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Two months of fieldwork was conducted during the summer of 2014 in Nicaragua, through qualitative interviews the aims was to investigate the Value Chain of dried mango and its potential as an alternative income source for livelihood improvements for households in Manzano Uno, Nicaragua. The idea to investigate dried mango in particular originates from a conversation in the spring of 2012 with Ben Orton, co- founder of local NGO Waves of Hope, who considered the idea after witnessing the huge amounts of ripe mango falling to the ground and rutting away during the peak season in Manzano Uno. The research problem in a bigger context is related to the debate on how developing countries, and rural parts in particular, are often excluded from the benefits that come with a globalized market economy, since they often lack the tools to participate or do so on unfavorable terms. The idea of a Value Chain Analysis is to detect where along the production line value is added to a product from raw to finished good. Income Diversification comes in to the investigation and contributes to the conclusion that it would be favorable for livelihood improvements to households in Manzano Uno to diversify income sources, to create more secure and higher quality income. The value chain analysis is mainly based on information provided by Sol Simple, an organic-fruit drying plant in San Ramon, Nicaragua and is one out of two fruit processing enterprises in the country. They have been growing every year and have positive expectations of the future. Dried fruit and mango in particular seems to have good prospects for future demand as export products and one important addition is the sustainable, organic and Fairtrade markets which all enable higher product prices and thereby enable bigger shares to go back to the local producers. The federal incentives in Nicaragua include focus on the foreign investment to the country and quantity secondary education, which is concluded to not always be quality education. The high share of investments and entrepreneurships from foreigners are explained by the high security profile in the country, fertile lands and the lowest minimum wage in the region.

This thesis investigates the effect of income diversification on the performance of Islamic banks in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar where they operate alongside conventional banks in a dual banking system. Accounting data was drawn from 68 conventional and 42 Islamic banks from 1997 to 2009. The main focus was to see whether a greater reliance on non-financing income impacts on earnings quality and if so, how this may vary between Islamic and conventional banks. Commission and fee income, trading income and other non-financing income constitute non-financing income. For conventional banks, this is known as non-interest income, but in Islamic banking the payment and receipt of interest is prohibited so this ‘other income’ is referred to as non-financing income (that is, income unrelated to deposit-taking and loan granting). Islamic banks operate as universal banks and offer retail and wholesale financing plus investment banking services. Using various empirical approaches, we find that non-financing income positively influences banks’ risk-adjusted performance on a net overall impact basis, after taking into account, the consequential indirect impact arising from changes in income diversification (provided that the increase in non-financing income is carried out up until the optimal share of non-financing income of 0.5). Greater income diversification on its own, increases income volatility and this negatively impacts bank’s risk-adjusted performance, more so, when income diversification exceeds the optimal score of 0.5. Islamic banks are found to be more focused on deposit/loan financing and less diversified in terms of non-financing income activities compared to conventional banks. We find that Islamic banks appear to be less susceptible to earnings volatility given their lower diversified income source. Islamic banks have lower profitability (on average) on a risk-adjusted basis when compared to their conventional counterparts.

Proposed Omkareshwar National Park Complex (ONPC), is a planned park in Madhya Pradesh (central India) that is being designed as a compensatory conservation plan to overcome the loss of wildlife and forest by the construction and submergence from nearby Indira-Sagar and Omkareshwar dams, part of the infamous multi-purpose Narmada dam project. All the village communities in the ONPC largely depend on the forest resources for their daily sustenance, particularly fuel-wood and non-timber forest products such as tendupatta, mahua, kullu and dhavda gums. The local people typically engage as gatherers of non-timber forest resources, farmers or work as labors on other agricultural farms. Enclosing, this forest commons, threatens the livelihood opportunities of adivasis. Hence, this dissertation questions how compensatory conservation transforms the forest governance and the economic activities of the local communities. I examine how rules-in-use control spatial actions alter economic, political and social relationships within proposed ONPC in central India. I gathered the economic, social and political data through interviews, case-studies and surveys. Farmers benefit from the creation of the ONPC as a biodiversity offset, while other villagers engaged in off-farm and NTFP extraction labor, are more economically vulnerable. Adivasi depend mostly on the forest resource extraction for their income generation. Therefore, with increasing restrictions placed on the resource access and control, resource users are forced to travel outside their villages in search of wage labor.

World poverty is a persistent phenomenon despite international efforts and the improvements achieved in the last few decades. For many people it can be a chronic condition. This thesis aims at testing that the main reason some people are poor is due to a poverty trap, i.e., to some contextual mechanisms which limit their ability to escape poverty, reproducing it over time. To investigate this hypothesis, this thesis is guided by three different questions. First, does a poverty trap emerge in the aftermath of an extreme weather shock? Second, do communities in a humanitarian context have the same wealth dynamics? Third, what is the role of income diversification for agricultural households for asset accumulation, and does it depend on their wealth? The analysis focuses (a) on the case of Nigeria and a devastating flood, (b) on refugees and host communities in Uganda and (c) on agricultural households in Tanzania, respectively. Results show that Nigerian flooded households have poverty traps dynamics, condemning the poorest in a destitute state over time. Refugees and host communities in Uganda have similar wealth dynamics but both converge to a low-wealth equilibrium, suggesting a structural poverty trap that worse for refugees. Income diversification in Tanzania shows important nonlinearities according to households’ wealth: it fosters the accumulation of durable assets for better-off households only, while helping the poorest to accumulate livestock. These findings shed light on the interaction of low-income conditions and contextual challenges and opportunities, suggesting policy actions able to lift poor people above a wealth threshold, improve their living conditions and favouring their profitability.

The thesis deals with banking fees and commissions in the Czech Republic. Its main goal is to identify real and hypothetical effects that are caused by this element of non-interest banking income. Moreover, the thesis shows that the bank fees and commissions play more significant role than just being a source of banks' income -- diversification and structure of bank income crosses the line of banking system. The first hypothesis on the negative correlation between bank fees and commissions and output of the Czech economy has been proved. Although other two hypothesis have not been sufficiently proved but they have confirmed their relevance for further economic research.

En milieu rural malgache, la terre constitue le principal moyen d’existence des paysans. Toute la vie des ménages est centrée sur l’exploitation agricole, qui mobilise hommes et femmes, membres de la famille et de la communauté comme main-d’œuvre. Mais depuis quelques décennies, particulièrement dans les régions des Hauts-Plateaux, les parcelles cultivables, héritées et partagées depuis plusieurs générations, deviennent de plus en plus exiguës. Les revenus agricoles ne permettent donc plus aux familles de subvenir à leurs besoins fondamentaux. Ainsi, face à la menace d’insécurité alimentaire, aux besoins croissants de ressources monétaires (éducation, santé, etc.), aux risques liés aux parcours de la vie et à l’exploitation agricole, les ménages sont contraints de diversifier leurs sources de revenu. Pour avoir davantage de revenus monétaires, ils vendent leur force de travail hors de l’exploitation familiale. Les modes d’organisation économique se trouvent alors modifiés et les ménages doivent opter pour de nouvelles stratégies à court, moyen ou long terme dans leurs activités productives. Ce travail de thèse analyse, pour deux communes rurales des Hauts-Plateaux, la mise en œuvre des différentes stratégies à travers les structures des ménages et les réseaux de solidarités intergénérationnelle et communautaire. La recherche montre que l’organisation actuelle des activités permet d’assurer à la fois la continuité de l’exploitation agricole, la survie de la famille et la cohésion sociale. / In Madagascar rural areas, the land is the main livelihood of farmers. The community and all family members’, men and women, are involved on farming. But in recent decades, arable plots on the Central Highlands, inherited from ancestors and shared for many generations become more and more cramped. The incomes are insufficient for family’s basic needs. Thus, facing the food insecurity threatens, the increases of need for money (education, health, etc.), the life and farm risks, households are forced to diversify their sources of income. To earn more, they sell their labor outside the family farm. Then, the economic organization style is modified and households must find new short and medium term strategies in their productive activities. This book analyzes the implementation of different strategies through household structures and networks of solidarity (intergenerational and community) in two rural towns in the Highlands. Research shows that current organization of activities ensures the continuity of the farm, the family survival and social cohesion.

La presente tesis tiene como objetivo dar de conocimiento el impacto de la diversificación de los ingreso bancarios peruanos y ver su comportamiento en los rendimientos bancarios, este tema ha sido ampliamente usada para países desarrollados tales como bancos asiáticos y europeos, he incluso para Brasil un país sudamericano, cabe resaltar que este tema de investigación no se ha aplicado para bancos peruanos, ya que el tema de la estabilidad bancaria puede deberse a estos factores e otros acontecimientos, por eso es necesario su estudio e implementación. Se estudió el comportamiento de 15 bancos listado en la SBS, en un periodo de análisis de 2015 – 2020, utilizando una metodología de panel de datos dinámicos, conocido como método generalizado de momentos (GMM), con esta metodología lo que se pretende es abordar los posibles problemas de endogeneidad, heterocedastidad y autocorrelación. Nuestros principales hallazgos nos dieron como resultado que la actividad de ingreso no tradicionales no tiene un gran de impacto con la rentabilidad bancaria, por lo contrario, los hechos más importantes se dieron con los ingresos que obtienen los bancos a través de los créditos, ya que estos trajeron consigo mejores resultados en la mejora de la rentabilidad del sistema financiero peruano. Se confirmó en gran instancia que los ingresos tienden a tener un efecto en la rentabilidad bancaria, esto se debió en gran instancia por el lado de los ingreso por intereses, por lo contario en contra de lo esperado los ingresos destinado a la actividad no tradicional, resultaron tener un comportamiento adverso a la rentabilidad, de la misma manera también es necesario dar a conocer nuestras otras variables de estudio, tales como la tasa de crecimiento del PBI, tasa de interés real, la tasa de crecimiento de los activos y el patrimonio, estas mostraron un comportamiento accesible para determinar la evolución de los bancos del sistema financiero peruano. / The objective of this thesis is to give knowledge of the impact of the diversification of Peruvian bank income and see its behavior in bank returns, this topic has been widely used for developed countries such as Asian and European banks, and even for Brazil a country South American, it should be noted that this research topic has not been applied to Peruvian banks, since the issue of bank stability may be due to these factors and other events, which is why its study and implementation is necessary. The behavior of 15 banks listed in the SBS was studied, in an analysis period of 2015 - 2020, using a dynamic data panel methodology, known as the generalized method of moments (GMM), with this methodology what is intended is to address the possible problems of endogeneity, heterocedasty and autocorrelation. Our main findings gave us as a result that non-traditional income activity does not have a great impact on bank profitability, on the contrary, the most important facts occurred with the income obtained by banks through credits, since that these brought better results in improving the profitability of the Peruvian financial system. It was largely confirmed that income tends to have an effect on bank profitability, this was largely due to interest income, on the contrary, income allocated to non-traditional activity was contrary to what was expected. turned out to have an adverse behavior to profitability, in the same way it is also necessary to disclose our other study variables, such as the GDP growth rate, real interest rate, the growth rate of assets and equity, these showed an accessible behavior to determine the evolution of the banks of the Peruvian financial system.

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Ausgangspunkt dieser Arbeit ist die gesellschaftliche Problematisierung des Größenstrukturwandels in der deutschen Landwirtschaft. Zuerst wird anhand einer strukturierenden Inhaltsanalyse von Positionspapieren zur Reform der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik herausgearbeitet, dass der Größenstrukturwandel sowohl als Gerechtigkeits- als auch als Multifunktionalitätsproblem gedeutet wird. Die Positionen überlappen im Prinzip der Leistungsgerechtigkeit und in dem Ziel, möglichst viele Betriebe zu erhalten. Viele der präsenten Annahmen über die Vorteile kleiner Betriebe lassen sich wissenschaftlich nicht bestätigen. Hinsichtlich sozialer Funktionen von Landwirtschaft wird eine Forschungslücke identifiziert. Es folgt eine systematische Literaturanalyse, die konzeptuelle Zugänge zu sozialen Funktionen von Landwirtschaft voneinander abgegrenzt und in einem Analyserahmen integriert. Dieser Analyserahmen berücksichtigt landwirtschaftliche Betriebe, die von ihnen ausgeübten Tätigkeiten sowie deren Wirkungen hinsichtlich sozialer Ziele (Funktionen). Aus der Literatur werden zudem elf verschiedene Typen sozialer Funktionen abgeleitet. Daran knüpft eine empirische Fallstudie an, die basierend auf umfangreichen qualitativen Daten soziale Funktionen von Landwirtschaft in Dithmarschen analysiert und Zusammenhänge mit dem regionalen Größenstrukturwandel exploriert. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass sich der mit dem Größenstrukturwandel verbundene, zunehmend industrielle Charakter landwirtschaftlicher Tätigkeiten sowie die abnehmende Anzahl von Landwirt/innen in ehrenamtlichen Strukturen negativ auf soziale Funktionen auswirken. Einkommensdiversifizierung gewinnt im Kontext des Größenstrukturwandels an Bedeutung und stärkt soziale Funktionen, wobei kapital- und arbeitsintensiven Tätigkeiten unterschiedlich wirken. Die Dissertation ermöglicht eine sachlichere Debatte zum Größenstrukturwandel und eine differenzierte Auseinandersetzung mit sozialen Funktionen von Landwirtschaft. / This dissertations’ starting point is the societal problematisation of the changing farm size structure in Germany. In the first article, a structuring content analysis of position papers on the post-2020 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy shows that the shift towards fewer and larger farms is framed as a problem of both equity and multifunctionality. The respective positions overlap when it comes to the principle of performance equity and the goal of maintaining as many (small) farms as possible. Many of the claims made in the debate about benefits of small farms are not supported by empirical research, and a research gap is identified, particularly regarding social functions of agriculture. The second article presents a systematic literature review. Different conceptual approaches to the social functions of agriculture are distinguished and integrated into an analytical framework. This framework considers farms, the activities they carry out and the functions that can be fulfilled through these activities. In addition, eleven different types of social functions are derived from the literature reviewed. The third article builds up on the second and presents an empirical case study, which analyses the social functions of agriculture in Dithmarschen and explores how these relate to regional structural change on the basis of an extensive qualitative data set. The results indicate that both, the increasingly industrial character of agricultural activities associated with the change in farm size structure and the decreasing number of farmers in voluntary structures have a negative impact on social functions. Income diversification becomes more important in the context of farm exits and strengthens social functions, although the effects of capital-intensive and labour-intensive activities differ. Overall, this dissertation facilitates a more objective debate on structural change and a differentiated analysis of the social functions of agriculture.