required knowledge areas and, within a six-year period, successfully complete the CPA Program.

My contribution: Commerce and Business degrees with a major in accountant are automatically recognized by CPA Australia as long as they are awarded from a university in Victoria, Australia.

Reference: Kendall, R. (2006). Accounting: Jobs you can count on : Victoria (pp. 113-114). Ultimo, NSW: Career FAQs. 9781921106040

Contribution to classmates
char916

Judaism
While it is neither required (required only in special holidays [Pessach, Sukot and Shavuot] according to some traditions, but not in Shabbat [Friday], when just bread and wine/grape juice is required) nor prohibited for Jews to eat meat, a number of medieval scholars of Jewish religion (e.g., Joseph Albo and Isaac Arama) regard vegetarianism as a moral ideal, not just because of a concern for the welfare of animals, but because the slaughter of animals might cause the individual who performs such acts to develop negative character traits. One modern-day scholar who is in favour of vegetarianism is the late Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Mandate Palestine. In his writings, Rabbi Kook speaks of vegetarianism as an ideal, and points to the fact that Adam did not partake of the flesh of animals, as all humans and animals were originally commanded by God to only eat plants.[169] In context, Rabbi Kook makes those comments in his portrayal of the eschatological (messianic) era.

My contribution: However, after the flood people were allowed to consume meat as other resources became scarce.

Reference: Schwartz, R. (2001). Judaism and vegetarianism (New and rev. ed., p. 3). New York: Lantern Books. 978-1930051249

Microfinance: Passages requiring citation
I would appreciate if anyone could help me to find more data regarding the following passages or any other that you may find in the Microfinance article.

Scale of microfinance operations
Of these accounts, 120 million were with institutions normally understood to practice microfinance. Reflecting the diverse historical roots of the movement, however, they also included postal savings banks (318 million accounts), state agricultural and development banks (172 million accounts), financial cooperatives and credit unions (35 million accounts) and specialized rural banks (19 million accounts).

Canada
Complications specific to Canada include the need for loans of a substantial size in comparison to the ones typically seen in many international microfinance initiatives. Microfinance is also limited by the rules and limitations surrounding money-lending. For example, Canada Revenue Agency limits the loans made in these sort of transactions to a maximum of $25,000.

Microcredit and the web
The use of flat rates, which has been outlawed among regulated financial institutions in developed countries, can confuse individual lenders into believing their borrower is paying a lower interest rate than, in fact, they are.[citation needed]

Impacts
Critics say that microcredit has not increased incomes, but has driven poor households into a debt trap, in some cases even leading to suicide. They add that the money from loans is often used for durable consumer goods or consumption instead of being used for productive investments, that it fails to empower women, and that it has not improved health or education. Moreover, as the access to micro-loans is widespread, borrowers tend to acquire several loans from different companies, making it nearly impossible to pay the debt back. [53] As a result of such tragic events, microfinance institutions in India have agreed on setting an interest rate ceiling of 15 percent. [54]

Microfinance: My contribution
"Moreover, as the access to micro-loans is widespread, borrowers tend to acquire several loans from different companies, making it nearly impossible to pay the debt back."

Reference: Biswas, Soutik (December 16, 2010). "India's micro-finance suicide epidemic". , BBC News. Retrieved July 15, 2015.

"As a result of such tragic events, microfinance institutions in India have agreed on a setting an interest rate ceiling of 15 percent." Reference: Sundaresan, S. (2008). Microfinance emerging trends and challenges (pp. 15-16). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. 978-1847209207