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This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

Several developing countries have become world leaders in the field of renewable energy, of which China, but also Brazil and India stand out. This research paper focuses on the positions they occupy in the world rankings of hydro, wind, solar and bio energy capacities, as compared to the developed countries. At the same time, the investigation points to specific catalysts or, on the contrary, deterrents of the "green revolution" in the developing world. Hydropower is the most important form of renewable energy in all the three countries included in this evaluation. It is underscored that China is the first one in each of the four world rankings, taking into account the total installed capacity of renewable energy: hydro, wind, solar and bio. It is also the largest investor in renewable energy capacity worldwide. Brazil ranks second as regards hydropower and bioenergy capacities, while India ranks fourth in wind and bioenergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Amazônia, Organizações e Sustentabilidade (AOS) is the property of Amazon, Organizations & Sustainability - AOS / Amazônia, Organizações e Sustentabilidade (AOS) 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 investigates the effects of China on the BRIS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. We identify Chinese supply and demand shocks and assess their transmission to BRIS in a structural dynamic factor model framework estimated over the period 1995Q2-2009Q4. The findings show that Chinese supply shocks are more important than its demand shocks. Supply shocks produce positive and significant output responses in all BRIS countries. And while these supply shocks have a permanent impact on the BRIS countries, the effects of demand shocks are short-lived. Both supply and demand shocks are transmitted through trade rather than financial linkages. However, the responses of the BRIS countries are heterogeneous and therefore require country-specific policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with a simple problem: given the implicit Ignatian model for conversion and of conversion narratives for those already within the Christian fold, how did Jesuit missionaries in the colonies represent native conversion? To what extent were these colonial conversion narratives responding to the demands of Jesuit representational norms and to what extent did they reflect local realities? To address this question, this paper will examine stories of conversions of natives in public letters sent from Bahh and Goa and their immediate environs during the first thirty years of the missions in Brazil and India--annual letters but also other letters which were published in popular collections such as the Nuovi Avisi delle Indie di Portogallo series printed in Venice. The public cartas particulares, as opposed to the private hijuelas, were meant to be carefully crafted, and were explicitly intended to give a good account of the mission to the public in Europe. Since the public letters considered here were guided by Ignatius' epistolary conventions and often placed into wide circulation, they provide an index of the rhetorical strategies and conversion narratives deemed successful by the Jesuit order in Europe in a period when Ignatius' influence was still strongly felt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil society engagement around health care and population health improvement is an important driver towards Health for All. Research can improve the effectiveness of health activism by examining the resources, structures and strategies of civil society engagement. However, research to support such engagement faces epistemological and methodological challenges which call for specific research strategies. A four year multi-country study was undertaken by the People's Health Movement, a global network working for health for all. The research took place in six countries (Brazil, Colombia, DR Congo, India, Italy, South Africa) and globally, and was directed to understanding five domains of civil society engagement: movement building; campaigning and advocacy; capacity building; knowledge generation, access and use; and engaging with governance. The research plan and methods of data collection and analysis were tailored to address the objective of improving activist practice, while negotiating research challenges identified during the design phase. Results include insights into the practice of civil society engagement in relation to the five domains of activist practice, as well as experience gained in managing six methodological challenges which we describe as: making meaning, aligning research and action, managing power relations, valuing experiential knowledges, chaos and contingency, challenging preconceptions. Researching activism can produce useful insights into practice as well as support continuous improvement in the effectiveness of such activism. However, there are significant methodological challenges that can be addressed through appropriate strategies. More research, building on the approach described in this paper, can contribute to more effective civil society activism for health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to contribute towards the sustainable development of financial systems, by testing the performance of socially responsible investing alternatives in emerging BRICS countries. The study outcomes give us an insight into viability of responsible financial decisions in contrast with the conventional style of investing. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the performance of socially responsible indices of BRICS nations vis-à-vis respective conventional market indices using various risk-adjusted measures and conditional volatility measures. We further segregate the 12-year study period to crisis and non-crisis period particular to the respective country, as well as a common global financial crisis period to analyze the impact of market conditions in BRICS nations and observe the performance using dummy regression analysis. Conditional volatility of the stochastic index series is measured using ARCH-GARCH analysis. Fama Decomposition Model helps rank the index performance through the sub-periods. Findings: Fama Decomposition Model helps us observe that while Brazil secures a position in top rankers consistently, it is India that ranks top during crisis period. With evidence of outperformance in terms of risk-return by SRI indices of BRICS countries through the overall period as well as through different market conditions, our study contributes to the positive literature on socially responsible investing. Research limitations/implications: The study explores performance of SRI in BRICS and finds evidence of the sustainable investment to be non-penalizing to the investor, even as the performance trend remain distinct in the countries with same level of development. It has implications for the investors and asset managers to include responsible stocks, while for the companies and regulatory bodies to unite for better reporting and disclosures. Given the broad implications, future research is required to link the impact of various cultural, legislative and demographic factors on the level and performance of the socially responsible investment in BRICS nations. Practical implications: The current study evaluating and comparing performances of the socially responsible investments in BRICS nations puts forth following implications for the different sectors of the society, especially in emerging countries: (1) BRICS organization – The association of five economic giants, having significant influence over global as well as regional affairs, can aim to orient the countries' efforts towards collective sustainable development by designing uniform SRI framework. (2) Investors – In the globalization era, the investor can gain from ethical cross border investments to diversification and country benefits. (3) Companies and regulatory bodies – Only voluntary or mandatory unified efforts, to provide accurate and consistent disclosures, can upscale the mediocre growth trends of sustainable investing in emerging economies. (4) Asset Managers – Call of greater role in educating, warding off inhibitions related to RI. Originality/value: This is to certify that the research paper submitted by us is an outcome of our independent and original work. We have duly acknowledged all the sources from which the ideas and extracts have been taken. The project is free from any plagiarism and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical wetlands are amongst the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and have immense socioecological value. However, tropical wetlands are considered exploitable resources and continue to be drained and converted to other "productive" uses. It is therefore urgent to identify and understand the interactions between various drivers of change triggering degradation of such wetlands. In the present study, we systematically reviewed and analyzed the existing literature on wetlands in two tropical countries namely India and Brazil with special reference to inland wetlands, and proposed a conceptual model illustrating the intricate linkages of such wetlands with different drivers of change. We also developed the Nature Futures' Framework to depict the diverse values of inland wetlands contributing to human wellbeing in the two tropical countries. Findings revealed similar drivers of change triggering the degradation of Indian and Brazilian wetlands. These include changes in climate & land use, population growth, poor land governance due to weak policies, besides other anthropogenic activities such as deforestation, and overexploitation of wetland resources. Among these, land-use change such as agriculture intensification and infrastructure development were the major direct drivers; whereas, institutional and governance factors such as the absence of concrete policy measures were the major indirect drivers threatening the inland wetlands in India and Brazil. Results also revealed some contrasting drivers of change such as illegal human settlements, and land grabbing by the brick industry for Indian wetlands; while, gold mining and intensification of bovine systems for Brazilian wetlands. Our paper also provides an insight into the status of wetland conservation in India and Brazil. We recommend the promotion of community-based conservation practices while adopting sustainable livelihood strategies by the local people for the conservation and wise use of inland wetlands in India and Brazil. The arguments raised in the paper have the potential to assist the stakeholders and/or decision-makers towards implementing sustainable management strategies for inland wetlands in the two countries, and tropical wetlands in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines, the relationship and impact between Brent Prices and the Stock Market Indices of the BRIC Nations over both the short-run and the long-run. The paper revisits the traditional behavioral finance wisdom that higher Brent prices hurt Stocks. And it is studied with the time-series data of respective vital indices of Bovespo, MICEX, Nifty and Shanghai Composite in relation to Brent Price Index. The stochastics are studied with tools like ERS Unit Root Test, Johansen Co-integration Test, Vector Error Correction Model and Impulse Response Analysis. Not only that the traditional view of inverse relationship between Brent Prices and Stock prices is no longer valid, it is clearly established that the relationship attributes cannot be generalized, even amongst emerging economies in BRIC Nations. Further, the Paper examines both the short-run and long-run aspects in these markets and clearly establishes the relationships are not similar. The results from the impulse response function clearly reveals that in the case of oil exporting countries like Brazil and Russia, higher Brent prices have positive impact and effects on Stock indices. But, in India higher Brent prices has negative effect. The Vector Error Correction Model reveals that in the case of Brazil and China, Brent prices and the respective Stock indices are in a long-run equilibrium relationship, and the Stock indices follows and adjusts to Brent shocks much faster than it does in case of Russia and India. The findings from Impulse Response Function, further establishes that in oilexporting Nations like Brazil and Russia, higher Brent Prices raises the respective Stock Indices, whereas in the case of India and China, higher Brent Prices has muted response in Stock Performances. The outcomes of the study debunk the traditional behavioral finance theory after careful evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on recent and upcoming mega-events in South Africa, China and Brazil, this paper contrasts and critiques the associated image and identity opportunities and risks, as well as comparative motivations for hosting such events. Accordingly, the paper considers the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the scheduled 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil. In the context of an increasing number of mega-events being hosted in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China; South Africa is to join), the paper provides broader continuity and introduces a broader research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the national and transnational character of mobilization against GM crops in India, South Africa and Brazil in the ten-year period to 2005. By examining the contexts and practices of mobilization across the three countries, and in particular the complex, often fraught, local and global connections, the paper examines the diverse mobilizations that have occurred. The paper argues that to understand these processes, particular national political and economic contexts must be appreciated, alongside how the GM debates articulate with other foci for activism and the complex and often fragile nature of alliances that make up activist networks. The paper shows how the debate about GM crops has become a much wider one: about the future of agriculture and small-scale farmers, about corporate control and property rights and about the rules of global trade. In sum, a debate not just about the pros and cons of a particular set of technologies, but about politics and values and the future of agrarian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between school feeding programmes (SFP) and the promotion of healthy eating and health is being explored in studies performed in different countries. The coronavirus disease-19 pandemic has revealed flaws and weaknesses in contemporary food systems, with many school-age children experiencing food insecurity and hunger. There is intense debate among policymakers regarding whether government SFP should be universal or targeted. Countries such as Brazil and India, which have two of the most comprehensive universal free-of-charge programmes, have shown the benefits of SFP, including improved nutritional status, support for more sustainable food systems, attendance and academic performance. Evidence shows and supports actions advocating that it is time to offer healthy and free school meals for all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Free and open-source software (FOSS) has been used worldwide because of the advantages of user control, cost-saving, flexibility, openness, freedom, more security and better stability. The purpose of this study is to explore the status quo of educational application of FOSS and the trends from international perspectives and its implications for higher education in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: The method of cluster analysis was used in this study. The Web of Science database was used as the data source and all relevant literature for the year 2010-2020 on the theme of "FOSS" was collected for analysis. The information visualization software CiteSpace was used for citation visualization analysis, revealing the research results of FOSS worldwide, including hot spots and development trends. Findings: This paper found that FOSS has become an important research area and is playing an important role in the reform and development of education. Meanwhile, the development and application of FOSS have regional imbalances and strong differentiation, including the educational sector. The paper also found that although FOSS has entered the stage of interdisciplinary development, the research and development of FOSS in the field of education is insufficient, which poses a huge challenge to decision-makers, teachers and students. Originality/value: Implications for higher education in Hong Kong including: attach importance to and vigorously promote FOSS research and practice to benefit more teachers and students; teachers and students need to be trained for acquiring the awareness and skills of FOSS applications and formulate different strategies; the government should provide greater support to formulate and implement a short and middle-term development plan to facilitate the application of FOSS; and Hong Kong higher education institutions may strengthen exchanges and cooperation with counterparts around the world to jointly promote the development of FOSS. It is hoped that the findings will provide a reference for the study and application of FOSS in higher education in Hong Kong.

The Green Revolution is often seen as epitomising the dawn of scientific and technological advancement and modernity in the agricultural sector across developing countries, a process that unfolded from the 1940s through to the 1980s. Despite the time that has elapsed, this episode of the past continues to resonate today, and still shapes the institutions and practices of agricultural science and technology. In Brazil, China, and India, narratives of science-led agricultural transformations portray that period in glorifying terms—entailing pressing national imperatives, unprecedented achievements, and heroic individuals or organizations. These "epic narratives" draw on the past to produce meaning and empower the actors that deploy them. Epic narratives are reproduced over time and perpetuate a conviction about the heroic power of science and technology in agricultural development. By crafting history and cultivating a sense of scientific nationalism, exceptionalism, and heritage, these epic narratives sustain power-knowledge relations in agricultural science and technology, which are underpinned by a hegemonic modernization paradigm. Unravelling the processes of assemblage and reproduction of epic narratives helps us make sense of how science and technology actors draw on their subjective representations of the past to assert their position in the field at present. This includes making claims about their credentials to envision and deliver sustainable solutions for agriculture into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of individual logistics-related factors, namely, supplier involvement (SI), length of supplier relationship (LSR), use of information technology (IT), and logistics integration (LI) on a firm's supply chain performance (SCP) and test for the mediating effect of LI in a multi-country survey conducted in Brazil, Korea and India. The paper also develops a composite variable, supply chain competency (SCC), as an overall measure of the quality of a firm's supply chain and demonstrate its effect on a firm's SCP. Design/methodology/approach -- The research methodology was based on designing and administering a survey instrument. Data collected from 187 organizations in Brazil, Korea and India were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling methodology. Findings -- Results show that for the combined data, the direct effects of SI, LSR and IT on SCP are insignificant while LI has a very significant direct effect on SCP. On the other hand, except for SI, LSR and IT have significant effects on SCP through LI establishing the mediating role of LI. The paper also finds that SCC has a significant effect on SCP. Further, when countries are considered individually the paper finds that IT has a significant indirect effect on SCP in the case of all the countries while LSR has a significant indirect effect on SCP, both in the case of Brazil and Korea. Additionally, in the case of Korea SI has a significant indirect effect on SCP. Research limitations/implications -- Like other survey-based research, the findings of this paper are also limited by the sample size. Especially, the observations specific to individual countries are as good as the respective sample sizes. Also, since all the respondents belonged to manufacturing firms, the findings of this paper are relevant for the manufacturing sector. Practical implications -- This paper establishes the mediating effect of LI in assessing the impact of logistics-related factors on a firm's SCP. It confirms that although logistics-related factors are necessary for a firm's superior SCP, they are not sufficient unless their interactions are taken into consideration, as evidenced by the significant positive relationship between SCC and SCP. Originality/value -- To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first paper to study the effect of logistics-related factors on a firm's SCP and establish the mediating role of LI in a multi-country setting. This paper also develops a composite variable SCC and examines its effect on SCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of an increasing scientisation of political processes, epistemic communities have been identified as a unique category of social actors, who exclusively rely on their knowledge resources to shape the preferences of decision-makers. Whereas most authors expect that an expert-driven policy process facilitates the implementation of technically complex policies, critical scholars hint to an evolving technocracy, whose scientific dogmatism may end up in policies that aggravate social problems. In this paper, these countervailing assumptions are empirically assessed for the epistemic community on biodiversity and its role in Brazil and India. At least in this case, it seems that the impact experts' influence depends on the configuration of the policy arena. If experts are institutionally compelled to debate their positions with potential critics, the members of an epistemic community seem to engage in a rather deliberative discourse that widens the policy space for all stakeholders involved. Under the conditions of an elitist closure, however, policy experts seem to adapt to the preferences of the most powerful actors but refrain from any critical self-reflection that might seriously challenge their own convictions. [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.)

The article provides news information from the Metso Paper Inc. The Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division in India will be supplied by Metso Paper with a rebuild of their Bhadrachalam mill PM 4 board machine. The Brazilian dissolving pulp producer Bahia Pulp chooses Metso Paper Inc. to supply them new lines of pulp. New equipment will be supplied by Metso Panelboard to Sonae Novobord's new particleboard line in White River, South Africa.

The main objective of this paper is to look at how environmental degradation in the form of climate change and air pollution affect international tourism for five countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) over the years 1990-2019. Other independent variables include information and communication technology (ICT) and democracy. We also look at the role of environmental regulation to see the validity of porter hypothesis in the tourism sector. To achieve this objective, we apply a novel method of moments quantile regression approach as well as a robust causality technique. The result shows that at lower and medium quantile, CO 2 emission has positive impact on tourism while at higher quantile, CO 2 emission has negative but insignificant effect on tourism in BRICS countries. The result for PM2.5 is uniform across all the quantiles, showing the negative effect on tourism. ICT and human capital positively affect the tourism while democracy has negative impact on the tourism sector of the BRICS nations. The result also validated the Porter hypothesis for tourism sector. We conclude that tourism industry stakeholders and the environmental policymakers must work together to integrate tourism policies with BRICS countries' environmental conservation policies as part of the transition to sustainable tourism industry., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate Netemeyer and colleagues' much cited financial well-being scale in Brazil and India and compare responses from different demographics. It also compares the results using two analysis techniques, item response theory (IRT) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Design/methodology/approach: A total of 994 survey responses from Brazil and 1,081 from India were collected. IRT and CFA models were used to analyse the data. Findings: The results demonstrate the two-dimensional structure of the financial well-being scale and show that different items are differentially useful in measuring the construct across different groups. These findings may support the scale's future refinement and use in applied studies that will target specific groups (e.g. males, females, younger respondents and older respondents). Research limitations/implications: This study serves as an example to others who can explore the advantages of IRT over classical test theory methods to assess the psychometric properties of scales aimed at measuring latent constructs of interest in the field of marketing. Practical implications: The correct diagnosis of financial well-being is important to guide interventions by governments and non-governmental entities, as well as by financial institutions interested in better understanding individuals. Originality/value: The authors show how the identification of the characteristics of scale items provided by the IRT technique allows for a better understanding of its properties and how it can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of unfree labour in the contemporary global economy, the processes by which it is generated, and its connections with poverty and vulnerability. I challenge dominant ‘residual’ views of unfree labour as either external to global economic activity or occurring solely within small-scale, localized or non-market contexts. Instead, I contend that unfree labour needs to be understood in ‘relational’ terms as a particular form of ‘adverse incorporation’ in the global economy. This form of adverse incorporation is constituted through the circular interaction between, on the one hand, the functioning of the global productive economy and associated labour markets, and, on the other, the social relations of poverty which give rise to vulnerability and to unfree labour. I draw throughout on original empirical research conducted on ‘slave labour’ in Brazilian agriculture and child labour in the Delhi garments sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims at critiquing several existing strategic international human resource management frameworks and discusses their inadequacy to apply directly to emerging multinational companies, especially those generated from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. To complement the existing strategic international human resource management frameworks, key variables relevant to emerging economies are identified and an extended model with reference to emerging multinational companies is developed with several research propositions. It is believed that the proposed model would better capture the current development of multinationals in transition, and alert emerging international managers to address several people management challenges in the global context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides evidence on monetary policy transmission for five key emerging market economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Monetary policy (interest rate) shocks are identified using modern Bayesian methods along with the more recent sign restrictions approach. We find that contractionary monetary policy has a strong and negative effect on output. We also show that such contractionary monetary policy shocks do tend to stabilize inflation in these countries in the short term, while producing a strongly persistent negative effect on real equity prices. Overall, the impulse responses are robust to the alternative identification procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biopharmaceutical innovation has had a profound health and economic impact globally. Developed countries have traditionally been the source of most innovations as well as the destination for the resulting economic and health benefits. As a result, most prior research on this sector has focused on developed countries. This paper seeks to fill the gap in research on emerging markets by analyzing factors that influence innovative activity in the indigenous biopharmaceutical sectors of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. Using qualitative research methodologies, this paper a) shows how biopharmaceutical innovation is taking place within the entrepreneurial sectors of these emerging markets, b) identifies common challenges that indigenous entrepreneurs face, c) highlights the key role played by the state, and d) reveals that the transition to innovation by companies in the emerging markets is characterized by increased global integration. It suggests that biopharmaceutical innovators in emerging markets are capitalizing on opportunities to participate in the drug development value chain and thus developing capabilities and relationships for competing globally both with and against established companies headquartered in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We aim to describe the history of iodine testing of the cervix and identify areas where further work is required.Study Design: We conducted a search of PubMed and Google Scholar. Full article texts were reviewed. Reference lists were screened for additional articles and books. 37 basic articles in journals including ones written in German and three basic articles in books were identified.Results: Glycogen staining of the ectocervical squamous epithelium with iodine goes back to Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915). Walter Schiller (1887-1960) examined nearly 200 different dyes and found that vital staining of the cervical squamous epithelium was best achieved with Lugol's iodine solution, which was indicated by Jean Guillaume Lugol (1786-1851) for disinfection of the vagina. In 1928 W. Lahm observed that the glycogen content of a squamous epithelium cell decreases as anaplasia increases. From the outset, H. Hinselmann included the iodine test in the minimum requirements for colposcopy. In 1946 H. J. Wespi first mentioned the finding of an "uncharacteristic iodine negative area." The first international colposcopic terminology from Graz in 1975 lists the "iodine light area" among the different colposcopy findings. The IFCPC nomenclatures from Rome 1990, Barcelona 2002, and Rio de Janeiro 2011 have evaluated the iodine test and classified their findings differently. A breakthrough to effective cervical cancer screening in resource-limited settings in Africa, India, and Latin America was achieved with R. Sankaranarayanan's publication on naked-eye visual inspection of the cervix after application of Lugol's iodine.Conclusions: This paper is a step toward a better understanding of what we think and do today with iodine testing and what problems and upcoming tasks will arise in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts the bounds testing approach to test for the validity of the cointegration or stationarity restriction embodied in five import demand model specifications for CIBS during the period 1970-2007. It identifies long-run relationships in a subset of the five models for each CIBS countries. We find that long-run income elasticities are much higher compared to earlier studies and are higher than the short-run counterparts for CIBS. In addition, contrary to the traditional wisdom, price elasticities are not significantly negative for these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large emerging economies, typically Brazil, India, China and South Africa (BICS), demonstrate a strong upward trend in many aspects of their macroeconomic performance in recent decades. This surge is attributed to 'size effects' whereby economies of scale and scope, and agglomeration impact, create productivity improvements. This paper concentrates on both conceptual and empirical studies about the most important contributions from real and financial sectors towards economic growth in large emerging economies. In particular, the transmission channels from finance to growth are discussed in this paper, to show how size effects can affect these transmission mechanisms from finance to development. The econometric estimations use a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model for four specific large emerging economies - BICS - and analyse dynamic shocks from real sectors and financial sectors, together with size-effect variables: education investment, government spending and military expenditures. We conclude that real shocks have much higher impact effects on output and growth compared to financial shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a unique new data set on manufacturing firms in Brazil and India to estimate production functions, augmented by information and communications technology (ICT). We find a strong positive association between ICT capital and productivity in both countries that is robust to several different specification tests. The paper also breaks new ground when using the Indian data to investigate the effect of the institutional and policy environment on ICT capital investment and productivity. We find that poorer infrastructure quality and labor market policy are associated with lower levels of ICT adoption, while poorer infrastructure is also associated with lower returns to investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the patterns of export productivity and trade specialization profiles in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, and in other economic groupings and regions. Various measures of trade specialization and a time varying export productivity indicator are estimated using highly disaggregated export data. The findings reveal that there are important differences in the export productivity and specialisation patterns across countries and regions. Export productivity-and export sophistication-are in line to that of wealthier and more advance economies. The results further confirm the importance of not just the volume of exports, but the type of specialisation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss relationship between export diversity and economic performance, focusing on Brazil, China, India and South Africa (BCIS). Using time data on exports over the period 1962-2000 and Applied General Equilibrium (AGE) models for each country, we note the similarities as well as differences in the patterns of diversification in these countries. We find evidence of a U-shape relationship between per capita income and export specialization in at least China and South Africa, and given that the results from Granger causality testing are inconclusive and not robust with regards to export diversification measures, some preliminary evidence from the results suggest that export diversification Granger causes GDP per capita in Brazil, China and South Africa, but not in India, where it is rather GDP per capita changes that are driving export diversification. From AGE modeling we find that South Africa differs from the other economies in that it is the only case where export diversification has an unambiguously positive impact on economic development while in contrast in Brazil, China and India, it is rather export specialization that is preferred. We show that the manner in which export diversification is obtained may be important: if it is obtained with less of a reduction in traditional exports, the impacts are better (less negative). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses export productivity and trade specialisation in China, Brazil, India and South Africa. The investigation calculates a time-varying export productivity measure using highly disaggregated product categories. The modelling shows that export productivity is determined by real income and human capital endowments. But the empirical analysis also reveals significant differences in export productivity and specialisation for countries with comparable per capita income levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC), the most rapidly developing countries in the twenty-first century, are expected to become the four dominant economies by the year 2050. This paper examines the risk and return characteristics of their stock markets over the past few years. The markets in Brazil, Russia, and China produce significantly positive mean excess return. China and Brazil not only have the largest Sharpe ratio, but also have the better fit to a conditional risk-return model in terms of stock returns variations. In all markets, the systematic risk, beta, is still the most important factor in explaining returns variations. Other risk measures, including unsystematic risk, skewness, and kurtosis, provide limited incremental explanatory power. However, while the intercept coefficient in the regression model is not significantly different from zero in Brazil, Russia, and India, the coefficient for China is significantly positive, indicating that the Chinese stock market generates positive abnormal risk-adjusted returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India and China have been popularly named BRIC nations. For almost a decade the name survived although the strength of the BRIC weakened as the members displayed differential rates of growth in most macro indicators. An alternative cluster has emerged recently which stands out to be more integrated in key variables than the original. The paper seeks to examine the correlation strengths between the BRIC nations at first and subsequently investigate for the newer cluster with the same macroeconomic parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum signals a new phase in South-South cooperation. This paper argues that the IBSA represents the partnership of three like-minded democratic countries, predominant in their respective regions, with some common agenda for the future. The paper argues that the IBSA partnership is still in its formative years and the best is yet to come. There is a need for intense consultation and communication to fructify the goals of IBSA. The paper suggests that the IBSA partners need to build on the successes achieved to date and recognize the fact that there will be significant challenges along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of Brazil, Russia, India, and China will shape global resource use, the location of market demand and international institutions and interdependencies in the decade to come. In this paper we argue that an understanding of the historical and institutional context of the BRICs, and the potential shift towards a multi-polar world is important for developing curricula and content in international business courses in the future. Implications for international business theory and teaching are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a number of ideas on how climate change policy implementation in developing countries can be supported by alternative international cooperation mechanisms that are based on stakeholder interests and policy priorities including broader economic and social development issues. It includes a brief review of current development policies, technological research and promotion efforts, and climate change that demonstrates that mutual policy initiatives undertaken by governments and the private sector actually have major positive impacts on climate change without being initiated by this global policy concern. Furthermore a number of examples are given on how future development objectives in Brazil, China, and India jointly can support economic and social goals and global climate change concerns if these goals are taken into consideration and supported by international cooperative mechanisms. The paper proposes international cooperative mechanisms that can support the implementation of integrated development and climate change policies. The mechanisms include an international sustainable development (SD) and Climate Finance Mechanism (SDCFM), technology development and transition programmes, technology standards, and other measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aplusix system has been designed for helping students to learn algebra. Its capacity to tell the students whether their calculations are correct or not, to provide families of exercises of a chosen level, and to give scores after tests allows this system to be used in the regular functioning of the class. Its capacity to record the students' actions and to replay the students' work is a valuable feature for the researcher in mathematics education. In this paper, we describe four experiments conducted in four different countries with different goals: remediation piloted by researchers in Italy; remediation integrated in the regular functioning of classes in Brazil, collaborative learning in India, and learning and use during the entire school year in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]