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In this study, we show with the help of a simple model that an increase of the retirement age has a negative impact on the distribution of pension benefits in the Bismarckian as well in the Beveridgean pension system. In both systems, the distribution of pension benefits will change in favour of high-income earners. Additionally, we show that the increasing gap in the life expectancies of low and high-income earners will increase inequality. Both results are a consequence of the positive relationship between the socio-economic status and life expectancy of a person. These important insights are often ignored by the promoters of pension reforms.

This study seeks to test and examine the relationships and impacts of e-government development and e-participation on the financial disclosure of public sector accounts in the context of small island countries. To study the relationships and impacts, the authors drew on (1) e-government development index and (2) e-participation index as measures of e-government development and e-participation. They developed a public accounts internet financial disclosure index (PAIFDI) to measure the online financial disclosure of public sector accounts. A total of 30 small island countries were selected for this study. Data were generated from the 2018 United Nations e-government survey and through assessment of the national websites of 30 small island developing countries. The findings from this study also showed that e-government development has a positive and statistically significant impact on PAIFDI, at a 5% level of significance, holding all other variables constant.

We examine the determinants of profitability of insurance companies in Fiji as a reference country. In Fiji, insurance companies and the services have grown over the years. The study uses a financial evaluation approach. Profitability is measured by the return on assets and the return on equity. Using the two measures and the data published in the key disclosure statements as a mandatory requirement by the Reserve Bank of Fiji, we develop regression models. The fixed-effects regression model and a balanced panel are considered for the analysis. The sample comprises eight insurance companies’ financial data over the period 2010-2015. First, a base model is estimated, followed by additional models which include interaction effects as part of the sensitivity analysis and further insights. The general outcome of the estimation is that premium income, underwriting expenses, administrative expenses, and volume of capital are positively associated with profitability, whereas leverage measured by total liability over equity, and contingent liability are negatively associated with profitability. Inclusion of interaction effects provides results consistent with the base model. The study is a first attempt to analyse Fiji’s insurance sectors and provides useful information in terms of financial management of the sector. The findings can assist the insurance sector and the policy makers to formulate strategies for revenue and cost management.

In this study, we examine the determinants of voluntary disclosures of Social and Environmental Accounting (SEA) among the top 50 firms in New Zealand over the period of 2011 to 2017. The study is an extension of Hackston and Milne’s (1996), however distinct in various ways; we use a relatively larger dataset spanning over seven years, we look at both qualitative and quantitative SEA information, and we include some additional industry and corporate governance variables that provides insightful results. The study is timely in that New Zealand is the first country to implement mandatory climate risk reporting according the New Zealand Minister for Climate Change, Mr. James Shaw (Climate Disclosure Standards Board, 2020), which is a significant step towards supporting SEA disclosure. Whilst realizing that it is optional for firms to be engaged in SEA disclosures, we come up with a more appropriate research design to examine both qualitative- and quantitative-types of SEA disclosure using probit and logit regressions. To contribute to this area of SEA, we extend our analysis to show the impact of industry-type, board size and board composition. The regression results show that profitability is positively associated with quantitative-type disclosure, and size is positively associated with both quantitative- and qualitative -type disclosures. The big four auditors are indifferent to the types of SEA disclosure; and board size is negatively associated with qualitative-type disclosure, and positively associated with quantitative-type disclosure. At sectoral level, building sector is positively associated only with the qualitative-type, whereas energy, retail and service sectors have positive associations in general. Interestingly, we note that female (male) directors have positive (negative) association with both type of disclosures. This study contributes to the SEA literature by categorizing and looking at both qualitative and quantitative SEA disclosures, looking at the type of industry preferring SEA disclosures, and extending the analyses to include corporate governance variables. In addition, the study presents some important factors that can influence the publication of both quantitative and qualitative SEA information for the interest of researchers, practitioners and regulators working in this domain in order to improve the overall SEA disclosure for firms. Finally, this paper shows the importance of gender balancing on boards in order to be engaged in voluntary disclosures such as SEA.

The measure of a country's economic growth is its GDP. Similarly, how much it benefits from foreign trade can be reflected by the country's terms of trade and the balance of payment. India has tried to increase foreign trade and foreign investment through its policy of liberalization and globalization. This research paper examines the changes that have taken place in India's balance of payment since 1991. India's trade deficit is much longer. This means that the value of imports is higher than the export value of Indian goods. However, there is surplus in the invisible item. Which is a positive feature of the economy. Foreign exchange earnings have increased, especially through the export of software services. In addition, FDI And portfolio investment is growing. Due to which the shortage of investment in the economy can be overcome. So that the country's high growth rate (GDP) is maintained. However, long-term arrears in the capital account can prove to be risky. The high level of foreign debt is also a matter of concern. In short, the picture of the economy as a whole is very good. However, in the coming years, India will have to increase exports of new industrial items in addition to traditional exports using new technology. So as to increase industrial development and employment in the country. In addition, the bilateral trade deficit with China should be reduced by developing import substitute industries. The policy of "Development through Exports" has to be given more importance by developing export industries. Abstract in Gujarati Language કોઈપણ દેશના આર્થિક વિકાસનો માપદંડ એ તે દેશની જી.ડી.પી. વૃદ્ધિ છે. તેવી જ રીતે તેને વિદેશી વેપારથી કેટલો લાભ થાય છે તે દેશની વ્યાપારની શરતો અને લેણદેણની તુલાની સ્થિતિ દ્વારા જાણી શકાય છે. ભારતે ઉદારીકરણ અને વૈશ્વિકરણની નીતિ દ્વારા વિદેશી વ્યાપાર અને વિદેશી મૂડીરોકાણમાં વધારો કરવાનો પ્રયત્ન કર્યો છે. ૧૯૯૧ પછી ભારતની લેણદેણની તુલામાં આવેલા પરિવર્તનોનો અભ્યાસ આ સંશોધન લેખમાં કરવામાં આવ્યો છે. ભારતની વેપાર તુલનામાં ઘણા લાંબા ગાળાથી ખાધ જોવા મળે છે. એનો એ અર્થ થાય છે કે ભારતની વસ્તુઓની નિકાસ મૂલ્ય કરતા આયાત મૂલ્યનું પ્રમાણ વધારે છે. જોકે અદ્રશ્ય બાબતોમાં પુરાત જોવા મળે છે. જે અર્થતંત્રનું હકારાત્મક લક્ષણ છે. ખાસ કરીને સોફ્ટવેર સેવાઓની નિકાસ દ્વારા વિદેશી ચલણની આવક વધી છે. ઉપરાંત એફ.ડી.આઈ. અને પોર્ટફોલિયો ઇન્વેસ્ટમેન્ટ વધતું ગયું છે. જેના કારણે અર્થતંત્રમાં મૂડીરોકાણની અછત દૂર કરી શકાય છે. જેથી દેશનો ઊંચો વિકાસ દર (GDP) જાળવી શકાયો છે. જોકે મૂડી ખાતામાં લાંબાગાળાની પુરાત જોખમી પુરવાર થઈ શકે છે. વળી વિદેશી દેવાનું ઊંચું પ્રમાણ એ પણ એક ચિંતાનો વિષય છે. ટૂંકમાં સમગ્ર અર્થતંત્રનું ચિત્ર ખૂબ જ સારું ગણાય છે. છતાં ભારતે આવનારા વર્ષોમાં નવી ટેકનોલોજીનો ઉપયોગ કરીને પરંપરાગત નિકાસ ઉપરાંત નવી ઔદ્યોગિક વસ્તુઓની નિકાસ વધારવી પડશે. જેથી દેશમાં ઔદ્યોગિક વિકાસ અને રોજગારીમાં વધારો થઇ શકે. ઉપરાંત આયાત આવેજી ઉદ્યોગોનો વિકાસ કરીને ચીન સાથેના દ્વિપક્ષીય વેપારની ખાધ પણ ઘટાડવી જોઈએ. નિકાસી ઉદ્યોગોનો વિકાસ કરીને “નિકાસ દ્વારા વિકાસ”ની નીતિને વધારે મહત્વ આપવું પડશે.

We examine whether audit firm alma mater ties between the auditor and the audit committee (AC) are associated with significantly greater nonaudit services (NAS) provided by the auditor. We further examine whether greater NAS in the presence of such alma mater ties are associated with audit quality. Since the AC is responsible for approving and monitoring the services provided by the auditor, the presence of AC and auditor alma mater ties underscores the controversies surrounding such ties’ undermining audit quality. Predicating our hypotheses on social ties theory, we find a positive association between the presence of an audit firm alumnus on the AC and NAS acquired from the alma mater auditor. We further find that this association becomes stronger as the tenure of the alumnus increases. Next, using multiple measures of audit quality, we find that, when the alumnus on the AC is associated with significantly more NAS provided by the alma mater audit firm, the quality of the audit suffers. Collectively, our results suggest that audit firm alma mater ties between the AC and auditor engender economic ties that adversely affect audit quality. Our study provides new evidence on the channels through which the quality of the audit is affected and raises important implications for the composition of the AC, auditor-provided NAS, and client assignment to engagement partners.

A series of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) have evolved in humans during the COVID-19 pandemic—Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron. Here, we used global proteomic and genomic analyses during infection to understand the molecular responses driving VOC evolution. We discovered VOC-specific differences in viral RNA and protein expression levels, including for N, Orf6, and Orf9b, and pinpointed several viral mutations responsible. An analysis of the host response to VOC infection and comprehensive interrogation of altered virus-host protein-protein interactions revealed conserved and divergent regulation of biological pathways. For example, regulation of host translation was highly conserved, consistent with suppression of VOC replication in mice using the translation inhibitor plitidepsin. Conversely, modulation of the host inflammatory response was most divergent, where we found Alpha and Beta, but not Omicron BA.1, antagonized interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), a phenotype that correlated with differing levels of Orf6. Additionally, Delta more strongly upregulated proinflammatory genes compared to other VOCs. Systematic comparison of Omicron subvariants revealed BA.5 to have evolved enhanced ISG and proinflammatory gene suppression that similarly correlated with Orf6 expression, effects not seen in BA.4 due to a mutation that disrupts the Orf6-nuclear pore interaction. Our findings describe how VOCs have evolved to fine-tune viral protein expression and protein-protein interactions to evade both innate and adaptive immune responses, offering a likely explanation for increased transmission in humans.One sentence summarySystematic proteomic and genomic analyses of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern reveal how variant-specific mutations alter viral gene expression, virus-host protein complexes, and the host response to infection with applications to therapy and future pandemic preparedness.

This paper studies the economic impact of COVID-19 in Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu. The UNWTO’s International Tourism 2020 Scenarios and the World Bank’s projected decline in remittance flows are treat...

Research indicates that remittances have mixed effects on growth. In this study, we investigate the role of income thresholds in this association for Fiji. Income thresholds are measured by thresho...

The present paper investigates the mixed convection in a two-sided and four-sided lid-driven square cavity in porous media. In the two-sided porous cavity, the left and right walls of the enclosure are maintained at constant but different temperatures, while the top and bottom walls are adiabatic. The top and the bottom walls of the enclosure move with a constant speed from left to right. In the four-sided porous cavity, the top and the bottom walls of the enclosure move from left to right and right to left, respectively, while the left and the right walls move from top to bottom and bottom to top, respectively, with a constant speed. The left and right walls of the enclosure are maintained at different heat fluxes, while the top and bottom walls are maintained at hot and cold temperatures, respectively. The governing equations are discretized by the fully implicit finite difference method, namely, Alternating-Direction-Implicit (ADI) method. The numerical results are analyzed for the effect of Darcy number (Da = 0.001, 0.01), Prandtl number (Pr = 7), Grashof number (Gr = 50,000), porosity (ε = 0.2) and viscosity ratio (Λ = 1, 3). The stability and convergence of the considered problem have been proved using the Matrix method.

This study investigated how effectively the national governments of the thirteen Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are using the e-government website to create awareness on national-level policies on sexual harassment in the workplace. A total of 85 e-government websites from thirteen PICs were assessed by using the content analysis methodology. The findings from this study confirmed that large-small island countries, such as Fiji, Cook Islands, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands are effectively using the e-government website to provide information and create awareness on national policies against sexual harassment in the workplace as compared to the small PICs. Large PICs have the infrastructure and resources to effectively use information computer technology to provide awareness on national-level policies that protect workers against sexual harassment policies in the workplace. This study's findings will be important for the policymakers, human rights and gender activists, employees, and employers.

Purpose This paper aims to assess the equilibrium house price in the city of Suva (Fiji) and to analyse the house price bubble in the Fiji housing market. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a time series approach to determine the presence of house price bubbles in Fiji over the period from 1988 to 2018. Findings The findings suggest that real income, land cost, building material price, inflation rate, volatility, household size and wealth have a positive impact on house prices, whereas user cost of capital and political disturbances have a negative impact. The findings further indicate that the Fijis’ housing market does not constitute any house price bubble. Practical implications This paper draws policy implications for a small developing state (Fiji) and other similar economies. Originality/value The price bubble in the Fiji housing market is analysed for the first time. This paper develops a comprehensive empirical approach to assess the equilibrium-housing price in Fiji.

In this study, we examine the effect of tourism on economic growth in Tonga. We apply Ghysels Beta-MIDAS approach to estimate the elasticity of tourism, identify breaks with the multiple break test...

BACKGROUND The EverProTM (Sahajanand Laser Technology Ltd., India) everolimus-eluting coronary stent system (EES) is a second-generation drug-eluting stent with a biodegradable polymer. AIM To determine the safety and performance of the EverProTM EES in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) during a 1-year clinical follow-up. METHODS This observational, retrospective, single-center study enrolled patients who had been implanted with the EverProTM stent between June 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019, and had completed a 1-year follow-up period after the index procedure. The primary clinical endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 6 mo defined as the composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), and target lesion revascularization (TLR). Secondary endpoints were the incidence of TLR at 1, 6 and 12 mo follow-up, MACE at 1 and 12 mo follow-up, and stent thrombosis up to 1 year after the index procedure. RESULTS The study population comprised 77 patients (98 lesions). A total of 37 (48.1%) patients had comorbid hypertension. In total, 26 (33.8%) patients presented with ST segment elevation MI and 10.4% patients with non-ST segment elevation MI. Treated lesions were located mainly in the left anterior descending artery (49%) followed by the right coronary artery (29.6%), left circumflex (12.2%) and obtuse marginal (9.2%) arteries. The majority of patients were with single-vessel disease (79%), 22.2% of lesions had a mild to severe thrombus load, and 94.9% were American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association type B or C. De novo stenting was performed in 96.9% of patients and 3% were treated for in-stent restenosis. Procedural success was attained in all patients. In-hospital or follow-up MACE and stent thrombosis were not reported during the 1-year follow-up period. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that the EverProTM EES is a safe and effective treatment option with no MACE or stent thrombosis reported during the 1-year study period in patients with CAD.

Coworking practices have proliferated around the world being embraced not only by remote workers, start-up employees and freelancers but also by larger organizations. Coworking spaces in public libraries, business districts and other urban spaces, herald profound changes for the way workspaces are used in cities. The study takes an integrative approach to investigate the economic and socio-cultural implications of coworking trend for smart cities, their ecosystems and the use of urban public spaces. The study examines these issues by studying motivations and challenges of providers and users of coworking spaces. Thirty coworking spaces in urban areas across Australia were studied and thirty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with both providers and users of the coworking spaces. The findings suggest that coworking spaces play an important role in building communities and developing social and cultural ties. From urban space and environmental perspectives, coworking spaces are likely to contribute to urban mobility and sustainability. From an urban economic perspective, coworking spaces provide a collaborative environment and often a breeding ground for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is one of the most salient themes in the coworking spaces as found in this study. These findings will inform urban policy makers and help them better understand and tap into the source of civic entrepreneurship derived from coworking spaces.

This paper investigates the structure of normal shock waves for a planar steady flow of non-ideal dilute gases under variable viscosity and thermal conductivity using the Navier–Stokes–Fourier approach to the continuum model. The gas is assumed to follow the simplified van der Waals equation of state along with the power-law temperature-dependent coefficients of shear viscosity, bulk viscosity, and thermal conductivity. A closed system of nonlinear differential equations having a variable Prandtl number ( $$\Pr $$ ) is formulated. Exact analytical solutions of the shock wave structure in non-ideal gases are derived for $$\Pr \rightarrow \infty $$ and $$\Pr \rightarrow 0$$ limits, and the corresponding profiles for velocity and temperature are obtained. For $$\Pr \rightarrow 0$$ , an isothermal shock is encountered for high Mach numbers. It appears sooner in non-ideal gases. The solution profiles for $$\Pr =2/3$$ are obtained numerically and compared with the corresponding profiles for $$\Pr \rightarrow 0$$ , 3/4, and $$\infty $$ under the same initial conditions. Qualitative agreement is obtained with the theoretical and experimental results for the shock wave structure. The inverse shock thickness is computed for different values of $$\Pr $$ , and it is found that the inverse shock thickness increases with an increase in the Prandtl number. The bulk viscosity, the non-idealness parameter, the specific heat ratio, the power-law index, and the pre-shock Mach number have a significant effect on the shock wave structure.

The present study investigated the characterization of heat and mass transfer in a two-sided lid-driven square cavity subjected to non-uniform sinusoidal heating on its horizontal walls. The amplitude ratio ( $$\varepsilon $$ ) and phase deviation ( $$\phi $$ ) of sinusoidal temperature at the bottom wall are assumed to be constant, while it behaves as a variable on the cavity’s top boundary. The cavity’s adiabatic and impermeable vertical walls are kept in motion at a uniform speed in the opposite directions, while the horizontal walls are stationary. An unsteady, laminar, and compressible fluid flow under Boussinesq approximation has admitted in the cavity. The considered problem is taken into account due to its great importance in various thermal engineering applications. The stream function–vorticity formulation with the alternating-direction-implicit method is used to solve the non-dimensional governing equations. Also, the stability and consistency of the numerical scheme have been proved using the matrix method. A MATLAB code is written, executed to do the numerical simulations for various non-dimensional parameters, such as Richardson number $$(0.01\le \hbox {Ri} \le 100)$$ , amplitude ratio ( $$\varepsilon =0$$ , 0.25, 0.5, 1), phase deviation ( $$\phi =0$$ , $$\pi /4$$ , $$\pi /2$$ , $$3\pi /4$$ , $$\pi $$ ), and buoyancy ratio $$(-5 \le N \le 5)$$ . The MATLAB code is validated with some of the available literature and found a good agreement with them. The streamline, isotherm, and concentration contours are examined graphically for the different values of the non-dimensional parameter. It is found that the distribution of the contours within the square cavity depends on the relative contributions of the parameters. The heat and mass transfer inside the square cavity are analyzed in terms of the average Nusselt number and the average Sherwood number. The rate of heat and mass transfer in the cavity is found almost constant in forced convection but increases significantly in natural convection. It is also found that the buoyancy ratio, amplitude ratio, and phase deviation contribute significantly only under natural convection.

Non-obstructive dysphagia (NOD) is defined as symptomatic dysphagia in patients with negative endoscopic and radiographic workup. The management of NOD remains controversial as there is a discrepancy between different guidelines and clinical practice. Despite the lack of high-quality studies, empiric dilation for NOD is a common clinical practice among endoscopists and the approach varies between different clinical centers. In this review, we summarize the published literature on empiric dilation for NOD and propose a management algorithm for offering empiric dilation to patients presenting with dysphagia.

The structure of a shock wave is investigated using the continuum hypothesis for steady one-dimensional flow of a viscous non-ideal gas under heat conduction. The coefficients of viscosity and heat conductivity are assumed to be directly proportional to a power of the temperature and density of the gas. The simplified van der Waals equation of state for the non-ideal gas has been assumed in this work. Qualitative analysis of shock wave structure has been done in terms of singularity analysis, isoclines, and integral curves. The exact and numerical solutions of shock structure equations are obtained under the quantitative analysis. The validation of solution is established by comparing the results in the literature (Iannelli in Int J Numer Methods Fluids 72(2):157–176, 2013). The variation of normalized gas velocity, viscous stress, heat flux, and shock thickness have been investigated across shock transition zone with the non-idealness of the gas, temperature, and density exponents in the viscosity and heat conductivity of the gas and initial Mach number. It is found that gas velocity decreases significantly with the increase in non-idealness parameter, temperature, and density exponent in the viscosity of the gas. Shock wave thickness decreases with the increase in the non-idealness of the gas under constant viscosity and heat conductivity but increase under variable gas properties. The thickness of a shock wave decreases with the increase in the temperature exponent and increases with the increase in the density exponent.

In this study, we estimate inbound international tourism demand models at the individual source market-destination and overall destination levels for Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu f...

Fiji's tourism industry has evolved considerably in the past 30 years with past and present governments striving to support and promote the sector despite competing development priorities. This study examines the effects of tourism on the economic growth of Fiji, a small island economy, over the period 1975 to 2015. Using a neoclassical framework and the autoregressive distributed lag bound procedure, the short-run and the long-run effects are explored while accounting for structural breaks. The long-run and short-run results indicate that a 1% increase in visitor arrivals contributes about 0.13% and 0.20% to the per capita income, respectively. Additionally, a unidirectional causality from economic growth to tourism, and a mutually reinforcing effect between capital investment and tourism are noted. Thus, greater impact of tourism on the economic growth can be realized through tourism-related investment activities such as improvements in airports, roads, transportation, telecommunications, financial sector, technology, and natural parks and beaches.