Years Of Crisis Research Articles

After the Crisis: Explaining stories of professional identity growth from collective action

Emergent forms of collaboration are central to societies’ response to crises like natural disaster, refugee migration and pandemics. Even though individuals’ participation in such collective action may be short-lived, recent studies propose it can inspire enduring professional role change as people return to their everyday work post-crisis. Yet, previous research does not focus on the divergent stories participants tell about the crisis years afterward and what it meant for them professionally. Through a grounded study of healthcare workers involved in the 2003 Toronto SARS outbreak, we examine varied narratives of professional identity growth following collective action in crisis. Years after SARS, participants told diverse stories about the crisis as an event that suspended, affirmed or even expanded their professional identities. Participants with narratives of identity suspension saw SARS as an event lacking professional relevance. Narratives of identity affirmation and expansion, however, emphasized growth and inspiration for participants’ professional roles post-crisis. We theorize how interactions within collective responses can foster growth narratives, when they enhance meanings central to participants’ professional identities and by affording follow-on interactions that translate these meanings into role change. We contribute new insight on how collective action in crisis can lead to professional role change post-crisis, how fragmented perspectives affect capacity for collective action in intermittent crises, and the role of follow-on interactions in professionals’ narrative identity work.

Exploring how to widen the acceptability of public health interventions: a systematic review protocol

IntroductionHealth interventions that require significant change to individual lifestyles or social norms can pose a challenge for widespread public acceptability and uptake. At the same time, over the last two...

Exogenous Shocks and Party System Development: What is the Effect on New Party Entry?

ABSTRACT Since 2020, the world has been officially battling a COVID-19 pandemic. Even countries with established crisis management plans and years of experience in handling political and economic crises, have been shaken. In the midst of the pandemic’s rampant effects, how politicians handle the crisis is of crucial importance to the preservation, development, and protection of nations in the future. Who is in power determines not only the stability, but the political course of countries. Hence, what happens to the party system as a result of an exogenous shock is a question we need to answer. Importantly, we have little evidence on how the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic affected party competition. Building on the party systems literature, we examine the effect of the pandemic on electoral volatility, party system size, and the number of new party contestants. We hypothesise that, in countries where the incumbent government handles the crisis less effectively, electoral volatility tends to be higher, party system size tends to be larger, and more new parties tend to enter the electoral race. Drawing on evidence from national parliamentary elections held by electoral democracies from March 2020 to April 2022, the empirical results support our hypothesis.

Navigating wicked problems: the unrecognised contribution of social pedagogy to Aotearoa New Zealand’s successful Covid-19 response

Aotearoa New Zealand’s government, alongside its Indigenous Māori and Pacific communities, spearheaded a unique and effective response to the first three years of the Covid-19 crisis that swept the world. The measures taken enabled the country to largely keep its society within its borders open and functional, minimise the impact of the pandemic on individual lives and community well-being and keep morbidity rates low. While there have been numerous studies and articles exploring this national response, to this point no examination has been undertaken through a social pedagogical lens. This article identifies key concepts from the discipline that are relevant to Aotearoa New Zealand’s context, discusses the ways in which these were (albeit unknowingly) applied during the peak of the pandemic and explores future potential for application in social and public health policy and practice. Weaving together a shared framework of Māori, Pacific and unique Aotearoa New Zealand world views and cultural practices alongside the principles of social pedagogy presents an exciting opportunity to shape a national crisis response that is effective and meets the needs of diverse communities. It is argued that making the contribution of social pedagogy visible has the potential to enhance responses to wicked problems in times of crisis and further the acceptance of the discipline in the southern hemisphere.

Media Representation of Scientists in Jornal Nacional: Reaffirmation of Stereotypes During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific authorities were routinely consulted by mainstream media outlets through interviews, statements and/or supporting images. In this framework, our goal in this study was to analyze the media representation of scientists in Brazil during the first year of this global public health crisis. To this end, we applied a research protocol and, using statistical techniques, quantitatively analyzed newscasts on the country’s main TV news program, Jornal Nacional. On this program, scientists were interviewed about “vaccination,” a topic of broad interest given that the vaccine had been described from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to cope with the public health crisis. We discuss information about gender, age, and race, the speaking time and screen time of these social actors, the format in which scientists are inserted into news reports, and the presence/absence of science icons. The data reveal that the predominant image of the scientist transmitted to the audience – a mature white man – reinforces stereotypes that persist in the media and in the public understanding of science.

ANÁLISE ESPACIAL E TEMPORAL DE EVENTOS DE SECAS NA REGIÃO HIDROGRÁFICA ALTO RIO PARANÁ DE 1990 A 2020

The Paraná River Hydrographic Region is of great socioeconomic relevance for Brazil. Therefore, due to the history of droughts in the region, the aims of the current study were to assess rainfall spatial and temporal variability, as well as to analyze drought features based on using the Normalized Percentage Index (NPI) to contribute to water management processes in Upper Paraná River (UPR). The study area encompasses 14 Planning and Management Units, distributed in Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais and São Paulo states. Climate data were obtained from the National Hydrometeorological Network database. A geostatistical analysis of rainfall was carried out, based on the annual series of 408 stations, and subsequently the calculation of NPI for classifying the droughts severity. All periods analyzed (1990-2020) showed spatial dependence (moderate to high), allowing the elaboration of droughts maps. The dry and rainy periods and areas did not indicate direct influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo units were the main contributors to the identified droughts. The data showed that 2010-2020 was the driest decade of the period, with a greater contribution from the 2019/2020 period, where droughts exceeded 60% of the area for two consecutive years, an event never identified in the last 3 decades. The NPI curves referring to “initial drought” and “mild” allowed verifying years of water crisis when their summed percentages reached at least 50% of the region. The methodology used is versatile, allowing its use in any watershed. Keywords: Rains. Water management. NPI. Kriging.

The impact of board gender diversity on healthcare financial performance during Covid- 19: Evidence from Italian Healthcare Organizations

Over the past few decades, European institutions and policymakers have promot-ed gender diversity in management and strategic leadership roles. Prior literature has highlighted the importance of board gender diversity; neverthe-less, previous studies have mainly focused on the private sector, while the public sector – particularly the healthcare sector – remains under-investigated. Hence, to fill this gap, the present paper aims to examine the impact of board gen-der diversity on Italian public health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the calls for more excellent representation of women in leadership roles. The research methodology uses an OLS linear regression model to examine the re-lationship between the number of women in top positions in Italian Healthcare Or-ganizations (roles of general, administrative, and health managers) and their fi-nancial and non-financial performance. Results show that women's involvement in governance positively impacts the per-formance of Italian healthcare organisations, while no significant association has emerged regarding non-financial performance. This study could represent a starting point for implementing measures that focus on the health sector. The sector has been experiencing a severe crisis for years and, therefore, needs innovative strategies for its relaunch.

The connectedness features of German electricity futures over short and long maturities

This research provides an extensive characterization of the contagion between electricity, energy commodities, financial assets and economic indicators across several maturities. Despite the widespread importance of electricity futures, this has been an under-researched topic. The evolution of connectedness is investigated between 2006 and 2023. With a special focus on electricity forward base and peak contracts, results show that the contagion effects are moderate but evolve through time, with greater impacts observed during the crisis years. We confirm that electricity forward prices are more sensitive to operators’ future expectations on fundamental market conditions than to financial and economic shocks.

Accessibility to Health Care Services and Treatment for People with Noncommunicable Diseases in Northwest Syria.

We assessed the accessibility to health care services and treatment for people with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Northwest Syria after more than eleven years of the worst humanitarian crisis in Syria. Included in this cross-sectional study were people with one or more of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases; people from both Aleppo and Idleb governorates; and residents from both inside and outside the camp. Data were collected in November 2022 via face-to-face interviews. The findings were obtained from 674 respondents (52.8% female). Respondents in Idleb were 6.5 times more likely to access health care services than Aleppo (p = 0000). In-camp residents were 1.5 times more likely to access outreach health services (p = 0.020). Respondents with higher income were three times more likely to access health care services compared to respondents with lower income (p = 0.000). Having any of the surveyed NCDs made the respondents less likely to get the required services. The study findings added more evidence about the inequity in terms of accessing health care services in Northwest Syria and identified the barriers. It was clear that a perceived group of people with NCDs do not have access to the health care services, including outreach health services and free medications.

Energy prices and the structure of inflation in European Union countries

Abstract Since 2022, in almost every inflation category, a strong divergence in price dynamics among the EU countries has become visible. The first aim of this paper is to assess the impact of changes in energy prices on the differentiation in price dynamics in individual inflation categories in EU countries. The second aim is to isolate those components of inflation that have significantly differentiated the countries in the crisis year of 2022. The research was conducted based on the vector-autoregressive model, the Granger causality test, cluster analysis and analysis of variance. It can be concluded that there is a causal relationship between energy prices and the differentiation in the price growth rate in certain inflation categories. In 2022, the EU member states were divided into two quite distinct clusters. This article adds value to current research by taking into account the level of variation in the inflation structure among EU countries.

In Good Times and in Bad, in Sickness and in Health: The Continuous Rise in Adoption of Labour-Saving Agricultural Technologies in Myanmar

Agriculture is rapidly transforming in many low- and middle-income countries – most often driven by the adoption of new agricultural technologies – but changes remain poorly understood in fragile and conflict-affected states. We look at the case of Myanmar, a prime example of such a state. After decades of isolationism and economic stagnation, it opened its economy in the beginning of the 2010s, leading to rapid economic growth. But the COVID-19 health crisis and a military coup in the beginning of 2021 – leading to heightened conflicts, forced displacements, and increased migration – dramatically reversed that outlook. Based on large-scale farm surveys, we find that adoption of labour-saving agricultural technologies – measured by the use of mechanization, herbicides, and direct seeding of rice – increased rapidly over the economic growth period and that the increase surprisingly persisted during the crisis years, but at a slower rate. This uptake was lower, however, for households in the most conflict-affected areas, partly due to differential agricultural input availability. Smallholders and more remote farmers also participated less. This finding suggests an increasing labour productivity gap for remote and conflict-affected smallholders, with important implications for their welfare.

May 1968 Protests in France in the Collective Memory of the European Commission Politicians

Introduction. The May 1968 protests are an important place of remembrance in the history of Europe. Methods and materials. The author uses the methods of studying collective memory to analyze the image of the May protests in the collective memory of the European Union. The article analyzes how former members of the European Commission recall the events of 1968 within the framework of The European Commission 1958–1973: History and Memories of an Institution project and how the May protests are woven into the history of European unification. The project was implemented in the early 2000s with the aim of compiling an oral history of the European Union and the European Commission in particular. Analysis. The author summarizes the image of the protests and highlights the general features of the description of the events of 1968. Based on examples of interviews with Fausta Deshormes La Valle, Odile Benoist-Lucie, Franz Froschmaier, and Raymond Barre, the article summarizes a comprehensive picture of the crisis year of 1968, which affected both the political, social, and economic spheres of life in Europe. Results. The memory of the protests, actualized through the interviews, correlates with the first reaction of European politicians in 1968. A significant difference is the selectivity of memories. Politicians in interviews do not recall the violence that the protests caused or the eclecticism of the slogans of the rebel students; the positive image of the protests dominates. The common motif present in most of the interviews is the feeling of young people’s disappointment in the ideals of a united Europe. The May protests are presented as a turning point in the history of Europe, which prompted European politicians to act and further deepen the integration.

Constructing a governmental vision of happiness: Insights from Greece

This paper analyzes how governments instrumentalize the concept of happiness for political ends. It argues that while happiness is primarily employed as an externally-oriented policy and discourse to attract tourists and desirable migrants, it is equally aimed at changing the expectations of the local population, including brain-drainers. We argue that in the case of Greece, happiness forms a governmental vision to brand the country anew after years of moralizing discourses of guilt, blame, and debt surrounding the financial crisis. First, we outline how the Greek government construes happiness as a commodified experience that the Greek population ought to generate for tourists and desirable migrants (‘live like a local’), but importantly also for itself (‘live like a tourist’). Second, this happiness vision seeks to both encourage the Greek population (in that we want to be happy), but also to discipline it (in that we need to be happy). Thirdly, to justify this vision, its key promoters conceive of a future that requires sanitizing the country’s past and present, camouflage its unpleasant and contentious aspects, and re-narrate it in positive terms. Curiously, however, this is less about envisioning a better future after years of crisis, than about asking the Greek population to be satisfied with the status quo. This way, the happiness vision is an attempt to substitute the unfulfilled promises of the capitalist imaginary vis-à-vis opportunity, upward social mobility, and overabundance, where happiness arises not by overcoming the precarizing realities of inequality, but from having a positive attitude in navigating them.

Growing up in the shadow of HIV: post-AIDS generation of HIV-negative men who have sex with men in Sweden and their perceptions of HIV and stigma

Despite growing understanding and acceptance of the concept of Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) among gay men, HIV stigma remains a burden for people living with HIV. This study explored perceptions of HIV among HIV seronegative gay men in Sweden in this new context. Using snowball sampling, 15 gay men born between 1980 and 2000 were recruited to the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and data were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. Men grew up experiencing gay stigma and were repeatedly informed by parents, schools, communities, peers, and popular culture about the dangers of HIV, and that gay men were a high-risk group. As men grew older, and the premise of HIV shifted dramatically due to U = U, some remained emotionally anchored to the pre-U = U era, while others realigned their perceptions, often after a process of reconciling emotional responses (e.g. HIV = death) with the logical-rational claims made about U = U. The study highlights key areas for future efforts, namely establishing a balance between HIV education strategies and stigma reduction initiatives. Study findings underscore the need to care for the memory of those lost during the crisis years, while also addressing the stigma faced by those currently living with HIV.

Financial Crisis, Confidence in Financial Markets and Participation in Private Pension Plans in Germany

The financial crisis of 2008/2009 has not only left its mark on the value of retirement savings, but also on savings and investment behaviour. It has led to a loss of confidence in financial markets and its main protagonists. However, trust is a key mechanism for savings and investment decisions. We illustrate the loss of trust by looking at the number of pension plans purchased in the years following the financial crisis. The paper is based on data of the study on ‘Life courses and old-age provisions’ (LeA, Lebensverläufe und Altersvorsorge). The data was gathered in 2016 and provides information on the life histories of people living in Germany who were born between 1957 and 1976, as well as on pension entitlements in all three pillars of the German pension system. The analysis concentrates on so-called Riester pension plans, the most dynamic private pension scheme in Germany. We estimate a panel fixed-effects logit model to examine whether the financial crisis had an impact on the participation in Riester pension plans. Results show that instead of a shock effect relating to the crisis years, we see a negative linear effect following the crisis.

RATING ANALYSIS OF THE DYNAMICS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN UKRAINE

Objective. The objective of the article is to conduct a rating analysis of the dynamics of direct foreign investment in Ukraine and to determine the priority areas and industries for investment and the main foreign investor countries. Methods. During the research, the following methods were used: an analysis method (to study the dynamics of foreign direct investment in Ukraine), a comparison method (to compare the volume of FDI between different regions, different industries and by receiving countries), a graphic method (to display the dynamics of the normalized rating of the leading countries by the volume of investments in Ukraine) the normalization method (to normalize the indicators of FDI inflows from various countries to Ukraine during 2019-2022) and the rating method (and to build a rating of the regions and industries of Ukraine that received the most FDI during the studied period). Results. As a result of the conducted research, the rankings of the regions of Ukraine according to the level of receiving FDI were constructed and the changes in these ratings during 2020-2022 were analyzed. The main trends can be defined as: a significant increase in investments in 2021; rather similar location of regions in the 2020 rating. and 2022; the growth of investment attractiveness of the western regions of Ukraine with the beginning of a full-scale invasion. In the pre-crisis years of 2019 and 2021, the leadership in foreign investments in Ukraine belonged to the countries of the European Union, as well as Cyprus and the Netherlands. In the crisis years of 2020 (the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2022 (the war), Switzerland, England and Luxembourg lead the rating of investor countries. This dynamic is repeated in two crisis periods. In 2022 the volume of FDI from each country fell almost 10 times compared to pre-war 2021. that is, the crisis dynamics of changes in FDI, characteristic of the pandemic 2020, were repeated. In 2019 and 2021, respectively, investments from each of the top investor countries amounted to about 5 billion US dollars. While in the crisis years of 2020 and 2022, these volumes decreased significantly, amounting to about $500 million and $350 million, respectively. Ratings of Ukrainian industries by the level of receiving FDI were also constructed and changes in these ratings during 2020-2022 were analyzed. In 2021 at the top of the rating were resource-intensive branches of industry, such as mining, processing, metallurgy, etc.) In 2020. and 2022 - financial, trade and telecommunications industries.

Министерская канцелярия С. С. Уварова как инструмент управления просвещением в 1830–1840-е годы

The article examines the administrative functions of Sergey Uvarov's ministerial chancellery based on the materials of the clerical office of the Department of Public Education of the 1830-1840s. The functional features of the “special chancellery” of Alexander Golitsyn and the Chancellery of the Minister of Public Education in the studied period are compared. The author demonstrates the results of a statistical study of the reports of the Ministry of Public Education for 1833–1849, from which it follows that the highest burden on the ministerial chancellery took place in the years of crisis for the institution (1839 and 1849). For the first time, information about Uvarov clerks, their career trajectories and social appearance is introduced into academic sphere. On the basis of formulary lists and other sources, an attempt is made to prosopographically study the persons who served in the Office of the Minister of Public Education (1833–1849). The author also presents the results of a content analysis of the materials of the archival fund of the Office of the Minister (RSHA, fund No. 735), on the basis of which conclusions can be drawn about the main areas of work of this institution, fixed not legally, but de facto.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic-induced surgical restrictions on operational performance: a case study at the University Hospital of Ulm.

The operating room (OR) is a high-cost and high-revenue area in a hospital comprising extremely complex process steps to treat patients. The perioperative process quality can be optimized through an efficiency-oriented central OR management based on performance indices. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic with the corresponding OR restrictions, there was a significant nation- and worldwide decline in the performance, which may have a lasting impact. Therefore, we proposed the hypothesis that COVID-19 pandemic-related OR restrictions could reduce operative performance in the long term. A retrospective, descriptive analysis of perioperative processing times was conducted exemplarily at the University Hospital Ulm using a pre-post design, examining the corresponding second quarters of 2019 to 2022. In total, n = 18,489 operations with n = 314,313 individual time intervals were analyzed. The statistical analyses included the Kruskal-Wallis test adjusted for multiple testing, and the significance level was set at p < 0.01. The results revealed not only a significant decrease in the case volume by 31% (2020) and 23% (2021) during the COVID-19 crisis years, but also significant time delays in various process steps; e.g. the median patient's OR occupancy time (column time) rose from 65min (2019) to 87min (2020) and remained elevated (72min in 2021 and 74min in 2022, respectively). Even in 2022, beyond the pandemic, the net anaesthesia time was permanently enhanced by 9min per case. Furthermore, both, the incision-to-closure time and surgeon attachment time were each significantly prolonged by 7 additional minutes, and the time from the end of anaesthesia to the release of the next patient was extended by 4min. Selected standardized index operations showed only a trend towards these changes, even with a decrease in the incision-to-closure time over time. Overall, long-term changes were found in essential perioperative process times even after retraction of the COVID-19 restrictions, indicating some processual "slow down" after the Covid-19-induced "shut down". Further analyses are needed to determine the appropriate targeted control measures to improve processing times and increase the process quality.

IS THE PHILLIPS CURVE USEFUL FOR FORECASTING INFLATION IN RUSSIA?

The paper analyzes the experience of using the Phillips curve to model inflation in Russia, taking into account the specific features of domestic labor market. Based on Russian data for the period from 2000 to 2022, a wide range of inflation forecasting models has been built: both based on the Phillips curve and alternative ones. The econometric tools used are autoregression models with a moving average in the residuals taking into account seasonality (SARIMA) and their generalizations; autoregression models of distributed lags (ADL) and their generalizations; as well as other estimation methods. During the simulation, we use data on inflation, inflation expectations, production dynamics, unemployment, wages, exchange rates, money supply and other variables. The models are compared drawing on the accuracy of single-period and multi-period out-of-sample forecasts. The modelling results allows us to conclude that onedimensional models work well during the periods of stable economic dynamics, but lose in their predictive power to the “triangular” Phillips curve in crisis years. Comparison of models for forecasting inflation shows that in a stable economic situation, one-dimensional models provide a more reliable forecast. However, in the context of structural transformation faced by the Russian economy in 2022, the “triangular” models of the Phillips curve demonstrate maximum quality of the forecast. Although the acceleration of inflation in 2022 obviously reduces the accuracy of any forecast equations, however, the “triangular” model based on the lags in inflation, unemployment and the index of industrial production demonstrates the best results. This conclusion remains stable to changes in the length of the time series used for forecasting, as well as to changes in forecasting horizon.

Multinational enterprises' lobbying and foreign subsidiary performance: Evidence from the U.S. in the context of the global financial crisis

AbstractWhether corporate political activity (CPA) benefits firm performance is contested in the literature. However, the CPA‐performance relationship has been less explored in the international business context or in the context of macroeconomic shocks—notably the global financial crisis—during which multinational enterprises (MNEs) may be forced to revisit their market and non‐market strategies. In this study, we draw upon insights from the institutional theory and legitimacy perspectives to argue that the performance consequences of MNEs' lobbying in a host market are contingent upon the MNE's experience of operating in the host market, their lobbying frequency, and the subsidiary's technological intensity. The empirical analysis used to test our hypotheses is based on a panel dataset of 224 subsidiaries of foreign MNEs operating in the United States, spanning the 8‐year period 2005–2013, covering the years of the financial crisis. We find support for most of our hypotheses and contribute to the performance implications of CPA in international business contexts.