Income Group Countries Research Articles

Social Cost of Carbon as an International Benchmark to Drive Countries’ Carbon Pricing during the Transition

Building on updated estimates of the social cost of carbon obtained from the most recent literature, this article proposes a social cost of carbon-based benchmark for carbon pricing to drive world countries’ carbon pricing policies up to 2050, consistent with the Paris Agreement targets. By using a dataset on net effective carbon rates developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we firstly compare both explicit and implicit carbon pricing in 2021 in 71 OECD and non-OECD countries with the social cost of carbon benchmark for 2021 and calculate the degree of internalization of the social cost of carbon averagely related to their carbon pricing instruments. We find that there is a serious gap in current climate policies, which are far from creating optimal pricing conditions to reduce global emissions to levels needed by the Paris Agreement. The economic and distributional feasibility of a full implementation of the carbon pricing benchmark is tested in the same set of countries using two indicators, which are calculated for 2025, 2030, 2040 and 2050. Since the test results are income-regressive among income country groups, benchmark implementation by countries within the cooperative approaches of Paris Agreement art. 6 should be accompanied by the creation of an international cooperative fund aimed to recycle at least part of the revenues collected by high-income countries to compensate affected population in lower-income countries.

Weighting factors for LCA—a new set from a global survey

PurposeThis paper provides global weights (weighting factors) for the three endpoint impact categories (areas of protection (AoPs)) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Life Cycle Initiative’s “Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods” (GLAM) project, namely human health, ecosystem quality, and natural resources and ecosystem services.MethodsA discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted to elicit the preferences of respondents on the GLAM AoPs, and they were then used to calculate the respective weights. Responses were obtained from a subset of countries pertaining to each income level defined by the World Bank (i.e. low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high). The adimensional (between 0 and 1) weights were derived using two different approaches: econometric and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The econometric approach obtained weights by transforming the estimated preference parameters from a multinomial logit model. The MCDA approach obtained weights representing the vectors that best reconstitute the choices of each individual, using linear programming to fit an additive value function.ResultsWhen considering responses from all income groups, the weights from the econometric approach are 0.42, 0.31, and 0.26 for human health, ecosystem quality, and natural resources and ecosystem services, respectively. Following the same order for the AoPs, the weights from the MCDA approach are 0.41, 0.32, and 0.27. For high-income countries, ecosystem quality has the highest weight; for upper-middle-income countries, ecosystem quality and human health have the same weights using the econometric approach, while in the MCDA approach, human health is weighted higher than ecosystem quality. For the two lower income country groups, the priority is given to human health with both approaches. Recommendations for the use of these weights are also provided, as well as a comparison with other existing weights.ConclusionThe two methods obtained similar weights overall, although with some differences when disaggregated by income groups. The weights proposed in this paper are suitable for decision-makers or users who want to use survey-derived weights for endpoint-based LCA when using the AoPs of GLAM. These weights can be used in projects where the decision-makers do not want to or have no resources to identify a set of weights themselves, or when decision-makers are not involved.

Türkiye's Global Burden of Disease and Health Policy Priorities

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study was conducted to reveal Türkiye's current situation and make policy recommendations within the scope of the global disease burden 2019 report. Materials and Methods: The data of the study were obtained from the Ministry of Health 2022 health statistics yearbook and IHME 2019 global disease burden report. Within the scope of YLL, YLD, DALY and HALE data, international comparisons were made with age, gender, time, causes and risk factors within the scope of 2002-2019 in Türkiye and policy recommendations were made. Results: Ischemic heart disease, stroke, respiratory tract cancer and diseases are in an upward trend in the disease burden of Türkiye. There have been positive developments regarding maternal and child health. The most important risk factors are; It has been observed that there is tobacco use, high fasting blood sugar and blood pressure, and obesity. Conclusion: Türkiye has indicators at the level of middle-upper income country group in terms of disease burden. Although there are positive developments regarding maternal and child health, Türkiye has an increasing tendency to face a heavy burden of chronic diseases after middle age. This situation indicates that the management of health services becomes more difficult, health expenditures increase and an unhealthy aging society. It is recommended that protective, preventive and health-promoting policies be implemented widely and effectively by balancing the capacity of treatment services.

Commodity prices and economic growth: Empirical evidence from countries with different income groups

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of global commodity prices such as beverage, energy, fertilizer, food, metal and mineral, precious metal and agricultural raw material on GDP per capita of countries with different income levels which are low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high. The results of the study using panel system GMM method over the period 2007–2021 showed that for all income group countries, the impact of energy and fertilizer prices on GDP per capita is negative, while the impact of food and metal and mineral prices is positive on GDP per capita. The study also found that rising prices of agricultural raw materials reduces GDP per capita of all income group countries except lower-middle income countries. Moreover, according to the results of the study, rising beverage prices increased the GDP per capita only of high-income countries, while rising precious metal prices decreased the GDP per capita of lower-middle and high-income countries. The study revealed that price changes in all commodity groups have an impact on the GDP per capita of high-income countries. It is demonstrated that price changes in all commodity groups have an impact in both directions on the GDP per capita of all income groups, depending on whether they are net producers or net consumers. The results of the study showed that, contrary to the literature, the countries most affected by commodity prices are high-income countries. Based on the empirical findings, this study point to the need for international cooperation to minimize the adverse effects of commodity price changes.

The Disconnect Between Policy Makers And Researchers – Time To Build Bridges

<p>According to World Health Organization, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last bastions of Poliomyelitis. Rest of the world has become Polio Free. They achieved this freedom after becoming part of Polio Eradication Initiative which was created in 1988 just after the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate Polio Myelitis from the globe. The woes of Pakistan do not end here. According to “Health Financing Progress Matrix Assessment Pakistan 2023. Summary of findings and recommendations” by World Health Organization, the service coverage index of Pakistan despite showing a consistent surge over the years was still significantly lower with a score of 45 against an average of 58 amongst the low middle income group countries in year 2021. This calls for a need to revisit our strategic policy making in all spheres of life but especially in health and health education. Dr Vaqar Ahmed in <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/pakistans-agenda-for-economic-reforms-9780199406050?cc=au&lang=en&">Pakistan’s Agenda of Economic Reforms</a>, identified that this country faces a serious and lingering lack of institutional arrangement within our framework for research-based policy formulation, and post implementation feedback.</p>

Long-term effects of some determinants in the agricultural sector on CO2 emissions: Panel data analysis by income groups of world countries

Climate change is defined as one of the biggest problems of the third millennium. All countries in the world are striving to produce policies on this issue and achieve a common consensus. Regulations are being made in various sectors and efforts are continuing to adopt ecofriendly production techniques. Just as climate change affects all sectors, it is also affected by the production activities of the sectors. One of these sectors is the agricultural sector. Inputs and production techniques used in agriculture create direct environmental costs. The production techniques used by countries depending on their income level and development level contribute to the climate change process to a certain extent. In this research, the effects of the inputs used in agricultural production on CO2 emissions according to the income levels of the countries of the world were investigated by panel data analysis. According to the results obtained, the effect of the arable land size of low and low-middle income group countries, the pesticides they use in agriculture, the animal fertilizers they use in agricultural production, the CO2 level released from the energy they use in agriculture, and the effect of their agricultural nitrogen use on the total CO2 level is statistically significant. While the effect of pesticide uses and the amount of nitrogen used in agriculture by middle-high income countries is statistically significant, it can be said that the amounts of pesticides used by high-income countries in agriculture, animal fertilizers used in agricultural production, the level of CO2 released from the energy they use in agriculture and their use of agricultural nitrogen are statistically significant. While the results obtained reveal the relationship between the amount used and CO2 emissions, they also indicate that the inputs used can be quality and environmentally friendly inputs. In classical suggestions, suggestions are made such as controlling input levels and preventing excessive use. However, the increasing world population and the resulting increase in nutritional needs emphasize the importance of optimal input use in agricultural production. It makes it important that qualitative, ecofriendly and effective inputs should be used rather than input usage possibilities and quantity-dimensional control.

Macroeconomic determinants of income inequality among different income group countries: Evidence from panel data

Macroeconomic determinants of income inequality among different income group countries: Evidence from panel data

Informality and development: The nonlinear effect

This paper explores how the level of development affects informality. We find for 150 countries from 1996 to 2017 that the long-run relationship between the size of the informal economy and GDP per capita follows an inverted-N pattern. This nonlinear effect is heterogeneous across the conditional distribution of informality, and robust to different income-country groups and alternative specifications. Additionally, we identify rule of law and financial development as powerful determinants of informality. In terms of policy, the formation of reforms to the informal sector should take into account the country's level of development.

Environmental Degradation and Economic Growth: A Longitudinal Analysis Across Different Income Group Countries

This study attempts to analyse the relation of ecological footprint (EF) and air pollutants—CO2, N2O, SO2 and CH4—with economic growth, urbanisation, foreign direct investment and energy consumption through environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework by employing fixed/random effect model. It involves a panel of 55 selected countries from several income groups—high, middle and low—covering the period 1990–2018. A theoretical approach has been developed to analyse the pollution intensity of population, based on decomposition analysis coherent with application of the notion of Kaya identity. The results confirmed the existence of inverted U-shaped relationship for EF and SO2 in all types of countries. The pollutants—CO2, N2O and CH4—exhibit inverse U-shaped EKC in middle- and low-income countries. Only for high-income countries, N2O model detects the existence of U-shaped curve. The study suggests that reconsideration of some economic and environmental policies is necessary to mitigate environmental degradation issues. JEL Codes: Q54, O4, O21, Q43, Q56

Evaluating the impacts of imported cultural goods on carbon emission: Cross-country evidence

Low attention has been paid to the environmental effects of imported cultural commodities, which serve as a medium for cultural engagement and information sharing around the globe. Using the generalized method of moment (GMM) approach, this article empirically assesses the effects of imported cultural products on carbon emissions using cross-country panel data from 2004 to 2017 for 121 countries. The empirical findings reveal that the environmental consequences of imported cultural commodities vary among income level country groups. Overall, a 1% increase in the imports of total cultural goods imports would decrease carbon emissions significantly by 0.002%. After dissecting the sample into two groups, we find that a 1% increase in total cultural goods imports would lead to a significant decrease in carbon emissions of higher-income countries by 0.008%, but a significant increase in the emissions of carbon dioxide of lower-income countries by 0.002%, thus showing the importance of worldwide cultural interaction to carbon emissions. In addition, we find that performance & celebration goods and audiovisual & interactive media goods are primarily responsible for the inhibiting effects of imported cultural goods on the carbon emissions of higher-income countries. Imports of the majority of cultural products (with the exception of heritage items) would result in a significant rise in carbon emissions for low-income nations, a conclusion that is consistent with that of overall cultural goods imports. Gross domestic product per capita and economic complexity index have consistently negative effects on carbon emissions across several models for both nation groups, although energy consumption is the most significant contributor to carbon emissions. In addition, using Lasso Poisson regressions, we undertake robustness tests to assess the dependability of our empirical results based on the GMM methodology. The Lasso Poisson estimation results are consistent with our earlier findings.

Liver Transplantation: A Right or a Privilege? Sustainable Liver Transplant Financing With an Innovative Model for the Developing World

Living donor liver transplant in addition to its lifesaving therapy is a cost-effective alternate to long-term disease management in patients with chronic liver disease. Financial constraint is the biggest hurdle faced by patients in developing countries in availing the liver transplantation. So, we conducted this study to report a government-funded financial support system for liver transplant services. A total of 198 patients who underwent living donor liver transplant with at least 90 days follow-up were included in the study. According to proxy means test score, 52.2% patients were from low and middle socioeconomic groups and 64.6% of patients underwent liver transplantation through government support. Out of 198 patients who underwent liver transplantation 29.6% had monthly income below 25,000 Pakistani rupees ($114). In recipients, 90-day mortality was 7.1% and morbidity was 67.1%. Donor morbidity was 23.2% without any mortality. This financial model can serve as a valuable source for middle and low income group countries to overcome the financial challenge and make liver transplant an accessible, affordable, and economically viable option.

Is air pollution a government failure or a market failure? Global evidence from a multi-dimensional analysis

This paper studies the impact of the free market (FM) with different dimensions, the quality of governance (QG), and their interaction on air pollution for a global sample of 149 countries during 2000–2020. Results illustrate that FM increases air pollution while QG decreases it for the global sample. Remarkably, the interaction of FM and QG shows that FM increases air pollution until a threshold of QG, then above this level, FM reduces air pollution. However, the impacts of FM, QG, and their interaction on air pollution depend on income levels. In low-income and lower middle-income countries, FM increases air pollution while QG reduces it, but the marginal effect of FM on air pollution in the presence of QG is still statistically positive because the pollution-decreasing effect of QG is weaker than the pollution-increasing effect of FM due to low QG. In upper middle-income and high-income countries, FM, QG, and their interaction reduce air pollution due to high QG; and QG intensifies the reducing effect of FM on air pollution. Moreover, the impact of FM on air pollution depends on various dimensions of FM and the moderating effect of QG for the global sample and sub-samples of different income-country groups. The findings imply that low-income and lower middle-income countries should prioritize in improving QG while upper middle-income and high-income countries should prioritize in boosting FM in the battle against air pollution.

Determinants of Trade Credit Supply among Developing Countries during the Financial Crisis of 2008

The purpose of this study is to identify the firm-specific and country-specific determinants of trade credit supply during the financial crisis of 2008 and compare among upper-middle income and lower-middle income countries. Trade credit supply is measured as average collection period. For panel data analysis, this study uses the Prais - Winsten Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) method. PCSE removes the of cross-sectional dependence issue in the panel dataset. Findings indicate that firms had to pay their suppliers earlier during the financial crisis 2008 than pre-crisis. Financial crisis significantly influenced the relationship between determinants and trade credit supply but to different levels in different income groups. Average payment periods and private credit to GDP significantly and positively increased the average collection period more in lower-middle income developing countries and less in upper-middle developing income countries. Cash flow volatility and leverage influenced the average collection period significantly and negatively during the crisis. This influence was stronger than pre-crisis and post-crisis periods, and more significant in lower-middle income countries and less in upper-middle income countries. The negative relationship between inflation and trade credit supply is strongly negative in lower-middle income countries. Overall, the results suggest that financial crisis changed the relationship between determinants and trade credit supply and the extant of this change was different in different income group countries.

Will Outbreaks Increase or Reduce Income Inequality? the Case of COVID-19

The effects of economic contractions experienced during pandemic periods on different income sectors and country groups in terms of income inequality are not homogeneous. Due to the fact that COVID-19 has deeply affected the lives of the poor, immigrants, refugees, the homeless, seasonal workers and people with no health insurance, the relationship between the pandemic and income inequality is of great significance . This study aims to find an answer to the question of whether the recent pandemic increased or decreased income inequality. In the study, the effect of COVID-19 on income inequality in 38 countries with different income levels is analyzed with the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Linear Regression (LR) method. In this context, Gini index values for 2020 were estimated using unemployment, inflation and growth data, which are determinants of income distribution, for the periods 2000-2019. According to the analysis findings, while COVID-19 reduces income inequality in some countries, it increases it in others. However, in general, the results of our study show that the overall effect of COVID-19 on income levels in both developed and developing countries has been to increase income inequality.

Will Outbreaks Increase or Reduce Income Inequality? the Case of COVID-19

The effects of economic contractions experienced during pandemic periods on different income sectors and country groups in terms of income inequality are not homogeneous. Due to the fact that COVID-19 has deeply affected the lives of the poor, immigrants, refugees, the homeless, seasonal workers and people with no health insurance, the relationship between the pandemic and income inequality is of great significance . This study aims to find an answer to the question of whether the recent pandemic increased or decreased income inequality. In the study, the effect of COVID-19 on income inequality in 38 countries with different income levels is analyzed with the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Linear Regression (LR) method. In this context, Gini index values for 2020 were estimated using unemployment, inflation and growth data, which are determinants of income distribution, for the periods 2000-2019. According to the analysis findings, while COVID-19 reduces income inequality in some countries, it increases it in others. However, in general, the results of our study show that the overall effect of COVID-19 on income levels in both developed and developing countries has been to increase income inequality.

Testing non-linear effect of urbanization on environmental degradation: Cross-country evidence

The contribution of structural transformation and urban development is considered crucial for the long run socio-economic growth but has adversely affected environmental sustainability over last few decades. This empirical research makes an innovative and holistic addition to the prior literature by examining the non-linear effect of economic growth and urban dynamics on environmental degradation in a comprehensive panel data of 66 countries and across respective income groups for the period 1990–2016. For empirical analysis, the robust econometric methods of two-way fixed effects (2W-FE), panel fully modified ordinary least squares (PFMOLS), and Driscoll-Kraay regressions have been applied to account for all econometric issues. The study unveils the bell-shaped effect of economic growth on environmental degradation which confirms the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and structural change hypotheses. The results of this study signifies the inverted U influence of urbanization and urban agglomerations on CO2 emissions and hence supports Ecological Modernization Theory (EMT). Our empirical findings also unfold the heterogeneous non-linear effects of urban dynamics across various income categories of selected economies. By employing the heterogeneous Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) (Granger non-causality tests), the findings of this study confirm the prior estimations and establish significant unilateral and bilateral causal nexus of structural change and urban dynamics with environmental degradation. By verifying the existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve phenomenon in Low and Lower Middle Income (LLMI) and Upper Middle Income (UMI) group countries, this study necessitates for the policy makers to adopt the eco-friendly industrial and energy policies for the long run social, economic and environmental sustainability.

How Mobiles Affect International Trade, FDI and Economic Growth: Comparative Analysis of Income Level

ABSTRACT Mobile is a key sector promoting international trade, FDI and economic growth in the modern era. The objective of this paper is to examine the dynamic nexus between Mobile, trade, FDI and economic growth by employing a panel vector error correction model. Empirical results suggest that Mobile has more positively contributed to international trade in the low income country group than other groups, and it has a more positive impact on FDI inflow in the higher-income country group than other groups, it has a more powerful impact on economic growth in the middle-income country group than other groups.

Crop Yield Prediction Using Deep Neural Networks

Abstract: Agriculture is undergoing a metamorphosis due to several environmantal and scoal factors. Due to challenges such as global warming, intermittent rainfall patterns and eroding nutrient values of soil, crop yileds have become more upredictable in the last decade. This has resulted in famines, armer suicides and deaths due to hunger. Thus, one of the key objectives of the world health organization is to provide food security globally and also help the agriculture community as a whole whith special emhpasis on low income group countries. This has made crop yield forecasting extremely important. As the crop yield depends on several factors which are highly uncorrelated in nature, hence machine learing based appraoches have been employed for the purpose. In this paper a deep neural network approach has been proposed along with the discrete wavelet transfrom to forecast crop yields. The wavelet transform has been used as a filtering techniques to remove local disturbances from the data, and deep neural networks have been used for pattern recognition and forecasting. The evaluation of the proposed system has been evaluated in terms of the mean absolute percentage error, accuracy and regression. It has been found that the proposed work outperforms existing baseline techniques in terms of the accuracy of forecasting.

Financial inclusion and human development: is there a nexus?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the nexus between financial inclusion and human development for countries belonging to different income groups during 2009–2019, and whether this relation differs across these groups.Design/methodology/approachThe paper constructs an index of financial inclusion (IFI) for different income group countries employing dynamic panel data models estimated by generalized method of moments (GMM) to analyse the relation between financial inclusion and human development.FindingsFinancial inclusion in low and lower-middle-income countries has higher effect on human development than in high and upper-middle income countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe study examines the effect of IFI on the human development index (HDI) at the aggregate level. Future research can tackle the IFI effect on every component of HDI and other aspects of financial inclusion could be incorporated like financial technology.Originality/valueThe originality lies in constructing an index for financial inclusion using the most recent data for a wide range of countries, in addition to examining the impact of financial inclusion on the human development levels of different income groups allowing for more accurate analysis tackling the differences in terms of adopted policies across various income groups; unlike other studies that are carried out on a one country basis or only across one or two country groups that do not allow for comparison across various groups of countries.

COVID-19 burden, author affiliation and women's well-being: A bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 related publications including focus on low- and middle-income countries.

SummaryBackgroundPublished literature documents tremendous gender inequities in the social, economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but less evidence has come from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and even less from LMIC-based authors. We examine whether a) COVID-19 burden and b) LMIC-based authorship were associated with academic publications related to COVID-19 and women's well-being in LMICs.MethodsWe reviewed academic articles on COVID-19 and women's well-being in LMICs published between February 2020 and May 2021 (n=1076 articles), using six electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, EconLit, RePeC, NBER). Multilevel, mixed effects linear regressions assessed the relationships between each of our independent variables - a) COVID-19 burden (cases/100 population, deaths/100 population, deaths/cases) and b) author's country of primary affiliation, with publications related to COVID-19 and women's well-being, both overall and stratified by country income group.FindingsEight-eight percent of articles had lead and/or senior authors affiliated with in-country institutions. Linear mixed effect models indicate that COVID-19 cases and case fatality ratios in a country were significantly and positively associated with the number of publications related to COVID-19 and women's well-being, though these relationships were significant only in upper-middle income group countries in stratified analyses. LMIC lead and senior authorship were also significantly and positively associated with our outcome, after adjusting for COVID-19 burden.InterpretationWhile the majority of COVID-19 research examining women's well-being in LMICs in the first year and a half of the pandemic included country-affiliated author leadership, there were important gaps in representation. Findings highlight the importance of LMIC-based scholars to build local and gendered research in crises.FundingBill and Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-018007).