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This paper examined the short‐ and long‐run impacts of gasoline price, macroeconomic factors and road length on road traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities in Nigeria. Annual data from 1995 to 2019 and autoregressive distributed lag approach were employed. Results suggest that gasoline price, per capita income, road length and population density significantly influence road safety outcomes. Gasoline price has a positive short‐run impact on crashes, injuries, and fatalities contrary to findings in developed countries. Road crashes tend to decrease when income increases in the short term. Population density leads to improvement in road safety outcomes while road length exacerbates it. Government's policy on gasoline price increase could worsen road safety outcomes unless it is accompanied by improvement in road infrastructure, safe public transport and economic growth, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many authors have documented a global rise in singlehood during the past decades, expanding beyond Western or industrialized countries. Simultaneously, the number of single households is increasing, not only due to the aging of the population, but also because young adults are increasingly living solo. Whereas having no partner and solo living do not necessarily coincide, existing studies tend to overlook this distinction. In this paper, we provide conceptual clarity as to what types of singlehood can be distinguished, through a framework that builds on two dimensions: living solo and being partnered. Next, we delve into the issue of measurement. We illustrate the issues in implementing an extended singlehood framework to empirical data. To do so, we examine internationally comparative retrospective studies and prospective panel studies, and identify three levels of operationalization that current datasets achieve when identifying a redefined notion of singlehood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive study of the linkages between global commodity price shocks and national financial markets. We consider an overall price index, three proxies of global oil shocks (overall, supply and demand) and non‐oil (metal) price shocks and assess their causal relationships with the stock prices of a large set of heterogeneous countries in terms of development. Using a mixed‐frequency VAR approach in a time‐varying setting, we construct a Global Commodity Connectivity Index and a Global Stock Connectivity Index to monitor the prevalence, over time, of Granger‐Causality from commodities to stock markets and vice versa. Our results show the existence of time‐varying causality during the observed period depending on the level of country development and the position on the global commodity shocks super‐cycles: the commodities depression of the 1980s and 1990s, the commodity boom of the 2000s and the post‐Global Financial Crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's manufacturing sector experiences declining growth and labour demand, and increased imports of intermediate goods. The paper investigates the influence of offshoring on employment and wages for capital‐ and labour‐intensive industries and skilled and unskilled workers, using firm‐ and employer–employee‐level data. Unlike findings in developed countries, offshoring generally lowers employment in manufacturing firms and increases and decreases the percentage of unskilled workers and lower skilled workers, respectively. Increased narrow offshoring seemingly grows the cohort of unskilled workers, particularly in ultra‐labour‐intensive industries. As offshoring gains momentum, worker‐level earnings increase in capital‐ and labour‐intensive industries but decrease in ultra‐labour‐intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly escalating COVID‐19 pandemic entails many unprecedented life circumstances, including in the way people work. The social distancing policy has forced companies to adopt work‐from‐home (WFH) arrangement to maintain business sustainability amidst both health and economic crises. While in many developed countries, WFH arrangement has been a common practice, this is not the case in some Asian countries, particularly in countries where high power distance emphasising heightened supervision and punishment among workers are still a preferred managerial style, such as Indonesia, China, India, and Thailand. While acknowledging that WFH is considered as beyond an option in this pandemic period, this commentary paper, built on existing literature presented in the narrative fashion, aims to critically identify key barriers of WFH implementation in some Asian countries, particularly in autocratic societies, using both theoretical and contextual approaches. The paper concludes by discussing recommendation for future studies and proposing strategic implications for companies and workers to effectively adopt WFH arrangement, especially in societies where WFH is still a new practice or is involuntarily held. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the threshold conditions in financial integration and growth relationship for a large set of threshold variables and different income group of countries employing Panel Smooth Transition Regression Models. Except developing countries, our findings strongly indicate nonlinear dynamics and imply that the impact of financial integration on growth is asymmetric depending on a number of indicators such as countries' degree of institutional quality, financial sector development, trade openness, budget deficit, inflation volatility and the level of financial integration. Our results show that these threshold effects substantially differ for emerging and industrial countries. As far as whole set of countries is concerned, our findings imply that countries having developed financial systems, qualified institutions and stable macroeconomic environment benefit from financial integration. Moreover, threshold effects are stronger and different for emerging countries compared to the industrial countries. Unlike emerging economies, higher levels of financial integration and trade openness decrease benefits from financial openness for the industrial countries. Besides, high fiscal deficit has more pronounced negative effect on the growth of the industrialized countries compared to emerging economies and other indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most developed countries have accepted, in principle at least, the 50‐year‐old commitment of contributing 0.7 per cent of gross national income to supporting the development of developing countries. But what if all countries made a universal development commitment, meaning a scaled contribution? We propose a new universal and scaled financial commitment to development, informed by but not necessarily identical to official development assistance. This paper: (1) sets out how a new era is emerging of higher global ambitions – for example, to end poverty; (2) proposes a new way to raise and govern international public funds; and (3) discusses the possible size and use of contributions, and the evolution in global governance and democracy that a new deal would entail. We conclude with a set of questions that the proposal raises. In the end, making progress on a universal development commitment of this kind, as with so much else, will depend on politics and what numbers and percentages prove acceptable to all parties involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Freshwater macro‐organismic environmental DNA (eDNA) is gaining increasing popularity in detecting invasive species, assessing community assemblages, and in mapping the distribution of taxa that are rare or otherwise difficult to monitor. The objectives of this article are to review the targets of published freshwater eDNA research in relation to aquatic conservation with a focus on geographic regions covered, as well as the habitats and species investigated.The analysis of 272 peer‐reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2018 revealed that 57% of the 238 primary research papers have a focus on conservation science, mostly addressing invasive and endangered species, followed by 23% papers investigating methodological developments and 11% biodiversity surveys also using eDNA metabarcoding. A strong geographical pattern emerged, with Africa, South America, and the tropics being under‐represented. Taxonomic coverage was dominated by 123 fish species, followed by 29 amphibian and 28 mollusc species. Freshwater arthropods (27 taxa) were under‐represented in relation to their estimated species richness.Taxonomic bias towards certain species such as fishes observed in freshwater eDNA research is pervasive in biodiversity research and conservation sciences, and thus is not surprising. Geographical representation was biased, with a few industrialized countries from the Northern Hemisphere contributing 72% of the studies. Both findings parallel biases known from other research areas, such as marine eDNA analysis, taxonomy, or invasion biology.The application of eDNA in freshwater conservation will benefit from the development of general standards and guidelines that are necessary to integrate freshwater macrobial eDNA techniques in existing monitoring frameworks. To aid future freshwater conservation, our suggestions are to harmonize eDNA methods for comparable and easier implementation worldwide, and to increase international cooperation and funding for under‐represented geographical regions and neglected taxa. This is especially crucial for the known biodiversity hotspots in developing countries where rapid changes occur to freshwater habitats and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present an institutionally grounded account of CSR decoupling in developing countries. Businesses in developing countries face institutional conditions significantly different to that in developed countries. As a result of these differences, there is an increasing demand on organizations in developing countries to comply with what are observed to be diffuse CSR standards—to which they thereby engage by decoupling. These observations result in the need to re‐examine the classic argument of decoupling and produce a more effective understanding of why and how CSR decoupling exists in such contexts. Little is known about the consequences of decoupling for organizations and society at large. We provide examples of decoupling in the developing world and present a comprehensive agenda for future research that explains why decoupling is pervasive and rapid change is, sadly, unlikely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon contemporary research, this paper examines whether there is a relationship of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) bachelor and master graduates to the gender pay gap (GPG) in the 27 EU Member states in 2013–2020 using a novel cross‐sectional data set based on the 2013 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). International panel data were analysed with the dynamic modelling fixed effects method and compared with the results received from the cross‐sectional analysis executed with the help of Bayesian model averaging methods. Our findings suggest that STEM education plays a significant role in forming the GPG. We can see a negative, robust and statistically significant effect of bachelor‐ and master‐level female STEM graduates on the GPG and a positive statistically significant effect of bachelor‐ and master‐level male STEM graduates on the GPG. The permanently lower women‐to‐men ratio in STEM education and those employed in high‐end sectors of science and technology can be one of the drivers of the persistent GPG in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of institutional quality and banking competition on shadow economy for 127 economies for the period of 2005–2017. It further explores if institutional quality/competition shapes the relationship differently between banking competition/institutional quality and shadow economy. This paper uses the system GMM estimator to tackle potential omitted variable bias, endogeneity, and simultaneity issues. The findings suggest that overall, greater competition among banks and stricter institutions in the country reduce the size of shadow economy. Furthermore, impact of competition on shadow economy is even stronger in countries with weak institutions and the impact of institutional quality is greater in lower competitive environment. Only severe competition matters for shadow economy in case of developed countries. To sum up the novel findings of this research, competition and institutions complement each other in reducing the size of shadow economy. These findings are robust to different econometric estimators. The findings carry vital policy implications for the governments and regulators to play their part in reducing the shadow economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the trends and driving forces for the relatively recent growth in cross‐national marriages in East and Southeast Asia with a specific focus on the experiences of female marriage migrants from Southeast Asia. It explicates the various forms of inequality faced by the low‐income marriage migrant women including gender power dynamics within the household, socioeconomic inequalities, integration into the destination society, and intergenerational transfer of inequalities. We acknowledge that the inequality experienced by marriage migrant women results from a complex web of intersecting social‐cultural, political, and economic forces occurring in Asia in the past three decades. As a result of rising female educational attainment and the practice of marriage hypergamy in Asia, an increasing number of low socioeconomic‐status men from developed countries seek marriage partners abroad from lower‐income and less‐developed countries. Upon entering the cross‐national marriage market, many low‐income migrant women face multiple disadvantages in the host country due to inadequate socioeconomic support, language barriers, social stigma on foreign brides, and a lack of legal status. These inequalities exacerbate their initial disadvantages to perpetuate a vicious cycle of intergenerational disadvantages for their offspring. We conclude with a critique of extant literature and identify promising future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past years, increasingly restrictive migration policies have pushed many migrants to seek new and more risky migration routes. Many studies have investigated aspects of social protection for migrants from the Global South in industrialized countries of the Global North, with powerful welfare states. Yet, such focus has failed to understand the complexities during the migration process, where people often spend uncertain periods of time in transit countries and the state is frequently absent. In these contexts, social protection is predominantly provided by the third sector (TS) and informal networks both nationally and transnationally. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with African migrants and TS organizations in Mexico, this paper explores the different and often semi‐formal relationships between the TS, the state, and the migrants that result in complex transnational social protection infrastructures to cover the migrants' basic social protection needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether environmental and social (ES) activities affect the resiliency of firms during the COVID‐19 crisis. We study a sample of 330 firms operating in five developed countries: Canada, France, Japan, the UK and the US. Our analysis shows that US firms with a high ES ranking experienced a significantly lower stock price range volatility during the Covid stock market rundown of February‐March 2020. Such findings also hold for Japanese firms but only later on after the introduction of government support. In terms of returns, compared to their peers with a low ES ranking, Japanese and UK stock prices with a high ES ranking suffered more during and after the market rundown. For other countries, we do not find significant differences in stock price behavior based on ES ratings. Our findings suggest that engaging with ES activities is not associated with a better or worse performance during crisis times, which has important implications for investors and managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research indicates that introducing school choice and competition into the public education system might improve the quality of schooling. Yet, up to date most empirical work on school choice has concentrated on developed countries and it is far from obvious that the experience of these countries can be of any guidance for transition economies. Our work intends to fill this gap. We concentrate on the case of Poland. We argue that in Poland, school choice and competition tends to improve average education quality and efficiency of public education expenditure. The case of Poland [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reassess the contribution of Sir Arthurpaper entitled‘Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour’ to our understanding of economic development, and to the establishment of development economics as an academic discipline. We argue that Lewis's key insight into the structural dualism characterizing developing countries mapped out a new and distinctive field for development economics and policy. The paper has had a profound impact over the last 50 years and continues to yield valuable lessons for understanding the nature of economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absract: Outbound foreign direct investment (OFDI) was traditionally the realm of developed countries. However, recently OFDI originating from emerging countries has increased rapidly but hardly any study noticed its impact on the economic activities in emerging source countries. Therefore, this study explores the impact of OFDI on exports and private investment in emerging source countries by employing cross‐sectional dependence autoregressive distributed lag model. The findings in this paper suggest that OFDI contributes significantly to exports in the emerging countries both in the long and in the short run; however, OFDI contribution to private investment in emerging countries is limited to long run only. Moreover, the findings suggest that the positive impact of OFDI on exports and private investment in emerging countries requires quality institutions. The positive impact of OFDI on exports and private investment in emerging countries is low when compared with developed countries. However, the significant and high values of a dummy variable for the 2007–2008 financial crisis show that emerging countries are converging on developed countries in terms of gains from OFDI in post‐crisis era. We find that OFDI is an effective policy tool for emerging countries to diversify and kick start the local economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper discusses a factor influencing consumption in China that has not been widely addressed: the retirement age. Many previous studies on the relationship between retirement age and consumption are based on data from developed countries. Because of the many differences between China and the developed economies, this analysis relies on the Lau (2009) overlapping‐generations model. This model is more suitable for determining the relationship between consumption and retirement age in China, and for highlighting the positive relationship between consumption and retirement age. The empirical results reveal a causal relationship between retirement age and consumption and indicate that increasing the retirement age can stimulate economic growth. These results are specific to China and include gender differences and the varied impacts on low‐income and high‐income families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds upon existing scholarship on changing patterns and processes of internal migration, especially the surprising recently documented trend towards falling internal migration intensities since the late 20th century in many developed countries. The analysis is based on new research opportunities presented by the recent linking of administrative health data into the census‐based Scottish Longitudinal Study and points to a modest recent decrease in aggregate rates of address changing within Scotland. This decline is partly driven by the population subgroups that have been conventionally most mobile, especially over longer distances, becoming less migratory. This supports the notion of an evening out of some of the main socio‐economic determinants of migration and validates calls for a greater emphasis on the drivers and consequences of population immobility within migration studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a short description of the content of the supplement supplied with the August 1996 issue of the "European Journal of Oral Sciences." The supplement contains a number of research papers dealing with the decline in dental caries seen in several industrialized countries during the past few decades. The research papers are published as a part of the SPPP Project, a collaborative effort between the Swedish Patent Revenue Research Fund for Preventive Odontology and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare.

Summary: This paper studies two novel productivity characteristics of foreign acquisition on high‐tech manufacturing firms: the dynamic and the non‐Hicks‐neutral effects. A dynamic productivity effect of foreign ownership arises when adoption of foreign technology and management practices takes time to fully realize. Furthermore, these dynamic adjustments may be capital or labor augmenting as adoption of advanced production technologies tends to have non‐neutral productivity implications in developed countries. We propose and implement an econometric framework to estimate both effects using firm‐level data from China's manufacturing sector. Our framework extends a nonparametric productivity framework, in which identification is achieved using a firm's first‐order conditions and timing assumptions. We find strong evidence of dynamic and non‐neutral effects from foreign ownership, with significant differences across investment sources. Investment from OECD sources is found to provide a long‐term productivity boost for all but the largest recipients, while that from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan does not raise performance. These findings have implications for China's declining labor share and for the rising domestic value‐added content of its high‐tech exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how input liberalization affects firm import behavior. Using comprehensive production and trade data of Chinese firms, the paper shows that firms switch import sources from developing countries to developed countries as Chinese input tariffs fall. This finding is evident for import value and import scope. The observation holds after excluding the possible influence of reducing processing trade. The paper further demonstrates that the mechanism can be attributed to quality upgrading and innovation led by input cost reductions. The analysis handles the possible endogeneity problem, and the findings are robust and significant to different empirical methodologies and measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the gateway for corporations to combine business with ethics and is needed to expand the focus of a corporation beyond merely its own profit line. The present paper is a theoretical discussion on these practices through a critical study of research literature. Researcher seeks to discuss the meaning of CSR, before focusing on the presence and significance of CSR in developed and developing nations. There are similarities between CSR trends in the two distinct fields such as emotion‐oriented CSR programs and use of media for corporate image building. In contrast, major differences can be found in the role of governments among developed and developing countries in relation to CSR activities. Finally, the researcher also presents a look into the impact of CSR in shaping future progress for developing countries. The paper is purely a reflection and comparative review of existing research literature from various countries in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice defined as the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for nontherapeutic indications. Due to changing patterns of migration, clinicians in high‐income countries are seeing more women from countries where the practice is prevalent. This review aims to understand the sociocultural and health needs of these women and identify opportunities to improve the quality of maternity care for women with FGM. Methods: We undertook a systematic review and meta‐synthesis of peer‐reviewed primary qualitative research to explore the experience and needs of migrant women with FGM receiving maternity care. A structured search of nine databases was undertaken, screened papers appraised, and a thematic analysis undertaken on data extracted from the findings and discussion sections of included papers. Results: Sixteen peer‐reviewed studies were included in the systematic review. Four major themes were revealed: Living with fear, stigma, and anxiety; Feelings of vulnerability, distrust, and discrimination; Dealing with past and present ways of life after resettlement; and Seeking support and involvement in health care. Conclusions: The findings suggest that future actions for improving maternity care quality should be focused on woman‐centered practice, demonstrating cultural safety and developing mutual trust between a woman and her care providers. Meaningful consultation with women affected by FGM in high‐income settings requires cultural sensitivity and acknowledgment of their specific circumstances. This can be achieved by engaging women affected by FGM in service design to provide quality care and ensure woman‐focused policy is developed and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia is more common in older age but a number of people develop symptoms at a younger age and are said to have early onset dementia ( EOD). Those with EOD face different challenges to those with onset later in life. It has been difficult to quantify this disease burden. This is a systematic review of papers reporting on the prevalence of EOD. A search of Medline and Embase was performed. This was followed by a hand search of the references of these papers. Eleven suitable studies were included. All of the data was from more economically developed countries. The studies were heterogeneous in their design hindering direct comparison. The majority of the papers looked at all types of dementia although many gave a breakdown of the prevalence of different subgroups. A variety of diagnostic criteria was employed. Figures of 38 to 260 per 100 000 are quoted by papers looking at various different types of dementia together with an onset of between 30 and 64 or up to 420 per 100 000 for those aged 55-64. Prevalence rises as age approaches 65. Epidemiological data for prevalence rates for EOD are sparse. EOD remains a rare condition with low case numbers. Assimilation and comparison of results from existing studies is difficult due to methodological heterogeneity. Cross-national standardization of methodology should be a priority for future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Seventh Urban Change and Conflict Conference at the University of Bristol held in September 1989. The conference had a distinct first world orientation and only a handful of papers discussed third world urbanization. Within the first world orientation, the author was struck by the absence of papers on race, arguably the most important source of "urban change and conflict" in the U.S. Other issues that are convulsing American cities were also largely missing from the agenda, including AIDS, crime and the underclass. The author will examine two related themes that emerged from the conference agenda and papers. An examination of these two trends in urban sociology provides some hints, for an answer to the question: where is the new urban sociology heading? If there is a unifying theme to these two trends, it is the shift of attention from production issues to consumption issues. Associated with this academic agenda was the prevailing system of urban policy in advanced industrial countries: strong industrial unions and social democratic parties defended a bureaucratically administered welfare state that included programs targeted to central cities, such as public housing and public employment.

Although many studies point to the significant influence of collective bargaining (CB) institutions on earnings inequalities, evidence on how these institutions shape poverty rates across developed economies remains surprisingly scarce. This paper explicitly addresses the relationship between CB systems and working‐age poverty rates before and after taxes and transfers in 24 developed countries over the period 1990–2015. Our results show that countries with a more centralized CB system, a more extended bargaining coverage rate and/or a higher trade union density display significantly lower poverty rates. However, these results only hold in a post‐tax benefit scenario. Controlling for country and time fixed effects and a wide range of covariates, our estimates indeed suggest that the poverty‐reducing effect of CB institutions stems from the political strength of trade unions in promoting public social spending rather than from any direct effect on earnings inequalities. Sensitivity tests for endogeneity and overlapping samples support this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore financial centers are almost never the final destination of the foreign direct investments (FDI) they receive. A large portion of these investments are phantom FDI, which ultimately flow to third countries or return back to the source country in a process called round‐tripping. This paper develops a model in which onshore countries compete internationally with tax instruments to attract capital from abroad, in the presence of an offshore financial center that encourages phantom FDI. We show that the presence of offshore financial centers is beneficial to technologically advanced countries, whereas it is detrimental to others. Finally, we use this framework to analyze the effectiveness of Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules against profit shifting recently implemented in Europe and the associated loss of tax base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new stylized facts about labor earnings inequality and dynamics in France for the period 1991-2016. Using linked employer-employee data, we show that (i) labor inequality in France is low compared to other developed countries and has been decreasing until the financial crisis of 2009 and increasing since then, (ii) women experienced high earnings growth, in particular at the bottom of the distribution, in contrast to the stability observed for men. Both result from a decrease in labor costs at the minimum wage and an increase in the hourly minimum in the aftermath of the 35h workweek policy, (iii) top earnings (top 5 and 1%) grew moderately while very top earnings (top 0.1 and 0.01%) experienced a much higher growth, (iv) inequality between and within cohorts follow the same U-shaped pattern as global inequality: it decreased before 2009 and then increased until 2016, (v) Individual earnings mobility is stable between 1991 and 2016, and very low at the top of the distribution, (vi) the distribution of earnings growth is negatively skewed, leptokurtic, and varies with age. Then, studying earnings dispersion both within and between territories, we document strong differences across cities aswell as between urban and rural areas, even after controlling for observable characteristics. We also observe a continuous decrease in earnings inequality between territories. However, a larger inflation in rural territories mitigates this convergence. Finally, we document a strong reduction in inequality within rural and remote territories, again driven by changes at the bottom of the wage distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of goodwill on capital structure and how investors' education affects the relationship between goodwill and capital structure in developing and developed countries. This study covers both developing and developed countries using a sample of 4912 and 4303 non‐financial companies from 23 developing and 9 developed countries, respectively, over 9 years (2010–2018). By applying panel data techniques, study shows that goodwill has a significant positive impact on the capital structure of developing and developed countries. Besides, investors' education moderates the relationship between goodwill and capital structure, especially in developed countries. Managers of the goodwill assets‐based companies in developing and developed countries can formulate their borrowing policy in the same fashion as the managers of a tangible asset‐based company do. Outcomes of this study will help investors/creditors in those countries to develop a clear view of the collateralization of goodwill. Policymakers in the developed countries will have a better idea about the role of investors' education in the financing of the companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, employing transaction‐level data for Russian imports, we explore the role of multi‐product shipments in explaining shipping patterns across countries. In our data, an average shipment includes five different products. We document that firms from higher‐income countries on average include a larger number of different products into a single shipment and have a larger number of shipments per period with a lower average quantity and value. We then propose a mechanism that reconciles both facts. Specifically, multi‐product shipments allow firms to split fixed costs per shipment across many products and, therefore, reduce total shipment costs. As a result, higher‐income countries tend to have lower fixed costs per shipment. Finally, we construct a simple partial equilibrium model that enables us to quantify the potential increases in trade volumes and welfare created by the multi‐product shipment option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to illustrate and explain the problems and opportunities for improvement in Covid management that become evident when taking a systems perspective. Critical time delays occurred in the regulation of the pandemic that the management cycle of political cybernetics makes explicit. In general, the executive management of the pandemic in global, regional, and national organizations was unprepared in detecting and responding to the onset of the waves and making appropriate decisions towards differential instead of general lockdowns based on available data. This was further complicated by the mutants of SARS-CoV2 that perpetuated the high dynamics of the pandemic. In addition, the diversity of medical specialisms, without appropriate big picture thinking, led to an imbalanced response that failed to appreciate the role of virology and epidemiology compared to clinical and public health-related issues. In consequence, laboratory experts suggested everyday regulations for the citizens without taking into account wider considerations for empirical research. There was an insufficient effort made for proposed treatment studies using existing agents based on the established understanding of essential physiology and the role of local and systemic chronic inflammation. In contrast, driven by media popularization, drugs that later proved beneficial were put in doubt and other drugs that lacked benefit and potentially caused harm were driven to clinical trials and utilization. Person-centered systems view backed by scientific knowledge and established data would have set better priorities. Finally, we need to take a step back and consider the Corona crisis pandemic in the context of the unidimensional utility- driven handling of natural ecosystems by the culture of industrialized countries. This ever-accelerating destruction of life spaces for species drives adaptations are the basis of zoonoses. There is strong evidence that future pandemics should be faced with a more systemic socio-ecological conceptual framework that also reflects the fatal impact of human civilization on natural ecosystems, no matter if SARS CoV2 is a zoonosis or a laboratory accident. It is critical for the future of our species that we collectively learn from this experience, address limitations in our perspectives, enhance our system-based science and bolster global, regional, and national crisis management. The impact of climate change and biodiversity loss has crossed the horizon and is now clearly in full sight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how catch‐up industrial policies in China affect economic development in a two‐sector neoclassical growth model. To fulfil their aspirations of catching up with the output of the capital‐intensive sector of developed countries, Chinese political leaders adopted industrial policies that subsidise this target sector at the expense of other sectors from 1952 until the economic reform in 1978. The static effect of this industrial policy distorts the allocation of resources across sectors and lowers the aggregate TFP. The dynamic effect discourages the accumulation of capital. We show that although the output of the capital‐intensive sector boosts initially, it will be lower than its first‐best counterpart in the long run if catch‐up aspirations are too strong. Our theoretical predictions are consistent with the experience of the Chinese economy from 1952 to 1978. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the influence of knowledge economy over demand-side management. The current economic environment in developed countries is characterized by the confluence of a number of ecological trends that, taken together, are redefining production and consumption patterns. Many of the general implications of this evolution from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy are familiar-increasing substitution of services for products, or reductions in material and energy consumption per unit gross domestic product.

The technological progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has led to mass unemployment and various types of inequalities in the recent years. This study is an attempt to see how income inequality has increased with the changes in technology. The study also investigated how technology such as AI has affected (directly or indirectly) to working position and working process of workers. Analysis of the study is based on the data of automation and Gini‐coefficients. The study finds that the relationship between AI and income distribution has always been considered negative and this is what has been observed in this study and it directly affects the distribution of income and jobs. Due to the automation, low and medium skill jobs are declining, and unemployment is increasing, further the income gap between middle and high skill labor is increasing. Gini‐coefficients of developing nations are higher than in developed nations, indicating that income inequality in developing nations is higher than the developed nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Several reviews have been conducted to assess the association between greenspace and overweight or obesity, but the conclusions were inconsistent. However, an updated comprehensive review and meta‐analysis is warranted, because several high‐quality papers have been published more recently. The objectives of this study are to systematically and quantitatively assess the evidence for a link between greenspace with overweight/obesity and to make specific recommendations for further research. We searched three English language databases, four Chinese language databases and the reference lists of previously published reviews for epidemiological studies on greenspace and overweight/obesity published before January 2020. We developed inclusion criteria, screened the literature and extracted key data from selected papers. We assessed methodological quality and risk of bias, and we graded the credibility of the pooled evidence. We also performed sensitivity analyses. Fifty‐seven records met our inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Most studies were cross‐sectional designs (81%) and were from developed nations (88%). More than half (55%) of the included studies found beneficial associations between greenspace and overweight/obesity in overall or subpopulations. Our meta‐analytical results showed that greater normalized difference vegetation index was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity in a statistically significant fashion (odds ratio [OR]: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.91) but not residential proximity to greenspace (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.00), proportion of greenspace (OR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.85, 1.08) or number of parks in an area (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.97, 1.01). However, we detected high between‐study heterogeneity in two of the four meta‐analyses, which reduced the credibility of the pooled evidence. Current evidence indicates that there might be an association between greater access to greenspace and lower odds of overweight/obesity. However, additional high‐quality studies are needed to more definitively assess the evidence for a causal association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the effects of increased import competition from China on the Italian labor market. In line with recent studies, we take two complementary approaches and study both the effects on local labor markets and on manufacturing workers. Our analysis shows that the Italian local labor markets which were more exposed to Chinese trade by means of their industry composition ended up suffering larger manufacturing and overall employment losses. Nevertheless, back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations suggest that the aggregate effect on total manufacturing employment is modest. At the individual level, contrary to what has been documented for many developed countries, workers initially employed in more exposed manufacturing industries did not suffer long‐term losses in terms of lower earnings or more discontinuous careers. While they were indeed less likely than other similar workers to continue working in manufacturing, they were also able to carry out successful transitions toward the non‐tradable sector, in other areas with better job opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantifies the impact of international transport time on bilateral trade flows in goods using previously unexploited information drawn from a large data set on international parcel delivery times. In line with previous work, we find that an extra day spent in international transit reduces bilateral trade by just under 1% at the sample median. In addition, and for the first time in the literature, we examine the impact of time‐related uncertainty, which requires traders to hold costly inventories or build costly redundancies into supply chains. We find that a one day increase in international transport time uncertainty reduces bilateral trade flows by just over 1%. Splitting the sample into developing and developed countries shows that international transit time matters primarily for south–south trade, whereas uncertainty is relatively more important for north–north trade. Using new data on trade in intermediate versus final goods, we also find some evidence that time and uncertainty both matter more for movements of intermediates of the type that takes place within global value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores how intellectual property rights (IPR) protection affects an economy's status in global value chains (GVC) by introducing IPR protection into the sequential production model. We find that a suitable IPR protection system that matches the phase of economic and technological development a country has reached is the key for developing countries to upgrade their status in GVC, which are dominated by multinational firms from developed countries. Empirical analysis with multinational panel data for 55 countries from 2005 to 2015 provides evidence in support of the predictions of this model, although the GVC‐enhancing effects of IPR protection are heterogeneous for developing and developed countries. The empirical conclusions are robust after using the instrumental variable method and controlling for endogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between commuting distances and where people work has been studied for urban contexts in both developed countries and developing countries. However, few studies have examined the situation in rural areas, and none look at commuting distances to non‐farm workplaces in rural areas of developing countries. This paper investigates how commuting distance, and thus accessibility, to local non‐farm work influences non‐farm employment and out‐migration from rural villages in Northeast Thailand. The main issues examined are: (i) the distance that rural residents travel to work in local non‐farm jobs; and (ii) the influence that local non‐farm employment has on the number of outmigrants from rural villages. The study finds: (i) distance between villages and non‐farm work sites impact the number of villagers who are employed in regular wage work; (ii) beyond 20 km villagers are less likely to travel to non‐farm employment using their own means of transportation; and (iii) employment in regular wage work decreases outmigration. The findings from this study contribute to the debates over the drivers of rural out‐migration, rural livelihood changes, and agrarian changes that are taking place in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the price impact of analyst revisions in distinct economic states around the world. We find stronger average 2‐day cumulative abnormal returns in bad times, though this pattern is mainly observed in developed countries. In addition, trading strategies following analyst revisions, with holding periods from 1 to 6 months, are generally more profitable in good times with lower macroeconomic uncertainty, after controlling for market and common risk factors. The profitability, however, disappears or declines substantially after accounting for time‐varying risk premia conditioned on lagged macroeconomic information, indicating a reduced information production role played by analysts in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global concern for the environment and considering the observation that very few manufacturing companies have taken a more proactive position on sustainability, it has been suggested that the stakeholder approach can contribute to the study of sustainability management. Hence, this paper analyzes the relationship between a set of individual stakeholders pressures (STP) from different groups and the adoption and implementation of some specific sets of sustainability practices (SP) in manufacturing: internal and external monitoring and external collaborative. It also contributes to the open debate around the "monolithic" versus differentiated reaction to perceived STP, showing that companies respond selectively to the different stakeholder groups. Finally, this research also considers the possible influence of different country development contexts (developed vs. emerging countries), which may be very informative in the context of the growing globalization of operations. Using a large, worldwide, multicountry, and multi‐informant sample of manufacturing plants from three industry sectors located in 15 emerging and developed countries, this study shows that the different stakeholders play different roles in the adoption and implementation of different sustainability practices, thus contributing to the open debate around a suitable balance of stakeholder pressures. This research further contributes to the debate around the convergence and divergence perspectives by supporting the "universal" adoption of sustainability practices (convergence perspective) as no statistical differences are found in stakeholder pressures in different country development contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that becoming vaccinated with the Coronavirus vaccine may lower mental distress. However, it remains uncertain whether this relationship holds amid concerns of vaccine side effects and doubts of the vaccine's protective capabilities. We presented three studies that showed how vaccine confidence negatively influences the relationship between vaccine uptake and mental distress. Using two‐way fixed effects regression models, Study 1 analyzes longitudinal survey of respondents from Los Angeles County in the US, while Study 2 uses the same analytical strategy but generalises findings by analysing longitudinal data of participants across all 50 US states. Main results of both studies show that (i) vaccination uptake is linked with reduced mental distress among individuals with high vaccine confidence (ii) vaccine uptake has no effect on mental distress among individuals with low vaccine confidence. Lastly, Study 3 applies multilevel analysis to a large‐scale pseudo‐panel study of 15 developed countries. Results for the third study corroborate finding (i) but not (ii) in that the multinational study finds that vaccine uptake is actually associated with higher mental distress among individuals with low vaccine confidence. In sum, our paper shows that the palliative effect of vaccination on mental health only exists when vaccine confidence is high. Results are mixed on whether vaccination affects mental distress when individual vaccine confidence is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this paper, we examine the connectedness between volatilities for various non‐fungible tokens (NFTs) and developed stock markets during the period from July 1, 2018, to June 15, 2022. With the use of the time‐varying connectedness methods to explore the volatility interdependences among these assets, we find that there is a significant volatility connectedness during Russia's invasion of Ukraine and COVID‐19 periods. Evidence emerging from this study advocates the inclusion of NFTs in developed stock markets for medium and long time periods only. The results also suggest that UK and Germany stock markets are the predominant market of spillover transmission, whereas the XTZ is the top net recipient/transmitter of volatility connectedness shocks. Moreover, Chinese stock market and ENJ offer more diversification gains than others, and the volatility connectedness from US stock market to NFTs is more pronounced in the long‐term than the short‐term. Our research provides some urgent and prominent insights to help investors and policymakers to be aware that NFTs are important hedge assets that should be added to stock portfolios during periods of geopolitical stability and in the post‐pandemic times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the long‐term evolution of the linkages of the insurance sector with financial and nonfinancial companies. We develop a measure of connectedness using a multifactor model of weekly equity returns. The empirical analysis is conducted from 1973 to 2018, for 16 developed countries, at both the sectoral and institution levels. The results indicate that, unlike other sectors, the connectedness level of the insurance industry has strengthened over time. We also find that the linkages of the largest insurance companies with financial and nonfinancial firms are structurally different but as high as those of the largest banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes two Argentine case studies of firm's integration in global value chains (GVCs) that target non‐mass market segments in developed countries. The cases involve a manufacturer of high‐end footwear and a manufacturer of customized automotive parts. Based on the common findings in these two cases, we build a conceptual framework that emphasizes relational links as an opportunity of GVC insertion for middle‐income countries that cannot buttress their international competitiveness on low wages. We call these modes of insertion manufacturing with co‐design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a unique hand‐collected dataset of 1,251 European Union banks and 20,850 foreign affiliates hosted in 154 countries, this paper investigates how both host country and home country regulations affect the decision on where and how to go abroad in developing countries as opposed to developed countries. We find that banks prefer high‐income countries with numerous activity restrictions and weaker supervision but less developed countries with less restrictions and stronger supervision. In all cases, they avoid locations with stronger capital regulation than at home. Regarding the choice of foreign organizational form (branches versus subsidiaries), banks rather operate subsidiaries in both high and middle‐income countries with stringent entry requirements but prefer branches in developing countries with stringent capital requirements and greater supervisory power. Our findings contribute to the literature examining bank internationalization and have several policy implications for regulatory reforms in developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]