Distress In Countries Research Articles

Does labour protection influence mental-health responses to employment shocks? Evidence on older workers in Europe

This paper investigates if and how Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) influences mental-health responses to older workers’ job disruptions in Europe. It exploits labour market shocks during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is based on European data from the SHARE survey, in which each country is characterised by a different level of EPL. The analysis controls for workers’ individual characteristics and other contextual factors via propensity score matching. Results show that mental-health distress following job disruptions depends on the level of EPL, with significantly higher distress in countries in which EPL is more binding, especially among individuals with a lower education level. These findings suggest to consider the costs and benefits of mitigating measures for European countries with a high EPL, especially for older citizens with disadvantaged backgrounds.

Perceived discrimination and psychological distress in nine countries of the former Soviet Union.

Perceived discrimination has been linked to worse mental health. However, little is known about this association in the countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU). To address this deficit, this study examined the link between perceived discrimination and psychological distress in nine fSU countries. Data were analyzed from 18,000 adults aged ⩾18 years obtained during the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey undertaken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine in 2010 and 2011. A single-item measure was used to assess discrimination. Psychological distress was measured with a 12-item scale. Logistic regression analysis and meta-analysis were used to examine associations. After adjusting for all potential confounders, when using none/little discrimination as the reference category, moderate and strong discrimination were associated with significantly increased odds for psychological distress in the total population and in men and women separately with odds ratios ranging from 1.93 to 2.64. Meta-analysis based on country-wise estimates showed that the level of between-country heterogeneity was negligible. Perceived discrimination is associated with psychological distress in countries throughout the fSU. Quantitative and qualitative research is now warranted to determine its specific forms and impact on population health in individual fSU countries.

Redenomination-Risk Spillovers in the Eurozone

In this paper we use sovereign quanto-CDS spreads as proxy for redenomination-risk in the Eurozone, i.e., the risk of a sovereign default obtained by the redenomination of debt in a different currency. Quanto-CDS spreads are the difference between the CDS quotes in U.S. dollars and euros. We capture spillovers with Delta-CoVaR, a risk-indicator proposed by Adrian and Brunnermeier (2016), that measures the difference between the value-at-risk of country i conditional on a state of distress in country j and the median state. Our sample starts on the onset of the Great Recession. We find that Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Spain are the only Eurozone countries exposed to redenomination-risk spillovers. However, in the shorter post-OMT sample, the only vulnerable countries are Italy and Spain.

Redenomination-risk spillovers in the Eurozone

In this paper we use sovereign quanto-CDS spreads as proxy for redenomination-risk in the Eurozone, i.e., the risk of a sovereign default obtained by the redenomination of debt in a different currency. Quanto-CDS spreads are the difference between the CDS quotes in U.S. dollars and euros. We capture spillovers with ΔCoVaR, a risk-indicator proposed by Adrian and Brunnermeier (2016), that measures the difference between the value-at-risk of country i conditional on a state of distress in country j and the median state. Our sample starts on the onset of the Great Recession. We find that Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Spain are the only Eurozone countries exposed to redenomination-risk spillovers. However, in the shorter post-OMT sample, the only vulnerable countries are Italy and Spain.

International Applicability of Corporate Failure Risk Models Based on Financial Statement Information: Comparisons across European Countries

The objective of the study is, firstly, to analyse the predictability of financial distress in different European countries. Secondly, the objective is to compare predictability across countries. Thirdly, the objective is to investigate possibilities to develop a generic uniform model to predict distress in each country over Europe. The sample includes over one million active and tens of thousands financially distressed firms from 30 European countries. For each country, a prediction model of its own is estimated. The models and their performance in prediction accuracy are compared across countries. Finally, a uniform generic model is estimated for the sample including all countries and its prediction accuracy is assessed by country. The results show that there are differences in the form and strength of prediction models across different European countries. However, it is possible to develop a uniform generic model resulting in a reasonably high rate of classification accuracy for most countries.

Levels and determinants of psychological distress in eight countries of the former Soviet Union

Although it is well recognised that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent widespread social and economic changes impacted on the levels and distribution of physical health, there is very limited evidence on the social patterning of mental health in the countries that emerged. The aim of this paper is to assess levels of psychological distress and describe its demographic, social and economic correlates in eight former Soviet countries.Cross‐sectional surveys using multi‐stage random sampling were conducted in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. A standardised questionnaire was used for all countries, including the main outcome for this study of psychological distress, which consisted of 12 items on symptoms of psychological distress. Respondents who repor ted 10‐12 of the symptoms were considered to have a high psychological distress score. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was then used to investigate how demographic, social and economic factors were associated with a high psychological distress score.High psychological distress in seven of the eight countries ranges from 3.8% in Kazakhstan to 10% in Ukraine but was substantially higher (21.7%) in Armenia. Factors associated with psychological distress in the multivariate analysis included: being female; increasing age; incomplete secondary education; being disabled; experiencing two or more stressful events in the past year; lack of trust in people; lack of personal suppor t in crisis; being unemployed; and poor household economic situation.The study contributes evidence on the association of impoverishment and social isolation on psychological distress in countries of the former Soviet Union and highlights the impor tance of exploring ways of improving mental health by addressing its social determinants.

Openness, hedging incentives and foreign exchange exposure: A firm-level multi-country study

The benefits of openness to trade are well established, but the disadvantages of openness are less well understood. At the firm level trade is the principal source of exposure to exchange rate movements, and exchange exposure can be moderated by a range of hedging techniques. In this paper we ask two questions. First, do firms in open economies bear higher levels of exchange exposure than those in more closed economies? Second, is a strong corporate governance environment – one in which managers are incentivised to maximise shareholder value by hedging – associated with reduced firm-level exchange exposure? Using a sample of 3788 firms from 23 developed countries for the period 1984–2003, we show that the more open the economy, the more exposed are its firms to exchange rate movements, and this relation holds after controlling for firm size, industry and several financial variables. We also find a strong inverse relation between a firm's exchange exposure and the extent of creditor protection in the country in which it is based. This is consistent with managers acting to reduce the likelihood of financial distress in countries where bankruptcy costs are high, and it underlines the importance of institutional incentives in encouraging value-enhancing risk management activities.