No abstract

Most contributions in the fast‐growing literature on microfinance seem to agree that all the stakeholders (borrowers, lenders, communities, government and regulators, interested third parties) should become fully aware of the potentiality of the joint value creation achieved through cooperation.

In input-output analysis the concept of total (direct and indirect) requirements is usually related to sectoral final outputs. For each particular final product Yi total output requirements and total primary input requirements are measured respectively by : and where X $ ) = vector of sectoral gross outputs required directly and in-W$) = vector of primary inputs required directly and indirectly by Y(i);A , = primary input coefficient matrix; Y(i) = vector of elements equal to zero except the i-th one, which is directly by Y(i);

Both academic and nonacademic literature is evolving following the oscillating development of artificial intelligence (AI) and computing power's evolution in their application to finance and financial markets. The limits to economic growth encountered after the financial crisis and, successively, the recent pandemic bursts have posed new challenges to AI-related technologies. The surveyed publications have given hope in harvesting improved efficiency, new data, information, advisory and management services, risk mitigation, and some unanswered questions regarding negative impacts on sustainable growth and increasing economic welfare.

Lifting the poor from poverty through financial and social inclusion is the ultimate target and raison d'etre of microfinance. As the most recent literature has recognized, microfinance institutions have economically worked well in operating microcredit, but the aim of raising the living standard of their indigent clients has not been generally met. The expected encouragement of entrepreneurship from microcredit is still not detected in the empirical data, let alone women's social integration in working activities. The articles collected in this thematic issue bring new empirical elements of discussion pointing to many aspects of the social divides and the inequalities that plague the emerging countries. This overview article recalls the main questions that are still open and the framework of topics discussed in this thematic issue.

The economic literature can help us find how to foster entrepreneurship in China in order to ensure a sustainable economic growth. Someone asked Confucius ‘Why do you not take part in government?’ The Master replied: ‘The Book of History says, Oh! Simply by being a good son and friendly to his brothers, a man can exert an influence upon government.” In so doing a man is, in fact, taking part in government.’ (Confucius, The Anaclets, II.21. Translated by D.C. Lau, 1979) Zeal without knowledge is the sister of folly. (John Davies of Hereford, The Scourge of Folly, 1611)

Recent studies confirm that financial support for innovative entrepreneurial firms is important for sustainable productivity growth in China and for a rebalanced global economy.

The paper presents a first set of results for Spain and Italy using the EUKLEMS database. It emphasizes the different paths followed by the two countries over the last thirty five years, even though they still have many features in common. The motivation behind this paper is the poor productivity performance that the two countries have shown recently. The general overview details the factors underlying the process of per capita income convergence. Productivity performance is highlighted as the driving factor of convergence, deserving the greatest attention from different perspectives: the contributions of the different sources of productivity growth, which make use of the growth accounting framework; the impact of the structural change undergone by the two countries while moving from economies with still important shares of the agricultural sector to a more modern one; or the responsibility of poor productivity improvements in given industries. The changing composition of labour also deserves a detailed analysis because of its importance in productivity over the period analyzed.