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We investigate the impact of asymmetric information on the investment decisions of firms and analyze the effect of asymmetric information on the over-investment and under-investment of firms. Further, we examine the effect of leverage on the investment behavior of firms and check this association in the presence of asymmetric information. We extract data from DataStream of 280 non-financial firms listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange over the period of 2000 to 2018. We apply the Fixed Effect Model to analyze the data and System Generalized Method of Moments to check the robustness of the results. We find that asymmetric information negatively affects the investment decisions of firms. Due to asymmetric information investment decreases rapidly as compared to increase in investment. Further, leverage is an important determinant of investment decisions and the presence of asymmetric information increases the adverse effect of leverage on the investment of firms.

Presently, research and development (R&D) and innovation have been discussed in diverse ways. However, the nexus of subsidy was relatively unexplored in emerging economies. Furthermore, the effects of age are observed to be inconclusive. Considering 1272 selected Chinese manufacturing firms over the period 2007–2017, we employ fixed effect models to examine the effects of Subsidy on R&D and innovation and whether age was a moderating factor. Consistent with the sandwich theoretical proposition, this article found that there exists a significantly transitive relationship between government subsidy, R&D, and innovation. Whereas young firms perform better in the short-term, state-owned firms outweigh the private ones in performance. Subsequently, age alternatively moderates the R&D and innovation relationship from the perspective of subsidy. Though subsidy is a short-term determinant of R&D, it has a long-term relationship with innovation. In contrast, R&D and innovation have short-term effects based on lag computations. Overall, our findings suggest that government subsidy plays a crucial role in R&D and innovation for emerging markets. We discuss our results within the theoretical frameworks of sandwich, the economics of subsidy, and behavioral theory of R&D.

Industri Mikro dan Kecil (IMK) berperan menciptakan lapangan usaha di sektor informal. Penelitian ini menganalisis permintaan tenaga kerja perempuan di usaha IMK tahun 2016-2018 yang dipengaruhi oleh banyaknya usaha, output, dan Upah Minimum Provinsi (UMP). Metode estimasi fixed effect pada data panel telah dilakukan untuk menganalisis data. Berdasarkan hasil pengolahan ditemukan bahwa variabel banyaknya usaha dan output memiliki hubungan positif dan signifikan terhadap permintaan tenaga kerja perempuan. Nilai koefisien dari variabel banyaknya usaha sebesar 0,5743, yang berarti setiap kenaikan satu persen banyaknya usaha IMK akan meningkatkan permintaan tenaga kerja perempuan sebesar 0,5743 persen. Sedangkan nilai koefisien variabel output sebesar 0,2046, yang berarti setiap kenaikan satu persen output akan meningkatkan permintaan tenaga kerja perempuan sebesar 0,2046 persen. Sementara itu, variabel UMP yang ditemukan berhubungan negatif dan signifikan terhadap permintaan tenaga kerja perempuan. Nilai koefisien variabel UMP sebesar 0,5642, yang berarti setiap kenaikan satu persen UMP akan menurunkan permintaan tenaga kerja perempuan sebesar 0,5642 persen. Peningkatan banyaknya usaha dan output pada IMK akan berdampak terhadap tenaga kerja perempuan.

Purpose The aim of this study is to test the effects of an electronic screening and feedback tool and training for primary care clinicians on care and adolescent health behaviors. Methods We conducted a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial with six clinics randomly assigned to sequential crossover from control to intervention periods with clinician training between periods. Adolescents (ages 13–18) with a well visit during the control periods (n = 135) received usual care, while adolescents during the intervention periods (n = 167) received the electronic screening and feedback tool prior to their well visit, with results sent to their clinicians. Adolescents completed surveys at baseline, 1 day, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Linear mixed effects models were used to examine associations between outcomes and treatment, controlling for time as a fixed effect and clinic as a random effect. All analyses employed intent-to-treat analyses and utilized multiple imputations for missing data. Results Adolescents who received the intervention had a higher rate of counseling for their endorsed risk behaviors during the well visit (45% vs. 33%, Wald’s T = 2.29, p = .02). There were no significant intervention effects on adolescent satisfaction with the clinician or perception of patient centeredness. The intervention was associated with a small but statistically significant reduction in overall risk score relative to control at 3 months (−.63, 95% confidence interval [−1.07, −.19], Cohen’s d = .21), but not at 6 or 12 months. Conclusions The results suggest that electronic screening and feedback may be associated with small reductions in risk behaviors at 3 months but that changes do not persist at longer term follow-up.

Despite many prior studies about the determinants of city-level private car ownership in China, limited studies investigate the effects of vehicle regulation policies and relative price (the ratio of the average car price to GDP per capita) on city-level private car ownership simultaneously. Thus, panel data of 212 cities in China from 2006 to 2015 were collected to explore these effects. The potential explanatory variables include relative price, vehicle regulation policies, socio-economic factors, urban characteristics of the city, and transportation-related factors. The pooled model, fixed-effects model, and random effects model are constructed to analyze the panel data. With the fixed effect on the temporal trend, the fixed-effects model turns out to be the best. Variables including relative price, license plate lottery, vehicle use restriction based on the last digit of the license plate, the average salary of employed workers, and the number of taxis per 10,000 population are all found significant. Supportive policies for alternative fuel cars do not significantly affect private car ownership. One percent increase in the relative price is associated with a 0.08% decrease in private car ownership. The license plate lottery and vehicle use restriction policies would reduce private car ownership by 18.94% and 7.7%, respectively. The finding of this study could provide a helpful reference for policymakers to develop appropriate measures to control the growth of private car ownership of a city.

Purpose Uncontrollable brain drain (employees’ turnover) has been found to hamper humanitarian and sustainable objectives of socially oriented organizations. Hence, this study aims to explore the roles of gender and organizational-level factors on the rate of employees’ turnover in microfinance institutions (MFIs). Design/methodology/approach The study used an unbalanced panel data of 235 MFIs spanning the period 2010–2019. Based on the availability of the required data set on the World Bank catalogue (in collaboration with Microfinance Information Exchange-MIX Market), this study covers four South Asian countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Then, the authors analyzed the data using the conventional panel data regression techniques (e.g. fixed effects model and random effects model). Findings The regression results revealed that women leaders (board members) could significantly reduce the employee turnover rate of MFIs. Although the efficiency wage hypothesis is supported in this study, it depends on the profit orientation of the MFIs. This study also confirmed that financial sustainability and donations have helped MFIs to reduce their employees’ turnover, which reiterates the image and brand value effect of MFIs. Moreover, the overall gender development and legal status (e.g. Bank and Non-Bank Financial Institutions) have also been found to have an effect on employees’ turnover based on the sub-sample analysis. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is among the first to investigate the impact of gender and institutional characteristics on employees’ turnover based on a large and recent panel dataset from selected South Asian countries.

An extensive body of work within the marketing and economics literature has been devoted to studying vertical restraints, yet only a few researchers have investigated the violation behavior of retailers. In this paper, we investigate violation behavior in the context of retailer price maintenance. We investigate this behavior using a unique data set from a subsidy program in China, which includes transaction-level information that shows retail price maintenance (RPM) practices in multiple product categories by multiple manufacturers across multiple markets. The results from our fixed effects regression show that retailer violations are more likely to occur when intra-product competition is high. However, how retailer violation likelihood varies with inter-product competition may depend on the product category. We find that inter-product competition, is negatively associated with the likelihood of violation, for “less popular” product categories in the program such as washing machines, air conditioners, etc., but is positively associated with the likelihood of violation for “popular” product categories such as refrigerators, televisions, and cell phones. Our research provides some of the first empirical evidence about retailer violation behavior under RPM in the world’s largest emerging market by focusing on the relationship between violation behavior and market structure. We discuss the implications for monitoring efforts of manufacturers and regulators.

This paper empirically examines the nexuses between SMEs governance mechanisms [board size (BS), board composition (BC), chief executive officer duality (CEOD), chief executive officer tenure (CEOT), board meetings (BMET), gender diversity (GEND), firm size (SZ) and firm age (AGE)] and business performance (BP) [ROA and Tobin’s Q]. The study deployed panel data multivariate regression via fixed effect for its analysis. By using annual reports of 124 Ghanaian SMEs selected on the basis of data availability, covering 2010-2019, the paper explored SMEs governance-performance-connexion by following the methodologies of researchers/scholars in extant literature. Findings/Results indicates that, there exists positive relationships among CEOT, BMET, SZ and AGE and BP. Nevertheless, BS, BC, CEOD and GEND depicted negative relationships with BP. Findings showed there are mixed results vis-à-vis governance mechanisms and BP. Findings further connote that; Ghanaian SME sector have distinctive attributes and may respond differently to governance mechanisms. Stakeholders will be abreast of the happenings in the Ghanaian SME sector for improved governance mechanisms. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in extant literature on corporate governance and BP in the SME sector from an emerging economy’s perspective.

Purpose - This study examined the effect of Ownership Structure (Management Shareholding and Ownership Concentration) on the loan quality (LDR) of banks in Nigeria for a period of 10 years (2008-2017). The study utilized data extracted from the annual reports of the fourteen (14) studied banks. Method - Robustness tests were carried out to determine: the existence or otherwise of multi-collinearity, fitness of the model and appropriate regression analysis for the study. Descriptive statistics, correlation and Fixed Effect GLS regression were used to describe and analyze the data. Result - The study found that, ownership structure (ownership concentration and management shareholding) has significant negative effect on loan quality of banks in Nigeria. Implication - The implications of this research is that increased ownership concentration as well as management shareholding can strengthen banks’ loan quality owing to reduced proportion of depositors funds used to finance loan. This could spur confidence in the bank by the general public with regards to the safety of their deposits. Originality - This study is different from other studies that concentrated on the use of ownership structure in relations to various financial performance measurements such as ROA, ROE, NPM among other. In this study, effort was made to consider the financial health of banks owing to the nature of their business (loan).

Regional innovation policies have been implemented in several countries. In Japan, the controlled decentralization of traditionally centralized innovation policy is ongoing. Thus, we can observe the multilevel policy mix of public R&D (research and development) subsidies by national, prefecture, and city governments. However, empirical studies on multilevel R&D support, using panel data and considering the municipality level, are scarce. Based on original survey data and on the financial data for manufacturing SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), we estimate their TFP (total factor productivity) and we empirically investigate the effects of public R&D subsidies by national, prefecture, and city governments. We employ firm-level fixed effect panel estimation to control for the effects of any unobservable time-invariant factors. We find that, with a two year lag, city and prefecture subsidies show positive and significant effects on TFP, which also persisted after the subsidy period. However, multilevel subsidies, especially those involving city subsidies, additionally and persistently increase recipients’ TFP. These results suggest significant advantages for the multilevel policy mix, especially those involving the city subsidy.

Objective. Delirium is a temporary neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by fluctuations in cognition and attention. Delirium is one of the most common complications seen in old individuals after orthopaedic surgery. With a high incidence, the clinical picture of delirium increases the length of hospital stay and increases healthcare-related costs. This study has aimed to systematically review the national and international studies that investigated the risk factors leading to delirium in geriatric patients after orthopaedic surgery and to perform a meta-analysis using the data reported by those studies. Materials and Methods. A preliminary literature review was performed on six databases. The following English keyword combinations were used including 'Orthopaedic Surgery', 'Geriatrics', 'Elderly', and 'Delirium'. The results of trials were evaluated with random or fixed effect model according to the heterogeneity. Statistical evaluation was performed by using Comprehensive Meta Analysis version 3 programme. Results. The total sample size of the studies included in the analysis was 892. In geriatric patients; who had undergone orthopaedic surgery and developed delirium, the random-effects model revealed a high-level, in the positive direction, and statistically significant (p

Population aging has become a global challenge. Drawing data from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey 2008, 2011, and 2014, this study examines the effect of informal care receipt on functional limitations and depressive symptoms among older people in China using lagged fixed effects model. Our findings suggest that receiving informal care is significantly associated with a slower functional decline. We also find that this effect varies across different income groups. The protective effect of informal care is more pronounced among older people with higher income compared to those with lower income. We do not observe any significant associations between receiving informal care and depressive symptoms of older people. This study highlights a pressing need for the Chinese government to establish a comprehensive long-term care system.

Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) combined with the L1 penalty (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator/LASSO) is called LASSO GLMM. LASSO GLMM reduces overfitting and selects predictor variables in modeling. The aim of this study is to evaluate the model's performance for predicting Covid-19 patients with certain congenital disease that require ICU based on the results of blood tests laboratory and patient’s vital signs. This study used binary response variables, 1 if the patient was admitted to the ICU and 0 if the patient was not admitted to the ICU. The fixed effect predictor variables are the results of blood tests laboratory and patient’s vital signs. The random effect predictor variable is patient's congenital disease. The result showed that the average of accuracy and AUC from LASSO GLMM is more than the average of accuracy and AUC from LASSO GLM by using 5% level of significance. Respiratory rate and Lactate show a significance effect to predict the ICU needs of Covid-19 patients. The random effects patient's congenital disease has significance effect at 5% level of significance. It means that the ICU needs for Covid-19 patients varies among patient's congenital disease. We can conclude that GLMM LASSO with the random effect of patient’s congenital diseases has better modeling performance to predict the ICU needs of Covid-19 patients based on the results of blood tests laboratory and patient’s vital signs. The results of this modeling can quickly detect Covid-19 patients who need the ICU and can help medical staff use ICU resources optimally

The economic development aimed at improving people’s welfare often ignores the negative impact of the surrounding environment. The high use of energy aimed to increase the national income of the five ASEAN members hurts the environment by increasing CO2 levels in the air. This research aims to analyze the effect of CO2 emissions, coal consumption, electricity consumption and deforestation on national output in five ASEAN members. The variable used in this research is national output as the dependent variable and CO2 emissions, coal consumption, electricity consumption and deforestation as the independent variables. This research uses secondary data. The data is the panel data of five ASEAN members (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar) from 2002 until 2018. The research method in this time is panel data regression, using Fixed Effect Model. This research shows that in five ASEAN members from 2002 until 2018, CO2 emissions harm national output, coal consumption, and electricity consumption positively affects national outcome, while deforestation does not affect national output.

Tax and social expenditure policies have a crucial role in income distribution. This study explores the potential role of taxation and social expenditure policies in income redistribution in South Asia. For this purpose, empirical analysis is conducted by Fixed Effect (FE) and Instrumental Variable (IV) FE models. The analysis suggests that both taxation and social expenditures policies effectively reduce income inequality in South Asia. These findings indicate that social spending and taxation can be used as a policy tool to redistribute income in developing countries. The results also indicate that higher social spending, increased direct taxes, and more reliance on foreign debts can ameliorate the income distribution. Based on the results, it can be suggested that for this region, with the low level of taxes, direct taxes, a large informal economy, and other weak features of tax administration, more reliance on direct taxes and social expenditure policies should be the primary tool for income redistribution.JEL Classification: H2, H5, I3How to Cite:Khan, S., & Padda, I. U. H. (2021). The Impact of Tax and Social Expenditure Policies on Income Distribution: Evidence from South Asia. Etikonomi, 20(2), xx – xx. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v20i2.18121.

Ecological deterioration, air pollution, and resource depletion have shrouded the vast regions of China, raising widespread concerns about the sustainable development of the domestic economy. Although financial agglomeration has become a pivotal approach for China to realize green transformation, there is a lack of evidence against the causal correlation between financial agglomeration and sustainable development of the regional economy. To fill this gap, using the data of 29 provincial capital cities in China spanning from 2009 to 2019 and adopting individual time bidirectional fixed effect model, IV-GMM approach, and alternative modeling techniques, this paper investigates the impact of financial agglomeration on sustainable development of the regional economy for the first time. The results indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between financial agglomeration and the sustainable development of the regional economy. Financial agglomeration facilitates the improvement of regional energy efficiency, and the latter further mediates the relationship between financial agglomeration and sustainable development of the regional economy. In addition, the empirical results also demonstrate that the higher the economic policy uncertainty, the weaker the positive relationship between financial agglomeration and energy efficiency. The present study is of great significance for China to implement energy-saving and emission-reduction tasks and achieve sustainable urban construction.

Sektor tersier merupakan sektor lapangan usaha yang menghasilkan produk berupa jasa. Sektor tersier sendiri telah mendominasi perekonomian di Indonesia. Perubahan struktural ekonomi menuju sektor tersier diperkirakan mampu memengaruhi pertumbuhan ekonomi sehingga dilakukan penelitian untuk menganalisis pengaruh sektor tersier terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi provinsi-provinsi di Indonesia. Analisis yang dilakukan membagi provinsi-provinsi di Indonesia menjadi Kawasan Barat Indonesia (KBI) dan Kawasan Timur Indonesia (KTI). Metode yang digunakan adalah analisis data panel Fixed Effects Model dengan estimasi Feasible Generalized Least Squares. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pada KBI maupun KTI, sektor tersier yang dijelaskan oleh produktivitas tenaga kerja dan share tenaga kerja memiliki pengaruh positif terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi. Variabel lain yang digunakan yaitu belanja langsung pemerintah memiliki pengaruh positif terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi serta laju pertumbuhan penduduk memiliki pengaruh negatif terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi. Peningkatan produktivitas sektor tersier dan tenaga kerja sektor tersier dapat dilakukan sebagai upaya peningkatan pertumbuhan ekonomi.

Understanding the main factors influencing energy intensity in China is important to reduce total energy consumption and protect the environment. Based on the OECD–WTO Database of Trade in Value-Added, we subdivide the secondary sector and employ the LMDI method to analyze how much changes in industrial structure and intra-industry energy intensity contribute to the overall change in energy intensity. The results prove that the change in intra-industry energy intensity is the main factor that influences the overall change in energy intensity in recent years. Furthermore, we use firm-level energy consumption data that cover various regions, scales and kinds of energy consumption, and employ firm fixed effects regression to analyze intra-industry influencing factors and find that the scale effect exists for coal, oil and electricity efficiency; foreign-invested firms have lower energy intensity; and firms in coal-rich areas have higher coal intensity. Our results show that if firms’ energy intensity decreases to the level of firms with lower energy intensity within the industry, total energy consumption will decrease considerably without changing the output or industry structure. This paper will give implications for developing countries, where it is difficult to make industrial structural changes to reduce energy consumption.

Anggaran infrastruktur di Indonesia pada tahun 2015 mengalami peningkatan pesat hingga 62,7% dibandingkan tahun sebelumnya. Selama lima tahun, angka ini terus tumbuh hingga tahun 2019 meningkat sebesar 62%. Melonjaknya peningkatan anggaran infrastruktur era pemerintahan Presiden Jokowi dilakukan demi mempercepat pertumbuhan ekonomi di Indonesia. Namun, hingga akhir periode pertama pemerintahannya, sepertiga wilayah di Indonesia masih memiliki pertumbuhan ekonomi di bawah 5%. Selain itu, hampir 60% pertumbuhan ekonomi di Indonesia disumbang dari Pulau Jawa. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh infrastruktur ekonomi dan sosial, yaitu infrastruktur jalan, listrik, air, kesehatan, dan TIK terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi di Indonesia pada periode 2015-2019. Analisis yang dilakukan menggunakan regresi data panel dengan metode estimasi Fixed Effect Model SUR. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kelima variabel infrastruktur berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi di Indonesia pada tahun 2015-2019.

The tourism sector is the leading sector in Indonesia's economic development in the future. One of the potential demand for Indonesia tourism sector comes from domestic tourist arrivals who show an increasing trend each year. On the other hand, the number of disasters in Indonesia in the last 10 years also showed an increasing trend. Starting from this phenomenon, the purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of disasters on domestic tourist arrivals in Indonesia. The analytical method used is descriptive analysis and panel data with Fixed Effect Model (FEM) approach. In this study, natural disasters were proxied through frequency of disasters and the number of fatalities. The results of the analysis indicate that frequency of disasters and the number of fatalities have a negative effect on the domestic tourist arrivals. However, only the number of fatalities has a statistically significant effect. Economic variables which also have a significant effect on domestic tourist arrivals are GRDP/capita, CPI, population, number of hotel rooms and accessibility. All of these variables have a positive effect on domestic tourist arrivals. Keywords: Disasters, panel data, tourism, domestic tourist JEL Classification code: Z38; O20; R58.

Purpose The association between air pollutant (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3) concentrations and daily number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and related deaths were evaluated in three major Iranian cities (Tehran, Mashhad, and Tabriz). Methods Hourly concentrations of air pollutants and daily number of PCR-confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 were acquired (February 20th, 2020 to January 4th, 2021). A generalized additive model (GAM) assuming a quasi-Poisson distribution was used to model the associations in each city up to lag-day 7 (for mortality) and 14 (for morbidity). Then, the city-specific estimates were meta-analyzed using a fixed effect model to obtain the overall relative risks (RRs). Results A total of 114,964 confirmed cases and 21,549 deaths were recorded in these cities. For confirmed cases, exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and O3 for several lag-days showed significant associations. In case of mortality, meta-analysis estimated that the RRs for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 concentrations were 1.06 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.13), 1.06 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.19), 1.15 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.38), and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.31), respectively. Despite several positive associations with all air pollutants over multiple lag-days, COVID-19 mortality was only significantly associated with NO2 on lag-days 0–1 and 1 with the RRs of 1.35 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.67) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.31), respectively. Conclusion This study showed that air pollution can be a factor exacerbating COVID-19 infection and clinical outcomes. Actions should be taken to reduce the exposure of the public and particularly patients to ambient air pollutants. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-021-00736-4.

In many developing and emerging economies, better employment opportunities in the non-farm sector have increased rural wages due to labour shortages during the peak agricultural season. Increasing wages often cause a substitution of labour for mechanical power, but extensive use of labour-saving technologies may cause labour displacement and have serious equity concerns. Using the household and individual fixed effect estimation approach, this paper analyses the relationship between different types of farm machines and labour requirements in India. The results suggest that a unit increase in the level of farm mechanization increases the demand for hired labour by 12%. Moreover, we find that the level of farm mechanization has a positive effect on women’s participation in farm work, while it decreases the probability of children participating in agriculture-related work. Disaggregated analysis based on types of farm machinery suggests that water-lifting equipment, draft power and tractors increase the probability of male household members working on their farms, while all types of farm machines, except tractors, have a positive effect on female farm labour participation. We also find that the effect of farm mechanization on the demand for hired labour decreases as the size of the farm increases.

Labour force participation rate (LFPR) is always a concern in economic view in Malaysia. This research study on how the labour force factors will affect the LFPR according to gender perspective for every state in Malaysia from the year 2011 to 2016. Static Panel Data analysis were used in this study. By using Fixed effect model (FEM), outside labour force, non-married, secondary, and tertiary education level have inverse relationship with male LFPR, while the marital status of labour force has positive relationship with male LFPR. Next, for the effect of determinants and characteristics of labour force on female LFPR, Random effect model (REM) was used. The model shows that unemployed, widowed status, outside labour force, and marital status have an inverse relationship with female LFPR. Meanwhile, non-formal education level, tertiary education level, and age group between 40-64 have positive relationship with female LFPR. In conclusion, it is important to understand the LFPR according to gender in Malaysia because it will shape the comparative advantage and describes the situation of Malaysia’s labour market. This study provides an overview of labour force in Malaysia using an appropriate statistical modelling known as panel data approach.

Based on the data regarding the renovation of the toilets of 30 provinces (municipalities) in rural China from 2005 to 2017, this study utilized a two-way fixed effect model to empirically test the impact of access to sanitary toilets on health, which include intestinal infectious diseases (consisting of hepatitis A, dysentery, and typhoid) and child mortality (consisting of perinatal mortality, infant mortality, and the mortality rate of children under 5). This study attempted to assess the health outcomes of the "toilet revolution" in rural China. The results showed that: (1) Access to sanitary toilets effectively reduced the incidence of hepatitis A and dysentery. For every 1% increase in the rate of access to sanitary toilets, the incidence of hepatitis A was reduced by 5.6%, and the incidence of dysentery was reduced by 36.5%. (2) Access to sanitary toilets does not significantly reduce child mortality. (3) There are obviously regional differences in the impact of access to sanitary toilets on the health outcomes. The renovation of sanitary toilets has shown the most significant effect on reducing the incidence of intestinal infectious diseases in the central region as well as the effect on reducing child mortality in the western region. It is implied that the health outcomes of China's "toilet revolution" may provide supporting evidence and experience for other developing countries and regions in implementing toilet renovation projects.

Summary Background Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic. Studies reported dyslipidemia in patients with COVID-19. Herein, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published articles to evaluate the association of the lipid profile with the severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Methods PubMed/Medline, Europe PMC, and Google Scholar were searched for studies published between January 1, 2020 and January 13, 2021. Random or Fixed effects models were used to calculate the mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Statistical heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran's Q test and I2 statistics. Results This meta-analysis included 19 studies. Of which, 12 studies were categorized by severity, 04 studies by mortality, and 03 studies by both severity and mortality. Our findings revealed significantly decreased levels of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the severe group when compared with the non-severe group in a random effect model. Similarly, random effect model results demonstrated significantly lower levels of HDL-C and LDL-C in the non-survivor group when compared with the survivor group. The level of TC was also found to be decreased in the non-survivor group when compared to the survivor group in a fixed-effect model. Conclusion In conclusion, the lipid profile is associated with both the severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Hence, the lipid profile may be used for assessing the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. Prospero registration number CRD42021216316 .

The purpose of this paper is to examine the widely believed beating capacity of actively managed funds during the market downturn. This popular hypothesis has been tested with the performance of Indian Equity Mutual Funds during the pandemic period. The conditional alphas are estimated using lagged instrumental variables with the fixed effect/LSDV estimator and the sys-GMM estimator in contrast to the OLS estimation from a sample of 1271 schemes for 5 months from 1st March 2020 to 31st July 2020. The study’s findings indicate that the actively managed Indian mutual fund co-moves with the market and does not possess the ability to beat the market. The major implication comes from the application of fixed effect and GMM estimators for the performance evaluation of Indian Mutual Funds’ during the crisis period, and it serves the investors in deciding the profitable investment opportunities., Highlights The paper examined the ability of actively managed funds to beat the market downturnThe study applied Sys-GMM and LSDV/fixed effect models for estimating the performance alphaThe actively managed Indian mutual funds do not possess the ability to outperform the market

This paper explores the effect of birth weight on a series of anthropometric outcomes among children. We use a panel of individual-level data from 39 developing countries covering the years 1999-2018 and attempt to solve the Endogeneity using mother fixed effect and twin fixed-effect strategies. The results suggest that improvements in birth weight result in statistically and economically significant improvements in children’s anthropometric outcomes. An additional 100 grams birth weight is associated with a 0.43 and 0.25 units increase in weight for age percentile and height for age percentile, respectively. The links are stronger among low educated mothers and poorer households. The observed protective effect of birth weight on infant mortality suggests that the true effects of birth weight on children’s outcomes are larger and that the estimated effects probably understate the true effects.

States have the latitude to mandate coverage of diabetes self-management education (DSME) services for privately insured and Medicaid patients. The impact of these mandates on the supply of DSME resources is unknown. This study compared changes in the supply of DSME programs and program sites accredited by the American Association for Diabetes Educators (AADE) and certified diabetes educators (CDE) between states that did and did not mandate benefits for DSME. Using a unique combination of legal and programmatic data sources, the authors employed fixed effects regression models with clustered robust standard errors to compare changes in the supply of AADE-accredited DSME programs, program sites, and CDEs in states that mandated benefits with states that did not. Given the variation in state mandates, models also estimated the impact of "flexible" reimbursement provisions on the supply of resources among adopting states. The supply of DSME resources has increased over time, but results indicate that mandated benefits were not a significant driver of these changes in the supply. The impact of flexible reimbursement provisions varied. Interestingly, provisions of the Affordable Care Act were associated with an increased supply of resources. Results suggest that extending benefits to previously insured patients does not increase the supply of DSME resources, but a rapid increase in patients entering the health system does encourage growth.

This research aims to analyze the effect of exchange rates on foreign tourist flows in ASEAN-3. A fixed-effect model is used to estimate data from three ASEAN countries, namely: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand from 1995 to 2016. The result shows that the exchange rate has a significant positive effect on foreign tourist flow. In other words, the depreciation of domestic currency increasing foreign tourist flow. Other control variables such as income per capita, HIV prevalence, trade, and consumer price index significantly affect a different sign.

Both exports and imports are one of the important strategic axes of Egypt's economic development plan, Exports are an important source for foreign exchange, and imports are a source of goods that domestic production cannot cover. And According to the direct correlation and the impact of both exports and imports on the Egyptian economy, and According to the importance of the continuous and periodic evaluation of foreign trade to highlight the most important effects of the surrounding changes on it, The research problem is based on an assessment of Egyptian trade with the most important partners in light of the exchange rate change and in the form of the following question: Are exports and imports between Egypt and its most important partners reaching their desired levels? Does the exchange rate have an effect on it? So that the objective is to compare the actual situation with the forecast for both exports and imports, whether at the country level or for the average years for the two periods (2013-2015, 2017-2019) (Before and after exchange rate change). The research was based on data for 20 countries in the case of exports, 33 states in the case of imports as the most important business partners with Egypt, the gravity model has been used with the use of the estimation method for mixed data and the use of the Hausman test to prefer between the two random and fixed effects models.

Economic zones are always considered to be a strategy for a country to attract FDI, including Indonesia that has designated several regions as FTZ, namely Sabang and Batam (2000) also Bintan and Karimun (2007). Therefore, this study tries to see the impact of FTZ policies on the entry of FDI in Indonesia. Using fixed effect panel data method for the period 1999-2018 and focusing on policies, characteristics, and socioeconomic conditions of FTZ in Indonesia. It shows that the FTZ has positive impact on increasing FDI in Indonesia only if the region has socioeconomic characteristics and conditions that are stable and supportive toward investment climate

Climate change has consequences and influences on agricultural productivity, especially in tropical areas such as Indonesia. Agricultural produce contributes to the level of Gross Domestic Product. Climate change is a challenge for the environment that has the most extensive impact on the economic, natural resources, and agricultural sectors, even as a concern for climate change on agricultural production. So it is needed to discuss climate change which has an impact on various sectors, especially the economic sector. This research was carried out during 2016-2018 using all provinces in Indonesia. This study uses panel data regression method, and the chosen model is the Fixed Effect Model (FEM) by displaying the effects of each region. The results of this study show that R-squared value is 0.990095 which means that 99% of independent variables collectively determine the value of GDP. Meanwhile, changes in temperature, increased rainfall, and increased air quality index partially have no effect on GDP. Only the extent of agricultural land area partially has a positive effect on GDP .

Objective The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and associated public health measures have influenced all aspects of life for children and families. In this study, we examine changes in children's behavioral health and families' well-being at the start of the pandemic. Method We used longitudinal data on 2880 children from 1 US state collected over 3 waves to compare family and child well-being before and after a state-wide stay-at-home advisory set in March 2020. We descriptively examined levels and changes in 4 child behavioral health outcomes (externalizing, internalizing, adaptive, and dysregulated behaviors) and 4 family well-being outcomes (parental mental health, parental stress, parent-child relationship conflict, and household chaos) across the preshutdown and postshutdown periods. Fixed effects regression models were used to predict within-child and within-family differences in preshutdown and postshutdown outcomes. Results Fixed effects analyses showed children's externalizing (0.09 points; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-0.13), internalizing (0.04 points; 95% CI, 0.01-0.08), and dysregulated (0.11 points; 95% CI, 0.06-0.16) behaviors increased after the shutdown, whereas children's adaptive behaviors declined (-0.10 points; 95% CI, -0.15 to -0.05). Parental mental health issues (0.22 points; 95% CI, 0.17-0.27), parental stress (0.08 points; 95% CI, 0.03-0.12), parent-child relationship conflict (0.10 points; 95% CI, 0.04-0.16), and household chaos (0.10 points; 95% CI, 0.05-0.14) all increased relative to preshutdown levels. Conclusion Many children experienced declines in behavioral health and many families experienced declines in well-being in the early months of the public health crisis, suggesting the need for family-focused and child-focused policies to mitigate these changes.

Despite a large number of studies examining the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and corporate financial performance (CFP), the literature remains inconclusive. Moreover, most of the studies are conducted in the context of American and European firms and remain scarce in the context of developing economies. To bridge this significant gap, this study attempts to investigate the strength of the relationship between CSRD and CFP of Indian firms. The study uses ESG (environmental, social and governance) score as a proxy for CSRD and investigates its relationship with both market-based and accounting-based financial performance measures for Indian companies. Both aggregate and disaggregate analyses based on industry type are carried out. The study includes a sample of 287 companies from the financial year 2014–2015 to 2018–2019 and employs panel data regression using pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effect and random effect model. The findings indicate that CSR disclosure has varying effects on CFP metrics. For industries—consumer goods, consumer services and heavy engineering, CSRD is positively associated with CFP, while for healthcare and energy and utility firms, the relationship between CSRD and CFP is negative. Overall, the type of industry, as well as the type of financial performance indicator, shows varying CSRD–CFP dynamics. The relevance of this study lies in the increasing importance of social responsibility and the growing contribution of emerging markets in international business. The study offers implications to assist policymakers, regulators and corporate managers in better understanding the CSRD–CFP structures in the context of a developing economy.

This paper analyses poverty dynamics in rural Bangladesh using a nationally representative panel dataset of 5,020 rural households interviewed in 2011/12, 2015, and 2019. Findings show that education, savings, assets, international remittance, non-farm employment, substantial safety net transfers, and women’s empowerment are key factors in breaking chronic and transient poverty. Rural infrastructure development and market access through improved connectivity are also critical for sustained poverty alleviation. On the other hand, woman-headed households (widowed, divorced or abandoned) are found to be particularly vulnerable to impoverishments. The results are consistent across multinomial logit, simultaneous quantile regression, and panel fixed effects models. Thus, policies and programs that address the determinants of chronic and transient poverty identified in this study hold promise for sustained poverty reduction in rural Bangladesh.

As the inclination to FDI shifts from developed to developing economies, investors are flocking to emerging markets, particularly to the Next-11 nations, which render additional growth and investment opportunities. Meanwhile, these countries have become popular FDI destinations; the goal of this study is to look at the major factors that make these countries appealing to FDI destinations. As a result, this research examines the factors that influenced FDI inflows into these nations from 1995 to 2019. Market size, trade openness, natural resource availability, economic stability, and infrastructure facilities are among the potential explanatory factors identified in this research. On the panel data set, which includes data from 11 nations, a fixed-effect model is used. The data show that market size, trade openness, natural resource availability, and economic stability are all possible predictors of FDI inflows to these nations, whereas infrastructure appears to be a minor one.

PurposeE-government development (EGD) is vital in enhancing the institutional quality and sustainable public service (SPS) delivery by eradicating corruption and cybersecurity crimes.Design/methodology/approachThe present study applied econometric fixed-effect (FE) regression analysis and random forest (RF) algorithm through machine learning for comprehensive estimations in achieving SPS. This study gauges the nexus between the EGD as an independent variable and public service sustainability (PSS) as a proxy of public health services as a dependent variable in the presence of two moderators, corruption and cybersecurity indices from 47 Asian countries economies from 2015 to 2019.FindingsThe computational estimation and econometric findings show that EGD quality has improved with time in Asia and substantially promoted PSS. It further explores that exercising corruption control measures and introducing sound cybersecurity initiatives enhance PSS's quality and support the EDG effect much better.Practical implicationsThe study concludes that E-Government has positively impacted PSS (healthcare) in Asia while controlling cybersecurity and institutional malfunctioning made an E-Government system healthier and SPS development in Asia.Originality/valueThis study added a novel contribution to existing E-Government and public services literature by comprehensively applied FE regression and RF algorithm analysis. Moreover, E-Government and cybersecurity improvement also has taken under consideration for PSS in Asian economies.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of family ownership on cooperative research and development (R&D). Drawing on the ability and willingness paradox framework in family business research, the authors suggest that family ownership influences cooperative R&D via two opposing mechanisms: power concentration and wealth concentration. It also deepens the current understanding of the boundary conditions of informal institutions for the impact of family ownership on cooperative R&D by investigating the moderating role of political ties.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyze a panel of 610 Chinese manufacturing family firms and 2,127 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2017. Fixed effects regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses, with the two-stage Heckman model to address sample selection bias.FindingsThe research findings indicate that family ownership has an inverted U-shaped relationship with cooperative R&D and political ties moderate the relationship in such a way that the inverted U-shaped relationship will be steeper in firms with more political ties than in firms with fewer political ties.Practical implicationsFamily ownership influences firms’ cooperative R&D through the positive effect of power concentration and the negative effect of wealth concentration. Family owners should, therefore, take advantage of concentrated power, for instance, by adapting quickly and committing sufficient resources to cooperative R&D opportunities, while controlling path-dependent relationship development caused by concentrated family wealth. The effect of political ties on the relationship between family ownership and cooperative R&D is found to be a double-edged sword.Originality/valueThis study extends the ability and willingness paradox framework and provides novel insights into cooperative R&D in family businesses by integrating power concentration and wealth concentration associated with family ownership. Moreover, this study provides a contingency perspective and introduces the moderating role of political ties in shaping cooperative R&D in family firms.

Using a sample of more than 1,500 Chinese listed firms over four years of observation (2015–2018), this study examines the effects of family ownership and certain features of board diversity (gender diversity, age diversity, and education diversity) on the risk-taking of Chinese listed firms. First, a two-way fixed effects regression model is proposed. Then, this study finds that the examined Chinese family firms’ risk-taking, which is measured by their Z-scores and innovation intensity, is lower than that of the nonfamily firms. This result confirms the prediction of social-emotional wealth theory. Second, a diversity index is formulated to summarize the above three dimensions of board diversity. By regressing risk-taking measures on these board diversity features, this study finds that firms with less-diverse boards take more risks. Finally, the effects of the interaction between family ownership and board diversity are explored. The results reveal that the examined dimensions of board diversity have significant influences on risk-taking: family firms with lower levels of board diversity generally take more risks than those with higher levels of board diversity. Our study contributes to the literature on risk-taking of family business and has important practical implications for motivating family business innovation in China.

We analyze the relationship between corporate social responsibility and the stock market performance in the post-global financial crisis period. A new measure of social responsibility by Thomson Reuters, called the ESG Combined Score, is used. As a novel feature of our analysis, socially responsible engagement is divided into the strategic activities closely related to the examined companies’ core business and the remaining secondary activities. The results of the fixed effects regression show a positive and statistically, as well as economically, significant impact of the strategic activities on the corporate stock market performance of companies. This impact is up to 103% higher compared to the secondary activities. The empirical results suggest that if companies aim to increase their share prices via the corporate social responsibility channel, they should strategically select their socially responsible initiatives.

PurposeThis paper presents three models of funding health care in 130 developing countries, based upon a public system, a private system and personal remittances.Design/methodology/approachThe authors trace the funding of health from foreign aid to health funding and health outcomes in the public system, foreign direct investment to health funding in the private system, and personal remittances to health outcomes. This is followed by panel data, fixed effects models subjected to 2-, 3- and 4-stage least squares regressions.FindingsFindings from the first model were that aid in the form of Technical Cooperation Grants funded Infrastructure. Infrastructure Spending due to aid funds Government Health Plans, which reduced the Incidence of Tuberculosis, which in turn reduced Undernourishment and increases Life Expectancy. Other positive health outcomes included reduced Birth Rate and reduced Maternal Mortality. In the second model, Foreign Direct Investment increased Female Employment and GDP per Person, funding Private Health Plans, which increase Life Expectancy, reduced Undernourishment, increased Skilled Care at Birth, increased the Number of Hospital Beds, reduced Maternal Mortality and increased the Birth Rate. In the third model, Remittances influenced both Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenses and Private Plans.Social implicationsPublicly funded programs may be directed to nutrition, increasing life expectancy. Private funding may be directed to improving maternal conditions, with remittances removing the liquidity constraints.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to trace health funding from its sources of foreign aid, foreign direct investment and personal remittances using three separate paths.

Objective Large reductions in inpatient length of stay and inpatient bed supply have occurred across health systems in recent years. However, the direction of causation between length of stay and bed supply is often overlooked. This study examines the impact of changes to inpatient bed supply, as a result of recession-induced healthcare expenditure changes, on emergency inpatient length of stay in Ireland between 2010 and 2015. Study design We analyse all public hospital emergency inpatient discharges in Ireland from 2010 to 2015 using the administrative Hospital In-Patient Enquiry dataset. We use changes to inpatient bed supply across hospitals over time to examine the impact of bed supply on length of stay. Linear, negative binomial, and hospital–month-level fixed effects models are estimated. Results U-shaped trends are observed for both average length of stay and inpatient bed supply between 2010 and 2015. A consistently large positive relationship is found between bed supply and length of stay across all regression analyses. Between 2010 and 2012 while length of stay fell by 6.4%, our analyses estimate that approximately 42% (2.7% points) of this reduction was associated with declines in bed supply. Conclusion Changes in emergency inpatient length of stay in Ireland between 2010 and 2015 were closely related to changes in bed supply during those years. The use of length of stay as an efficiency measure should be understood in the contextual basis of other health system changes. Lower length of stay may be indicative of the lack of resources or available bed supply as opposed to reduced demand for care or the shifting of care to other settings.