scholarly journals The Double-Edged Sword of Urbanization and Its Nexus with Eco-Efficiency in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Yue ◽  
Dan Xue ◽  
Muhammad Umar Draz ◽  
Fayyaz Ahmad ◽  
Jiaojiao Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Ecological Environment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Waste Discharge ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Changing Trend ◽  
Impact Of Urbanization ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Resource Input

Urbanization has made tremendous contributions to China’s economic development since its economic reforms and opening up. At the same time, population agglomeration has aggravated environmental pollution and posed serious challenges to China’s environment. This article empirically investigates the impacts of China’s urbanization on eco-efficiency, comprehensively reflecting economic growth, resource input, and waste discharge. We first measured the provincial eco-efficiency in China from 2005 to 2015 using the Super Slack-Based model (Super-SBM). We then constructed a spatial model to empirically analyze the effects of urbanization on eco-efficiency at the national level, and at four regional levels. The results indicated that the regional eco-efficiency in China has fluctuated, but is generally improving, and that a gap between regions was evident, with a trend toward further gap expansion. We observed an effect of spatial spillover in eco-efficiency, which was significant and positive for the whole country, except for the western region. The influence of urbanization on China’s eco-efficiency exhibited a U-curve relationship. The changing trend in the eastern, central, and western regions was the same as that in the whole country; however, the trend exhibited an inverted U-curve relationship in the northeastern region. To the best of our knowledge, covering a time period of 2005–2015, this article is the first of its kind to study the impact of urbanization on eco-efficiency in China at both the national and regional levels. This study may help policy-makers to create sustainable policies that could be helpful in balancing urbanization and the ecological environment.

scholarly journals General Patterns and Drivers of Changes in Employment Structure: Evidence from Five European Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-362
Author(s):  
Larysa Yakymova
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
National Level ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Growth Effect ◽  
Causality Test ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Ardl Approach ◽  
Impact Of Urbanization ◽  
The Impact

This paper seeks to answer whether the general patterns and drivers of the sectoral employment shifts depend on a country’s level of development. To accomplish this, we examined employment in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Ukraine at the national level (1998-2018) using econometric analysis, and at the regional NUTS2 level (2009-2018) using shift-share analysis. We obtained evidence that the general trend is the service sector expansion. Using the ARDL approach and the Granger causality test, we identified long-run unidirectional causality running from income proxies to employment in services in all countries except Romania, where the opposite causality was found. We revealed that household income moderates the impact of urbanization on service sector growth in all countries except Poland. At the regional level, the change in the employment rate in services is explained by the national growth effect and slightly by the industry-mix effect if the active phase of structural changes is completed.

Anti-money laundering – the need for intelligence

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard John Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Money Laundering ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
National Level ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for predictive intelligence to support anti-money laundering programs in the financial sector. Design/methodology/approach The methodology adopted herein consists of a literature review on the use of intelligence in anti-money laundering, the sources of intelligence and information used in the financial sector, supported by experience gained from investigating and prosecuting money laundering cases, and the assistance provided to financial services companies. Findings Banks and other regulated services are required to meet international standards to deny services to criminals and terrorists, identify suspicious activity and report to the authorities. Regulated businesses have large operations which check customers against sources that confirm their identity or against lists of proscribed or suspected offenders at an individual or national level. Their controls tend to look backwards when other organisations that rely on intelligence, such as the military, value predictive, forward-looking intelligence. The penalties that banks and others face for failure in their controls are increasingly severe, as looking backwards and not forwards reduces the extent to which the controls meet their purpose of reducing the impact of organized crime and terrorism. Originality/value This paper serves as a useful guide to alert and educate anti-money laundering professionals, law enforcement and policy makers of the importance of predictive intelligence in countering organized crime and terrorism. It also considers whether lessons in intelligence handling from other areas can inform a debate on how intelligence can be developed to counter money laundering.

scholarly journals The impact of urbanization and financial development on electricity intensity in China: Evidence from panel VAR approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 03010
Author(s):  
Ruijun Duan
Keyword(s):  
Financial Development ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Panel Var ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Vector Autoregressive ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Impact Of Urbanization ◽  
Positive Shock ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Electricity Intensity

This paper aims at exploring the impact of urbanization and financial development on electricity intensity in China during the period 2004-2018. By employing a panel vector autoregressive (VAR) approach, the study finds that the electricity intensity response to one standard deviation shock on urbanization shows a negative impact, and a positive shock to financial development initially increases electricity intensity and eventually decreases electricity intensity. Our analysis is important for policy makers for improving electricity efficiency planning and sustainable economic development policies.

Exploring the impact of open innovation on firm performances

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (7) ◽  
pp. 1788-1812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Caputo ◽  
Emilia Lamberti ◽  
Antonello Cammarano ◽  
Francesca Michelino
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Operating Profit ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Continuous Measures ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the openness of firms and their innovation and financial performances. Design/methodology/approach – In order to investigate such relationships, data on inbound and outbound open innovation (OI) processes and performances of 110 worldwide top research and development (R & D) spending bio-pharmaceutical companies are collected via the consolidated annual reports and the PATSTAT database. The time period of the analysis is 2008-2012. Findings – Regarding innovation performances, R & D productivity and revenues to patents ratio decrease with openness, whilst patents growth is not influenced by OI adoption. As to financial performances, sales growth exhibits a positive trend with openness, while operating profit and turnover decrease with OI adoption. Particularly, an inverted U-relationship with inbound and a U-shape one with outbound are observed as of operating profit. Research limitations/implications – The study adds to the knowledge about the effect of openness on firms’ performances, a topic of increasing interest to academics, managers and policy makers. Both inbound and outbound facets of the phenomenon are taken into account. Practical implications – Understanding how openness affects performances enables more informed decision making by managers, leading to a more effective use of OI activities. Originality/value – The work provides new insights as to what “being open” means for a company, gauging both inbound and outbound transactions after a pecuniary perspective. Employing objective and continuous measures, the relevance of OI for the whole business of firms can be identified.

scholarly journals Does the Narrative About the Use of Evidence in Priority Setting Vary Across Health Programs Within the Health Sector: A Case Study of 6 Programs in a Low-Income National Healthcare System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Kapiriri
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Priority Setting ◽  
National Level ◽  
District Level ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Child Health

Background: There is a growing body of literature on evidence-informed priority setting. However, the literature on the use of evidence when setting healthcare priorities in low-income countries (LICs), tends to treat the healthcare system (HCS) as a single unit, despite the existence of multiple programs within the HCS, some of which are donor supported. Objectives: (i) To examine how Ugandan health policy-makers define and attribute value to the different types of evidence; (ii) Based on 6 health programs (HIV, maternal, newborn and child health [MNCH], vaccines, emergencies, health systems, and non- communicable diseases [NCDs]) to discuss the policy-makers’ reported access to and use of evidence in priority setting across the 6 health programs in Uganda; and (iii) To identify the challenges related to the access to and use of evidence. Methods: This was a qualitative study based on in-depth key informant interviews with 60 national level (working in 6 different health programs) and 27 sub-national (district) level policy-makers. Data were analysed used a modified thematic approach. Results: While all respondents recognized and endeavored to use evidence when setting healthcare priorities across the 6 programs and in the districts; more national level respondents tended to value quantitative evidence, while more district level respondents tended to value qualitative evidence from the community. Challenges to the use of evidence included access, quality, and competing values. Respondents from highly politicized and donor supported programs such as vaccines, HIV and maternal neonatal and child health were more likely to report that they had access to, and consistently used evidence in priority setting. Conclusion: This study highlighted differences in the perceptions, access to, and use of evidence in priority setting in the different programs within a single HCS. The strong infrastructure in place to support for the access to and use of evidence in the politicized and donor supported programs should be leveraged to support the availability and use of evidence in the relatively under-resourced programs. Further research could explore the impact of unequal availability of evidence on priority setting between health programs within the HCS.

scholarly journals Key factors affecting people’s unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: a large-scale population study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Alejandro Rabasa ◽  
Xavier Barber ◽  
Kristina Polotskaya ◽  
Kristof Roomp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Scale Population ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPopulation confinements have been one of the most widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by governments across the globe to help contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While confinement measures have been proven to be effective to reduce the number of infections, they entail significant economic and social costs. Thus, different policy makers and social groups have exhibited varying levels of acceptance of this type of measures. In this context, understanding the factors that determine the willingness of individuals to be confined during a pandemic is of paramount importance, particularly, to policy and decision-makers. In this paper, we study the factors that influence the unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic by the means of a large-scale, online population survey deployed in Spain. We perform two types of analyses (logistic regression and automatic pattern discovery) and consider socio-demographic, economic and psychological factors, together with the 14-day cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. Our analysis of 109,515 answers to the survey covers data spanning over a 5-month time period to shed light on the impact of the passage of time. We find evidence of pandemic fatigue as the percentage of those who report an unwillingness to be in confinement increases over time; we identify significant gender differences, with women being generally less likely than men to be able to sustain long-term confinement of at least 6 months; we uncover that the psychological impact was the most important factor to determine the willingness to be in confinement at the beginning of the pandemic, to be replaced by the economic impact as the most important variable towards the end of our period of study. Our results highlight the need to design gender and age specific public policies, to implement psychological and economic support programs and to address the evident pandemic fatigue as the success of potential future confinements will depend on the population’s willingness to comply with them.

scholarly journals Evaluation Methods of the Impact of Structural and Cohesion Funds on Economic and Social Development at Regional and National Level

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Cristina Bătușaru ◽  
Amelia Bucur
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Social Development ◽  
National Economy ◽  
National Level ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Analysis of the role and implications of the funds coming from the European Union have on the national economy is very complex and complicated at the same time, because of the multitude of issues and indicators that this process shapes and drives, depending on the source of funding, the modality of funding and on the destination for which it has been allocated. Using mathematical models to assess the impact of European funding on the national economy is paramount valuable as it brings important information that can be used by policy makers in decision making sewage inputs and financial resources, in view of adopting optimal economic policy

scholarly journals Yet another lockdown? A large-scale study on people's unwillingness to be confined during the first 5 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Alejandro Rabasa ◽  
Xavier Barber ◽  
Kristina Polotskaya ◽  
Kristof Roomp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
The Impact

Population confinements have been one of the most widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by governments across the globe to help contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While confinement measures have been proven to be effective to reduce the number of infections, they entail significant economic and social costs. Thus, different policy makers and social groups have exhibited varying levels of acceptance of this type of measures. In this context, understanding the factors that determine the willingness of individuals to be confined during a pandemic is of paramount importance, particularly, to policy and decision-makers. In this paper, we study the factors that influence the unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic by means of a large-scale, online population survey deployed in Spain. We apply both quantitative (logistic regression) and qualitative (automatic pattern discovery) methods and consider socio-demographic, economic and psychological factors, together with the 14-day cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. Our analysis of 109,515 answers to the survey covers data spanning over a 5-month time period to shed light on the impact of the passage of time. We find evidence of pandemic fatigue as the percentage of those who report an unwillingness to be in confinement increases over time; we identify significant gender differences, with women being generally less likely than men to be able to sustain long-term confinement of at least 6 months; we uncover that the psychological impact was the most important factor to determine the willingness to be in confinement at the beginning of the pandemic, to be replaced by the economic impact as the most important variable towards the end of our period of study. Our results highlight the need to design gender and age specific public policies, to implement psychological and economic support programs and to address the evident pandemic fatigue as the success of potential future confinements will depend on the population's willingness to comply with them.

scholarly journals Long time frames to detect the impact of changing COVID-19 control measures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica E Stockdale ◽  
Renny Doig ◽  
Joosung Min ◽  
Nicola Mulberry ◽  
Liangliang Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Level ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Reporting Process ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Time Frames ◽  
The Impact

AbstractBackgroundMany countries have implemented population-wide interventions such as physical distancing measures, in efforts to control COVID-19. The extent and success of such measures has varied. Many jurisdictions with declines in reported COVID-19 cases are moving to relax measures, while others are continuing to intensify efforts to reduce transmission.AimWe aim to determine the time frame between a change in COVID-19 measures at the population level and the observable impact of such a change on cases.MethodsWe examine how long it takes for there to be a substantial difference between the cases that occur following a change in control measures and those that would have occurred at baseline. We then examine how long it takes to detect a difference, given delays and noise in reported cases. We use changes in population-level (e.g., distancing) control measures informed by data and estimates from British Columbia, Canada.ResultsWe find that the time frames are long: it takes three weeks or more before we might expect a substantial difference in cases given a change in population-level COVID-19 control, and it takes slightly longer to detect the impacts of the change. The time frames are shorter (11-15 days) for dramatic changes in control, and they are impacted by noise and delays in the testing and reporting process, with delays reaching up to 25-40 days.ConclusionThe time until a change in broad control measures has an observed impact is longer than is typically understood, and is longer than the mean incubation period (time between exposure than onset) and the often used 14 day time period. Policy makers and public health planners should consider this when assessing the impact of policy change, and efforts should be made to develop rapid, consistent real-time COVID-19 surveillance.

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