Group Of High-income Countries Research Articles

The global burden of child burn injuries in light of country level economic development and income inequality.

Child burn mortality differs widely between regions and is closely related to material deprivation, but reports on their global distribution are few. Investigating their country level distribution in light of economic level and income inequality will help assess the potential for macro-level improvements. We extracted data for child burn mortality from the Global Burden of Disease study 2013 and combined data into 1–14 years to calculate rates at country, region and income levels. We also compiled potential lives saved. Then we examined the relationship between country level gross domestic product per capita from the World Bank and income inequality (Gini Index) from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database and child burn mortality using Spearman coefficient correlations. Worldwide, the burden of child burn deaths is 2.5 per 100,000 across 103 countries with the largest burden in Sub-Saharan Africa (4.5 per 100,000). Thirty-four thousand lives could be saved yearly if all countries in the world had the same rates as the best performing group of high-income countries; the majority in low-income countries. There was a negative graded association between economic level and child burns for all countries aggregated and at regional level, but no consistent pattern existed for income inequality at regional level. The burden of child burn mortality varies by region and income level with prevention efforts needed most urgently in middle-income countries and Sub-Saharan Africa. Investment in safe living conditions and access to medical care are paramount to achieving further reductions in the global burden of preventable child burn deaths.

Macroeconomic Impact of 2008 Financial Crisis on Countries by Income Groups

<p>The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of the US mortgage crisis on macroeconomic indicators by considering classification of countries by income groups. Using the data of World Development Indicators prepared by World Bank, countries are classified in four groups respectively low-income economies, lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income and high-income economies. For these groups of countries the data of macroeconomic indicators such as economic growth, employment, inflation, export, from 2005 to 2015 are examined. Obtained results show that group of high income countries have not just been heavily affected from 2008 crisis, but also facing problem of weak growth and risk of deflation, whereas middle income economies have been affected from declining commod­ity prices. Present conditions are required to initiate proactive fiscal and monetary policies in the world.</p>

A global prospective of income distribution and its effect on life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management: a review

This study reviewed the municipal solid waste (MSW) composition, the management practices, and the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) tool for MSW management (MSWM) options in the various income group countries. LCA studies require inventory data, which is difficult to procure for any country including higher income group countries, and this issue gets compounded in low-income and lower middle-income group countries, which limits the implementation of LCA. This paper compared the use of LCA for MSWM between high-income and low-income group countries and also highlights the gap in using LCA for MSWM. A very limited number of LCA studies on MSWM were found for low-income group countries in comparison to high-income group countries. The study also provided a critical discussion on the challenges in applications of LCA in MSWM for better solid waste management in low-income and lower middle-income group countries. The study will help in taking up LCA studies in low-income countries to improve the overall MSWM efficiency.

Analysis of relationship between interpersonal trust and social and economic indicators

The paper deals with the analysis of the type and the degree of relationship between the interpersonal trust index and social and economic indicators: Income (GDP per capita), Inequality (Gini coefficient), Human development index (HDI), Corruption (Corruption perception index). The methods of correlation analysis and neural network modeling are applied. The World Bank, World Values Survey (WVS) and European Social Survey (ESS) database is used. The analysis was carried out on the sample of 105 countries, where WVS and ESS interviews were conducted. The closest correlation dependence was found out between the trust index and HDI in a group of high human development countries, as well as among high income countries. The correlation is positive in these cases. In medium and low income level countries this relationship is weak and contradictory. The correlation between trust and corruption perception has similar nature: high income countries are characterized by close positive relationship between trust and corruption intolerance, in the low-income group this relationship is weaker, and in the group of middle income countries the correlation is negative. The weakest relationship is observed between the trust and GDP per capita (in the high income group it is positive, in the low income countries it is negative). There is negative weak correlation with Gini index in all the groups, except for the countries, where trust level is high: correlation dependence is strong there). Using a neural network model based on GDP per capita, the human development index and the corruption perception index, it was shown the possibility to predict the trust index for a group of high income countries.

Hierarchical structure of the countries based on electricity consumption and economic growth

We investigate the hierarchical structures of countries based on electricity consumption and economic growth by using the real amounts of their consumption over a certain time period. We use electricity consumption data to detect the topological properties of 64 countries from 1971 to 2008. These countries are divided into three clusters: low income group, middle income group and high income group countries. Firstly, a relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth is investigated by using the concept of hierarchical structure methods (minimal spanning tree (MST) and hierarchical tree (HT)). Secondly, we perform bootstrap techniques to investigate a value of the statistical reliability to the links of the MST. Finally, we use a clustering linkage procedure in order to observe the cluster structure more clearly. The results of the structural topologies of these trees are as follows: (i) we identified different clusters of countries according to their geographical location and economic growth, (ii) we found a strong relation between energy consumption and economic growth for all the income groups considered in this study and (iii) the results are in good agreement with the causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth.

Associations between subjective social status and DSM-IV mental disorders: results from the World Mental Health surveys.

The inverse social gradient in mental disorders is a well-established research finding with important implications for causal models and policy. This research has used traditional objective social status (OSS) measures, such as educational level, income, and occupation. Recently, subjective social status (SSS) measurement has been advocated to capture the perception of relative social status, but to our knowledge, there have been no studies of associations between SSS and mental disorders. To estimate associations of SSS with DSM-IV mental disorders in multiple countries and to investigate whether the associations persist after comprehensive adjustment of OSS. Face-to-face cross-sectional household surveys of community-dwelling adults in 18 countries in Asia, South Pacific, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East (N=56,085). Subjective social status was assessed with a self-anchoring scale reflecting respondent evaluations of their place in the social hierarchies of their countries in terms of income, educational level, and occupation. Scores on the 1 to 10 SSS scale were categorized into 4 categories: low (scores 1-3), low-mid (scores 4-5), high-mid (scores 6-7), and high (scores 8-10). Objective social status was assessed with a wide range of fine-grained objective indicators of income, educational level, and occupation. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview assessed the 12-month prevalence of 16 DSM-IV mood, anxiety, and impulse control disorders. The weighted mean survey response rate was 75.2% (range, 55.1%-97.2%). Graded inverse associations were found between SSS and all 16 mental disorders. Gross odds ratios (lowest vs highest SSS categories) in the range of 1.8 to 9.0 were attenuated but remained significant for all 16 disorders (odds ratio, 1.4-4.9) after adjusting for OSS indicators. This pattern of inverse association between SSS and mental disorders was significant in 14 of 18 individual countries, and in low-, middle-, and high-income country groups but was significantly stronger in high- vs lower-income countries. Significant inverse associations between SSS and numerous DSM-IV mental disorders exist across a wide range of countries even after comprehensive adjustment for OSS. Although it is unclear whether these associations are the result of social selection, social causation, or both, these results document clearly that research relying exclusively on standard OSS measures underestimates the steepness of the social gradient in mental disorders.

Causal Relationship between Energy Consumption and GDP Growth Revisited: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach

This paper uses the panel data of energy consumption and GDP for 82 countries from 1972 to 2002. Based on the income levels defined by the World Bank, the data are divided into four categories: low income group, lower middle income group, upper middle income group, and high income group. We employ the GMM-SYS approach for the estimation of the panel VAR model in each of the four groups. Afterwards, the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is tested and ascertained. We discover: (a) in the low income group, there exists no causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth; (b) in the middle income groups (lower and upper middle income groups), economic growth leads energy consumption positively; (c) in the high income group countries, economic growth leads energy consumption negatively. After further in-depth analysis of energy related data, the results indicate that, in the high income group, there is a great environmental improvement as a result of more efficient energy use and reduction in the release of CO2. However, in the upper middle income group countries, after the energy crisis, the energy efficiency declines and the release of CO2 rises. Since there is no evidence indicating that energy consumption leads economic growth in any of the four income groups, a stronger energy conservation policy should be pursued in all countries.

Drivers of Export Upgrading

This paper analyses the determinants of export upgrading using a cross-country panel dataset over the 1992–2006 period. The results suggest that the export sophistication of countries is enhanced by capital deepening, engagement in knowledge creation, transfers via investment in education and R&D and foreign direct investment and imports. Institutional quality also facilitates the export upgrading of countries. The effect of natural resources on the structural upgrading of exports appears to be complex and mixed and is dependent upon the type of resources involved. The effects of these determinants vary between low, middle, and high income country groups.

English

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between energy consumption and National income of Nigeria. The importance of identifying the direction of causality emanates from its relevance in national policy-making issues regarding energy conservation. There are various evidences indicating some level of relation between national income and energy consumption of many countries: developed, developing, and third world alike. A relation that energy consumption enhances national income has been documented by Rakhshan for Canada, China, Japan (poor positive relation due to its efficient and successful energy conservation policy over the past decades), Iran, and Russia. More so, Amirat and Bouri found similar relation for Algerian Case. Also, Huang, Hwang, and Yang found no causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in the low income group whereas in the middle income groups, economic growth enhances energy consumption; and in the high income group countries, economic growth negatively affects energy consumption due to great environmental improvement impacts. On the other hand, a neutral relation between energy consumption and national income has also been verified to exist in Turkey according to Yalta's study. Therefore this paper evaluate the relationship between energy consumption and national income in Nigeria for the periods 1990 to 2010. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the nature of the relationship that exist between energy consumption and national income while Granger causality test was employed to identify the direction of the relationship. The variables that were used include national income measured by GDP, energy consumption measured by its index, capital input and manufacturing capacity utilization. The energy combined includes coal, electricity (hydro-power), natural gas and petroleum products. Key words: National income, energy consumption, economic growth.

MSMEs: The Key to Entrepreneurship Development in India

The term MSME means micro, small, and medium enterprises; SME means small and medium enterprises; while MSE means micro and small enterprises. In India, the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act 2006 defines MSMEs. It introduces the concept of 'enterprise' as opposed to the earlier concept of industry. The overall contribution of small firms—formal and informal—to the GDP and employment remain about the same across low, middle, and high-income group countries. As income increases, the share of the informal sector decreases and that of the formal SME sector increases. The main need is to generate large scale employment as countries develop the share of agriculture in providing employment and in GDP decreases. The MSME sector in India is heterogeneous, dispersed, and mostly unorganized. It includes diverse types of production units ranging from traditional crafts to high-tech industries. In this regard, the core challenges of MSMEs are the following; Inadequate Access to Credit and Working Capital, Dwindling of a Vibrant Sector, Non-Availability of Quality Raw Materials and Packaging Facilities on a Timely Basis, Insufficient Market Research, Linkages & Design Inputs, Rehabilitation of Sick SSI Units, Globalization, and Technology Upgradation and Achieving 'Economies of Scale'. At present, there is no subsector target for the MSE sector within the overall stipulated 40% ceiling for the priority sector lending. Since sub-targets have already been fixed at 18% for agriculture and at 10% for the weaker sectors, the MSE sector has to compete with real estate, housing, education, retail, etc. for the remaining 12%.

The Feldstein – Hoiroka puzzle across countries

This article tests the Feldstein–Hoiroka ‘puzzle’ for a sample of 49 countries from two angles; that of co-movements in the saving-investment series and the magnitude of the saving-retention coefficient (SRC). The overall conclusion we obtain from the results of three different cointegration tests leaves no room for ‘puzzle’ in the majority of the countries included in the sample. On the other hand, various statistical tests applied to the SRCs show that there are significant differences among the high-income, middle-income and low-income country groups with regards to the salient aspects of capital mobility. First, there are significant differences in the average SRCs of the country groups. Second, the SRCs are differently distributed around their means among the country groups. The results yielded by a third test dictate that future research should pay more attention to the underlying distribution of the SRCs within country groups when testing the ‘country size’ argument.

Determinants of U.S. Exports to China

This paper examines U.S. goods trade with China, focusing on the performance of exports. Throughout the analysis, we explore whether U.S. trade is unusual by contrasting it with trade from Japan and the EU-15.1 The issue is examined from three perspectives: the commodity composition of exports, the role of multinational corporations (MNCs), and the determinants of trade as specified in a formal “gravity model.” As an initial point of departure, we show that the commodity composition of U.S. exports to China is similar to the pattern of exports to the world as a whole, and that the operations of U.S. MNCs have only minor implications for trade with China. Consequently, we emphasize the estimation of a set of “gravity equations” that explore the role of market size and distance from the United States. Distance exerts a surprisingly large effect on trade. Finally, although exports to China may be a small share of U.S. GDP, they are relatively substantial compared to U.S. exports to other countries. In other words, the measure of U.S. trade performance in China is distorted by the low level of its exports to all countries. We present evidence that the United States underperforms as an exporter relative to a peer group of high-income European countries and Japan.

Causal relationship between energy consumption and GDP growth revisited: A dynamic panel data approach

This paper uses the panel data of energy consumption and GDP for 82 countries from 1972 to 2002. Based on the income levels defined by the World Bank, the data are divided into four categories: low income group, lower middle income group, upper middle income group, and high income group. We employ the GMM-SYS approach for the estimation of the panel VAR model in each of the four groups. Afterwards, the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth is tested and ascertained. We discover: (a) in the low income group, there exists no causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth; (b) in the middle income groups (lower and upper middle income groups), economic growth leads energy consumption positively; (c) in the high income group countries, economic growth leads energy consumption negatively. After further in-depth analysis of energy related data, the results indicate that, in the high income group, there is a great environmental improvement as a result of more efficient energy use and reduction in the release of CO 2. However, in the upper middle income group countries, after the energy crisis, the energy efficiency declines and the release of CO 2 rises. Since there is no evidence indicating that energy consumption leads economic growth in any of the four income groups, a stronger energy conservation policy should be pursued in all countries.

Financial integration, regulation and competitiveness in Middle East and North Africa countries

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine is to the link between stock markets and economic growth in advanced and emerging economies in the Middle East and North Africa (mena) region.Design/methodology/approachIndices measuring the degree of financial openness and market development are constructed and used to perform various Granger causality tests to identify predictors of current growth rates.FindingsIt is found that the link exists only in the group of high income countries but this relationship is rather weak for the low income MENA economies. Privatization alone, although necessary, is not enough to spur economic growth. The establishment of sound institutions and well‐defined regulatory policies are needed to protect investors’ rights and entice them to invest in real and financial assets in the MENA region.Originality/valueThe paper offers insights into financial integration, regulation and competitiveness in MENA countries.

Health Care Spending Growth: How Different Is The United States From The Rest Of The OECD?

This paper compares the long-term (1970-2002) rates of real growth in health spending per capita in the United States and a group of high-income countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Real health spending growth is decomposed into population aging, overall economic growth, and excess growth. Although rates of aging and overall economic growth were similar, annual excess growth was much higher in the United States (2.0 percent) versus the OECD countries studied (1.1 percent). That difference, which is of an economically important magnitude, suggests that country-specific institutional factors might contribute to long-term health spending trends.

Longevity Advances in High‐Income Countries, 1955–96

The advance of life expectancy within high‐income countries from 1955 to 1996 is well represented by a straight‐line trend. This explains more of the variance on average, and in 19 of 21 high‐income countries, than logged or unlogged age‐standardized death rates. Change in life expectancy in individual countries over this period was partially predicted by a country's level relative to the rest of this group of high‐income countries and partially by a country's own prior rate of advance, with substantial convergence toward the group mean for both measures.

Convergence and Cross-Section Dynamics: Evidence from the Data

This paper analyzes income convergence between groups of countries relative to the world-wide development. The alternative to conventional convergence tests introduced here provides more transparent and intuitively more reasonable results. Using a combination of cross-section data and time-series data for the period 1970-1990, we find evidence for a separation in levels of income (measured as real per capita GDP) between groups of countries. Africa seems to be trapped in a situation with a low level of real per capita GDP, whereas the OECD countries find themselves in a position with a relatively high level of real per capita GDP. Latin America diverges and Asia converges relatively to the world-wide development. Simple OLS results are consistent with these findings. Extending the analysis to individual countries confirms Quah's results on the immobility over time of individual countries with respect to the ability to converge to the world average level of real per capita GDP. In our sample, only Singapore moved from the group of low income countries to the group of high income countries. From the estimation results we expect Malaysia to catch up with countries like Korea and Singapore.

An exploratory stochastic framework to analyse the relationship between macro oil price shocks and economic development

The paper investigates the impact of the oil price shocks of 1973 and 1978 on the economies of industrial and developing countries. Empirical results reveal that the severity of the impact of macro price-oil shocks has been quite different on the two groups of countries. The regression results based on the new exploratory model corroborate clearly that the low income group sustained a drastic blow compared to the high income group countries. Moreover, within the group of developing nations the severity of impact varies according to their dependency on the use of energy sources, development levels and the degree of aggregate capital intensity.