July 2010

Do non-farm incomes really matter for poverty among small households in rural Bangladesh? A case of advanced villages

Given the critical importance of the non-farm sector in rural Bangladesh, this paper examines the comprehensive effects of non-farm incomes on poverty reduction, namely, household production and consumption. The study was based on the original field survey with data from about 175 small households in advanced villages of Bangladesh. Standard micro-econometric techniques were used for the empirical analyses. The study...

Author(s): Mohammad Abdul Malek and Koichi Usami

July 2010

Role of the credit rating agencies in the financial market crisis

The objective of this paper is to critically examine the role of credit rating agencies in the sub-prime crisis. The paper traces the development of the sub-prime crisis from its origin till the aftermath. It studies the weaknesses of credit rating agencies in performing their basic function of timely and accurate rating of bond obligations. The paper then scrutinizes the diversification of credit rating agencies into...

Author(s): Vandana Gupta, R. K. Mittal and V. K. Bhalla