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Direct cash transfers to households during the COVID-19 pandemic, including relief checks and Child Tax Credit payments, were delayed by weeks for recipients without bank accounts and were not received by many non-filers who lacked the time or resources to complete necessary paperwork. A postal banking system has the potential to expand access to financial infrastructure and enable the rapid distribution of resources to households in need during economic downturns – often the same households that are currently excluded from the financial system. This paper examines the history of the US Postal Savings System and the feasibility of a return to postal banking using evidence on the socioeconomic and spatial patterns of financial exclusion. We find that postal banks would be well positioned to compete with both alternative and conventional financial institutions, address issues with physical branch access, and improve outreach to vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study employs an online experimental approach to explore why an appropriate message appeal that resonates with consumers is crucial during a recession, rather than reducing investments in marketing, such as advertising spending. Drawing upon congruity theory and the accessibility–diagnosticity framework, the results of this experimental study demonstrate an interaction effect between message appeals and the state of a recession on consumers’ booking intentions. Furthermore, this effect is mediated by perceived advertisement diagnosticity, but only in the context of a price discount appeal in advertisements during a recession. This research contributes to extending the existing literature by examining the dynamic relationship between message appeals and the state of a recession on consumers’ behavioral intentions, mediated by their perceived advertisement diagnosticity. This explanation plays a significant role in bridging the gap in the lack of theoretical reasoning regarding relationships beyond the conceptual threshold through empirical testing. Second, the results of this study suggest more effective and actionable propositions for marketing and advertising professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted China’s economic and social development. Understanding the direct and indirect effects of the epidemic on the economy is vital for formulating scientifically grounded epidemic management policies. This study assesses the economic losses and influence paths of a large-scale epidemic in China. We proposed three COVID-19 scenarios – serious, normal, and mild – to evaluate the direct economic impact on China’s GDP from a demand perspective. An input-output model was used to estimate the indirect impact. Our findings show that China’s GDP could lose 94,206, 75,365, and 56,524 hundred million yuan under serious, normal, and mild scenarios, respectively, with corresponding GDP decline rates of 9.27%, 7.42%, and 5.56%. Under the normal scenario, indirect economic loss and total loss are projected at 75,364 and 489,386 hundred million yuan, respectively. Additionally, the pandemic led to a reduction in carbon emissions: direct emissions decreased by 1,218.69 million tons, indirect emissions by 9,594.32 million tons, and total emissions by 10,813.01 million tons across various industries. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic and environmental impacts of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the debate on the impact of international shocks on the integration of national systems of cities into global economic networks. We examine how the crisis in Ukraine and the following economic sanctions of 2014 imposed on Russia affected the positions of Russian cities in global economic networks. To do so, we used worldwide data on the corporate networks of the largest multinational firms and their subsidiaries from 2010 to 2019 to create intercity linkages at both the global and national levels to show how Russian cities' positions evolved during the period. The study shows that although the Russian cities' position in the global network shrank (with a general decrease in Russian cities' linkages), their internationalization increased despite the economic sanctions. The decrease in connectedness mostly concerned the intranational firm linkages between Russian cities, which could explain the increasing interregional inequalities in Russia observed by numerous scholars. In addition, contrary to the main arguments of the global cities approach, among the cities that were most resistant to crises were not only the largest and most diversified cities, as we would expect during such times of uncertainty, but also some highly specialized small towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies show that the deployment of a peacekeeping operation (PKO) can provide an economic boost to the host state and its population. Some of those studies also suggest that such a boost is unsustainable and that peacekeeping exit may trigger economic downturn within host states. If that is the case, however, do some locals feel the adverse economic effects of PKO exit more than others? In this article, we argue that individuals who come to directly or indirectly depend on economic opportunities that emerge following the deployment of peacekeepers are particularly likely to experience negative economic effects after PKO exit. However, those effects may be partly mitigated through individuals' economic actions and/or their access to new sources of outside support after the exit of peacekeepers. We test our argument on original data gathered through a large-scale household survey of Monrovia, Liberia, conducted in early 2020. We also draw on qualitative interview data. After noting an overall downturn in Liberia's economy after 2018 (when the UN Mission in Liberia closed), we find broad support for our claims in the survey data, albeit qualified by nuances in a secondary, disaggregated analysis. We conclude by highlighting implications of our study for the planning and management of peacekeeping withdrawal. Los estudios existentes demuestran que el despliegue de una operación de mantenimiento de la paz (OMP) puede proporcionar un impulso económico al Estado receptor y a su población. Algunos de esos estudios también sugieren que ese impulso resulta insostenible y que la finalización de las operaciones de mantenimiento de la paz puede llegar a desencadenar una recesión económica en los Estados receptores. Sin embargo, si ese es el caso, ¿existen algunos ciudadanos que noten en mayor medida los efectos económicos adversos derivados de la finalización de una OMP con relación al resto de la población? En este artículo, argumentamos que las personas que llegan a depender directa o indirectamente de las oportunidades económicas que surgen tras el despliegue del personal de mantenimiento de la paz tienen una mayor probabilidad de experimentar efectos económicos negativos después de la finalización de una OMP. Sin embargo, esos efectos pueden mitigarse, en parte, mediante las medidas económicas adoptadas por los ciudadanos y/o su acceso a nuevas fuentes de apoyo externo después de la partida del personal de mantenimiento de la paz. Ponemos a prueba nuestro argumento usando datos originales, que fueron recopilados a través de una encuesta realizada a gran escala en hogares de Monrovia, Liberia, a principios de 2020. También, nos basamos en datos cualitativos obtenidos de entrevistas. Observamos una desaceleración general de la economía de Liberia después de 2018 (cuando se cerró la Misión de las Naciones Unidas en Liberia), la cual proporciona un amplio apoyo a nuestras afirmaciones en los datos de la encuesta. Sin embargo, encontramos matices para este apoyo al realizar un análisis secundario y desagregado. Concluimos destacando las consecuencias que tiene nuestro estudio para la planificación y la gestión de la retirada de las operaciones de mantenimiento de la paz. Des études existantes montrent que le déploiement d'opérations de maintien de la paix (OMP) peut stimuler l'État hôte et sa population sur le plan économique. Certaines d'entre elles suggèrent que cet effet n'est pas durable et que la fin de l'OMP peut avoir des effets négatifs sur l'économie des États hôtes. Néanmoins, si tel est le cas, certains résidents ressentent-ils ces effets plus que d'autres? Dans cet article, nous affirmons que les personnes qui finissent par dépendre directement ou indirectement des opportunités économiques créées par le déploiement de l'OMP auront plus de chances de ressentir des effets économiques négatifs quand cette opération prend fin. Toutefois, ces effets peuvent être atténués en partie par les actions économiques individuelles et/ou l'accès à de nouvelles ressources d'aide extérieure après la fin de l'OMP. Nous évaluons notre argument grâce à des données inédites collectées à l'aide d'un sondage de grande échelle auprès de particuliers de Monrovia, au Libéria, mené au début de l'année 2020. Nous nous fondons également sur des données qualitatives d'entretiens. Nous notons une récession généralisée au Libéria après 2018 (quand la mission de l'ONU au Libéria a pris fin), puis nous trouvons nombre d'éléments pour venir étayer nos arguments dans les données de sondage, malgré qu'ils soient nuancés par une analyse ventilée secondaire. En conclusion, nous soulignons les implications de notre étude pour la planification et l'organisation de la fin des OMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost all regional economic resilience studies measure resilience by referring to national time patterns of recessions. This study of region-specific patterns of resilience of 81 Turkish regions in the period 2009–20 and their underlying economic/demographic determinants in regions in Turkey shows that ignoring the different timings of regional and national economy recessions leads to misleading/biased results. The study shows first that provincial employment cycles are asynchronous. Second, the geographical pattern of resistance to the last 2018 economic crisis changes considerably when using provincespecific rather than national turning points. Third, those provinces that are more open to trade, exportoriented, highly urbanised, and with a low level of human capital and entrepreneurial activities were more resistant to the recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a new approach to finding the minimal representation of dc-functions in the sense of Zalgaller. We introduce the notion of maximal pair of convex sets and show that support functions of this pair are the minimal representation of a given dc-function. For this purpose, we study the properties of Minkowski addition and subtraction in the family of closed convex sets sharing their recession cone. We show how to find maximal pair equivalent to a given one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To present the initial assessment of psychosocial adaptation among Greek parents whose children were newly diagnosed with cancer amidst the turmoil of an ongoing financial crisis. This prospective observational study used a quantitative approach. Sixty-one parents of children with cancer treated at a large urban tertiary-care children's hospital were prospectively recruited to participate in our study during the first week of their child's diagnosis (2013–2016). The parents were asked to complete the psychosocial assessment tool (PAT 2.0), Zung Depression Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life–Bref Instrument; Moreover, three female healthcare providers (the physician oncologist, the head nurse and a senior nurse) completed the relevant PAT 2.0 -Staff Perceptions questionnaire the results of which were then compared to those of the child's parent. The majority of parents had PAT 2.0 scores indicative of increased psychosocial risk :54% were stratified into the "Targeted" (moderate risk) and 15% into the "Clinical" (highest risk) categories, whereas healthcare providers underestimated psychosocial risk in 57%−59% of the cases. The subscales that most contributed to the increased scores were Parental Stress Reaction, Family Structure and Resources, and Family Social Support. The PAT 2.0 had statistically significant correlations with most of the anxiety and depression scales, with Zung having the strongest correlation (r-value: +0.5, p-value <0.01). Our cohort presented more anxiety and depression compared to the general Greek population (14% for depression versus 2,9% for the general population and 46% for anxiety compared to 4,1%) in the years of financial recession in Greece. The parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer in Greece are at increased risk for developing anxiety and depression in the years of financial recession in Greece compared to general population. Parental stress reaction to diagnosis as well as lack of family resources and social support may contribute to this difference. Screening for psychosocial risk factors is essential for the early identification of these families and for the optimal utilization of the limited available resources in times of economic hardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the empirical research on the fertility decline registered in Europe in the aftermath of the Great Recession adopting a comparative perspective. We explore childbearing behavior during the crisis across three dimensions of vulnerability: migration background (measured as: country of origin and length of stay in the destination country), labor market uncertainty, and country of residence. We compare childbearing behavior by parity among native and migrant women with different employment statuses in Sweden and Italy. Using the Swedish population registers and the Italian Labor Force Survey, we investigate the change in childbearing probabilities between the pre-crisis (2006–2009) and the years following the onset of the crisis (2010–2015). We find that the chances of motherhood in the aftermath of the Great Recession decreased substantially among recently arrived migrant women, but also among unemployed natives and women with unstable careers. The migration and labor market vulnerabilities, however, do not accumulate: unemployment and career instability negatively affect only native women's probability of motherhood. Finally, the country comparison demonstrates that while the duration of stay and the weaker labor market attachment reduces the chances of motherhood in both contexts, the negative effect of unemployment is particularly strong in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article comparatively analyzes the participation of two industrial associations in the politics of signification of the recent Brazilian recession (2014–2016), highlighting the frames they use to define the relevant problem and advance necessary remedies, and the artifacts they deploy to make such frames plausible and elicit support for their claims. In this sense, it contributes to recent debates about the social construction of futures, offering a processual framework to analyze future making by organized business interests in times of a crisis. It emphasizes the peculiarity of (1) crises, as moments in which the present is uncertain and subject to a politics of signification, dependent on the ability of actors to develop framing narratives and deploy artifacts of persuasion to create resonance and public support (2) and of remedies, prescribed futures based on the definition of a problematic situation that may rely on simple takeaway objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is strong evidence that we have entered into a democratic recession - where the quality of democracy is being reversed around the world. As the organisations responsible for running elections, election management bodies (EMBs) are at the fulcrum of the challenge of protecting democracy. This article introduces the special issue on 'Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Democratic Recession' which aims to consider the emerging challenges that EMBs are facing, and how they can be best equipped to respond to them. It begins by defining some characteristics of a democratic recession and mapping global trends in democratic quality. It charts global trends in election quality and maps variation in the quality of electoral management worldwide. The article then considers the implications of a democratic recession for EMBs and how international and regional organisations have sought to address these problems. Finally, it introduces articles in the special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For extra-large angle exotropia (>60 prism diopters, PD), single-setting surgical alternatives are scarce; frequently, more than two muscle or two eye procedures are indicated. To evaluate the viability of single eye surgery, a current randomized comparative trial is undertaken. Twenty adult patients with extra-large angle exotropia underwent a thorough orthoptic evaluation before being divided into two groups at random. Ten patients in group 1 underwent medial rectus resection (5.5–7.5 mm), followed by transplant-aided lateral rectus recession (effective length: 4–5.5 mm) (9 mm). In group two, ten different patients underwent medial rectus resection (5.5–7 mm), but this time, the lateral rectus recession (9 mm) was aided with a hang-back suture (5–7 mm). The two procedures were compared at baseline and six months post-operatively. There was no significant difference in the groups' median ages (P =.95). In groups one and two, the median corrections achieved were 81.00 (79.50–85.50) PD and 81.00 (79.75–86.50) PD, respectively. The differences in corrections were statistically insignificant (p =.99). In all patients, abduction limitation was frequently noted in the immediate post-operative period, which improved over time. In each group, there were two patients (>90 prisms) with residual deviation of at least 30 PD, for which the contralateral eyes were operated. The hang-back recession was as successful as muscle transplant procedure in correcting 80–90 PD of exotropia with notable clinical benefits and ease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines popular discourses about men, women and work in Australia during the early 1990s recession. The male breadwinner and the working mother have been the subject of much historical research, but less attention has been paid to the longevity of these gendered constructs in the early 1990s, a period in which economic reform and a prolonged recession reframed men's and women's relationships with work. Drawing on contemporary anonymised testimonies captured in social psychologist Hugh Mackay's quarterly reports, along with statistical and media sources, I argue that the recession reinvigorated a discourse of male breadwinner nostalgia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the restructuring of local-level spatial planning in Greece during and after the crisis period. It analyses the reform paths that were developed and assesses the directions of change concerning the scope of planning, the actors and the practices. The paper concludes that the orientation has turned towards special-purpose planning, the privatisation of planning powers, and the transfer of planning power to the central state. However, despite these shifts, the domestic local-level planning maintains its long trends, such as clientelism and conformative approach, making the trajectory of planning unpredictable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we devote ourselves to studying robust error bounds for a convex inequality system in the face of data uncertainty. Under the assumption that uncertain sets are convex compact, we present a sufficient condition for the existence of robust error bounds of the uncertain convex inequality system by means of the associated recession cone and recession functions. When the uncertain sets are only compact, we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the uncertain convex inequality system to possess a robust error bound by the Ekeland variational principle. As an immediate application, we obtain robust error bounds for the uncertain convex polynomial inequality system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A social work approach to addressing substance use embraces the NASW Code of Ethics with a dually focused client-centered and person-in-environment lens. These social work values often conflict with the myriad of U.S. policies that impact substance users by creating and reinforcing structural inequalities. Michael Lipsky's Street-Level Bureaucracies reveal for social workers opportunities to mitigate policy with the consistent practice of a social work approach to substance use. This article provides an overview of Michael Lipsky's Street-Level Bureaucracies and outlines opportunities to embrace social justice and human rights through micro and macro social work practice with people who use substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether an association exists between parental unemployment and health-related quality of life and mental health for adolescents aged 15–18 in Athens, Greece. The gathered dataset covers the same upper high schools in two periods, 2011–2013 and 2017–2019. The study finds that parental unemployment bears an association with decreased health-related quality of life and increased adverse mental health symptoms for adolescents. Moreover, the 2011–2013 period, a period of increased parental unemployment, saw a decrease in health-related quality of life and increased adverse mental health symptoms for adolescents. In addition, parental unemployment proved more detrimental to adolescents' health-related quality of life and mental health in 2011–2013 than in 2017–2019. The present research ranks among the first studies to examine whether parental unemployment could be associated with worse health-related quality of life and mental health for adolescents during periods of increased parental unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the surgical outcomes of consecutive exotropia and predictive factors, and to compare the medial rectus (MR) advancement, lateral rectus (LR) recession, or a combination of both procedures A retrospective study of patients diagnosed with consecutive exotropia that were operated on (2000–2020) were included. The convergence was classified from 0 to +++, with good: ++/+++ and poor: 0/+. A good outcome was considered when the final horizontal deviation was < 10 prism diopters (pd). Follow-up since the surgery and the number of reoperations were registered. A total of 88 cases were analyzed, mean age: 33.98 ± 17.68 years (57.95%: women). The near and distance horizontal deviation mean (±SD) was 34.3 pd (±16.45) and 34.36 pd (±16.33), respectively. MR advancement was performed in 36.36%, LR recession in 27.27%, and a combination of both in 36.36%. Surgery was unilateral in 65.91% (bilateral in 34.09%). A good outcome was obtained in 69.32% and reoperations in 11.36%. The insufficiency convergence was associated with a bad outcome. The near horizontal deviation (P =.006), the vertical deviation (VD) association (P =.036) and the combination of both MR advancement and LR recession (P =.017) were predictors of a bad result. The mean follow-up was 56.5 months ± 57.65. A long-term good surgical result was obtained in most patients. The greatest near deviation, the VD association, and the combination of MR advancement and the LR recession were predictive factors for bad results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender conflict, which is emerging as a serious concern in Korean society, is also a subject of discourse in the field of education. A vast majority of university students are affected by economic downturn and are required to compete in an uncertain situation. This study proposes an educational model from the perspective of understanding the younger generation, which is struggling in uncertain situations, rather than treating gender conflict merely as hatred between individual women and men. This paper also proposes an educational environment wherein students feel encouraged to deal with gender conflicts by understanding their liminal spaces and crossing borders for gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Recession of 2007-09, including its instigating Global Financial Crisis, inspired a collection of novels that utilize the crisis events and recession conditions in their plots and narrative. This article examines popular emotions and feelings circulating within Great Recession fiction. While anxiety and anger are arguably the emotions of the capitalist continuum, the post-crisis recession manifested a unique atmosphere due to the particularities of its historical moment: neoliberal austerity against a specific myriad of intersecting insecurities in a digital era in which anxiety-inducing spectacles go "viral" on social media and where post-9/11 police states have resulted in declining civil liberties including with regard to protest. Drawing on Raymond Williams' conceptualization of structure of feeling, this paper argues that anger and indignation; fear and anxiety; melancholia, defeatism and hopelessness are popular emotions and feelings within Great Recession fiction. Great Recession novels articulate the emotional effects of neoliberalism yet, as a collection, contain a stunning lack of radical imagination. This paper argues, ultimately, that the structure of feeling detectable in Great Recession fiction gives affective expression to what Mark Fisher calls reflexive impotence — the disaffected state of knowing things are bad but not being able to do anything about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Did new geographies of population growth emerge in China? The answer, from recently released 2020 census main data, appears to be no. Between 2010 and 2020, population grew faster northwest of the Hu line than southeast of the line despite the former area's harsher natural environment. In general, population still increased, and increased faster, in places that previously grew, and grew faster, despite China's economic slowdown and restructuring. Areas hosting megacities were still largely more advantaged in population growth than those hosting large cities, which in turn were more advantaged than those hosting smaller cities, despite the converse being the plan of the state. These results imply that, compared to other factors, the natural environment had relatively limited impact on population growth in China over the past decade; that major cities might not necessarily decline in population as the country's economy slows down and restructures; and that the ability of the Chinese state to reshape the geography of population growth might be restricted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the country of Lebanon sinks deeper into economic turmoil and healthcare devastation, period poverty has been recorded to reach its all-time high, whereby it was estimated that 66% of adolescent Lebanese girls cannot afford menstrual products to manage their menstrual cycle. The following descriptive paper aims to discuss the overall situation of period poverty in Lebanon, particularly during the economic crisis that hit the country and that coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will then highlight nongovernmental organization initiatives and community-based partnerships that have been carried out with the goal of alleviating the significant physical, mental, and socioeconomic impact of period poverty on Lebanese girls and women. Finally, this paper will provide socioeconomic and policy recommendations to accomplish and sustain positive menstruation outcomes in Lebanon. This paper is necessary as it highlights the humanitarian impact of such an important women's rights issue in Lebanon. It helps fill a gap in the literature because limited data are available on the status of period poverty in the country to raise awareness and take action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global economic crisis and the associated economic downturn in Turkey revitalized debates about the theory and politics of the middle classes. The significance of the middle classes has historically been shaped by not only the 'declining' boundaries of their objective class position but also their 'rising' importance in the reproduction of capital accumulation and hegemonic relations. Inspired by the notion of 'contradictory class locations' offered by Erik Olin Wright to make sense of the growing middle class of nonmanual labor in contemporary capitalist societies, and with a particular focus on Turkey's hardware sector and small traders in the Karaköy region, this article addresses the specific historical conditions of these small traders' class formation and analyzes their experiences with changing market conditions, their approaches to the functioning of market mechanisms, and the role of the state, as well as forms of their political representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explored the relationship between regional unemployment rates and the community-based housing configuration of older Americans. The analysis used the American Community Survey from 2006 to 2016 to examine regions experiencing high unemployment for differences in the likelihood of older adults to live alone, with a spouse or partner, or in a multigenerational household. Findings demonstrated that under the strain of higher regional unemployment, older adults were less likely to live alone and more likely to live in a multigenerational household. Additionally, older adults with a difficulty that could signify a need for support were less likely to live with a spouse or partner, while those without a difficulty were more likely to live with a spouse or partner. Recession-related safety-net policy should target supports to community-dwelling older adults, particularly those living alone, those with more support needs, with lower income, and older renters, because their housing arrangements may become vulnerable during regional economic contraction. Implications during COVID-19 are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the impact of the Jobs Act, the labour market reform passed in Italy under Matteo Renzi's cabinet in 2014–2015. In doing so, the study has a twofold aim. First, it contributes to the scholarly debate on labour market flexibilization, offering fresh empirical evidence about the debated effects of deregulatory reforms on employment performance. Second, our empirical investigation relies on an innovative approach, the synthetic control method, which allows us to estimate what would have happened if the Jobs Act had not been introduced. After the downturns of the Great Recession, the major goal of this flagship initiative was to boost overall employment performance while reducing labour market segmentation and enhancing more stable job opportunities for labour market outsiders, especially among younger cohorts and women. Comparing real-world observations for a number of key employment indicators with their estimated synthetic counterfactuals, we find that the Jobs Act did not fulfil its expectations. In line with part of the most recent literature addressing the impact of deregulatory reforms on employment performance, our results show that over the past five years no significant effects were driven by the reform, which may even have led to an increase in labour market segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of the post-2011 economic slowdown in India that challenges liberal and Keynesian interpretations by drawing on Nitzan and Bichler's argument of 2009 that modern-day capitalist activity is shaped primarily by differential rather than absolute accumulation and the accumulation of power so as to squeeze and lock out competitors, monopolize resources, sabotage production and acquire unused capacity. In an exploration of the deep-rooted entanglements of power, crisis and accumulation, firm-level data from India are examined to show that a growth slowdown, economic crisis and destruction of the livelihoods of millions of people have provided an opportunity for top corporate houses to entrench their power and wealth. Crisis, in other words, has been good for business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a buzzword in scientific research and the majority of countries have increased their AI efforts so as not to miss first mover advantages. Turkey announced its first national AI strategy in 2021, which aims at transforming the Turkish economy. The present article argues that the proposed national AI strategy does not match with realities on the ground. There are two layers that play out as an obstacle. The first is a political layer that consists of authoritarian backsliding, and ensuing institutional decay, economic slowdown and brain drain. The second is the structural layer, which includes technical fundamentals for AI development, namely data, hardware, and talent pool. Drawing on these two layers, the present contribution concludes that Turkey needs a political and structural transformation to meet its short- and long-term targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the presidency of Douglas Fraser, who led the United Automobile Workers, America's largest industrial union, from 1977–83. Unlike long-serving leader Walter Reuther, Fraser has received little scholarly attention, yet he headed the union at a decisive time. Between 1979 and 1983, the industry experienced a severe economic downturn, setting the stage for long-term decline. By 1982, over one-third of U.S. autoworkers were jobless. In these years, the union also approved its first contracts containing concessions, giving up $4 billion overall. In following decades, givebacks were common. This article argues that the Fraser era was a crucial one, for both the UAW and American workers broadly, whose post-1980 experience was framed by declining union density and increased economic insecurity. The first account to use detailed archival records of Fraser's presidency, including personal correspondence, UAW executive board minutes, and inter-union files, it uncovers how the union's fortunes changed dramatically during six decisive years. In many respects these years represented a turning point, straddling the era of bargaining gains – which occurred under Reuther and initially under Fraser – through to the concessions and layoffs of the early 1980s. This was, Fraser concluded, "the most troubled time in our history." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finances of performing arts organizations are sensitive to economic recessions. We use data from the "Great Recession" to provide a window into the problems that symphony orchestras will need to circumvent during and following the COVID-19 recession. We estimate that for every 1 percent increase in unemployment, attendance will decrease by 2.4 percent. With audiences who will be slow to return to concert halls, orchestras should expect years of diminished numbers of ticket buyers. Symphony orchestras will need to practice cost-cutting measures, while reinventing themselves through innovative programmes, including increased streaming platforms, in order to prosper post-COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the economic implications of COVID-19 for the HIV epidemic and response is critical for designing policies and strategies to effectively sustain past gains and accelerate progress to end these colliding pandemics. While considerable cross-national empirical evidence exists at the global level, there is a paucity of such deep-dive evidence at national level. This article addresses this gap. While Zimbabwe experienced fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths than most countries, the pandemic has had profound economic effects, reducing gross domestic product by nearly 7% in 2020. This exacerbates the long-term economic crisis that began in 1998. This has left many households vulnerable to the economic fallout from COVID-19, with the number of the extreme poor having increased to 49% of the population in 2020 (up from 38% in 2019). The national HIV response, largely financed externally, has been one of the few bright spots. Overall, macro-economic and social conditions heavily affected the capacity of Zimbabwe to respond to COVID-19. Few options were available for borrowing the needed sums of money. National outlays for COVID-19 mitigation and vaccination amounted to 2% of GDP, with one-third funded by external donors. Service delivery innovations helped sustain access to HIV treatment during national lockdowns. As a result of reduced access to HIV testing, the number of people initiating HIV treatment declined. In the short term, there are likely to be few immediate health care consequences of the slowdown in treatment initiation due to the country's already high level of HIV treatment coverage. However, a longer-lasting slowdown could impede national progress towards ending HIV and AIDS. The findings suggest a need to finance the global commons, specifically recognising that investing in health care is investing in economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced human services agencies to adapt quickly to the economic realities faced by their customers. For child support agencies, the pandemic raised difficult questions about how strenuously agencies should enforce child support orders during periods of economic crisis and uncertainty. Drawing on interviews with agency and court staff, this study explores staff's perceptions of pandemic-related effects on parents' abilities to work and pay, how and why enforcement practices changed during the pandemic, and changes staff expect to persist. Agency staff reported a pause on enforcement at the pandemic's outset, followed by leniency, flexibility, caution, and empathy in their practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Greece, given the precarious nature of the sex work industry, sex workers health and wellbeing is of concern. However, relevant research remains limited. This study examined whether sex workers' self-reported physical and mental health deteriorated across time points during the economic recession in Athens, Greece. The study focused on 13 areas where off-street and street-based sex work occurred. Cross-sectional data was collected from the same areas in 2009 (i.e. before the economic recession began) and in 2013 and 2019 (i.e. at time points during the recession). Self-reported physical and mental health decreased in 2013 and in 2019 compared to 2009. A positive association was found between the country's gross domestic product and sex workers' self-reported physical and mental health. The opposite was found for annual aggregate unemployment. The determinants of better self-reported physical and mental health were sex workers' economic condition, Greek nationality, off-street sex work, and registered sex work status. The opposite was found for more years' involvement in sex work and drug consumption. Findings indicate the need for more inclusive health strategies, especially during periods of economic downturn when sex workers' physical/mental health is likely to decline. This is the first study to investigate the association between economic recession and sex workers' self-reported physical and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Recession of 2007–2009 had profound effects on all sectors of the U.S. economy. In this article we assess the relationship between the academic job market in U.S. geography and the business cycle. Specifically, we examine the responsiveness of the job market to the business cycle since the early 1970s, the impacts of the Great Recession on hiring, and how hiring networks changed with the recession. For our analyses we draw on data from American Association of Geographers (AAG) publications, principally the AAG Newsletter (Jobs in Geography) and the Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas. We find that (1) the academic job market in geography is tightly linked to the business cycle and highly vulnerable to recessions, (2) the 2007–2009 recession destabilized demand and supply in the market with impacts on hiring lasting at least ten years, and (3) hiring networks among PhD-granting programs contracted, had lower connectivity, and witnessed a reshuffling of the top-hiring schools postrecession. Overall, the Great Recession dampened the likelihood of securing a tenure-track position in U.S. geography more so than any recession over the past fifty years. The arrival of COVID-19 and the accompanying contraction of gross domestic product are likely to further adversely affect faculty hiring. Key Words: economic recession, employment, higher education, university jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the trade-off between "broad-based energy subsidy" and "subsidy reform and targeted transfer" in the developing country context. We analyze the incidence of an electricity tariff differential subsidy program in Pakistan and find that the greater share of subsidy benefit goes to relatively non-poor households. We then conduct a computable general equilibrium exercise of electricity subsidy reform and targeted transfer, and our results indicate that redistributing savings from electricity subsidy reform improves poor households' real income. However, this comes at the cost of short-term economic slowdown, before the economy returns to the benchmark level in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intention of this paper is to add to existing knowledge of how building-level spending is prioritized toward horizontal and vertical equity during severe economic downturns. Using a sample of all public schools in Texas during the Great Recession, we examine how schools undergoing the greatest spending reductions reallocated their spending on academic programs. Results demonstrate that schools undergoing financial shocks respond mainly by reapportioning regular, accelerated, and special education spending, rather than simply enacting across-the-board cuts. High-poverty, low-performing, and urban schools tended to prioritize reallocations toward targeted group support, while lower poverty, higher performing, suburban schools tended to prioritize reallocations toward regular education support. Furthermore, results of fixed and random effect regression models suggest that while spending allocations are in part determined by district-level characteristics, reactionary changes to spending are more explained by school or leadership characteristics. These results support the notion that site-level budgeting is an important factor in ensuring that spending is calibrated to current student needs when undergoing periods of financial uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil and gas-producing communities are threatened by a precarious oil market and global commitments to transition to a greener economy. Economic diversification has been proposed as a potential strategy for supporting the resilience of these communities amidst such challenges. We sought to explore community members' attitudes toward the future of their small oil and gas-producing Canadian community to understand the socio-psychological factors and processes that influence their support for economic diversification and those which reinforce path dependency. This qualitative study involved interviews with 37 adults in the community, and a subset of 16 of those participants engaged in transect walks to further explore emerging themes. While the recent prolonged economic downturn prompted some participants' willingness to diversify, the deeply ingrained culture and identity as an oil and gas town, the 'golden handcuffs' of the industry, and optimism for another boom, acted to reinforce path dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infantile nystagmus syndrome (INS) is often characterized by an identifiable null zone. When the null zone is not in the straight-ahead gaze, a compensatory head posture (CHP) is adopted by the patient to achieve best possible vision. Various surgical procedures have been recommended to correct a CHP which is clinically predominant in one dimension of yaw (lateral rotation), pitch (anterior or posterior flexion/extension) or roll (lateral flexion). However, the presence of a complex CHP which is clinically evident in more than one dimension, warrants either a combination of multiple techniques or a stepwise approach. We report the case of a 26-year-old male with INS with an eccentric null and a multi-dimensional complex CHP of 30º left face turn, 20º right head tilt and 10º chin depression. The patient was managed by all four horizontal rectus muscle recession and resection with full tendon vertical transposition to address the face turn and head tilt. He underwent lateral rectus muscle (LR) recession with upward transposition and medial rectus muscle (MR) resection with downward transposition in the right eye. MR recession with upward transposition and LR resection with downward transposition were performed in the left eye. Postoperatively. the head posture improved significantly for both distance and near viewing. The chin depression also reduced after the procedure. He developed transient diplopia due to a small vertical deviation after the surgery, which was managed by prisms and fusional exercises. Thus, horizontal rectus muscle recession and resection combined with vertical transposition may be helpful to simultaneously improve the head tilt associated with the face turn, obviating the need for vertical rectus muscle or oblique muscle surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid increasing interest in city branding in East Asia, the municipalities of Gunsan (South Korea) and Chiayi (Taiwan) chose colonial heritage-making as their city branding strategies to recreate their cities' identities and regenerate their economies. Both cities were mostly built by Japanese imperial authorities and thrived in the 1920s and 1930s but deteriorated in the post-colonial period. Seeking to overcome long economic recessions, these two small cities endeavoured to rebrand in the twenty-first century. Their cases illustrate novel approaches to adopting colonial heritage-making at the small city level in national contexts where the management of colonial heritage is conducted mostly as part of the nation-building process. By comparing post-colonial Gunsan and Chiayi, this study presents comparative perspectives on post-colonial city branding processes and sheds light on different post-colonial responses to colonial heritage-making. The strategic and pragmatic preservation of colonial heritage in these two small cities has simultaneously produced city narratives of 'commodified' colonial modernity that represented the would-be cities' aspiration for being identified on the global map. We analysed the effects of 'commodified' colonial modernity – the recolonisation of past by now – and identified possibilities for alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational reform has been commonplace in the response to global socio-economic changes. Rising managerialism, consumerism and marketization has accelerated reforms; providing challenges for the healthcare professions. The latest socio-economic challenge, austerity, and its professional implications have scarcely been researched. This study aims to explore the lived reality of austerity as experienced by physiotherapists working on the frontline of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Nottingham; the study was advertised via the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy online network. Two participants took part; semi-structured interviews were completed, audio recorded, and transcribed. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Three themes arose from the data: (1) Fulfilling professional responsibilities; (2) Changing organizational landscape; and (3) Professional reality of rationalizing and accommodating austerity. The clinical implications of austerity included increased length of hospital stay, insufficient community services, constrained resources, and understaffing. Participants demonstrated attempts to preserve their professional status and services through restratification throughout the intra-professional hierarchy, changing division of labor, and re-professionalization. Despite claims that austerity is coming to an end, it remained a reality for these clinicians in the NHS. Physiotherapists in this study used similar methods to preserve practice when faced with exogenous constraints as seen in medicine, such as re-professionalization and restratification. However, this attempt to defend professionalism by a non-medical healthcare profession was met with both successes and losses and has implications for the wider healthcare profession ecology, identifying an area for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK has been one of the most badly affected nations of the Global North by the COVID-19 outbreak in terms of illness, death rates and a severe economic downturn. Children have been impacted severely (and unequally), with UK lockdown meaning that many children were away from school and usual leisure activities for six months during the first lockdown. We revised this Viewpoint during the third lockdown when schools were closed again for an indefinite time. Despite substantial media and policy debate about the impact of COVID-19 on young people, with a focus on education, young people's own voices tend to be obscured in these mainstream accounts. By contrast, the Children's Commissioner for England has focused on young people's accounts, which are discussed in this viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor force contingent is a very complex and dynamic phenomenon, sensitive to demographic and socio-economic changes. In many countries, the labor force is shrinking and it has undergone a major transformation, which is expected to continue in the future. Serbia is affected by the same problem. This paper focuses on the demographic aspects of labor force formation in Serbia. The aim is to estimate the components – working age population, cohort turnover, net migration and their interrelation - in order to identify and quantify fluctuations in the labor force. Seeking to identify regional disparities and areas with a "weak" or "strong" labor force potential, this study highlights the importance of the spatial dimension. It was conducted at the municipality level and a typology of five different types of municipality is established. A decline in the labor force is observed in most municipalities in Serbia. The municipalities with a significant economic downturn in the past decades experienced intensive emigration, which is reflected in the weakening of the labor force. At the same time, other municipalities failed to achieve labor force increase despite a good demographic potential, due to intensive emigration of young people. Positive changes were identified only in eight municipalities in Serbia, due to a favorable fertility rate, age structure and, to a lesser extent, immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coefficient (k) of the (− d Q / d t) − Q (discharge at time t) power-law relationship is typically computed after fixing the value of the exponent (α). However, recession analysis poses the challenge of finding a suitable α for a basin. Although many recent studies have suggested considering the median of the α distribution as the representative value, a purely logical reasoning for this has not been yet provided. In this study, we argue that there is no perfect approach to estimate α and that it should depend on the final objective. Recession flow prediction is considered the objective in this study. We employ a model to predict recession discharge for 408 USGS (United States Geological Survey), basins for a wide range of α values. Considering Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency as the indicator of model performance, we observed that the optimum value of α is substantially lower than the α median for most of the basins. Overall, our study establishes that there is no single value of α preferable for all practical purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the current debate on the existence of a third wave of autocratization, this article focuses on one of the most prominent features of democratic recession and deepening autocratization which is scrapping presidential terms. I argue that it is important to consider formal institutions while studying the decision to scrap term limits, and not only the outcome. Based on a 289 presidential/semi presidential sample, starting from the third wave till 2020, the findings, using logistic regression models, indicate that the higher the institutional constraints are, the less likely the president is to attempt scrapping term limits. Moreover, the president decides to extend more than to abolish or avoid term limits when there are higher institutional constraints. Furthermore, this article argues that regional partners/presidents who attempt to change term limits motivate other presidents to do the same. The results show that precedent regional and sub-regional attempts positively affect the president's decision to attempt to change term limits. Moreover, security challenges in the region are used as a pretext for staying longer in office, for it is argued that if the president leaves his/her rule, the country will face a breakdown and the whole region will be affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major changes in the archaeological material in Rogaland, southwestern Norway, from the mid-6th century AD have been interpreted as a population decline and an economic recession connected to the 6th century crisis. This event is known from historical and archaeological sources in continental Europe and has recently gained much attention in the Scandinavian archaeological debate. Sudden climate change, pandemic and collapsed trading networks likely induced new conditions, which would have had a major impact on the society in southwestern Norway. This paper uses plant-macrofossil data, supplemented by zooarchaeological data, and radiocarbon dates, from two archaeological sites with different prerequisites and trajectories, to reconstruct agricultural development. Based on this reconstruction, it explores agricultural resilience in connection with the 6th century crisis and investigates the merits of various agricultural strategies and adaptations. The macrofossil data reveals a change in crop composition, with a temporary introduction of rye at one of the sites, suggesting an adjustment to new circumstances. The studied sites display different subsistence strategies based on local conditions, and the data suggests complete abandonment of the site that probably depended on trade, while the people living at the more self-sufficient site were able to adapt their agriculture and survive the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its inception in 1992, the Premier League has faced a number of economic shocks, including a global financial crisis. While there is ample literature on insolvency of football clubs, this does not necessarily help us gauge financial fragility to economic shocks. Clubs' resilience to shocks is important to our understanding of the Premier League's ability to grow and outperform other leagues in an increasingly global and competitive industry. Using Annual Reports from 1993 to 2018, this paper analyses the resilience of Premier League clubs to shocks in the wider economy. Results identify the clubs most and least financially resilient. Of the Big Six clubs, only Arsenal is considered as resilient, whilst others show weakness during economic downturns or periods of growth. Measuring economic resilience in this way has implications for our understanding of both the Premier League's sustainability in its current form and its ability to withstand future shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strabismus surgery may cause refractive changes, particularly in astigmatism. The aim of this study is to evaluate those changes in astigmatism two and 12 months following unilateral recession of horizontal rectus muscles in children. The authors prospectively evaluated 66 children with esotropia or exotropia, that would undergo a unilateral recession strabismus surgery. Comparisons were made between the 66 eyes that would undergo strabismus surgery and the fellow unoperated 66 eyes of the same children. The 66 eyes that would undergo strabismus surgery were divided into medial (38 eyes) and lateral (28 eyes) rectus muscle subgroups, and further, into subgroups based on the astigmatism axis preoperatively (with-the-rule astigmatism: 35 eyes, no astigmatism: 20 eyes, oblique astigmatism: 10 eyes, against-the-rule astigmatism: 1 eye). All patients were examined one day preoperatively, and then, two and 12 months postoperatively. Paired tests were conducted, and the significant level was set to 0.05 or was adjusted for subgroups. Mean age of children included was 6.73 years (SD = 3.19). Mean astigmatism values preoperatively, 2 and 12 months postoperatively were 0.92D (SD = 0.95), 1.45D (SD = 1.04) and 1.50D (SD = 1.10), respectively, for the eyes that underwent strabismus surgery. A statistically significant mean increase of 0.58D in astigmatism values in the eyes that underwent strabismus surgery was observed 12 months postoperatively (p <.005). Astigmatism values in the eyes that did not undergo strabismus surgery did not statistically significantly change during the observation period. The increase of the absolute values of astigmatism in medial and lateral rectus muscle subgroups was similar, 0.59D (SD = 0.10) and 0.57D (SD = 0.11), respectively. For the eyes that had with-the-rule astigmatism and no astigmatism preoperatively, a statistically significant increase was shown 12 months postoperatively (0.64D and 0.66D respectively) (p <.005). Changes in astigmatism were observed in the eyes which underwent recession of horizontal rectus muscles compared to the fellow eyes, which did not undergo any intervention. An increase in cylindrical power was noted in the eyes that had with-the-rule and no astigmatism prior to surgery. This increase may be interpreted by the decreased tension of the recessed rectus muscle following strabismus surgery. Decreased forces, caused by the recessed horizontal rectus muscle, acting on the sclera on 180-degree meridian may lead to corneal flattening on this particular meridian and consequently, a corneal steepening on the 90-degree meridian. These changes seem to be stable during the first 12 postoperative months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a serious threat to public health and the economy. Importantly, there was a stock price crash on Monday, March 9, 2020, followed by a similar crash one week later. Leading global indices substantially dropped. Based on previous research indicating that the news media may elicit effects on stock prices, we hypothesized that the amount of news coverage about COVID-19 within a given country would predict the size of the stock price drop in that country. Using data for N = 58 nations from five continents, we observed average stock price drops of 6.57% (week 1) and 6.43% (week 2). Using a cross-national correlational approach, we found a positive relationship between the amount of news coverage about COVID-19 and the extent of the stock price drop. Actual severity within a given country (indicated by the number of confirmed cases and deaths, based on data provided by the World Health Organization) and public attention (indicated by COVID-19-related Internet search engine volume) did not predict the extent of the stock price drop in multivariate analyses. Correlational evidence is consistent with the idea that intensive media reporting on a threatening pandemic with uncertain negative consequences on health, social life, and the economy may provoke substantial reactions in the market, with as yet unknown indirect effects on public health. However, the causal order of media attention and stock price drops should be assessed with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sally Rooney's second novel, Normal People (2018), tells the story of two teenagers who become involved in a complicated sexual and affective relationship that lasts from their school days in a small town, into their dynamic and worldly lives at university in Dublin. Set in Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, this coming-of-age novel experiments with form and content to explore the problematic articulation of identity formation in recessionary Ireland. The emancipatory process of the protagonists is framed by specific cultural notions of the neoliberal discourse such as material success, consumerism and body commodification, which unveil practices of social class inequality and gender polarisation. Normal People, embedded with power and loss, displays emotional suffering, guilt, and self-harm to render the damaging effects of individuation and materiality upon the millennial generation in contemporary Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which factors have driven wealth taxation over the long run of history? We look at a new dataset on the first permanent introduction of taxes on net wealth, i.e., recurrent taxes levied based on the absolute value of an individual's financial assets, to answer this question. First, we place the introduction of wealth taxation in the historical genesis of the modern tax state. We find that recurrent taxes on net wealth are a more recent, yet less widely spread phenomenon than other progressive taxes. Second, we analyse the historical drivers of wealth taxation. In particular, we argue that the net wealth tax was mainly used as an 'emergency tax' when countries faced major shocks. Utilizing event history analyses, we compare the impact of two major types of shocks: wars and recessions. Our results show that wealth taxes were primarily introduced in the aftermath of major economic recessions, whilst wars do not speed up the uptake of wealth taxes. In contrast to other modern tax introductions, we do not find that countries are generally more likely to introduce wealth taxes as a result of broader societal change such as modernization or democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines household food consumption patterns in Thailand using the 2015 Socioeconomic Survey. A demand system consisting of six main food groups is estimated applying the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model. The results indicate that the expenditure elasticity for rice and other grains is the lowest among all food groups. Meat and fishes, eggs and dairy products, and food-away-from-home (FAFH) appear to be luxuries. FAFH consumption is highly associated with household income and level of urbanization. All food groups are price-inelastic demand with supportive evidence of food purchase substitution. The responsiveness of food demand with respect to price and income show remarkable differences across socioeconomic status and geographic locations. Specifically, low-income and elderly-headed households tend to be more responsive to food price and income changes. This suggests that they are likely afflicted with inadequate food intake caused by soaring food prices or economic downturn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]