G8 Nations Research Articles

Navigating greenwashing in the G8: Insights into family-owned firms, technology innovation, and economic policy uncertainty

Our study provides practical insights into the impact of greenwashing on Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) and investment efficiency. We delve into the moderating influences of family-owned firms, technological innovation, and economic policy uncertainty in the nexus between greenwashing and CFP. Using a Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) model and conducting robustness tests, our results suggest that in G8 nations, family-oriented stakeholders struggle to discern greenwashing due to low information asymmetry. However, technological innovation and reduced economic policy uncertainty enhance the identification of greenwashing. Greenwashing enhances firm value by improving disclosure quality, addressing stakeholder concerns, and easing financing constraints. Notably, heavily polluting and mandatory disclosure firms experience more significant economic performance from greenwashing. This study provides practical implications for firms, policymakers, and stakeholders, fostering sustainable development in G8 nations.

Evaluating sustainable efficiency: A study on transportation systems in South America using data envelopment analysis

The transport sector is pivotal in fostering economic growth and environmental sustainability. Extensive research has scrutinized various transportation modes individually, yet a holistic assessment encompassing all modes while considering CO2 emissions needs to be more conspicuously present. Our study employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate the efficacy of transportation policies in South American nations in the context of United Nations-established sustainable development goals. Our overarching objective is to classify the sustainability status of South American countries' transport sectors and to establish benchmark models rooted in the six dimensions of sustainability. Methodologically, our analysis integrates operational transportation metrics, Gross Domestic Product per capita, Human Development Index, and CO2 emissions from transportation systems. Additionally, we draw comparative insights by juxtaposing South American countries against the G8 and BRICS nations. The rigorous application of DEA coupled with bootstrap validation fortifies the reliability of our findings. Our results bring to light these findings, positioning South American countries closer to their developed counterparts. Notably, the sustainable development models of Chile and Uruguay emerge as prominent exemplars. This study underscores the pressing demand for holistic and integrated development strategies to attain more sustainable outcomes across South American nations in a faster way. In conclusion, our research fills a conspicuous void in the extant literature by furnishing a comprehensive evaluation of transportation policy performance in South America. Based on a robust methodology, this empirical evidence offers valuable insights for policymakers striving to advance sustainable regional development.

Forecasting of energy-related carbon dioxide emission using ANN combined with hybrid metaheuristic optimization algorithms

Energy-related CO2 emissions are one of the biggest concerns facing urban design today, increasing rapidly as cities grow. This study uses as inputs the GDP of the G8 nations (from 1990 to 2016) depending on the utilization of various energy sources, including coal, oil, natural gas, and renewable energy. Multilayer perceptrons (MLP) are combined with various nature-inspired optimization algorithms, such as Heap-Based Optimizer (HBO), Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO), Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), Vortex Search algorithm (VS), and Earthworm Optimization Algorithm (EWA), to create a dependable predictive network that takes the complexity of the problem into account. Our key contributions lie in developing and comprehensively evaluating these hybrid models assessing their efficacy in capturing the intricate dynamics of carbon emissions. The study found that TLBO and VS outperform other algorithms in CO2 emission computation accuracy. TLBO has a higher training MSE (3.6778) and lower testing MSE (4.4673), suggesting larger squared errors on training data and lower testing MSE, suggesting less overfitting due to better generalization to the testing set.

Conditional effects of local and global risk factors on the co-movements between economic growth and inflation: Insights into G8 economies

World economies have experienced rise in uncertainties which has caused misalignments in the already existing nexus between inflation and economic growth. In addition to this, the presence of nonlinearities, asymmetry, heterogeneity, and structural shocks in time series data concerning substantial fluctuations that span systemic crises have rendered time and/or frequency connectedness worthy of investigation. Due to limited studies in this regard, the authors investigated the risk synchronisation among Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) and Geopolitical Risk with insights from G8 countries. To achieve the study's purpose, estimation techniques employed included the wavelet approaches (bi-wavelet and partial wavelet), and the wavelet multiple as well as the DCC-GARCH Connectedness approach as robustness. A sample period from January 1997 to August 2021 restricted by consistent data availability was considered. It was discovered that most G8 nations have a comparable relationship between their GDP and CPI. Additionally, significant co-movements between the G8 nations' GDP and CPI straddle crises. Furthermore, the relationship between Russia's GDP and CPI was significantly conditionally influenced by geopolitical risk factors. Own country economic policy uncertainty was the main source of shocks for nations like Canada, France, and the US, whereas, in Germany, Italy, and the UK, Global EPU was a crucial conduit for reducing the lead-lag relationship between GDP and CPI. Outcomes from this study imply that uncertainties pose a more persistent and dynamic challenge to the G8 countries' efforts to achieve sustained economic growth, lessen the negative effects of inflation and deflation, and improve national and regional economic integration.

Evaluating the impact of digitalization, renewable energy use, and technological innovation on load capacity factor in G8 nations

Ecosystems are in danger due to human-caused air, water, and soil pollution, so it is important to find the underlying causes of this issue and develop practical solutions. This study adds to environmental research gap by suggesting the load capability factor (LCF) and using it to look at the factors affectting environmental health. The load capacity factor simplifies monitoring environmental health by illustrating the distinction between ecological footprint and biocapacity. We examine the interplay between mobile phone users (Digitalization DIG), technological advancements (TEC), renewable energy use, economic growth, and financial development. This study assesses G8 economies’ data from 1990 to 2018, using a Cross-Section Improved Autoregressive Distributed Lag CS-ARDL estimator and a cointegration test. The data shows that green energy, TEC innovation, and DIG are all beneficial for natural health. Based on the results of this study, the G8 governments should focus on environmental policies that promote economic growth, increase the use of renewable energy sources, guide technological progress in key areas, and encourage the development of digital information and communications technologies that are better for the environment.

Impact of major stock markets on China's stock market

PurposeThe main purpose is to explore the impact of major stock markets on China's market where major markets are represented by former G8 nations (current G7 and Russia).Design/methodology/approachThe article makes use of: stationarity tests (ADF and PP unit root); long-run correlation tests (Johansen integration involving trace and maximum eigenvalue); impact of G8 markets on China (VECM test); influence of G8 markets on volatility in China's market (variance decomposition analysis) and, effect from shocks in G8 markets on China (impulse response function).FindingsUsing a period of 2009–2019 that avoids detecting linkages caused by interdependencies created by two major international crises, the article offers four major findings. First, except for Germany and Russia, G8 markets have a significant causal influence on China with UK having the greatest. Second, G8 markets are not the major source of short-run fluctuation in China's market but over time exercise a noteworthy collective impact with UK having the greatest impact. Third, there are occasions for international portfolio diversification with China's market providing greater diversification than G8 nations. Fourth, all markets provide a short-run window of abnormal profit.Research limitations/implicationsThe indexes used to represent national markets are assumed to be adequate representations.Practical implicationsShort-term abnormal profits exist. Investing in China, compared to G8 countries, offers greater portfolio diversification possibilities.Social implicationsRemoval of trade and investment barriers cause greater market integration.Originality/valueBy using recent data, this study reveals that G8 stock markets influence China's market.

Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary

This analysis proposes a novel method for quantifying national responsibility for damages related to climate change by looking at national contributions to cumulative CO2 emissions in excess of the planetary boundary of 350 ppm atmospheric CO2 concentration. This approach is rooted in the principle of equal per capita access to atmospheric commons. For this analysis, national fair shares of a safe global carbon budget consistent with the planetary boundary of 350 ppm were derived. These fair shares were then subtracted from countries' actual historical emissions (territorial emissions from 1850 to 1969, and consumption-based emissions from 1970 to 2015) to determine the extent to which each country has overshot or undershot its fair share. Through this approach, each country's share of responsibility for global emissions in excess of the planetary boundary was calculated. As of 2015, the USA was responsible for 40% of excess global CO2 emissions. The European Union (EU-28) was responsible for 29%. The G8 nations (the USA, EU-28, Russia, Japan, and Canada) were together responsible for 85%. Countries classified by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as Annex I nations (ie, most industrialised countries) were responsible for 90% of excess emissions. The Global North was responsible for 92%. By contrast, most countries in the Global South were within their boundary fair shares, including India and China (although China will overshoot soon). These figures indicate that high-income countries have a greater degree of responsibility for climate damages than previous methods have implied. These results offer a just framework for attributing national responsibility for excess emissions, and a guide for determining national liability for damages related to climate change, consistent with the principles of planetary boundaries and equal access to atmospheric commons. None.

The Global Competitiveness Index: A Comparative Analysis between Turkey and G8 Nations

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (i.e. Basel I, II & III), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (i.e. Financial Sector Assessment Program), the World Trade Organization, the Bank for International Settlements, the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the European Banking Authority (EBA), Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), the Financial Services Authority of the UK, the Bank of Japan, the supervisory community and regulators (i.e. domestic and international), practitioners, and bank executives gravely failed to strengthen the global financial stability. On the contrary, financial authorities in many of the advance nations (particularly, the Fed’s expansive policies and the ECB’s reluctance to admit its blindness to the severity of risks that caused near global financial meltdown in 2008) have directly or indirectly contributed to global financial instability. The Global Competitive Index through its twelve pillars is a more complete measurement of financial stability in each country and globally. Analyses throughout this study compared Turkey’s competitiveness rankings with those of the G8 countries. The results show that Turkey’s mean overall ranking is significantly higher than that of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK; the difference in means was statistically significant. However, even though Turkey’s mean overall ranking was slightly higher than that of Italy, and lower than that of the Russian Federation, nevertheless the difference in means was not statistically significant.

Flexibility in Modification and Termination of Cross-Border Joint Ventures

The paradigms of transaction cost and social exchange are instrumental in developing joint venture research as well as its impact on flexibility of partners. However, extant research is scant regarding the type of flexibility that partners in joint venture are most impacted. In this study, we analyze the flexibility determinants in a sample of Indian cross-border joint ventures with G8 nations’ partner firms. The factors in the study as determinants of flexibility—termination flexibility and modification flexibility—are resource heterogeneity, trust, prior joint venture relationship, foreign equity, cultural distance, asymmetry in motives and foreign equity. We adopt a structural equation modeling approach for the study.

Capitalism and the New World Order of the 21st Century Age

Western-type capitalism has always found a way of pestering itself around nations of the world, which have been rendered poor by global ideologies, such as; communism, feudalism, primitive and modern-day socialism. The Post-Cold War Capitalists’-based Vision here being called a ‘New World Order’, especially, in its current practices, as it has been imposed on the rest of the world by the G8 nations and assisted by the World Bank, IMF, United Nations, WTO and NATO, is a 21st Century Imperialist Rule constantly being communicated to the rest of society by the super-rich nations of the world. It is a 21st Century G8 Nations and American-Type of Colonial Imperialism, in which capitalism is constantly being used by the super-rich nations of the world to make poor nations feel extremely guilty for the same global poverty created by these super-rich nations. The current essay contends that while the current ‘New World Order’ is a wonderful idea on the pages papers, in its day-to-day application, it has remained nothing less than an American-bred Capitalists’ Vision of the society; a Western World kind of Imperialism and a barrage of political conspiracies by the United States of America, which must not be left to be, but which must be kept under constant check by the G8 nations as a higher political platform.Key words: Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, 21st Century Society, New and Old World Order

Health Services Utilization, Specialist Care, and Time to Diagnosis with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Immigrants to Ontario, Canada: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Canada has amongst the highest incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the world, and the highest proportion of immigrants among G8 nations. We determined differences in prediagnosis delay, specialist care, health services use, and risk of surgery in immigrants with IBD. All incident cases of IBD in children (1994-2009) and adults (1999-2009) were identified from population-based health administrative data in Ontario, Canada. Linked immigration data identified those who arrived to Ontario after 1985. We compared time to diagnosis, postdiagnosis health services use (IBD specific and related), physician specialist care in immigrants and nonimmigrants, and risk of surgery between immigrants and nonimmigrants. Thousand two hundred two immigrants were compared with 22,990 nonimmigrants. Immigrants had similar time to diagnosis as nonimmigrants for Crohn's (hazard ratio [HR] 1.002; 95% confidence intervals [CIs] 0.89-1.12) and ulcerative colitis (HR 1.073; 95% CI 0.95-1.21). For outpatient visits, immigrants with IBD were seen by gastroenterologists more often than nonimmigrants. Immigrants had greater IBD-specific outpatient health services use after diagnosis (odds ratio 1.24; 95% CI 1.15-1.33), emergency department visits (odds ratio 1.57, 95% CI 1.30-1.91), and hospitalizations (odds ratio 1.19; 95% CI 1.02-1.40). In immigrants, there was lower risk of surgery for Crohn's (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.43-0.99) and ulcerative colitis (HR 0.52, 95% CI 0.31-0.87). Immigrants to Canada had greater outpatient and specialty care and lower risk of surgery, with no delay in diagnosis, indicating appropriate use of the health system.

The impact of higher quality government regulation of business and greater economic freedom on living standards

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether two specific forms of government policy influence entrepreneurship and hence the performance economy as a whole. Performance is measured in terms of living standards and growth therein. The policies are, as follows: higher quality government regulation of businesses and higher levels of economic freedom. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first provides a basic model focussing upon the regulation and economic freedom variables. The study then adds a dummy variable for G8 nations, a tax burden variable, and the long-term interest rate and provides six estimates. The empirical analysis involves pooled time-series/cross-section data for the OECD over the period 2003-2007. Findings – The findings indicate that for OECD nations, higher quality public regulation promotes entrepreneurial spirit and performance. Higher economic freedom does the same. The findings are that higher quality government regulation of business and higher levels of economic freedom lead to higher growth rates in the standard of living. Originality/value – The time period studied, i.e., just prior to the Great Recession, the context of the OECD, the adoption of pooled time-series/cross-section data, and the specific choice of variables in the analysis, along with the estimation of possibly unique or close to unique specifications involving the growth rate of living standards per se make this study different.

Proactive Cybersecurity: A Comparative Industry and Regulatory Analysis

This Article analyzes recent business realities and regulatory trends shaping the proactive cybersecurity industry. To provide a framework for our discussion, we begin by describing the historical development of the industry and how it has been shaped by the applicable law in the United States and other G8 nations. We then catalogue the proactive cybersecurity practices of more than twenty companies, focusing on four case studies that we consider in the context of polycentric “global security assemblages.” Finally, we assess the emergence of proactive cybersecurity norms, both within industry and international law, and consider the implications of this movement on contemporary Internet governance debates about the role of the public and private sectors in regulating cyberspace. Ultimately, we maintain that proactive cybersecurity, especially if pursued with improved legal clarity and global cooperation, demonstrates an opportunity for polycentric partnerships to result in better protected IT assets.

Open data policies and satellite Earth observation

From the Heads of State of the G8 nations, the European Union, international organisations, through to national laws and policies, there is a strong momentum for full, free and open access to public sector digital data so that the benefits of public investment in such data can be maximised with as few barriers to use as possible. While open data for society at large is a relatively new phenomenon, the space sector has been accustomed to open data for all of its existence, especially in astronomy and navigation, but also in Earth observation. In the context of the open data debate, the purpose of this paper is to examine 21 policy and legal instruments concerning open data made by a range of organisations that in one way or another relate to Earth observation data and therefore contribute to the critical examination of the effectiveness of the open data movement. Based on these documents, the paper discusses common issues such as changing perspectives on the desirability of open data, commercial use, and licences and exceptions, and concludes that open access to Earth observation data requires more specification in order to clarify the conditions of access and so to realise fully the potential benefits.

Generating global health governance through BRICS summitry

While global plurilateral summit institutions (PSIs) of the world's most powerful countries have long generated effective global health governance, the most recent summits of the Group of Eight (G8) and the Group of 20 (G20) have largely abandoned their earlier concern with health, especially outside its specialized food and nutrition link. However, since its start in 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, the annual summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa (BRICS), a new PSI arising has substantially addressed health and started to lead in some ways. The BRICS summit-level health governance has been reinforced by the advent of a BRICS health ministers' forum, other health-related ministerial institutions (notably for agriculture and trade) and official and multi-stakeholder bodies. This article provides the first direct, disciplined empirical analysis of how and why the BRICS summit system has governed global health, based on the models developed for and applied to G8, G20 and United Nations summit governance.

Calls intensify for national dementia plan

Momentum is building for a national dementia strategy after Canada vowed with other G8 nations at a recent summit to ramp up efforts to find a cure for the disease. But history suggests implementing a truly effective strategy will be difficult. Canada is the only G8 nation without a national

Accounting for Nature's Benefits: The Dollar Value of Ecosystem Services

Healthy ecosystems provide us with fertile soil, clean water, timber, and food. They reduce the spread of diseases. They protect against flooding. Worldwide, they regulate atmospheric concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide. They moderate climate. Without these and other “ecosystem services,” we’d all perish.1 One hallmark of the history of civilization is an ever-increasing exploitation of ecosystem services coupled with substitution of technology for these services, particularly where ecosystems have been exploited beyond their ability to provide.2 Agriculture is a hybrid of exploitation and substitution that enabled people to live in greater, denser populations that drove further exploitation and substitution. Modern plumbing made close quarters far less noxious but led to exploitation of ecosystems’ ability to break down sewage, and to substitution with expensive sewage treatment technologies. Exploitation of fossil fuels led to a slew of modern conveniences, including fishing fleets that are so effective at catching their prey that they threaten fisheries globally.3,4 All this exploitation strained ecosystems, but in the past, when the population was a fraction of what it is now, these strains were local rather than global phenomena. In 2005 the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA),5 a sweeping survey conducted under the auspices of the United Nations, found that approximately 60% of 24 ecosystem services examined were being degraded or used unsustainably.6 “Every year we lose three to five trillion dollars’ worth of natural capital, roughly equivalent to the amount of money we lost in the financial crisis of 2008–2009,” says Dolf de Groot, leader of the Research Program on Integrated Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The value of ecosystem services typically goes unaccounted for in business and policy decisions and in market prices. For commercial purposes, if ecosystem services are recognized at all, they are perceived as free goods, like clean air and water. So it’s not surprising that much of the degradation of ecosystems is rooted in what the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an independent group of U.S. scientists and engineers, describes as “widespread under-appreciation of the importance of environmental capital for human well-being and . . . the absence of the value of its services from the economic balance sheets of producers and consumers.”7 PCAST and other groups are working to build recognition of ecosystem services and, importantly, to valuate them—that is, calculate values for these services to help policy makers and resource managers make rational decisions that factor important environmental and human health outcomes into the bottom line.

No-fault compensation program overdue, experts say

Canada and Russia are the only G8 nations without national no-fault compensation programs for people injured from vaccines, and according to Canadian vaccine experts, it is high time Canada make its exit from that short but inglorious list. Canada needs a federal no-fault vaccine-injury

G8 nations must end "creative accounting" on foreign aid

During tough economic times, countries tend to look inward. Politicians focus on creating jobs for their unemployed — and unhappy — constituents. “Buy at home” sentiments begin to surface. But rich countries should not use an economic crisis as a reason to renege on commitments to help

Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development

As the Lead Ambassador for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Peter Hotez has produced a fascinating and informative book about the world's neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), the most common diseases among the poorest people. He begins the story by introducing us to three landmark 21st-century policy documents related to global health: the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, charged with analyzing the relationship between disease and chronic poverty; the United Nations Millennium Declaration, a renewed call for sustainable development and for the eradication of poverty; and the third, the Report of the Commission for Africa, which served as an important blueprint for commitments by the Group of Eight (G8) nations at their 2005 summit in Scotland. These documents continue to exert a major influence on global policymakers, including the stimulus for high-level efforts to invent innovative financial instruments for supporting disease control, including funding initiatives from the G8 nations and prominent private philanthropic organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.