The research for this thesis was conducted in village of Samene, Mali from 2006-2008 where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer. In Samene I became interested in understanding the livelihood experience of men and women and the critical factors that led to positive livelihood outcomes for individuals. The formal research question addressed in this thesis is how assets and access (social rules and norms) influence livelihood diversification options for men and women. The research is based on a mixed method design consisting of extensive individual and household surveying, focus groups, interviews, and participant observation. The Livelihood Approach is utilized to describe the assets, access restrictions and diversification strategies that comprise the livelihoods for men and women in Samene. The findings shows that while diversification activities are important to both men and women, women are unable to access the more attractive high return activities that are dominated by men. Differences in the livelihood experiences between and within gendered groups are explained by looking at an individual's relationship to the critical assets, which are identified as the keys to accessing activities that lead to greater livelihood security. Based on the research findings a new livelihood framework is advanced to show the different pathways men and women take to sustain and improve their livelihoods. This framework incorporates the concepts and processes of social differentiation, social exclusion, historical motion, power and access that were found to be critical in explaining an individual's livelihood experience in Samene. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

La crise financière globale de 2007-2009 a révélé la fragilité des banques modernes ainsi que les carences de la réglementation. A la suite de la crise, le secteur bancaire a connu des réformes réglementaires importantes : renforcement de la régulation micro-prudentielle, mise en place de dispositifs ayant des objectifs macroprudentiels et diverses initiatives de séparation des activités. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse, en s’appuyant sur les données américaines, essaie dans un premier temps d’expliquer la vulnérabilité des banques par leurs caractéristiques financières et leur structure organisationnelle. Ensuite, la thèse propose une analyse de l’efficacité de certains nouveaux outils dans le cadre des réformes. Nous trouvons les résultats suivants : 1) Le risque de faillite est plus élevé chez les banques qui adoptent des stratégies agressives pendant la période d’euphorie économique et qui se financent par des fonds instables. Une maison-mère saine (bien capitalisée et rentable) est une source de force des filiales bancaires. Cela vient étayer l’introduction du coussin de capital contracyclique et du ratio de liquidité dans Bâle III. 2) La diversification des activités contribue à la baisse du risque bancaire alors que les engagements croissants en activités non-traditionnelles volatiles semble rendre les banques plus vulnérables. Ceci conforte la nécessité d'une réforme structurelle pour certaines banques universelles. 3) Les ratios de levier prévoient mieux la probabilité de faillite des grandes banques que le ratio pondéré par les risques, tandis que les deux types de ratios sont aussi efficaces pour prévoir la faillite des petites banques. Ce résultat souligne l’importance du renforcement de la réglementation des banques systémiques et implique sa mise en œuvre. / The 2007-2009 global financial crisis reveals the fragility of modern banking sector and the flaws in bank regulation. In the wake of the crisis, an important number of reforms are carried out: enhancement of micro-prudential regulation, introduction of macro-prudential instruments and separation of activities. In this context, this thesis, using detailed information on the U.S. banking sector, tries to explain bank vulnerability by their financial characteristics and organizational structure. Then the thesis analyzes the efficiency of some new regulatory instruments. Our findings are the following: 1) Banks adopting an aggressive business model in economic boom and banks funded massively with instable liabilities are more likely to fail. A healthy (well-capitalized and profitable) bank holding company is a source of strength for its bank subsidiaries. These findings support the introduction of the countercyclical capital buffer and of the requirements on liquidity in the Basel III framework. 2) A high degree of diversification across different banking activities is associated with important risk reduction benefits while the expansion in non-traditional activities seems to make banks more vulnerable. This indicates the necessity of structural reform for certain universal banks. 3) The leverage ratios are more efficient in predicting failures of large banks than the risk-weighted capital ratio whereas the two types of capital ratios predict the failures of small banks as well as each other. These findings go in line with the reinforcement of regulation on systemically important banks.