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Background: Previous bibliometric studies in scientific researchers from developed countries generally support that sharing efforts during research enhances productivity and impact and suggest these effects may be important for researchers from less developed countries exhibiting more exiguous science budgets. We examined whether researchers in the field of animal behavior in an economically less developed country compensate for this burden by collaborating with researchers from developed countries, and whether this effect is gender specific. Methods: We quantified collaborations of 30 Chilean-based focal animal behavioralists with peers from developed countries based on co-authorships within 664 animal behavior papers. We examined whether the mean number, or mean proportion of such co-authorships was positively associated with productivity (number of research papers) and impact (h-index, citations per research paper) when gender, author role (i.e., first or corresponding author), and other covariates were considered. We complemented these analyses with a survey to focal researchers to estimate the perceived relevance of collaborations with peers from developed countries. Results: The h-index, but not the number of animal behavior papers published by focal researchers, increased with the mean number (but not with the mean proportion) of international co-authors from developed countries, an effect not gender-specific, but that supported the perceived importance of collaborations with peers from developed countries. The number of papers and the individual impact of focal researchers increased with academic age. The number of citations of individual papers increased with journal impact factor, year since publication, but not with the role (first or corresponding author) played by collaborators from developed countries. Conclusions: Our bibliometric and survey-based approach supported that establishing collaborations with researchers from developed countries and publishing in high impact factor journals are correlated with the career-long impact of Chilean-based animal behavioralists, and that this association is not contingent on gender, or influenced by the role (first or corresponding author) played by collaborators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pediatric type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an intensively researched disease in the developed countries. However, the Indian contribution to global pediatric T1D research is limited. Objective: To provide a comprehensive analysis of Indian research on pediatric T1D over the past 3 decades. Methods: Articles on pediatric T1D published from 1990 to 2019 were retrieved from Scopus database. Specifically, the data on number of publications, top productive institutions and authors, citation analysis, highly cited articles, international collaboration, and active journals were extracted and presented using appropriate bibliometric indicators. Results: The USA leads the global ranking of 90 countries with 29.29% publications share, followed by the UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Australia with 10.77 to 5.48% share. India is ranked 17th and contributed 1.98% to global output. India's publications averaged 9.74 citations per paper (CPP) compared to global average of 23.61. During 1990–2019, Indian research registered an average annual growth of 37.47% compared to global output of 12.45%. The most productive organizations were PGIMER, Chandigarh, and AIIMS, New Delhi, contributing 37 and 26 publications respectively. The most impactful publications were from MDRF, Chennai, and DRC, Chennai, with CPP of 20.36 and 19.56 and relative citation index of 2.09 and 2.01 respectively. Devi Dayal and V. Mohan were the most productive authors with 27 and 13 papers respectively. Conclusions: Indian contribution to global scientific output on pediatric T1D is lagging in quantity and quality compared to developed countries but has shown improvement in recent years. There is a need for Indian researchers to focus on collaborative research in pediatric T1D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation in green technologies is a key factor propelling Jordanian sustainable development in the small and medium enterprises for achieving sustainability. Jordan is considered as a hub of small and medium enterprises, however, despite technological advancements and the efforts of the government, small and medium enterprises in Jordan are scarcely catering the aspect of green activities and researchers have paid less attention towards the same. Green product and green process innovation mode choices have drawn enough attention recently, but limited researchers have thoroughly examined the pathways through which green innovation is transmitted to small and medium enterprises' performance. Green product and process innovation are the two main streams of green innovation that can enhance small and medium enterprises' performance. The current research builds the framework for SMEs performance based on green product innovation and green process innovation following earlier research that have been conducted in the context of developed countries. It conducts an empirical analysis using responses of 384 manufacturing sector small and medium enterprises in Jordan. The findings demonstrate that small and medium enterprises can perform better when green products and processes are innovated. One significant moderating variable over the performance paths of small and medium enterprises is technological turbulence. The findings of the research contribute to a better understanding of green innovation and have implications for designing policies that promote green development. Article highlights: The Paper identifies the synergetic impact of product and process innovation in the context of the developing countries. The current research identified the moderating role of technological turbulence in a growing economy and is considered as a heaven for the SMEs. The novelty of the study is moderating impact of technological turbulence over the synergetic impact of product and process innovation by combining Resource Based View and Contingency theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioplastics serve as good alternatives to conventional plastics, but their production and adoption globally remain generally low. This paper sought to determine the consumer preference for bioplastics due to the urgent need for an invention on plastic pollution in Nigeria. This was achieved by employing green nudges on consumers' choice experiments on bioplastic products. The study used a sample size of 327 respondents employing the snowball sampling approach. We discovered that there was high preference heterogeneity among respondents probably due to cultural diversity and attitudinal differences. Moreover, respondents preferred to stick with their preferences instead of opting for a change in their decisions. This may have been because Nigerians are known to be brand loyalists. Our results showed that the Text treatment group thought that bioplastic labels were innovative and useful compared to the control group. This perception was probably because of the concise text on the advantages of bioplastics. We conclude that although respondents were exposed to various green nudges, there was little effect of the green nudges on their purchasing decisions. We recommend that further studies be carried out to understand why price effect was not effective in Nigeria against theory and as compared to developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author analyses papers from the past three decades related to scientific research and find that the best science comes from international collaboration. He states that the rise in total annual output for each country in the research field is due to international collaboration. He further states that he has calculated the balance of international and domestic research collaboration for various established economies such as the U.S., Great Britain and India.

Passive investments such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide an opportunity to invest in indexes, asset classes, and sectors with low maintenance costs and high transparency. Today ETFs dominate the world, with nearly 50% of the investment in the USA coming through ETFs. Numerous studies on specific aspects on ETFs have been done earlier; however, considering the scarcity of thorough summaries in the existing body of literature, this bibliometric and systematic review aims to adopt a methodical approach with the goal of delivering qualitative and quantitative understanding of ETFs, while highlighting general research trends. The authors analyzed 2058 articles associated with ETFs from the Scopus database during the last 50 years, i.e., from 1973 till date. The search was initially conducted using title, keyword, and abstract, yielding 2058 articles, which were narrowed to only include research papers and review papers, resulting in a final count of 958 items. The most important authors, highest cited articles, prominent journals, important themes, and associated countries have been identified using bibliometric research. The numerical and visual representations of the analysis show that ETFs are a widely studied research area, and the enormous rise in publications in 2020, 2021, and 2022 demonstrates that researchers are quite interested in the topic. According to affiliation statistics, most research is focused in the USA together with other developed nations, opening new options for the research on ETFs in relation to developing economies. The current analysis reconciles numerous exchange-traded fund studies associated with volatility, liquidity, risk-return trade-off, and tracking errors and identifies possible research gaps. Some of the emerging topics that evolved in passive investments include the use of machine learning, AI, and the emergence of ETFs associated with ESG and sustainability. This research will help lawmakers, scholars, and regulators understand the core principles of ETFs and identify areas that deserve additional investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the vast literature on the various determinants of happiness, very little is known about how financial and trade openness may affect people's happiness in the current literature. In this paper we attempt to fill in this blank using a large survey data from China. We find that while income inequality indeed has a significantly negative effect on happiness, there also exists a notable happiness-enhancing effect of openness via the inequality channel. Further analysis reveals that even after taking into account the possible happiness loss associated with openness, the net effect of openness on happiness remains positive in most cases. The results of the paper extend the previous literature by highlighting the important effects of financial and trade openness in improving people's happiness and how these effects may interact with income inequality. From a policy perspective, the results of the paper suggest that increasing openness of the economy would be an important strategy that policymakers could use to improve people's happiness, especially in the context of rising inequality in most developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper answers calls for a better understanding of the importance of domestic collaboration networks for innovation in immigrant- and native-owned firms. With a specific focus on the domestic networks established with other firms, research institutions, and business associations, we question whether cultivating such social capital with diverse actors is linked to better innovation performances for immigrant-owned firms. We investigate this research question by exploiting a unique matched-pair sample of immigrant and native domestic entrepreneurs who are active in high-tech mainstream (non-ethnic) markets. Our results show that universities and research institutions, along with business associations, are more important for innovation in immigrant-owned firms. In addition, we discover that immigrant entrepreneurs' acculturation to the host country's culture acts as a substitute for interactions with business associations. These findings contribute to the academic and policy knowledge on the link between immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we aim to analyze the behavior of developed-country acquiring firms in dealing with Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions location choices at both national and sub-national levels with the impact of carbon risk and heterogeneous environmental regulations (Government, Civil, and Market Environmental regulations) and to explore their Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions performances under different situations. A sample of 874 intra-manufacturing Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions completed by developed-country acquirers and conducted in developed countries and China during 2002–2021 was analyzed using logistic regression and multiple linear regression. The results show that: (1) Acquirers with higher carbon risks tend to choose China rather developed country as the target location, while this relationship is not strengthened by the home country's high-level environmental regulations; (2) At the sub-national level, Chinese provinces' government environmental regulations cannot impede acquirers to enter; what's more, the civil environmental regulations even attract these acquirers, this is particularly the case if the acquirer has high carbon risk; (3) Acquirers with higher carbon risks can achieve more performance, no matter whether they choose China as the target country. Our findings add insight into the effect of carbon risks on companies' decisions and the unique characteristics of the heterogeneous environmental regulations in China. What's more, implications are provided for Chinese regulators and policymakers, e.g., listening to the public opinion, improving the governance quality, and attracting foreign investors to help domestic industry upgrading and maintain long-run economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the ten research papers compiled for the Journal of Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) Special Issue, which has the express purpose of laying new groundwork for the understanding of business model innovations in emerging markets. Altogether, the papers delineate a new organizational framework for doing business in emerging markets and for optimizing gains from emerging market innovations. This Special Issue defines and clearly differentiates emerging market innovations (EMIs) from developed market innovations (DMIs) and provides a generalizable framework. The proposed framework corresponds to the process whereby developed market firms do business in emerging markets, capitalize on the innovative potential therein, reap the benefits and drawbacks of reverse innovations back to developed markets, and, finally, continually refine and optimize their innovation strategies. This study offers crucial managerial guidance through discussion on marketing to the Bottom-of-Pyramid (BoP), the importance of Grassroots Innovation (GRI), the necessity of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies, and the role of employees in open innovation. Lastly, this Special Issue posits conceptual and methodological limitations and future research direction to capture the emerging market phenomena entirely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic banking is among rapidly-growing components in the world's financial system. Within its institutions, continuous criteria of efficiency facilitate the evaluation of the impact of the reforms and policies on the banks' performance. In this paper, we employ the Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) method for estimating the efficiency of Islamic banks in developed and developing countries. MARS is a well-known efficient method for the flexible modelling of high-dimensional data. Unlike previous work, using a nonparametric technique of such a robustness instead of parametric approaches contributes to the improvement of the various estimates, which provides investors with accurate and timely information they can immediately react upon for a better decision-making in turbulent times. On the one hand, the results of the experiments show that, in the emerging region, there is evidence of a strong linkage between Islamic banking efficiency and gross domestic product. On the other hand, in the developed region, the efficiency is rather based upon Sharia Supervisory Board and board committees. These outcomes confirm previous works showing that governance-related variables have a significant positive effect on Islamic banking efficiency. Furthermore, the overall MARS-based predictions reveal that Islamic banks operating in developed countries are relatively more efficient than their counterparts in emerging countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since global warming worsens with economic development and emitted CO2 is one of the main greenhouse gases, it is important to understand the relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth. The paper applies a new panel cointegration test with cross-sectional dependence and structural breaks to examine this relationship in developed and developing countries, respectively. The results indicate that the "Environmental Kuznets Curve" does not hold in either group. For developing countries, there is neither linear nor quadratic long-term equilibrium relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth. For developed countries, the quadratic relationship does exist between CO2 emissions and economic growth, whereas the linear one does not. A half of these countries have inverted U-shaped curves, while the other half have U-shaped curves. Besides, most of these countries are still on the rising stage of the curve. This paper gives new insights for policymakers to keep a balance between sustainable economic growth and suitable environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has significantly influenced global financial markets, including Bitcoin. Recent studies have focused on investigating the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and accounting for market changes, which were mostly due to the pandemic. This research not only analyzes the contagion effects of COVID-19 but also considers aftermath events beyond the first pandemic wave to examine spillovers of Bitcoin. The study employs Diebold and Yilmaz's method to explore the static and dynamic spillovers of the selected variables and identifies several major global events, including crypto-specific affairs, macroeconomic policies, and geopolitical conflicts, to explain the new market dynamics of Bitcoin using network analysis. The findings identify a few high-contagion periods related to Bitcoin. The paper also found that Bitcoin is more likely to produce extreme returns and is more connected to other markets. Contagion effects "from" and "to" other markets are asymmetrical in terms of arrival time and market response. Bitcoin is more likely to be affected by other markets in extreme situations and receives spillovers from them sooner than it transmits spillovers to others. In the context of various global events, impacts arising from developed countries are stronger. China still has some impact on cryptocurrency markets, but they are waning. Bitcoin is thus not a safe haven from the shocks of global events, but can sometimes work as a hedge or diversifier. The results offer alternative explanations for Bitcoin's different market dynamics and enrich our understanding of Bitcoin's safe haven, hedge, and diversifier properties within a diversified portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of social media, interactive activities such as anthropomorphic communications are more accessible and popular. The country-of-origin(COO) stereotype is one of the most important factors which influences individuals' attitudes toward brands. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and validity of anthropomorphic communication via social media on COO stereotypes in international competitions. Experimental results indicate that the strategy of using anthropomorphic communication has positive effects for developing countries, but not the same for developed countries; the perceived social presence mediates the relationship between anthropomorphic communication and COO stereotypes of developing countries. However, the mediating effect is not obvious in developed countries, the influence of anthropomorphic communication is effective and feasible only when individuals' mindset is global. The theoretical model in this paper is a useful supplement to the existing achievements of anthropomorphism and COO stereotypes, it provides a reference for enterprises in developing countries to use anthropomorphic strategies accurately to reduce negative COO stereotypes and improve international competitiveness, it also gives suggestions for companies in developed countries to adopt anthropomorphic communication strategies cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new technologies and the necessity to pay attention to sustainable development, on the one hand, and increasing the cultivated area to gain more product, on the other hand, have made the protection and improvement of the environment one of the most important concerns of policymakers. Accordingly, in recent years, extensive theoretical and empirical research has been conducted to find ways to improve the quality of the environment and its effective factors. In this regard, this paper assessed the impact of value-added agriculture and globalization on CO2 emission in the agricultural sector in selected developing countries, including Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and Australia. For this purpose, panel data over 1995–2017 and the random effects method were used. The results indicated that value-added agriculture and globalization had an inverse relationship with CO2 emission in the agricultural sector of developed countries. According to the results, it is recommended to reform infrastructures and optimize resource utilization by entering and promoting cleaner technologies, and furthermore attracting foreign investments, which are a part of criteria forming globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research on the relationship between financial resource availability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has presented contrasting theoretical arguments and evidence. While the relationship has been theorized to be positive in developed countries, it has been argued to be negative in emerging economies due to institutional differences. However, prior theorization in the context of emerging economies has failed to consider the possibility of a non-monotonic relationship between financial resources and CSR. Although due to the high costs of obtaining external finance in emerging economies, firms may choose to prioritize capital retention over engaging in CSR activities when financial resource availability is low, this behavior is likely to change beyond a point when the level of available financial resources has crossed a reasonable threshold. In this paper, we develop this perspective and predict a U-shaped relationship between financial resource availability and CSR in emerging economies. We test and find support for this prediction on a sample of the top 500 listed firms in India. Further, we also predict and find that three dominant ownership structures (i.e., family ownership, business group affiliation, and state ownership) differentially condition this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs the basic service standard of civil aviation based on the Tessellation model, which improves and solves the traditional algorithm of particle swarm optimization. This paper takes the practice of civil aviation universal service as an example, such as Xinjiang in China. This paper also tests and analyzes the research methods. The conclusion of the study is as follows. The implementation of universal service in remote areas has continuously improved with the civil aviation–operating environment, the fixed cost investment has greatly reduced, and the total social welfare has been increasing. It can be seen from the case of Xinjiang that the general service level of civil aviation is roughly equivalent to the universal service level of developed countries in the world. From the perspective of model solving process, the improved algorithm of particle swarm optimization has better efficiency than the standard particle swarm optimization. The diversity constriction factor of particle swarm optimization has the best convergence effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prices of energy resources are important determinants of sustainable energy development, yet associated with significant unknowns. The estimates of the impact of prices of energy products in the domestic market (for domestic consumers) are rare—hence the importance and novelty of this research. Therefore, the main goal of the paper is to assess the impact of domestic prices of gasoline, gas, coal, and solar energy on sustainable and secure energy future. Methods: The research includes 14 countries (of which 7 are developed and 7 are developing countries) and a period of 5 years (2014–2018). The model also includes discrete variables: level of development (developing or developed), and the fact as to whether the country is an energy exporter or not. For the purposes of analysis, the following elements were used: Panel Data Analysis, Linear regression (with random and fixed effects), Durbin–Wu–Hausman test, and Honda test, with the use of R-studio software for statistical computing. Results: The research showed that the biggest negative impact on energy sustainability was recorded by an increase in the price of coal and the smallest one by an increase in the price of solar energy. An increase in the price of gasoline has a positive impact, while an increase in the price of gas has no impact. The basic methodological result showed that the fixed effects linear model is more accurate than the random effect model. Conclusions: The results of the paper, important as a sustainable energy policy recommendation, showed that the impact of changes in energy product prices is significantly greater in developing countries, but that the status of the country as an energy exporter has no significance. In addition, the paper points to the need to intensify the research on the assessment of the impact of energy product prices for domestic consumers on their ability to pay that price, because with a certain (so far undefined) increase in energy product prices, a certain group of domestic consumers moves into a category that is not in line with sustainable energy development and is extremely undesirable in every respect—energy poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst there is a rich body of literature linking globalization with economic disparities between rich and poor nations, there is very little situated understanding of causal links, if any, between globalization and health gaps between nations. Set against this background, this paper contributes to the empirical literature by investigating globalization as a channel of the health gap between countries in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Results from a dynamic panel data analysis show that globalization has statistically insignificant impact on the health gap between the OECD and SSA countries. Rather, economic and demographic structures, measured by the age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) and GDP per capita growth emerged as the main determinants of the health gap between SSA and OECD countries. The paper draws out some policy implications which may usefully impact programmes aimed at checking health inequities between developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging in the twenty-first century, Network Science provides practical measures to interpret a system's interactions between the components and their links. Literature has focused on countries' interconnections on the final goods, but its application on the value-added from a network perspective in trade is still imitated. This paper applies network science properties and a multi-regional input–output analysis by using the UNCTAD-Eora Global Value Chain Database on the Transport Equipment value added on 2017 to unwrap the specific structural characteristics of the industry. Results show that the industry is highly centralized. The center of the network is dominated by developed countries, mainly from Europe, the United States, and Japan. Emerging countries such as China, Mexico, Thailand, and Poland also have an important position. In addition, the structure reveals two sub-hubs located in East Europe and North America. By extending to community detection, the network consists of three different communities led by Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, associated with more significant value-added flows. The study concludes that flows are not always consistent with the economy's geographical location as usually final goods analysis suggests, and highlight the need to continue using the complex network to reveal the world trade structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the twentieth century, two historical turns of economic inequality happened. Among the developed countries of the Global North, the secular trend of decreasing intra-national inequality turned into its opposite. At about the same time, the long period of global inequality began to bend down, among households as well as among nations, a turn less noticed but more significant than the reduction of extreme poverty in the South. The foundation of the former turn was the beginning of de-industrialization in the North, and the coming of a post-industrial society, very different from the one predicted. The paper analyzes the trigger of the turn and the central dynamics of the new inequality in the rich North, financialization, and the digital revolution. It then tries to answer two questions about the global turn: Was the decline of global inequality causally connected to the increase of Northern intra-national inequality? Will there be a development of industrial societies in the South? The answer to both is no. What lies ahead is more likely a global convergence of intra-national unequalization, albeit with both different and similar dynamics, as the decline of extreme poverty in the South is leading to inequality increases comparable to those of the North. Post-industrialism has no egalitarian dialectic like that of industrial capitalism, but the dynamics of the twenty-first century inequality are likely to be confronted not only with popular protest movements but also with an emergent scholarly and intellectual Egalitarian Enlightenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology transfer can be seen as an effective mechanism to advance the flow of technological development in a developing country’s economy. Though normally small-scale technology transfer projects are initiated and managed by private organizations, the large-scale technology transfer projects in a developing country are sponsored by the state itself, given the complexity level of and resource requirements for such projects. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the critical elements of a successful large-scale technology transfer process framework in a developing country context. Four components are highlighted that facilitate a successful large-scale technology transfer process. These are: (i) understanding and selecting technology components; (ii) selecting a technology transfer mode; (iii) negotiating effective process; and (iv) developing capability. Aspects of negotiation and adoption/assimilation capability development are stressed in this paper, which is commonly missed out in conventional technology transfer framework. Accordingly a comprehensive and goal oriented technology transfer framework has been presented in the paper linking all the core elements. A Libyan case study is discussed to illustrate the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Former reports of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) tended to focus on the equity side of investing, and today green bonds also offer and introduce sustainability factors. This paper is about the relevance, potential benefits and key arguments for countries with low-and middle-incomes where financial markets are not comparable with those in developed countries. We begin by stating clearly the relevance of a green economy transformation, highlight the development challenges they face and talk about how a green economy approach can help to solve these challenges. Then an outline of the progress that has been made in this panel, and the economic and social benefits that a green economy can potentially offer to Low- and Middle-Income countries (LMIC's) will be underlined. Finally, we will make recommendations on the range of potential areas for intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the industrialization of African economies. In particular, we address the nonlinearity issue and investigate the role of the recipient countries' absorptive capacities as a catalyst of foreign investments' spillover effects. The empirical framework considers a panel of 46 countries over the 1998–2019 period. The SGMM estimates highlight a two-threshold relationship between FDI and industrial output. FDI should range between an upper and a lower bound to produce a positive effect on domestic industries. Our findings also suggest that weakly industrialized countries and countries endowed with high absorptive capacities are those taking advantage from the spillover effects generated by FDI. Finally, estimation results reveal that financial development, human capital, infrastructure and the legal framework are the main channels through which FDI contributes to promote the industrialization process in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the efficiency and convergence of 37 stock exchanges in 35 countries over the period from 2006 to 2014, a period that encompasses a full business cycle of growth, recession and recovery. We combine a multi-stage data envelopment analysis with the window analysis approach to filter out the impact of economic environmental variables on stock exchange efficiency in the provision of trading services and track the efficiency changes over time. We show that economic growth, inflation and financial development are important drivers of efficiency. Lagging stock exchanges are catching up to the leading stock exchanges in terms of technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Exchanges in developed countries converge faster than those in the emerging countries and the dispersion of the efficiency levels over the whole sample and the subsamples of developed vs emerging country stock exchanges diminished. Finally, stock exchanges in emerging countries are catching up to the stock exchanges in the developed countries and the dispersion of the efficiency levels between them also diminished. Overall, our findings indicate that integration has taken place in the stock exchange industry over the sample period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic macular edema (DME) remains the major cause of preventable blindness in the working-age population in developed countries, and screening programs are extremely important in the management of this complication of diabetic retinopathy. The introduction of modern imaging modalities and technological advances have facilitated both the early detection and the follow-up of patients with DME, particularly optical coherence tomography angiography and artificial intelligence. Intravitreal therapy is the gold standard treatment for DME, but not all patients respond equally to this therapy, and sometimes it is not easy to apply treatment protocols correctly; for these reasons, clinical practice results may differ from those of clinical trials in terms of vision gain. One approach has been to implement new treatment regimens, such as treat and extend, and new molecules and therapeutic targets are constantly being developed. The main goal of this review paper is to describe the current treatment options and management strategies for DME in Europe and to provide a brief oversight of the novel therapeutic options on the horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One major change in the world of international business and finance is the growing role of private equity investments in firms in emerging markets. In little more then four years, since 2003, the money raised by international, primarily American private equity funds for investment in emerging markets went up about ten times, from $3.513 to $35B. This paper provides a multidimensional analysis and discussion on the role of private equity funds in the globalization process of firms from emerging markets. The discussion begins with development economics, focusing on financial markets & development and sector specific capital, proceeds to a discussion of local comparative advantage and intangible trade costs in the process of globalization, and continues with a discussion of imperfect contracts and financial contracting based on recent research in financial economics. The multidimensional character of the research is congruent with the nature of globalization and international business. Investment of private equity funds in emerging markets is shown as a new form of foreign direct investment dubbed FFDI (financial foreign direct investment). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Max Weber in 1905 claimed that Protestantism, and more specifically Calvinism, facilitated the rise of capitalism. This paper assesses the quantitative plausibility of his hypothesis by introducing religious beliefs into a dynamic general equilibrium model of development and growth. Through counterfactual exercises, the paper investigates whether differences between Catholics and Protestants most closely identified with the Protestant Work Ethic can account for long delays in the start of Industrialization observed between various countries and regions. The main finding is that these differences may possibly explain why Northern Europe developed before Southern Europe, but they cannot explain why Europe developed before Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-motorized transport (NMT) is the use of a bicycle or walking to travel from one place to another. It is gaining popularity especially in the developed countries due to low transport externalities such as emissions and traffic congestion alongside its benefits to physical and mental health. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the existing literature related to NMT is presented focusing on the factors including built environment, geography, and weather, the health, and environmental benefits of NMT, and the motivational approach for increasing the use of NMT. The built environment, geography and weather, and socioeconomic factors significantly affect the use of NMT as a travel mode. This study reviewed some unique characteristics of NMT especially in developing countries to provide a clear understanding of the dynamics of NMT. Despite existence of vast research on NMT, a comprehensive literature review to evaluate different aspects of NMT seems essential to address the future challenges with significant automobile ownership increase in the developing nations and the associated externalities. The developing nations have to understand the factors of NMT with reference to their socio-economic conditions and perform quantitative analyses to estimate and project benefits of NMT including health benefits. The policy makers in the developing countries should consider the NMT as one element of the solution matrix to address the challenges of road transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health promotion activities consume a growing proportion of health sector spending in most developed countries. Yet, there is still considerable debate in the non-economic literature about exactly what health promotion constitutes and precisely how its role is to be conceived. This paper provides one economic answer to such questions. It sets out an argument that health promotion may be viewed, through the lens of traditional welfare economics, as a response to problems of market failure. A Grossman-type health investment model is invoked to analyse individual deviations from equilibrium and the possible instruments and targets of health promotion policy. The paper concludes by suggesting some of the alternative conceptual approaches that might be brought to bear, as well as some ideas for empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There has been tremendous change on neuropathic pain research in the past 20 years in China and around the world. We analyzed the global trend of neuropathic pain research and compared China’s quantity and quality of neuropathic pain-related publications with other developed countries.Methods: Using terms “neuropathic pain”, we retrieved related publications from the Web of Science (WOS) database and PubMed database. From different aspects, such as the number of papers, total citations, average citations per item, H-index, research types, orientation, institutions, journals and funding, global neuropathic pain publications were classified and analyzed.Results: From 1998 to 2017, 21,733 articles regarding neuropathic pain research were published worldwide. Of these, 9.394% were contributed by authors from Chinese institutions, which followed USA and ranked second. However, the quality indicators of publications, including total citations, average citations per item and H-index, were relatively low in China. High contribution journals and the 10 most-cited articles on neuropathic pain in world and China were also listed, which also can reflect the quality of neuropathic pain. Based on National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), basic research was the main articles type, accounting for 32.91% of China’s neuropathic pain research.Conclusion: Global neuropathic pain research increased rapidly during the 1998 to 2017 period. The USA was still the leader of neuropathic research. Although China had made great achievements, there was a significant gap in the high-quality studies between China and other leading countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares a number of ethical management practices of firms in two different economies. The recent behaviour of firms, described in terms of industry, size, international involvement and ownership, in a developed, western economy (Australia) are contrasted with the behaviour of similar firms in an emerging, eastern economy (Sri Lanka). This paper extends an earlier empirical study by Batten, Hettihewa and Mellor (1997) on the relationship between key firm-specific variables and firm ethical management practices in Australia by drawing on similar survey data from Sri Lanka to facilitate an international comparison. The importance of this study is that it provides a valuable insight into the impact the level of economic development may have on ethical management behaviour and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes how the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization classify countries based on their level of development. These systems are found lacking in clarity with regard to their underlying rationale. The paper argues that a country classification system based on a transparent, data-driven methodology is preferable to one based on judgment or ad hoc rules. Such an alternative methodology is developed and used to construct classification systems using a variety of proxies for development attainment. The methodology provides a way to construct a linear approximation of a Lorenz curve such that the difference between the linear approximation and the actual Lorenz curve is minimized. The linear segments represent different categories of countries (e.g., low development and high development countries). The methodology has wider applicability; it can be used whenever there is a need to construct a classification system of relatively few categories from a large heterogeneous sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global economic integration is driving countries and companies to increasingly pursue internationalized innovation activities. During this process, transnational patents are thought to play a vital role in protecting inventions and innovations abroad. This study investigates the structure of international technology diffusion and its evolution using transnational patent networks (TPNs) during the 1994–2017 period. The analyses are conducted using topological structures, centrality rankings, a three-layer visualization analysis (global, contextual and ego) and a block modeling analysis assisted by measures from social network analysis. The major findings are as follows: (1) TPNs present clear small-world phenomena, and the countries in the networks tend to establish more connections with other countries over time; (2) TPNs exhibit a highly uneven distribution in degree centrality and betweenness centrality, indicating a conspicuous global hierarchical structure of patent-expanding capabilities in various countries; (3) three-layer landscapes of TPNs illustrate the extreme imbalance in the ability of expanding transnational patents between South and North countries; (4) four blocks that play different roles in TPNs are distinguished, i.e., source, broker, beginner and absorber; and (5) 22 countries with high betweenness rankings achieve block-level transitions; among these countries, China and Singapore are highly typical examples. This paper argues that developed countries are actively using the monopoly power granted by transnational patents to shape a new world system. This study concludes with a discussion of policy implications for developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes as a premise that world economics, world politics and global labour are changing and that whilst migration is a driver as well as a consequence of change it is changing, too. For long, conventional research focussed on north-north and south-north migrations, like across the Atlantic or from agricultural and industrialising to industrial countries. This was in part inspired by the economic and political dominance of the 'global north', but also driven by a western and Eurocentric bias. Meanwhile, a long period of economic and political transformations and turbulences gave rise to new economic powers, diversified the sending-receiving country matrix and thus fundamentally changed the determinants for international migration. I elaborate the concepts migration order and migration transition to argue that these are useful for analysing the changes in the configuration of sending, receiving and transit states. To illustrate the argument, this article takes Russia and Turkey and developments from the early 2000s as case studies and analyses the shifts in the regional and global migration flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this research is to analyze and identify the challenges and opportunities of innovation and incubators programs and their potential use worldwide. Prior work: Discussed innovation and incubators as a powerful tool for knowledge-based economy from different perspectives using different criteria to measure the key performance indicators of best practices for innovation in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Gulf Cooperation Council States (GCC). The results are part of the ongoing research project funded by a grant from the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS-2012-1103-01). Approach: The methodology is based on quantitative approach (survey questionnaire) and literature review. Results: This paper provides several recommendations for the international implementation of innovation and incubators outcomes. Implications: This paper provides value-added knowledge for both academics and practitioners who are interested in the successful adaptation of innovation and incubators. Value: The authors believe that this paper demonstrates an added value to the current literature on innovation and incubators and fills the gap in the case studies in the literature of developed and developing countries and presents a more comprehensive analysis of progress and challenges to knowledge-based economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economists and other social scientists are calling for a reassessment of the impact of international trade on labor markets in developed and developing countries. Classical models of globalization and trade, based upon the international exchange of finished goods, fail to capture the fragmentation of much commodity production and the geographical separation of individual production tasks. This fragmentation, captured in the growing volume of intra-industry trade, prompts investigation of the effects of trade within, rather than between, sectors of the economy. In this paper we examine the relationship between international trade and the task structure of US employment. We link disaggregate US trade data from 1972 to 2006, the NBER manufacturing database, the Decennial Census, and occupational and task data from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Within-industry shifts in task characteristics are linked to import competition and technological change. Our results suggest that trade has played a major role in the growth in relative demand for nonroutine tasks, particularly those requiring high levels of interpersonal interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to shed light on firm-specific drivers that lead firms to internationalise their innovation activities. The paper paints a comprehensive picture of driving forces by including firm capabilities, characteristics of the firm's competitive environment and the influence of innovation obstacles in the home country. In particular the influence of potential driving forces on the probability to carry out different innovative activities abroad is assessed (R&D, design/conception of new products, manufacturing of innovative products and implementation of new processes). In a second stage these driving forces are observed with regard to their impact on the decision to locate innovation activities in various countries and regions (China, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and North America) as well as in groups of countries with similar levels of knowledge ('country clubs'). The analysis is based on the Mannheim Innovation Panel survey which represents the German CIS (Community Innovation Survey) contribution. Two survey waves have been combined, resulting in a sample of about 1,400 firms. The results show that the decision to perform innovation activities abroad is mainly driven by organisational capabilities such as absorptive capacities, international experience and existing technological competences of the respective firm. Innovation barriers at the German home base such as lack of labour and high innovation costs prompt the set-up of later-stage innovation activities abroad while the lack of demand demonstrates a barrier to the internationalisation decision for the development and manufacturing of new products. Location decisions receive the strongest influencing effects from the international experience of the firm. Firms which innovate in developing countries seem to require a more extensive level of international experience through international R&D cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of the global economic crisis, manufacturing organizations in developed economies such as Europe, Japan and the United States are in the process of transition. This transition is made even more marked with the economic downturn taking place across the world. There is a strong movement of cost based manufacturing to offshore and low wage economies. The remaining onshore manufacturing activities now focus on innovative new processes and exceptional customer service. The technology and processes required for onshore manufacturing can be complex and challenges the existing skills of engineers and managers to continuously operate and change such systems. Educational bodies struggle to keep up to date. The pace of change has meant that curricula in universities are frequently out of date and the skills of teachers, researchers and even some professors are out of touch with reality. These and other issues were discussed recently by leading experts from academia and industry from around the world. Their deliberations coupled with a number of related sources of documented research are presented in this paper. The main findings reiterate that high-tech manufacturing will continue to be a major player in the landscape of developed economies but that the research thrusts and skill sets of young engineers and how they receive these skills will need to change. The paper provides a number of suggestions for strategic change to research and education in manufacturing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jacques J. Polak influenced the evolution of the international financial system, including by developing a seminal monetary model of the balance of payments that could be applied empirically in developing countries; by making essential contributions to the design and development of the SDR; and through his research publications on a variety of theoretical and empirical topics relevant to international economic and financial policies. This paper summarizes his life and assesses his professional output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a short literature review, the paper quantifies the turnover of organized crime with the help of a MIMIC estimation procedure for the years 1995 to 2006 for 20 highly developed OECD countries. The volume of turnover from organized crime was US-$ 270 billion in the year 1995 for these 20 OECD countries, rising to $ 614 billion in 2006. The worldwide turnover in organized crime had a value of $ 595 billion in 2001 and rose to $ 790 billion in 2006. These figures are very preliminary but clearly indicate the importance of the turnover of organized crime or the extent of money laundering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the roles of U.S. financial innovation, financial globalization, and the savings glut hypothesis in explaining the rise in U.S. external debt, first in a portfolio balance model, and then empirically. Perhaps surprisingly, financial deepening and falling home bias in industrialized countries explain a large share of external financing. The savings glut hypothesis (including difficult-to-track petrodollar recycling) and U.S. financial innovation also play a role, in part as a cause of declining home bias in industrialized countries. The latter underscores the importance of not looking at these factors in isolation, but rather as a constellation of forces that can be self-reinforcing.IMF Staff Papers (2009) 56, 410–445. doi:10.1057/imfsp.2009.11 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the proportion of skilled labour employed by subsidiaries in small countries in the context of the strategic role of subsidiaries. Strategic role is connected to autonomy and intra-organisational relationships and the mandates given to the subsidiary. In the paper, we draw on the literature on the strategic development of multinational corporations, and insights from inward foreign direct investments in small developed countries. This is presented in a unifying framework in order to predict diverse categorizations of the impact of subsidiary role on the proportion of their employment of skilled labour. The paper derives two propositions that postulate interactions between three roles containing different levels of autonomy and intra-organisational relationships in small developed countries that lead to different proportions of skilled labour in subsidiaries. We predict the highest proportion of skilled labour by subsidiaries located in small developed countries in the case of world mandates when autonomous-based operations are emphasized. When there is an emphasis on intra-organizational relationships, measured by product flows and integrated international value-chain configurations, we predict the proportion of skilled labour to be highest in the cases of specialized contributors. We propose the proportion of skilled labour to be lowest in the case of local implementers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether and how emerging markets reward firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. We focus on the socially responsible investment (SRI) index, which lists the top CSR performers and serves as a tool to help investors make investment decisions based on financial and social criteria. We empirically test the financial market responses to the announcements of pioneering SRI indices recently launched in Brazil, China, and South Africa. We find that inclusion on an SRI index in these markets is associated with positive abnormal returns. However, inclusion on an SRI index does not benefit all firms equally: the positive financial response is strengthened by R&D expenditures but weakened by advertising expenditures; it is stronger for firms that have expanded globally to developing countries than those to developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the low interest rate policies adopted by industrialized countries after the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a reduction in capital outflows from emerging countries to industrialized countries. Together with the lower outflows of capital, emerging countries experienced a decline in output growth bigger than industrialized countries. This paper develops a model capable of replicating this pattern. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the model shows that lower interest rates in industrialized countries could have negative macroeconomic consequences for emerging countries even though emerging economies experience increased inflows (or decreased outflows) of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leftovers of medications, which have not been disposed adequately in the pharmaceutical industry, cause damage to the environment and may become hazardous to people's health as well. On the contrary, returning unexpired medications pharmaceutical producer can make a chance to sell unexpired items at reduced prices or distribute them to developed countries. Here, the customer's role and customer's suggested price are considered that can be as an incentive to customers in order to corporate on collecting returned items in order to promote remaining returns and make better sustainability for a Reverse Supply Chain (RSC) in pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, this paper investigated the effect of uncertainty using Robust Optimization according to the method proposed by Mulvey et al. (Oper Res 43(2):264–281, 1995) on leftover items and having a suitable accord method among the third Party Logistics firms, who are liable for collecting leftover medicines from customers, in order to maximize RSC member's profit and having a chance to negotiate on replacement order. The numerical example demonstrated that proposed method has shown to be converged based on uncertainty in incentive of customers and could increase the amount of uncollected items. Moreover, having an adequate coordination through the RSC could give a guarantee for a full returning of medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data-driven healthcare policy discussions are gaining traction after the Covid-19 outbreak and ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections. The US has a hybrid healthcare structure; it is a system that does not provide universal coverage, albeit few years ago enacted a mandate (Affordable Care Act-ACA) that provides coverage for the majority of Americans. The US has the highest health expenditure per capita of all western and developed countries; however, most Americans don't tap into the benefits of preventive healthcare. It is estimated that only 8% of Americans undergo routine preventive screenings. On a national level, very few states (15 out of the 50) have above-average preventive healthcare metrics. In literature, many studies focus on the cure of diseases (research areas such as drug discovery and disease prediction); whilst a minority have examined data-driven preventive measures—a matter that Americans and policy makers ought to place at the forefront of national issues. In this work, we present solutions for preventive practices and policies through Machine Learning (ML) methods. ML is morally neutral, it depends on the data that train the models; in this work, we make the case that Big Data is an imperative paradigm for healthcare. We examine disparities in clinical data for US patients by developing correlation and imputation methods for data completeness. Non-conventional patterns are identified. The data lifecycle followed is methodical and deliberate; 1000+ clinical, demographical, and laboratory variables are collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Multiple statistical models are deployed (Pearson correlations, Cramer's V, MICE, and ANOVA). Other unsupervised ML models are also examined (K-modes and K-prototypes for clustering). Through the results presented in the paper, pointers to preventive chronic disease tests are presented, and the models are tested and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal solid waste management is creating serious environmental issues for both developing and developed countries. Proper waste management solutions should be adopted to meet technological feasibility, and it should be financially and environmentally sustainable as well as socially and legally acceptable. Developing countries like India have introduced new policy frameworks for the proper management of municipal solid waste resources along with waste-to-energy recovery and material recycling. This paper gives a deep insight into municipal waste management systems and examines the energy and environmental policy issues to identify weak points in selection criteria for suitable technology. India is facing serious issues in the management of municipal solid waste and is trying to introduce better management solutions. From a technical perspective, both gasification and anaerobic digestion seem to be attractive when compared to traditional management approaches, but the economic feasibility of these technologies needs to be verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze and compare the finite sample properties of alternative factor extraction procedures in the context of non-stationary Dynamic Factor Models (DFMs). On top of considering procedures already available in the literature, we extend the hybrid method based on the combination of principal components and Kalman filter and smoothing algorithms to non-stationary models. We show that if the idiosyncratic noises are stationary, procedures based on extracting the factors using the non-stationary original series work better than those based on differenced variables. We apply the methodology to the analysis of cross-border risk sharing by fitting non-stationary DFM to aggregate Gross Domestic Product and consumption of a set of 21 industrialized countries from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The goal is to check if international risk sharing is a short- or long-run issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the degree of openness to trade of three developed countries markets—the European Union, Japan, the United States—with that of three middle-income countries, namely Brazil, India, and China. A theoretically consistent protection measure—the Mercantilistic Trade Restrictiveness Index (MTRI)—is employed to average tariffs at different levels of aggregation. The computation relies on a comparative static applied general equilibrium model (Global Trade Analysis Project—GTAP) featuring imperfect competition as well as on the bilateral applied tariffs included in the most recent version of the GTAP database. Results provide a different picture from what could have been expected given the widely publicized diffusion of preferential schemes supposedly favoring developing countries exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]