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This study gets into the challenge of exploring how government expenditure influences social welfare and offers insights into optimizing public spending to enhance it. The primary objective was twofold: firstly, to devise a methodology for evaluating how government spending affects social welfare of society, and secondly, to conduct an empirical investigation to pinpoint the level of government expenditure that maximizes it. The article introduces a method for appraising welfare of society based on an extended concept, accompanied by a model for quantifying the extent of government expenditure's influence on welfare. After establishing the non-linear nature of the effect of government expenditure and considering the developed evaluation methodology for social welfare, both general and functional government spending are optimized. For the matter, 122 econometric models were formulated to appraise the impact of both general and functional government expenditures on welfare of society. These models serve to validate or reject the research hypothesis encompassing the possibility of decreasing marginal effect of government expenditure. Drawing from the outcomes of the study encompassing clusters I and II of EU countries, depending on both size of the government and GDP per capita, it was evident that 87 econometric models corroborate the non-linear effect of government spending on welfare of society. Cluster I countries within the EU displayed a U-shaped pattern in terms of government spending's impact on welfare of society, while countries in cluster II exhibited an inverted U-shaped effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, gender inequality has been considered the main characteristic of insufficient gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This paper discusses the evolution of GDP per capita in 21 countries of the European Union between 2015 and 2019. Using panel regression, we investigated the change in GDP per capita through five variables. The analysis results showed that female employment rate is the most statistically significant and positive variable on GDP. Gender Equality Index also appeared to be an essential variable. The second part of our analysis consisted of an explanatory spatial data analysis of all variables to examine the spatial dimension of the variables. To explain spatial econometrics, we used selected methods, namely, choropleth maps, Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) cluster analysis, Moran's scatter plots, and Moran's I statistics. Based on the visualization of choropleth maps, GDP per capita did not change during the observed period, even though the values of the explanatory variables changed. For GDP per capita, the same applies in the case of LISA cluster analysis. At the end of the monitored period, the countries were included in the same cluster as at the beginning. When plotting Moran's scatter plot, it was found that GDP per capita did not tend to have positive or negative spatial autocorrelation or no spatial autocorrelation. Moran's I statistic showed that GDP per capita values were not randomly dispersed; they were grouped according to a specific formula into clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) in recent years has brought about significant changes in many social sectors such as communication, economy, entertainment, and others. To define the key role that ICT plays in its development course, the European Union (EU) has developed a composite indicator, the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), to assess the digital policy performance of its Member States. In the current work, an attempt is made to evaluate the performance of the EU countries on the digital economy and society with respect to implemented EU digital policies by studying the five dimensions of the DESI for the years 2014–2019, using the corresponding DESI reports (DESI 2015 – DESI 2020). Moreover, the digital convergence among EU Member States, in terms of similarity of their performance in the five dimensions of the DESI by grouping them according to the optimal number of clusters, is also examined. Since the optimal number of clusters is two, EU Member States are classified in two groups, one of high and one of low performance in the five dimensions of the DESI. The evolution of each member country and the possible transitions from one group to another during the years 2014–2019 is also a point of interest. The grouping of EU Member States into the two clusters showed that socioeconomic factors may affect the overall DESI. Linear mixed effect models confirm the positive effect of Gross Domestic Product per capita, the public expenditure for education and research and development (R&D) on the DESI and the negative effect of the average number of weekly working hours. The results could be used to reform the existing EU digital policies and identify areas where further improvement is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treating waste as a resource can provide many social and economic benefits and develop policies accordingly. In this study, the relationship between municipal waste, income, human capital, material footprint, consumption and urban population is analyzed with panel data models within the framework of the Kuznets curve, using the data for the period of 1995 – 2018 for 22 OECD countries. Various economic, demographic and human variables that are thought to have an impact on municipal waste generation were added to the models created with cubic functional forms. The analysis results show that the relationship between municipal waste and income is inverted N-shaped. In line with expectations, the increase in human capital reduces the amount of waste per capita. The urbanization rate causes a higher increase in the amount of waste per capita compared to the population. Real consumption per capita and material footprint similarly have a positive effect on waste. The findings have calculated the first and second-order conditions for an inverted N-shaped relationship and verified that this relationship is mathematically valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are differences in per capita income between countries really the main cause of migratory flows? Mainstream economic thinking would give an affirmative answer. In the light of the heterodox literature, in this article, the authors critically evaluate this view and then they conduct an empirical test (applying panel and dynamic panel models) on data relating to the stocks of migrants on 232 countries from 1990 to 2019, trying to explain migration trends based on social-political, cultural, demographic and economic variables (obtained by integrating 4 official datasets). The results reveal a non-unique influence of differences in per capita income on migratory flows: up to a certain threshold (around $27,000) migration appears to be directly related to per capita GDP of migrants' country of origin. Furthermore, the pre-existing stock of migrants in the country of destination takes on an important role, in line with the findings of the literature on migratory chains. These empirical findings could contribute to improve migration policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we aim to propose a new method for improving the design effect of household surveys based on a two-stage design in which the first stage clusters, or Primary Selection Units (PSUs), are stratified along administrative boundaries. Improvement of the design effect can result in more precise survey estimates (smaller standard errors and confidence intervals) or in the reduction of the necessary sample size, i.e. a reduction in the budget needed for a survey. The proposed method is based on the availability of a previously conducted poverty maps, i.e. spatial descriptions of the distribution of per capita consumption expenditures, that are finely disaggregated in small geographic units, such as cities, municipalities, districts or other administrative partitions of a country that are directly linked to PSUs. Such information is then used to select PSUs with systematic sampling by introducing further implicit stratification in the survey design, so as to maximise the improvement of the design effect. Since per capita consumption expenditures estimated at PSU level from the poverty mapping are affected by (small) standard errors, in the paper we also perform a simulation study in order to take into account this addition variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A well-developed management structure is the backbone for the successful operation of any enterprise. The underrepresentation of women in managerial positions has been a persistent concern in the context of gender equality and economic development. This paper investigates the percentage participation of women managers in European countries and its potential connection to GDP per capita. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset comprising various European countries, we conduct a comparative analysis of the proportion of women in managerial roles across different economies with a special reference to North Macedonia. Additionally, GDP per capita data is incorporated to explore potential correlations between women's representation in management and economic prosperity. The analysis covers the following regions: Scandinavia, Nordic region, as well as Eastern, Western and Southern Europe. The analysis refers to two consecutive years, 2020 and 2021. The results indicate that the percentage participation of women managers and GDP per capita are inversely proportional in the Scandinavian region, the Nordic region, as well as Eastern and Western Europe, while the opposite conclusion applies to the countries of Southern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populism at the country level is at an all-time high, with more than 25 percent of nations currently governed by populists. How do economies perform under populist leaders? We build a new long-run cross-country database to study the macroeconomic history of populism. We identify 51 populist presidents and prime ministers from 1900 to 2020 and show that the economic cost of populism is high. After 15 years, GDP per capita is 10 percent lower compared to a plausible nonpopulist counterfactual. Economic disintegration, decreasing macroeconomic stability, and the erosion of institutions typically go hand in hand with populist rule. (JEL D72, E23, N10, N40, O43) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to investigate various issues related to oil consumption and environmental impacts in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, in relation to population, climate change impacts, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN's SDGs), and ecological and carbon footprints. The GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) are almost entirely dependent on fossil energy sources (oil and natural gas) domestically, industrially, commercially, economically, and transportation-wise. Although the total population of the GCC countries is around 60 million, making up only 0.76% of the world's population (8 billion), they do consume 5.15 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil, forming nearly 5.8% of the world's daily consumption, which is around 88.4 million bbl/d as of 2021. Moreover, daily per capita consumption of oil in the GCC countries is about 0.09 barrels, while it is about 0.06 barrels in the USA. These figures indicate that the GCC's countries combined and per capita, although not industrialized and small in population, consume large quantities of oil, compared to other countries of the world that are industrialized and/or densely populated, such as the USA, India, Japan, Russia, and Germany. The high rates of oil consumption in the GCC countries, associated with the highest per capita ecological and carbon footprints worldwide, have led to negative impacts on the environment, climate, and public health. The results of this work show that some of the GCC countries have the highest per capita ecological and carbon footprints. Thus, the GCC countries should effectively reduce their dependence on fossil energy sources and gradually replace them with renewable energy sources, especially photovoltaic (PV) solar energy. Furthermore, the statistics presented in this article and the outcomes reached uncover that the GCC countries lag behind with regard to various indicators of the UN's SDGs. This implies the GCC countries are not taking adequate actions to encounter environmental problems, in order to fulfill some of the UN's SDGs by 2030. Highlights: • Investigates energy and environmental issues in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the Middle East region, West Asia, as being considered, globally, a very important, strategic, and volatile region. These countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. • Discloses that the Middle East region, including the GCC countries, produces more oil than any other world's region, accounting for just under a third of the global oil production in 2020; at 31.3%, constituting a slightly larger share of global production than it was 10 years ago. • Investigates the oil consumption in the GCC countries, in comparison with other countries that are much greater in population and/or industrial advancements. • Contributes to the areas of energy and the environment, with views affecting strategic environmental assessment of the efficiency of energy conversion systems to support energy and environmental policies. • Contributes to views on, and deeper understanding of, climate change impacts, ecological and carbon footprints, pollution control, energy system efficiencies, and energy management, in terms of optimization, economic control, and pollution control. • Focuses on the usage of fossil energy sources (oil and natural gas), with deep views on renewable energy sources and sustainable development, taking into account population and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN's SDGs), as well as the ecological and carbon footprints. • Indicates that the GCC's high rates of oil consumption have resulted in negative impacts on the environment and the climate, in terms of high ecological and carbon footprints, considering the fact that some of the GCC's countries have the highest per capita ecological and carbon footprints. • Suggests, as part of a decarbonization strategy, that the GCC countries need to accelerate their efforts towards achieving the UN's SDGs and climate change performance. • Concludes that the GCC countries should reduce their dependence on fossil energy sources and, thus, gradually shift to renewable energy sources, particularly photovoltaic solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesspeople and politicians seem to be afraid that population reduction will be accompanied by economic recession. In this paper we examine the experience of some countries of various sizes in which population has been declining and observe how GDP, GDP per capita, unemployment rate, and labour force participation rate are evolving during the period that population is declining. Using the pooled mean group (PMG) estimation method, we find that population decline can go hand in hand with growing GDP and increasing per capita GDP, and at the same time the labour participation rate may increase and unemployment may fall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Post-traumatic growth is a positive psychological change that may aid recovery in individuals experiencing trauma. Owing to the lack of research in the area of parental care for premature infants, we decided to explore the levels and factors influencing post-traumatic growth among parents of premature infants in neonatal intensive care units. We believe that these findings will help reassess existing care practices so that healthcare providers can promptly identify negative emotions and take necessary measures to help develop the potential to enhance post-traumatic growth. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using convenience sampling between February and September 2022. Data were analysed using independent sample t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Bivariate correlations were analysed using the Pearson's or Spearman's method, and related factors were analysed using multiple linear regression. We followed the SRQR checklist throughout the study period. Results: A total of 217 patients were effectively treated, with a recovery rate of 98.64%. Univariate analysis showed that the length of hospital stay, presence of only one child, parents' age, marital status, education level, working status, and per capita monthly familial income were influencing factors. Bivariate analysis showed that post-traumatic growth was moderately and positively correlated with perceived social support, rumination, and family resilience. Multiple linear regression showed that purposeful contemplation, family resilience, education, family support, age, and marital status entered into the regression equation and together accounted for 47.4% of the total variation. Conclusions: It is necessary to pay attention to post-traumatic growth and familial stability in these families, provide aid in building a good support system, and encourage parents to mobilise their family and favourable factors to increase post-traumatic growth levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While numerous studies have tried to analyze the impact of intergovernmental transfers in fostering fiscal equalization in India, there need to be more studies in the context of north‐eastern (NE) states. Situating in a geographically isolated and economically backward region, the states of NE India depend heavily on central fiscal transfers to meet expenditures and to promote various economic activities in the region. One of the essential objectives of these transfers is to achieve fiscal equity. Hence, the study attempts to analyze the fiscal equalizing nature of the intergovernmental transfers across NE India during 1991–2019. The coefficient of variation (CV) analysis results indicates that although fiscal transfers reduced the magnitude of disparity in the own‐source revenue across the NE states, a significant amount of disparity still exists in the resource base across these states. The regression analysis findings suggest that the transfers across these states need to be more fiscal equalizing. The per capita gross state domestic product emerges as a positive and significant in predicting per capita transfers, and hence it questions the progressivity of central transfers. When assigning the interstate share of transfers, more weight should be placed on fiscal equalizing factors such as per capita income. The Finance Commission of India should emphasize fiscal equalizing criteria when allocating weights and recommending transfers to the NE States. Additionally, states with low incomes should be recognized in plan schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the CBA used for public investment programming in France, new recommendations have been formulated for projects whose advantages (costs or benefits) are exposed to macroeconomic risks (correlation with GDP per capita), distinguishing between classically Gaussian hazards and "rare disasters" à la Barro. Taking rare disasters into account significantly modifies the value of the discount rate, along with the mathematical expectation of the advantages, and accentuates the distinction between procyclical and counter-cyclical projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was among the ten richest economies in terms of gross domestic product per capita with the United States being the leading economy most of the time. However, Argentina grew less and was less stable than the United States in a period of over 140 years (1875–2018). Structural breaks (1935 and 1975) were identified in the declining ratio of Argentina's gross domestic product per capita long-term trend to that of the United States, as well as in the long-term per capita growth rates of Argentina (1911 and 1975) and the United States (1935). The declining ratio partly reflects that growth in the United States accelerated after 1935 (during the post-1930 Great Depression recovery and the Second World War years) while it decelerated in Argentina after 1975 (in the context of large government deficits, high inflation, the first oil crisis, and the Latin American debt crisis). A Bayesian estimation model suggests that long-term growth was generally higher and less volatile in the United States than in Argentina, with relatively low spillovers from one country to the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We study the evolution of the cross‐sectional distributions of county‐level per capita income in the United States from 1970 to 2017. We confirm previous findings of convergence in pre‐transfer income during the 1970s and 1980s but present new evidence of rising inequality since the early 1990s, which is characterized by bipolarization. Cross‐county differences in education and industry composition explain much of this recent trend, which almost disappears in post‐transfer incomes. Among the various government transfer programs, medical benefits play the greatest role in making the distribution less unequal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-three new state universities were established in different provinces in Turkey in 1992. This study investigates universities' possible economic impacts on local economies in provinces in Turkey by comparing per capita GDP before and after the establishment of new universities. To do so, we employ difference-in-difference and matching based on entropy balancing to provide robustness against observable and time-invariant unobservable heterogeneity. Using the provincial level data between 1987 and 2000 in Turkey, we find that increases in the number of universities are positively associated with GDP per capita at the province level. Empirical results also show that unemployment rates in provinces fall with the establishment of new universities in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport energy use contributes to pollution, so it generates negative externalities. This paper analyzes the effect of urbanization on the transport final energy consumption in African countries. To that end, the paper applies the panel threshold regression (PTR) model for a panel of 25 African countries over the period 1992–2017. The findings show that there is a significant positive relationship between total and per capita transport energy consumption and the share of the urban population in the total population. Thus, urbanization fosters transport energy consumption, either per capita energy consumption or total energy consumption. Therefore, the results from this study suggest that African countries should promote sustainable urbanization in terms of transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco 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.)

Brazil became the seventh largest economy in the world in 2012. In the same year, the country was responsible for 13% of all worldwide murders. Despite the economic advances, crime is increasing over time in the country. This study explores the impact of organized crime on local economies, focusing on the case of Manaus, Brazil, and the emergence of the criminal group Família do Norte (FDN). We employ a synthetic control method to analyze the economic effects of the FDN's presence in Manaus. The findings reveal a significant negative impact on the city's economic growth and prosperity, with Manaus experiencing a 2% per year lower GDP per capita compared to what it would have been without the FDN. Robustness checks confirme this result, showing how organized crime can disrupt the country's economic advances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a few decades, factors affecting environmental deterioration have been at the center of much interest This paper examines the impact of income level, disaggregated energy consumption, types of globalization level, and urbanization on per capita ecological footprint by utilizing novel machine learning techniques (tree regression, boosting, bagging, and random forest) for 27 OECD countries during 1971–2016. It is found that the random forest algorithms best fit the dataset. The empirical results exhibit that oil product consumption, electricity consumption, and gross domestic product are the most significant variables for our model. Besides, the partial dependence plots results show that economic growth and especially fossil fuel energy consumption damage the environment. These findings have important implications for both developed and developing countries for designing proper energy and environmental policies. Especially, policymakers should focus on sustainable development instead of plain economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of regional disparities within the present‐day borders of Turkey since 1913. Based on our estimates for 58 provinces, we find β‐convergence, an inverse U, and more recently, the beginnings of an N‐shaped pattern for value added per capita. We also find that regional disparities in Turkey exhibit a number of special features that do not easily fit the well‐studied pattern of the early industrializers. First, while per capita value added in other regions moved towards country averages, the differences between the East and the rest of the country persisted and even increased until recently. Second, spatial distribution of economic activity became more concentrated over time due to continued migration to the megacity of Istanbul. Third, we find that regional disparities in per capita value added in Turkey and other developing countries have been higher than those experienced by the early industrializers. These findings raise questions about the extent to which the regional disparities experiences of Turkey and other developing countries have been different than those of the early industrializers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary methylmercury (MeHg) exposure increases the risk of many human diseases. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is the world's most populous bay area and people there might suffer a high risk of dietary MeHg exposure. However, there lacks a time-series high spatial resolution dataset for dietary MeHg exposure in the GBA. This study constructs a high spatial resolution (1 km × 1 km) dataset for dietary MeHg exposure in the GBA during 2009–2019. It first constructs the dietary MeHg exposure inventory for each county/district of the GBA, based on MeHg concentrations of foods (i.e., rice and fish in this study) and per capita rice and fish intake. Subsequently, this study spatializes the dietary MeHg exposure inventory at 1 km × 1 km scale, using gridded data for food consumption expenditure as the proxy. This dataset can describe the spatially explicit hotspots, distribution patterns, and variation trend of dietary MeHg exposure in the GBA. This dataset can support spatially explicit evaluation of MeHg-related health risks in the GBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate how economic development and health resource input impact infant mortality in Shanghai. Methods Data on GDP per capita, the number of health facility beds per 10,000 population, and the infant mortality rate in Shanghai from 1991 to 2020 were selected and analyzed using the vector error correction model. Results A long-term equilibrium relationship existed between infant mortality, GDP per capita, and the number of health beds per 10,000 persons, with the elasticity coefficient of infant mortality being-2. 83 (95% CI:-3. 86-1. 80) for GDP per capita and-3. 02 (95% CI: -5. 03-- 1. 01) for the number of health beds per 10,000 persons. The maximum value is reached in the 5th and 6th year respectively and has a long-term negative impact. Conclusion The improvement of infant health cannot be achieved without the two-way promotion of socio-economic and health resource investment. It is necessary to promote the effective combination of investment in health resources and economic development, improve the construction of the maternal and child healthcare service system, strengthen the leading role of the Government, and build an efficient mechanism for the investment of health resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State weakness is often emphasized as a key determinant of democratic breakdowns. However, previous studies have failed to appreciate how different aspects of state weakness pose different challenges. Against this backdrop, we examine the relationships between two fundamental dimensions of state capacity (coercive capacity and administrative capacity) and different modes of democratic breakdown, i.e., incumbent-driven and nonincumbent driven takeovers. We propose that coercive capacity mainly enables containment of rebels and coup-plotters, which reduces the risk of nonincumbent takeovers. Conversely, we expect that administrative capacity mainly serves to prevent executive aggrandizement, which reduces the risk of incumbent takeovers. Global analyses of democratic breakdowns between 1789 and 2020 support only the second expectation. Coercive capacity, reflected by territorial control and military personnel per capita, usually drops below accepted significance levels for both modes of democratic breakdown. In contrast, indicators of meritocracy, impartial public administration, and predictable enforcement that proxy administrative capacity show a significant, negative relationship with the risk of democratic breakdown, but only for incumbent-driven takeovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the debate on the evolution of living standards in preindustrial England. It emphasizes the need to depart from the approach of focusing only on the time paths of observables, like income per capita and population size, in order to assess the validity of Malthusian predictions. It first constructs a Malthusian model and then develops a robust algorithm for identifying the latent forces that have shaped aggregate outcomes in the preindustrial era. The analysis suggests the existence of two distinct Malthusian regimes in preindustrial England: a survival-driven regime, where mortality is the main latent force in economic-demographic interactions, and a later technology-driven regime that emerges after the mid-fifteenth century and is characterized by both population and productivity growth but stable mortality and long-run stagnation in per capita income. The paper discusses the role of various historical accidents (e.g., the Black Death, the discovery of the New World, the English Reformation) in triggering the emergence of the technology-driven regime, and it also highlights some mediating mechanisms through which subsequent productivity growth may have been sustained. The existence of long-run stagnation in income per capita in England through the mid-seventeenth century, despite the technological dynamism of the early modern period, is consistent with the predictions of Unified Growth Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic caused an unusual population mortality rate. This paper aims to determine a causal relationship and its incidence between the Technical Efficiency (TE) of health systems and the Covid-19 mortality rate. Using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology and the OLS, GLS and 2SLS adjustment methods, in 108 countries grouped according to per capita health expenditure, it was found that a 1% increase in the TE of the health systems of the analyzed countries reduces the number of deaths from Covid-19 by between 61 and 127 per hundred thousand inhabitants, concluding that the efficiency of expenditure was transcendental in the prevention of mortality caused by the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the differential effect of trade agreements on income per capita of subnational regions with international borders. We construct an extensive panel dataset covering 1350 regions in 86 countries worldwide between 1950 and 2017. Our results show that trade agreements are positively associated with income per capita of regions sharing contiguous borders with trading partners, relative to regions sharing borders with countries with whom no trade agreements exist. For border regions, the positive relationship of trade agreements and regional income roughly compensates potential income disadvantages of having international borders. These insights help in explaining and mitigating regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasions by multiple non‐native plant species are common, but management programs often prioritize control of individual species that are expected to have the highest impacts. Multi‐species invasions could have larger or smaller impacts than single‐species invasions depending on how multiple co‐occurring invaders interact to alter their abundance or per capita impacts. Synergistic interactions, such as facilitation, may lead to greater combined impacts. However, if management focuses on a single invader, suppressive interactions could produce unintended consequences, such as the release of a co‐occurring invader with a stronger impact. The mechanisms described here highlight where better evidence is needed to predict the combined impacts of co‐occurring invaders and which mitigation strategies are most effective. Focused research is required to provide such evidence, which can aid managers in prioritizing which plant invaders to target and in determining the best sequence of invader removal – one that minimizes detrimental impacts on communities and ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of bilig: Journal of Social Sciences of the Turkish World is the property of bilig: Journal of Social Sciences of the Turkish World 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 uses unit level data available from the 70th round of NSSO to analyse the livelihood choices among agricultural households in India and to assess the factors that influence such choices. Cluster analysis is employed to demarcate the livelihood options in terms of intra- household allocation of labour to various activities. The findings reveal that while overall agriculture is the mainstay of the agricultural households, significant variations in livelihoods exist among different landowning classes with the landless and marginal landowners being more dependent on livelihoods involving agricultural and non-agricultural labour. As landless and marginal landowners constitute the majority of rural households in India, the need to generategainful livelihoods for these households poses the single most important development challenge. As subsequent analysis has shown, households adopting casual wage labour as a livelihood option are at a higher risk of poverty. In contrast, households that are able to adopt salaried employment or other types of non-farm-based livelihoods have a lower incidence of poverty. Education is the single most important factor determining access to these livelihoods. Significant variations are found across Indian states in terms oflivelihood structures. The state level regressions showed that while some factors such as per capita ownership of land had a uniform effect in influencing livelihood choices across all states, the role of other factors such as age, caste and education vary across states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the amount of tilapia fish consumption and the relationship between its consumption amount and some demographic characteristics Such as gender, age, occupation, education, marital status, occupation, number of household members and income. Methods: The statistical population of this research is the whole country. A questionnaire was designed and sent to people electronically through virtual space. Correlation tests were used to evaluate the number of fish purchases per year as well as the amount of each purchase from the output of SPSS software and to investigate the existence of a significant relationship between consumption and demographic characteristics. Findings: The results showed that Most of the female respondents are married, aged 20 to 35, employed and have bachelor's and master's degrees. Most of them are employees and earn between 3 and 6 million tomans. It was also found that most households (54%) buy fish up to 20 times a year. The average number of times of buying fish per year by the households of the consumption community was 45 times. Most households in the consumer society buy 2 kg of fish each time they buy. The number of households that consume more than 10 kg of fish per purchase was 3.3%. According to the obtained information, the average amount of fish per purchase was calculated to be 8 kg . The per capita consumption of tilapia in households consuming this fish was 4.2 kg. Conclusion: The amount of tilapia consumption had no significant relationship with the age, occupation and education level of the respondents. A positive and significant relationship was observed between the factors of the field of study and the number of family members with the consumption of tilapia . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Informacion Comercial Espanola Revista de Economia is the property of S.G.E.E.I.P.C., Secretaria de Estado de Comercio, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo 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 study carried out in 2021-2022 investigates fresh and dried fish consumption patterns and factors influencing fish purchase among Koragas and Soligas; two major tribes of Karnataka, India. 400 fish-consuming tribal households were surveyed and per capita fish consumption was estimated at 1.04 and 2.02 kg/person/month for Koragas and Soligas respectively. Mackerel and Sardine were the two most important species preferred by the Koragas while Tilapia and Catla were the preference among Soligas. Among the 15 factors studied; the ones that were ranked with the highest contribution towards the fish purchase of Koragas were the 'price of fish' (7.68) and the 'availability of favourite fish' (7.36). Soligas ranked the 'availability of favourite fish' (10.42) as the most contributing factor followed by 'convenience perception' (6.69). Increasing awareness about the health benefits of fish consumption and building the capacity of tribes to prepare culturally compatible fish-based products can aid in improving fish consumption. The results of the study will be of utility to health department officials and policymakers in planning strategies to increase fish consumption and alleviate malnutrition among these tribes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a population of over 1.4 billion surpassing China's in 2023, India has now become the world's most populous country. Despite its robust IT and service sectors propelling it to become the fifth‐largest economy, India still grapples with low GDP per capita and significant poverty. The paradoxical nature of India's development necessitates a closer examination of its governance. Over 90% of the Indian population works outside the purview of formal democratic institutions and capital‐intensive economic sectors. Challenges arise from the need to sustain a large poor population with limited resources while catering to the formal sector that generates more than half of its GDP. India's governance exhibits a deep mismatch between its institutional design, politics and developmental needs. This article explores the duality of informal and formal sectors underlying challenges in Indian governance by way of the Berggruen Governance Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new set of indices to capture the multidimensionality of a country's institutional setting. Our indices are obtained by employing a dimension reduction approach on the institutional variables provided by the Fraser Institute (2018). We estimate the impact that institutions have on the level and the growth rate of per capita GDP, using a large sample of countries over the period 1980–2015. To identify the causal effect of our institutional indices on a country's GDP we employ the Generalized Propensity Score method. Institutions matter especially in low- and middle-income countries, and not all institutions are alike for economic development. We also document non-linearities in the causal effects that different institutions have on growth and the presence of threshold effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies regional income convergence and its conditioning factors across 81 provinces of Turkey over the 2007–2019 period. Through the lens of a nonlinear dynamic factor model, we first test the hypothesis that all provinces would eventually converge to a common long-run equilibrium. We reject this hypothesis and find that the provincial dynamics of income per capita are characterized by 6 convergence clubs. Next, we evaluate the conditioning factors behind club formation. Our results suggest that spatial dependence across provinces plays an essential role in the formation of convergence clubs. The spatial distribution of the convergence clubs has a clear spatial pattern, and the dynamics of the provincial income distribution are spatially integrated. We also find that geographical neighbors are more important for middle and high-income provinces. Finally, we show that the performance of geographical neighbors affects the probability of club membership through spillovers in capital accumulation and structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the effect of the Rwandan genocide on children born after the genocide using commune variation in genocide intensity and child work and schooling in the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey. We instrument for killings with the commune's distance to the Ugandan border. Doubling killings per capita increases the probability of a child working by 3.35 percentage points and decreases the probability of a child attending school by 3.68 percentage points. Our results suggest a long-term impact of the genocide likely to affect Rwanda's development into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionMilk and dairy products provide essential nutrients and have the potential to prevent chronic diseases, thus reducing healthcare costs. However, there is a lack of consistent and updated data on dairy consumption trends in Iran. This study aims to analyze the trends in dairy consumption among Iranian households from 1991 to 2021, focusing on household-level determinants across different expense groups.MethodsThe study uses data from the Iranian Household Expenditure and Income Survey conducted annually from 1991 to 2021 to analyze households’ dairy consumption. The data includes values and expenses of food and non-food items purchased in the previous month, as well as demographic characteristics of household members. The households were categorized into 10 deciles based on their gross expense. The econometric model used weighted mean per capita milk, yogurt, cheese, and total dairy consumption based on milk equivalent for each decile. The model takes into account changes in income, prices, household composition, education level, occupation, and residency area using panel data. Data preparation and model estimation were performed using RStudio and STATA17 software.ResultsBased on the findings, in 1991, per capita milk, yogurt, and cheese consumption were 26.77 kg, 16.63 kg, and 2.42 kg, respectively. By 2021, these figures changed to 22.68 kg, 11.06 kg, and 3.79 kg, reflecting a decrease in milk and yogurt consumption but an increase in cheese consumption. Family size was positively correlated with yogurt consumption and head of the household spouse’s job score were positively correlated with milk, yogurt and cheese consumption. Also, the presence of under five-year-old children and older adults members (over the age of 60) in the household was inversely related with yogurt and cheese consumption. Female-headed households tended to purchase more cheese, while their milk purchase level was significantly lower. Residing in urban areas was negatively related to milk, while cheese and total dairy consumption was higher in urban areas.DiscussionThe findings highlight the importance of targeted dairy subsidy interventions and educational programs to improve dairy consumption in Iranian households, especially among vulnerable groups. This will require urging policymakers and food system stakeholders for effective strategies that address macro-level factors to promote dairy consumption.

The paper examines data on electricity consumption in the Russian regions for the period from 1990 to 2020. The main attention is paid to the dynamics of this indicator, including its calculation per capita. As a result of the analysis, parallels between the change in the socio-economic situation in the country, as well as the migration of the population in the regions and electricity consumption are established. One of the main findings of the study is that over the past decades, regional differentiation in electricity consumption has increased significantly, especially if we consider this indicator per capita. This indicates the growing socio-economic stratification of regions in Russia. To achieve the goals set, the work used such methods of processing statistical data as tabular and graphical analysis, as well as methods of general scientific knowledge, including analysis and synthesis. The results of the study can be used to assess the socio-economic development of the regions, as well as to draw up plans for the creation of a generating and electric grid infrastructure in the country. The results obtained are an important and relevant contribution to the study of the problems of electricity consumption in Russia and can be used for further research in this area.

Providing good quality drinking water is one of the most important concerns of today's societies. Using a proper system for the fair distribution of potable water is very necessary and evidently the type of the system will lead to different amounts of water use per capita. Today, the dispute over good quality water resources in arid regions has escalated, Governments are forced to use separate drinking and sanitation water systems. Understanding the consumption of people in the form of per capita is a prerequisite for the proper design of drinking water distribution networks, the data of which are collected and analyzed in different ways. Quality of groundwater resources in Bajestan region, has led to the plan of separate drinking and sanitation water, with the establishment of government water collection stations since 2014. The purpose of this article is to estimate the per capita drinking consumption by query method by considering 378 samples and random sampling at certain distances from each station. The amount of per capita obtained is estimated at about 3 liters, but its amount has a different distribution in different city districts ranging from 2.5 to 4.5 liters. The highest amount is obtained for the new districts with villa texture and the lowest for the zones with more apartments. The results of the survey of the plan and the problems and consequences of its implementation showed that about 69.03% of people are using the water of these stations for drinking and tea, which is the criterion for determining per capita; The biggest problems of withdrawal stations are the numerous breakdowns of the stations and difficulty harvesting them, which requires the revision of some network operations.

Motivated by the growing fiscal deficits in sub-Saharan Africa, this study examines fiscal deficit's economic, political, and institutional drivers using a panel of twenty-three sub-Saharan African countries. Panel spatial consistent correlation, dynamic fixed effects autoregressive distributed lag, and feasible generalised ordinary least squares were used as the estimation techniques. Our findings reveal that while per capita income, trade openness, population, and religious tension increase the size of fiscal deficit, bureaucracy quality, government stability, Law and order, and military in politics reduce the extent of fiscal deficit. However, corruption control, democratic accountability, and internal conflict have weaker statistical evidence. Furthermore, the study established evidence of long-run co-integration relationships among institutional factors, economic factors, and fiscal deficits in SSA. Per capita income has a significant positive influence in the short run but a negative effect in the long run. Population and religious tension positively impact fiscal deficit in both periods. However, democratic accountability, government stability, and the military in politics significantly negatively impact fiscal deficit in the long run. This study concludes that beyond economic factors, institutional and political factors are significant drivers of fiscal deficit in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, strengthening the institutional quality and creating a stable political environment would lessen the accumulation of fiscal deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural populations are particularly exposed to increasing weather variability, notably through agriculture. In this paper, we exploit longitudinal data for Turkish provinces from 2008 to 2018 together with precipitation records over more than 30 years to quantify how variability in a standardized precipitation index (SPI) affects out-migration as an adaptation mechanism. Doing so, we document the role of three potential causal channels: per capita income, agricultural output, and local conflicts. Our results show that negative SPI shocks (droughts) are associated with higher out-migration in rural provinces. A mediated-moderator approach further suggests that changes in per capita income account for more than one quarter of the direct effect of droughts on out-migration, whereas agricultural output is only relevant for provinces in the upper quartile of crop production. Finally, we find evidence that local conflict fatalities increase with drought and trigger out-migration, although this channel is distinct from the direct effect of SPI shocks on out-migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the state of village development and inform both development and resource allocation, an evaluation system based on the super-efficiency DEA model was constructed and applied in Xintai City, Shandong Province. Using the coupled coordination model and barrier factor method, the results of the village comprehensive effectiveness assessment and its barrier factors in Xintai were analyzed. The results showed that the average values of production effectiveness, living effectiveness, ecological effectiveness, and comprehensive effectiveness in Xintai were 0.756 1, 0.623 0, 0.572 3, and 0.689 5, respectively, and the overall effectiveness of each dimension was not high and there was much space for improvement. Villages with advantageous production effectiveness had the distribution characteristics of gathering around the central city of Xintai, and distribution of high living effectiveness areas in two sub-administrative center of Xintai， while those with advantageous ecological effectiveness were mainly concentrated in the eastern hilly and mountainous areas. According to the spatial distribution of the coupling coordination degree, the more coordinated areas were distributed in the central urban area of Xintai City and the sub-administrative center of the city, as well as in Fangcheng Town and Longting Town, while the imbalanced areas were distributed in the main agricultural and forestry industry areas. According to the results of barrier factor measurement, the barrier factors of villages in Xintai City were mainly the number of employees, per capita industrial output value, village environmental treatment costs, and new ecological land area of the villages. That is, they were concentrated in the production and ecological effectiveness dimensions. This study developed a method for constructing the comprehensive effectiveness evaluation system of villages and carried out an empirical application. It provides a scientific basis for the formulation of a comprehensive effectiveness enhancement scheme and has certain practical significance for the implementation of a rural revitalization strategy and evidence-based allocation of village elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is a condition when a person lives below the poverty line and is unable to meet his basic needs. Poverty is one of the economic and social problems that is difficult to overcome. Province of D.I. Yogyakarta is the province with the highest poverty on the island of Java and ranks 11th out of 34 of the poorest provinces in Indonesia in 2021. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of the minimum wage and per capita expenditure on poverty in the district/cities of the province of D.I. Yogyakarta with the chosen model, namely the Random Effect Model (REM). The data used in this study are panel data for 2013-2021, the data analysis technique used is multiple linear regression with the Generalized Least Square (GLS) method with eviews 12. The results show that simultaneously the minimum wage and per capita expenditure have an effect towards poverty in the district/cities of the Province of D.I Yogyakarta. The results of the study also prove that partially the minimum wage does not have a significant effect on poverty, and per capita expenditure has a significant negative effect on poverty, which means that an increase in per capita expenditure will reduce poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evaluations of the link between cellphone laws and crashes show an unclear historical relationship. • We studied the association of rear-end crash rates and laws banning driver cellphone use. • California, Oregon, and Washington strengthened existing cellphone laws in 2017. • Rates of rear-end crashes with injury decreased significantly in Oregon and Washington only. • Rear-end crashes may be a useful albeit imperfect surrogate for distracted driving crashes. Introduction : Prior evaluations of the connection between cellphone bans and crashes show unclear results. California, Oregon, and Washington enacted legislation (effective in 2017) to update earlier bans specific to handheld conversation and texting. This study evaluated the relationship between the laws and rear-end rates, a crash type sensitive to visual-manual cellphone use, in California, Oregon, and Washington. Method: Negative binomial regression compared the change in monthly per capita rear-end crash rates in California, Oregon, and Washington before and after the law changes relative to two control states, Colorado and Idaho, during 2015–2019. Analyses examined (a) rear-end crashes with injuries in all three study states, including minor to fatal injuries; and (b) rear-end crashes of all severities in California and Washington, including property-damage-only crashes and crashes with injuries; Oregon was excluded from this analysis because of a 2018 change to its reporting criteria for property-damage-only crashes. Results: Washington's strengthened law was associated with a significant 7.6% reduction in the rate of monthly rear-end crashes of all severities relative to the controls. Law changes in Oregon and Washington were associated with significant reductions of 8.8% and 10.9%, respectively, in the rates of monthly rear-end crashes with injury relative to the controls. California did not experience changes in rear-end crash rates of all severities or with injuries associated with the strengthened law. Conclusion: The results of this study are mixed, with law changes associated with significant reductions in rear-end crash rates in two of the three study states. Differences in the wording of the laws, levels of enforcement, and sanction severity may help explain the divergent results. Practical application: Crash reductions in Oregon and Washington suggest that enacting legislation that comprehensively bans practically all visual-manual cellphone activity may have made the laws easier to enforce and clarified to drivers that handheld cellphone use is unacceptable in these states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial justice of uses, or in other words, fair, wise, and balanced distribution of urban uses is one of the most important issues of urban planning. The present study is research in terms of purpose and analytical in nature. The library information of this research is collected from books and articles. For the analysis, the per capita index of service users was used, which was calculated and obtained in the GIS software. The statistical population of the research is the eight districts of Qom City. This research has tried to analyze the Spatial justice of service uses in the eight districts of Qom City with the ORESTE technique, based on indicators that are service uses per capita. For this purpose, the indicators were first weighted using Shannon's entropy method, the highest weight was assigned to tourism, and the lowest weight was assigned to the park. After weighing, the ORESTE technique was performed, and Region 7 had the highest and Region 6 had the lowest amount per capita. Then, with the dispersion coefficient, the two-by-two distribution per capita of the service uses of the regions was calculated, and the results showed that regions 2 and 8 have the highest and regions 5 and 7 have the lowest spatial distribution of service uses. Also, with the Spearman correlation coefficient, the correlation between the population of each region and the per capita service users was calculated, which showed a negative correlation, which means that as the population increases, the service users per capita decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate whether higher equity in government social protection spending strongly predicts positive changes in income poverty and inequality. Our approach was to regress the measures of absolute poverty and inequality on the indicators of equity in social protection spending at the country level, controlling for the level of spending and the country wealth measured by per capita GDP. For that purpose, we have compiled a dataset of 535 observations from 101 countries over years 1998–2017, including 199 observations for 70 low- and middle-income countries from Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Our findings support the proposition that equity in social spending (measured by the share of social protection spending going to the bottom quintile) is a significant and strong predictor of improved distributional outcomes (poverty measured at Int$1.90 a day and inequality measured by the Gini index). Moreover, in low- and middle-income countries in our sample the poverty and inequality reducing impact of this equity measure is stronger than in the sample including all countries. The presence of a significant gap in equity of social protection spending between the high-income countries and the rest of countries included in the study signifies that there is a large potential in improving equity in social protection spending in low- and middle-income countries. Social protection reforms in these countries should be focused on extending the coverage of social protection programs and improving access to social protection for the poorest segments of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cause of global environmental decline is clear: an immense and rapidly growing human economy. In response, environmentalists should advocate policies leading to fewer people, lower per capita consumption, and less harmful technologies. All three of these must be addressed, not just one instead of the others. That is our best remaining hope to create sustainable societies and preserve what global biodiversity remains. Sharing Earth justly with other species and protecting it for future human generations are achievable goals, but only if we recognize limits to growth, show restraint in both consumption and procreation, replace maximizing thinking with sufficiency thinking, and cultivate gratitude for what we receive from nature. Efficiency cannot take the place of ethics. Cleverness cannot take the place of wisdom. Humanity must learn to recognize and appreciate 'enough.'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional villages are repositories for preserving human artifacts and cultural heritage. An investigation of the spatial distribution characteristics and factors influencing traditional villages in provincial administrative regions can provide new insights regarding the protection of traditional villages and rural development. This study focused on 275 traditional villages in Henan Province. Using ArcGIS and GeoDa software, we analysed the spatial autocorrelation and heterogeneity of the nearest neighbour index, Gini coefficient, Moran's I, and kernel density of the villages. Additionally, in conjunction with the Python sklearn library and GeoDetector, 15 indicators were selected to construct a decision tree model, spatial lag regression model, and geographic detector. Then the influence and interaction mechanisms of each indicator were analysed. The results revealed that (1) the spatial distribution of traditional villages in Henan Province was clustered and uneven, with a spatial layout comprising "3 high-density areas + 1 medium-density belt"; (2) overall, the number of traditional villages was negatively correlated with altitude, slope, rainfall, population density, proportion of the minority population, and historical-cultural intensity; and (3) the decision tree model results demonstrated that the selected 15 indicators had good predictive ability and that population density was particularly important. The spatial lag regression model results showed that the spatial distribution of traditional villages was positively correlated with distance from rivers, urbanization rate, and tourism resources, and negatively correlated with population density, per capita GRP, historical-cultural intensity, and NDVI. (4) The GeoDetector results indicated that historical-cultural intensity and population density were the two factors with the most significant explanatory power for the spatial differentiation of traditional villages in Henan Province. In terms of interactive factors, population density ∩ population was the strongest interactive driving force, followed by population ∩ historical-cultural intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]