Actual Developments Research Articles

Health impact assessment in two planning projects in England: reflections on normative effectiveness

BackgroundThis article reports on research commissioned by (what was at the time) Public Health England (PHE). The objective is to reflect on the normative effectiveness of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) applied to two planning projects; (a) the new town at Cranbrook, Devon (HIA prepared in 2007), and (b) the regeneration of the Marsh farm area in Luton (HIA prepared in 2009). In this context, the focus is on the contribution of HIA to actions that are intended to lead to good or improved health and wellbeing.MethodsNormative HIA effectiveness criteria derived from a literature review were used to guide the analysis. The two included HIA cases were previously identified as good practice examples with regards to procedure and report quality. Semi-structured interviews with public health, planning and other actors originally involved in the HIAs were conducted in 2021. This was followed up by web-searches for evidence on actual developments in 2023.ResultsInterviews indicated that normative effectiveness initially appeared to be high, but that the longer-term effects of the financial crash of 2008 reduced this. Delays in initially anticipated timelines and HIA actors moving elsewhere or retiring meant that HIAs were not followed-up and connections between developments and the HIAs were no longer made. However, web-based searches conducted in 2023 found that key HIA suggestions were eventually implemented, albeit with delay. There is also evidence for improved IMD (index of multiple deprivation) rankings in the Marsh farm regeneration case.ConclusionA mismatch is observed with regards to HIA exercises appearing to be largely ‘forgotten’ after over a decade of their publication, but recommendations still being implemented, possibly as a result of ‘institutional memory’. Making monitoring and follow-up of HIA binding rather than advisory would allow for direct linkages to be made.

ADAM SMITH ON THE PROCESS OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ROLE OF COUNTERFACTUAL REASONING

This paper examines Adam Smith’s use of counterfactual reasoning in his analysis of the “process of civilization” and its implications for modern economics. Smith, influenced by Isaac Newton, Robert Simson, Francis Hutcheson, and David Hume, employed counterfactual reasoning to critique the Mercantile System by comparing actual economic developments with the “natural course of events.” His physiocratic bias limited his engagement with emerging industrial advancements, yet his methodological contributions remain significant. Smith’s focus on “what if?” questions in policy discussions continues to shape modern economic thought, despite some limitations in fully realizing his theoretical framework.

Digital competence analysis to inform current pedagogy and curricula

The importance of DCs (digital competences) at all levels of education is evident, given the extensive literature, international legislation, projects, and pedagogical resources emerging and developing over the past decade. Therefore, DC frameworks for different types of educational contexts have been proposed. For example, DigCompEdu (“European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators”, Punie & Redecker, 2017) has been widely accepted and adapted to different academic areas and geographical regions (e.g., in Spain, see Mora-Cantallops et al., 2022). According to these guidelines, DC formation in education includes various developmental sections and aspects (e.g., digital creation, online assessment, student empowerment, and so on), which teachers can check for self-reflection and critical thinking. Given the criteria established, different levels of expertise can be inferred according to competence variables, and, based on these, educators can work towards improving one aspect or another in the DC spectrum. Nonetheless, despite this established framework of digital skills in education, there is a need for more contrastive analyses of actual DC developments in cross-disciplinary and cross-curricular ecologies: How current pedagogical approaches may vary within an exponentially growing digital world is, in fact, a key issue deserving further scholarly attention at various research dissemination levels. [1] A fair question, then, to ask is whether the post-pandemic era is witnessing significant DC developments and changes across the curriculum, and if so, to what extent. Also, related to this concern, is the lingering question of how digitally competent educators and learners really are in formal and informal teaching/learning scenarios? Further, how may pedagogy-informed decisions be made and integrated into current policies, projects, and planning in an era where technology should have become so familiar that it is invisible (cf. Bax, 2003)? During the pandemic, an increased use of digital resources was seen, leading pedagogy experts to focus on educational policies and programmes for DC integration in curricula across geographical areas (e.g., Ganimian et al., 2020; McGarr et al., 2021; Selfie for teachers, 2022; Arcón & Monje, this special issue). This implementation of digital practices, often attempting to quell rising anxiety and fears related to decreased educational levels due to COVID, resulted in both successful and failed scenarios for learning, whereas it could also contribute to the ever-increasing digital divide between regions and social classes / groups (e.g., see Gómez Trigueros & Yáñez, 2021; Castelo Branco et al., 2022; Viscarret et al., 2022). As a result, a re-consideration of DCs, their definition, and description for curriculum design, are manifestly important nowadays. A recent case is the need for regulating and framing GenAI resources and practices in all types of academic / educational environments, entailing a (re)formulation of DC mechanics, objectives, purposes, and implementation (e.g., see Dwivedi et al., 2023; Fleckenstein et al., 2024; Lan & Chen, 2024). [1] Despite an increase in pedagogy-focused investigations, the reality is that a wide gap still exists between researchers’ reflections and the teaching community’s actual practices, as observed in different meta-analyses (e.g., Sato & Lowen, 2022; Boulton & Vyatkina, 2024).

Methodological and technological aspects of the production of lactose-free dairy products

The article provides a rationale for the need to study the development of new lactose-free dairy products, due to an increase in the volume of consumption and the need to master whey processing technologies, using various lactose removal technologies, including enzymatic ones. Whey is rich in amino acids, has high biological value and high degree of digestibility in the human body, due to which whey processed products become attractive to a consumer.The purpose of the research is to develop a method for producing lactose-free albumin from fresh whey obtained after the production of cheese or cottage cheese, using enzymatic hydrolysis technology. The market for lactose-free dairy products in the Russian Federation and the assortment that is presented in the city of Yekaterinburg, the Sverdlovsk region, have been analyzed. The parameters of temperature, duration, and amount of β-galactosidase enzyme added to obtain a lactose-free dairy product with the highest weight yield and the best organoleptic characteristics based on actual technological developments have been investigated. Organoleptic, physicochemical and microbiological indicators of the quality and safety of the resulting lactose-free albumin have been studied. The resulting product has organoleptic characteristics and structure similar to classic cottage cheese, so that it can be used as a cottage cheese substitute for the development of lactose-free products and dishes for baby food.

The blockchain in the renewable energy sector: a tool for sustainability promotion

Energy transition and companies’ commitment to sustainability can be supported by integrating innovative technologies into the renewable energy (RE) sector. Blockchain technology (BT) represents one such technology. This paper explores how BT can support RE consumption as an answer to energy sector companies’ technological, transparency and traceability needs. We conducted a literature review on blockchain’s ability to adapt to the energy sector, focusing on RE applications. In addition, we qualitatively analysed two projects pursued by energy sector companies in Europe. Although there is an abundance of research on the application of BT in the energy sector, there are only a few operational studies on this theme. Therefore, we combined the theoretical analysis with an exploration of the practical application of BT in two actual developments that highlight its positive implications for the transition to RE. BT applications for RE are at an early stage and require time for development. The analysis invites interactions among academics, energy sector operators and legislators. The findings contribute to facilitate the RE adoption and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in compliance with 2030 and 2050 goals.

The association between economic uncertainty and suicide in Japan by age, sex, employment status, and population density: an observational study

Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death globally, and previous research has revealed a link between economic conditions and mental health. However, the literature has focused primarily on recessions and unemployment, i.e. actual economic developments, as opposed to uncertainty, which relates to economic developments that have not (yet) materialised. This study examines the differential association between economic uncertainty and suicide in Japan, depending on age, sex, employment status, and population density, in order to identify the groups that are affected the most. Using monthly prefectural suicide mortality data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and a monthly economic uncertainty index for the period 2009 to 2019, we employed a fixed effects panel data approach to examine the association between uncertainty and suicide by population group. We found that a 1% increase in economic uncertainty is associated with a 0.061 increase in the monthly number of suicides per 100,000 people per prefecture, on average (coefficient: 6.08; 95% CI: 5.07-7.08), which constitutes a 3.62% increase. Self-employed people, as well as men in their 50s and unemployed men, experience the highest additional risk of suicide when uncertainty increases. The association was approximately three times stronger for males than for females, and a strong association was observed for self-employed males living in more densely-populated areas. Uncertainty appears to relate to suicides for most groups, but self-employed people, males, and those living in more densely populated areas appear to be more at risk of suicide in periods of increased economic uncertainty. Our results provide an indication of which groups mental health services and prevention strategies can focus on in times of economic uncertainty. None.

Determination of the Knowledge Level of the Technical Staff about Arbitration

Türkiye has become one of the world's leading countries in the construction sector in the international arena. Today, the use of FIDIC and similar standard contracts is increasing in Turkish contractor companies. In parallel with this situation, it also becomes more common to prefer arbitration in the settlement of disputes in the international construction sector. In the literature, there is no actual publication about the knowledge level of technical staff on arbitration. By taking this deficiency into consideration, the purpose of this study is to measure the awareness of the groups working in the construction sector about the possibility of applying to arbitration as a result of the disputes that they encounter, by measuring the arbitration knowledge level of the technical staff. Accordingly, an empirical field work was conducted with a total of 100 (one hundred) technical staff working in the public and private sector transportation projects in Istanbul. The data collection tool that was used in the research is a questionnaire developed by the researchers and consisting of 25 questions. In the survey analysis, the data were analyzed with the SPSS 28 package program. In the study, a reliability test was conducted for each statement and the Mann-Whitney U test was used. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that 84.4% of the participants do not follow up the actual developments in the field of arbitration in the world and in Türkiye, and do not have sufficient knowledge about arbitration. However, it has been determined that the arbitration knowledge level of the participants, who follow up the actual developments in the world and in Türkiye and have sufficient knowledge about arbitration, is high. In addition, it has been determined that 93.8% of the participants would like to participate an information training to be held on arbitration. To increase awareness about arbitration, it is necessary to introduce undergraduate-level arbitration courses for technical staff in engineering and architecture faculties at universities, and to organize periodic in-service training programs by the arbitration centers in our country.

Competition effects of vertical integration in container ports: assessing the European Commission decisional practice

PurposeContainer liner shipping companies started expanding their business by investing in container port terminals in the late 1990s. This market entry results in an extensive presence of vertically integrated liners and terminals. This study aims to explore the competition effects of this vertical integration trend based on a regional (European) analysis. In particular, it extracts lessons from the European Commission (EC) cases on the competition effects of vertical integration. The critical analysis of the cases examined at the institutional level intends to reach conclusions on whether liner–terminal vertical integration harmed or advanced competition in the relevant markets and/or the extent that there is a need to revise the current policy practices.Design/methodology/approachThis study critically assesses the EC’s decisional practices in port container terminal vertical mergers in the last 25 years (1997–2021). Based on a literature review comparing maritime and competition economists' perspectives, it reviews the types of mergers examined, the methodology followed for relevant market definition and calculation of market shares and the estimated competition effects. The Hamburg–Le Havre area is the port range used as a case study for comparing the decisional practice with actual market developments. These container ports serve the greatest consuming market of final and intermediate goods in Europe and are gateways to Central and Eastern Europe.FindingsThe assessment identifies a need for expanding the investigation as a precondition for reaching conclusions on both the anti- and pro-competitive effects. First, only a limited number of transactions have been notified to the EC. Second, the empirical research identified a gap in this process, as there were no decisions (phase I) on vertical mergers between 2008 and 2016. Third, the exante assessment has not applied a phase II in-depth analysis to any case due to the absence of competition concerns. Finally, due to the absence of complaints, there is a lack of any ex post assessment of the effects of vertical integration.Research limitations/implicationsThis assessment is important for understanding the current and emerging features of intra-port and inter-port competition and the potential effects that the continuation and expansion of liner companies' vertical integration strategies will have along maritime supply chains. It also contributes to the broader discussion on liner companies' strategies, such as the research and policy-making efforts around the globe to understand the impact of both vertical and horizontal integration.Practical implicationsThese discussions are critical for a diversity of businesses that use liner shipping services or provide facilities and services to container shipping lines or ports. They are important for the interests of customers and consumers as they could inform any needed re-visiting of competition policy to protect from the dominance of any market developments that would lead to conditions limiting competition. Expanding analysis on the competition effects of non-notified mergers would help a better understanding of market changes.Social implicationsEnhancing competition and limiting monopolies is valuable from a consumer's perspective. This is more so in the case of maritime trade that serves the needs of societies. The study contributes by generating a better understanding of how decision-makers have worked towards that direction and what realignments are worthy.Originality/valueThere are no previous comprehensive reviews and analyses of the ways that policy-makers at the regional level have addressed the competition effects of vertical integration strategies of liner shipping companies when enhancing competition is valuable from a consumer perspective. Comparing maritime economists and competition, the study, via its literature review, also offers a comparison of maritime and competition perspectives on these competition effects, allowing positioning of how effective decisional-making practices have been.

Awareness of opinion change: evidence from two deliberative mini-publics

Although opinion changes during discussions and negotiations have been studied extensively in different fields of research, surprisingly little effort has been put into studying whether people correctly recognize that they revised their opinions. This is important because it has implications for both the cognitive mechanisms underpinning these changes and their likely consequences. We in this study examine whether participants in two deliberative mini-publics (DMP) were able to determine the extent to which they revised their opinions (DMP1 = 135; DMP2 = 207). We measure awareness with two questions asking respondents to indicate the extent to which their opinions and views changed during the processes, while we ascertain the actual developments with three measures that capture developments in opinions and attitude consistency. Our results suggest that people are generally unaware of revising their opinions during these processes, and it is only for drastic opinion changes that people have some level of awareness. The difference in how people perceive opinion change compared to how they respond to statements about policy issues shows that probing opinion changes by asking people directly about this can be problematic from a methodological standpoint.

Examining the white and dark sides of digitalisation effects on corruption: unveiling research patterns and insights for future research

PurposeThis study aims to review the current literature on the positive and negative effects of digitalisation in preventing corruption. It analyses existing research patterns and provides recommendations for future studies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employed bibliometric analysis and systematic review to scrutinise 190 papers from the Web of Science database from 2000 to 2023. Biblioshiny on R Studio was used for advanced bibliometric analysis to determine publication dynamics, influential journals, publications and impactful authors and a three-field plot to analyse relationships among countries, keywords and journals.FindingsThis study provides a bibliometric analysis of the past and actual developments in the field related to the effects of digitalisation on corruption. Based on the systematic literature review on a sample of the 50 most influential articles, this study identified background theories employed, the primary research methodologies adopted and valuable insights into both the positive and negative aspects of the impact of digitalisation on corruption.Originality/valueThis study provides an extended overview of the effects of digitalisation on corruption and advances new avenues for further research related to this field. The white and dark sides of the effects of digitalisation on corruption are highlighted. Furthermore, the study identifies the need for further research in this field to gain a more in-depth understanding of the nexus between digitalisation and corruption.

Russia's vision for a great power rivalry in space

Space is once again an arena of global competition and rivalry, but now more actors and technologies affecting the dynamics. Russia remains a relevant, yet relatively declining space power, eager to preserve both status and capabilities. Space domain is seen as both an opportunity and a threat, and both technological and political efforts are being invested to shape the environment so it will be favorable for Russian interests. However, the interests themselves are defined rather vaguely, yet the threats are seen as immediate, thus some overreaction is a real possibility. The actual and possible developments in the area are researched, and some solutions to keep things manageable are proposed. Moreover, relations of space domain with other major topics, including Strategic Offensive Arms, Missile Defense and Cyber/Electronic Warfare are addressed.

Risk of digital assets: Developments in regulation and implementation

The normative narrative about ‘crypto’ or ‘digital assets' as potential substitutes for the traditional financial systems has the downside that such a new system could present new types of risk, thus requiring dedicated risk management. But is this narrative justified by reality? Actual implementations with a trend to centralisation, generic features of blockchain-based systems to be exploited by new types of intermediaries and recent events (including the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and the bankruptcy of FTX), triggered feedback from central banks and banking supervisors. Recently, the current development of regulations was toughened with a proposal that ‘trading in unbacked digital assets should be treated by regulators like gambling’. This paper avoids any normative discussion of how crypto or digital assets should look theoretically, but focuses on the actual developments. An analysis of the whole stack of layers of blockchain platforms, from influencer marketing to features such as ‘maximum extractable value’, can be condensed to the litmus test of ‘`Cui bono`?’ (‘to whom is it a benefit?’). This perspective reveals that blockchain-based systems are determined by the objectives and intentionality of the (new) intermediaries and are typically a mixture of gaming, gambling and scam. Consequently, the revised high-level recommendations of the Financial Stability Board for ‘global stablecoin’ arrangements, the European MiCA regulation and the amended capital requirements to the Basel framework are benchmarks for the treatment of crypto and digital assets. These are based on the economic objectives: from E-money-like instruments on the balance sheet of (new) intermediaries via traditional securities (equity or credit) to native digital assets, which resemble gambling according to ‘same business, same risk, same regulation’.

How to do languaging(s), language games and languages

Abstract The article elaborates on substance-form aspects of integral communicative practices. Respective substance matters emerge with their shaping into formative and formal modes within the integral bio-social existence and experience of humans. Instrumentally modes help humans to shape or form their irregular substance matters into in-formed mental, behavioral and communicative practices. The article outlines interpretations of respective transformations and processes from Aristotle, Descartes and Kant to Russell, Wittgenstein, Austin and theoreticians of ongoing cognitive and languaging revolutions. The rigid opposing of the ultimate substance/form abstractions provokes conceptual impediments that result in the notorious pseudo-Cartesian mind-body problem. It is possible to overcome it by refocusing on actual middle ground integral developments including actual psychosomatic and mental processes, human communicative interactions and their pragmatic activities. A promising way to do that is to develop intellectual instruments similar to accommodating Hjelmslevean distinction of content and expression planes or relatively integral substance-form complexes. The article suggests a range of instrumentalities to methodologically reinterpret actual middle ground practices of languaging and language games. To that effect, it suggests a few complementary ways of their embedding and enacting, particularly new modes and procedures to conceptualize prerequisites and outcomes, externalities and affordances of the matching middle ground practices.

Learner agency in a chemical engineering curriculum: Perceptions and critical thinking

The extent to which learners have scope and opportunity to direct and influence their own approach to learning activities, what may be termed ‘learner agency’, has been shown to be important for students across many disciplines, in developing key advanced skills and qualities such as self-efficacy, critical thinking, resilience and innovative problem-solving. Employers unsurprisingly value graduates able to exhibit and cope with agency in their approach to work through such elements as self-learning ability, capacity to formulate and solve open-ended problems, coping with unfamiliar situations, and effective teamwork. Here, through a student-led and student-designed research project using questionnaire and interview methodology, we explore via the perceptions of students themselves how a typical UK Chemical Engineering BEng/MEng curriculum provides opportunities for agency and how students feel they cope with agency. We examine the curriculum class-by-class and year-by-year, studying correlations and patterns in the types of learning activity which students perceive as enabling them to exert influence and control over learning. In follow-up one-to-one interviews we further examine the link between perceived degree of agency and critical thinking skills, as measured by standardized scales, to explore how perceived agency-delivering activities may correlate with actual developments in thinking styles and skills.

The Impact of Carbon Allowance Allocation Rules on Remanufacturing Decisions in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain

Remanufacturing has been widely adopted in the industrial sector due to carbon emission constraints and economic benefits. This paper discusses a closed-loop supply chain composed of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), an authorized remanufacturer (AR), that is licensed by the OEM to carry out remanufacturing activities in the presence of strategic consumers under carbon cap-and-trade regulations. We establish a Stackelberg game model to identify the optimal manufacturing/remanufacturing decisions made by chain members, and compare the impacts of two different carbon allowance allocation rules on the optimal production decisions and profits, and on the environment. The results showed that optimal decisions in a closed-loop supply chain are affected by the carbon price, carbon allowance allocation, and consumer preferences for remanufactured products. In addition, for high-emission enterprises, the grandfathering rule performs better than the benchmarking rule, yielding higher profits and less environmental impact. The government should take into account the actual economic and production technological developments, implement the benchmarking rule for low-emission enterprises, and apply the grandfathering rule to high-emission enterprises.

Poverty decompositions with counterfactual income and inequality dynamics

AbstractTraditional poverty accounting decomposes changes in a country's poverty headcount ratio into changes in income and inequality. We argue that this approach is unsatisfactory from the perspective of policy analysis because it compares a country in two points of time without taking the country's initial situation, and hence its potential for poverty reduction, into account. We thus suggest comparing traditional poverty decompositions with a counterfactual situation. This counterfactual indicates what a country starting from its initial situation could be expected to achieve in terms of income, inequality, and, hence, poverty developments. We construct those counterfactuals by modeling income and inequality trends characterized by convergence and a “Kuznets” relationship between inequality and development. Parameters in those relationships are estimated using PovcalNet survey data from 144 countries and we construct our counterfactual poverty predictions for 71 developing countries. While there is overall a tight relationship between actual developments and counterfactuals, we identify several cases, where both deviate from each other and discuss the policy implications. We also check for commonalities in differently performing countries and find that those who fell particularly short of expectations often underwent political transition and state fragility.

Life in Space: NASA Life Sciences Research during the Late Twentieth Century by Maura Phillips Mackowski

Reviewed by: Life in Space: NASA Life Sciences Research during the Late Twentieth Century by Maura Phillips Mackowski Alwin J. Cubasch (bio) Life in Space: NASA Life Sciences Research during the Late Twentieth Century By Maura Phillips Mackowski. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022. Pp. 392. Several recent publications have shown an interest in the science and technology that is necessary to live in space. Early astronaut training has become a focus of historical research, as well as the conflicting roles of astronauts as both scientific field workers and test subjects in space (Hersch, "Spacework"; Bimm and Kilian, "The Well-Tempered Astronaut"; Fendley, "First Contact"). Other publications have delved into the history of closed-loop ecologies for long-term space flight (Höhler, Spaceship Earth in the Environmental Age; Munns and Nickelsen, Far Beyond the Moon) and the psychology of living in space (Karafantis, "Sealab II and Skylab"; Grevsmühl, "Laboratory Metaphors in Antarctic History"). Questions of scientific cooperation across the Iron Curtain during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project have also received scholarly attention (A. Jenks, Collaboration in Space and the Search for Peace on Earth). Against this backdrop, Maura Phillips Mackowski's second book on the history of NASA's life science research is a welcome addition that addresses the life science funding "bubble" (p. 6) at NASA from 1980 to 2004. Mackowski employs a wide definition of what counts as life science, allowing her to cover a broad range of NASA's endeavors from research on lab animals and artificial gravity centrifuges to crew safety systems and escape vehicles. This wide range illustrates NASA's own indecisiveness on what topics should be covered by its life science research programs. It also supports Mackowski's main argument that even in the heyday of life science during the space shuttle and early International Space Station era (p. 74), outside scientists were reluctant to engage with NASA, an agency they considered an unreliable source of funding because of its ever-shifting agenda. Drawing from a wide range of sources and interviews, Mackowski's study especially shines when it locates NASA's life sciences in broader societal and [End Page 627] political trends, from the early enthusiasm of the space shuttle era to the end and aftermath of the Cold War, which restricted funding levels and forced NASA into sometimes uneasy international cooperations. She convincingly shows how cultural influences, political currents, and actors like animal welfare organizations shaped the possibilities the life science community had to conduct research in space. Looking the other direction, the book also discusses NASA's efforts to persuade outside actors and agencies to cooperate on life science projects like radiation research. Her book gives valuable insights into questions of collaboration and competition in late twentieth-century institutionalized science, especially when it deals with NASA's strategies for and difficulties in distributing its main resources to scientists, namely funding and space flight opportunities, fairly between its own centers and extramural researchers. Equally important, the book touches on questions of participation in research settings on Earth and in space and discusses the dynamics of long-distance teamwork between astronauts and scientists. But most of all this is a book about how (not) to manage research in large techno-scientific organizations. Mackowski argues that NASA's constantly shifting priorities discouraged researchers who spent years developing research proposals that underwent peer review and long ground preparation only to be denied flight because of altered mission schedules, new research priorities, or funding cuts. NASA's life science programs often were the first items that fell victim to the reallocation of resources and reorganizations after congressional hearings or the new space policies of incoming presidents. Unfortunately, the actual developments and achievements of NASA's life science sometimes take a backseat in Mackowski's study. While NASA's indecisiveness is mirrored in the interwoven threads of the book, its thematic organization makes following the narrative difficult, as actors and key decisions seem to vanish at points only to reappear a few subchapters later. The book's reliance on NASA's acronyms sometimes conveys the feeling that readers must be intimately familiar with organigrams of NASA headquarters and NASA centers to grasp every detail. Mackowski...

Modelling pandemic risks for policy analysis and forecasting.

What were the economic effects of vaccination campaign, agents' adaptation to containment measures, and fiscal and monetary measures during the COVID-19 pandemic? To quantify these effects, we augment the ECB's macro-econometric model with an endogenous epidemiological block, providing one of the first institutional policy models with epidemiological elements. The model tracks closely actual pandemic developments by relying on detailed epidemiological data and by nesting a wide range of features, including vaccination campaigns, emergence of new variants and learning effects. Importantly, it includes an endogenous policy reaction function for containment measures, allowing counterfactual simulations. Our simulation results show that: (i) agents' adaptation to containment measures over time was key in reducing negative macroeconomic consequences of lockdowns, (ii) the vaccination campaign slowed down infection rates and hospitalizations, enabling a relaxation of containment measures and avoiding a sharp double dip in economic activity and (iii) complementary fiscal and monetary policy interventions provided support to the economy.

The future of public sector accounting research. A polyphonic debate

PurposeThe purpose of this polyphonic paper is to report on interdisciplinary discussions on the state-of-the-art and future of public sector accounting research (PSAR). The authors hope to enliven the debates of the past and future developments in terms of context, themes, theories, methods and impacts in the field of PSAR by the exchanges they include here.Design/methodology/approachThis polyphonic paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach. It brings into conversation ideas, views and approaches of several scholars on the actual and future developments of PSAR in various contexts, and explores potential implications.FindingsThis paper has brought together scholars from a plurality of disciplines, research methods and geographical areas, showing at the same time several points of convergence on important future themes (such as accounting as a mean for public, accounting, hybridity and value pluralism) and enabling conditions (accounting capabilities, profession and digitalisation) for PSA scholarship and practice, and the richness of looking at them from a plurality of perspectives.Research limitations/implicationsExploring these past and future developments opens up the potential for interesting theoretical insights. A much greater theoretical and practical reconsideration of PSAR will be fostered by the exchanges included here.Originality/valueIn setting out a future research agenda, this paper fosters theoretical and methodological pluralism in the interdisciplinary research community interested in PSAR in various contexts. The discussion perspectives presented in this paper constitute not only a basis for further research in this relevant accounting area on the role, status and developments of PSAR but also creative potential for practitioners to be more reflective on their practices and also intended and united outcomes of such practices.

COVID-19 outbreak and the global stock market liquidity

The purpose of this study is to examine how the COVID-19 outbreak affected the liquidity of stock markets across the world. By analyzing a sample including daily data from forty-seven stock markets, we found a positive relationship between monthly growth in the number of newly reported COVID-19 cases and monthly market trading volume growth during the period between December 2019 and January 2021. The research findings although contrary to the previous studies in the very early stages (McTier et al., 2013; Chaouachi & Chaouachi, 2020), are consistent with the actual developments up to the present. This implies that stock markets were relevant sources for investors to compensate for the foregone earnings caused by the interruption of economic activities. Therefore, appropriate measures, such as financial support for investors and listed companies as well as improvements in technological infrastructure and administrative procedures, should be implemented to maintain the activities of the stock market in each country. In addition, it is important for the regulators to closely monitor market trading activities and trends to issue early warnings to the market and take appropriate action in the event of a “bubble” in the market.