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The recovery rate of paper products is a key factor in measuring the recyscling potential and the sustainability of the paper industry. Accurately measuring the recovery rate of paper products holds important theoretical and practical value. This paper took the non-recycling part and time factor into account and built the Koyck model to estimate the recovery rate, storage loss rate and recovery cycle of paper products. The model results showed that the recovery rate of Chinese paper products in 2017 increased to 58.05%, which was 10% higher than the results of methods that did not contain the non-recycling part or the time factor. The model results also showed that the storage loss rate of Chinese paper products was much higher than that of developed countries while the recovery cycle was close to the level of developed countries. The distribution analysis showed that the storage loss rate and recovery cycle of Chinese paper products varied significantly over time, which may be the result of policies and the change of consumption structure. It is suggested that the Chinese government should take measures to reduce the storage loss rate of paper products and enhance their recycling ability to achieve sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial summarises the papers published in issue 15.4 in order to raise the bar in applied spatial economic research and highlight new trends and knowledge. The first paper challenges the standard notion that more growth is better. The second paper challenges macroeconomic models by looking at them from a regional micro-grounded lens, where the effect of productivity shocks depends on the distribution of economic activity and the locations where shocks occur. The third paper investigates the wage-productivity nexus using the latest techniques on cross-sectional dependence. The fourth paper introduces a new method to determine regional price differentials. The fifth paper tests whether economic-theoretical insights obtained from urban economic models apply not only to cities in developed countries but also to those in developing countries. The sixth paper sets out an estimation method for a spatial random coefficients model for clusters of observations. The seventh paper proposes a new method for regionalizing national input–output tables. The final paper focuses on Big Data and its role in regional growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption is a phenomenon that is not just restricted to less developed nations, but also touches developed countries like those in the European Union, often seen as one of the least corrupt economic areas in the world. Corruption practices and perceptions can seriously hinder economic growth and innovation, This can be due to lower access to corporate funding, greater cost of capital, its effects on competition, misallocation of resources, and distortions in the composition of public spending and the effectiveness of government policies. This paper first provides a short discussion and an overview of some academic literature on the link between corruption, financing decisions and economic growth. It then summarizes the findings of the five papers in this special issue on the topic of Corruption in a European context, discusses some insights from their results and finally points out at some avenues for future research in related topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaculture has expanded rapidly over the past half century and has surpassed capture fisheries as a source of seafood globally. However, most of the aquaculture production growth has occurred in developing countries. Despite early leadership in the global aquaculture industry, most developed countries have played only a minor role in the Blue Revolution. This paper examines the potential for developed nations to increase aquaculture production using recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) based production. The United States is used as a case study to highlight potential benefits associated with RAS-based production for developed country producers. The paper examines potential marketing and production benefits associated with RAS-based production in developed countries and evaluates the potential for RAS to avoid some regulatory and social opposition obstacles that have hindered other forms of aquaculture in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive literature has investigated the driving forces behind high-technology exports, but most studies focus on developed countries and developing countries outside Africa. The purpose of this paper is to assess the main factors determining export-oriented technological change, using the technological content of exports (high-tech, medium-tech and low-tech exports) as a proxy. For this purpose, instrumental variable regressions are applied to a panel dataset of 33 African countries. The findings revealed that the main determinants of high-technology exports are: imports of components, rule of law, human capital, FDI inflows, GDP per capita and manufacturing. For medium-technology exports, the determinants identified are similar to high-technology exports with population included. The main determinants of low-technology manufactured exports are imports of components, rule of law, population, FDI inflows, GDP per capita and manufacturing. These give policymakers in African countries a targeted approach in formulating policies related to exports by technological category. This paper contributes to the literature in that it assesses the main factors determining export-oriented technological change, using different levels of technological content of exports (high-tech, medium-tech and low-tech exports). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of studies has investigated the geography of entrepreneurship in developed countries, with entrepreneurship researchers recently extending this topic to the developing country context. However, geography-oriented studies that consider extreme spatial differences in such contexts remain scarce. To address this gap, this paper provides a spatial-econometric analysis of the role of agglomeration economies and knowledge spillovers on start-up rates across cities in Turkey between 2009 and 2018 by considering extreme spatial differences, a common characteristic of many developing countries. By doing so, this paper determines whether the leading stylized facts that are empirically tested in developed countries hold for developing countries and analyses the extent to which extreme spatial differences matter to regional entrepreneurship performance. The spatial-econometric analysis also offers an evaluation of the mimicking effect, which examines how nearby cities influence each other in the new firm formation process. The econometric model reveals that while the entrepreneurial patterns of developed countries have some relevance to Turkey in general, the outcomes vary significantly between leading and lagging regions. This underscores the crucial importance of accounting for entrenched spatial disparities in developing countries when researching entrepreneurship and the need to identify suitable policy combinations for promoting local ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a major growth in global health networks in recent decades to address health issues including tobacco use, alcohol abuse, and maternal mortality. Most conditions that incur high costs have provoked networks of advocates working to mitigate the impact, increase investment in research, and establish campaigns. Global health networks often work simultaneously across policy, knowledge creation, and advocacy. Until recently there has been limited activity in global health networks and advocacy addressing hearing loss and deafness which has contributed to its relatively low visibility with policymakers compared to other health conditions. This discussion paper reports on a global consultation that explored the views of advocacy groups and individuals on advocacy for the management of hearing loss, and cochlear implantation (CI). It focussed on stakeholders' views of current advocacy endeavours, opportunities and barriers, and the possible development of a global advocacy network to improve access to cochlear implantation and the supporting services. The subsequent development of a global health network, the Cochlear Implant International Community of Action (CIICA) is discussed and the conditions necessary for the successful development of health networks are explored. This paper will be of interest to those wishing to understand the factors influencing the development of health networks and advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the issues of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS), and its predecessor, New Community, published during the period 1991–2010. Its main focus is on the changing geographical distribution of content, both for the ‘host’ countries of immigrants and the ‘sending’ countries of emigrants. Evidence is presented to show a shift away from a focus on the UK and Europe, with more material on other host-country contexts (North America, Australia); nevertheless, even at the end of the two-decade period, Europe still accounted for three-quarters of the host-country papers. A broadly similar pattern is evident when authors’ countries of institutional affiliation are tabulated. Concerning the geography of sending countries, we find a decline in articles on ‘traditional’ sending regions such as the Caribbean and South Asia, and a rise in the number of articles on the ‘newer’ sending regions—Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. We also note a progressive feminisation of the authorship of JEMS articles: from two-thirds’ male authorship during the 1990s to parity by the end of the 2000s. The final part of the paper makes selective comparison, based on authors’ geographical affiliation, between published and rejected papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Concerns for the ongoing and increasing degradation of the natural environment worldwide have increased the impetus for action, and development of governance arrangements to support natural resource management. Despite this, several issues around governance still remain as challenges to the success of natural resource management. This study reports the findings of a systematic literature review of 240 papers to better understand how governance challenges manifest spatially, and how they change over time. Also the paper identifies key priority areas for strategic governance reform. This paper reveals that the capacity of natural resource management governance systems internationally is most limited by factors that limit connectivity and collaboration between stakeholders in decision-making processes, and the alignment of vision and objectives across institutions. The paper also reveals clear spatial disparities and temporal changes in the number of studies and governance challenges identified in natural resource management in developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financialisation in developing countries is the subject of an expanding literature but its characteristic features and its relationship to developed countries remain unclear. Reviewing the literature, this paper shows that financialisation in developing countries should be distinguished from financial liberalisation and financial globalisation. Furthermore, its character is partly derivative from financialisation in developed countries, as is confirmed by two theoretical approaches, related but different from each other, namely 'subordinate' and 'dependent' financialisation. By further reviewing the empirical literature, the paper also shows that financialisation in developing countries is highly variable and different from that in developed countries regarding the conduct of non-financial enterprises, banks, and households. Moreover, the literature addresses several sources of vulnerability for developing countries relating to financialisation. Finally, there are significant literature gaps, above all, the connection between financialisation and the globalisation of production as well as the role of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominance of the 'After the Washington Consensus' for international development is based on mainstream-neoclassical economics that has been imposed by Washington upon debt-stranded developing and developed countries. Against this tide, the purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative scheme and recommendations for international development, pulling from the Marxist political economy practice. Considering, Marxist political economy as a living tradition, the paper contributes to offering a Marxist political economy perspective to international development in the form of a retort to the 'After the Washington Consensus'. 'After the Washington Consensus' represents an evolution from the Washington Consensus, due to the need for capital to adapt to new forms of exploitation. Students and scholars of international development would benefit from this worthwhile exercise that distinguishes in a succinctly and methodically manner between mainstream-neoclassical and Marxist political economy perspectives on international development. The paper concludes that in contradistinction, a Marxist political economy approach to international development that serves the interests of the working class does not have any commonalities with the 'After the Washington Consensus' that serves the interests of international capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In developed countries, people spend nearly 90% of their time in buildings or during transportation. Recent research studies demonstrated that occupant behaviors have a significant impact on building performance in relation to the indoor environment and energy use. This paper presents the ASHRAE Global Occupant Behavior Database which aims to advance the knowledge and understanding of realistic occupancy patterns and human-building interactions with building systems. This database includes 34 field-measured occupant behavior datasets for both commercial and residential buildings, contributed by researchers from 15 countries and 39 institutions covering 10 different climate zones. It includes occupancy patterns, occupant behaviors, indoor and outdoor environment measurements. The database is open source, a public website was developed for the users to interactively explore, query, and download datasets. This paper focuses on a detailed data analysis to investigate patterns of nine occupant behavior types, examining impacted factors such as building type, country, and climate zone. EnergyPlus simulations have been implemented based on the occupancy profiles derived from this database, and results showed overall building electricity consumption can be reduced up to around 27% in Summer and around 10% in Winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between democratic participation and the well-being of the people – a fundamental aim of Confucian government. It argues that although the value of democratic participation for people's moral cultivation may be dubious (as suggested recently by Sungmoon Kim), democratic participation is key to meeting other salient aspects of people's well-being. Drawing on developments in Western epistemic analyses of democracy, this paper shows that the complexity of political issues in developed countries makes democracy an important decision-making process to enhance the well-being of most of the members of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Christian Watson (known as Chris Watson) was the first Federal Parliamentary Labor Party (FPLP) leader and from May 1901 to October 1907. During this time, while sitting on the cross benches between Alfred Deakin's Protectionists and George Reid's Free Traders, Labor regularly held the balance of power. For a short stint between April and August 1904, Watson was (the first world Labor and Australia's youngest) prime minister and treasurer. Watson resigned as FPLP leader on 23 October 1907. By choosing not to contest his seat, Watson left parliament on 29 April 1910. It is Watson's resignation as FPLP leader that is the focus of this paper. By drawing on a repository of newspaper clippings once owned by Watson and now held by the National Library of Australia along with Trove Digitised Newspapers, this article analyses the reporting of the week surrounding Watson's resignation including the question if Watson's retained articles favoured a particular stance. The paper concludes that newspapers were of the opinion that the stress of the job and subsequent ill health it induced, led to Watson's resignation. Hence, this paper's focus is contained to Watson's resignation, a period of newspaper reporting and collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of market distortions in the manufacturing sector in Morocco. Recent microdata are used to calculate the extent of resource misallocation associated to these distortions and the potential total factor productivity (TFP) gain resulting from their removal. Market distortions in the manufacturing sector in Morocco are higher compared with developed countries and slightly more important compared with other developing countries, such as China and India. These distortions decreased between 2007 and 2013. Full liberalization would raise TFP by about 84%. If distortions are removed to the level of selected developed countries with better resource allocation, the increase in TFP would be of 56%. The paper also suggests that industries that are more opened to competition such as textiles industries present lower levels of market distortions compared with more protected industries with relatively little competition, such as the food industry. Besides, some evidence is provided showing that smaller firms face more extensive distortions compared to medium and larger firms. The main results of the paper are robust to an alternative estimation that uses a different methodological framework with a less extensive theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The canonical work of Sir Hilary Jenkinson, Manual of Archive Administration, published in 1922, provided the basis of archival theory and practice in many countries, especially British colonies. In his canon, Jenkinson requested the archivists to evaluate the manner in which they select records for permanent preservation. With examples from South Africa, this paper intends to confront the canon about the selection and destruction of modern archives. A complementary method of appraising records based on an 'audit or money trail,' as best illustrated through the Auditor-General of South Africa's audit reports of public entities such as the Armaments Corporation of South Africa, is proposed. This paper ruffles feathers and argues that contrary to established orthodoxies of records selection, financial audit trails provide the most reliable clues of which and what historical records ought to be set aside and preserved. The authors cite the limits of this 'follow the money' method and provide mitigation suggestions. The paper challenges existing appraisal paradigms and has a potential to influence policy, theory and practice of appraisal in developing and developed countries. It also offers a modern-day refurbished continuation and expansion of the ideas addressed by Sir Hilary Jenkinson in his seminal canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public participation has been found, in prior related studies, as a way of demonstrating impartiality and ensuring inclusivity. In developed countries, governments ensure public participation using e-petitions. This study focused on determining municipal residents' perceptions of the electronic petition system ahead of its execution in City of Tshwane municipality. City of Tshwane is one of the largest municipalities in South Africa. The study relied on collecting quantitative data and thus it falls within the positivism paradigm. Quantitative data were collected via questionnaires involving n = 150 residents in City of Tshwane municipality. Descriptive statistics were performed to analyze the profiles of participants and then a factor analysis using varimax rotation was performed to identify the resultant factors. The results show that residents are ready for the e-petition system, optimistic about this contemporary initiative as a means of managing problems in their municipal area, and have confidence in the anticipated efficacy of e-petitions. It concludes that the e-petition system may be effective when used along with the traditional paper petition system. Moreover, it raises insights for policymakers, municipal management and government, and makes suggestions for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of FTA rules from the border to the "depth" within the border can promote the reduction of trade barriers between member countries. Yet, this can also increase the cost of compliance. Hence, this research examines the impact of FTA deepening on China's import and export trade based on the trade data between China and 21FTA partner countries over the period of 2005–2018. This paper introduces the FTA deepening index, constructs a structural gravity model, and empirically applies PPML estimation and instrumental variable methods. The results show that FTA deepening promotes the growth of China's international trade, and the effect on promoting imports is greater than that of export promotion. Additionally, a heterogeneity test between countries and products is carried out. Based on this, our results reveal that FTA deepening has a more significant promoting effect on China's trade imports from developed countries and has a more significant restraining effect on China's exports to developed countries. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the depth of FTA has a less positive impact on China's agricultural trade than on industrial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Innovative interventions are needed to address the growing burden of breast cancer globally, especially among vulnerable patient populations. Given the success of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in addressing communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases, this scoping review will investigate the roles and impacts of CHWs in breast cancer screening programs. This paper also seeks to determine the effectiveness and feasibility of these programs, with particular attention paid to differences between CHW-led interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs).Methods: A scoping review was performed using six databases with dates ranging from 1978 to 2019. Comprehensive definitions and search terms were established for 'Community Health Workers' and 'breast cancer screening', and studies were extracted using the World Bank definition of LMIC. Screening and data extraction were protocolized using multiple independent reviewers. Chi-square test of independence was used for statistical analysis of the incidence of themes in HICs and LMICs.Results: Of the 1,551 papers screened, 33 were included based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Study locations included the United States (n=27), Bangladesh (n=1), Peru (n=1), Malawi (n=2), Rwanda (n=1), and South Africa (n=1). Three primary roles for CHWs in breast cancer screening were identified: education (n=30), direct assistance or performance of breast cancer screening (n=7), and navigational services (n=6). In these roles, CHWs improved rates of breast cancer screening (n=23) and overall community member knowledge (n=21). Two studies performed cost-analyses of CHW-led interventions.Conclusion: This review extends our understanding of CHW effectiveness to breast cancer screening. It illustrates how CHW involvement in screening programs can have a significant impact in LMICs and HICs, and highlights the three CHW roles of education, direct performance of screening, and navigational services that emerge as useful pillars around which governments and NGOs can design effective programs in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil pollution is a global problem. As one of the important tools for contaminated land management, much attention has been given to soil environmental criteria (SEC) in some countries. However, most of the current researches on SEC are concentrated in several developed countries. For other countries that need to establish SEC, learning the experience of developed countries can promote the development of SEC. This paper systematically described the development of SEC in the USA, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition, the process of deriving SEC in these countries was comprehensively compared and analyzed from the aspects of human health risk and ecological risk. The results show that the USA and the Netherlands developed SEC earlier and formed a relatively complete system. Health risk assessment and ecological risk assessment are the main methods to establish SEC in the world. The differences in the derivation of SEC in different countries are mainly reflected in the establishment of conceptual site models, the selection of calculation methods and the determination of data. It is suggested that other countries should strengthen the research on risk-based theoretical method systems and pay attention to the localization research of SEC. This paper highlights the importance of establishing SEC based on local realities. Furthermore, it can provide a reference and scientific basis for the establishment of SEC in developing countries, and provide scientific support for soil environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative clusters are increasingly being recognized as vital tools in the promotion of the competitiveness, innovation, urban development, and growth of cities in developed countries. This paper studies the geography of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) in Barcelona (Spain) for the years 2009 and 2017. We investigate the spatial distribution of firms using the Scan methodology, which identifies the localization of clusters and assigns them statistical significance. Our findings indicate that CCIs are not located haphazardly— they tend to cluster in and around Barcelona's prime districts. The evolution of the clusters over these nine years reveals distinct patterns of clustering among the twelve CCI sub-sectors. The mature clusters in Barcelona's core tend to have greater growth and enhanced transformation capabilities. Our results can guide CCI cluster policy, taking into account the specificity of each sub-sector. In addition, they can direct place-based development strategies, creative urban and rural planning, and restructuring in a polycentric context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prognosis for cervical cancer varies greatly between nations. The disparity in cancer survival rates within nations is largely a result of disparities in public knowledge, the accessibility of cancer services, diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess the survival rate and associated factors among cervical cancer patients in East Africa. Literature search was carried out using Google scholar, PubMed/Medline, Embase and CINHAL. Covidence, a web-based program, was used to import studies for review process. PRISMA guidelines were followed. A total of 110 abstracts were identified from electronic sources. There were five duplicate articles removed. We looked at 105 papers' abstracts and titles, and we excluded 78 of them because they did not fit our inclusion criteria. We conducted a full-text analysis of the remaining 27 papers, leaving out 14 researches that did not fit our inclusion requirements. For final review, 13 studies were included. Using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) assessment checklist, methodological quality was evaluated. The included articles were cohort studies. They were conducted in Ethiopia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda. One-year, two-year, three-year, four-year and five-year overall survival rates ranged from 67% to 92%, 55% to 84%, 44% to 53%, 32% to 47%, and 26% to 43%, respectively. The pooled one-year, two-year, three-year, four-year and five-year survival rates of cervical cancer patients in East Africa were 84%, 71%, 50%, 39% and 36%, respectively. HIV status, late presentation, treatment modalities, older age and presence of comorbidities were the most commonly mentioned prognostic factors for survival. CRD42023402551 Most women in developing countries present with advanced disease, often untreatable or suitable only for palliation. In East Africa, cervical cancer makes up 40% of all cases of cancer detected in women. This largely highlights the inadequacy of national cancer control initiatives in most African nations, including immunization, screening, and early detection. Cervical cancer survival rates vary throughout the world and are commonly associated with the country's development status. The pooled five-year survival rate for cervical cancer patients in East Africa was 36%, according to this systematic review and meta-analysis, which is much lower than the rates in developed countries like the United States, Japan, and Australia but comparable to studies conducted in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper replicates the results of the paper by Krook, M. L. on the Women Representation in Parliaments in 22 developed countries in the west. The data used by Krook was obtained from COMPASSS (COMPArative Methods for Systematic Cross-Case Analysis) and the analysis followed her exact methods and are able to replicate the major findings. However, the paper idetified that krook's conclusions did not conform to the standard solution (i.e., the intermediate solution) often used in Qualitative Comparative Analysis. By extending the analysis to the standard intermediate solution approach, this replication arrives at differing conclusions. Please see the longer version of the article for details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper brings together two distinct strands of literature that discuss the process of convergence in the EU and the impact of public debt on growth. It makes a contribution to both literatures, by challenging the standard approach that relates public debt to growth, on two grounds. First, it shows that the process of convergence that took place among EU countries prior to the crisis was driven primarily by public policies that, however, increased public debt. Second, it provides evidence that the component of public debt that is related to infrastructure development, public goods provision and caching-up with the more advanced countries has a positive impact on growth and convergence. The findings of the paper call for a re-examination of the role of public policies in the processes of economic integration and development, leaving some room for a debt-led growth strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this review was to examine the methods used to measure food insecurity (FI) globally, to inform considerations relating to adopting a novel, or reviewing an existing, FI measurement approach in developed countries. Considerations for measurement are examined with particular applicability to the United Kingdom (UK) which has recently announced adoption of the US Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) as an indicator to facilitate annual FI monitoring. This study uses a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) methodological approach to systematically review the literature on FI measurement and considers: geographical jurisdiction, methodological approach, sampling strategy, FI indicator(s) used, and implications for measurement. Results found that the majority of papers reviewed emanate from North America with the US Household Food Security Scale Module (HFSSM) and its various adapted forms being the most commonly reported indicator. FI is becoming a key concern within developed countries with a range of indicators being used to report on the severity of the issue. This paper provides a contribution to knowledge by: (i) identifying various approaches to FI measurement and commonalities of existing measurement approaches; (ii) providing a summation of the methodologies and findings of studies relating to FI measurement, and associated implications for measurement, (iii) providing a justification evidenced by the literature for the adoption of the HFSSM in the UK; and (iv) assessing the methodological usefulness of a REA review. Understanding the components of robust FI indicators and their effectiveness can help inform existing and novel measurement approaches to ensure that data collected on FI are meaningful and thereby useful to inform future policy work in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical development patterns are uneven. There are windows of opportunity for countries on the periphery to catch-up, others may lose momentum. Using the Maddison database accelerating and decelerating periods can be found. This paper compares the development trends of six East-Central European (ECE) countries with the average of highly developed countries, and three successfully catching-up countries. A methodological novelty of the paper is the usage of enveloping curves. The approach is based of Ferenc Jánossy's seminal work on the long-term development trendlines of countries, which are interpreted as historic growth potential indicators. ECE growth performance is also compared to their own long-term potentials. The development pattern is interpreted in the mainstream political concepts of the various historical epochs. The analysis concludes that ECE region's growth performance is more successful in state-permeated management of slack periods. Liberal epochs' accelerated growth of highly developed countries could not be followed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs a prominent model comparison criterion, namely the Bayes factor, to compare three commonly used GARCH models with their stochastic volatility (SV) counterparts in modelling the dynamics of inflation rates. By using consumer price index (CPI) data from 18 developed countries to evaluate these models, we find that the GARCH models are generally outperformed by their stochastic volatility counterparts. Furthermore, the stochastic volatility in mean (SV-M) model is shown to be the best for all 18 countries considered. The paper also examines which model characteristics play a main role in modelling inflation rates. It turns out that inflation volatility feedback is a crucial feature that we should take into consideration when modelling inflation rates. The relevance of a leverage effect, however, is found to be rather ambiguous. Finally, the forecasting results using the log predictive score confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many developed countries around the world, the connection between immigration and crime has been a subject of discussion. The indigenous populations of the most advanced nations usually held the opinion that immigration fuels delinquency. Therefore, this paper provides an empirical connection between immigration and crime in the period 1988-2018 across 30 OECD countries. For empirical analysis, advanced panel econometric approaches are used which can address both heterogonous coefficients and cross-section dependency. The findings show that no statistical evidence exists to relate an increase in the number of immigrants to the rise of any kind of crime. If there is we found a significant negative association between immigrants and only one of the six kinds of crime studied. Moreover, an increase in foreign prisoners (FP) reduces all kinds of crimes. While an increase in the real gross domestic product (RGDP) only increases property crimes. The increase in M25–29 only increases serious assault (SA) out of six crime types analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, the recent SARS-CoV-2 virus disease outbreak has infected more than 691,000,000 people and killed more than 6,900,000. Surprisingly, Sub-Saharan Africa has suffered the least from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Factors that are inherent to developing countries and that contrast with their counterparts in developed countries have been associated with these disease burden differences. In this paper, we developed data-driven COVID-19 mathematical models of two 'extreme': Cameroon, a developing country, and New York State (NYS) located in a developed country. We then identified critical parameters that could be used to explain the lower-than-expected COVID-19 disease burden in Cameroon versus NYS and to help mitigate future major disease outbreaks. Through the introduction of a 'disease burden' function, we found that COVID-19 could have been much more severe in Cameroon than in NYS if the vaccination rate had remained very low in Cameroon and the pandemic had not ended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities seeking to establish or expand their research missions in developed countries have at their disposal well-established literature on strategies to foster research capacity in universities. On the contrary, the literature on these processes in the context of developing countries is quite recent and scarce. We offer a descriptive, narrative review of the literature on research capacity building in universities in developing countries, both in terms of the conceptual models or theoretical frameworks used and of strategies reported. We also compare this corpus with recent literature on this set of issues coming from developed countries, covering 40 papers overall. On the theoretical side, we find substantial differences in density and content across both sets of papers. The empirical dimension suggests universities in developing countries tackle the problems of fostering research capacity piecemeal and idiosyncratically without the benefit of an overall conceptual model or blueprint to guide them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing rate of global inequality, on the one hand, and hyper-consumerism, particularly among higher socio-economic classes in developed countries, on the other, have resulted in the emergence of new forms of subsistence, lifestyles and settlement types where subaltern groups and populations live and work. This paper investigates the emergence of two of these kinds of settlement in Tehran, Iran, that have developed based on the intersection of two factors: garbage and undocumented migration. In these places, undocumented Afghan migrants sort and sell dry garbage. At the same time, these places shelter the workers, chiefly teenage and underage undocumented Afghan migrants. This paper is a preliminary effort to archaeologically categorize and conceptualize these garbage-based settlements. Archaeology is among the best methodologies to investigate the materiality and inequality faced by such transient subaltern groups in the short and long term. Here I discuss how several factors, beyond absolute poverty, participate in turning garbage into a livelihood and generate garbage-based settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent sluggish economic growth in developed countries has become a cause for concern regarding the long-term sustainability of the global economy. Continuous declines in the total fertility rate (TFR) constitute an essential factor in stagnant economic growth in developed countries. In this paper, we utilize fixed and random effect models to examine the relationships of TFR with putative TFR determinants in G7 countries from 1980 to 2020. Our findings support the societal response hypothesis wherein the relationship between TFR and female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) is posited to be stable and positive. Furthermore, the present study confirms a positive relationship of crude marriage rate (CMR) and market childcare availability (MktCC) with TFR. A negative relationship between the ageing population (AGE) and TFR was observed, consistent with broad concerns regarding the impending economic impacts of population ageing in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's low fertility rate has been a concern for over thirty years. Despite a vast literature on the topic, numerous policies and measures to boost the country's fertility rate, and the will of Japanese people to have a family, Japan seems powerless to remedy the problem commonly called shôshika in Japanese. Yet, Southern parts of Japan show that it does not equally affect the archipelago. Remote islands in Japan have an exceptionally high fertility rate compared to other developed countries. The paper aims to understand the reasons for their high fertility rate by focusing on late and lifelong singlehood (bankonka and mikonka) as a critical factor of the shôshika. It will particularly pay attention to the perception of love and romance in one of those remote islands: Tokunoshima. It will argue that the absence of commodification in romantic intercourse facilitates matchmaking that would result in the creation of a family. People are more likely to meet someone with whom they will have a family when the dating process is not embedded with commodified gestures. On another note, although their view of dating is similar to individuals in other developed countries, the practice of dating takes alternative forms that force them not to rely on the commodification of romance, which increases their chances of matchmaking. As a result, inhabitants of Tokunoshima quickly find a marriage partner, which contributes to the absence of late and lifelong singlehood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the macroeconomic and social determinants of voting behavior, and especially of political polarization – defined here as the increasing electoral success of far-right and far-left parties – in 20 advanced countries using annual data from 1970 to 2016 and covering 291 parliamentary elections. Our analysis indicates that the link between income inequality and political polarization appears to have significantly changed over the last 20 years. Indeed, we find that both average net income inequality, as well as the bottom 10% income share are statistically linked to the recent success of far-right parties (but not of far-left parties), while the top 10% or top 20% income shares are not. The link of income inequality and political polarization, and in particular the increasing success of far-right parties, thus seems to be based on the deterioration of the relative economic position especially of the poorest fraction of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the possible nonlinear relationship between public debt and income inequality. The literature extensively examines the non-linear growth effects of public debt, whereas its inequality effects are not investigated sufficiently. Public debt can be used to finance distributive policies, thereby improving income equality. However, high public debt levels can also harm economic growth and decrease the fiscal space due to sustainability concerns, high risk premia, and large debt service burden. Hence, it is possible that public debt can have non-linear effects on inequality. The empirical analysis documents that the relationship between public debt and inequality is positive with a declining marginal effect in the case of advanced countries. However, developing countries display a U-shape relationship, implying that public debt is initially associated with declines in inequality, while higher levels of debt are associated with higher levels of inequality. The analysis also shows that the determinants of inequality can differ greatly between advanced and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries have more than 1300 investment treaties with developed countries. Investment treaties are often alleged to constrain developing countries' climate policies. This paper examines four treaty reforms that are often suggested as remedies to such regulatory chill. It considers an investment treaty that protects a stranded developed country investment in a developing country. The reforms are compared with regard to whether they can induce the developing country to regulate the investment, and their political attractiveness. The reforms are shown to have features that seem to have gone unnoticed in the debate. Exclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) may be ineffective due to a hold-up problem, and if effective requires unlawful regulation by the host country. A shortening of a sunset period applicable to unilateral withdrawal can postpone regulation. A reduction in the amount of stipulated compensation can induce the developing country to phase out the stranded investment, but will require a compensation payment from the developing country to the developed country investor. The reform with best potential to address stranded investment problems appears to be an increase in a carve-out from the compensation requirement for measures with sufficiently positive climate effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production and consumption activities are cross-border and therefore, it is important to understand the role of Global Value Chains (GVCs) in fulfilling a country’s specific climate commitments. This study examines the causal relationship between selected GVC indices and CO2 emissions. We use the GVC position index, considered robust in comparison to the frequently used GVC participation index, for determining the impact on emissions. The forward and backward participation indices are considered in the analysis. The paper presents an analysis of 62 developing and developed economies from 1995 to –2018 using the Juodis A., Y. Karavias, and V. Sarafidis [2021. “A Homogeneous Approach to Testing for Granger non-Causality in Heterogeneous Panels.” Empirical Economics 60 (1): 93–112] approach, which is an improvement over the traditional approaches to analysing causality. The results show that the overall position in GVCs positively affects CO2 emissions for developing countries but a causal relationship does not exist for the developed countries. The developed countries attain a higher participation index but a lower position index. On the other hand, developing countries with fewer stringent environmental regulations may opt for an upstream position (more export-oriented) and by design specialize in more pollution-intensive industries. Noteworthy, production-based emissions in developed countries are reduced because of an increase in imports of emission-intensive products from developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in 2021, the current inflation process has spurred plenty of discussion in academic and policy circles. This paper studies the relationship between firms' markups and inflation during the 2021–22 inflation surge in several industrialized countries. It begins by explaining markup inflation and its critics in the context of the current debate over the sources of inflation. Then it reviews the characteristics of markup inflation within the post-Keynesian theory of markup pricing and complementing it with the Institutionalist approach to inflation that distinguishes between basic inflationary pressures and propagation mechanisms. The second part assesses markup inflation for several industrialized countries using descriptive statistics and conventional econometrics. The main contribution falls in empirically estimating markups considering the contribution of material cost and controlling for changes in capacity utilization over time. It concludes that there is some evidence pointing at markup inflation and, importantly, the existence of markup inflation leads to rejecting any wage-price spiral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wellbeing is an increasingly prominent topic across academia, including analyses of the myriad factors that influence it. Of these, perhaps the most prominent is economics, with a relatively-well substantiated link, especially at lower levels of income. However, most work has been limited to select measures (usually life evaluation) and/or populations (usually Western nations). This paper offers an expansive approach, exploring associations between income and a selection of 31 items pertaining to wellbeing in the Gallup World Poll over 3 years (2020–2022), covering 386,654 people in 142 countries. Significantly, on every single variable, participants with higher incomes fare better than those with lower incomes. However, there are also many interesting nuances when filtering the results through various demographic considerations, including comparing participants in terms of global regions, sex, age, and level of education. Together, these nuances paint a complex picture of the impact of economics on wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology is an innovative science and technology that has the most opportunity to be applied in the market, and its intrinsic value is immeasurable. Some developed countries have invested a lot in research activities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the biomechanical principle of the skeletal muscle of the molecular motor and its application in the active rehabilitation of the lower limbs. In this paper, based on the force generation mechanism and biomechanical model of skeletal muscle, and guided by the mechanical principle equation of skeletal muscle contraction of the collective operation mechanism of a molecular motor, and combined with the experiment of active rehabilitation design of human lower limbs, it is demonstrated in the results that the angle error after yaw angle fitting can be controlled within −1° − 1°, which has a strong effect, and in the rehabilitation effect in fruit, the swing phase accounts for about 40% and the support phase accounts for about 60%. It can be concluded that the accuracy of rehabilitation data collection and the effectiveness of gait parameters detection in the process of human rehabilitation, as well as the actual recognition effect of lower limb movement pattern recognition, is good and efficient. Molecular materials play an important role in biology or medicine. With the development of technology, they contribute to the recovery of skeletal muscle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A warehouse covers a wide spectrum of operations for the distribution of goods in a supply chain network. The advancement of technology and the changing global business environment have compelled the transformation of a warehouse. The present study attempts to revisit the warehouse transformation from 1990 to 2019 through an evolutionary lens. A systematic literature review is conducted to answer a few basic research questions: what were the issues that warehouses faced during the time period, and how did the academic world approach it? And what would be the research agenda for the warehousing in the era of Industry 4.0? The analysis of the literature shows that warehousing research has changed from a traditional storeroom to a more automated and integrated warehousing system characterised by better efficiency and effectiveness. This study contributes to the development of warehousing research by discussing the development trends, addressing the research gaps, and recommending future research directions. The study also reflects the dominance of developed countries in warehousing research and alludes to more opportunities for practitioners and academicians in developing countries. Based on the decade-wise analysis of literature, an evolutionary framework for warehouse research is proposed which is expected to ensure the supply chain resilience proactively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies that explore the effects of education on health primarily focused on developed countries, and the extent to which education impacts health is still highly debated. This paper studies the causal effects of education on health in the largest developing country-China. We use 1977 Resuming College Entrance Exam Policy as an IV and find that education has little impact on health in general, while our findings suggest that people with higher education are more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension. We also test some possible mechanisms through which education might affect health, including smoking, drinking, exercise, and cognition. Majorities of these estimations provide no evidence that education would impact health behaviors or cognitive abilities. However, we find that higher-educated men are more likely to drink more and exercise less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alain Parguez was a fierce opponent of "rentier-friendly" policies that dominated the neo-liberal era, which he saw as linked to the triumph of austerity, particularly after the mid-eighties, and for which the first seeds were planted in France before the Second World War. In the last quarter of the last century, neo-liberal policies undoubtedly dominated the scene in all main advanced countries, from the fall of the Berlin wall up to the Financial Crisis of 2008, and later. This historical period was characterized by an increased financialisation, which took the form of an accelerated growth of the financial sector of the advanced economies fed by inflation on the asset side of the financial balance sheet. In parallel, other phenomena accompanied this process such as a marked drop in real investment compared to the two previous decades, the progressive erosion of the welfare state, a general increase in inequalities, low inflation, and the rise of China as a world power among other developments. This article argues that Alain Parguez's analytical contribution on the monetary circuit fills a substantial theoretical gap in the explanation of financialisation. This gap brought some critical authors to question the relevance of the concept and sometimes to deny its very existence. The main text of reference is the one Parguez wrote in 1996, which he considered as one of his most accomplished and relevant contributions. The present paper shows that this model develops the canonical version of the monetary circuit of Augusto Graziani in a direction that allows interpreting financialisation and other related phenomena likely to prevail in a non-Modigliani-Miller world. The monetary circuit, therefore, appears as one of the building blocks of an alternative economic paradigm that is much needed to address the challenges of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research question/issue: Governments play a significant role in healthcare funding and regulation in all economically advanced nations. In some countries, healthcare delivery is the responsibility of the federal and state governments as they own and operate hospitals. Governance of public hospitals ought to fulfill the expectations of different stakeholders. This paper seeks to explore different perspectives or paradigms of governance, and submerge them to propose a multiperspective governance framework for public hospitals in a rapidly changing healthcare sector. Methodology: A literature search was conducted to find the articles and books that provided information related to public hospital governance. Research findings/insights: This paper reveals an emerging framework of public hospital governance based on modified traditional corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, principles of public enterprises governance, stakeholder theory of corporate governance, and nonprofit hospital governance. Theoretical/academic implications: This paper makes two important contributions. First, it suggests that traditional corporate governance may not be a good fit for public hospitals. Second, the paper outlines the components of a multiperspective public hospital governance framework. Practitioner/policy implications: This paper could potentially lead hospital managers and health policymakers to consider and adopt a new governance framework for public hospitals due to the fact that costs of and the demand for healthcare continue to rise while the fiscal resources are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea has been proactive in concluding bilateral investment treaties to promote both inward and outward investment. While South Korea had concluded 95 BITs as of 2017, there have been very few empirical works on whether BITs have positive effects on South Korea's FDI flows. This paper aims to empirically examine the effects of BITs between South Korea and treaty partners on South Korea's outward FDI into them. The results show that BITs—either signed or entered in force—between South Korea and host countries have positive and statistically significant effects on Korea's direct investment into these countries. Moreover, it turns out that South Korea FDI flows into developing countries are positively affected by BITs which is statistically significant while those into developed countries are not. This paper positively contributes to existing literature by deepening understanding of the effects of international investment treaties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to systematically review the literature on Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma (LSS) intervention and its tools and techniques to reduce the medication errors in hospitals. Subject-specific journals according to the top journal ranking lists in the Business School and Healthcare sector were used for the assessment. Eight databases including Medline, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO were used to collect relevant articles from the year 1996–2016. A total of 24 studies were identified have from the search meeting the criteria for the systematic literature review. Increased interest in the application of process excellence methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma and LSS to reduce medication errors especially from the developed countries was found. Several themes have emerged in this paper including: tools and techniques of Lean and Six Sigma in the context of medication errors, Lean and Six Sigma methodology, types of medication errors, LSS project selection, benefits, challenges and success factors. The study is expected to benefit healthcare practitioners in implementing the LSS methodology to reduce medication errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous methodologies measuring walkability have been developed over the last years. This paper reviews the Walkability Index (WI) literature of the last decade (2009–2018) and highlights some limitations in the current approaches. Only a few studies have evaluated walkability in Latin America, mainly in big cities but not in medium and small-sized cities in the region, which present their own urbanisation dynamics, security issues, sidewalk invasion problems, and poor planning. Furthermore, most WIs in the literature use objective mesoscale variables to assess walkability in a given area. This paper contributes to filling these gaps by generating new evidence from a medium-sized city in Latin America to question if characteristics of the built environment encourage walking trips, as found in the literature, are transferable among regions. The study also proposes a novel index comprised of microscale and mesoscale built environment variables to assess walkability using virtual tools and considering users' perceptions. The WI estimation relies on ranking probability models. The results of the case study suggest that subjective Security and Traffic Safety are the most crucial factors influencing walkability in these kind of cities, which is different from what is found in the literature from cities in developed countries where Sidewalk Condition and Attractiveness are the most important factors. Security appeared to be strongly associated with a subjective dimension, represented by the fear of crime or perceived risk for crime, instead of the actual occurrence of crimes. This result evidences the importance of the physical attributes of the real world and how they are captured, judged, and processed by pedestrians. Then, regional transferability of WIs needs to be done carefully. Finally, results in this paper highlight the importance of microscale built environment characteristics in the WI formulation in these cities. Results are in line with other research in some cities of the region, which found that microscale variables such as pavement quality and presence of obstacles on the sidewalks are relevant components to promote walkability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses an R&D-based growth model that presents an empirically plausible relationship between population growth and income growth for in particular developed countries. The paper shows that in the presence of highly productive education, a decrease in population growth accelerates income growth even though public education sectors are not well developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing and evaluating the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is an important element in global stocktake in the post-Paris climate negotiations, aimed at closing the emissions gap with the Paris Agreement goals. To date, however, there has still been no explicit guideline or method. By applying emissions allowance allocated by 16 schemes as benchmarks, this paper tries to compare and evaluate the NDCs of the top six emitters, which jointly account for about 70% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Results show that the four developed countries’ NDCs lack ambition with respect to most allocations under 2°C and all under 1.5°C, indicating they need to substantially ratchet up their NDCs and lead elevating mitigation. Evaluating cumulative emissions is more likely to clarify the ambition and fairness of China’s NDC. If considering cumulative emissions, China’s NDC is aligned with the median of cumulative allowances under 2°C and within the 1.5°C range. The Paris Agreement invited the Parties to communicate the mid-century low emissions strategies. This paper also tries to explore the mid-century mitigation in the perspective of allocations, which might provide decision-makers with some useful information when envisaging the post-NDC mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]