Inflationary Environment Research Articles

The tipping point: Financial and emotional costs of care for Medicare patients with cancer.

260 Background: As cancer-related health care expenses are increasing, a greater proportion of treatment costs are shifting directly to the patient, resulting in an increased financial burden for many patients. In addition to growing healthcare costs, the inflationary environment in the US has also increased the costs of daily living expenses. Although the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) encompasses measures for negotiating prices of specific high-cost medications within Medicare Parts B and D, given the expenses associated with cancer treatment IRA negotiation provisions will likely have limited impact on patients’ financial burden. We sought to capture the financial and emotional experiences of Medicare cancer patients about their costs of care prior to the implementation of the IRA. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis used data from a nationwide survey distributed in February 2024 by Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF). Inclusion criteria included a valid email address, age >19, self-reported cancer diagnosis and Medicare coverage. Frequencies were calculated for categorical variables. Additional information about financial challenges will be collected on a subset of cancer survey respondents in May 2024. Results: A total of 331 survey respondents with cancer completed the survey. Most respondents were female (61%), age≥56 (86%), white (73%), retired (59%), married (47%), household income <$48,000 (69%), and rural location (24%). The most common cancer types were multiple myeloma (47%) and breast (26%); 25% were diagnosed < 2 years prior, 87% were receiving cancer treatment and 52% experienced financial challenges prior to diagnosis. Almost half (45%) reported a negative change in their financial situation in the past 12 months; caused by increased living (63%), food (60%), medical care (47%) and medication (39%) costs. Overwhelming/above average financial stress (40%) was reported on the day of the survey; 30% reported spending at least 25% of their monthly income on medical costs; 69% reported financial burden due to their illness. Fifty-nine percent reported that finances impacted their emotional wellbeing. Common coping strategies to alleviate financial distress included positive attitudes, family/friend support and spiritual beliefs. Conclusions: To mitigate the impact of inflation on low-income cancer patients, it is essential for policymakers, healthcare providers, and community organizations to work together to ensure access to affordable healthcare, support services, and financial assistance programs. Additionally, raising awareness about the challenges faced by this vulnerable population and advocating for policies that address their needs can help alleviate some of the burdens imposed by inflation. While the IRA is a step in the right direction, its financial impact on patients appears limited.

Statistical Modeling of Main Inflation Drivers During the Post-Pandemic Period: The Case of Lithuania

The main inflation factors were analyzed of relatively high inflation in Lithuania after the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of European Union and euro area. The system dynamics model was developed mathematically describing the interrelations between inflation and the set of macroeconomic variables. The hypothetical reduced inflation rates were calculated modeling the different scenarios of macroeconomic changes under the inflationary environment.

Optimizing substitution of two products model for exponentially increasing demand under inflation and shortages

This study addresses the limited attention given to product substitution in inventory models. Incorporating product substitution is crucial for determining reorder points, and safety stock, enabling businesses to optimize inventory levels, reduce costs, and maintain customer satisfaction. This study introduces an economic order quantity model tailored to an inflationary environment with shortages and one-way substitution between two deteriorating product types. Through comprehensive testing, this study evaluates the model under various substitution scenarios, including partial substitution. Findings highlight the significance of product substitution in inventory management, allowing businesses to optimize inventory levels, manage costs, and ensure customer satisfaction in dynamic environments with inflation and fluctuating product availability. This model provides the firm with the necessary information to determine the optimal ordering quantity of both products to optimize total benefit and enhance supply chain efficiency. The model demonstrates substantial cost advantages, with partial substitution resulting in an average cost reduction of approximately 9% compared to no substitution and about 45% compared to full substitution. Numerical experiments validate the applicability of the proposed model.

Firm's Operational Characteristics and Internal Control Structure Effectiveness in Business Inflationary Environment: An Empirical Study on Non-Financial Firms Listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange

Firm's Operational Characteristics and Internal Control Structure Effectiveness in Business Inflationary Environment: An Empirical Study on Non-Financial Firms Listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange

Parsing the Performance of Stock Market Indices Amidst COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine War: A Comparative Study of DSEX, Nifty-50, and KSE-100

The primary objective of this investigation is to assess the performance of the benchmark indices in the stock markets of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, denoted by DSEX (Dhaka Stock Exchange Broad Index), Nifty-50 (National Stock Exchange Fifty), and KSE-100 (Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index), respectively. Data is meticulously gathered across distinct periods, namely the pre-COVID, the COVID-19, and the concurrent COVID-19 era along with the Russia-Ukraine War period, and amid the consequent global ongoing financial crises. The study encompasses information spanning from July 2, 2013 to May 9, 2023, employing descriptive statistics, where both mean returns and risk-adjusted returns were calculated consecutively. The evaluation of diversification among the indices during the specified periods is conducted through descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation. The findings of this study indicate that all the indices exhibited negative mean returns during the COVID-19 phase. Furthermore, both mean returns and risk-adjusted returns of the indices witnessed substantial increments amid the inflationary environment concurrent with the COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine War periods. OLS estimation results suggest an absence of a discernible diversification relationship among the indices. In summary, our results underscore the dynamic nature of index prices across diverse temporal and global crisis scenarios. These implications offer valuable insights for investors and stockholders, enabling them to discern hedging opportunities and identify diversifiable indices within the global stock markets across disparate periods and crises.

Escherichia coli grown in inexpensive conical flat-bottom polypropylene tubes produce a high level of pUC vector

The pUC-derived plasmid yield from E. coli using polypropylene tubes (PP) was compared among round and conical tubes. The yield from cells grown in a cheaper conical-PP with flat-bottom was 1.5-fold higher (p < 0.001) than other PP. The use of the conical-PP can save research budgets in the current inflationary environment.

BEYOND DEVELOPED AND EMERGING: UNPACKING POLICYLENDING RATE DISCONNECTIONS AND INFLATION IN TURKIYE WITH A DIVERSE GLOBAL CAST

The study examines the impact of the divergence between policy rates and lending rates on inflation in Turkey, with a specific focus on the role of adaptive expectations. The analysis covers a long period, from January 2003 to January 2023, and includes six countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, US, UK and Turkey. The study finds that there is a persistent and significant divergence between policy rates and lending rates in Turkey. Additionally, the depreciation of the currency has a significant impact on lending rates in Turkey, as it increases both the cost of borrowing for banks and the cost of funding for businesses and consumers. Moreover, the study suggests that adaptive expectations play an important role in the relationship between policy rates, lending rates, and inflation. Past inflation rates have a significant impact on current inflation expectations, which, in turn, influences the inflation rate. This phenomenon is exacerbated by borrowers demanding higher lending rates to compensate for the increased risk in an environment of high inflation and uncertain policy, further widening the gap between policy rates and lending rates. The study's findings provide valuable insights into the complex dynamics of monetary policy, lending rates, inflation, and the exchange rate in soft currency economies such as Turkey. The results highlight the importance of addressing the issue of the divergence between policy rates and lending rates, while taking into account the impact of adaptive expectations and the exchange rate on inflation dynamics.

Global inflation: modern determinism and challenges for policy

The article studies global inflation determinants, causing it in recent decades and at the present stage under the influence of cascading shocks in world economy and financial system. The relevance of the problems summarized and analyzed in the article is explained by the significant risks of the inflation duration at the present stage, which is affected by an increasing number of shocks from demand, supply, and global financial system. In these conditions, even adaptive monetary policy may cease to be effective. The purpose of the study is to assess the nature and extent of developed and developing countries’ economies vulnerability due to inflationary shocks and to identify the inflation fundamental determinants in crisis conditions on the basis of retrospective analysis. Achievement of the goal implied the solution of such priority tasks as: global inflation dynamics factors identification considering the risks of stagflationary and recessionary trends in world economy; inflation new determinants identification in the context of changes in the scale and structure of the global financial market; assessment of monetary policy adjustment and adaptation mechanisms in the current inflationary environment; consideration of the current nature of supply and demand shocks and their impact on global inflation. The current inflationary shock is unprecedented, and the study assesses it in its historical context and for its similarities and differences with significant inflation episodes observed in the post-war decades. The key factors of inflation at the present stage have been analyzed in their relationship with the monetary policy key trends.

Bureau of Public Procurement in Nigeria and price adjustment procedures in project construction

Nigeria is perhaps the largest economy in sub-Sahara West Africa through public procurement of goods, works and services in relatively risky environment of inflation and corruption, challenging the value for money in project execution under the watch of the Bureau of public procurement. The purpose of this paper is to establish the preparedness of the BPP to handle the problem of price adjustment in procurement, with rising inflationary figures in Nigeria. To achieve the objective, the researchers made use of secondary data, and employed the method of survey with content analysis. The Decision theory offered by Simon (1947) underpins the study in response to the fact that current literature has not sufficiently discussed public procurement as a decision making problem. It was found that procurement decision generally is made under tensed condition, yet with a goal to provide value for money. It is concluded that the BPP may be overwhelmed with price adjustment policy and overall political climate in Nigeria. It was recommended that the Bureau should be fully prepared with more powers and frequent training to be able to do price adjustment in accordance with regulations and that the use of direct labour should be encouraged where the Accounting officer has certified knowledge and proven experience

Price Fluctuations and Social Media: A Study of Teenagers' Adaptive Consumer Choices

While experiencing hyperinflation, teenager needs to adjust and reevaluate their choices especially when they witness large price fluctuations and unexpected changes in their financial situation. Furthermore, they tends to focus on what’s happening on their social media. The main aim of this research is to examine how society behaved during the hyperinflation period in Türkiye using Bourdieu's theoretical framework. According to our research conducted through in-depth interviews and netnography, teenagers use three coping mechanisms to overcome their levels of cultural and economic capital. They often use coping mechanisms to create their own culture that helps them maintain their identity. This can help better understand behavior &amp; habits of teenager buyers, especially in high inflation environments.

Financial stability and sustainable development: Perspectives from fiscal and monetary policy

AbstractThis paper studies the relationship between financial stability and sustainable development from the fiscal and monetary policy perspective in 33 developing countries and 7 developed countries in the period 2005–2020. Bayesian regression results show that financial stability positively affects sustainable development in both groups of countries with a low probability of impact. This probability is above 79.3% in developed countries and above 81.5% in developing ones. When considering the role of monetary policy, the direction of impact and probability is different. Specifically, financial stability in the environment of high inflation and increased money supply (ZscoreInf and ZscoreM2) negatively affects sustainable development in both country groups with high probabilities. In contrast, when considering the monetary policy with the foreign exchange reserves tool (ZscoreER), financial stability positively impacts sustainable development with the probability of 89.6% in developed countries and 92.5% in developing one. When considering the role of fiscal policy, financial stability with government spending (ZscoreGE) positively affects sustainable development with a probability of over 99.7% in the two groups of countries. Meanwhile, tax income in a financially stable environment increases the probability of a positive effect at 100% in developed countries, and a negative effect with a probability of 60.9% in developing countries. From the above results, we propose that central banks in both developed and developing countries should aim to stabilize prices and aim to maintain a low inflation rate to help limit shocks to sudden interest rate changes that cause market volatility. This is a premise to help stabilize finance and promote sustainable development. Furthermore, these countries should maintain an adequate foreign exchange reserve to withstand external shocks and ensure they have enough foreign currency to meet macroeconomic needs, which can boost confidence.

Exploring Inflation Dynamics with the Phillips Curve in Türkiye: Evidence from the Markov Regime Switching Model

Unlike in many advanced and emerging market economies, inflation was already a problem for the Turkish economy before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 1990s, Türkiye experienced severe inflation, which reached three digits in some months. Although inflation was reduced to single digits in the 2000s through a successful disinflation program under an implicit inflation targeting framework with a flexible exchange rate regime, price stability became a problem again after the global financial crisis. Inflation gradually increased during the 2010s and became out of control after late 2021. This study aims to explore inflation dynamics in Türkiye using the Phillips curve framework for different inflation environments. To this end, the Phillips curve equation, augmented with the exchange rate and oil prices, is estimated using the Markov regime switching model between January 2006 and September 2023. Two regimes are identified in the sample, namely low- and high-inflation regimes. According to the estimation results, the Phillips curve is invalid in both regimes. The unemployment gap is statistically insignificant despite its negative impact on current inflation. The increasing coefficient of backward inflation in the high regime reflects the resurgent indexation behavior, which was dominant before inflation targeting was introduced in Türkiye. The positive impact of oil prices is only statistically significant in the low regime. While an increase in the exchange rate significantly raises inflation in both regimes, the effect is greater in the high-inflation regime. These empirical findings indicate that the primary issues for controlling inflation in Türkiye are inflation inertia and exchange rate stability.

Provision of educational psychological services under a high inflationary environment in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe

The study employed a qualitative research approach using a phenomenological research design since the lived experiences of educational psychologists in Masvingo Province were scrutinized with the intention of establishing the extent to which educational psychologists matched the laid down specifications pertaining to their professional operations during a high inflationary environment. Three males and two females were purposely selected and in-depth interviews were utilized. Four themes emerged from the study: (a) vital roles, successful, and unsuccessful experiences, (b) diverse views on major policy documents, (c) barriers in rendering support services, and (d) perceived solutions. Results indicated that policy documents are outdated and need revision. Human and material resources were viewed a barriers to performance and perceived solutions included multidisciplinary team work, decentralization and increasing the number of psychologists, training of psychologists and reduced continuous professional development points. Educational psychologists focused more on diagnostic and behavioral consultations in urban schools. They distributed schools in urban areas depending on psychologists’ place of residences. Rural schools were minimally assessed with little provision of intervention, prevention, and health promotion services. The results provide important implications for resource provision and policy formulation.

Financial Efficiency and Investor Behavior on the European Real Estate Market in the Rising Inflation Environment

Abstract The pandemic, followed by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, caused rapid changes in the economy. European countries experienced unprecedented price increases, which resulted in a significant increase in the cost of capital. This resulted primarily in limited access to capital and a significant reduction in investments in the real estate market. In addition, investors began to withdraw capital from investments in the real estate market to other assets, encouraged by their rising rates of return. The article presents how the indicated circumstances translated into the financial efficiency of companies from the Real Estate sector. Listed companies of the European Economic Area in the years 2019-2022 were analyzed. Changes in the main accounting measures and market measures for individual countries as well as the characteristics of real estate market participants were analyzed.

Inflation-income inequality nexus in South Africa: the role of inflationary environment

ABSTRACT We estimate vector autoregressive models to examine the effect of the 3 to 6 per cent inflation target band in the inflation and income inequality nexus in South Africa. We use quarterly data spanning 1993Q1 to 2016Q3 to analyse how growth in income inequality responds to positive inflation shocks when inflation is within the 3 to 6 per cent target band versus when it exceeds 6 per cent. Evidence indicates that positive inflation shocks within the 3 to 6 per cent inflation target band lead to an insignificant decline in income inequality. However, greater income inequality results when inflation exceeds 6 per cent threshold. This suggests that the inflation-income inequality nexus in South Africa is nonlinear due to the 3 to 6 per cent inflation target range. Thus, inflation above 6 per cent is harmful as it increases income inequality. Policymakers should pursue policies that maintain the existing target band.

Should the South African Reserve Bank lower the inflation target band? Insights from the GDP-inflation nexus

Should the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) lower the inflation target (IT) band? Does lowering the IT band impact the relationship between GDP growth and inflation? This paper explores these questions considering the SARB Governor, Lesetja Kganyago statements that there is a need to lower the IT band from 3–6% to a point target of 3%. We estimate the VAR model to determine whether the passthrough of positive GDP growth shocks to inflation is nonlinear in South Africa. The inflation effects are delineated into bands (i) above 6% (ii) between 4.5% and 6% (iii) between 3% and 4.5% (iv) between 0% and 3% and (v) when there are no IT bands. Evidence reveals that the passthrough is elevated when inflation exceeds 6% and is lower when inflation is within the (i) 3 to 4.5% and (ii) 0 to 3% IT bands. The passthrough from positive GDP growth shocks is more than halved when inflation is less than 3%. The policy implication is that lowering the IT band from 3 to 6% to 0 to 3% will reduce the passthrough of GDP growth shocks to inflation. It allows expansionary monetary to have more real effects as prices are more rigid in the low inflation environment.

The Effect of Inflation on Fund Supply of Participation Banks: An Application to Türkiye with ARDL Approach

The primary economic variable that threatens price stability is inflation. Since inflation directly affects the quality of life standards of every individual living in a country, it is one of the most important problems for economies. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of inflation on the fund supply of participation banks. The relationship between the amount of funds offered to the market by participation banks operating in Turkey and the CPI values were analyzed at monthly frequency for the period between of 2012-2022. In order to determine the stationary of the series, the structural break ADF unit root test were used and ARDL were preferred as the estimation model. According to the results of the analysis, inflation affects the fund supply of participation banks negatively in the short term. On the other hand, a positive significant relationship between inflation and participation banks fund supply was found in the long run. All in all in an inflationary environment, the loans offered by the participation banks to the markets follow a U-shaped trend, first decreasing and then increasing and increases in inflation rates threaten the credit growth of participation banks. In addition, we pointed out that it is a necessity to bring inflation rates to a modarate level so that participation banks are not excluded from financial markets in Turkey.

Theory of Constraints and Bitcoin: Introducing a New Fulcrum

Much of the attention on bitcoin relates to its ability to store value over time or whether you will one day by able to buy a cup of coffee with it. Much less attention is given to bitcoin’s potential role as a unit of account. This opinion piece proposes that bitcoin has potential to provide a consistent unit of account for organisations to adopt, but also to assist them in making and measuring meaningful business developments. The paper draws from the business improvement philosophy of Theory of Constraints to propose that unit of account, particularly within high inflation environments, is critical to consider. An illustrative case of a well-known publicly traded company, Microstrategy, provides an example and logic for a company choosing to integrate bitcoin into a business. The paper also gives attention to how the adoption of bitcoin can promote the development of renewable energy infrastructure and provide staff with opportunities for personal development to support their well-being. Opportunities for further research are identified to explore the integration of bitcoin within a business as well as with Theory of Constraints.

Asgari Ücret, Enflasyon ve Gelir Dağılımı İlişkisi: 40 Ülke Örneği

Today, it is generally accepted that there is a deterioration in income distribution. For this reason, many academic studies are carried out to better understand the factors affecting income distribution. On the other hand, an increase in inflation rates is observed as a result of the increased money supply, especially after the 2008 global economic crisis. This upward trend has brought the issue of inflation to the economic agenda of countries. However, there is no consensus on how the inflation environment affects income distribution. In the study, panel data analysis was conducted with data from 40 countries covering the period 2008-2020 in order to explain the relationship between inflation and income distribution. As a result of the cointegration test, no cointegration relationship was found between inflation and income distribution in the relevant period. However, countries' efforts to improve income distribution are also important. As an indicator of this effort, the countries were divided into two groups according to the increase rate of the minimum wage and the cointegration test was repeated. However, as a result of these tests, no cointegration relationship was found. The results obtained suggest that the relationship between inflation and income distribution has a structure that varies depending on other economic policies implemented in the country and the type of inflation, but the use of non-linear methods in subsequent studies may lead to different results.

Fiscal-monetary Interactions in an Inflationary Environment- The Case of Nigeria

Fiscal-monetary Interactions in an Inflationary Environment- The Case of Nigeria